THE ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE NIGERIAN SOCIETY PROFESSOR EMERITUS UMARU SHEHU CFR, FAS, DFMC

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1 THE ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE NIGERIAN SOCIETY DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR EMERITUS UMARU SHEHU CFR, FAS, DFMC ON THURSDAY, 16 TH FEBRUARY, 2006.

2 "THE ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE NIGERIAN SOCIETY" LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE 35 TH CONVOCATION CEREMONIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA ON THURSDAY, 16 FEBRUARY, 2006 UMARU SHEHU; CFR,FAS,DFMC In the name of Mali, the Beneficent, the MercifuC BY PROFESSOR EMERITUS We thank Him for making it possible for us to witness this wonderful occasion, the 35 th Convocation Ceremonies of this great Institution. PROTOCOL First of all, let met express my profound appreciation for the invitation to address this distinguished gathering on the occasion of the 35 th Convocation Ceremonies of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I consider it a great honour indeed which I will cherish for a long time to come. I want to thank the Vice-Chancellor for making it possible for me to be here today because the last time I attended a Convocation Ceremony on this campus was in 1996 when I was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Science Degree of this great Institution. Prior to this I had had the privilege of addressing Convocation as the Vice-Chancellor. You can see, therefore, that today is like a homecoming for me. It is also an opportunity for me to renew old friendships and make new ones. I still have very pleasant memories of my rather short stay in Nsukka not to mention the fact that I am constantly reminded of it by those who had passed through the University. I have often been approached by well-dressed and very polite gentlemen at

3 airports and in the aircraft and asked such questions, as "Are you Professor Shehu?" "Were you Vice-Chancellor at Nsukka some way back?" Whenever I answered in the affirmative there was always an easing of tension followed by such statements as "You signed my certificate", "You were my Vice-Chancellor" or "You matriculated me". These events always make me very happy and they continue to be sources of inspiration to serve our great country Nigeria in whatever capacity the Almighty Allah has destined for us. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, you will notice that I intend to engage your attention during the following 30 or 40 minutes to talk about the University in its various perspectives and contexts. To understand these I believe it is important to say a few words on the development of higher education in Nigeria. A very distinguished Nigerian Historian, Professor Ade Ajayi once said at a lecture he gave on the occasion of his being awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit, "It is a truism that the past co-exists with the present and you cannot understand the present without understanding the past with which it co-exists. Nor can you plan for the future without understanding the past and the present with which it coexists. " Evolution of the University in Nigeria The first post-secondary educational institution in Nigeria was established in 1932 and named Government Yaba Higher College with the sole objective of training intermediate level manpower in medicine, engineering, agriculture and education for the civil service. Consequently, the output from the College was very largely determined by the prospects for their absorption

4 in the various Government departments. Despite the fact that the performance of those young men and women was excellent in the civil service there was growing dissatisfaction with the status of the College. This gave rise to severe criticism of the British Colonial Administration and to questions as to its real motive. In response the Secretary of State for the Colonies set-up a Commission on Higher.Education in West Mrtca in 1943 with the following terms of reference "To report on the organization and the facilities of the existing centres for Higher Education in British West Africa, and make recommendations regarding future University Development in that area." The Commissiori's report and recommendations led to the founding of the University College, Ibadan in 1948 and the demise of the Yaba Higher College. The special relationship between the University College Ibadan (U.C.I) and the University of London ensured that the former strictly Complied with University tradition in the United Kingdom. I must confess that While I was not unaware of those developments at the time I took very little interest in them. I was in my last year at Kaduna College (Later Barewa College) in 1947 and all that concerned me then was to pass the school leaving examination, obtain my certificate and return to my Native Authority to look for employment. You see, as at that time the Colonial Administration discouraged students from Northern Nigeria to further their education to the extent that we were not allowed even to sit for the Cambridge School Certificate or the London Matriculation Examinations.

5 The Principal of Kaduna College at the time was a Mathematician and when the U.C.I advertised its Entrance Examination I was one of four ex-students who were invited to sit for it because we were good in mathematics. Two of us passed and were admitted in October, Since then I have had to deal with Universities in one way or another up to today. I may not have seen it all but I certainly have seen a lot. Enthusiasm for further expansion of tertiary education grew in intensity in the country. Coupled with the restrictions t imposed on U.C.I, by London University led to the appointment of another Commission headed by Sir Eric Ashby in Its task was to "conduct an investigation into Nigeria's needs in the field of post-secondary school certificate and higher education over the next 20 years ( )." Subsequently, the Commission in its report highlighted two main objectives:-(i) To upgrade Nigerians who were employed but who needed further education. (ii) To design a system of post-secondary education which would start providing by 1970 the flow of high level manpower which Nigeria needed. In order to achieve these objectives the Commission made the following recommendations :- (a)a University should be established in Lagos with day and evening degree courses in business, commerce, economics etc. (b) U.C.I should widen its curriculum and develop into a full University.

6 (c)all future Universities in Nigeria should be national in outlook. Thus the tune was set for the extension of the functions and roles of Universities to a wider community in order to satisfy some of the growing needs of the Nigerian society. However, the Commission also noted the lack of balance between primary and secondary education and post-secondary education and criticized the literary emphasis in both. For example, it remarked that even though agriculture was the main-stay of the country's economy not many good students were attracted to agriculture or went into technical and commercial education. The Commission also expressed its dismay at the wide educational gap between the North and the South of the country. One of the members of the Commission, Professor Harbison warned that "modern dams, power stations, textile factories or steel mills can be constructed within a few years. But it takes between 10 to 15 years to develop the managers, the administrators and the engineers to operate them. School and College buildings can be erected in a matter of months, but it requires decades to develop high-level teachers and professors." Following the attainment of Independence in 1960 and the autonomy which the Regional Governments acquired Universities were established by them at Nsukka, Zaria and Ife. The hopes and aspirations of the founding fathers were captured in the following statements:- University of Ibadan "To be a world-class institution where conditions for learning are excellent, research and services are outstanding, and where staff

7 and students are worthy in character and good judgment." University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) " to evolve a programme specifically suited to the needs and interests of the people of Nigeria ---" " the courses of study are related to the day-to-day life of Nigerians and focus upon the social and economic needs of this nation". Ahmadu Bello University "----- our character must reflect the needs, the traditions, the social and intellectual heritage of the land in which we live." it is not our intention to copy a standard pattern of Universities in the UK, the Commonwealth or from the USA. We must develop our own pattern to suit our present background and our future needs. Our University must grow out of our own soil. We shall be a truly Nigerian Institution and not the mirror image of some alien body". University of Maiduguri "To train human resources for the development of the country, undertake research into issues of national importance and make available such knowledge for the solution of the country's problems". University of Port-Harcourt "To contribute to national development, self-reliance and unity through the advancement and propagation of knowledge and to use such knowledge for service to the community and humanity". Nigerian Universities, therefore, attempted to translate the traditional roles of Universities in the context of the social, cultural, political and economic realities and demands of the nation. They introduced elements of reform which added a new

8 and important dimension to their roles by accepting to provide direct service to their communities, thus helping in their development and the amelioration of their social and economic problems. Based almost exclusively on the traditional definition of University as "an Institution of higher learning providing facilities for teaching and research and which is authorized to grant academic degrees to students who complete their training to the satisfaction of the Institution", Nigerian Universities have been providing courses of instruction in many disciplines and awarding degrees in such professions as architecture, agriculture, law and medicine as well as in such fields as business, administration, management etc. The University of Lagos Decree of 1967 is a good example of legal instruments which emphasise the traditional functions of Universities. "The Objectives of the University Shall be:- a) to encourage the advancement of learning and to hand j I out to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction the opportunity of acquiring higher education; b) to provide courses of instruction and other facilities for the pursuit of learning in all its branches, and to make these facilities available on proper terms to such persons as are equipped to benefit from them; c) to encourage, promote and conduct research in oilfields of learning and human endeavour; and d) to undertake any other activities appropriate to a

9 University of the highest standard". In other words, "in the traditional view, a University is a citadel of learning, an institution for the pursuit of knowledge, very often for its own sake, helping the initiated individual student to develop his intellect to the highest possible extent, and claiming the freedom to do research and teach, guided principally, if not entirely, by its own light and in its own wisdom". It is, therefore, little wonder that a feeling developed to the effect that our Universities were failing in meeting the challenges of rapid political and economic development in a development-oriented society like that of Nigeria. While it was true that no one seriously accused the Universities of being Ivory Towers or of encouraging academics to constitute themselves into elitist groups within them there was a feeling of unease that our Universities had not fully understood their roles in the society. That not-with-standing, it must be pointed out that significant changes have taken place in the last 10 years or so within the Nigerian University System to give one a sense of optimism for the future. One such change is an attempt at translating the traditional roles of the Universities in the context of the social, cultural, political and economic realities and demands of the Nigerian society. The second is the deliberate attempt which 8