A Journey to the University in the Forest: Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Efere Martins Obuotor and the Challenges of Nigerian Academia
Oluwatoyin Adepoju
A Journey to the University in the Forest
Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Efere Martins Obuotor and the Challenges of Nigerian Academia
Reaching for the sky
at the entrance to the building housing the bookshop of Obafemi Awolowo
University
Photo by myself
Camera: iPhone 6s
Image edited on Photos app of an HP laptop
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
The two universities I understand as most clearly representative of the foundations of Nigerian intellectual culture in the post-classical era, following the primary achievements represented by the cognitive worlds of distinctive Nigerian civilizations, are the University of Ibadan and the University of Ife, the latter now named Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) after it's founder.
Other Nigerian universities have demonstrated strategic achievements of global stature, such as the emergence of post-classical Nigerian art at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the efflorescence of a continually renewed culture of artistic creativity and art criticism at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, it's graduates and academics continually among Africa's most prominent artists and art scholars, the work of philosopher Sophie Oluwole and others at the University of Lagos, the relatively recent cultivation of philosophical schools at the University of Port Harcourt and the University of Calabar, a selection indicating the circumscription of my exposure but perhaps also something of the actual contours of the kind of achievement I am trying to map, something inclusive of but beyond individual attainment, representing more of a concentration of scholars, who, over decades, in various disciplines, fundamentally enrich the established character of a discipline, create new foundations or rework the discipline.
In my admittedly unresearched and general exposure so far to the subject of Nigerian intellectual history, the universities of Ibadan and Ife are the most impactful in terms of the cumulative effect of it's communities of scholars on the humanities in African Studies, this being the area which I understand post-classical Nigerian intellectual culture has most shaped the world of organized knowledge.
I am not aware of collective advances in the sciences in Nigerian universities at the level I am describing.
In historiography and history writing, in philosophy, literary criticism and literature, in African language studies represented by exploration of Yoruba, in artistic criticism, particularly of Yoruba art and it's philosophical significance, scholars of the universities of Ibadan and OAU, who have studied there or worked there at some point in their careers, have been particularly strategic in creating the African input into these fields, generating an African identity in these disciplines, constructing a discourse centred on Africa in these bodies of knowledge, an achievement running across scholars both African and non-African.
These thoughts began to come together for me in my journey from Lagos to Obafemi Awolowo University, passing through Ibadan, as the voices of Isidore Okpewho, Abiola Irele, Kenneth Dike, Dan Izevbaye, Ulli Beier, Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo, Wole Soyinka and others resonating in rhythm with their immortal work in literary studies and history and cultural studies at the University of Ibadan or as alumni of that institution, seemed to reach me on the wind as the vehicle I was in flew through the city, it's outskirts bearing a look of struggling rural life, making me wonder about the ultimate impact of the intense radiation of the achievements of the university on the city in which it is sited.
Ife looked more developed in it's outskirts as we entered the city, the majestic landscape of the university immediately evident even from the entrance in the variety and scope of vegetation one encounters there, a beautiful expanse of trees stretching to the left just before the campus gate, the density of arboreal forms within thin undergrowth creating a zone both isolated from the busyness of the entrance as people and vehicles come and go, but also enabling one sit within the space and relax as one soaks in the rejuvenating atmosphere of quietly majestic beauty.
Sadly, however, the place was inadequately maintained, as suggested by piles of discarded plastic bottles and bushy undergrowth that could have been trimmed to create a more hospitable environment.
Another configuration of trees is to the right of the gate, amidst the campus motor park and traders, trees of striking beauty, suggesting one of the primary glories of this campus, it's natural landscape, between vegetation, glorious hills and undulating spaces, a perfect habitat for reflection, for inspirational upliftment within nature, but evoking the question, to what degree is the vision represented by this union of built and natural space being actualized, particularly within the context of the clearly grand vision the university represents, as demonstrated by the sheer ambition dramatized by the scale of the built environment, the awesome expanse of land on which these structures sit and the comprehensive scope of academic activity indicated by the various departments and research centres, the bookshop and other agencies that define the university?
The physical glory of OAU needs photography of a high order to capture, picturing both individual structures and infrastructural sweep, glorious landscape and luminously beautiful trees, but this would also show the generally undermaintained nature of the structures, exteriors badly in need of paint, a particular departmental sign board looking like a construct in a derelict building, staff quarters amidst wonderful natural spaces, but some buildings looking in need of paint, within bushy surroundings, some suggesting a need for rebuilding in more aesthetically appealing forms, a bookshop rich in books to a degree, but the roof of which needs repair to prevent leaks currently addressed by buckets placed under the leaking sections.
The tension between environmental power, infrastructural and academic ambition and the actualization of this potential is further framed for me by the public and private testimonies from academic and non-academic staff of the scholarly career and interpersonal impact of Professor Efere Martins Obuotor, a family friend whose funeral I was at the university to attend, a professor of biochemistry described as using his own funds in building a powerful laboratory used by various science departments, and giving his own money in providing otherwise unavailable resources in advancing the careers of students, a culture extended to his role in the maintenance of infrastructure in his campus staff quarters neighborhood, even as he lived a very simple life.
This contrast between possibility and potential is further represented for me by the untrimmed grass covering much of the cemetery in which he was buried, an illustrious scholar laid to rest in a space which his university has not ensured is kept neat and even beautiful in respect for it's citizens at rest there, a level of care that could facilitate families of the departed and others visiting the place for relaxation and reflection at such a nexus of the worlds of the breathing and of those beyond breath, adapting OAU alumnus Toyin Falola on the worlds of the breathing and the breathless as constituting the matrix of the visible and the invisible within the rhythm of the cosmos in his essay "Ritual Archives."
The minimally maintained character of the cemetery and the other challenges of spatial and infrastructural maintenance the university demonstrates contrasts sharply with the glorious scenery through which one moves from the campus gate into the campus, trees rising elegantly into space from carefully mown stretches of grass, a delight for walking and cycling, although, regrettably, there are no cycle and walking paths on this magnificent space, a great recreational and transportation opportunity thereby left untapped, even within the campus' acute challenge of mobility within it's vast spaces, a situation underserved by the buses and motorcycles that ply the campus, a challenge exemplified particularly by the closure of the staff quarters to public transportation in response to acute security challenges, making vehicular mobility a must within the beautifully undulating landscapes of the vastly unfolding expanse of the staff quarters, circled by forest powerfully suggestive of the role of nature in nurturing humanity.
With a cycle culture facilitated by provision of cycle paths across those wonderful spaces, transportation costs would be significantly reduced along with an increase in maximizing the health benefits of the environment for it's citizens.
But, how can Nigerians be weaned from the association between cycling and poverty, in a world that over valorizes cars, even as some cities in different prosperous parts of the world are emphasizing systems encouraging the health benefits of walking and cycling as opposed to the negative human biological and environmental effects of cars?