38
THE NATION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012
COMMENTARY
FEMI ABBAS ON
“I
NSTITUTIONS are worth no more than the men who work them’’Professor O. O. Akinkugbe, first Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin. In this column last Friday, ‘The Message’ briefly showcased some achievements of the University of Ilorin as a way of encouraging the Nigerian youths of today on the pleasant possibilities of tomorrow. At a time when anything news in Nigeria is a sad reminder of the flight of hope and its replacement by with, it only behoves some die hard optimists like ‘The Message’ to sound a positive tune indicating that all is not lost after all. If the University of Ilorin could rise so loftily from such a modest foundation and tower above many other Universities that preceded it in Nigeria then the hope that a new Nigeria can still emerge from the debris of the old should not remain a mere dream. The above quoted axiom of Professor Akinkugbe which is partially in tandem with Qur’an 13: 11 that “Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in their hearts” exemplifies the foundation of that University which he as the first Vice-Chancellor laid in 1976. It is also a drawer of attention to the gargantuan intellectual citadel which came to be erected on that foundation to the benefit of mankind. The men described in that quote are not by any means ordinary. And the soils from which they sprang are not by any standard restricted to any particular area of life. Since the tree of life has many branches and roots no topmost twig should presume to think that it alone has sprung from the mother earth. There is no restriction of the signpost of life to any particular sphere or time. Greatness is like a magnet which attracts only the relevant elements to itself. Unmindful of the above analytical assertion however, an India-born British writer and poet, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), who won Nobel Laurel in 1907, once concluded one of his popular poems thus: ‘’Oh! East is East and West is West; never the Twain shall meet...’’ (Kipling was the first British author to win such honour). That poem came to intensify the perennial hostility between the East and the West which the latter has adopted as a permanent tradition to the detriment of what ought to have ventilated a cordial relationship between the two sides. But what neither Kipling nor the West seemed to know then about the seeming natural divide in the word is the existence of an abstract confluence similar to a knuckle that holds the blades of a pair of scissors together. Just as the scissors cannot operate with one blade successfully so can no man with one sided education correctly claim to be the main signpost in any field of human endeavour. Thus, the confluence that is supposed to keep the East and the West in harmony is like a deep fountain of knowledge eagerly looking for men and women of substance to sip from its nourishing water and use same to water the sprouting plants around. But only a few have responded to that alltime challenge. However, today, the men and women who responded, though few, conspicuously stand out vertically amidst their horizontal colleagues. One of them is a Nigerian don who, by the grace of Allah, is a frontline Vice- Chancellor of a foremost Nigerian University. Professor Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede is a household name in the academia not only in Nigeria or Africa but in the entire world just like the University he is privileged to head. What qualifies him for such a vertical position is an interesting question for which most inquisitive minds may earnestly seek an answer. And the answer is not far-fetched. Like most people of letters and knowledge, Professor Oloyede wears a binocular with which he sees life from a bird’s eye view. And this is evident not just in his management of the University of Ilorin in the past five years but also in the humility, selflessness and patriotism with which he demonstrates civility in his exhibition of knowledge. The difference between a man of letters and that of knowledge is quite clear. While the one sees life through the common eye, the other sees it through an uncommon binocular. In the days of Socrates, Aristotle and Herodotus, when education was an adorned virtue used as a yardstick for measuring civility and value, no one cared about the material gains accruing from it. Bastardisation of education only set in when certificate was introduced as a means of valuing its material worth. Thus, with certificate, mere literacy began to be miscon-
Femabbas@yahoo.com 08051101861
A confluence for progress
‘
Looking at those powerful and determinant statements by a leader and judging them by the actions that catapulted Unilorin to the very first and best University in Nigeria one will be reassured that given the right atmosphere and with the round peg in the round hole, Nigeria still has great potential to be great despite all the odds • Oloyede ceived as education. Whereas literacy is just an added value to education the modern day man has ignorantly but arrogantly interpolated the one for the other. This is what Professor Oloyede resented in his academic odyssey when he chose to combine eastern education with that of the West with a determination to use the advantage of both as a fertiliser for the academic soil of Nigeria’s future which was why he specialised in Islamic Studies even at the professorial level. Professor Oloyede’s philosophy of life seems to tally with that of Daniel Webster who in a memorable poem stated as follows: ‘’If we work marble it will perish; if we work upon brass time will efface it; if we rear temples they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and instil in them just principles; we are then engraving that upon tablets which no time can efface but will brighten to all eternity’’. This is the philosophy that compelled him to adopt contentment as a principle right from the early age. Why relating his reason for contesting for the office of the ViceChancellor, he once told some medical students of his University who went to congratulate him on assumption of office that he never intended to contest for that office. But when an academic charlatan with an ulterior motive threatened to expose him if he dared to contest, he (Oloyede) saw it as a challenge to put his privacy on a public table. His intention was not to contest but to see what would be exposed in his privacy. And as God would have it he emerged as the Vice-Chancellor without an iota of blemish. Before contesting for that post he had served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor twice. First he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic and later Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration in the same University of Ilorin where he had spent his academic life as a student, as an alumnus lecturer, as s Director in several areas and as a Professor. Thus, he had seen that University inside out and that was enough to propel an ambition in him to target the highest office in the Citadel for which he was eminently qualified but it did not. Professor Oloyede relayed the story of his unintended contest for the highest office to his students not as a show off but as an admonition to those students that nothing in life is comparable to conscientious service to humanity with humility and patriotism. When he noticed that the position of the Executive Secretary of the Association of African Universities was more important and more beneficent to Nigeria than that of the President which
‘
he held, Professor Oloyede encouraged some of his Nigerian colleagues to apply for that post promising that he would resign his Presidential position in that Association to enable a Nigerian to emerge. Most of his colleagues did not believe him. But when the time came and one of them applied, Oloyede surprisingly resigned just after two years in an office where he was supposed to spend four years in the first instance. Today Nigeria is benefitting greatly from the post of Executive Secretary now held by Professor Jegede, a former Vice Chancellor of National Open University. And to show appreciation to Professor Oloyede over his large heart and patriotism, the AAU appointed him as a Board Member of that Association. Only a few Nigerians in the academic field can surpass this humble man’s record when it comes to the ‘nitty gritty’ of academic prowess. Yet you can hardly notice it in his demeanour. He was not only the first ‘FIRST CLASS’ graduate of the Faculty of Arts in the University of Ilorin and the very first alumnus of that University to obtain a PhD in that University, he was also the first Academic Director of Academic Planning and first alumni President to be a member of the Governing Council of the University. Professor Oloyede is the first Unilorin alumnus to become a Deputy Vice-Chancellor and subsequently the first alumnus to become the Vice-Chancellor of the University. Not only that, he is the first Vice-Chancellor in Nigeria to introduce ComputerBased Testing (CBT) method of screening applicants in the country just as he is the first Vice-Chancellor to lead a second generation University to the number one position in Nigeria based on external ranking. He also became the first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor to emerge as President of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and at the same time the Chairman of Association of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU). Still not done, he is the first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor to combine the Board membership of International Association of Universities (IAU) with those of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and Association of African Universities (AAU). With the above listed ‘FIRSTS’ he has been able to make Unilorin the first Federal University in Nigeria to run a decade of uninterrupted academic calendar and to be internationally ranked as one of the very best 20 Universities in Africa. Also, through his astute academic administration, the University of Ilorin has been able
to maintain the first position for three consecutive years (2009, 2010 and 2011). Realising that to embark on a long and tortuous journey, a clever person needs to prepare adequately for eventuality, Professor Oloyede organised his administrative sojourn with in such a way as to coincide with his determination to shoot through the iron gate of life. While giving his annual report entitled ‘I BELIEVE’ barely one year after he became the ViceChancellor, he on reflected that determination thus: “History tells us that Julius Caesar with his legions sailed over the channels from gaol and arrived in today’s England. He did a very clever yet incongruous thing to ensure the success of his army. Halting the soldiers on the chalk cliffs of Dover, he burnt every ship by which they crossed, living them with nothing but determination to succeed or perish, with the only means of retreat consumed by the red tongues of fire. It was that determination, powered by courage that made the legions to advance and conquer. They did not look back and the rest is history”. “I believe that with the caesarean determination of avoiding destruction and being focused on the set goals, the University of Ilorin, by all standards a great University can be greater. Our goals are to fulfil our mission, attain our vision and engrave the name of the University on the psyche of global reckoning through the adoption of best practices. I believe that this is possible along the dictum that says “whatever human mind can conceive and believe man can achieve. I believe that we can do it if we are determined”. And in his second year annual report entitled ‘IT IS POSSIBLE’ he had the following to say as a preamble: “It is really amazing how people are resistant to change or sceptical about it. But the truth of the matter is that the only permanent thing in life is change and change is inevitable....Our desire is to make the University second to none”. Yet in the opening of his third year annual report entitled ‘LET US MARCH ON’ he had this to say: “It is not presumptuous to say that the brightness of the University of Ilorin is self-evident. In the past few years, the University has remained the prime choice of several thousands of University education applicants in Nigeria....Under my humble leadership the University of Ilorin remains on the march. Let us march on till victory is won and the University becomes the best in Africa and launch itself into more global attention...”. While giving his 2010/2011 annual report entitled ‘CHANGE THE WORLD’, the Unilorin Vice-Chancellor opined thus: ‘’...That the dream of a first rate University has morphed to reality just 36 years after cannot be contested today by anyone who is familiar with the Nigerian University terrain. By producing high quality graduates and by undertaking ground-breaking research efforts that are shaping the course of humanity, the University continues to contribute to the development of human resources that are significant to making the world better.... When the pioneer head of our Department of Medicine, now an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of New Castle, Australia, John Hamilton, visited me on December 13, 2010, part of the period under review, he said that anywhere he goes all over the world, he is always impressed to note and be told that graduates of our University, especially the Medical School are very good on the field... ’’ Looking at those powerful and determinant statements by a leader and judging them by the actions that catapulted Unilorin to the very first and best University in Nigeria one will be reassured that given the right atmosphere and with the round peg in the round hole, Nigeria still has great potential to be great despite all the odds. In Professor Oloyede is a great example for those who aspire to be great in a world where greatness is a slippery land. “Who shares his life’s pure pleasure and walks the honest road; who trades with heaping measure and lifts his brother’s load; who turns the wrong down bluntly and lends the right a hand; he dwells in God’s own country and tills the holy land”. Professor Oloyede has done precisely that and Nigeria is a witness. It is now left for the present days to raise up voices in prayer saying GOD BLESS YOU so that the future days can chorus AMEN in response. Please use this number to reach out to ‘THE MESSAGE’: 08122697498