The decision to open in November involved some difficulties in the recruitment of staff especially since qualified Nigerians were already fully engaged for the 1970/71 Session. A recruitment team toured Britain, the United States and Canada in June and July 1970 and enjoyed appreciable cooperation from the Inter-University Council for Higher Education and the University of Salford, in the United Kingdom, and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the University of Oklahoma in the United States.

As a result of this overseas tour, reciprocal visits were made by delegates of universities from the U.S.A and the U.K. to Benin, for discussions in regard to areas of co-operation and assistance. Consequently, invaluable short-term secondment of staff particularly from British Universities was organized under the auspices of the Inter-University Council. In Nigeria, all the universities approached regarding staffing, co-operated by releasing interested staff at short notice