An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable
than an incompetent philosopher [PHD holder]. A
society which scorns excellence in plumbing,
because it is humble activity, and tolerates
shoddiness in philosophy, because it is an exalted
activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good
philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will
hold water.” John Gardener, US Secretary of
Health, Education and Welfare.
I was living and studying, in the USA, in the late
1960s when Gardener rendered this piece of good
advice to graduating students at Harvard
University. His aim was to warn the students not
to think that their degrees made them superior to
others who might not have university education
but who were contributing greatly to society.
I also worked at Polaroid Corporation, founded
by Dr(Honorary) Edwin Land, the university drop-
out who started the revolution in photography by
inventing the first instant camera – which all
professors of Physics said could not be done. Dr
Land eventually employed nothing less than 345
Ph.D holders in various departments of Polaroid
Corporation. Some of those who came in with
B.Sc received doctorate degrees based on
experience and research they conducted at
Polaroid.
This is important because Professor Wale
Oladipo, National Secretary of the People’s
Democratic Party had been wasting everybody’s
time comparing Jonathan, a Ph.D holder with
Buhari – who he described as a semi-illiterate.
Oladipo, naturally, failed to define semi-illiteracy
in his bid to score cheap political points. That is
standard practice for Nigerian professors once
they enter the murky waters of politics – they
invariably fail the minimum test of scholarship
which calls for the definition of terms used in
their presentations.
But, let me now take Oladipo up on his own terms
by acknowledging that Jonathan holds a
doctorate in Zoology. To begin with few, if any
applicants for admission to university apply for
Botany or Zoology. Their first preferences are
often Medicine or Pharmacy. It is when their cut-
off marks fall below the requirements for those
two highly exalted professions that they are
offered Zoology or Botany as a condition for
admission to university. It would be interesting to
know if Jonathan, ab initio, opted for Zoology or
was shunted into that course.
More to the point, my questions are: what had he
done with it? In what way had the Nigerian
society benefited from his work as a Zoologist?
How many papers had he got published in
reputable academic journals of Zoology? In what
ways had he advanced knowledge in Zoology?
Those are the minimum requirements for
excellence in academic work and not just the
mere possession of a degree – which is a personal
thing. There are millions of people all over the
world with doctorate degrees who do nothing
with them; they are just contented to hold the
certificates. Meanwhile, there are technicians who
have invented millions of useful equipment,
household items, medical and diagnostic
materials without the benefit of doctorate
degrees. Professor Oladipo will surely agree with
me, if he is not too far gone for redemption, that
a Bill Gates or Edwin Land, both without Ph.Ds,
had benefited the world far more than a million
Jonathans and Oladipos who have nothing
comparative to their credit but their certificates.
CONTINUITY – FROM THOSE WHO MADE YOUR
CHRISTMAS MISERABLE
“Continuity” Jonathan’s adverts lining Abuja
Airport.
Nigerians had the worst Christmas since I was
born. There was no money. Even Federal
Government staff were not paid. There was even
black out for several hours on the 25th. Lean
pickings at dinning tables and thread-bare clothes
rounded up the dreary occasion.
Still PDP wants continuity. Among other horrors
and atrocities implied in that request, consider
these — continuity of bleak Yuletides; continuity
of excuses for not generating more than 4000MW
of electricity in 16 years; continuity of frequent
ASUU strikes; continuity of mass failure in WASC
and, now, Law School; continuity of Ministers
purchasing bullet-proof cars and spending billions
chartering jets; continuity of Ministry of Interior
and other services collecting money from young
job applicants and killing some of them and
nobody got punished for it; continuity of
pensioners dying on queues; continuity of missing
Chibok Girls and kidnapped women; continuity of
400,000 barrels of crude stolen everyday in the
Niger Delta; continuity of an unelected woman
going about disrupting the lives of people
everywhere she goes; continuity of NNPC not
accounting fully for revenue generated; continuity
of depleting External Reserves; continuity of
depleted Excess Crude Oil….Need I continue?
In short CONTINUITY at your own peril. You will
have a choice in February – to decide if that is
what you want.
POWER SECTOR VERSUS NIGERIANS: WAR
DECLARED.
“A man [or group] cannot be too careful in its
choice of enemies.”
Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900
I spent the whole of last year persuading people
in my community that Power Distributors were
slow in providing metres because they didn’t have
the funds. I pleaded they be given more time.
After that stupid N500m donation, I will lead the
attack on DISCOS from now on.
THANKS FOR STAYING WITH US IN 2014.

www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/jonathans-ph-d-versus-buharis-semi-illiteracy-1/

This op self, how can you be comparing a Lion and a Bingo?

Op, compare semi illiteracy with illiteracy not with Ph.d.