Universities Must Shape Policy, Not Just Produce Research — NSUK VC

The Vice Chancellor of Nasarawa State University Keffi, Sa’adatu Hassan Liman, has called on universities across Africa to move beyond traditional academic roles and play a more direct part in shaping public policy and driving economic transformation.

Liman made the call on Monday while delivering her welcome address at the 3rd Professor Uche Uwaleke (PUU) Biennial Colloquium on the Capital Market held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.

Addressing distinguished senators, regulators, captains of industry, academics and students, she described the colloquium as more than an academic gathering, but a strategic platform for national and continental discourse on Africa’s economic future.

“Universities are repositories of knowledge, but knowledge must never remain confined within lecture halls or academic journals,” she said. “It must inform policy. It must transform societies.”

She noted that the theme of this year’s colloquium, “Future-proofing Africa-wide Economic Integration: Infrastructure, Innovation, and Capital Markets,” is timely, given Africa’s current push toward deeper economic cooperation under initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area.

According to her, achieving meaningful integration across the continent will require sound scholarship, evidence-based policymaking, resilient institutions and sustained collaboration between academia, government and industry.

Liman said Nasarawa State University Keffi is proud to be associated with a forum that effectively bridges theory and practice, stressing that sustainable development cannot occur in silos.

She commended Professor Uche Uwaleke, pioneer Director of the university’s Institute of Capital Market Studies, for conceptualising and sustaining the biennial colloquium, which she described as a credible and respected space for thoughtful engagement on issues critical to Nigeria and Africa’s development trajectory.

Highlighting the university’s achievements, the Vice Chancellor pointed to the establishment of the first university-based Institute of Capital Market Studies on the continent as a landmark milestone. She noted that the institute currently runs NUC-approved postgraduate programmes that are attracting increasing interest from professionals, as well as foreign students and faculty members.

This growing international engagement, she said, reinforces the university’s aspiration to serve as a continental hub for research, training and policy dialogue in the capital market space.

She urged participants to focus on actionable recommendations capable of translating intellectual discourse into practical reforms that will strengthen Africa’s economic systems and build a resilient, innovative and future-ready continent.