10 Best Private Universities in Nigeria (2024)

Private universities in Nigeria have come to stay. While the majority of the Nigerian students flock to the public universities, a number of them mostly from well to do homes sees the private ones as a choice. And contrary to the opinion of many, private universities are some of the best place to school in Nigeria.

Below are the top 10 best private universities in Nigeria this 2024 that offers quality education:

1. Covenant University (CU)

This is unarguably the best private university in the country. Covenant university is located at Ota, Ogun State. This university has a student strength of 15,000 while the number of it administrative staff is around 1,000.

Covenant university is a Christian school owned by the Living Faith Church and a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. It was established in 2002 and enroll students for both undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

The university runs a collegiate system and have 4 college namely; (CBSS), College of Leadership Development Studies (CLDS), College of Engineering (COE) and College of Science and Technology (CST). In 2015, webometric ranked this university as the best in Nigeria.

2. Babcock University (BABCOCK)

Also located in Ogun state, Ilishan-Remo precisely, Babcock University is among the top 10 best universities in Nigeria. It is also a church/christian school owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria.

BABCOCK is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world’s second largest Christian school system. It has a student capacity of more than 10,000 and runs both undergraduate and postgraduate program.

This institution has 9 schools and 1 college. These are School of Agriculture & Industrial Technology, Babcock Business School, College of Health & Medical Sciences, School of Basic & Applied Science (formerly known as Science & Technology), School of Computing & Engineering Sciences, School of Education and Humanities, School of Law & Security Studies, School of Nursing, School of Public & Applied Health and School of Post Graduate Studies.

3. Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU)

Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU) is located in Osun state and was established in 2006. Just as the first 2 above, JABU is a church owned university.

The Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Worldwide owns this school and it was named after the Founder of the church, Joseph Ayo Babalola (1904–1959). The university haa about 4,000 plus students distributed in it 7 faculties.

These faculties includes; Agricultural Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Humanities, Law, Management Sciences, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences.

4. Bowen University

This top 10 private universities is not complete without Bowen University. Bowen university is also owned by a christian religious group, the Baptist Convention and located in Iwo, Osun state.

This Nigerian Baptist University currently have about 5,000 students but have the carrying capacity of about 20,000.

Due to its proximity to Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Ibadan, this university boast of having some of the best lecturers in the country.

Bowen University has 5 faculties and a college. These are; College of Health Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Science and Science Education, Faculty of Social and Management Science. It also offers postgraduate program.

5. Redeemer’S University Nigeria (RUN)

The Redeemer’s University Nigeria is owned by the Redeemed Christian Church of God. It was established in Ede, off Gbongan-Oshogbo Road, Osun State, Nigeria in 2005.

It runs the a collegiate system and has 3 colleges which are the the College of Natural Science, the College of Management Science and the College of Humanities.

The University also enroll students for postgraduate program. This school has about 2,000 students.

6. Igbinedion University Okada (IUO)

This is Nigeria’s premier private university. This means, it is the first private university in the country and happens to be one of the best in the country. This was established in 1999. IUO is located in Edo state.

This institution offers accredited undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Law, Medicine, Natural and Applied Sciences, Business and Management Studies, Pharmacy, Engineering and the Arts and Social Sciences

Igbinedion university is the first Private University to produce medical doctors in Sub-Saharan Africa and produce the first private university graduate in 2006 to bag a first class at the Nigeria Law School. This academic institution has a student capacity of 5000.

7. American University Of Nigeria (AUN)

This is the first and only private university in Northern Nigeria that made it to the list of the best 10 private universities in the country. Interestingly, it is the only American style university in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, only 2 of this university exist in Africa.

That’s this one and the one in Cairo known as the American University of Cairo. the university is owned by Atiku Abubakar and situated in Yola, Adamawa state. AUN is a member of the Association of American International Colleges and Universities. AUN main partner is the Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

This university has 3 schools namely; School of Arts and Sciences, School of Business and Entrepreneurship and School of Information Technology and Communications.Communications.

8. Bells University Of Technology (BELLSTECH)

Bells University of Technology is the first university of Technology in Nigeria, it was established in 2004 at Ota, Ogun state. This university is owned by former head of state and president of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo.

This university has 3 colleges which are; College of Engineering & Environmental Sciences, College of Natural & Applied Sciences and College of Management Sciences.

9. Afe Babalola University (ABUAD)

Afe Babalola University is a non-profit private university located in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. This was founded in 2009 by Afe Babalola, a renowned Lawyer.

It operates a collegiate system and has the College of Law, College of Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, College of Engineering and College of Social and Management Sciences were it enroll students for both pre-degree and degree studies.

10. Ajayi Crowther University (ACU)

Ajayi Crowther University with the abbreviation ACU is a Christian private university located in Oyo, Oyo State. It was established by the Supra Diocesan Board (West) of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).

This was established in 2005 and named after the late Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first African Bishop who first translated the bible into Yoruba. This is regarded as one of the best private universities in Nigeria 2024.