2nd letter to the ASUU chairman,Professor Emmanuel Osodeke
Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth
Dear professor Emmanuel Osodeke
When I first came to London my friend told me in Yoruba “ AWON EYAN WA WON KI KA WE” meaning our people do not read. Not that they do not read to get their chain of degrees.and professional qualifications but they do not read to broaden their mind and perhaps not for leisure
Of course readers become leaders and leaders need to be broad minded and versatile and so we are told we have a leadership deficit in Nigeria or amongst nigerians.
Much of the problems that make Nigerians run away to other countries in search of greener pastures i believe can be solved by these same run away nigerians by consulting books in a library or by consulting librarians,
Professor Osodeke If you go onto Amazon.co uk and study the rankings or analytics of nigerian books or nigerian authors you feel Nigerians in Diaspora should at least be reading and even Nigerians at home and they seem not to be reading you might then have an idea of the makeup of the 15 million plus Nigerians in Diaspora And several tens of millions at home
It's often been said that if you want to hide something from a black ,put it in a book. I have been to the first black bookshop in london and for 56 years it has not moved out of space barely able to serve as a one car garage that is in london with so many nigerians with houses on millionaires row. In short, poor sales. Just like we are told in Nigeria you could barely sell 5000 copies of quality literature in 3 years unless of course it is a prescribed text..
Nigerians are known for BIRTHDAYS,BURIALS and BETHROTALS and of course BENTLEYS , BMWs. And BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS.residential buildings WITHOUT BOOKS or FAMILY LIBRARIES
The problem,then with Nigerian universities , I suspect is not the man in the presidential villa. We need a critical mass of people outside academia who can stand for and support the idea of the university. Look at the support some of our youths are giving to the presidential candidates. Why can”t they give this level of support to education? To make the necessary demands on their elected representatives.
I can conjecture that most undergraduates and their parents or guardians only see the university in terms of the certificates or the meal tickets, otherwise what goes on in the university is irrelevant to the lives they want to lead.
What is the life the typical; graduate wants to live? He or she wants to tick boxes, get a job, make money, buy a car,plasma TV and all kinds of consumer electronics and electrical appliances, including a Generator. Then get married not without an elaborate wedding ceremony and of course build a house.. And Nigerians are good at that.,raise children, and give their children the best education your money can buy, and the cycle continues
Professor Ibidapo obe one time Vice chancellor of university of lagos
affirmed that Nigerians do not believe that the solution to their problems could be found in libraries, laboratories and workshops.
In a democratic setting it is these Nigerians and not lecturers on strike who should be making the necessary demand on their elected representatives
you have nigerians running away to so called greener pastures and there they find places ready made to acquire meal tickets and realize their professional or entrepreneurial dreams
If nigerians in diaspora bother to read History of their host countries they would find out the very significant roles play from times past by thinkers, writers, philosopher and philanthropists
With regards to the idea of a nigerian university,The Nigerian universities
have assumed too much on the part of their students or their products or
the larger society. The universities teach everything else but the idea of the university
Prof,If i were your kid brother i would move for a cease fire until the next
administration is sworn in thats only 6 months from now.
Prof , you are a scion of the soil just like an Ibadan man,
You are a soil scientist i can conjecture you have nor enjoyed being
i a soil scientist in a nigerian university. Not only soil science.
It's the whole gamut of agriculture.
My pretty propounding professor once told me it's all”hype” as far as
government proclamation ofn agriculture. Is concerned
Dr. Oohay
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