Prof Nnamdi Obiaraeri
One of Arisotle’s famous quotes is that “education is bitter, but its fruit is sweet”. On Thursday the 9th day of May 2024, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State presented the 52nd Convocation lecture at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka titled “WHY THE UNIVERSITIES SHOULD LEAD THE WAY TO A NEW NIGERIA”. Anyone familiar with University academic culture or ethos will readily agree that it is not an easy attainment to be selected to mount the academic podium to present a Convocation lecture.
Those who do not know this already should know that lots of considerations go into the choice of a Convocation lecturer. Only thinkers and accomplished people get that rare privilege. Usually, the practice is that many names of potential lecturers are put up for consideration and after careful deliberations by both the Senate and Governing Council of the University, the most preferred and suitable person or lecturer is agreed upon.
It is a fact that many decline such invitations for sundry reasons including the “trepidation or apprehension” of having to lecture the university community at an auspicious occasion where eggheads, men and women of ideas and letters including those in training hold sway. It is in this wise that one makes bold to congratulate Governor Uzodinma not only for the well-researched convocation lecture and the brilliant ideas brewed therein but also for the excellent way he delivered same.
Delivery of public lecture is not a leisure walk in the park as everything is in issue. One may have brilliant ideas written down on paper but may lack appropriate demeanor and or composure to present them in public. The cool, calm and calculated way the guest lecturer consummately dropped what may be dubbed “a bombshell” on the University Community in Nigeria in his address ebulliently justified his choice as the guest lecturer. It is the culture in academic community to honestly and fearlessly interrogate issues, ideas and or phenomena and to proffer immediate and long term solutions.
The guest lecture did not disappoint. The guest lecture opportunity is not only a personal honour and validation of Governor Uzodima’s analytical prowess but also a collective bragging right to Ndi Imo. On a general optimistic note, it is good optics for Imo State.
That said, a public lecture, no matter how well written and how ably presented, merely serves to provoke further debates, dialogues and discussions. That is the usual caveat or proviso with public discourses.
A public lecture of the magnitude under review that has formed part of the academic archives and historical timelines of the highly esteemed University of Nigeria, Nsukka readily lends itself to be deconstructed, criticised or demolished in part or whole.
That is part of robust intellectual pugilism and accepted academic norm. As that masterpiece of a guest lecture was a constructive appraisal of the University system in Nigeria, one intends herein to take academic licence to deconstruct the thesis that given the present condition of things, Nigerian universities can truly be expected to lead the way to a new Nigeria.
In the brutally frank 52nd Convocation Lecture, the guest lecturer among other things emphasised the important role universities must play in charting a course for a new Nigeria.
He was spot-on in asserting that academic institutions should serve “as hubs of innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving.” Adroitly, he justified his thesis by asserting among other things that “research conducted by universities can provide viable solutions to contemporary challenges facing Nigeria.
By leveraging their intellectual capital, academic institutions can offer insights into economic revitalization, social cohesion, and political stability. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement, universities can spearhead initiatives that drive progress and development nationwide.
As the Government continues to invest in higher education, it is imperative for university management to allocate resources effectively and foster a culture of accountability. By harnessing the power of academia, we can collectively propel Nigeria towards a brighter future built on knowledge, innovation, and inclusive growth.”
Indubitably, the Guest Lecturer is not mistaken in placing the burden of Nigeria’s rebirth on the shoulders of Universities.
The guest lecture validated the proposition that an unexamined life is not worth living and challenged Nigerian universities to embrace a new normal. It is not arguable that Nigerian Universities have not taken their deserved pride of places on national developmental issues. Universities are not dubbed intellectual Ivory Towers for nothing. Ideally, a University is supposed to be a melting pot of ideas- mental and esoteric.
It is a learning, teaching and research environment without boundaries or borders. No matter its physical location (even if virtual), people and particularly scholars and researchers from different parts of the world and ideological convictions naturally see the University as their safe haven or sanctuary.
This pristine time-honoured tradition is increasingly in reverse order in Nigeria. It is no longer news that Federal Universities and other tertiary institutions have become community schools where nativist’s agenda, parochialism, zonism, ethnicity and religious fanaticism are propagated and promoted over merit, inclusivity and tolerance. Sadly, it is the same experience, if is not worst, in State owned universities or institutions of higher learning. Appointments to leadership positions in public federal and state owned tertiary institutions have become more political than a fair opportunity for the best experienced among equals to provide academic and administrative leadership.
Ascension to leadership or management positions in Universities or other tertiary institutions is not any better than political party primary elections where kakistocracy is adopted by the Governing Councils and appointing authorities leading to the least or ill-qualified being favoured over and above the deserving and most qualified. Out of abundant caution, “kakistocracy” is government by the worst.
Are the Universities to be blamed for this too? Things must change for good as was generally advocated by Governor Uzodinma in his guest lecture.
Beyond the blames deservedly heaped on the Universities for not providing the needed leadership compass in the compelling search for an egalitarian and prosperous new Nigeria, is it in doubt that paucity of funds, policy somersaults and overregulation of their academic programmes and policies have made it impossible for Universities to drive national developmental milestones? It is heartwarming that the Guest Lecturer alluded to Government continuous investment in higher education which is presently abysmal. University autonomy must be encouraged and allowed to foster and develop on their respective terms, competences and capacities if the Universities must meaningfully contribute to national development. Universities are suis generis (of its own kind) bodies and must be encouraged to run or function independent of overbearing and choking government policies as is presently the case in the Federal and State Universities.
Core issues like funding, admission, salaries, allowances, sabbatical leave, academic and research programmes must not be tied to the apron strings of government whether at the federal or state levels. Universities will begin to lead the way to a new Nigeria when only established and accomplished persons are appointed to the Governing Council of Universities, not party loyalists and political campaign cheerleaders.
The convocation lecture suggested many ingenious ways in which university dons should take their gowns to town. However, it requires no extra courage to opine that it will be a misplaced optimism to believe that there can be such a dream University system advocated in the guest lecture without a comprehensive overhaul of the educational foundation. It will be a tall order to expect the Universities to lead the national recovery plan without serious redesigning of the curriculum cum infrastructures in the primary and secondary schools as they are the foundation for academic pursuits in tertiary institutions. It takes patriotic citizens to build a nation. Patriotism is taught and no one is born a patriot.
How is patriotism injected in the curriculum of students in the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education in Nigeria? Can you have patriotic citizens if history is not taught as a compulsory course of study in the Nigerian educational sector?
The guest lecturer spoke truth to power as he put the blames where they squarely belong. He was unmistakable or unequivocal in suggesting that corrupt lecturers or those who abuse their offices should be severely punished in assortment of ways which include but not limited to de-robing and withdrawal of all certificates of any lecturer indicted in any form of corruption, sexual assault or any other form misdemeanour while similar faith should be visited on University authorities who misappropriate funds meant for research and administration.
On the flip side, it can only be added that the governance model that has exposed the University lecturers to examination malpractices, sorting and election rigging must be revisited and dismantled immediately.
It is heartrending that University Professors asked to discharge election duties are serial election riggers and vessels of dishonor used in manipulating the electoral processes although a handful of academics (like Prof Nnenna Otti, who was the Returning Officer during the 2023 Abia Governorship Election) have proved that corruption should have no place in the citadel of learning or intellectual Ivory Towers. Govenor Uzodinma dauntlessly alluded to this systemic failure when he said that Universities should “be drivers of social change even as they serve as a catalyst to engender the new Nigeria we desire”.
Furthermore, the lapses in governance structures or policies that allow fake Universities (foreign and local) to award all sorts of bogus degrees and certificates or that have made JAMB to be reduced to a discredited examination body need to be comprehensively reviewed.
The policies that have made ASUU to become a “weeping boy” synonymous with long strikes and disrupted academic programmes can never allow Universities to midwife a new Nigeria unless they are aggressively and truthfully redressed. How can Universities become the role model expected of them if lecturers are either not well remunerated or owed arrears of salaries and earned allowances thereby using unorthodox “ways and means” to survive?
In sum, Governor Uzodinma’s guest lecture on “WHY THE UNIVERSITIES SHOULD LEAD THE WAY TO A NEW NIGERIA” is certainly not the end of discussion. The desiderata therein are a microcosm of the macrocosm.
The guest lecture has admirably provoked discussions on why the rot in the Nigerian University system must abate from within the University system and quickly too.
Discussions and actions on other facets of the malaise must continue although more pragmatic actions and less verbal expenditures should be incurred in solving the already bad situation in the Nigerian University system.
Without sounding pessimistic, universities cannot lead the way to national rebirth in Nigeria as long as the right to tertiary education remains non-justiciable as is presently the case under section 18 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended This is unlike the forward looking provisions in the Bill of Rights under the Kenya Constitution, 2010 and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 respectively where the right to education is justiciable.
A new normal is possible!
Prof Obiaraeri, N.O.