The last two decades have witnessed the emergence of privately owned higher education institutions in Nigeria, including those owned by religious bodies and even by their individual members. One is led to ask, why this sudden development? An attempt to respond to this question informs the underlying interest for this paper, namely, to explore the extent to which these institutions, especially the church-related ones, could make corrective impact on the country's educational system and, by extension, its moral and socio-political life. To this end, and more from the purview of the social sciences than theology, the paper examines one such institution as a case study, the Nigeria-Ghana Dominican Province-owned Dominican Institute (DI). The paper looks into the history, mandate, guiding principles, and challenges that face or could face the Institute, as well as its attempt to meet these challenges.