Friends,
I have been following the conversation on what is happening in the Nigerian Academy and what is to be done. I am not very familiar with Nigerian universities, but I passed through a university in Ghana. I have been reading most of the postings on Nigeria and taking cues from them for my desire to help my Alma Mater, the University of Ghana, avoid what may be happening in the Nigerian academy.
My intervention here is to register my discomfort with the attempt by some to dismiss other voices as less than practical. Every nation needs two types of people: the strident critics of the dysfunctions of society, and the silent philanthropists who put their checks to work. One is not better than the other. The rooster may not step out in the morning to scratch the earth for the chickens, but it is often the one that announces the approach of dawn.
Those who constantly do things for society should not dismiss those who constantly point out what is wrong with society. There is a place where voice and action meet. The town crier too offers important services; for it may be in her or his voice that the solutions to a problem can be found. One does not have to lift the dead to be considered to have attended the funeral. Even those who cried louder than the owners of the corpse announced their attendance too.
May this cry from a Ghanaian guide the useful deliberations on the Nigerian academy!
Edward Kissi
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