Something is wrong here.
But words, they fail me.
On 9/4/15, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <toyinkaidara@gmail.com> wrote:
> A terrible story.
>
> I hope members of this group will comment seriously on this.
>
> If I remember well
>
> when
>
> Henry Louis Gates Jr was arrested by police in connection with a policeman
> demanding to know if he was the owner of his house, a case that sparked
> attention across a good part of the US and drew the controversial
> attention of Barack Obama , the US President, I dont remember reading
> any response to the story on this group even though a good no of people
> here are Black academics in the US, like Gates.
>
> When Dubem Okafor killed his wife and killed himself, I dont remember
> reading any response on this group, even though many people in this group
> are Nigerian academics in the US like Okafor was, and some of them are
> likely to have known Okafor.
>
> To see analyses of the problems faced by Nigerian men and their wives in
> the US which has led to a no of murderers like that of Okafor, one had to
> go to other, more general Nigerian centred groups like Okonkwo Networks.
>
> It seems members of USAAfrica Dialogues are not eager to share their own
> experiences and insights of existential challenges which they are facing or
> have faced.
>
> The one person I know who was different in that regard was LaVonda Staples,
> who had much to say about the intersections of her life as a scholar,
> woman, mother, lover and wife in relation to the challenges of male-female
> Black relationships in the US.
>
> If I am mistaken in my assessments here, I would appreciate being so
> informed.
>
> Is Chidi correct in stating that Theo Vincent's story validates scepticism
> about being an academic in Nigeria?
>
> What are the prospects of academics in Nigerian, from the economic to
> larger professional achievements?
>
> What may academics in Nigeria have to tell us about the wisdom of and the
> strategies for building one's own house, a lesson bitterly learnt by ASUU
> members during a strike which was broken by then Nigerian head of state
> Sani Abacha when he threatened to sack anyone who did not return to work
> and got VCs to enforce eviction orders on defaulting lecturers in staff
> quarters?
>
> What advice may be given or information shared on investment strategies,
> from the days when Nigerian academics did another job along with their
> academic job- from running barbing salons, to running kiosks, to running
> butcher shops and other approaches- to the days when academic incomes made
> that unnecessary for many?
>
> In short, any profession has to work out how to protect itself within its
> socio-economic environment and that is done to a large extent by sharing
> survival and success strategies.
>
> If I am misinformed on the subject of access to information on resource
> access and management as an academic in Nigeria, I would like to be
> informed.
>
> thanks
>
> toyin
>
>
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> On 4 September 2015 at 06:38, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Professor Theo Vincent and the illiterate gangster, Ateke Tom are both
>> from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. While Vincent, a celebrated
>> scholar
>> lives in penury, Tom lives in opulence. Now tell me why any youngster in
>> Nigeria would want to be a celebrated scholar, except if he/she plan to
>> live in the West?
>>
>> This is one of the situations that discourages "Afro-optimism". This is
>> why some of us sneer.
>>
>> CAO.
>>
>> On Thursday, 3 September 2015 20:20:16 UTC+1, Ikhide wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.punchng.com/news/theo-vincent-from-ivory-tower-to-lagos-slums/
>>>
>>> CHUX OHAI * writes on the sad tale of celebrated scholar, writer and
>>> former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Theo
>>> Vincent, now facing hard times*
>>>
>>> The Ilaje area of Lagos is usually associated with social misfits of all
>>> kinds. Even the adjoining area like Bariga has a notoriety that makes
>>> many
>>> people think that it takes special courage to live there.
>>>
>>> As a result, many members of the elite and other privileged people
>>> prefer
>>> to look elsewhere to establish their homes.
>>>
>>> But currently, this is where foremost literary scholar and a former
>>> Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Theo Vincent,
>>> lives. It is one of the sore points that our correspondent's long search
>>> for the great teacher has revealed.
>>>
>>> As a quick reminder, many people who studied Literature in secondary
>>> school and beyond must remember *A Selection of African Poems*, which
>>> introduced students to early generations of African poets. The book was
>>> edited by Vincent and K. E. Senanu, a Ghanaian scholar. After decades of
>>> his devotion to scholarship, however, things are definitely no longer at
>>> ease with him.
>>>
>>> *Life in isolation*
>>> ADVERTISEMENT
>>> After the winding search, our correspondent finally traced Vincent to a
>>> dilapidated two-storey residential building in Ilaje quarters in Bariga.
>>> The veteran scholar lives on the ground floor. The moment the journalist
>>> knocked on the door of his apartment, a voice barked and demanded to
>>> know
>>> his mission and identity. It was clearly Vincent's voice.
>>>
>>> After a while, the retired professor of English reluctantly opened the
>>> door and admitted him into a sparsely furnished sitting-room that looked
>>> a
>>> bit unkempt. Several months of living in isolation had, no doubt, left
>>> its
>>> mark on Vincent. Apart from spotting a thick grey beard, he looked quite
>>> emaciated in a black shirt and a pair of soiled cream-coloured trousers
>>> that looked like they needed to be washed urgently. The scholar was
>>> putting
>>> on a pair of dark glasses, apparently to cover his sightless eyes.
>>>
>>> [image: alt]
>>> The house
>>>
>>> He managed to grope his way to sit in an arm chair in the centre of the
>>> room.
>>>
>>> "I don't usually grant interviews to journalists. Many of them have
>>> tried
>>> to talk to me in the last few years, but I refused to speak with them.
>>> We
>>> can talk about literature, since you said that you studied English in
>>> the
>>> university, and nothing more," he said to our correspondent, before
>>> slipping into a lecture on poetry.
>>>
>>> Midway into the monologue, Vincent's wife, who was preparing to go out,
>>> complained of being short-changed by some officials of the Power Holding
>>> Company of Nigeria. Then, responding to a question bordering on their
>>> residence and the neighbourhood, she said, "No, we don't like this place
>>> at
>>> all. But we have no other choice than to stay here until we can afford
>>> to
>>> move to a better place."
>>>
>>> Therefore, the woman's response implies that an end to the constant
>>> movement by her family from one location to another is not in sight yet.
>>>
>>> *Visually-challenged*
>>>
>>> Unknown to many of his former students at the University of Lagos, as
>>> well as writers resident at home and in the Diaspora who have benefitted
>>> from his tradition of academic and intellectual excellence, Prof. Theo
>>> Vincent has lost the use of his eyes.
>>>
>>> Not many people know how it came about or what circumstances were
>>> responsible for his visual disability. But a few, who knew about the
>>> gradual deterioration of his condition, are bitter that nothing was done
>>> to
>>> help him at the outset. One of them is a Senior lecturer in the
>>> Department
>>> of English and Literary Studies of the university, Dr. Chris Anyokwu.
>>>
>>> Lamenting Prof. Vincent's condition, Anyokwu says in an interview with
>>> our correspondence, "The fact that a former vice-chancellor of a Federal
>>> University should end up the way Prof. Theo Vincent has done — a
>>> visually-challenged and dirt-poor recluse, shorn of friends, relatives
>>> and
>>> subsisting on charity in utter obscurity — begs questions and confounds
>>> the
>>> imagination.
>>>
>>> "Whatever the cause or causes of his ordeal and his tragic situation,
>>> every conscientious Nigerian must do his or her best to rehabilitate and
>>> integrate him into polite society to which he naturally belongs.
>>>
>>> "The search for the whys and wherefores of his present condition is
>>> unnecessary. There is an urgent need to save Vincent, who is an icon of
>>> sorts, and to redeem the sullied image of the Nigerian Ivory Tower."
>>>
>>> [image: alt]
>>> A part of the building
>>>
>>> *Not positively disposed to public sympathy*
>>>
>>> Even in his condition, Vincent appears to be very scared of drawing the
>>> attention of other members of the wider academic community, either in
>>> Nigeria or the Diaspora, as well as the public to his predicament.
>>>
>>> "I don't want to be made a subject of sympathy from other people. So let
>>> us talk about literature or something else. I know that I have a
>>> disability, but talking about it won't help. The important thing is to
>>> cope
>>> with the situation and to keep praying," he says to our correspondent
>>> who
>>> has just broached the subject to him.
>>>
>>> Afterward, the man rambles about John Milton's famous sonnet about his
>>> blindness. He speaks slowly, almost as if in a soliloquy, as he tries to
>>> relate the poet's submission to his fate. For him, the occasion provides
>>> an
>>> opportunity to reflect on works by other poets — some of them Nigerian —
>>> that deal with the human condition and complex situations. A poem
>>> written
>>> by the late Prof. Ossie Enekwe, titled *'Facing Kilimanjaro'*,
>>> particularly appeals to him.
>>>
>>> In vain, our correspondent makes an effort to lure Vincent into talking
>>> about his disability and the circumstances that led to it. Several
>>> attempts
>>> to subtly steer the conversation in this direction failed, effectively
>>> barred by brick walls erected by the professor to keep himself away from
>>> the public eye.
>>>
>>> *Celebrated as a scholar and administrator*
>>>
>>> Prof Theo Vincent retired from the University of Lagos in 2004, having
>>> taught in the Department of English for about 37 years. Some of his
>>> colleagues remember him as a quiet and focused academic who always made
>>> sound and unequalled intellectual contributions to the smooth running of
>>> the department.
>>>
>>> He was appointed as the vice-chancellor of UniPort in 1997, at a time
>>> the
>>> institution was struggling to overcome a severe leadership crisis and
>>> other
>>> challenges that threatened its existence. He was at the helms of the
>>> affairs of the university till 2000 and distinguished himself as a
>>> scholar
>>> and administrator whose penchant for excellence and abhorrence for
>>> indiscipline helped to restore sanity to the institution.
>>>
>>> A few years after he left UniPort, Vincent, who is also a poet, played a
>>> key role in the founding of Nigeria's most prestigious literary award,
>>> the
>>> Nigeria Prize for Literature — sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied and
>>> Natural Gas Company — alongside the likes of Emeritus Professor Ayo
>>> Banjo,
>>> Prof. Charles Nnolim, Prof. Dan Izevbaye, Prof. Femi Osofisan and Prof.
>>> Olu
>>> Obafemi.
>>>
>>> As the chairman of the Literature Committee of the prize, Vincent's
>>> decisions were crucial to the sustenance of a tradition of excellence
>>> that
>>> has greatly enhanced its value these past years.
>>>
>>> Once, the celebrated scholar and writer had had to defend the integrity
>>> of the prize by declaring that many of the books of poetry received in a
>>> particular year's contest lacked adequate craftsmanship and enlightened
>>> handling of the English language. As a result of the shortcoming, he had
>>> explained, the judges found it difficult to select up to 13 entries and
>>> they were forced to settle for nine.
>>>
>>> [image: alt]
>>> Welcome to Ilaje. Photos: Chux Ohai
>>>
>>> Further evidence of Vincent's achievements and his reputation as a
>>> distinguished scholar and intellectual lies in the comments of one of
>>> his
>>> former students, Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo, in the *Festschrift* — a special
>>> collection of essays — put together by the Department of English and
>>> Literary Studies in his honour to celebrate his retirement from the
>>> university after a meritorious service.
>>>
>>> Ezeigbo wrote, "For years, he extended the boundaries of literary
>>> criticism in the country by discussing literature in the media,
>>> especially
>>> on television. His face became indelible, like ink, in the minds of
>>> literary enthusiasts and students of literature.
>>>
>>> "Professor Vincent is a great teacher as well as an essayist, a critic,
>>> commentator and astute administrator. An eclectic intellectual, he is an
>>> undisputed authority in poetry, drama, literary theory and criticism and
>>> in
>>> African-American literatures".
>>>
>>> With the publication of the *festschrift*, Ezeigbo added, Vincent's
>>> colleagues had decided to honour a man who had an "enduring tradition of
>>> selfless service".
>>>
>>> *Hit by hard times*
>>>
>>> Considering his background, it is inconceivable that a man who, to quote
>>> Prof. Ezeigbo, has lived a life of endless service to society, would
>>> suddenly find himself on the wrong side of the socio-economic ladder.
>>> Sad
>>> as it is, this is exactly the truth about Vincent's present situation.
>>>
>>> Sources at the University of Lagos told our correspondent, on condition
>>> of anonymity, how the scholar had been hit by a series of misfortunes
>>> before and after his retirement from the institution.
>>>
>>> One of them recalls, "He was with us for a while after he retired,
>>> teaching as a consultant. Then we noticed that his sight was gradually
>>> failing. Sometimes he would stand outside the faculty building as if in
>>> deep thought. To anyone watching him closely, it would become clear that
>>> he
>>> was having a problem walking home unaided."
>>>
>>> After some time, the source adds, everybody noticed that Vincent had
>>> lost
>>> his sight. Unfortunately, nobody had the presence of mind to intervene
>>> or
>>> offer to help him out of his predicament, which seemed to be compounded
>>> after he was asked by the university authority to pack out of his
>>> apartment
>>> at the staff quarters.
>>>
>>> According to another source, who also craved anonymity, the scholar was
>>> virtually homeless after he was forced out of the flat that had served
>>> as
>>> his residence for almost 40 years.
>>>
>>> "He was more or less ejected from the flat. Nobody knew where he moved
>>> to
>>> for a while, until we heard that an unnamed Christian organisation or
>>> church somewhere around Akoka had intervened and relocated him to a new
>>> apartment in the neighbourhood," the source says.
>>>
>>> *Living on charity*
>>> The unnamed benefactor of the Vincents that had come to their aid at
>>> what
>>> seems like one of the darkest periods in the life of that family
>>> eventually
>>> turned out to be the Chapel of Christ Our Light. The church itself is
>>> situated on the Akoka campus of the University of Lagos.
>>>
>>> Our correspondent gathered that the church basically took charge of the
>>> welfare of Prof. Vincent and his family when nobody else bothered to do
>>> it.
>>> One of the first things that the chapel did was to provide a new
>>> accommodation for the man and his family.
>>>
>>> Although it is not known if the chapel is also responsible for the
>>> feeding of the family, it was learnt that the wife of the scholar is one
>>> of
>>> the workers in the church. The Chaplain of the chapel, Reverend Azuka
>>> Ogbolumani, refused to comment on the subject when our correspondent
>>> visited him for an interview in his office.
>>>
>>> "Prof. Vincent has made me to promise that we won't speak with the media
>>> about his condition. All I know is that the man is well. Yes, he has
>>> lost
>>> the use of his eyes. But he is not abandoned, as some people have
>>> speculated. His wife lives with him and she takes care of him," he says.
>>>
>>> Asked when he last saw the former Uniport VC, the chaplain replies, "I
>>> have not seen him for some time. But I see his wife every week because
>>> she
>>> worships in this church."
>>>
>>> *Forced to live like a recluse*
>>>
>>> Prof. Vincent, it was also gathered, is virtually confined to his
>>> residence, no thanks to his visual impairment. He now lives like a
>>> recluse,
>>> shut out of the larger society and hardly leaves his home. Even if they
>>> want to reach him desperately, his friends or former colleagues cannot
>>> do
>>> so because none of them knows where he lives at present. Only a few
>>> trusted
>>> members of the Chapel of Christ Our Light can access his residence, but
>>> they are not willing to divulge information on how to reach him.
>>>
>>> It is generally believed that the man has intentionally woven a cocoon
>>> around himself and does not desire to mix with the public. A few weeks
>>> ago,
>>> he moved from his former residence, which remains largely unknown to
>>> most
>>> people, to the Ilaje quarters. Our correspondent gathered that when the
>>> chapel got wind of the move, it made an effort to relocate him from the
>>> area, since it is associated with endless violence among rival street
>>> gangs.
>>>
>>> "The church was ready to spend about N2m to secure another accommodation
>>> for him and his family, but he politely declined it," a source said.
>>>
>>> Vincent's action further fuelled suspicions held among his former
>>> colleagues and students at the university that he is desperately holding
>>> on
>>> to a secret. Also, it ignited the rumour that he is anxious to remain
>>> incommunicado and out of the reach of perceived enemies.
>>>
>>> *Coping with visual disability*
>>>
>>> Although Prof. Vincent has lost the ability to see with his eyes, his
>>> handicap has not affected his passion for literature, especially poetry,
>>> nor stopped him from engaging in literary activity. In fact, he has
>>> concluded plans to publish his memoirs soon.
>>>
>>> He says the book, which is still a work-in-progress, is based on his
>>> tenure as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt.
>>>
>>> "Even in my condition, I have finished writing the book. What remains is
>>> to clean it up. Unfortunately, I cannot do that now because of my
>>> disability," he says.
>>>
>>> The eminent scholar wishes that he could still read lines of poetry like
>>> he used to do before losing his sight. Nowadays, he asks Fabian, the
>>> teenager that lives with him, to read to him. The verses are still the
>>> same
>>> and he enjoys listening to them.
>>> "But it is not the same thing as reading by myself. I wish that I had
>>> not
>>> lost my sight," he says, with a heavy sigh.
>>>
>>> *Unanswered questions*
>>>
>>> Just as Anyokwu has insinuated, Prof. Theo Vincent's situation begs some
>>> questions. For example, some people have been asking what happened to
>>> the
>>> man's earnings, while in service and his retirement benefits and why he
>>> would not live to talk about his condition. Others wonder how a man, who
>>> has occupied key positions before retiring and acted as a consultant to
>>> a
>>> multinational company like the NLNG, could possibly spend the rest of
>>> his
>>> life in need.
>>>
>>> The questions have, for want of answers, continued to fuel more
>>> suspicions and the theory that there could be more than meets the eye.
>>>
>>>
>>> *Copyright PUNCH.**All rights reserved. This material, and other digital
>>> content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast,
>>> rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express
>>> written permission from PUNCH. *
>>>
>>> *Contact: **editor@punchng.com*
>>>
>>>
>>> - Ikhide
>>>
>>> Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com
>>> Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
>>> Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
>>>
>>>
>>> --
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>
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