EVOLUTION OF DISTANCE EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

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BOLUPE ABAYOMI AWE PHD, FELIX KAYODE OLAKULEHIN, ROSE NKEM TILIJE PHD, SHAIBU LEONARD PHD

Abstract

Distance education can be traced back to the period when ambitious Nigerians started seeking for
admission into universities overseas. Since most of these universities groomed those students for
examinations without tuition, correspondence schools in the United Kingdom and Nigeria became
imperative to close the gap. The Federal Government of Nigeria at independence in 1960 also
placed premium on distance education as the Ashby Commission set up in 1959 recommended the
establishment of distance learning unit in the University of Lagos in it eventually took off. From
there, distance education has now been fully accepted into the Nigerian University System. As of
today, the National Universities Commission has recognized seven Federal Universities as dual
mode institutions and the National Open University of Nigeria as a uni-mode university. There are
other institutions such as National Teachers Institute and the Ahmadu Bello University Institute of
Education that offer National Certificate of Education programmes through distance learning
mode. Although, the Federal Government recognizes distance education as a means of improving
access, economic consideration is basically the motive behind the transformation of most
conventional universities to bi-mode distance education institutions in Nigeria, especially State
owned universities. This portends great danger to the quality of outputs from these distance
education institutions.

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