The National Open University of Nigeria is an ODL institution renowned for providing functional, flexible, accessible, cost-effective education adequate for flourishing in the 21st century and beyond. Right from our first inception in July 1983, our mandate has remained to deliver university education at the doorstep of every interested Nigerian. The founding president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the first executive president of Nigeria, envisioned a university with the capacity to admit and meet the education and skill needs of citizens no matter their status and circumstances. This vision was predicated on the realization that a sustainable democracy, functional economy, happy and prosperous people, all depend on knowledgeable citizens. Meeting the educational needs of such citizens in a highly populous country like' Nigeria was beyond the capacity of Nigeria's conventional higher institutions. As an ODL institution, we are an equal opportunity university determined to meet the following objectives that necessitated the establishment of open and distance education in Nigeria: Provision of Education for All and promotion of lifelong learning Filling the gap created by the closure of outreaches/satellite campuses Cost effectiveness Improved economies of scale Flexibility of delivery system Maximum utilisation of academic personnel On the job teacher training Poverty eradication, vocational and lifelong education Provision of non-formal education Reaching the unreached Propagation of national orientation
