So many people are interested in the Nigerian Universities annual ranking by the NUC. Sometimes ago, this was stopped for a while, however, the Executive Secretary of the commission cleared the air in 2022 that a committee has been constituted that will advise the Commission on the ranking of Universities in Nigeria.
Majority of the ranking information used by publishers were obtained from Times Higher Education and Webometric since when NUC stop the exercise.
In addition, every year, JAMB always releases a list of preferred universities. These are schools that students used to choose during registration. This will also hint at universities that Nigerians consider the best.
Latest: Times Higher Education has released its 2025 university ranking. Covenant University (801-1000), Ahmadu Bello University (1001-1200), Landmark University (1001-1200), University of Ibadan (1001-1200), and University of Lagos (1001-1200) were ranked as the best universities in Nigeria respectively. CU came first, ABU came second, and Landmark came third.
The performance indicators used by the Times Higher Education (THE) for the ranking are grouped into five areas: Teaching (the learning environment); Research environment (volume, income and reputation); Research quality (citation impact, research strength, research excellence and research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry (income and patents).
Below is the list of best Universities, both Federal, State, and Private schools in Nigeria in that particular order as released by Times Higher.
| Nigerian Universities | Nigeria Ranking | World Ranking |
| Covenant University | 1 | 801-1000 |
| Ahmadu Bello University | 2 | 1000-1200 |
| Landmark University | 3 | 1000-1200 |
| University of Ibadan | 4 | 1000-1200 |
| University of Lagos | 5 | 1000-1200 |
| Bayero University, Kano | 6 | 1201-1500 |
| Federal University of Technology, Akure | 7 | 1201-1500 |
| Federal University of Technology, Minna | 8 | 1201-1500 |
| University of Benin | 9 | 1201-1500 |
| University of Ilorin | 10 | 1201-1500 |
| University of Nigeria, Ndukka | 11 | 1201-1500 |
| Ekiti State University | 12 | 1501+ |
| Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta | 13 | 1501+ |
| Federal University of Technology, Owerri | 14 | 1501+ |
| Federal University, Oye-Ekiti | 15 | 1501+ |
| Ladoke Akintola University | 16 | 1501+ |
| Lagos State University | 17 | 1501+ |
| Nnamdi Azikiwe University | 18 | 1501+ |
| Obafemi Awolowo University | 19 | 1501+ |
| University of Port Harcourt | 20 | 1501+ |
