Multinational corporations and sustainable development goals: an interventionist approach toward quality tertiary education in Nigeria’s case study (Etisalat)

Abstract

The central argument of this paper was to examine the intervention of Multinational Corporations toward improving tertiary education. Tertiary education in Nigeria is undoubtedly challenged; among these issues are inadequate funding and mismanagement of funds, infrastructural problem, and ongoing strike by university lecturers. A qualitative method of data collection and analysis was used for the study. Interviews were conducted, and NVivo software was utilized in the transcription, coding, and analysis of data from the interview. This was supported by the secondary data, including journals, relevant books, periodicals, newspaper reports, internet sources, government releases, and CSR reports. The findings reveal that per Sustainable Development Goals for education (SDG 4: Quality Education), Etisalat has considerably improved Nigeria’s Tertiary education. This includes the Etisalat telecommunications engineering postgraduate program. The scholarship was also provided for university lecturers to improve their capacity. It has empowered the local lecturers to learn cutting-edge competence in telecommunication engineering. Since its inception, the merit scholarship award has improved the knowledge of STEM among Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. This study adds to the literature on the role of non-state actors, especially Multinational Corporations, in developing the education sector in Nigeria and achieving sustainable development goals around the globe.