Zik the Educationist
daj...@home.com
Professor Aliu B. Fafunwa
In the context of Nigerian educational history, Chief Obafemi Awolowo
could rightly be called the father of Universal Primary Education (UPE)
with Chief S. 0. Awokoya as the midwife of UPE. By the same token, the
Right Honourable Nnamdi Azikiwe (alias Lamidi Azikwe in Yoruba) could
certainly be called the father of the first indigenous university in
Africa south of the Sahara and North of the Limpopo.
I had the rare privilege of spending two weeks with Dr. Azikiwe in
November 1955, - that is forty-one years ago - on my way back from the
United States of America on the M. V. Apapa which sailed from Liverpool
to Lagos. It was an unforgettable experience for me. I had received my
Ph.D in Higher Education only a few months earlier. Naturally I was
bubbling with ideas on the subject. We exchanged views on African
higher education and he told me of his plans for a new university and
how he hoped that we would work together. I was flattered! Six years
later I found myself working for Dr. Azikiwe !
Zik the Visionary
A number of African leaders and educators have written and spoken
extensively on African education. But of all the African advocates of
higher education for Africans, the most vocal and the most persistent of
them in the twentieth century has been Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Azikiwe's
first published statement on education is to be found in his book,
“Renascent Africa,” published in 1937. Writing under the sub-title
"Towards Mental Emancipation” Azikiwe said:
“The education of the Africans in the past and present has prepared
Africans for life in a social order which is stagnant and
unprogressive. It made African cultivate false values which are based
on the veneer of a decadent civilization. Their education is therefore,
anachronistic, for, it makes them live in the past. It enables the
un-fits and mis-fits to thrive, and it facilitates the claims of Uncle
Toms to leadership. I therefore feel that the system of education which
encourages the existence of a privileged class of alphabetics has no
prospect of producing real leaders to guide and counsel the type of
African that must come into their own tomorrow. All I have said can be
summed up in these words: Africans have been mis-educated. They need
mental emancipation so as to be re-educated to the real needs of
Renascent Africa.”
Azikiwe in his book lamented the paucity of creative scholarship among
the educated Africans of the early twentieth century. He contended that
the Africans were conditioned by the books which portrayed them as an
inferior group.
He asked, "Why can't an African write a textbook on anatomy or etiology,
or is it beyond the African mental capacity? I have yet to read an
African textbook on engineering, commerce, carpentry, agriculture, etc.
Piling up degrees or passing examinations mean nothing unless Africans
are creative. A textbook on African medicine is not impossible. But
the truth is that the African scholar is lazy," he concluded bitterly.
While events over the past sixty years have overtaken Azikiwe's views on
African scholarship, his ideas on the purpose or function of a
university are noteworthy, and I quote:
“Universities have been responsible for shaping the destinies of races
and nations and individuals. They are centres where things material are
made to be subservient to things intellectual in all shapes and forms.
No matter in what field of learning, at any universities there is an
aristocracy of mind over matter.
“The universities of Europe and America have been responsible for the
great movements in the national history of these continents .... Black
Africa has no university. Black Africa has no intellectual centre where
the raw materials of African humanity may be reshaped into leaders in
all the fields of human endeavour. Why should African youths depend
upon Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, the Sorbonne or Heidelberg for
intellectual growth? These universities are mirrors which reflect their
particular social idiosyncrasies. An African graduate of these
universities, unless he has developed his individuality, is nothing
short of a megaphone, yea, a carbon copy, of these societies. Hence, I
say that he is mis-educated. Give the Renascent African a university,
you who are capable of financing the same. With twelve million pounds
there is no reason why the best libraries, laboratories, professors,
cannot be produced right here and this continent can become overnight, A
Continent of Light.”
Azikiwe’s ideal university, irrespective of its physical location in
Africa, quote:
“is where you will notice that the curriculum is balanced and
consequently, its graduates know a little of the classics, their
humanities, and the sciences. This is the criterion of the efficiency
of university education in any part of the world.”
It is indeed not a mere coincidence that the University of Nigeria right
from its inception requires that every student irrespective of field of
specialization, a course in General Education which consists of Social
Science, English, Natural Science and Humanities. Azikiwe's dream came
true twenty-three years later with his founding of the University of
Nigeria, Nsukka, in October 1960. As to who should found and sustain
the indigenous African University, Azikiwe had this to say in his book:
“When I consider the fact that throughout the continent of Africa there
is not an indigenous university sustained through African initiative, I
am in a position to realize how most of the problems of Africa today are
due to the intellectual poverty of Africans. Had African Universities
been maintained at their (the Africans) expense, they could have had
their curricula filled with the important divisions of knowledge which
would have hastened their intellectual emancipation, and would have
enabled them to make scientific researches into some of the quackeries
which some of them are wont to elevate into an unmerited apogee by
calling them a phase of 'SuperScience .”
Zik as the Father of Nigeria's First University
A law to establish a university in the Eastern Region of Nigeria was
passed in 1955. While that date marks the formal beginning of the
history of the University of Nigeria, the enactment of this legislation
was, in fact, the culmination of many years of thought and discussion by
several Nigeria leaders, and inspired particularly by the then Premier
of the Eastern Region, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Within a week after the Eastern House of Assembly had passed the bill
into law, an acrimonious debate on the need to establish the University
of Nigeria ensued. Some of the charges levelled were meagre funding,
low student enrolment, poor staffing, inadequate equipment and above
all, lack of recognition by the international academic community. As we
all know from experience, many Nigerians are masters in negative
criticism. If you have a new idea, these Nigerians will tell you 1001
reasons as to why the idea will not work. Theirs is not to encourage
you or give you advice on both negative and positive aspects; theirs is
to discourage and vilify. Dr. Azikiwe's idea suffered the same fate.
Some heavyweights in Nigerian politics, education and journalism led the
massive attack. They were joined by West Africa, a weekly journal based
in London. It published a blistering editorial condemning the idea of a
university in Africa run by Africans. The editorial attracted world
-wide attention and a number of Nigerians in the U.S.A and Britain came
to Dr. Azikiwe's defence. Since I was one of Zik's defenders on this
issue, I take the liberty to quote from Dr. Azikiwe's convocation speech
as Chancellor of the University, June 5, 1964:
“Dr Aliu Babatunde Fafunwa at the time had just obtained his Ph.D.
degree from New York University on a dissertation entitled, An
Historical Analysis of the Development of Higher Education in Nigeria.
So he was fully qualified and competent to contribute to this historic
debate on 'Another Million Dollar Baby? generated by West Africa. Dr.
Fafunwa averred that half of those Nigerians whom completed secondary
education were capable of pursuing university education. Ibadan admitted
an annual average which was very small. What would happen to the rest?
On the question of admission of students with lower standards than
London University, Dr. Fafunwa quoted Dr. Kenneth Mellanby, first
Principal at Ibadan, as saying: 'British universities have given places
to students whom we have refused at Ibadan.' This , he implied,
demonstrated the fallacy of such an argument.
“Then Dr. Fafunwa postulated the philosophy of education which should
guide Nigeria as a new nation, in these words: ‘The immediate problem
that confronts Nigeria today is that of relating her educational system
to her own native environment. No university outside Nigeria can help
accomplish this; it must be done by a university located within Nigerian
and not tied to the apron strings of a foreign institution,. Unless
Nigerian institution are distinctively Nigerian, they will eventually be
worse than useless .
‘Greater emphasis should be placed on native culture and literature and
less on Greek and Shakespeares. Economics surveying, engineering,
education, African history, agriculture, home economics, business
administration, the social sciences, safety engineering, etc. must take
their place in the great halls of learning. Experimentalism will have
to supplant the old conventional method of research. A college must be
willing to blaze new trails. Its teachers must be dedicated men and
women who have broad vision and are not afraid of making mistakes.
These are the challenges of higher education in underdeveloped
countries. We may ignore the problems now, but we cannot postpone them
indefinitely. Unless our present efforts are directed toward the
eventual solutions of these problems the, existence of our present
institutions will be morally indefensible and financially
unjustifiable,’ Fafunwa concluded.
“The last debater in the series was Mr. Onyerisara Ukeje. He had
obtained his M - A - degree in Education from Columbia and an M.Sc from
Ohio State University. At the material time, he was preparing his
dissertation for the Ph.D at Columbia, which he received two years
later. This was entitled: Nigerian Needs and Nigerian Education: A
Study of the Critical Needs of an Emergent Nations and the Role of
Education in Meeting Them. Like Dr. Fafunwa, he was more than qualified
to express responsible opinion on matters relating to education,
compared to the myopian commentators whose onslaught we have observed.
“After making an objective analysis of the criticisms against the
University of Nigeria, particularly the issues of availability of
qualified students, high standard, ‘special relationships with London
University, Mr. Ukeje asked the editors of West Africa to answer the
question: 'With whose university did London University have special
relationship, after it was founded by Thomas Campbell in 1826?' Again,
he reminded the editor of West Africa that some of the arguments he used
against the proposed university were precisely the same arguments used
against London University, when C. E. Mallet, one of the founding
fathers of London University wrote: 'The offence of Oxford and Cambridge
was not that they were extravagantly inefficient to that which they had
set before themselves to do, but to the signs of these new times they
were blind. Then Mr. Ukeje ended the debate as follows: Any educational
institution, no matter its level, to be functional and of a high
quality, must be an integral part of the society which it serves, it
must be adaptable and appropriate for the aspirations of the people in
its setting. But, is foreign association through which the new
institution is invariably chained by foreign traditions which may not be
suitable to the new setting, the best way to achieve these, or maintain
,standards'? The world is changing very fast and we must either gallop
along or be left perpetually behind.”
It was not West Africa alone that unleashed a vicious attack on Dr.
Azikiwe's new university, but a one-time popular columnist in one of our
national newspapers turned the whole idea into a huge joke. He
ridiculed the idea of an indigenous African university, scoffing, "Who
would want a B. A. Onitsha, M. A Awo-Ommama, L.L.B. Ogidi and Ph.D
Abakaliki?" Of course in those days our people preferred B. A. London
and M. A. Glasgow. That was in 1955.
If the conception of the University of Nigeria was a traumatic
experience for the detractors of the institution, its birth was a
nightmare for those Nigerians who had mortgaged their intellect to the
colonial system. The Ashby Commission, which was set up in April 1959
to review the Nigerian higher education system, issued its report in
October 1960, the same month in which the University of Nigeria, Nsukka
opened its gates to 220 students and 13 members of the academic staff.
As far as the Ashby Commission was concerned, the University of Nigeria
was fait accompli. Thus the University of Nigeria became the first
degree-awarding University in Nigeria. This development forced the hand
of the Ashby Commission in recommending autonomous status for the newly
proposed universities of Ahmadu Bello and Lagos, while Ibadan, the
oldest higher educational institution 'in Nigeria, (but not the oldest
university) remained an appendage of London till 1962. Without doubt
the order of seniority among the early universities in Nigeria is (1)
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (1960); (2) Ahmadu Bello University
(Legislative Act, April 1961); (3) University of Ife, now Obafemi
Awolowo University (Act of June 1961); (4) University of Lagos (Act of
April 1962) and (5) University of Ibadan (Act
of December 1962). Thus Ibadan, which is the oldest higher educational
institution in Nigeria, became the youngest degree- granting university
'in 1962.
The University of Nigeria is not only the first Nigerian University, but
also the second 'indigenous African University in Black Africa, the
first being the University of Liberia. Thanks to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe's
indomitable spirits, persistence, and singleness of purpose, today
Nigerian university degrees honour at least 39 cities and towns in
Nigeria, viz: Bauchi, Kano, Akure, Owerri, Minna, Yola, Abeokuta, Abuja,
Benin, Makurdi, Calabar, Ilorin, Jos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Okigwe, Ojo,
Ago-Iwoye, Ado-Ekiti, Ogbomoso, Sokoto, Awka, Uyo, etc.
Zik As University Administrator
Dr. Azikiwe was the first Governor-General and later President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. The largely ceremonial and undemanding
nature of these posts afforded him the time to devote to the growth and
development of the university between 1960 and 1966. Dr. Azikiwe was
both the Chancellor of the University and Chairman of the University
Governing Council. He presided over all Council meetings and its
committees: Appointments and Promotions Committee, Tenders Board and
Finance and General Purpose Committee. In other universities the
offices of Chairman of Council and Chancellor were separate. At Nsukka,
Dr. Azikiwe held both until 1966 when he was relieved of both offices
and the Presidency. Since then the two offices have been separated in
conformity with the usual practice.
For two academic sessions (1960-1962) the University of Nigeria was the
University of Ibadan’s only academic competitor and was regarded as a
"glorified secondary school," Nsukka started out right from the
beginning with some revolutionary ideas.
(a) Firstly it introduced the credit system of grading along with a
different classification of degrees, the cumulative aggregate; and
second, the university introduced two years of general studies,
irrespective of the student's area of specialization. These two
programmes generated considerable criticism from the Nigeria public. In
those days no one from Ibadan would invite any University of Nigeria
lecturer or professor to serve as an external examiner. Of course one
could not blame Ibadan, as Nsukka itself had no external examination
system in those days!
Although several of our academic contemporaries at the University of
Ibadan saw us as academic intruders, we stood up to them. Incredibly,
some of our Nigerian colleagues at Ibadan who were aware of our academic
merit thought that we, the professors and lecturers, were the right
academics in the wrong university! But when the Nsukka graduates
occupied the first seven places in the Western Region's Civil Service
Examination in 1964, beating Ibadan graduates to the eighth to twelfth
places, Nsukka’s status rose and became an instant legend in the
skeptical West.
(b) The founding fathers of the University of Nigeria named Education as
one of the major programmes that should be offered when the institution
opened its doors in October 1960. The Ashby Commission in its own
report recommended the establishment of advanced teachers' colleges and
B.A./ B.Sc degrees in Education.
In September 1961 the first students were admitted to the B. A/B.Sc
Education programme. The enrolment of this first group of Education
students for the new Education degree was a major landmark in the
history of Education, not only in Africa, but also in the British
Commonwealth. The University of Nigeria was the undisputed pace-setter
in this field. British universities, Ibadan and other British colonial
university colleges in Africa as well as in Asia were pursuing the B. A.
/ B.Sc. one year post-graduate diploma course in Education. Meanwhile
Ibadan, the only other higher educational institution in Nigeria at that
time, looked down on Nsukka and its Education programme; yet three years
later Ibadan, A.B.U and Lagos followed the University of Nigeria's lead.
Some of the British Universities started a similar degree course in
Education in 1963, two years after Nsukka. I was so elated that Africa
had something to teach the British universities that I wrote a letter
published in the London Times Educational Supplement congratulating them
for following the University of Nigeria's lead! The letter read:
“Sir, It is indeed very gratifying to read from the pages of your
supplement the great debate that is currently going on in your country..
I am sure that your readers will be interested in knowing that the
B.Ed., B. A and B.Sc Education degrees were first offered at the
University of Nigeria's faculty of Education in September 1961.”
I then discussed the underlying assumption for introducing the degree
course and ended my letter thus:
“Considerable debate ensured when these new B.A and B. Sc. (Education)
degrees were first introduced by the University of Nigeria. But today,
I am happy to report that the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello
University and the University of Lagos since followed suit. It is
perhaps safe to say the University of Nigeria was the first Commonwealth
University to blaze the trail. While the debate continues in the United
Kingdom, we welcome aboard with open arms the University of York...which
had followed Nsukka's lead.”
(c) As was the case with B.A./B.Sc. Education, the introduction of
Vocational Education, Physical Education, Home Economics Education,
Journalism, Music Education, Fine Arts, Business and Secretarial Studies
raised eyebrows in other universities and at one point the University of
Nigeria almost cancelled these courses. But we took up the challenge,
marshalled our arguments and saved those essential departments from
extinction! Nsukka also pioneered university sports in Nigeria and built
the first university stadium and the first swimming pool. Before the
Civil War of 1967-70 the university was the West African champion
university sports for many years.
All these unheard-of degree courses in British Universities were
introduced by Dr. Azikiwe to the chargrin of the British trained
academics of those early days who believed in the sacredness of certain
traditional courses which should not be contaminated by such barbaric
studies as journalism, engineering, accountancy, business
administration, music, fine arts, physical education etc. Today, all
these courses and more are being offered by Nigerian universities and
most Commonwealth universities.
Zik's Philosophy on Higher Education
At the first meeting of the Provisional Council of the University held
in March 1960, Dr. Azikiwe, Chairman of the Council, outlined some
factors which formed the background of the philosophy animating the
founding of the University as follows:
1. Its nationalist content so as to preserve the dignity of the African
as expressed by the National Congress of British West Africa, (which met
in Accra in 1920 and demanded from Britain among other things, a West
African University on such lines as would preserve in the students a
sense
of African nationality. The motto of the University is: To Restore the
Dignity of Man.
2. Its economic objectives in order to provide for the requirements of
industry, commerce and society
3. Its revolutionary character in attempting to blend the "land-grant
college" idea with the classical concept of universities and adapt both
to the changing circumstances of contemporary Nigeria Society.
In his 1963 convocation address entitled Footprints on the Sands of Time
Dr. Azikiwe succinctly summarized his views on the role and challenges
of higher education in Africa, vis-a-vis the Nsukka experiment:
Another important aspect of university life that needs to be stressed is
the opportunity afforded for constant meetings of the minds of students,
by teachers, renowned scholars and many visitors who attended to the
various programmes which feature university life, by formal or informal
discussions and contacts.
“This mental communion stimulates thinking to a very high degree.
Gradually the undergraduate learns to tumble out his and often untidy
ideas, sort them out, revise them where necessary and finally store them
neatly away for subsequent use.
“The University of Nigeria sets out to impart to its students not only
academic and cultural excellence, in accordance with the classical
concept of universities, but also to endow them with scientific
erudition, bestow them with vocational proficiency and infuse in them a
sense of Vision of the particular communities concerned in their crusade
against poverty, disease, ignorance and superstition, to enable them to
attain the good life by maintaining a higher standard of living.
“Here at Nsukka, we are attempting to blend the best of the known ideas
of university Education by providing for the broadening of the base of
higher education, in the words of our Prospectus: To enable male and
female students to engage together in academic, vocational, and
extra-curricular activities in developing their personalities on the
highest levels of human experience in an atmosphere where young men and
women can grow individually, academically and professionally through the
dignity of labour, hard work, sacrifice and self-determination.
“In certain respects, what is taking place here is somewhat similar in
purpose to the pattern of the revolution in higher education that gave
birth to the University College of North Staffordshire in Keele,
England.
“Naturally, our pattern is based on the satisfying of the needs of
Nigeria in the present stage of its development with an objective of
planning for a fuller and more abundant life for the many instead of the
few.
“With such enviable goals and objectives it becomes imperative for all
who love this University and respect its philosophy, and wish it success
in its pioneering endeavour, to expect proper decorum from our
undergraduates. There are three main reasons for this expectation:
“First, there is always a traditional respect for the University as a
seat of learning and intellectual experience which make it a training
ground for leadership.
“Secondly, our undergraduates are usually regarded, among others, as the
future leaders of our country, to whom the people must turn for guidance
and leadership.
“Thirdly, it is absolutely essential for training in leadership that its
neophytes be disciplined followers in order to qualify for the
responsibilities of leadership.”
Even today we are still struggling to live up to Dr. Azikiwe's ideals.
In conclusion, the Right Honourable Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe held the enviable
record of being the first African to dream of an indigenous African
University and to work assiduously for twenty-three years towards the
realisation of that dream. The forgoing represents a part of only one
significant dimension of this brilliant Nigeria patriot, one of the few
outstanding heroes of Africa.
Eric Kalu
Thank you for these postings on Zik's contributions to Higher education in
Nigeria and Ala Igbo. I wish Bolaji (Igbophobe of first order) should now
compare and contrast his earlier statements on Zik's role in the creation
of UNN. Bolaji implied that UNN was a kind of gentleman's agreement
between Balewa and Zik in 1960 to wit that NCNC could go into coalition
with NPC(?) [Balewa's party]. The four part postings by Nwakpa plus this
last one (i.e. Fafunwa on Zik) are enough evidence that debunks
Bolaji's limited knowledge of Nigerian history (including its educational
history). I wonder why someone so biased and with limited knowledge of a
subject matter should be "writing" to "inform" others! Bolaji, I am
waiting to hear from you on these postings. According to Fafunwa, UNN
was a 23 year dream of Zik that became a reality in 1960. According to
"false prophet" Bolaji Aluko, it was conceived in 1960! Bolaji's problem
is the fact that UNN is often referred to as the first full fledged
indegenious University in Nigeria and Igbo [Bolaji is an Igbophobe] man
conceived the idea!
We get involved in this medium for the sake of many young
Nigerian sons and daughters that are detribalised. If they continue
consuming Bolaji's anti-Igbo writings without our challenging him with the
truth, we may end up creating nigerians of his like - tribalists. Let all
reading this understand that at all times, Bolaji's "truth" on anything
about Ndiigbo or onye Igbo is colored with tribalism or Igbophobism.
[cf. His stand on Enwerem and that "UC" graduate - Tinubu. Tinubu does not
need B.Sc Econs. nor to have attended GCI to stand election, hence it
doesn't matter whatever he claims! God is good. Sometimes, He doesn't wait
for long to do expose' of people who preach one thing and practice another
thing.]
We should not ignore Bolaji - Nwakpa, biko ndewo for this.
Mazi Egwu Kalu
> to her own native environment.. No university outside Nigeria can help