What your handbook actually requires

Three regulators govern Nigerian tertiary education. Not one of them prescribes a chapter structure — so your institution’s handbook is the only authority on the document you are marked on.

RegulatorCoversPrescribes chapter structure?
National Universities CommissionUniversitiesno
National Commission for Colleges of EducationColleges of Education (NCE)no
National Board for Technical EducationPolytechnics (ND/HND)no

NUC sets credit units, supervision and examination. NCCE requires an assessed NCE project. NBTE includes an HND project component. None of them says how many chapters, how long the title, or what Chapter One must contain.

And the handbooks disagree

Chapter counts run from five to eight. Title limits from 22 words to 25. Body font from 12pt to 14pt. Work formatted for one institution is wrong at another — which is the whole reason this page exists.

North-Central

National Open University of Nigeriauniversity · 5–6 chapters · title 22 words Federal University of Technology, Minnauniversity · 5–6 chapters · 12pt University of Ilorinuniversity · 5–6 chapters

North-West

Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokotouniversity · 5 chapters

South-East

University of Nigeria, Nsukkauniversity · 5–8 chapters · title 25 words Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awkauniversity · 5 chapters

South-South

University of Port Harcourtuniversity · 5 chapters Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Ukupolytechnic · 5 chapters · 12pt

South-West

University of Ibadanuniversity · 5–7 chapters Obafemi Awolowo Universityuniversity · 5–6 chapters · 14pt

Not listed? The free check still works — it falls back to the national convention and tells you so. Every figure on these pages is quoted from a handbook we have read at an official source; where a document does not state something, we say “not stated” rather than borrow another institution’s number.

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