This study was aimed at investigating strategies for effective management of higher education for building a culture of peace in Nigeria. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the investigation. The study is a survey research which adopted the ex-post-facto design. The respondents comprised of one thousand four hundred and eighty (1480) made up of academic staff, senior staff and students. The sample was selected using simple random sampling technique form twelve public universities in southern Nigeria. Data collected from questionnaire, the only instrument used for the study, were analyzed using descriptive statistics for the research questions and analysis of variance to test the formulated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The finding revealed that curricula related, life skills related, institutional climate related and funding related were strategies for effective management of education for building a culture of peace in Nigeria. The study recommends that administrators of Nigerian universities should adopt a peace education curriculum in all course offerings in universities for building a culture of peace in Nigeria and improving academic productivity within the system.