CLAIM: Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN), Pro-Chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG) says that Nigeria’s best University ranks 800th in world
CONCLUSION: PARTLY TRUE
FULL STORY:
Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN), Pro-Chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG) who also doubles as the chairman, Agreement Renegotiation Committee of Nigerian Universities, while delivering the 7th convocation lecture of Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, Kwara State said Nigeria’s best university could only be ranked 800th in the world due to the low quality of education that is being offered in the country.
“Nigeria must restructure its university and secondary school education system to turn out employable graduates and regain respect of the world community.
“It has become imperative because of the present ranking of Nigeria’s best university as 800th in the world.”
[An email was sent to Dr Babakin to be clear on which source he quoted and some terms but he is yet to respond to it. Nevertheless, this fact- check was restricted to the latest Universities ranking done by different bodies since he emphasized on the present ranking]
VERIFYING THE CLAIM:
NIGERIA’S BEST UNIVERSITY RANKS 991 ON CWUR, 1148 ON WEBOMETRICS, AND 601- 800 ON TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS
Dr Babalakin may be right on his claim if he is talking about the Times Higher Education World University rankings that ranked Covenant University as the best University in Nigeria and ranked within the 601-800 bracket in the world.
The latest Times Higher Education University 2019 rankings did not only rank Covenant University within the 601-800 bracket in the world but also placed University of Ibadan in that same category.
However, in the 2018-2019 CWUR World University Rankings, the only Nigerian University that made the top 1000 Universities list in the world is the University of Ibadan, which took the 991st spot.
Finally, the 2019 webometrics ranking released in January 2019 had the best university in Nigeria, which is University of Ibadan emerging as the 1148th University in the world.
No Nigerian University ranked 800th or below in the CWUR and Webometrics ranking, however, two Nigerian universities are ranked between 601-800 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which makes the claim PARTLY TRUE.
This fact-check was done by a Dubawa Fact-checking Fellow in collaboration with The Tribune Online, the online publication of the oldest surviving newsroom in Nigeria. To see this article and others, check out: https://tribuneonlineng.com/218566/
