Sabilla Abidde

Are you familiar with these names? Bala Mohammed Bauchi; Ayo Bamgbose; Kenneth Dike; Adiele Afigbo; Ayodele Awojobi; J. F. Ade-Ajayi; Tekena Tamuno; Oyetunji Aboyade; J.P. Clark; F. Niyi Akinnaso; Kelsey Harrison; E.J. Alagoa; Kalu Ezera, Chike Obi; Grace Alele Williams; Christopher Okigbo; Dipo Fashina; Eskor Toyo; Biodun Jeyifo; Claude Ake; Kole Omotosho; Tam-David-West; Gani Fawehinmi; Tai Solarin; Christopher Okigbo; Toyin Falola; and Niyi Osundare.

Frankly, I could give you more names. Hundreds more, in fact. Many are academic giants: intellectuals. But there are a few social critics amongst them; and of course, fewer numbers are both intellectuals and social critics. As with their western counterparts — Jean-Paul Sartre, Edward Said, Linda Colley, Noam Chomsky, Antonio Gramsci, Richard Dawkins, Lillian Hellman, Henrik Ibsen, and James Baldwin – many of these intellectuals were based in the Ivory Towers.

Generally speaking, intellectuals — sometimes called Polymaths — are men and women who have committed their lives and times to the pursuit and or dissemination of rigorous ideas and serious knowledge. They can be found in all areas of life – including music, arts and culture, medicine, mathematics, economics, politics, law, philosophy, and literary criticism. Within or across many areas of specialisation, they are considered “the master,” the authority.

Beside the university or institution-based intellectuals, there are the public intellectuals who, for the most part, are engaged in very public discourses within the public sphere. Noted public intellectuals and critics include Solarin, Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Ishola Oshobu, Cornelius Ubani, Ola Oni, and Sam Amuka. However, it should be pointed out that there are times when it is difficult to differentiate between public intellectualism and political activism — or between political activists and social critics.

But in the final analysis, all four – ivory tower intellectuals, public intellectuals, political activists and social critics – all exist to make society better. In years gone by, many of these men and women – especially those outside of the university system – were labelled “radicals,” “leftists,” or “gadflies” by military regimes, and sometimes, by the Press. But those who knew better knew that these were the salt and honey of our nation. They were the nation’s conscience. Across geographical landscapes, they were at the heart of human civilisations – helping to shape collective destinies, illuminating challenges, and influencing collective thinking.

I once opined that any society without a bourgeoning class of intellectuals cannot truly flourish. Such a society may stagnate, regress or even disintegrate. Even as brutal and repressive and unpredictable as some military regimes were, the Nigerian intellectual class, along with a budding class of social critics, helped to keep the government in check. But today, things have changed. Nigeria is different. It is almost unfathomable how the nation went from great heights to low ebbs (insofar as social criticism and intellectualism are concerned).

Commenting on this issue in 2010, Dr. Olayiwola Abegunrin, formerly of the Obafemi Awolowo University, now a professor at Howard University, posited that the Nigerian military bears some of the responsibilities for ”destroying our institutions by some of the policies they promulgated and pursued, beginning from the Gen. Yakubu Gowon era. Some of the policies they pursued, along with the coups and countercoups, helped weaken, and, in some cases, destroy our sense of nation-building and sense of self.”

What was said a few years ago remains true today: “During the military era, many of our national treasures were prosecuted, persecuted, harassed, jailed, or sent into exile; and in some cases, the military simply made life and living miserable and unbearable for them. Civilian administrations also contributed to the malaise. In the end, some of our best and brightest left in search of stability and greener pastures. Gradually, the distasteful and impermissible became permissible and sacred. It became okay to not only steal, but to loot. It became acceptable to be a professional sycophant. And it also became fashionable to be an illiterate in a literate and globalising world.”

Look around you, what do you see? From one Government House to another, what do you see? From the state Houses of Assembly to the National Assembly in Abuja, what do you see? From one private and public function to another, you see men and women being honoured for hypocrisy and mediocrity. We give chieftaincy titles to bandits; honorary PhDs to ruffians; and national honours to many an unqualified folk. Damn! This is no longer your grandfather’s Nigeria. Instead, this is the Nigeria Fela Anikulapo-Kuti warned us about — the Nigeria where many people look up to, prostrate for and or genuflect before men and women with inferior sensibility and dubious character. Great nations or nations of consequence have men and women at the front line of intellectualism and nation-building. Not in Nigeria.

In more recent times, especially since the 1990s, the pool of home-grown intellectuals has greatly diminished. The flight and the rot began at the secondary school level. Before you knew it, the universities and other institutions of higher learning were taken over by political maggots. What happened to Ife (now the Obafemi Awolowo University)? What’s going on at the University of Ibadan, and at the University of Lagos? The Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka are today empty.

As far as I can tell, there is not a university in the US or Canada where you will not find, at a minimum, one Nigerian professor or professional. There is not a single hospital where you will not find Nigerian medical doctors and or nurses and other professionals. There is not a single private or public institution anywhere in the US that you will not find Nigerian students. Same may be true of the UK. They are everywhere because successive Nigerian governments, military and civilian, made the country a living hell. How do you thrive in a country that frowns at excellence, at dissent, at courage, and at frontierism?

To say that intellectual pursuit and social criticism is a dying art in Nigeria is an understatement. There is a price to be paid for silence and cowardice in the face of oppression and injustice. Most everyone wants to be on the side of the government for expected crumbs. Nigeria is now paying the price for abandoning intellectual pursuits. We already see the decay in the system. We see this in our national priority. We see it in how and what our country is becoming. And we see it in the pervasiveness of hopelessness and in the moral and political corruption that have come to characterize our country. This is not our Nigeria.

http://www.punchng.com/viewpoint/of-intellectuals-and-social-critics/

You've finally wasted 5mins of my day trying to understand this gibberish!!.......

Abu Mikey: You've finally wasted 5mins of my day trying to understand this gibberish!!.......

Bros, abeg no vex jare. The article is for intellectuals...no vex abeg




I loved the article btw.

The labours of heroes past are in vain, the heroes that we have now that will soon be past do not want to waste their labour...hence, their exodus.
Where are the present heroes?
We are just starting...to pay for it....we are just starting. It will get to a point that we will all become enforcers-of law and orderliness.

The major difference is while the beneficiaries of chaotic system fight tooth and nail to keep the system in their favour, the intellectuals prefer to RUN to the next available sane environment.

Whatever you want in life, you must be prepared to fight for it.

sholay2011:
Bros, abeg no vex jare. The article is for intellectuals...no vex abeg




I loved the article btw.

Exactly!!!! Try and make me understand the article pls!!

We need a new set of heroes. As long as am concerned,the pple on dat list have become past nt irrelevant. Pple like u and me need to learn frm their mistakes and right their wrongs by nt living passively as if it's nt our business. The ball is on ur court and mine. The big question is what are u contributing right nau towards ur heroic feat which shall be celebrated soon?

Jarus: Sabilla Abidde

Are you familiar with these names? Bala Mohammed Bauchi; Ayo Bamgbose; Kenneth Dike; Adiele Afigbo; Ayodele Awojobi; J. F. Ade-Ajayi; Tekena Tamuno; Oyetunji Aboyade; J.P. Clark; F. Niyi Akinnaso; Kelsey Harrison; E.J. Alagoa; Kalu Ezera, Chike Obi; Grace Alele Williams; Christopher Okigbo; Dipo Fashina; Eskor Toyo; Biodun Jeyifo; Claude Ake; Kole Omotosho; Tam-David-West; Gani Fawehinmi; Tai Solarin; Christopher Okigbo; Toyin Falola; and Niyi Osundare.

Frankly, I could give you more names. Hundreds more, in fact. Many are academic giants: intellectuals. But there are a few social critics amongst them; and of course, fewer numbers are both intellectuals and social critics. As with their western counterparts — Jean-Paul Sartre, Edward Said, Linda Colley, Noam Chomsky, Antonio Gramsci, Richard Dawkins, Lillian Hellman, Henrik Ibsen, and James Baldwin – many of these intellectuals were based in the Ivory Towers.

Generally speaking, intellectuals — sometimes called Polymaths — are men and women who have committed their lives and times to the pursuit and or dissemination of rigorous ideas and serious knowledge. They can be found in all areas of life – including music, arts and culture, medicine, mathematics, economics, politics, law, philosophy, and literary criticism. Within or across many areas of specialisation, they are considered “the master,” the authority.

Beside the university or institution-based intellectuals, there are the public intellectuals who, for the most part, are engaged in very public discourses within the public sphere. Noted public intellectuals and critics include Solarin, Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Ishola Oshobu, Cornelius Ubani, Ola Oni, and Sam Amuka. However, it should be pointed out that there are times when it is difficult to differentiate between public intellectualism and political activism — or between political activists and social critics.

But in the final analysis, all four – ivory tower intellectuals, public intellectuals, political activists and social critics – all exist to make society better. In years gone by, many of these men and women – especially those outside of the university system – were labelled “radicals,” “leftists,” or “gadflies” by military regimes, and sometimes, by the Press. But those who knew better knew that these were the salt and honey of our nation. They were the nation’s conscience. Across geographical landscapes, they were at the heart of human civilisations – helping to shape collective destinies, illuminating challenges, and influencing collective thinking.

I once opined that any society without a bourgeoning class of intellectuals cannot truly flourish. Such a society may stagnate, regress or even disintegrate. Even as brutal and repressive and unpredictable as some military regimes were, the Nigerian intellectual class, along with a budding class of social critics, helped to keep the government in check. But today, things have changed. Nigeria is different. It is almost unfathomable how the nation went from great heights to low ebbs (insofar as social criticism and intellectualism are concerned).

Commenting on this issue in 2010, Dr. Olayiwola Abegunrin, formerly of the Obafemi Awolowo University, now a professor at Howard University, posited that the Nigerian military bears some of the responsibilities for ”destroying our institutions by some of the policies they promulgated and pursued, beginning from the Gen. Yakubu Gowon era. Some of the policies they pursued, along with the coups and countercoups, helped weaken, and, in some cases, destroy our sense of nation-building and sense of self.”

What was said a few years ago remains true today: “During the military era, many of our national treasures were prosecuted, persecuted, harassed, jailed, or sent into exile; and in some cases, the military simply made life and living miserable and unbearable for them. Civilian administrations also contributed to the malaise. In the end, some of our best and brightest left in search of stability and greener pastures. Gradually, the distasteful and impermissible became permissible and sacred. It became okay to not only steal, but to loot. It became acceptable to be a professional sycophant. And it also became fashionable to be an illiterate in a literate and globalising world.”

Look around you, what do you see? From one Government House to another, what do you see? From the state Houses of Assembly to the National Assembly in Abuja, what do you see? From one private and public function to another, you see men and women being honoured for hypocrisy and mediocrity. We give chieftaincy titles to bandits; honorary PhDs to ruffians; and national honours to many an unqualified folk. Damn! This is no longer your grandfather’s Nigeria. Instead, this is the Nigeria Fela Anikulapo-Kuti warned us about — the Nigeria where many people look up to, prostrate for and or genuflect before men and women with inferior sensibility and dubious character. Great nations or nations of consequence have men and women at the front line of intellectualism and nation-building. Not in Nigeria.

In more recent times, especially since the 1990s, the pool of home-grown intellectuals has greatly diminished. The flight and the rot began at the secondary school level. Before you knew it, the universities and other institutions of higher learning were taken over by political maggots. What happened to Ife (now the Obafemi Awolowo University)? What’s going on at the University of Ibadan, and at the University of Lagos? The Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka are today empty.

As far as I can tell, there is not a university in the US or Canada where you will not find, at a minimum, one Nigerian professor or professional. There is not a single hospital where you will not find Nigerian medical doctors and or nurses and other professionals. There is not a single private or public institution anywhere in the US that you will not find Nigerian students. Same may be true of the UK. They are everywhere because successive Nigerian governments, military and civilian, made the country a living hell. How do you thrive in a country that frowns at excellence, at dissent, at courage, and at frontierism?

To say that intellectual pursuit and social criticism is a dying art in Nigeria is an understatement. There is a price to be paid for silence and cowardice in the face of oppression and injustice. Most everyone wants to be on the side of the government for expected crumbs. Nigeria is now paying the price for abandoning intellectual pursuits. We already see the decay in the system. We see this in our national priority. We see it in how and what our country is becoming. And we see it in the pervasiveness of hopelessness and in the moral and political corruption that have come to characterize our country. This is not our Nigeria.

http://www.punchng.com/viewpoint/of-intellectuals-and-social-critics/

This is the problem I have with some of these articles. The overwhelming, smug pessimism. Everything has gone to the dogs, blah blah blah. Please excuse me but, when those intellectuals were supposedly abound, (supposedly unlike today) our economy was regressing, military rule was the order of the day, and infrastructure was allowed to rot. It is only NOW in the supposed days of 'non-intellectualism' that we're seeing the economy grow at the fastest rate in its history. Military dictatorship gone for the last what, 13 years? According to international equity investment firm Actis international, 10 million Nigerians were added to the middle classes in the last 5 years. Even the World Bank has chipped in, stating that poverty in the country had reduced from 48% to 46%, in the last year. Infrastructure is seeing a MAJOR boost across the nation, especially with the rise of genuine Action Governors like Fashola, Chime, Akpabio etc, creating a spirit of competition - a race even - among the states to lay down infrastructure in their regions.

Even the FG is not left out. 11 airports being remodelled. Six brand new terminals under construction. Major national highways fixed or under renovation. National railway seeing its biggest investment since its inception in the 19th century, with major, standard gauge lines being constructed across the country.

Do you know that Education received the highest budgetary allocation in last year's federal budget, for the first time in the nation's history?

All this wasn't the case in the past, when these intellectuals supposedly held sway. Fact is there is a national revival taking place and articles like this are off-key, unduly pessimistic, and not in line with the current trajectory of the nation.

Rossikk:

This is the problem I have with some of these articles. The overwhelming, smug pessimism. Everything has gone to the dogs, blah blah blah. Please excuse me but, when those intellectuals were supposedly abound, (supposedly unlike today) our economy was regressing, military rule was the order of the day, and infrastructure was allowed to rot. It is only NOW in the supposed days of 'non-intellectualism' that we're seeing the economy grow at the fastest rate in its history. Military dictatorship gone for the last what, 13 years? According to international equity investment firm Actis international, 10 million Nigerians were added to the middle classes in the last 5 years. Even the World Bank has chipped in, stating that poverty in the country had reduced from 48% to 46%, in the last year. Infrastructure is seeing a MAJOR boost across the nation, especially with the rise of genuine Action Governors like Fashola, Chime, Akpabio etc, creating a spirit of competition - a race even - among the states to lay down infrastructure in their regions.

Even the FG is not left out. 11 airports being remodelled. Six brand new terminals under construction. Major national highways fixed or under renovation. National railway seeing its biggest investment since its inception in the 19th century, with major, standard gauge lines being constructed across the country.

Do you know that Education received the highest budgetary allocation in last year's federal budget, for the first time in the nation's history?

All this wasn't the case in the past, when these intellectuals supposedly held sway. Fact is there is a national revival taking place and articles like this are off-key, unduly pessimistic, and not in line with the current trajectory of the nation.

I would really have loved to discuss about this topic but if I don't do justice to your post, posterity would judge me. Polonius said to Laertes, his son, in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "This above all: to thine ownself be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou cannot then be false to any man". In simple terms, ofcourse with respect to Nigerians, we must be truthful about the situation of our country. We must say the truth to ourselves about ourselves, about our country. Roosevelt also said that not only is it bad for a society to hate criticism, its treasonous.

Rossike, if your love for Nigeria is so much that every article that address issues facing the country is tagged, in your words "the overwhelming, smug pessimism", then you are part of the problem of this country. I mean, your recent critic-attacking, GEJ-praising, all-is-well attitude is just too dangerous for the future of our nation. If there is one thing I learnt from our history that's held us back until today, its this attitude of yours - patting the government on its back. Had the older generation always stood on their feet to demand for justice and accountability, pressing for more from the government, irrespective of whom the leader is, GEJ wouldn't have had enough problems to deal with. In fact, electricity would have been a thing of the past. But this attitude of yours, the attitude of all-is-well-with-the-present-administration, is what has caused GEJ, whom you support, to be under pressure right now, because this generation is much more enlightened and dynamic.

I hope you tune it down on this attitude. I really hope you do because GEJ would come and go and issues will remain. This is the only country in the world thats been averaging a GDP of about (aprox) 7% since 2008, yet the Bureau of Statistics is scared of publishing unemeployment figures since 2011 because of the extremely high umemployment rate among the youths. Isn't this an issue? Must we shy away from it because we love nigeria and we are optimistic? This is just one outta 20 problems we're facing. C'mon be real!


Frawzey

ayox2003:

I would really have loved to discuss about this topic but if I don't do justice to your post, posterity would judge me. Polonius said to Laertes, his son, in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "This above all: to thine ownself be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou cannot then be false to any man". In simple terms, ofcourse with respect to Nigerians, we must be truthful about the situation of our country. We must say the truth to ourselves about ourselves, about our country. Roosevelt also said that not only is it bad for a society to hate criticism, its treasonous.

Rossike, if your love for Nigeria is so much that every article that address issues facing the country is tagged, in your words "the overwhelming, smug pessimism", then you are part of the problem of this country. I mean, your recent critic-attacking, GEJ-praising, all-is-well attitude is just too dangerous for the future of our nation. If there is one thing I learnt from our history that's held us back until today, its this attitude of yours - patting the government on its back. Had the older generation always stood on their feet to demand for justice and accountability, pressing for more from the government, irrespective of whom the leader is, GEJ wouldn't have had enough problems to deal with. In fact, electricity would have been a thing of the past. But this attitude of yours, the attitude of all-is-well-with-the-present-administration, is what has caused GEJ, whom you support, to be under pressure right now, because this generation is much more enlightened and dynamic.

I hope you tune it down on this attitude. I really hope you do because GEJ would come and go and issues will remain. This is the only country in the world thats been averaging a GDP of about (aprox) 7% since 2008, yet the Bureau of Statistics is scared of publishing unemeployment figures since 2011 because of the extremely high umemployment rate among the youths. Isn't this an issue? Must we shy away from it because we love nigeria and we are optimistic? This is just one outta 20 problems we're facing. C'mon be real!


Frawzey

You ignored every single point I made in my post, to launch ad hominem attacks.

Kindly address those points, and the progress thus outlined, before expecting any response on my part.

I read the article like 9 times and something was missing, aha! The name of Chinua Achebe on that list. The write up immediately lost its taste. ~tears the useless article to pieces and throws it into the trash can where it belongs~

Rossikk:

You ignored every single point I made in my post, to launch ad hominem attacks.

Kindly address those points, and the progress thus outlined, before expecting any response on my part.

I understand every bit of what u've written, I just want us - you and I - to look beyond today.

We need more intellectuals and critics. More important, we need a more accountable government across board. The bottomline is that our beloved Nigeria must march ahead.


Frawzey