Ihenacho�s Home Truths


One admirable thing about the FCT minister is his determination to press on no matter what. Notwithstanding the criticisms, allegations and name-calling....
Monday, February 23, 2004



David Asonye Ihenacho

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PROF. SOYINKA, I BEG YOUR PARDON SIR!



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s a commentator committed to pursuing your passion with some regularity, there comes a time when you almost have to wrestle yourself to comment on a particular issue of interest to you and perhaps to your audience. This can be as a result of one of several factors. The topic might be so sensitive that you would rather let the sleeping dog lie. Or, the personality involved might be such an icon of yours, and a legend to your putative audience, that you would be hard pressed to disagree with him in anything. The first option has no bearing whatsoever to the trouble I am having beginning this essay on Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. But the second surely does. The universally celebrated Playwright Wole Soyinka is one of the undisputed heroes of most aspiring writers of the black race including me.

Therefore, in deciding to critically evaluate a statement attributed to him this past week, I feel like I have chosen to violate a taboo. Nobel Laureate Soyinka, like Chinua Achebe, is to many contemporary African writers the sacred wisdom tree in African literary tradition that must not be violated at will. In my view, Soyinka and Achebe occupy the ultimate pinnacle of excellence in African literature that every black writer prays to attain, which only a select microscopic few end up achieving in their entire life times. And for this reason they enjoy an exclusive position in contemporary African wisdom tradition that is similar to that of a sage in ancient world.

In times gone by, the word of a sage was an oracle to both the society at large and to his or her disciples from the league of aspirant thinkers and writers. In that pristine world of the ancients, it was hard for a disciple to openly contradict his or her master while the latter was still alive. Discipleship meant continuing and remaining faithful to a tradition inherited from the master. But there were always some exceptions! I wish to invoke this principle of rule or conventional exception to interpose my little self against a position credited to an intellectual titan, the distinguished Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, this past week. This is in view of the fact that I do not see any other option available to a column like mine that prides itself in trying to clarify issues of importance to Nigerians. I believe that Soyinka's highly publicized contribution on the plight of Nigerian universities this past week blared with such an ear-tearing dissonance that it called for a critical evaluation.

Professor Soyinka was quoted this past week as having taken a position about Nigerian universities, which, to any other mortal, could have amounted to a huge gaffe requiring scathing press chastisement. According to Lagos Daily Times newspaper of February 17, "Professor Wole Soyinka �decried what he called the obvious decay in the nation's universities and renewed his call for the closure of the campuses for at least one year to make the necessary amends." Delivering a public lecture at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, entitled "Descent into Barbarism: The End of the Collegiate," organized by law students of the university, Soyinka averred that the one-year closure would be necessary in order to "adequately address the various issues necessary to uplift the nation's citadel of learning" (Daily Times, Feb 17).

According to the Nobel Laureate, some of the critical problems of Nigerian universities demanding such a protracted closure included irrational violence caused by the activities of cult members, political-thugs-turned criminal students and fraternities, decaying facilities and infrastructures not conducive to higher education learning, problem of accommodation, non-availability of necessary laboratory and research equipment (ThisDay, Feb 17). Professor Soyinka lamented the fact that the secondary school he had attended in his teenage years was far better than many Nigerian universities of today. "Yet, people are being graduated every year despite the most crippling circumstances in these institutions," he added (Guardian, Feb 17). Continuing he said, "the equipment is not there, chemicals are not available for science students, books are not in the libraries, hostel facilities are overstretched and the society is raising a generation of ignorant and illiterate youths" (Guardian, Feb 17).

Professor Soyinka, according to reports, bemoaned the fact that the rot in Nigerian universities has gotten so bad and ugly that vice chancellors and university administrators in general employ the services of cult members to stifle opposition (Vanguard, Feb 17). According to him, Nigerian university campuses were being turned into "barbarian jungle where teachers engaged the services of cultists to settle scores." He queried: "if the universities are citadels of barbarians, the nation's youths are being put into double jeopardy." Arguing further he said that violence on campuses was a direct reflection of irrational mass killings in the Nigerian society such as the one carried out in Odi by the present administration. He declared: "when you co-opt youths into brigandage of violence during election, now when the war is over, the youths turn their weapons against you" (Daily Times, Feb 17). And ultimately he said, "the youths armed to the teeth will eventually use the same weapons against the politicians because there is no way those arms used (in their works as political thugs) can be retrieved from the hired thugs" (Guardian, Feb 17). On a hopeful note though, he declared, "the barbarians on campuses can be kept at bay but it requires the application of a collective will" (Daily Times, Feb 17). The collective will the Nobel Laureate urges at this very moment is the closure of Nigerian universities for one year to allow for a total overhauling of the system. According to him, "students should be allowed to go for their one year National Youth Service during the closure, while a taskforce should be set up to overhaul the university curricula" (ThisDay, Feb 17).

There is no denying the fact that Professor Soyinka is raising some very critical issues that are mortifying university education in the present-day Nigeria. Some of these factors include, the violent activities of cult members and fraternities, woeful state of university infrastructures, lagging curricula, university management shortcomings, etc. These issues if not addressed urgently will continue to ensure a bleak future not only for Nigerian education in general but for the quality of political leadership our country will continue to get right into the foreseeable future.

To the extent that the Nobel Laureate calls attention to these debilitating problems he seems, I guess, to enjoy the support of a good number of Nigerians including me. But where the professor seems to get into trouble, and has in fact gotten into trouble with our Home Truths column, is his choice of a "panacea "for this problem. According to our previously quoted news reports, Professor Soyinka has chosen as his "panacea" for the ailments in Nigerian universities the closure of these institutions for a whopping period of one year in order to carry out what he envisions as some repairs in the system. We find such a suggestion coming from one of our nation's prides in university education as absolutely troubling for several reasons.

First, Professor Soyinka's thinking along this line represents a backward reasoning that seems to have little place in the 21st century world. This line of reasoning that urges a stop in the motion of an education process for some mechanical repairs seems to be a relic of yesteryears' mindset. In ancient times human thinking was influenced by the type of mobility available in every given period of time. Hence, when human mobility was purely nomadic marked by backpacked animal drivers who walked for a while only to stop for rest and recuperation, human thinking went that way also. People believed that to repair a process you just have to stop, evaluate and effect some changes. That was the way of doing business in the world the contemporary people have long left behind.

Then came the horse-drawn carriages and carts on wheels. Yet the same kind of thinking persisted. It worked out fine; signal the horses to stop and take care of the ailing cart. The process would be repeated over and over again until it became the formula of accomplishing things - stop the process and the take care of the ailments. That line of thinking persisted right into our age of railways, jet planes and ships. Even till this day, the thinking has continued to linger that for there to be recuperation in a malfunctioning system the human machine or human made machine has to be rested, replenished and repaired in order to start functioning effectively once again. In this kind of world, the thinking of Professor Soyinka about the problems of Nigerian universities makes a lot of sense. For Nigerian universities to start functioning properly once again, they have to be rested, repaired and restarted. I mean that's what I do everyday when my computer freezes over rendering immobile my mouse and cursor. What do I do when my computer refuses to obey my commands? I reboot it. That is to say, I shut it down only to restart the whole process all over again. It is natural and it works.

However, I am afraid this type of a world is fast passing us by. Since the early days of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity human thinking has been growing along the line that a lot can be achieved with an object in motion by understanding and taking control of its relative speeds. The whole thinking coming from this world of motion is that it has almost become archaic to try to rest an object that would otherwise be in motion in order to get it to start functioning properly. A superior intelligence tends to suggest that you have to find a way to rectify the problem even while the object is on top speed. This is the type of philosophy that is informing space sciences, travels and explorations. It is also informing military sciences and warfare, satellite instruments, etc. That is why one can talk about refueling in mid air, precision bombing, unmanned aircrafts and all what not. Remember the Spirit Rover that recently stalled on Mars some 300 million miles away from earth. It was repaired from earth! Contemporary thinking is tending towards harnessing motion and using it to our human advantage. Rather than stop, the world is moving and fast too. Nigeria better move along with the world!

In a very subtle way, this sort of thinking is having its repercussion right through to education. It is hardly fashionable nowadays in the civilized world to suggest that to rectify an artificial problem in education the entire educational motion has to stop. In fact to talk about stopping the delivery of education to rectify a problem in curriculum and/or infrastructure is sounding awfully like an educational heresy. Rather, the fashionable thinking is to find a sophisticated way to rectify the problem while keeping the whole educational motion going. In other words, Professor Soyinka's suggestion that the Nigerian universities be closed for one year for repairs to be carried out in the system sounds awfully like a representative thinking of years gone by.

Second, there is hardly any logical link between the current problems afflicting Nigerian universities and the one-year closure solution being proffered by the Nobel Laureate. That is to say, there is no way of knowing whether a closure of one year will deliver the required result of revitalizing these institutions. Why do we need just one year? Why not ten or twenty years? The Nobel Laureate seems to embark on a leap of faith. He pulls the one-year period from the air as what it would take to have these institutions back on their feet. Unfortunately he offers no guarantees for his claims. We could close for a year only to reopen in the next ten years. And Nigerian universities could reopen after one year only to find out that they had not made any meaningful progress from where they were before the closure. How will Nigerian students know that they will lose only one year in the revitalization efforts of these institutions? How much will it cost? What is the source of the funds? Who will ultimately pay for it? Shall we be able to muster credible contractors, curriculum and security experts, and internationally reputable university administrators, to get the jobs done within one year? What will university teachers and administrators be doing while the year lasts? There does not seem to be any clear thinking yet in this suggestion of the Laureate. However, it would be hard to imagine that our revered intellectual luminary in Nigeria was just flying a kite!

Third, Professor Soyinka suggests that university students that will be affected by the one-year closure should make up for their loss by spending that year doing their Youth Service. But this sounds way too simplistic. What will these half-baked products be doing in their so-called service year? Will they be teaching in schools, working as clerical staff or messengers in offices? What will they be qualified to do in their service year? Will the infusion of unqualified manpower into the service program not result in a double tragedy both for the university system and the National Youth Service Corps?

It seems to me that the whole raison d'�tre of the National Youth Service Corps program is to make available some important expertise to the most rural parts of the nation. The program was not designed to be a leisure tour across the length and breadth of the nation by the youths. It is a well-conceived service for young adults to help develop and integrate the Nigerian nation. Members of the National Youth Service Corps are meant to deliver some important services to people in need all over the nation. When they are sent prematurely into such a service according to the vision of the Nobel Laureate what expert services will they render to the many Nigerians in need of them?

It seems to me that sending out undergraduate students into the National Youth Service program will be an artificially dressed-up way to state the fact that they are being sent into paid unproductive idleness! And this is very dangerous for the Nigerian society. In fact, the logic of Professor Soyinka in this regard entails that a good number of potentially violent Nigerian youths be unleashed on the defenseless Nigerian communities for no just cause whatsoever. I believe that this is not what the Nobel Laureate intended to accomplish by his suggestion of a one-year uploaded national service for the otherwise idling Nigerian undergraduates.

As earlier indicated, the Nobel Laureate has highlighted very important issues militating against quality education in Nigerian universities of today. They include violent activities of student fraternities, decayed infrastructures, poor and lagging curricula and administrative corruption and incompetence. Every sensible Nigerian will agree that all these problems must be addressed urgently in order to rescue tertiary education in our nation. But we believe the way to address them is not what Professor Soyinka is suggesting. We do not need to close down these universities in order to get a handle on these problems. Professor Soyinka's insight in this regard seems dated, imprecise, wasteful and perhaps unworkable.

If the Nigerian government wants to tackle these problems there are available model solutions in American universities. Whatever Nigeria is facing today along the lines of tertiary institutions' problems, America has been through in her history. And therefore she has a ready solution for our country to emulate. Take for instance the issue of violent fraternities and cults. There was once a time when this problem was prevalent in American higher institutions. How did they get a handle on it? They reinforced the office of public safety or campus police as they are called in many institutions in America. A thriving public safety department is an antidote to such campus problems as fraternities and cults.

In the USA today, every college campus has a thriving department of police work or public safety. This counterbalances the prevalence of fraternities and cults in American universities of today. In all the universities I have been associated with since coming to the USA, the prevalence and effectiveness of men and women of the public safety department have been quite striking to me. They are everywhere 24/7. If you want a fight they give you enough that you cannot handle. Whatever the students want they give it to them. They are always dressed like regular policemen and women. They look equally stern and uncompromising. In every university, the department of public safety must permit and clear whatever is to happen on campus. Whatever it chooses not to clear does not happen. It is as simple as that. They are so many and so ubiquitous that they cannot easily be outnumbered, out-maneuvered or overpowered. Moreover they have a hotline communication with the regular police force, which is always at their beck and call.

To stop violence on university campuses in Nigeria, do it the American way: recruit a battalion of armed campus police, install metal detectors and frisk everybody that comes anywhere near a university facility. Where a fraternity becomes violent, instruct your campus police to match force with force. Moreover, keep adequate records of the activities of on campus fraternities. Any group that refuses to surrender its vetted programs should be proscribed and its members rusticated. Give freehand to the campus police to monitor all group activities. Maintain a permanent curfew in hostels and university compounds. Conduct a background check or police check on all faculty, staff and students of every university. Whoever has a criminal record should not be allowed into the hostel or dorms. Any staff, student or faculty that has a criminal record or cult history must be dismissed from university campus and perhaps directed to the Open University system if need be. Let Nigerian university authorities put their two feet down and call the bluff of these errant fraternities as most universities in America did long ago.

On the question of decayed infrastructures on Nigerian university campuses, I think the American insight and experience will be of a wonderful help also. Since serving in American university institutions I have been fascinated by the number and efficiency of the members of the department of Building and Grounds. Skilled engineers and technicians usually man this department. But the people who have fascinated me the most are the low-level technicians and cleaners. That American universities are working efficiently today is as a result of these low-level workers. They help provide you whatever you need when you move into a new office or classroom. They do the all-important cleaning all around the university campus. And those in charge of the bathrooms clean them several times a day. They are so many that they cannot easily be overworked. And they are well managed. The maintenance of campus infrastructures depends largely on the quality and efficiency of the university's department of Building and Grounds. Once this department is well managed and receives enough budgetary allocations from the university senate or as in America board of trustees, you can be sure that a lot of the infrastructure problems will be adequately maintained without having to resort to a long closure of the institution in order to conduct some repairs as Soyinka is advocating. Where the department is not efficient enough, or does not live up to its responsibility, you fire all their leaders and recruit new ones until you get the ones that will carry out the work of maintaining university infrastructure diligently. This is the way efficiency is restored in such areas.

The issue of lagging and obsolete curricula as well as corrupt and inefficient administrators can easily be resolved by putting the right people in the right places. Nigerian universities are notorious for putting square pegs in round holes. The management of a complex university institution is usually an administrative problem; it is not an academic problem. Nigerian political establishments keep appointing academic professors without administrative skills as university vice chancellors and chief financial administrators. And this has resulted in all sorts of problems for institutions of higher learning in Nigeria. America has been through such an experience and it did not serve her right. Today American university authorities are looking for the best administrators to manage their institutions. On many occasions such university presidents are not even Ph.D. degrees. Many of them are just lawyers that have distinguished themselves in the administration of public enterprises. On rare occasions nowadays does one see university professors who are equally serving as university presidents in the USA. This tradition is fast being confined to the past. Universities have long realized that they have to have the best administrators in order to survive. We are longing for the day Nigeria will become this pragmatic in the administration of her institutions of higher learning. Let only those with proven management skills be appointed to run our university institutions.

The question of lagging curricula can be resolved on two levels in our view. There should be a revised and updated national policy on Nigerian university education. This should be able to spell out the vision of national university education in the 21st century. It should be able to answer the question: where is Nigeria headed with her higher education in the new millennium? What type of products will be expected from Nigerian universities of this millennium? What tasks will Nigerian university products accomplish both for themselves and for the nation in this millennium? What nation-building skills would be expected of the products of Nigerian universities? These and more should be specified in the national policy for university education for the 21st century.

Along this line each university should be able to construct its own education policy from the broad vision provided in the national policy. But most importantly, they should recruit reputable academics that would be willing to implement such policies. A university should be able to tell itself the simple truth concerning its capabilities and limitations. Universities should not offer courses and trainings for mere political reasons, as has been the case since the end of the civil war in Nigeria. Northern universities have been the main culprits of this tragedy. Many a time in the last thirty-plus years, they had had to offer programs that they hardly had any competence in simply because they wanted to match their counterparts in the south. Nigerian universities must learn to adopt and emphasize specific areas of specialization. For instance, if you have no good infrastructure base like reputable members of faculty and scientific equipment to offer medicine why go ahead to do so and end up turning out poorly trained and ill-equipped medical practitioners that wreak havoc in the revered profession?

As can be seen, the problems legitimately highlighted by the Nobel Laureate can significantly be obviated with good planning and efficient administration without having to resort to the retrogressive method of closing down national universities for one full year. A policy based on such a vision being advocated by Professor Wole Soyinka would be totally ill conceived, ill advised and wrongheaded in our view. The right policy would latch somewhere in between. That is to say, Nigerian education planners must find a way to urgently address the problems of Nigerian universities without embarking on their comprehensive closure for any prolonged length of time. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from closing institutions of higher learning for that length of time. It is counterproductive, and in fact, a primitive approach to education delivery in the 21st century Nigeria. Professor Wole Soyinka, a renowned academic and world class teacher, knows quite well that if he were teaching a graduate course on the state of Nigerian university education, and he opined that the solution lay in closing down all such universities for one full year, many hands would automatically shoot up. And guess what they would say to our national intellectual icon? Prof., I beg your pardon sir!