NATIONAL DEBT AND TERTIARY EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between national debt and tertiary education development in Nigeria, with emphasis on its impact on the core functions of higher institutions—teaching, research, community service, and staff training. Adopting a conceptual and analytical approach, the study explores how Nigeria’s rising debt profile and increasing debt servicing obligations constrain government spending on tertiary education. The findings reveal that excessive national debt reduces fiscal space, leading to inadequate funding of universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. This underfunding negatively affects the quality of teaching programmes through overcrowded classrooms, outdated facilities, and limited instructional resources. It also weakens research productivity due to insufficient grants, poor laboratory infrastructure, and limited global collaboration. Furthermore, community service programmes are undermined, reducing institutional engagement with society, while staff training and development suffer due to lack of financial support, resulting in skill gaps and brain drain. The chapter concludes that the growing burden of national debt poses a serious threat to the sustainability, quality, and accessibility of tertiary education in Nigeria. It recommends prudent debt management, increased investment in education, diversification of funding sources, strengthening of intervention agencies, and enhanced support for research and staff development as key strategies for improving tertiary education outcomes.