Abstract

The Nigerian university system which was an Eldorado for vast numbers of scholars from all over the world between 1948 and the early 1980s has fallen from its Olympian heights of glory and attraction following the reverse trend of mass exodus of lecturers, technologists, medical doctors and other allied personnel in search of greener pasture in other climes. This chapter anchored on historical method of investigation reveals that the glut in the international oil market in the 1980s coupled
with the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) by the Ibrahim Babangida regime set the stage for the migration of expatriates from Nigeria due to the crash in the value of naira. It further reveals that the general neglect of the
ivory tower by successive administrations in the Post-Cold War era has also triggered a massive wave of migration to other nations by Nigerian scholars thereby resulting in the dwindling fortune of Nigerian university system. The chapter suggests that Nigerian government stimulate economic growth, improve on university staff welfare and provide cutting edge facilities and amenities for universities across the nation in order to mitigate the crisis of brain drain
engendered by the prevailing trend of mass relocation of staff abroad.