Re: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Government appoints vicechancellors for new federal universities, Prof. Aluko,my condolences!

Many thanks, Toyin (Adepoju) for your usual characteristic manner of showing deep understanding on delicate national issues such as this. I have made my point. I am not surprised that many Nigerians are a bunch of contradictions, always playing the Ghanaian proverbial bird,"Chi-chi-do-do"! It was Kole Omotoso who drew an interesting analogy of the scenario in one of his novels, The Scale, it is playing out right now. Let me share the story with you briefly: an architect saw a deffective building being put up by a group of people who apparently did not have any knowledge of building construction. The architect warned that it was no use going on with the building, he advised that the construction be pulled down,so that they could start afresh. The builders argued with him, it would be a huge waste of money to demolish the building. They concluded, there must be some way around it. So they continued with the construction. Shortly after completion they moved into the house amidst wanton celebration, the Nigerian style. Two months after people began to notice some threatening cracks. The builders and some advisers suggested that they use bamboos to prop the about to collapse walls. So they did. The expert architect was later invited to join them in the house. They convinced him that if he was with them he could advice on what to do the moment the building threatened to collapse. Or that his presence as an expert was sufficient to stop the building from collapsing. Although the expert expressed his worries and the foolishness of going to work in that kind of a trap, but he went in all the same. Then one afternoon, without further warning,the house came down on them all,the foolish builders and their expert architect. The end of the story. Those who have ears let them hear! Again,my condolences!
Ademola Dasylva

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

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From: toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com>

Sender: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:10:55 +0000

To: <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Government appoints vice chancellors for new federal universities, Prof. Aluko,my condolences!

thanks Prof. Dasylva, for presenting so clearly this issue of creating new universities in the light of current inadequacies.

toyin

On 14 February 2011 02:11, Toyin Falola <toyin.falola@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:

From: a.dasylva@ibadanculturalstudiesgroup.org
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:36:44 +0000

Dear Prof. Aluko,
I am genuinely worried at your recent appointment as one of the VCs for the newly created federal universities, and disturbed by the avalanche of congratulatory messages from colleagues,friends and well wishers. No doubt,you eminently qualify but that is not the issue. I see a deliberate distraction by political schemers of the ruling party playing on the naivity of the citizenry. Have you sat down to weigh the implications of such political abracadabra the power of pronouncing 9 universities into existence as if they were 9 bottles of beer? I wonder where colleagues kept their memory and simply jumped at celebrating a cleverly orchestrated Trojan horse or Greek gift. On Federal appointments: Tai Solarin of the blessed memory and the People's Bank, Wole Soyinka and the Federal Road Safety Commission, Prof Sam Aluko and the National Economic Intelligence Committee,etc., and most recently, Prof. Jega and INEC. The story has been the same, frustration for lack of tools to work with, for lack of the right people to work, undue interference from Government, etc. The first three were deliberately nearly disgraced out of office. It was their pedigree and good reputation they had built for themselves over the years,their dedication and passion for their beloved nation that bailed them out! Jega's is still a question of time, and that is almost predictable, except there is a divine intervention. The case of stolen DCMs, registration manipulations and other desperate moves by the do-or-die politicians are mere tip of the iceberg. Sufficient to remind Jega that being an academic or a former President of ASUU does not make him a magician that is capable of running an efficient INEC given the existing structure he met on ground.
Prof Aluko, you are more or less a moving encyclopedia of information on Nigeria and as such possesses an impressive knowledge on how Nigeria has continued to be misruled by the current ruling Party,so I actually thought that you would turn down the offer on the grounds that(1) creating a Federal university in every State of Nigeria is the least of options to cater for many of our youth seeking university admission,(2) existing Federal universities could be better funded, expanded, and equipped to accommodate more students,(3)the so called money given to establish each new university is inadequate to develop a world class Faculty of Science. Besides, don't be deceived as contractors appointed by the same government agents are already laying ambush to pounce on the money so that less than a third of the money will finally end up doing the work on the site. If the project finally fails,guess who will carry the blame? You of course. That is the tradition here. I think well meaning Nigerians should insist that Federal govt should be concerned more with making all our redundant refineries work, repair our road network, make the trains move on our railways again, and find permanent solution to electricity generation and distribution(4) FG should create employment opportunities for our youth. Alas, a nation without visionary leadership perishes. The well wishers,no doubt,may have had good intentions,but it also puts a question mark on the fragile principle of followership. How come suddenly we all forgot to remind ourselves that most Nigerian universities have severally been described as 'glorified secondary schools'! The same proprietor-government of the Federal Universities no sooner than it announced the creation of additional 9, that President Jonathan suddenly turned a super hero, Ikole people were at war in the course of which lives were,as usual,wasted! A country where every house is its own local government- must produce its own water by bore hole or buy 'pure water', must generate its own electricity, construct its own road,provide its own security "vigilantes", will find it very hard to convince discerning minds that creating additional 9 Federal universities is capable of solving all the problems highlighted above or remove the pathological greed in most if not all the serving politicians in Nigeria.
My fear with your kind of appointment has always been that when good people like you accept FG's Greek gift, you not only end up being messed up, your credibility is all they need to legitimize the many crimes they are committing on daily basis against all Nigerians who do not belong to the ruling class.
So my dear brother Bolaji, I love you so much,but as things are right now,my condolences.
Demola Dasylva

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

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Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
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http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
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