Nigerian University Education
Past, Present, Future
My Life at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Chijioke Ngobili
Compiled and titled by
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"
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The recent strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the umbrella union of Nigerian academic staff, has inspired critics to challenge the union on account of its use of strikes as a means of compelling the Nigerian government to address its demands, often in relation to the failure of the government to honour past agreements it has made with ASUU in relation to academic staff welfare and funding of universities.
One of these challenges has been by Tolu Ogunlesi , who graduated from a Nigerian university in 2004, on his blog, describing Nigerian universities as "Citadels of Nothing".
Moses Ebe Ochonu, on the USAAfrica Dialogue Series Google group, depicted Nigerian universities, as he describes himself as observing in his ongoing relationships with them as well in encounters with Nigerian university teachers, as characterised by lack of teaching.
He presents his own experience as a student at a Nigerian university as one in which competent and diligent lecturers were outnumbered by incompetent and deceitful teachers by a ratio of two evil teachers to one honourable teacher:
"But I'll tell you that for every one lecturer who taught me well, for every lecturer who takes his/her pedagogy seriously, there were/are two who were/are terrible teachers. I mean, some lecturers were scatter brain jokers who themselves should be in the classes they claim to be teaching! Many saw the rudimentary elements and obligations of the teaching craft as distractions and nuisances. And that is the problem."
He presents his own experience as a student at a Nigerian university as one in which competent and diligent lecturers were outnumbered by incompetent and deceitful teachers by a ratio of two evil teachers to one honourable teacher:
"But I'll tell you that for every one lecturer who taught me well, for every lecturer who takes his/her pedagogy seriously, there were/are two who were/are terrible teachers. I mean, some lecturers were scatter brain jokers who themselves should be in the classes they claim to be teaching! Many saw the rudimentary elements and obligations of the teaching craft as distractions and nuisances. And that is the problem."
Ikhide Ikheloah on the same group describes the Nigerian educational system as a whole as characterised by "pretend classrooms" and Nigerian university teachers as heartless predators and thugs.
Some present and past Nigerian academic staff, such as myself, describe these accounts as caricatures, at best, and as insensitive to or even ignorant of the general quality of Nigerian academia and of its fundamental role in the study of Africa, with particular reference to the humanities, in any discipline within that scope, anywhere it is studied.
We need a plurality of experiential accounts and analyses on this subject.
Those who claim the Nigerian university system, through its teachers, betrayed their trust, should speak.
Those who claim it blessed them should speak.
Those who claim they gained from it, but demonstrate significant reservations about their experience, should speak.
These accounts will help interested parties make inferences and perhaps draw conclusions at varying levels of definiteness.
I present here a summation by Chijioke Ngobili of his education at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), from where he graduated with a first degree in music in 2011.
What is the value of your Nsukka degree to you, I asked him?
"Whatever great knowledge I have now, I owe it to UNN.
That place made me a whole lot of who I am now.
And I will ever remain grateful"
That was his reply.
Below are pictures, from his Facebook account,of Chijioke Ngobili, in Igbo classical splendour, along with a picture of him conducting a musical performance at UNN.
Below that is the record of my Facebook conversation with him on this subject on Saturday, 12 October, 2013.
Facebook chat between Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju and Chijioke Ngobili
i would like to ask you something
Go on
did you study in naija?
Yes, all my education was in Nigeria
what of uni?
Have u not seen my profile?
I went to University of Nigeria, Nsukka
how did you find it/
find what?
the experience of studying there
it wasnt bad...\
did it inspire you in any way?
i am asking bcs of controversies arising from the current ASUU strike
Whatever great knowledge i have now, I owe it to the UNN. That place made me a whole lot of who I am now. And I will ever remain grateful
can i quote you elsewhere?
What quote is that?
what you just stated about UNN?
im taking part in a heated debate on nigerian universities and ASUU at a google group
and the way some are condemning Nigerian lecturers and universities is disturbing
alryt
thank you very much
may i ask when you graduated?
2011
the argument is that after some years in the past little good has been taking place in these universities
thank you very much
i will see if i can collect testimonies from nigerian students, past and present
may i ask what you studied?
it helps to give the story greater concreteness
I read MUSIC
23:15
great
thank you very much
im grateful for your sharing
u re welcome
thanks
2 hours ago
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