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Professors have been in the news of late in Nigeria. They have spearheaded one of the longest industrial disputes with government in the history of this country which , thankfully , is now winding down as you read. Professors have also been useful in the field of election administration . The Independent National Electoral Commission has been consistently headed by an individual with the rank of professor , likewise returning officers. Former military dictator , General Ibrahim Babangida ( 1985 -1993 ) , hired no less than 45 of them at one point or another during his rule. A current governor and several state commissioners are professors ; we even have a serving professor Vice President of Nigeria, in the person of Yemi Osinbajo . We put the essence and award of ‘ professor ’ under the microscope this week , the highest honour in academia , bestowed on an individual of distinction with impeccable personal accomplishments . The person so honoured is held up in society as worthy of emulation and leadership in their field . A professor ‘ professes ’; anchors an argument on first principles ; has reliability , and makes law -like generalisations on issues of great national and world significance .
A professor is also seen as an emblem of probity, good work ethics , and apogee of professional standards . Many a good scientific discoveries , medical advances , technological innovations , economic , political and environmental landmarks have been associated with professors , who have dug deep to push the frontiers of knowledge for humanity. A professor sees long into the future that many cannot contemplate or even imagine in the short and medium terms . A professor exhibits a calm, cool and rational dissection of complex issues , where others panic and overreact . So far, so good .
The description of the professor just highlighted is so evidently idealised . It rarely exists in whole in any one individual, in a single period. It is an aspiration , and a destination to which many bearing the title arrive quicker than others , while some never even get started , let alone excel in it . For others , still , it is simply a trophy to be flaunted , and used to establish dominance . Nonetheless , the award is accepted by the serious - minded as an invitation to work harder, and to lead by example . For others , it is the perfect calling card for sitting on one ’s oars, as their intellectual curiosity ends the day after being pronounced professor . An award of professorship is a little bit akin to the award of a Nobel Prize . Being a laureate is ideally a recognition of a life ’ s worth , but it can also be an award for potential and futuristic endeavours . In fact, the latter is more often the case. The Nobel Peace Prize conferred on former Presidents F .W . de Clerk, and Nelson Mandela ( South Africa, 1993 ) , Barack Obama ( USA , 2009 ) , Malala Yousafzai ( 17 years old , Pakistani girl- education activist , 2014 ) , and latterly , Abiy Ahmed ( Ethiopia , 2019 ) , would fall into this category . How does that pan out in academia ? The ancient tradition in academia was one where solitary men ‘ emerged’ professors from the shadows after the selection panel takes ‘ soundings’ from their peers. This was the case until the early 19 th century when professorship became an honour awarded through published work . The old system of confidential soundings was obviously given to bias along gender , race and class lines . Published work seemed a more egalitarian method of selecting candidates for the ultimate honour . That too worked well until competition for the honour intensified in the early 20 th century until now , leading to the extreme situation of “ publish or perish ” mentality that is still with us today. Academics are no longer writing for creativity , but for the sole purpose of earning promotion and gliding through the ranks. Rather than grapple with a research problem on merit, and on the basis of need , the main consideration now is to get anything out to boost one ’s tally of publications.
Nowadays , what passes for ‘ publication ’ among academics beggars belief . But, who can blame them ? The work environment for professors ( more so in Nigerian public universities ) is appalling, as is the average pay , often barely enough to keep their heads above water . The best possession many Nigerian professors ever have to show for a lifetime of commitment and dedication is a smoke- laden , rickety old banger , and a receding grey hairline. In spite of that , one sometimes marvels at the sight of some professors with their self -assuredness and eloquence, and utter embarrassment at the sight of others basically firing blank, and punching above their weight .
As if this is not bad enough, the “ publish or perish ” mind -set has taken focus away from quality teaching , and original research . It does not matter how creative you are as a tutor if your publication tally does not add up . A lousy tutor could jump through the academic ladder faster ( with ‘ publications’) than a more dedicated and attentive tutor , who lacks sufficient number of complimentary publications. Furthermore , original research ( backbone of academic excellence ) , can be extremely time consuming, laborious , and expensive . You can be stuck with such work for months , even years, collating and analysing data . Once completed , it is then subjected to a rigorous and sometimes prolonged peer -review process. Many academics have completely abandoned original research in favour of pedestrian textual analyses , which can be accomplished in the comfort of their bedrooms , and in sufficient numbers to acquire the coveted title , ‘ professor ’, in record time . Such ‘publications’ often lack depth and rigour . They contribute nothing to knowledge ; nada ; zilch , but who cares ? Scholarship has given way to soliciting . The universities ’ regulator in this country , the National Universities Commission , set uniform standards that can be applied across the board in a fair and equitable manner . But, paradoxically, that encourages those willing to ‘game’ the system by simply ticking the box . This is rather unfortunate . The higher the number of ‘ publications’ you can ratchet up , the quicker the chances of answering ‘prof ’. This is a regressive, anti -intellectual development that has a domino effect on other parts of an academic institution for, while it may give an institution the outward appearance of achievement , it ultimately leads to an all - round decline in educational standards.
The NUC criteria for promotion into the professorial cadre are generally good , but they should not be made sacrosanct . Striving for the lowest common denominator is hardly the best in any event . Universities must be encouraged to look for both tangible and intangible qualities in an individual. One hundred ‘publications ’ behind a person ’s name are no substitute for quality . Conversely , a lack of visibility in select journals should not be an automatic barrier to promotion , especially if there are other compelling factors in the candidate ’s favour . Professor Ali Mazrui , one of the most celebrated African intellectuals of the 20 th century , became professor within two years of submitting his doctoral thesis . Others have become professors even without having submitted a single journal article, but having exerted themselves and impacted their discipline in a way sufficiently recognisable by their peers . On a lighter note, George Osborne , the former UK minister of finance , graduated in history , but made sufficient impact on public finance and economic affairs in government , that despite only reading history , with no postgraduate qualifications and no journal articles to his name, he was appointed honorary Professor of Economics by the University of Manchester soon after leaving office in 2017 . Yes, that is an aberration. It is not a benchmark for anything in particular , but the point there is clear . Drawing the right circle which encapsulates all the relevant attributes for a professorial award , including quality publications, is tedious . It requires deft , dispassion and foresight on the part of the awarding panel .
That said , the circle can neither be too flexible, nor too rigid . The criteria for an award of academic honour must never be set in stone ; it is a moving goalpost .


https://punchng.com/what-is-in-the-title-professor/

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