Historical-Chronological Emergence of Universities in Nigeria: The Perspectives in ‘Colomilicivilian’ Periodization.

Colomilicivilian is a coinage that describes the three eras of political experiences of Nigeria, captured as Colonial Era, Military Era and the Civilian Era; characterised with series of manifestations in the establishment of universities during each of the eras. The paper was written on the demonstration of efforts and commitments of Governments at different times from the missionaries/colonial days of Nigeria, 1800-1960; through to the post colonial efforts of the civilian administrations at different times and those efforts of the various military governments in the promotion of university education from post 1960; through the establishment of universities of various kinds – regular/conventional (running all programmes, combined); specialised ones (of science, technology, open, technical, petroleum resources, military, police, marine and medical); even the projected Information and Communication Technology (ICT) University were accorded chronological documentation. This historical study chronicles from pre-independence to the entire post-independence efforts of the governments of Nigeria at federal and state levels, as well as the role of private proprietors from the initial effort during 2nd republic in 1979-1983, which was truncated and later resuscitated. The paper also captured the ultimate resurgence of private establishment of universities, now considered a sustained effort of the private individuals, corporate organisations, faith-based (Christian and Islamic) organisations. The paper concluded with mixed submissions, first commending the demonstration of commitment to a sporadic and astronomic increase in the universities establishment and secondly, berated all sorts of inadequacies that only left the country with quantity and not quality in the operations of universities. Keywords: Historical, Chronological, Emergence of Universities, Colonial, Military, Civilian, Periodization