SUB-NATIONAL REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND DEGREE- AWARDING TERTIARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA: DESCRIPTIVE, GEO-DEMOGRAPHIC AND GEO-SPATIAL ANALYSES

IntroductionAcademic research and policy has recognized the distinctive contributions of tertiary educational institutions including universities and degree-awarding institutions (hereafter described as UDA-TEIs), research-oriented and related institutes, to national research and development (RD and skills, and offering cultural services, settlements hosting TEIs continuously attract populations searching for these services thereby contribute towards scientific and technological change and catalyzing , cosmopolitanisation of towns and cities. Some TEIs assist graduating students to become entrepreneurs by spinning-off firms from their research theses within the environs of the institution (University of Aberdeen, Scotland, 2005-09). Some TEIs in the United States of America have reportedly pioneered the creation and management of biotechnology firms (Geiger 1992, Kenney 1986).In Nigeria, the establishment of TEIs has been one of the central elements of the policy of deliberate urbanization involving the creation of sub-national regional units namely: states and local government areas (LGAs) whose capitals are usually urban centres which are given statutory recognition to receive allocations of public funds for provision of community services and social infrastructure (Mabogunje 1973). Deliberate creation of states by government has mostly been followed by the citing of TEIs either within or close to the state capitals. This policy recognizes the distinctive contribution of TEIs to the development of the host states in various dimensions. Although, Nigeria's successive constitutions (Nigeria, 1979-2011) have stressed that equitable sharing of opportunities for well-being of citizens is one of the nation's core values, it has been observed that despite the way contest for resources managed by Nigeria's federal government by the nation's multiplicity of ethno-cultural groups has led to conflicts including the 30-month civil war from 1967-1970 (Ladipo, 1989), government policy is yet to seriously strive towards achieving equity among the various sub-national regions as inequality in infrastructural development still reigns supreme (Ingwe, 2011). …