NATIONAL UNIVERISITIES COMMISSION'S SUPERVISORY ROLE AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN SELECTED UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH WEST, NIGERIA

Abstract The development of infrastructural facilities in any university environment is fundamental to the attainment of educational goals and objectives that have global impact in this era of modernity. In Nigeria, despite the increasing focus of policymakers on qualitative education and school learning environment, context observation has revealed a dearth of functional infrastructural facilities. This study therefore, examined the supervisory role of National Universities Commission in infrastructural development in selected universities in South-West Nigeria. This study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population were lecturers, students, and NUC officials who have been in their present place of employment who met the inclusion criteria of the study. Data were collected using questionnaire. Data collected were processed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27, and ,research questions were answered using thematic analysis and inferential statistics of ANOVA and chi-squqre at 0.05 level of significance. The findings the state of infrastructural development mean score in selected universities in South-West Nigeria was high (academic facilities for students = 3.89; residence and recreational facilities for students = 4.07; and, staff offices and residential facilities = 3.80). The role of NUC in the disbursement of grants to Universities for infrastructural development was good and effective (Chi-Square = 30.94, p = 0.001); there is an impact of quality assurance monitoring on maintenance engagement (f = 7.63, p = .006 < .05); and, NUC’s facilities accreditation affected infrastructural development in selected universities in South-West Nigeria (f = 19.51, p = .001 < .05). In conclusion, the supervisory role of National Universities Commission in infrastructural development is good but not without some hitches. It is recommended that adequate funding should be provided for all tertiary institutions in the country to give them the opportunity of acquiring all necessary facilities, equipment and chemicals for the laboratories for them to scale through the accreditation process rather than resulting to borrowing. KEYWORDS: infrastructural development, academic facilities, recreational facilities, residential facilities, quality assurance