International Journal of Academic Research in Education and Review

Vol. 14(1), pp. 8-16, March 2026

ISSN: 2360-7866

https://doi.org/10.14662/ijarer2026030

 

Full Length Research

 

 

Libraries: A Panacea for Educational Dilemma in Nigeria

 

Olubiyo, O. Peter Ph.D

 

University Library Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo State, Nigeria

Corresponding author’s E-mail: olubiyopeter@gmail.com  

Accepted 24 March 2026

Abstract

Abstract: The educational system in Nigeria has acute and multidimensional issues that jeopardize the development of the country, social cohesion, and human capital. Lack of literacy, inadequate funding, bad infrastructure, distortion of curriculum, lack of teachers and increasing gaps in access to education between urban and rural areas is a long term educational predicament that governments have been unable to solve. This paper suggests that libraries, public, academic, school and special, are a panacea to the educational crisis in Nigeria because it offers access to information fairly to all, encourages formal and informal learning, culture of critical thinking and research and narrows the knowledge gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged communities. The paper will be based on data provided by UNESCO, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), and peer-reviewed publications published between 2019 and 2025 and thus evaluate the characteristics of the educational dilemma in Nigeria, the urgent functions of libraries in overcoming it, and the institutional and structural obstacles that restrain the impact of libraries. There are strategic suggestions and proposals that can be made to reposition libraries as change agents in the education revival in Nigeria. The paper highlights the fact that the investment in libraries was not marginal to the education reform but was at the center of any realistic approach to the reversal of the educational decline in Nigeria.

 

Key Words: Libraries, Education, Educational Dilemma, Nigeria, Library services, Literacy, Human Capital..

Paper type: research