Outputs, Not Outfits: Why Nigerian Unis must stop policing looks and start enabling ideas

[John Onyeukwu]

Outputs, Not Outfits

Why Nigerian universities must stop policing looks and start enabling ideas.

John Onyeukwu

(Published in Business AM Newspaper of Tuesday July 29, 2025.)

The recent controversy surrounding the leaked dress code memo from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), my alma mater, is more than a fleeting campus drama. It is a sobering reflection of misplaced priorities in Nigeria’s higher education system. That such a document could propose rustication for “tight trousers,” “coloured hair,” or even “hugging” should alarm any serious observer of Nigeria’s education crisis.

While the university has rightly denied that the circulating memo represents official policy, the fact that such authoritarian impulses could be contemplated, let alone drafted, is indicative of a deeper rot in our institutional thinking. As a proud product of OAU, I speak not in disdain, but in disappointment, for a system that taught me to think but now appears obsessed with regulating how students dress, not how they think.

Universities exist to cultivate critical minds, not compliant bodies. Academic freedom is not an indulgence; it is the very oxygen of learning and progress. In the Nigeria of today, where creativity, bold thinking, and entrepreneurial resilience are our last hope, the university should be the engine room of innovation, not conformity.

When a young woman risks suspension for wearing a sleeveless top, or a young man faces rustication for dreadlocks, we must ask: what is the philosophy guiding these institutions? It cannot be the philosophy of progress. It certainly is not the one that raised Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, or the many brilliant Nigerians shaping the world from Silicon Valley to the United Nations. Dress codes do not produce integrity. Obedience to rules does not equate to critical reasoning. Our youth need mentoring, not moral surveillance.

We all know that dress codes in Nigerian universities often have little to do with decency and much to do with disciplinary control. They are part of a larger authoritarian tradition where administrative overreach is normalized and students are treated as subjects, not citizens.

What makes this more infuriating is that these same universities often fail to meet the most basic expectations of governance. Consider this: it can take six months to a year, or more, for a Nigerian graduate to receive an academic transcript. Some are forced to travel in person to their alma mater, only to be frustrated by manual files, uncooperative staff, and opaque processes. For many, postgraduate admissions or job offers hang in the balance.

Why is it easier to draft punitive dress codes than to automate transcript systems?

It is baffling that a university that cannot send a transcript on time somehow has the institutional energy to enforce punishments for hugging, kissing, or sagging jeans. What kind of leadership is this, which prioritizes superficial discipline over operational efficiency?

Nigeria’s future depends on the ability of young people to imagine, design, build, and disrupt. The tech hubs in Yaba and Abuja, the creative arts scenes in Lagos and Port Harcourt, the rising tide of startups and digital freelancers, none of this flourished because someone was forced to wear a tie or abandon colored braids.

To criminalize youth expression is to criminalize the very engine of the future economy. And to tie institutional prestige to a false sense of moral control is to remain stagnant while the world races ahead. Our universities must be laboratories of innovation, not sanctuaries of outdated norms. They must produce thinkers, not conformists.

There is nothing wrong with promoting standards. Professional faculties can require dress codes for clinicals, engineering labs, or legal moots, based on function, not morality. But these standards must be co-developed with students, clearly defined, and implemented without gender bias or authoritarian overreach.

And if universities are truly concerned with image and discipline, let them start by fixing the bottlenecks in transcript processing, digitizing records, eliminating delays, and treating students with the dignity they deserve. That would speak louder about their values than any dress code ever could.

As a graduate of OAU, I carry its legacy with pride. But legacy is not a monument; it must be renewed in practice. If we are to build the Nigeria we deserve, our universities must lead by enabling freedom, not by curating fear.

The leaked dress code memo, denied though it was, should be a wake-up call. It is time for our universities to stop moralizing youth expression and start mobilizing youth potential. Because no nation was ever transformed by the straightness of its trousers, but many were saved by the boldness of their minds.

jo...@apexlegal.com.ng 

John Onyeukwu
http://www.policy.hu/onyeukwu/

 http://about.me/onyeukwu
“Let us move forward to fight poverty, to establish equity, and assure peace for the next generation.”
-- James D. Wolfensohn
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[Ibrahim Abdullah]

Unbelievable! 

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[DR SIKIRU ENIOLA]

For a split second, I thought this writer would spare a second to acknowledge the imperative need for the censorship of our budding youths population in the Tertiary Institutions. It is unbelievable that the writer should contextualise two non compatible issues to push this "outputs......" theory.

There have been many instances where and when parents visited their children and or wards in the Universities for supervisory or social visits. Their reactions, in most cases ranged from a descent into outright tirades and physical beating of their children who are insanely dressed in weird fashions and which they never saw with them at home even while on semester breaks. 

In other words, parents have become so alarmed at the unfettered freedom being condoned in our University settings. Their impressions range from tagging Universities or Tertiary Institutions as uncoordinated and as concerned with academic works devoid of any value orientation etc.

If a University of the OAU calibre begins to roll out strict dress codes, it is not because the Administration is just waking up to its responsibilities. It is because the Administration is NOW overwhelmed with a generation of Students, whose implacable notoriety and unwillingness to comply with simple rules of decency have reached a crescendo.

As Alumni members of our Universities, we must be seen to be sustaining the much touted legacies. In those days, a mere sight or sighting of a lecturer or lecturers scared students. These days, students compete with lecturers for walking spaces on corridors, beat up any lecturer who interrupts a tik tok session on his way to lecture rooms. Unfortunately,  Lecturers are also subjected to open and social media bullying and judgements on so many unfathomable cases of irascibility among Students.

Sir, our students have aspired to turn our University environment into picnics, carnivals and many other imaginable scenarios as depicted by various styles of indescribable dress and fashion styles. 

Kindly join us to sanitize our Universities. 

Interestingly, serious Nigerian University students, who are in the majority,  are not doing badly in academic engagements and competitions globally.

The issue of transcripts and results was at a low point in some Universities at a time. Today, the situation has improved remarkably. Students who attend convocation ceremonies now go home with their certificates. Once certificates are issued, transcripts are just printed upon requests as all results are already automated. We cannot shy away from the rot in our Universities owing to gross underfunding. Even though it is not yet uhuru, the infrastructure, welfare and Autonomy have improved remarkably. This owes largely to the struggles of ASUU that brought in massive intervention funds, a rejuvenated TETFUND and more dedication from Teachers in all cadres.

One sad development with TETFUND is the rate at which Graduate students in many fields of study abscond in violation of their bonds of scholarship. Recently, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND lamented cases in which medical students absconded with hundreds of millions of naira in scholarship funds. The second problem is the trickling interests of many academics to access the millions of naira in research grants sitting at TETFUND.

 In my conclusion, Nigerian Universities have reached a globally acknowledged level of innovation, discovery and developments in many core disciplines. With the Entrepreneural Departments and Units in all Universities and with renewed vigour,  Nigerian academics and our Students are no longer in the woods painted by this respected writer.

SIKIRU ENIOLA, PhD

Islamic Studies, with specialisation in Islamic Jurisprudence. 

Assoc Prof (On a Visiting Appointment)  Dept of Religion and African Culture,

Adekunle Ajasin University, 

Akungba Akoko, Nigeria.

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[John Onyeukwu]

Dear Sir,

Thank you for taking the time to engage critically with the piece, “Outputs, Not Outfits.” The essence of democratic discourse is not agreement, but understanding, and I appreciate the depth of your concerns.

Permit me to begin by affirming that I do not, and never did, discount the importance of values, discipline, or decorum in our universities. These matter, not as tools of authoritarian enforcement, but as part of a broader educational mission that includes moral reasoning, civic behavior, and responsible freedom. What I do question is the increasing tendency of university administrations to substitute moral panic for institutional reform, and to reach for reactionary measures, like rustication over dress styles, while long standing issues like student housing, curriculum modernization, and administrative inefficiencies persist.

You referenced parents’ frustrations with how their children dress when visited at school. This is valid. But we must distinguish between parental dismay and university level policy. The fact that some students dress in ways their parents dislike should not justify sweeping and punitive institutional codes that treat dress as a greater offence than plagiarism, cultism, or sexual harassment. Universities should educate values, not legislate conformity.

You also noted that "students now beat up lecturers," or "compete for walking space." These unfortunate anecdotes should not be used to stereotype an entire generation. When such incidents occur, they deserve disciplinary response. But let us also ask: what has created the gulf between students and lecturers? Could it be years of underfunding, poor mentoring structures, or a failure to integrate students meaningfully into institutional life?

As a proud product of Obafemi Awolowo University, I hold its legacy dear. But legacies are not static, they must evolve with time. The "days when the sight of a lecturer made students tremble" may signal nostalgia to some, but to others, they represent a culture of fear, not respect. Universities are not meant to raise fearful citizens, but confident thinkers who can engage authority without being violent or disrespectful.

On transcripts: I welcome the progress made in automating records and issuing certificates. But you will agree that this is not yet uniform across institutions. Many universities still struggle with these basics, especially outside convocation periods. That was my point, not to dismiss the gains, but to caution against complacency. You may wish to know that I have been trying to process transcript from University of Lagos since December 2024, after full online payment. What sort of system would you call that sir.

I also share your concern over the abuse of TETFUND scholarships and the underutilization of research grants. These are governance challenges that demand a culture of accountability and mentoring, not just penalties. Let us agree that the university space must do more to link academic work with national development, through innovation, ethics, and enterprise.

Finally, I did not claim our universities are “in the woods.” Rather, I argued that the path to greater innovation and global competitiveness will not be built on surveillance of appearance. We must build institutions that value outputs, research, impact, leadership, more than outfits.

Let us, as alumni, educators, and stakeholders, work not only to sanitize our universities, but also to liberate them, from underfunding, outdated norms, and administrative inertia. That is the call of this generation, and I believe we can rise to it.

With warm regards,

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAHqryX3Y0SLEJ%2BNU7N7HO7vyfLZsqE4nhuifjAPtVhDiKu3u6A%40mail.gmail.com.

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[Toyin Falola]

Dear John:

This is a masterclass on debating, providing what you call “understanding” without causing offense.

Thank you.

TF

 

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Sir,

Post-Ramadan, back in 1991, at the American University in Cairo I was quite taken aback by the Hollywood party style of dressing being adopted by many of their female students there, some of them dolled up in hijab and long evening gowns, a far cry the more casual, everyday attire of most female students and teachers at Stockholm University, for example. But what to expect when some wannabe adopts US dunya and all that glitter as their gold standard? 

When it was time for Zuhr, and “ the apparel oft proclaims the man” , me in my simple green Sudanese jellabiya and white turban, asked where I could do my salat, one of those lost, unholy Hollywood style Egyptian daughters snapped that their university was not a mosque and that if I wanted to pray I had better go somewhere else. I could not believe my ears ….

In a similar vein, this somewhat misleading  sentence, representing the dilemma as an either/ or issue also caught my eye, and but for your intervention, I would have let it slide: This chest-beating :

“As a proud product of OAU, I speak not in disdain, but in disappointment, for a system that taught me to think but now appears obsessed with regulating how students dress, not how they think.” ( John Onyeukwu ) 

Is OAU suggesting some kinds of strictures/ regimentation, such as school uniforms? Of course not. Should university rules be compulsory or obligatory? Who is going to win that debate?

When, because of the way that students think, the way that some students dress gets way out of control, and dress is tilting more and more towards undress, then it’s obviously time to take some measures and by some kind of consensus, to establish some basic standards of what could be acceptable as common decency.

From the many possible examples and contexts that could be suggested, specifically,  one of the contexts justifying such a move could be the widely publicized sex for grades scandals in Nigerian Universities , a scandal along with sexual harassment scandals that have been discussed in this series 

I don’t know how bad or good things are at OAU, but that a university - any university should legislate some dress code standards  - even in the Wild West ( where in the name of tolerance and “everything goes” for example some students would like to turn up for lectures  half naked) or in the Bible Belt ( where, the occasionally exceptional student  would like to leave nothing to the imagination  by turning up in her original birthday suit,  “natural” - stark naked  -with perhaps not even a fig leaf to decorate or conceal her crown jewels  - as it was in the beginning in the mythical garden of Eden,  such an extreme situation, and nota bene, along with temptation, “provocation is next to madness”, with everywhere, temptation prancing around in two legs, solving such a situation ought not to be reduced to such a university being accused of defaulting in providing a cultural and social environment that’s conducive to learning , just because such a university has no other option but to take some appropriate action to curb such extremism in exhibitionism 

In other words, students could be less obsessed with how they dress;  after all the University is not meant to be a fancy dress or Halloween party…or a pimper’s paradise…

Jethro Tull : Thick as a Brick 

[John Onyeukwu]

Dear Sir,

Thank you for sharing this rich and layered reflection, part personal memory, part cultural critique, part cautionary tale. I read it with interest and a measure of quiet laughter, especially at the vivid imagery of birthday suits and Halloween parades!

More seriously, you raise a valid point: every institution must negotiate its cultural values and academic identity in response to evolving norms and behaviors. My initial intervention was not to discount the need for order, but to caution against a uni-dimensional focus on appearance as the litmus test of moral or academic worth. You rightly point out that excess in one direction may provoke correction in another, but we must ensure that in correcting, we do not flatten complexity or suppress intellectual freedom under the weight of cultural (or religious) conformity.

Your reflections bring nuance to the conversation, and for that, I am genuinely grateful.

With respect and appreciation,
John

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[John Onyeukwu]

Dear TF,

Thank you so much for your kind words. I deeply appreciate your engagement and your generosity in receiving the piece and the response in the spirit they were offered.

It is conversations like these, thoughtful, respectful, and intellectually honest, that keep the hope alive for a more reasoned public discourse in our country.

Respectfully grateful,

John

John Onyeukwu
http://www.policy.hu/onyeukwu/

 http://about.me/onyeukwu
“Let us move forward to fight poverty, to establish equity, and assure peace for the next generation.”
-- James D. Wolfensohn
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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

John Onyeukwu,

 

Your gracefulness, politeness and humility are all so disarming. You remind me of mentor Harvey Tristan Cropper, an elder --it happened on a few occasions that after roundly reprimanding me in front of everybody - in public, at one of our parliamentary sessions, I would visit him early, the following morning, knock on his door, and when he opened the door I swore I would unforgettably straighten him out - not in front of everybody, have it out, just me and him, I would give him an unmistakable  piece of my mind and after that he would NEVER EVER again reprimand me like that in front of everybody. But then he would open the door to his studio which was at the top floor, open the door, dressed in his dressing gown, Charlie Parker playing in the background, a smile on his face, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and enquire politely how was I doing, at which point  my intention to straighten him out would have evaporated…or thawed/ melted like snow. Lesson repeatedly learned: Charm, disarms  . 

Re- your words, “...but we must ensure that in correcting, we do not flatten complexity or suppress intellectual freedom under the weight of cultural (or religious) conformity.” You have a major point there.

Back in the day, when I was a headstrong, rebellious, iconoclast circa August - December 1965 as a freshman  at the then so called “Athens of West Africa”, ever ready to turn water into wine, I wrote two protest /incitement notes in succession and pinned them on the noticeboard  by the dining room, and in the aftermath of some other “actions”, within two weeks the more than a hundred year tradition of wearing academic gowns to lectures and dinner jackets to dinner on Friday evenings came to a sudden end, were abolished and that was easy-peasy, thanks to yours truly.

Right now I’m mulling over the dress code for the Nobel Banquet, which means that either you follow/ obey the rules of the house or you get thrown out or in fact you are not even permitted to enter….. otherwise, in this space in which I award myself the freedom to imagine,  I would like to fondly imagine that at a future date we would probably have poet laureate Chidi Anthony Opara, all smiles (not “shmiling and shuffering”) turning up for the Nobel Banquet dressed in his smoking or dressed to kill in his latest rub-a-dub style, ( not his academic toga) and later on shmoking and puff-puffing one of his ssssssspecial, mighty, after-dinner-Cuban-cigars… 

Well, I finally tried to get to the bottom of what we’re talking about, where it all started, and finally came across some of the shocking details from the “leaked dress code memo from Obafemi Awolowo University”. Of course, the university authorities are hotly denying they have anything to do with the alleged contents, they might even be feeling a little ashamed of themselves if it could have possibly all been true, but this much is certain: There can be no smoke without fire.

Mention religious bigotry or oversensitivity and these two examples spring to mind - the Miss World  Riots that raged right across Nigeria in November 2002, and years later, the untimely demise of Deborah Samuels

For some of the people born in Freetown, the idea called Freedom has an extra special resonance. Personally, I don’t like telling people (anybody) what to do - I turned in my perfect badge  a week after I was appointed a school prefect , in  lower six…

Since I rightly intuit you are a man of understanding, there’s not much more that I would have to say to you about the matter of academic freedom, which I suppose ought to include within reasonable limits, the right to wear hijab, Bermuda shorts ( once upon a time like the late James Ngugi  on the Legon campus) or even the right to wear bellbottom trousers as some students did when Carnaby Street was the rage….

And you are absolutely right that the other long-outstanding issues such as the quality of the teaching etc, in a more enabling environment, and various improvements in the conditions of student life are of even greater importance…

[DR SIKIRU ENIOLA]

Thank u sir for your engaging response. If any of my points indicated a misrepresentation of your valid observations,  I sincerely apologise. Its just an academic coincidence.

I agree with you substantially. You never said that Nigerian Universities are in the woods. It was my own way of qualifying the journey so far. 

I'm amazed that Unilag could have this problem. It must be procedural or it must owe largely to the time lag and the inability of the Exams and Records Dept to work with your Dept. In my University,  when there had been a long break or for those who graduated a long time ago, chances are that records are already displaced in the process of moving from an old location to a new one. These movements happened once new Faculty buildings or Depts are put up. 

It becomes the duty of the officers to link up and Course's and or level Coordinators become handy in such isolated situations.

With the advancement in technology and the digitalisation of records, our Universities cannot be defended on the issues of delayed transcripts or results. Every lecturer now is authorised, once results have been approved by Senate, to upload such results unto the University portal. 

In other words, movements or relocations no longer affect student's records.

On the Unilag issue, I'm sure that our senior colleagues here will be helpful in resolving that knotty transcript processing.

My best rgds sir.

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[John Onyeukwu]

Dear Chief,

Thank you so much for this generous and vivid reflection, equal parts memoir, metaphor, and mischief. You brought a smile to my face more than once, and your evocation of the Nobel Banquet and Chidi Anthony Opara in “smoking or rub-a-dub” was nothing short of inspired!

Your anecdotes about Harvey Cropper and your early student days remind us that charm, indeed, disarms, and that the theatre of ideas is best played not with malice, but with music in the background, some civility, and a shared commitment to something deeper than the superficial.

I agree wholeheartedly that universities must sometimes draw boundaries, not out of puritanical rigidity, but to maintain an environment conducive to learning, dignity, and safety. But it is in how we draw those lines, with context, care, and courage, that the soul of the institution is truly revealed.

Thank you again for your thoughtfulness. I feel, in this exchange, the true spirit of the academy, -spirited, searching, and sincerely human.

Warm regards,
John

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/495a91dd-6adf-4810-8bfa-0b246ae53961n%40googlegroups.com.

[John Onyeukwu]

Dear Dr.,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and gracious message. No misrepresentation at all, I took no offence whatsoever, and I deeply appreciate the spirit of intellectual engagement you bring to the conversation.

Your insights into procedural gaps and institutional transitions are spot on. As you rightly observed, the delays often reflect a mismatch between legacy systems and modern expectations, rather than individual failings. And truly, with the digitalization of records, especially Senate approved uploads to portals, we have fewer excuses today for lapses that should have been phased out.

That said, I must admit that I am just tired of making excuses for Nigeria’s many failed and failing institutions, especially when I know that with just a little effort, many of these problems can be better managed. Our university administration is becoming like, if not worse than, the worst of our MDAs. It is unfortunate, but it is the truth. And it is even more painful given the calibre of minds the university space harbors. We can do better, but I fear it may not happen under the current generation of university administrators. I truly doubt.

Even so, your emphasis on coordination between Exams & Records and departmental officers is both practical and hopeful. And I do share your optimism that, with support from our senior colleagues, the Unilag matter might yet be resolved (or become more complicated).

With kind regards,
John

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Stockholm

Sweden

People’s Planet.

2nd of August, 2025 

John Onyeukwu,

Have you ever thought of running for president?

If you are feeling too shy or humble, you don’t 

have to answer the question. 

 

You are a busy man and this is really

to the forum, through you, nominally…

About dear Harvey Cropper 

He had such a phenomenal memory!

Harvey was at FESTAC '77 in Lagos. 

Home again. So many stories to tell !

The very first time he got angry with me 

was when I complained that so few

people were writing poetry in African

Languages. WHY DON’T YOU DO IT ?

He thundered. I explained that my competence

wasn’t good enough in any African Language, wasn’t

good enough to write poetry. Competence in e.g. Krio 

is only acquired through full immersion in every aspect 

of Krio culture.  

As time wore on and especially 

the last year or so of his life 

when there were other people around, 

anything that I said was wrong:

If it was white and I said it was

white, he’d say ,” No : it’s Black”

It was like a game. Whatever I said 

he’d say the opposite. For example

if I said, “We the Black people…” I

wouldn’t even be allowed to complete 

the sentence because dear Harvey 

would be bellowing at the top of his voice : 

DON’T COME HERE WITH YOUR RACISM !

A few years ago I told Lefifi Tladi about this

and he had an explanation. By the way, in 1985

Johnny Mbizo Dyani gave me the name Themba Feza 

which means “ Hope to complete”. His trumpeter was

Mongezi Feza. We ( friends) will be gathering to 

celebrate Harvey’s birthday here in Stockholm,

on the 4th of August.

John Onyeukwu,

Man of analysis and understanding 

Man of the palm-oil oral tradition 

so you think that talking

is going to solve everything?

When has talking solved anything?

You gonna convene another National 

Sovereign Conference? Where? At Abuja?

Umuahia? At the United Nations headquarters in New York?

But the United Nations are not united, ditto Nigeria.

Not united. I shouldn’t be pessimistic?

I’m not. I’m Pan-African. I’m optimistic.  

We've still got to go through these seven stages

Trump thinks that he’s at stage 8 and that’s why

he wants to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace   

He would like to take the United States, Greenland,

Canada and Gaza with him, to the Highest Heaven 

Meanwhile, over there in Nigeria,

Anti-corruption commissions and wars against 

corruption have only exacerbated the problem

that everybody apart from the looters is crying about. 

The Bank Manager at Savannah Bank at No 10 Aba Road 

Port Harcourt, stole my £6,000 Sterling! As Ojogbon said, 

“Alas! you need power to keep the money you have stolen.”

So apart from firmly establishing the rule of law, real power 

to the people, so that the looters are forced to  vomit the money,

what else can you do about it? 

You and your lot

get yourselves elected 

discuss at the Pnyx

get cheques signed

at Aso Rock, grumble

and groan some more,

cry tears of poetry or

poverty at the Owerri Motor 

Parking Lot 

“Democracy don't rule the world

You better get that in your head

This world is ruled by violence

But I guess that's better left unsaid” 

Let’s face it: Nigeria is Nigeria is Nigeria

just like any other country with myriad problems 

that your premiere universities are aware of and 

it’s expected that those citadels of learning should be 

churning out solutions and healing the nation…

Let’s face it mate:

“Time is pilin' up, we struggle and we scrape

We're all boxed in, nowhere to escape”

Let’s face it, making a mountain out of a molehill

a simple thing such as some fake news about 

some alleged draconian measures with regard 

to appropriate dress on campus, something you would think 

could be left to individual conscience, preference 

and taste, not like in the military and the special

constabulary where just as in heaven the first law

is you’ve gotta obey - and by the way in the IDF 

there’s no saluting; the oga does not salute nor is

the oga saluted; the junior miscreant does not 

salute the ogre of ogres, the hog of hogs/commodore

chief of staff/ Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor of the Exchequer 

but as a sign of respect, people are supposed to stand up when 

the Torah scholar enters,

 

Still in the realm of talking,

Sierra Leone’s President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah proposed 

Seven National Values for the nation’s healing:

“ Resourcefulness

"Excellence

"Tolerance

"Good Neighbourliness

"Generosity

"Honesty

"Self-esteem

I guess we could all do with all 7 of those proposed national values ?

[John Onyeukwu]

Dear Chief,

What a message! Like a jazz solo stretching across decades, dancing between memory, provocation, grief, satire, and the drumbeat of hope.

First, thank you for your generous words. I don’t know about running for President, I can barely run my own schedule. But you’re not wrong: it’s hard to watch Nigeria grind its way through every national absurdity and not want to convene a Sovereign Conference in your head. Abuja? No. Umuahia? Perhaps. But if I had my way, it would be under a mango tree somewhere in Alayi, with kola nut, palm wine, and people still unafraid of truth.

You summon Harvey with such force I could almost hear his thunderous rebuttal, “DON’T COME HERE WITH YOUR RACISM!”, and it made me smile and wince at the same time. That peculiar alchemy of love, contradiction, genius, and memory. He must have been one of a kind. The kind that reminds us that nations too have personalities, moody, brilliant, and self-destructive.

Oh yes, I agree. Talking isn’t enough. But silence is worse. Poetry isn’t policy. But I have seen a line of verse undo years of cynicism. Words, when carried in the mouths of the right people, still move mountains, or at least shake a few foundations.

As for our current democraship (part democracy, part hardship, mostly drift), I weep too. About the universities. About the anticorruption performances. About the savannah banks of broken dreams. You ask, what can be done? I return to Kabbah’s seven values, not because they are magic, but because they still make more sense than much of what passes for national planning. Especially that last one, self-esteem. No nation can rise without it. No reform will stick if people are too broken to believe.

So no, I won’t run for president. But I will run my mouth. Thoughtfully. Hopefully. Tirelessly. That, my friend, is the only race I am qualified for, and maybe the one that still matters most.

Happy birthday to Harvey, wherever he now roars.

Warmly,
John 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/013d8c12-833a-4a86-9680-4eefc1610549n%40googlegroups.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

John Onyeukwu,

As always, muchas gracias for your gracious thoughts and your significant words. 

Someone with less foresight may well be asking how come I’m saying “as always” after only slightly knowing you in cyberspace for three days ? The answer is that unlike NEPA (never expect power always) I think that  after the first, second and third impressions, when it comes to John Onyeukwu, quality is to be expected always, quality of the kind that Ahmad Tejan Kabbah probably had in mind when he recommended Resourcefulness, Excellence, Tolerance, Good Neighbourliness, Generosity, Honesty, Self-esteem as desirable personal and national qualities  - to which I’d like to add ( with you in mind) Patience ( Sabr) and Forbearance. 

Self-esteem belongs to the department of human dignity and of course we have to be constantly aware and on the alert that there ought not to be that surfeit in our own sense of self-esteem (caused by an excess of self-love) to the extent that we become arrogant and overstep the bounds by impinging on someone else's dignity, sense of self-worth, and that includes those that are deemed to be servants like us… 

Self-esteem seems to be more local than national and will continue like that until we have an overarching sense of nationhood. How do we achieve that? What can be observed in our West Africa, is that self-esteem seems to be mostly individual (personal) as everywhere else in the world, and then local ( our ethnic vanity, in our ethnic vicinity). What’s also observable is that because of so much dissatisfaction with mis-governance, as you say, “it’s hard to watch Nigeria grind its way through every national absurdity and not want to convene a Sovereign Conference in your head”, of course self-esteem at the national level manifests most passionately (chest-beating) when a Nigerian excels ( thereby symbolically representing all Nigerians) otherwise it’s according to the weight a passport carries, or at international competitions such as Nigeria winning the Women’s Africa cup in Football, and what a day it should be when Nigeria wins the World Cup in Football. Prediction : Overnight we would all become Nigerians. Chest beating Nigerians, and LOUD - no racism, just BLACK & PROUD ! 

On the political scene, what’s missing is some rhetoric about making Nigeria great and here too, could you please demystify us ; what do you mean by “No reform will stick if people are too broken to believe.”? Your fitness to be the next or a soon to be future president is going to be assessed based on your answer to that question…

For now, you may be demurring as a reluctant presidential candidate or that your time is not yet because it’s the Octogenarians' time, the old fogies who wannabe like Paul Biya ( sadly Chidi is trying to be a good Nigerian neighbour by not writing a poem about his neighbour Paul Biya, but what about a poem starring his own president? )

Don’t come here with your racism etc , well I admire Gore Vidal 

Would like to see debates of this quality :

Malcolm X. Oxford University Union Debate in 1964

James Baldwin vs William F Buckley

In the meantime, many thanks for highlighting Alayi ( indeed, charity begins at home) and  -ah nostalgia  - the pastoral idyll “under the mango tree somewhere with kola nut, palm wine, and people still unafraid of truth.”

 Nostalgia  -Umuahia 👍 Leon Thomas :The Creator Has a Master Plan

“There was a time, when peace was on the earth

And joy and happiness did reign and each man

Knew his worth.

In my heart I yearn for

That spirit’s return and I cry, as time flies

Oooomm, Oooomm

There is a place where love wherever shines, and

Rainbows are the shadows of a presence so divine

And the glow of that love lights

The heavens above, and it’s free, come with me

Can’t you see

The creator has a working plan— peace and

Happiness for every man

The creator has a master plan— peace and

Happiness for every man

The creator makes but one demand, happiness thru

All the land”

Back in the day - my brief stay in Nigeria -1981-84  -in my neck of the jungle it was Rivers State, Imo, Anambra, Bendel …and since then a couple of new states have been sprung out of those four states. In the last Nigerian presidential election the Federal Capital Territory was being disputed as a state and I suppose that with the stipulation that “To be declared Presidential winner, a candidate must secure at least 1/4th (25%) of votes cast in 2/3rd of the entire 36 States of Nigeria (that is in 24 States” is more than enough reason why all over the place people are agitating for more states to be carved out of their own ethnic enclaves in time for the upcoming 2027 Mother of all Nigerian Presidential Elections. 

Still on the political front I hear that there are special schools where future African leaders are being trained ,not that in the next 20 years, Nigeria's presidents have to come from those schools?

Most seriously : 

Today being the 9th of Av of absolute relevance  to us all,  something we ought to pay attention to and examine because it also bedevils national harmony, not only interpersonal ships : Sinat Chinam (baseless hatred)  It was Sinat Chinam  that caused the  destruction of the Second Temple : In a nutshell :The Story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza…

[John Onyeukwu]

Dear Chief,

You write like a jazz ensemble plays, improvising across registers, threading memory, melody, mischief, and mourning into a full-bodied sound that leaves the listener somewhere between snap and silence. I hear the drums of Baldwin in Oxford, the wail of Leon Thomas in “The Creator,” and, somewhere, the thunderclap of Harvey Cropper warning us, once again, not to come here with our racism or, dare I say, our complacency.

You asked me to demystify this line:

“No reform will stick if people are too broken to believe.”

Let me offer the mystery in return, by way of parable, place, and politics.

Picture a road. A Nigerian one, naturally, perhaps the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, under construction since Methuselah. On that road is a teacher , no pay for six months, still showing up. Next to him, a nurse who’s never known what a functioning scanner looks like. Down the road, a youth corper with two degrees and no hope. Then a farmer who tills but doesn’t eat, middlemen, subsidies swallowed by "ghosts." And a grandmother who voted every cycle but has never once seen a promise kept.

Now, gather them together. Tell them: “Reform is coming.” Will they believe you? Or will they, like Bar Kamtza, smile on the outside but seethe on the inside, because betrayal stings deepest when it wears the robes of community?

This, my Chief, is what I meant. Reform, the real kind, doesn’t begin with policy documents or press briefings. It begins with restoring trust. And trust grows only in the soil of dignity, when people see themselves not as beggars at the gates of governance, but as co-creators in the national experiment. Without that, all you get is chest-thumping when Nigeria wins a trophy, and chest-slumping the morning after, when ‘NEPA’ strikes again.

Ah, yes, self-esteem, as you so brilliantly observed, is mostly local, sometimes ethnic, rarely national. That is our burden and our unfinished work. Until we forge a shared story, Nigeria remains a house with 200 rooms and 0 living rooms.

But let me not only bemoan. You reminded me that “The Creator has a master plan”, peace and happiness for every man. The line holds. So long as we teach it. Model it. Remember it. Even, or especially , on Tisha B’Av, when we contemplate the temple ruins of hate.

I thank you also for invoking the schools grooming Africa’s “future leaders.” May they remember humility. May they learn from Paul Biya what not to do. And please inform Chidi that a poem is long overdue , not about our neighbors but about ourselves. The kind of poem that doesn’t rhyme, but rings true.

As for the 2027 elections, well, let them add more states if they must. Let them carve out more boundaries. But unless we redraw the map of our hearts, we will continue to wander in circles, democracy without destination, INEC stylee.

So here's to patience (Sabr), forbearance, and the occasional mango tree meeting. May we yet raise a nation where dignity isn't seasonal and belief isn't broken.

Ever grateful,
John

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/a56c5b3b-8d78-4af3-af32-67cfb6a26879n%40googlegroups.com.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Stockholm 

Sweden

People's Planet

August 5, 2025  

Dear John,

Yesterday would have been Harvey’s 94th birthday

 - dayan ha emet - 

But it seems the good die young, yeah

I just looked around

And he was gone 

Patrice Lumumba at thirty five years of age , also 

Dr King and Malcolm before they were forty years old 

John F when he was 46 years old, Jimi Hendrix at 27….

A couple of people turned up at the park yesterday, among them Ken Baskin, Melvyn Price ( USA)  Lefifi Tladi , Ebrahim Isaacs ( South Africa) Poe Jatta, Modou Sarho ( Gambia) Ambrose (Cameroon), Lars, Einar (Sweden 

Tomorrow it should be some time since Cornelius Hamelberg

6 August 2019

 

Down memory lane, my earliest intimations of patriotism must have started with “God Save the Queen” over here in Merry England in 1952,  years later followed by High We Exalt Thee, Realm of the Free and since circa 1971, Du gamla, du fria is  pulling at the heart strings.

Likewise, for this Pan-Africanist the national enterprise Nigeria started with an acquaintance with The Story of Nigeria  and I suppose ,for Nigerians is intimately with taking to heart, believing in a hope in the words of the Nigerian National Anthem as it is sung gustily…..

Your eloquent demystification of what you mean by  “No reform will stick if people are too broken to believe.” now convinces me that instead of merely sitting on some policy board or think-tank  you ought to be running for president with an introduction and personal letter of recommendation from someone like Chief Emeka Anyaoku; and prior to your election it should be interesting to study your intentions, your memorandum on  purpose when you address Chatham House, where the wannabe next Nigerian president  usually addresses the issue of the direction in which he would like to take his beloved countrymen  as part of the Nigerian pre-election ritual, the aim being that as the Mr. President in the driver’s seat, we do not “wander in circles, democracy without destination”, democracy without wheels…

About humility and that kind of jazz, “ Another signpost pointing in the same direction is the term id ,which, in the later Freud, is the opposite of the term ego; as in the earlier Freud, consciousness is the opposite of the unconscious….” P 88  of Norman O Brown’s Love’s Body , Chapter V, titled Unity 

Fela & Roy Ayers : 2000 Black

Not “Hilarious”

 

Cornelius 

[John Onyeukwu]

Dear Chief,

Apologies for this late response,  I’ve been buried under work commitments here in Lomé, where the city breathes with its own quiet poetry and the Atlantic murmurs like a memory.

Your note moved me deeply. Harvey’s 94th -  dayan ha emet ,  and yet, it feels as though he left us mid-sentence, like so many giants whose lives were sketches of a larger masterpiece. You evoke a lineage of the too-soon-gone: Lumumba, King, Malcolm, JFK, Hendrix… prophets and visionaries who lit the path briefly but blindingly.

I can almost picture the gathering at the park, a constellation of kindred spirits bridging continents and generations. The names you listed - Ken, Lefifi, Ebrahim, Poe, Ambrose, Lars,  read like a roll call of resistance and reflection.

Your reflections on patriotism across geographies , from “God Save the Queen” to Du gamla, du fria,  remind us how national anthems are less about nations and more about longing. And indeed, “The Story of Nigeria” was an early spark for many of us, planting seeds of pride and purpose amid difficult soil.

Your generous words on my writing humbled me. I laughed out loud at the image of Chatham House and Chief Anyaoku introducing me, what a thing that would be! But for now, I remain a student of history and struggle, grateful for the company of elders like you who help sharpen both thought and tongue.

The Freud passage you referenced brought me back to Love’s Body,  that uneasy dance between id and ego, unity and fracture. And yes, “2000 Black” remains a soundscape of refusal and radical hope.

From Lomé, with respect and warmth across the miles and memory lanes.

Yours in solidarity,

John

John Onyeukwu
http://www.policy.hu/onyeukwu/

 http://about.me/onyeukwu
“Let us move forward to fight poverty, to establish equity, and assure peace for the next generation.”
-- James D. Wolfensohn
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