By Ajibola Adigun
The greatest disservice the generation of my fathers has done to my
generation is their inability to transfer to us a sense of history, and a
sense of destiny. For in the words of Frantz Fanon, each generation
must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or
betray it. How does my generation fulfil its mission without discovering
it? How do we discover it without a sense of what has gone before us?
The lingering Academic Staff Union of Universities’ strike offers us a
chance to review the dummy that we have been sold. Every fool–just like
every wise man too, knows that the present educational system in
Nigeria is dysfunctional in that it is a system designed for the 19th
century. This is no exaggeration. Pierre van den Berghe, Emeritus
Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington puts the Nigerian
University system as having a time lag of more than sixty years which
the founders of the Nigerian university system remembered of their
school days. And he wrote this in 1973!
This system has been on automatic self-destruct since it has refused
to evolve the more democratic versions of the universities of the
twenty-first century. It is akin to a blind man finding his way around
in a nudist camp. He will often do himself more harm than good when he
is slapped around for groping, albeit innocently.
The problems with our university system are legion but three will suffice here: Governance, Remuneration and Culture.
The Chinese universities, despite being in a communist conclave have
evolved a more democratic system than those of Nigerians. The
Vice-Chancellorship positions in the Nigerian university system, as an
ante-chamber of political office holders, is antithetical to knowledge
production because he who pays the piper often dictates the tune. But
the tune is often not music in the ears of the patron. Didn’t we learn
about Galileo who was required to abjure, curse and detest his opinions
because it was not popular?
This leads to the question of how the university system is funded.
Do we reward teachers who cease to learn because they have become
professors? Do we offer incentives for brilliant performance of
scholars? A sad story I seldom tell is how a friend of mine could not
attend the International Mathematics Olympiad because the National
Mathematical Center would not pay his expense. This was after he won
gold in the National Maths Olympiad. The Cowbell Mathematics Competition
does a better job of rewarding scholars than the Mathematical Center. I
have raised more questions than answers because I do not think there is
only one way to go. I am of the opinion that giving students a choice
will be better in the long run.
And the Nigerian University culture is not exempted from the social
fabric wherein it exists. The town is so much into the gown that one
cannot differentiate between graduates who are deemed to be worthy in
character and learning, and those who are not. The flip side is that in
knowledge production, the town has things to teach the gown but cannot
because of a gulf caused by the uncivil culture in the university
system. There was a time when inaugural lectures welcomed the public in
letters and in spirit, now you find inaugural lectures delivered like an
acceptance speech for a Chieftaincy title–where only invited guests are
welcome.
Once we think these things through, the time lost because of ASUU strike may not have been wasted after all.
CAMPUS TIMES
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