The Chairman of the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee (NiTERAC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, says Nigerian universities, led by federal institutions, have recorded significant gains in the latest AD Scientific Index.
This is contained in a report issued on Sunday by Okebukola, noting that Nigerian universities were ranked third in Africa and 48th globally among 221 countries.
He said the Oct. 1 rankings indexed 53,580 Nigerian scientists across 384 institutions.
Okebukola said Nigeria had the largest number of indexed researchers among Africa’s three leading research countries.
He said the University of Ibadan retained its position as Nigeria’s leading university, ranking 889th among nearly 19,800 universities globally and placed among the top 4.5 per cent worldwide.
“The University of Ibadan is the only Nigerian university in the global top 1,000,” he said.
He added that the university improved from 904th in mid-August to 889th in the October update, while maintaining 14th position in Africa across the 2025, 2026 and 2027 editions.
“The University of Nigeria, Nsukka ranked second nationally and 1,227th globally, while Covenant University emerged third nationally.
“They were followed by the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ilorin, Ahmadu Bello University, Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Bayero University.
“Federal universities occupied at least eight of the top 10 positions nationally, underscoring their role as the core of Nigeria’s research strength.”
He also noted that the number of Nigerian universities ranked increased from 257 in the 2024 edition to more than 300 in 2026.
He said according to the report that Covenant University recorded the largest movement, rising 457 places from 1,857th globally in the 2026 edition to 1,400th in the 2027 edition, while retaining third position nationally.
On individual researchers, he said Mayowa Owolabi of the University of Ibadan emerged as Nigeria’s most cited scholar, with 257,748 citations.
“Owolabi ranked 676th among more than 2.6 million indexed researchers worldwide, followed by Shafiu Mohammed of Ahmadu Bello University with 242,300 citations and a global ranking of 776th.
“Olayinka Ilesanmi of the University of Ibadan ranked third in Nigeria with 185,602 citations.”
Okebukola said 16 of the 22 Nigeria-based scholars in the national top 25 by citations were affiliated with federal institutions, with the University of Ibadan accounting for five.
He also cited the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027, where Nigeria’s representation increased from 24 universities in 2026 to 29 in 2027.
“19 of the 29 institutions are federal universities,” he said citing the report.
According to Okebukola, Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Ilorin moved into the 1,001–1,200 band.
“Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Benin also moved into the 1,401–1,600 band.”
Okebukola, a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), said the gains showed increasing research visibility across Nigeria’s university system.
He, however, stressed the need for stronger research impact, international collaboration and sustained investment in leading research groups.
