- Adedimeji said global issues like inequality and ecological crises require joint university efforts, not isolated institutional actions.
- He warned that the current silo approach undermines higher education’s capacity to drive meaningful national and global change.
The vice-chancellor of the African School of Economics, Professor Mahfouz Adedimeji, has urged Nigerian universities to abandon isolationism and embrace strategic partnerships to confront the world’s biggest challenges.
Adedimeji gave the charge on Wednesday while delivering his speech titled “Ideas Rule the World” during the fourth public lecture of the African School of Economics in Abuja.
He said collaboration among institutions is no longer optional if universities must remain relevant and responsive to global realities.
Quoting a study by the University of Lincoln, Adedimeji outlined 10 urgent global concerns, including changing economic powers, loss of foresight, and technological disruption.
He said other pressing issues include migration and the so-called “Japa syndrome”, conflict and war, civic disaffection, growing inequality, and ecological collapse.
He added that universities must urgently interrogate questions of identity and shifting societal values to stay ahead.
“These challenges are not just academic topics — they are real and immediate,” he said.
Adedimeji stressed that the challenges are interconnected and require institutions to respond collectively, not in silos.
He warned that a fragmented system would only weaken universities’ ability to drive sustainable change in Nigeria and across the continent.
Using the metaphor of an eagle cracking open a tortoise by dropping it from the sky, he said institutions must see problems as springboards.
“An obstacle,” he said, “is converted by an eagle into an opportunity to deploy its full strength and soar even higher.”
He noted, however, that unlike the eagle, universities must not attempt to fly solo in solving complex societal problems.
“I, therefore, call for concerted efforts of the Triple Helix — the government, academia, and industry/society — to accord the university its pride of place by doing what is right at the right time,” he said.
“It is said that one can travel fast alone, but only far together.”
Adedimeji also urged universities to stop competing for visibility at the expense of real impact, warning that the current model of fragmentation is counterproductive.
He concluded by calling on higher institutions to treat collaboration not as a buzzword but as an institutional ethos.
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