Following the split of the former Anambra State into two States -Anambra and Enugu States, the Awka and Nnewi campuses of the former Anambra State University of Technology, were by the Anambra State Edict No 5 of November 26, 1991 constituted into Nnamdi Azikiwe University. The Edict upheld Awka and Nnewi as campuses of the University.

Nnamdi Azikiwe University is founded on the philosophy that knowledge should be propagated and disseminated to individuals without let or hindrance. Teaching and Research would be anchored on the needs of the immediate environment and the Nigerian society generally. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, after whom the University is named, stands out clearly in the history of University education in Nigeria and Africa in general. In the discharge of its mission, the University shall live up to the ideals of this renowned statesman, by making University education pragmatic.