<p> The fusion of the Internet with instructional design, and curricula delivery methods eliminated transactional distance in online learning. However, distance education (DE) in Nigeria has not aligned its pedagogy to the new reality in technology. The purposes of this non-experimental, predictive, validity study were to determine faculty and administrators&rsquo; perceived barriers and concerns to online adoption and to validate the behavior engineering model (BEM) instrument. Ninety-six respondents from four public universities in Nigeria completed the questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used respectively, to assess barriers and concerns militating against faculty and administrators&rsquo; online adoption, as well as validate the survey instruments. For faculty and administrators, incentive, motive, knowledge and skills influenced DE adoption. Except for age, all demographic factors influenced faculty&rsquo;s concerns. Gender was observed to influence administrators&rsquo; concern. &ldquo;Level of online use&rdquo; influenced neither faculty nor administrators&rsquo; concerns. Technographic characteristics influenced faculty, but not administrators.&rsquo; Though the BEM instrument was reliable in measuring faculty and administrator&rsquo;s stages of concern, however, the 6-factor BEM, tested at the 95% significant level, did not give a good fit. The study contributes to positive social change by identifying gaps to effective DE implementation, and recommended the appropriate interventions to transform the DE experience for students and their universities. The study also proposed the framework to fast track Nigeria&rsquo;s vision and mission for DE.</p><p>