Speaker
Description
Yusuf, U. A.
Nasarawa State University, Keffi
usmanyusuf@nsuk.edu.ng
Track: Digital Transformation in Higher Education
Digital transformation has become a defining strategic priority for higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide, yet the capacity of institutions to translate digital ambition into practice varies sharply, producing a persistent digital divide between well-resourced and under-resourced universities. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and home to 274 universities spanning federal, state, and private ownership, illustrates this challenge with particular force: a nationally coordinated push toward digital learning management coexists with epileptic electricity supply, broadband penetration that has only recently crossed 50%, chronic underfunding of public universities, and uneven faculty digital literacy. This paper examines institutional readiness as the decisive, often overlooked, precondition for equitable digital transformation in higher education, with Nigeria as the primary focus of analysis situated within broader international and African comparative context. Drawing on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the paper analyzes three interdependent dimensions of readiness — technological infrastructure, human capacity and digital literacy, and organizational culture, governance and policy — and shows how deficits in each dimension compound to widen disparities between Nigerian public and private universities, and between Nigeria and better-resourced systems internationally. Evidence from Nigerian institutions (University of Ibadan, University of Uyo, universities in North-Central Nigeria) is read alongside comparative international literature from Kosovo, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Southeast Asia. The paper concludes with a policy-oriented framework for bridging the divide in the Nigerian context, emphasizing coordinated infrastructure investment addressing both broadband and electricity, sustained faculty development, strengthened TETFund and National Universities Commission (NUC) coordination, and alignment of digital initiatives with coherent institutional strategy. The paper argues that digital transformation in Nigerian higher education cannot be achieved through technology procurement alone; it requires deliberate, sustained investment in institutional readiness as a socio-technical, rather than purely technical, undertaking.