Prof. Dasylva., Your observations, comments and a piece of advice on the appointment of Prof. Aluko are well taken. But one thing I want us to know is that if the critics fail to accept responsibility and show the right way to lead to African leaders then we don't have any moral right to accuse our leaders of bad leadership. Prof. Wole Soyinka and Prof. Jega are credible people and their contributions as leaders to social development in Nigeria are highly recognized and appreciated. Whatever lapses noticable in their leadership it should not be seen as a reason to reject official appointments. In my view, anyone who takes Federal appointments like the one given to Prof. Aluko as a Vice-Chancellor, it should be seen as a call to duty where is most qualified. Taking such a post with a goodwill is the best for the country, I think. And Prof. Aluko should not hesitate to take the appointment but he should realise that we are all watching him. On this note, I congratulate him and wish him well. Segun Ogungbemi.
--- On Wed, 2/16/11, toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com> wrote:
From: toyin adepoju <toyin.adepoju@googlemail.com>
Subject: Re: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Government appoints vicechancellors for new federal universities, Prof. Aluko,my condolences!
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: a.dasylva@ibadanculturalstudiesgroup.org
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 6:11 AM
Thanks Prof. Dasylva. I began to think, though, that this instance might not turn out that way. The negative predictions are based on observing current developments. As my sister, Ifuemi Adepoju, to whom I must give credit for this consideration put it, though, what if the government chooses to operate differently this time? The political factors at play here could be sen as quite different from those in place in relation to the older universities.The spirit in terms of which the first and second generation universities were founded and those who founded them, may be seen as gradually becoming absent from the running of those universities in succeeding decades.The country and Africa as a whole have undergone great upheavals from the transition from a colonial to post colonial era and the universities have been victims of these social and economic upheavals. Some of those upheavals have been the successive psychological shocks of coups, a phenomenon I think is not likely to occur again in Nigeria. The politicians who came after might not have been adequately committed to educational schemes to which they had thy did not inherit the vision that founded them in the first place. But here we have a new government starting something new, and perhaps trying to make a point, possibly in relation to the sharing of resources, a role that university allocation, along with local government and state creation seems to play in Nigeria. A President from the South-South for the very first time, against all expectations. A President who has had to deny the PDP zoning arrangement in order to contest an election he is likely to win.The handing out of universities before the elections is likely to ensure loyalty to the PDP from those communities the largess is going to.The placing of one of these universities in the President's own village, and another, I gather, though I have not verified it, in the village of a serving minister. The President's village being in the much maligned Bayelsa, part of the tragically abused oil centre of the country, a good part of whose reward for being the country's central income earner has been horrendous degradation. A community described as committing itself economically to a very high sum to the project. Universities scheduled to begin in August this year, with all facilities, and human power in action. The stakes are high. The consequences of failure would very high, now or in the future. Even then, please note.What may count as failure to you might not count as failure to those in that village who have never enjoyed the cosmopolitan prestige of the University of Ibadan or the metropolitan culture of Lagos with its numerous national and international institutions and the lesser cosmopolitanism of Benin with its university.Whatever happens, new jobs will be created within the university. A new economy will emerge to service that university. The people there will begin to see themselves differently.Income will rise. New, more variegated social arrangements will emerge. Even having what you have over there at the University of Ibadan, at the majestic campus of the University of Ife or the carefully laid out structure of the University of Benin, whatever the inadequacies that discerning people can see in those places, might still be like a paradise to some people.I might be exaggerating.But the little I saw of the Niger Delta, though more than ten years ago,with large pipelines running right in front of people's houses, suggest that if there is so much squalor there in the midst of the generation of plenty, then they are in for a transforming experience with this university. Now, what of if the builders of the university decide to really do their best according to the best international standards and even beyond, doing something futuristic, and the government cooperates? The PDP is a relatively new party, and in casting its lot with Jonathan against the zoning principle it is making a historical point. The success of those universities will help to cement PDP national force and the wisdom of its internal restructuring against zoning. It could also help to create a cadre of loyalists like Awo's educational reforms seem to have created what might look like almost absolutely dedicated Awoists. Or those who simply admire his vision. What if the President chooses to treat these new universities with the spirit he did not have the chance to treat the others since he was not privy to their founding ethos and policies? At least Oxford and Cambridge in England are known to enjoy preferential treatment from the English government, or so I seem to have read. What of if Mr.President decides that nothing will be allowed to interfere with the development of the new universities and does everything to ensure success? I expect it also possible to protect the new universities against negative initiatives by drawing constitutions of the universities or passing certain laws at the national level that will ensure particular beneficial procedures are always followed in the way they are run. It is going to prove to be a very interesting adventure. thanks Toyin On 16 February 2011 09:01, <a.dasylva@ibadanculturalstudiesgroup.org> wrote: 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
Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:10:55 +0000 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
--
Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
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USA
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