NIGERIAN EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE: THE NEED FOR A DOMESTIC INTERVENTION


BY: ORIMOLOYE, Ifeoluwa

The uniqueness with these individuals stems from the fact that they have both provided subconsciously, an array of standards for would-be Professors in any field. The trio, ‘Wole Soyinka and ‘Kole Omotoso, ‘Wande Abimbola (and few others) seem to have moved away from the seeming comfort that pertains to the academic environment and went deep, away from academic-confinement and explored even more societal commitment, which stands to be far away from what the formal society affords. They engaged in acts that ‘raised their consciousness’…and the end product? They became successful in their field. They stepped into roles of social responsibility. It is of little wonder that a Professor of dramatic arts with a concentration on the Arabic genre, gives you something of a ‘theatrical-architectural’ contribution to the construction of the DOME in Akure, Omotoso’s contribution is of an architectural nature which of course shares an imaginary boundary with his profession.
This is what I think academics stands for, balancing your field with the needs of the immediate society, having in mind, the portrayal of the figure or imagery of an ideal society. I think with education comes exposure. And that exposure is what is applicable in solving the challenges of our society while having in mind THE PICTURE OF AN IDEAL SOCIETY. I always say for an instance in the case of some professors (lost in academic confinement), that there is more to life than confining oneself to the office or a laboratory and waste all the time there or exhaust their lifetime reviewing an antiquated knowledge, when you know that the experiment performed here does not meet standard requirements for (scientific or otherwise) experiments. Why not lend your voice to that of others calling for a ‘balanced system’ where all of these experiments would be performed in the best of standards?
My definition of deceit and hypocrisy translates to a situation when you understand that the educational system of the country is at the brink of collapse, but because you are a product of that institutionalized cataclysm, you decide to perhaps keep an ‘embarrassed silence’, thus, grooming the younger generations within the limit afforded by that fallen standard, and yet you continue to complain about the attitude of the younger generation, especially as it relates to education. You know that generally, all is not well with the country, but you decided to continuosly criticize in an unconstructive manner within the confines afforded by the same decayed academia.
At that, you can always detect them, the ‘fake’ and the ‘original’ academicians, even in this part of the world where you can obtain a status of a professor by means of intent and ‘kangaroo’ requirements, and not exposure, innovation and excellence. Passing a comment on Kole Omotoso, Odia Ofeimun stated that, “his works is difficult enough to intimidate his NOT-SO-ADVENTUROUS ACADEMIC COLLEAGUES who keep an EMBARRASSED SILENCE rather than HURT THEIR REPUTATIONS by saying something out of place or anything that may have to SHARE SHOP WITH THE ANTI-ESTABLISHMENTARIAN AND SOMETIMES, SHIFTING CANONS THAT HIS WORK DEMAND.” (Emphasis mine)
‘Sharing shop with the anti-establishmentarian and shifting canons’ from my perspective depicts thinking, acting and functioning out of the box, away from what is afforded by your lane or a typical institution, and in a way, the Nigerian academic confinement. I was held spell bound when Kole Omotoso explained to me and a couple of others about the need to domesticate knowledge. Domesticating knowledge, according to Omotoso Kole will entail teaching and studying most courses, in sciences, arts and commerce in the indigenous language. He further extolled a certain Professor Fakinlede who defined a ‘robot’ (in a domesticated-technological ‘intervention’) as ‘shigidi’ (shigidi is Yoruba’s interpretation of a statue), so robot could mean a moving statue. Professor Omotoso described that as the beginning of innovation for the country’s ‘department of technology’ which is at its infant stage, crawling.

#speakout
#consciousnessraising

cc: lalasticlala