Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Outputs, Not Outfits: Why Nigerian Unis must stop policing looks and start enabling ideas

Dear John:

This is a masterclass on debating, providing what you call "understanding" without causing offense.

Thank you.

TF

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of John Onyeukwu <john.onyeukwu@gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 3:17 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Outputs, Not Outfits: Why Nigerian Unis must stop policing looks and start enabling ideas

Dear Sir,

Thank you for taking the time to engage critically with the piece, "Outputs, Not Outfits." The essence of democratic discourse is not agreement, but understanding, and I appreciate the depth of your concerns.

Permit me to begin by affirming that I do not, and never did, discount the importance of values, discipline, or decorum in our universities. These matter, not as tools of authoritarian enforcement, but as part of a broader educational mission that includes moral reasoning, civic behavior, and responsible freedom. What I do question is the increasing tendency of university administrations to substitute moral panic for institutional reform, and to reach for reactionary measures, like rustication over dress styles, while long standing issues like student housing, curriculum modernization, and administrative inefficiencies persist.

You referenced parents' frustrations with how their children dress when visited at school. This is valid. But we must distinguish between parental dismay and university level policy. The fact that some students dress in ways their parents dislike should not justify sweeping and punitive institutional codes that treat dress as a greater offence than plagiarism, cultism, or sexual harassment. Universities should educate values, not legislate conformity.

You also noted that "students now beat up lecturers," or "compete for walking space." These unfortunate anecdotes should not be used to stereotype an entire generation. When such incidents occur, they deserve disciplinary response. But let us also ask: what has created the gulf between students and lecturers? Could it be years of underfunding, poor mentoring structures, or a failure to integrate students meaningfully into institutional life?

As a proud product of Obafemi Awolowo University, I hold its legacy dear. But legacies are not static, they must evolve with time. The "days when the sight of a lecturer made students tremble" may signal nostalgia to some, but to others, they represent a culture of fear, not respect. Universities are not meant to raise fearful citizens, but confident thinkers who can engage authority without being violent or disrespectful.

On transcripts: I welcome the progress made in automating records and issuing certificates. But you will agree that this is not yet uniform across institutions. Many universities still struggle with these basics, especially outside convocation periods. That was my point, not to dismiss the gains, but to caution against complacency. You may wish to know that I have been trying to process transcript from University of Lagos since December 2024, after full online payment. What sort of system would you call that sir.

I also share your concern over the abuse of TETFUND scholarships and the underutilization of research grants. These are governance challenges that demand a culture of accountability and mentoring, not just penalties. Let us agree that the university space must do more to link academic work with national development, through innovation, ethics, and enterprise.

Finally, I did not claim our universities are "in the woods." Rather, I argued that the path to greater innovation and global competitiveness will not be built on surveillance of appearance. We must build institutions that value outputs, research, impact, leadership, more than outfits.

Let us, as alumni, educators, and stakeholders, work not only to sanitize our universities, but also to liberate them, from underfunding, outdated norms, and administrative inertia. That is the call of this generation, and I believe we can rise to it.

With warm regards,

 

On Wed, 30 Jul 2025 at 11:32, DR SIKIRU ENIOLA <drsikirueniola@gmail.com> wrote:

For a split second, I thought this writer would spare a second to acknowledge the imperative need for the censorship of our budding youths population in the Tertiary Institutions. It is unbelievable that the writer should contextualise two non compatible issues to push this "outputs......" theory.

 

There have been many instances where and when parents visited their children and or wards in the Universities for supervisory or social visits. Their reactions, in most cases ranged from a descent into outright tirades and physical beating of their children who are insanely dressed in weird fashions and which they never saw with them at home even while on semester breaks. 

 

In other words, parents have become so alarmed at the unfettered freedom being condoned in our University settings. Their impressions range from tagging Universities or Tertiary Institutions as uncoordinated and as concerned with academic works devoid of any value orientation etc.

If a University of the OAU calibre begins to roll out strict dress codes, it is not because the Administration is just waking up to its responsibilities. It is because the Administration is NOW overwhelmed with a generation of Students, whose implacable notoriety and unwillingness to comply with simple rules of decency have reached a crescendo.

As Alumni members of our Universities, we must be seen to be sustaining the much touted legacies. In those days, a mere sight or sighting of a lecturer or lecturers scared students. These days, students compete with lecturers for walking spaces on corridors, beat up any lecturer who interrupts a tik tok session on his way to lecture rooms. Unfortunately,  Lecturers are also subjected to open and social media bullying and judgements on so many unfathomable cases of irascibility among Students.

 

Sir, our students have aspired to turn our University environment into picnics, carnivals and many other imaginable scenarios as depicted by various styles of indescribable dress and fashion styles. 

Kindly join us to sanitize our Universities. 

Interestingly, serious Nigerian University students, who are in the majority,  are not doing badly in academic engagements and competitions globally.

 

The issue of transcripts and results was at a low point in some Universities at a time. Today, the situation has improved remarkably. Students who attend convocation ceremonies now go home with their certificates. Once certificates are issued, transcripts are just printed upon requests as all results are already automated. We cannot shy away from the rot in our Universities owing to gross underfunding. Even though it is not yet uhuru, the infrastructure, welfare and Autonomy have improved remarkably. This owes largely to the struggles of ASUU that brought in massive intervention funds, a rejuvenated TETFUND and more dedication from Teachers in all cadres.

One sad development with TETFUND is the rate at which Graduate students in many fields of study abscond in violation of their bonds of scholarship. Recently, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND lamented cases in which medical students absconded with hundreds of millions of naira in scholarship funds. The second problem is the trickling interests of many academics to access the millions of naira in research grants sitting at TETFUND.

 In my conclusion, Nigerian Universities have reached a globally acknowledged level of innovation, discovery and developments in many core disciplines. With the Entrepreneural Departments and Units in all Universities and with renewed vigour,  Nigerian academics and our Students are no longer in the woods painted by this respected writer.

 

SIKIRU ENIOLA, PhD

Islamic Studies, with specialisation in Islamic Jurisprudence. 

Assoc Prof (On a Visiting Appointment)  Dept of Religion and African Culture,

Adekunle Ajasin University, 

Akungba Akoko, Nigeria.

 

On Tue, 29 Jul 2025, 11:35 am Ibrahim Abdullah, <ibdullah@gmail.com> wrote:

Unbelievable! 

 

On Tue, 29 Jul 2025 at 10:03 AM, John Onyeukwu <john.onyeukwu@gmail.com> wrote:

Outputs, Not Outfits

Why Nigerian universities must stop policing looks and start enabling ideas.

John Onyeukwu

(Published in Business AM Newspaper of Tuesday July 29, 2025.)

The recent controversy surrounding the leaked dress code memo from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), my alma mater, is more than a fleeting campus drama. It is a sobering reflection of misplaced priorities in Nigeria's higher education system. That such a document could propose rustication for "tight trousers," "coloured hair," or even "hugging" should alarm any serious observer of Nigeria's education crisis.

While the university has rightly denied that the circulating memo represents official policy, the fact that such authoritarian impulses could be contemplated, let alone drafted, is indicative of a deeper rot in our institutional thinking. As a proud product of OAU, I speak not in disdain, but in disappointment, for a system that taught me to think but now appears obsessed with regulating how students dress, not how they think.

Universities exist to cultivate critical minds, not compliant bodies. Academic freedom is not an indulgence; it is the very oxygen of learning and progress. In the Nigeria of today, where creativity, bold thinking, and entrepreneurial resilience are our last hope, the university should be the engine room of innovation, not conformity.

When a young woman risks suspension for wearing a sleeveless top, or a young man faces rustication for dreadlocks, we must ask: what is the philosophy guiding these institutions? It cannot be the philosophy of progress. It certainly is not the one that raised Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, or the many brilliant Nigerians shaping the world from Silicon Valley to the United Nations. Dress codes do not produce integrity. Obedience to rules does not equate to critical reasoning. Our youth need mentoring, not moral surveillance.

We all know that dress codes in Nigerian universities often have little to do with decency and much to do with disciplinary control. They are part of a larger authoritarian tradition where administrative overreach is normalized and students are treated as subjects, not citizens.

What makes this more infuriating is that these same universities often fail to meet the most basic expectations of governance. Consider this: it can take six months to a year, or more, for a Nigerian graduate to receive an academic transcript. Some are forced to travel in person to their alma mater, only to be frustrated by manual files, uncooperative staff, and opaque processes. For many, postgraduate admissions or job offers hang in the balance.

Why is it easier to draft punitive dress codes than to automate transcript systems?

It is baffling that a university that cannot send a transcript on time somehow has the institutional energy to enforce punishments for hugging, kissing, or sagging jeans. What kind of leadership is this, which prioritizes superficial discipline over operational efficiency?

Nigeria's future depends on the ability of young people to imagine, design, build, and disrupt. The tech hubs in Yaba and Abuja, the creative arts scenes in Lagos and Port Harcourt, the rising tide of startups and digital freelancers, none of this flourished because someone was forced to wear a tie or abandon colored braids.

To criminalize youth expression is to criminalize the very engine of the future economy. And to tie institutional prestige to a false sense of moral control is to remain stagnant while the world races ahead. Our universities must be laboratories of innovation, not sanctuaries of outdated norms. They must produce thinkers, not conformists.

There is nothing wrong with promoting standards. Professional faculties can require dress codes for clinicals, engineering labs, or legal moots, based on function, not morality. But these standards must be co-developed with students, clearly defined, and implemented without gender bias or authoritarian overreach.

And if universities are truly concerned with image and discipline, let them start by fixing the bottlenecks in transcript processing, digitizing records, eliminating delays, and treating students with the dignity they deserve. That would speak louder about their values than any dress code ever could.

As a graduate of OAU, I carry its legacy with pride. But legacy is not a monument; it must be renewed in practice. If we are to build the Nigeria we deserve, our universities must lead by enabling freedom, not by curating fear.

The leaked dress code memo, denied though it was, should be a wake-up call. It is time for our universities to stop moralizing youth expression and start mobilizing youth potential. Because no nation was ever transformed by the straightness of its trousers, but many were saved by the boldness of their minds.

john@apexlegal.com.ng 

 

John Onyeukwu
http://www.policy.hu/onyeukwu/

 http://about.me/onyeukwu
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John Onyeukwu
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