The concern raised in IDEA TV’s recent exclusive report titled “Nigerian Universities Lose Ground in Global Web Ranking as NURAC Calls for Urgent Digital Visibility Push,” (https://ideatv.live/2026/08/17/nigerian-universities-lose-ground-in-global-web-ranking-as-nurac-calls-for-urgent-digital-visibility-push/)has gained renewed national attention following an intervention by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on the poor global ranking of African universities.
Speaking in Abuja on yesterday while delivering a lecture titled, “Harnessing Industrial Capacity for Inclusive Growth and Regional Stability in Africa,” to participants of Course 34 of the National Defence College, Jonathan warned that Africa’s poor university ranking could undermine the continent’s technological and industrial development.
The former President expressed concern that no African university currently ranks among the world’s top 100, while only the University of Cape Town features among the top 200. He argued that Africa cannot achieve meaningful technological advancement and industrialisation without strengthening its educational institutions and developing specialised universities capable of producing the skilled manpower needed to drive innovation.
Jonathan’s intervention reinforces the concern earlier highlighted by the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), which reported that no Nigerian university featured among Africa’s top 20 universities in the July 2026 Webometrics Ranking. The University of Ibadan emerged as Nigeria’s highest-ranked university, followed by the University of Lagos and Covenant University.
However, the challenge goes beyond the production of knowledge. One of the central issues emerging from the NURAC report is that Nigerian and African universities must improve the visibility, accessibility and communication of their research and innovation. The ranking system places significant attention on digital presence, research visibility, institutional repositories and open access to scholarly knowledge.
This is where IDEA TV — Africa’s first Innovation Television — sees as an important part of its mission.
IDEA TV was established primarily to promote science, technology, research, entrepreneurship and innovation by helping to bridge the gap between knowledge production and public understanding. Across Africa, universities and research institutions continue to produce important studies, innovations and solutions, yet many of these breakthroughs remain within classrooms, laboratories, academic journals and conference halls, with limited communication to wider audiences.
The consequence is that research which could influence public policy, stimulate industry, attract investment or inspire young innovators often remains largely invisible.
Former President Jonathan’s call for Africa to invest more deliberately in education, specialised skills, technology and human capital therefore goes beyond the establishment of more institutions. It also raises a critical question: How effectively are African universities communicating the knowledge and innovations they already produce?
The NURAC report similarly identifies weak digital infrastructure, limited open-access publishing, poor institutional repositories and inadequate research communication among the factors affecting the global visibility of Nigerian universities.
For IDEA TV, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity. As a specialised innovation television platform, IDEA TV is positioned to work with universities, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, government institutions and industry to bring African knowledge out of academic silos and into public conversation.
Through television, digital platforms, interviews, documentaries, expert conversations and innovation-focused programming, research findings can be translated into formats that policymakers, investors, industries, students and ordinary citizens can understand and engage with.
Improving Africa’s university ranking will undoubtedly require stronger funding, better research infrastructure, international collaboration and institutional reforms. But it will also require a deliberate culture of research communication.
Africa cannot afford to continue producing knowledge that remains unknown to the world. The continent must not only conduct research; it must communicate research. It must not only develop innovation; it must tell the stories behind innovation.
As the debate over African university rankings gathers momentum, IDEA TV believes that strengthening the visibility of research and innovation must become part of the continent’s broader strategy for educational transformation, technological advancement and industrial development.
The future of African innovation may depend not only on what our universities know, but on how effectively they share that knowledge with the world.
IDEA TV will continue to follow this developing conversation and provide a platform for universities, researchers and innovators working to shape Africa’s future.
