You’ll find at least one university in each of the 36 states in Nigeria. The majority of states have two public universities; a state university and a federal university. Then, there are the many private universities all over the country.
If you want to attend a Nigerian University, I’m sure you want to attend the best school available. Private universities are often rated as the best following the poor state and low standard of many public Nigerian universities. Nevertheless, some public universities still make the cut among the best Universities in Nigeria.
Here’s the list of the top universities in Nigeria according to NUC 2021 Ranking:
- University of Ibadan – 454.56 points
- Redeemer’s University – 384.96 points
- Covenant University – 368.11 points
- Ladoke Akintola University of Technology – 315.23 points
- Federal University of Technology, Akure – 264.14 points
- Afe Babalola University – 254.52 points
- University of Ilorin – 248.86 points
- Babcock University – 227.77 points
- Landmark University – 217.06 points
- Edo University – 207.15 points
- Mountain Top University – 206.47 points
- Pan-Atlantic University – 201.77 points
- Lagos State University – 199.90 points
- Obafemi Awolowo University – 199.25 points
- Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta – 190.25 points
- Federal University Lokoja – 187.88 points
- Skyline University, Nigeria – 186.42 points
- Chrisland University – 183.39 points
- Ondo State University of Medical Sciences – 180.53 points
- University of Nigeria, Nsukka – 178.03 points
- Ekiti State University – 173.11 points
- American University of Nigerian – 171.37 points
- Rivers State University – 170.48 points
- Elizade University – 160.60 points
- Nile University of Nigeria – 157.37 points
- Bells University of Technology – 149.65 points
- The Technical University – 146.63 points
- Rhema University – 142.71 points
- Federal University of Technology, Minna – 140.14 points
- Bowen University – 139.62 points
- King’s University – 131.35 points
- Edwin Clark University – 129.97 points
- Delta State University – 124.02 points
- Godfrey Okoye University – 120.00 points
- University of Lagos – 116.64 points
- Nnamdi Azikiwe University – 113.65 points
- University of Uyo – 112.29 points
- Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology – 110.87 points
- Kwara State University – 108.22 points
- University of Calabar – 107.99 points
- University of Benin – 106.01 points
- Ebonyi State University – 105.26 points
- Hezekiah University – 101.57 points
- Osun State University – 99.30 points
- Adeleke University – 97.06 points
- Bingham University – 95.39 points
- Samuel Adegboyega University – 94.52 points
- University of Port-Harcourt – 90.27 points
- Lead City University – 87.11 points
- Crawford University – 86.76 points
- National Open University of Nigeria – 86.41 points
- Baze University – 85.59 points
- Arthur Jarvis University – 84.11 points
- Spiritan University – 83.84 points
- University of Abuja – 80.88 points
- Michael & Cecilia Ibru University – 80.66 points
- Kola Daisi University – 78.79 points
- Federal University Wukari – 78.72 points
- Admiralty University – 71.47 points
- Caleb University – 71.08 points
- Dominion University – 69.90 points
- Federal University, Dutse – 68.13 points
- Federal University, Oye-Ekiti – 68.01 points
- Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University – 61.44 points
- Bayelsa Medical University Yenagoa – 61.12 points
- PAMO University of Medical Sciences – 60.12 points
- Bayero University – 57.99 points
- Mcpherson University – 57.02 points
- Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto – 56.93 points
- Maitama Sule University – 56.90 points
- Tai Solarin University of Education – 55.71 points
- Federal University, Otuoke – 53.33 points
- Ahmadu Bello University – 52.63 points
- Abia State University – 52.34 points
- Clifford University – 49.14 points
- Adamawa State University – 48.12 points
- Cross River University of Technology – 46.98 points
- Federal University of Technology, Owerri – 44.28 points
- University of Jos – 44.01 points
- Augustine University – 43.12 points
- Benue State University – 41.86 points
- Nigerian Defense Academy – 39.75 points
- University of Maiduguri – 38.76 points
- Benson Idahosa University – 38.67 points
- Oduduwa University – 36.87 points
- University of Agriculture, Makurdi – 36.34 points
- Adekunle Ajasin University – 35.90 points
- Kebbi State University of Science and Technology – 34.12 points
- Federal University Lafia – 33.28 points
- Summit University – 33.03 points
- Niger-Delta University – 32.91 points
- Ibrahim Babangida University – 32.67 points
- Michael Okpara University of Agriculture – 32.18 points
- Nigerian Army University, Biu – 31.95 points
- Kogi State University – 30.32 points
- Air Force Institute of Technology – 28.90 points
- Nasarawa State University – 28.33 points
- Kaduna State University – 28.00 points
- Gombe State University – 26.04 points
- Imo State University – 25.97 points
- Kano University of Science & Technology – 25.67 points
- Bauchi State University – 25.54 points
- Dominican University – 21.79 points
- Enugu State University of Science & Tech – 21.00 points
- Achievers University – 18.91 points
- Hallmark University – 17.61 points
- Federal University, Kashere – 17.22 points
- Crescent University – 14.16 points
- Al-Qalam University – 13.62 points
- Legacy University – 12.11 points
- Renaissance University – 8.92 points
- Igbinedion University – 4.05 points
- Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University – 0.59 points
Bottom Line
The list above is the official NUC university ranking for 2021 as published on the NUSrankings website. According to the NUC, this ranking was made from analysis of twelve indicators. From the list, the best University in Nigeria is the University of Ibadan in Oyo state.
UI got 454.56 points, a difference of 69.6 points from the second best University, Redeemer’s University. Popular Nigerian universities like the University of Lagos came 35th with 116.64 points; UNN came 20th with 178.03 points while Landmark university is 9th with 217.06 points.
The list reveals that the worst university in Nigeria is the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi State.