On June 19, 2011 · In Sunday Perspectives ..
By Douglas Anele
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/david-west%E2%80%99s-lamentations-for-nigerian-varsities-1/
Tam David-West is well-known nation-wide. Apart from being a former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, and later Minister of Mines, Power and Steel, he is a retired Professor of Virology at the University of Ibadan. Now, although I do not agree with him on several issues, including his uncritical, almost worshipful, admiration of former military dictator, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, his latest comments on the state of Nigerian universities are right on target.
As an experienced academic who rose to the pinnacle of the profession, Nigerians should take his frank dissection of the decay in our so-called Ivory Towers very seriously. In a recent interview in one of the national dailies, David-West, in his characteristic boldness, took a critical look at the situation in the topmost level of our educational pyramid and concluded that things have seriously fallen apart.
The former minister began his jeremiad by reminiscing about his days as an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan in the 1950s. According to him, the population of students was low whereas the quality of lecturers then was high. Students were properly fed and taken care of in the halls of residence.
Apart from lectures, they were taught the rudiments of gentlemanly culture, that is, the culture of the elite Western bourgeoisie. David-West recalled that when he was in school a monthly banquet dinner was organised “in which highly-placed guests were invited from outside the university to “wine and dine” with students.
At that time, which he referred to as the “bloom years”, students didn’t just pass through the university alone, the university passed through them as well. Thereafter, from the mid-1980s, the system started collapsing. The standard is so bad now that even lecturers lack the refinement expected of the cognoscente.
David-West cited the cases of a lecturer who picked a piece of meat from the floor, washed and ate it; of female lecturers who park recklessly across the street, only to apologise when confronted; and, of postgraduate students who write English very poorly. He argued, correctly, that blame for the rot in the university system is not only for the politicians that have failed to fund these institutions properly for years.
In his words “the degeneracy is too much. I feel like crying for the universities. The standard is too bad.” According to Niyi Osundare, another retired Professor from Ibadan, there are politicians in academic gowns. Of course, increasing decline of academic excellence has jeopardised standards in all our universities. The problem is compounded by the plunge in moral rectitude. Instances of moral turpitude by lecturers, especially those at the professorial cadre, rankle the mind.
Some professors, David-West avers, share research grants meant for their departments; others manipulate the system to get their spouses appointed professors. There was a case of a deceased Deputy Vice-Chancellor whose son stole a book from the bookshop; the matter was hushed because his father was a VIP in the system.
Subsequently, the criminal was awarded a degree, with the cliché on the certificate which reads: “having satisfied the university in learning and character.” There are professors who forge the signatures of their heads of department and other principal officers of the universities, and collude to award degrees, even doctorates, on the basis of poorly-executed research programmes. In the mad rush to produce doctorate holders, or get certain unqualified lecturers promoted on irrelevant grounds different from laid down rules, senior academics shamelessly compromise the system.
Instances are known of professors on sick beds who are asked to evaluate the papers of professorial candidates just to “quicken the process and save time.” The current regulation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) making it mandatory that every university lecturer must have a doctorate was soundly criticised by David-West. I am also one of the few lecturers at the University of Lagos who consider NUC’s decision disingenuous because, as the saying goes, “the hood does not make the monk.”
Mere possession of a half-baked (or even unbaked) Ph.D. is academic corruption of the highest order, since it creates the false impression that its possessor has done original work on a subject-matter which has contributed to knowledge in that field. I know of someone with a Ph.D. in English Literature whose internal assessor complained that the work was redolent with mistakes in the use of tense and in other basic elements of English grammar and usage. David-West hits the nail on its head by claiming that “Some PhDs are rubbish.
”I’ve got lecturers that are Masters or BA or B.Sc. that are fantastic.” As a consequence of irrational obsession with Ph.D. by NUC (a body headed by professors), unnecessary pressures and lobbying from both the candidates and senior academics on supervisors and assessors has already increased, with some low-grade universities metamorphosing into rolling mills or factories for cloning Ph.Ds. Many professors usually send the Ph.D. theses of their favourite, not-really-brilliant, candidates to their aburos, sometimes with the tendentious suggestion that the latter should “take it easy with the candidates.”
Someone told me of an incident where, in less than two weeks a busy professor had finished reading a thesis of over 300 pages sent to him by a friend in another university – of course, the verdict on the work was highly favourable. Overemphasis on journal publications for promotion is killing not only the motivation for excellent teaching and for writing good books but, more importantly, has encouraged unscrupulous lecturers who are desperate to become professors to steal or clone the ideas of other colleagues.
Furthermore, in the sea of “cut and paste” writings that are becoming the norm in the system as a result of the wrongheaded ideology of “publish or perish”, great ideas are submerged in the flood, ideas that are rare and precious.
To be concluded.
Sunday, 26 June 2011
David-West’s lamentations for Nigerian varsities (1)
On June 19, 2011 · In Sunday Perspectives ..
By Douglas Anele
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/david-west%E2%80%99s-lamentations-for-nigerian-varsities-1/
Tam David-West is well-known nation-wide. Apart from being a former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, and later Minister of Mines, Power and Steel, he is a retired Professor of Virology at the University of Ibadan. Now, although I do not agree with him on several issues, including his uncritical, almost worshipful, admiration of former military dictator, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, his latest comments on the state of Nigerian universities are right on target.
As an experienced academic who rose to the pinnacle of the profession, Nigerians should take his frank dissection of the decay in our so-called Ivory Towers very seriously. In a recent interview in one of the national dailies, David-West, in his characteristic boldness, took a critical look at the situation in the topmost level of our educational pyramid and concluded that things have seriously fallen apart.
The former minister began his jeremiad by reminiscing about his days as an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan in the 1950s. According to him, the population of students was low whereas the quality of lecturers then was high. Students were properly fed and taken care of in the halls of residence.
Apart from lectures, they were taught the rudiments of gentlemanly culture, that is, the culture of the elite Western bourgeoisie. David-West recalled that when he was in school a monthly banquet dinner was organised “in which highly-placed guests were invited from outside the university to “wine and dine” with students.
At that time, which he referred to as the “bloom years”, students didn’t just pass through the university alone, the university passed through them as well. Thereafter, from the mid-1980s, the system started collapsing. The standard is so bad now that even lecturers lack the refinement expected of the cognoscente.
David-West cited the cases of a lecturer who picked a piece of meat from the floor, washed and ate it; of female lecturers who park recklessly across the street, only to apologise when confronted; and, of postgraduate students who write English very poorly. He argued, correctly, that blame for the rot in the university system is not only for the politicians that have failed to fund these institutions properly for years.
In his words “the degeneracy is too much. I feel like crying for the universities. The standard is too bad.” According to Niyi Osundare, another retired Professor from Ibadan, there are politicians in academic gowns. Of course, increasing decline of academic excellence has jeopardised standards in all our universities. The problem is compounded by the plunge in moral rectitude. Instances of moral turpitude by lecturers, especially those at the professorial cadre, rankle the mind.
Some professors, David-West avers, share research grants meant for their departments; others manipulate the system to get their spouses appointed professors. There was a case of a deceased Deputy Vice-Chancellor whose son stole a book from the bookshop; the matter was hushed because his father was a VIP in the system.
Subsequently, the criminal was awarded a degree, with the cliché on the certificate which reads: “having satisfied the university in learning and character.” There are professors who forge the signatures of their heads of department and other principal officers of the universities, and collude to award degrees, even doctorates, on the basis of poorly-executed research programmes. In the mad rush to produce doctorate holders, or get certain unqualified lecturers promoted on irrelevant grounds different from laid down rules, senior academics shamelessly compromise the system.
Instances are known of professors on sick beds who are asked to evaluate the papers of professorial candidates just to “quicken the process and save time.” The current regulation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) making it mandatory that every university lecturer must have a doctorate was soundly criticised by David-West. I am also one of the few lecturers at the University of Lagos who consider NUC’s decision disingenuous because, as the saying goes, “the hood does not make the monk.”
Mere possession of a half-baked (or even unbaked) Ph.D. is academic corruption of the highest order, since it creates the false impression that its possessor has done original work on a subject-matter which has contributed to knowledge in that field. I know of someone with a Ph.D. in English Literature whose internal assessor complained that the work was redolent with mistakes in the use of tense and in other basic elements of English grammar and usage. David-West hits the nail on its head by claiming that “Some PhDs are rubbish.
”I’ve got lecturers that are Masters or BA or B.Sc. that are fantastic.” As a consequence of irrational obsession with Ph.D. by NUC (a body headed by professors), unnecessary pressures and lobbying from both the candidates and senior academics on supervisors and assessors has already increased, with some low-grade universities metamorphosing into rolling mills or factories for cloning Ph.Ds. Many professors usually send the Ph.D. theses of their favourite, not-really-brilliant, candidates to their aburos, sometimes with the tendentious suggestion that the latter should “take it easy with the candidates.”
Someone told me of an incident where, in less than two weeks a busy professor had finished reading a thesis of over 300 pages sent to him by a friend in another university – of course, the verdict on the work was highly favourable. Overemphasis on journal publications for promotion is killing not only the motivation for excellent teaching and for writing good books but, more importantly, has encouraged unscrupulous lecturers who are desperate to become professors to steal or clone the ideas of other colleagues.
Furthermore, in the sea of “cut and paste” writings that are becoming the norm in the system as a result of the wrongheaded ideology of “publish or perish”, great ideas are submerged in the flood, ideas that are rare and precious.
To be concluded.
By Douglas Anele
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/david-west%E2%80%99s-lamentations-for-nigerian-varsities-1/
Tam David-West is well-known nation-wide. Apart from being a former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, and later Minister of Mines, Power and Steel, he is a retired Professor of Virology at the University of Ibadan. Now, although I do not agree with him on several issues, including his uncritical, almost worshipful, admiration of former military dictator, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, his latest comments on the state of Nigerian universities are right on target.
As an experienced academic who rose to the pinnacle of the profession, Nigerians should take his frank dissection of the decay in our so-called Ivory Towers very seriously. In a recent interview in one of the national dailies, David-West, in his characteristic boldness, took a critical look at the situation in the topmost level of our educational pyramid and concluded that things have seriously fallen apart.
The former minister began his jeremiad by reminiscing about his days as an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan in the 1950s. According to him, the population of students was low whereas the quality of lecturers then was high. Students were properly fed and taken care of in the halls of residence.
Apart from lectures, they were taught the rudiments of gentlemanly culture, that is, the culture of the elite Western bourgeoisie. David-West recalled that when he was in school a monthly banquet dinner was organised “in which highly-placed guests were invited from outside the university to “wine and dine” with students.
At that time, which he referred to as the “bloom years”, students didn’t just pass through the university alone, the university passed through them as well. Thereafter, from the mid-1980s, the system started collapsing. The standard is so bad now that even lecturers lack the refinement expected of the cognoscente.
David-West cited the cases of a lecturer who picked a piece of meat from the floor, washed and ate it; of female lecturers who park recklessly across the street, only to apologise when confronted; and, of postgraduate students who write English very poorly. He argued, correctly, that blame for the rot in the university system is not only for the politicians that have failed to fund these institutions properly for years.
In his words “the degeneracy is too much. I feel like crying for the universities. The standard is too bad.” According to Niyi Osundare, another retired Professor from Ibadan, there are politicians in academic gowns. Of course, increasing decline of academic excellence has jeopardised standards in all our universities. The problem is compounded by the plunge in moral rectitude. Instances of moral turpitude by lecturers, especially those at the professorial cadre, rankle the mind.
Some professors, David-West avers, share research grants meant for their departments; others manipulate the system to get their spouses appointed professors. There was a case of a deceased Deputy Vice-Chancellor whose son stole a book from the bookshop; the matter was hushed because his father was a VIP in the system.
Subsequently, the criminal was awarded a degree, with the cliché on the certificate which reads: “having satisfied the university in learning and character.” There are professors who forge the signatures of their heads of department and other principal officers of the universities, and collude to award degrees, even doctorates, on the basis of poorly-executed research programmes. In the mad rush to produce doctorate holders, or get certain unqualified lecturers promoted on irrelevant grounds different from laid down rules, senior academics shamelessly compromise the system.
Instances are known of professors on sick beds who are asked to evaluate the papers of professorial candidates just to “quicken the process and save time.” The current regulation from the National Universities Commission (NUC) making it mandatory that every university lecturer must have a doctorate was soundly criticised by David-West. I am also one of the few lecturers at the University of Lagos who consider NUC’s decision disingenuous because, as the saying goes, “the hood does not make the monk.”
Mere possession of a half-baked (or even unbaked) Ph.D. is academic corruption of the highest order, since it creates the false impression that its possessor has done original work on a subject-matter which has contributed to knowledge in that field. I know of someone with a Ph.D. in English Literature whose internal assessor complained that the work was redolent with mistakes in the use of tense and in other basic elements of English grammar and usage. David-West hits the nail on its head by claiming that “Some PhDs are rubbish.
”I’ve got lecturers that are Masters or BA or B.Sc. that are fantastic.” As a consequence of irrational obsession with Ph.D. by NUC (a body headed by professors), unnecessary pressures and lobbying from both the candidates and senior academics on supervisors and assessors has already increased, with some low-grade universities metamorphosing into rolling mills or factories for cloning Ph.Ds. Many professors usually send the Ph.D. theses of their favourite, not-really-brilliant, candidates to their aburos, sometimes with the tendentious suggestion that the latter should “take it easy with the candidates.”
Someone told me of an incident where, in less than two weeks a busy professor had finished reading a thesis of over 300 pages sent to him by a friend in another university – of course, the verdict on the work was highly favourable. Overemphasis on journal publications for promotion is killing not only the motivation for excellent teaching and for writing good books but, more importantly, has encouraged unscrupulous lecturers who are desperate to become professors to steal or clone the ideas of other colleagues.
Furthermore, in the sea of “cut and paste” writings that are becoming the norm in the system as a result of the wrongheaded ideology of “publish or perish”, great ideas are submerged in the flood, ideas that are rare and precious.
To be concluded.
Ode to a bosom friend: Mr Mark Obumneme Emmanuel
By Joachim Ibeziako Ezeji
One striking feature I have always admired in my bosom friend Mark is his ability to get along well with all kinds of people. It is this unique streak that has underpinned my relationship with him since 1998 when we first met and instantly became great friends. He is very unassuming, very kind and very understanding. I first came in contact with this young man at a Rotaract Club meeting/fellowship hosted by the Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt in 1998.
Over these years I have come to realize that both of us share similar ideologies, philosophies and world views on contemporary issues. This is more pronounced in our uncompromising attachment to moral, entrepreneurial and professional excellence. For him, this is most manifest in the fact that in less than three years of graduation he defied all odds to get enmeshed in the risky world of self employment through the setting up of a group of firms, and providing employment for over 27 young graduate Nigerians.
Amongst his companies are: NUEL MARK & PARTNERS, an indigenous firm of Estate Surveyors and Valuers registered in Nigeria as a business concern with Registration No. PH/079872 and recognized by the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) to practice the profession of Estate Surveying and Valuation throughout Nigeria.
Another is; Nuel Mark Environmental Services Limited, a professional services firm focusing on the environmental needs of our clients and providing them sustainable environmental strategies and solutions. Nuel Mark Property Consulting Limited is a unique multi-disciplinary consultancy that provides a comprehensive set of professional services to organizations and businesses involved in property development and asset management.
Yet, another is; Nuel Mark Property Consulting Limited, which provides its institutional, government and private client base significant expertise with recent experience of a wide range of property development projects.
Mr Emmanuel O. Mark is well known and highly respected for his knowledge and success in the Nigerian real estate market, selling and marketing some of the most successful residential and commercial developments throughout Nigeria over the past 15 years.
In addition to all the foregoing, Obum (an Igbo name meaning ‘’I am’’ as I usually call him) is a well-bred and cultured community man. He takes great pleasure at community service as encapsulated in his membership of the Rotary family since the past ten years now. Starting at Rotaract club, a youth wing of Rotary he rose to become the District Rotaract Representative (DRR) with the onerous responsibility of leading an international organization in a district with well over 1500 Rotaractors. His commitment to Rotary was further underscored when members of his Rotary club elected him to the position of President of the Rotary club of Port Harcourt Central in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He had a most successful tenure and was soon rewarded with a district appointment as the District 9140 Rotaract Committee Chairman.
Mark takes great pleasure in attending local and national professional conferences and symposia. He reads voraciously and can work independently to a very large extent. The gain he derives from these is bounteous and stands him shoulders above many of his peers in terms of the social and intellectual benefits that have continued to build and mould his person. I say so because I have seen him make and listen to presentations and also make contributions of meaningful worth to learning at these events.
Obum is very humble and ever willing to learn irrespective of his personal views and opinion. He never throws his weight or status around and can comfortably mix-up and socialize with anybody. This is one quality I admire greatly in him.
He takes great interest in creativity and innovative thinking as well as in socio-economic researches that can improve the living environment. His recent partnership with RAWDP, a Nigerian NGO to effectively optimize her clean water project using cheap and affordable natural resources is a vivid example. To boost this activity, Mark is already privately shoring up relevant contacts for the wider adoption of the technology.
Further to all the foregoing, I wish to underscore that my getting to know Mark has not been without its low points too. He can easily loose steam and can at times vacillate a little, requiring and testing the persuasive skill of an adroit expert friend to roar him to action once more. Most often he exhibits traits of shrewdness, a streak common with the average Igbo business man; though his’ never compromises honesty and fairness to all. He never cheats and can rarely be cheated.
To some extent he could be seen as also being hedonistic but this can easily be excused for man who works so hard to earn every of his penny. In Nigeria, Port Harcourt can appropriately be classiofied as a city of jolly good fellows. And Obum is exactly one. We never miss our ‘’ishi ewu’’ , ‘’ugba’’, aso rock’’ and even ‘’national assembly’’ often prepared by ‘’Werulem’’ his beautiful and charming wife, whenever I am in town.
Ode to Mark Obumneme Emmanuel; an accomplished professional, friend and family man. To God Be the Glory!
One striking feature I have always admired in my bosom friend Mark is his ability to get along well with all kinds of people. It is this unique streak that has underpinned my relationship with him since 1998 when we first met and instantly became great friends. He is very unassuming, very kind and very understanding. I first came in contact with this young man at a Rotaract Club meeting/fellowship hosted by the Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt in 1998.
Over these years I have come to realize that both of us share similar ideologies, philosophies and world views on contemporary issues. This is more pronounced in our uncompromising attachment to moral, entrepreneurial and professional excellence. For him, this is most manifest in the fact that in less than three years of graduation he defied all odds to get enmeshed in the risky world of self employment through the setting up of a group of firms, and providing employment for over 27 young graduate Nigerians.
Amongst his companies are: NUEL MARK & PARTNERS, an indigenous firm of Estate Surveyors and Valuers registered in Nigeria as a business concern with Registration No. PH/079872 and recognized by the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) to practice the profession of Estate Surveying and Valuation throughout Nigeria.
Another is; Nuel Mark Environmental Services Limited, a professional services firm focusing on the environmental needs of our clients and providing them sustainable environmental strategies and solutions. Nuel Mark Property Consulting Limited is a unique multi-disciplinary consultancy that provides a comprehensive set of professional services to organizations and businesses involved in property development and asset management.
Yet, another is; Nuel Mark Property Consulting Limited, which provides its institutional, government and private client base significant expertise with recent experience of a wide range of property development projects.
Mr Emmanuel O. Mark is well known and highly respected for his knowledge and success in the Nigerian real estate market, selling and marketing some of the most successful residential and commercial developments throughout Nigeria over the past 15 years.
In addition to all the foregoing, Obum (an Igbo name meaning ‘’I am’’ as I usually call him) is a well-bred and cultured community man. He takes great pleasure at community service as encapsulated in his membership of the Rotary family since the past ten years now. Starting at Rotaract club, a youth wing of Rotary he rose to become the District Rotaract Representative (DRR) with the onerous responsibility of leading an international organization in a district with well over 1500 Rotaractors. His commitment to Rotary was further underscored when members of his Rotary club elected him to the position of President of the Rotary club of Port Harcourt Central in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He had a most successful tenure and was soon rewarded with a district appointment as the District 9140 Rotaract Committee Chairman.
Mark takes great pleasure in attending local and national professional conferences and symposia. He reads voraciously and can work independently to a very large extent. The gain he derives from these is bounteous and stands him shoulders above many of his peers in terms of the social and intellectual benefits that have continued to build and mould his person. I say so because I have seen him make and listen to presentations and also make contributions of meaningful worth to learning at these events.
Obum is very humble and ever willing to learn irrespective of his personal views and opinion. He never throws his weight or status around and can comfortably mix-up and socialize with anybody. This is one quality I admire greatly in him.
He takes great interest in creativity and innovative thinking as well as in socio-economic researches that can improve the living environment. His recent partnership with RAWDP, a Nigerian NGO to effectively optimize her clean water project using cheap and affordable natural resources is a vivid example. To boost this activity, Mark is already privately shoring up relevant contacts for the wider adoption of the technology.
Further to all the foregoing, I wish to underscore that my getting to know Mark has not been without its low points too. He can easily loose steam and can at times vacillate a little, requiring and testing the persuasive skill of an adroit expert friend to roar him to action once more. Most often he exhibits traits of shrewdness, a streak common with the average Igbo business man; though his’ never compromises honesty and fairness to all. He never cheats and can rarely be cheated.
To some extent he could be seen as also being hedonistic but this can easily be excused for man who works so hard to earn every of his penny. In Nigeria, Port Harcourt can appropriately be classiofied as a city of jolly good fellows. And Obum is exactly one. We never miss our ‘’ishi ewu’’ , ‘’ugba’’, aso rock’’ and even ‘’national assembly’’ often prepared by ‘’Werulem’’ his beautiful and charming wife, whenever I am in town.
Ode to Mark Obumneme Emmanuel; an accomplished professional, friend and family man. To God Be the Glory!
David-West’s lamentations for Nigerian varsities (2)
On June 26, 2011 · In Sunday Perspectives ..
By Douglas Anele
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/david-west%e2%80%99s-lamentations-for-nigerian-varsities-2/
Prof. David-West argued that one should not judge Ph.Ds awarded these days at face value. According to him, many of them did not meet the minimum academic standard and are awarded on the basis of dubious, watered-down, criteria. He recalled a case when he was an assessor of a candidate for the award of a doctorate in Virology. His conclusion at the end of the exercise was that “this thesis or dissertation has contributed nothing new to virology.” Yet, the person in question still received the degree.
David-West promised to keep fighting “until the Ph.D is withdrawn and all those who are involved, directly or indirectly, are dismissed because they are evil”. I fully agree with him that any work that contributes nothing original or new in a given field does not deserve a doctorate. But how many of our senior academics think this way? Only very few, I am afraid, and the number is diminishing rapidly.
Any PhD thesis that fails to expand the frontiers of knowledge, no matter how little, should not be countenanced by a serious university. But with NUC’s myopic stance on the possession of PhDs, a new disease called Phdmania is afflicting our universities right now, with disastrous consequences for the future of education in the country.
The disease has started producing the ugly excrescence of PhD holders who lack the intellectual capacity to speak authoritatively on subjects in which they claim to be “experts”. Another serious problem is the mushrooming of universities – federal, state, and private.
There are over one hundred and thirty-six universities in Nigeria. Only a handful have the capacity, both faculty and infrastructure, for teaching and research at the tertiary level.
Universities that are barely surviving, groaning under the heavy weight of inadequate academic staff and basic facilities for teaching and learning are running numerous part-time programmes and satellite campuses – some even have the audacity to mount post-graduate programmes.
Given this scenario, our so-called institutions of higher learning are steadily evolving into factories for the production of half-baked graduates by half-baked lecturers. David-West was forthright when he stated that “majority of the lecturers are corrupt and crooked”. He said that they are wily manipulators. Some lecturers in his university (UI) were giving lectures at night, until they were stopped by the Vice-Chancellor.
These very lecturers, he said, spent the day running around for business and contracts; they had no option but to teach at night. I was sorely disappointed when the immediate past Minister of Education, Raqqayatu Rufai, argued that the main justification for the rapid haphazard increase in the number of universities in Nigeria is to absorb more candidates from the increasing number of those seeking university placement.
Therefore, concerns about quality, sustainability and future growth, as far as she was concerned, are of secondary importance to the Professor! I know of some institutions, especially, private universities, which hire senior academics from other places to put down their names and pose as Heads of Department and lecturers in order to secure accreditation for various courses, only for the “academic mercenaries” to return to their bases when accreditation exercise is over. And talking about accreditation, we must honestly admit that NUC still has a very long way to go in ensuring reliable quality control of academic programmes in the universities.
It is well known that some university authorities set aside good money for “entertaining” and “settling” members of accreditation teams in order to get their courses approved. Obviously, such arrangee accreditation cannot ensure good quality academic programmes. Prof. David-West highlighted the fact that female students are increasingly turning into prostitutes – and their male colleagues, I must add, are joining cults various cult groups on campus. For David-West, however, the worst problem facing our universities presently is the catastrophic drop in the quality of academics.
As a result, he lamented that “the system still gives us that aura of university don. They say, ivory tower. Which ivory tower? It is mud tower! The days of classical ivory tower, centre of excellence, centre of rectitude, centre of examples, are gone!” I totally agree with most of what Tam David-West said about the decay in our universities. But he did not acknowledge that academics of his generation collectively have failed woefully to pass on to the next generations those lofty ideals that made some of them outstanding scholars.
It is ridiculous, for example, that senior Professors are busy hustling for contracts and lobbying for political appointments at the detriment of their academic duties.
‘Sorting’, sex-for-marks and other academic misdemeanours are gradually spreading within our campuses. Some private universities produce first class honours degrees like pure water in order to attract more “customers”. But despite all the abominations going on in our campuses, I am consoled by the fact that there is still a sizable number of world-class academics in the universities who are doing their best to ensure that the system does not collapse completely.
I know many of them at the University of Lagos and other institutions across the country. These valiant women and men, quietly and unobtrusively in spite of temptations to join the bandwagon of incompetence or of those leaving the system for greener pastures elsewhere, are the ones sustaining what is good and noble in our universities. I salute all of them; they should continue their pursuit of excellence and other lofty ideals behind the concept of “university”.
The university is the beacon of hope for any society, more so now that we are living in an increasingly knowledge_driven world. Therefore, all stakeholders, lecturers, students, parents, university authorities, and government must work together to restore the lost glory of our Ivory Towers. The time to start is – right now!
CONCLUDED.
By Douglas Anele
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/david-west%e2%80%99s-lamentations-for-nigerian-varsities-2/
Prof. David-West argued that one should not judge Ph.Ds awarded these days at face value. According to him, many of them did not meet the minimum academic standard and are awarded on the basis of dubious, watered-down, criteria. He recalled a case when he was an assessor of a candidate for the award of a doctorate in Virology. His conclusion at the end of the exercise was that “this thesis or dissertation has contributed nothing new to virology.” Yet, the person in question still received the degree.
David-West promised to keep fighting “until the Ph.D is withdrawn and all those who are involved, directly or indirectly, are dismissed because they are evil”. I fully agree with him that any work that contributes nothing original or new in a given field does not deserve a doctorate. But how many of our senior academics think this way? Only very few, I am afraid, and the number is diminishing rapidly.
Any PhD thesis that fails to expand the frontiers of knowledge, no matter how little, should not be countenanced by a serious university. But with NUC’s myopic stance on the possession of PhDs, a new disease called Phdmania is afflicting our universities right now, with disastrous consequences for the future of education in the country.
The disease has started producing the ugly excrescence of PhD holders who lack the intellectual capacity to speak authoritatively on subjects in which they claim to be “experts”. Another serious problem is the mushrooming of universities – federal, state, and private.
There are over one hundred and thirty-six universities in Nigeria. Only a handful have the capacity, both faculty and infrastructure, for teaching and research at the tertiary level.
Universities that are barely surviving, groaning under the heavy weight of inadequate academic staff and basic facilities for teaching and learning are running numerous part-time programmes and satellite campuses – some even have the audacity to mount post-graduate programmes.
Given this scenario, our so-called institutions of higher learning are steadily evolving into factories for the production of half-baked graduates by half-baked lecturers. David-West was forthright when he stated that “majority of the lecturers are corrupt and crooked”. He said that they are wily manipulators. Some lecturers in his university (UI) were giving lectures at night, until they were stopped by the Vice-Chancellor.
These very lecturers, he said, spent the day running around for business and contracts; they had no option but to teach at night. I was sorely disappointed when the immediate past Minister of Education, Raqqayatu Rufai, argued that the main justification for the rapid haphazard increase in the number of universities in Nigeria is to absorb more candidates from the increasing number of those seeking university placement.
Therefore, concerns about quality, sustainability and future growth, as far as she was concerned, are of secondary importance to the Professor! I know of some institutions, especially, private universities, which hire senior academics from other places to put down their names and pose as Heads of Department and lecturers in order to secure accreditation for various courses, only for the “academic mercenaries” to return to their bases when accreditation exercise is over. And talking about accreditation, we must honestly admit that NUC still has a very long way to go in ensuring reliable quality control of academic programmes in the universities.
It is well known that some university authorities set aside good money for “entertaining” and “settling” members of accreditation teams in order to get their courses approved. Obviously, such arrangee accreditation cannot ensure good quality academic programmes. Prof. David-West highlighted the fact that female students are increasingly turning into prostitutes – and their male colleagues, I must add, are joining cults various cult groups on campus. For David-West, however, the worst problem facing our universities presently is the catastrophic drop in the quality of academics.
As a result, he lamented that “the system still gives us that aura of university don. They say, ivory tower. Which ivory tower? It is mud tower! The days of classical ivory tower, centre of excellence, centre of rectitude, centre of examples, are gone!” I totally agree with most of what Tam David-West said about the decay in our universities. But he did not acknowledge that academics of his generation collectively have failed woefully to pass on to the next generations those lofty ideals that made some of them outstanding scholars.
It is ridiculous, for example, that senior Professors are busy hustling for contracts and lobbying for political appointments at the detriment of their academic duties.
‘Sorting’, sex-for-marks and other academic misdemeanours are gradually spreading within our campuses. Some private universities produce first class honours degrees like pure water in order to attract more “customers”. But despite all the abominations going on in our campuses, I am consoled by the fact that there is still a sizable number of world-class academics in the universities who are doing their best to ensure that the system does not collapse completely.
I know many of them at the University of Lagos and other institutions across the country. These valiant women and men, quietly and unobtrusively in spite of temptations to join the bandwagon of incompetence or of those leaving the system for greener pastures elsewhere, are the ones sustaining what is good and noble in our universities. I salute all of them; they should continue their pursuit of excellence and other lofty ideals behind the concept of “university”.
The university is the beacon of hope for any society, more so now that we are living in an increasingly knowledge_driven world. Therefore, all stakeholders, lecturers, students, parents, university authorities, and government must work together to restore the lost glory of our Ivory Towers. The time to start is – right now!
CONCLUDED.
What they won’t tell you about Ndigbo
What they won’t tell you about Ndigbo
By ORI MARTINS
Sunday, June 26, 2011
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/26/national-26-06-2011-004.html
This is not a very good time to be an Igbo man in Nigeria. If you don’t understand what I mean, read my mind. The Igbo do not occupy the Presidency nor Vice Presidency, Senate Presidency, Speaker of the House of Representatives and even chairmanship of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Rather the PDP gave the South East the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). This is the first time this position will be ranked as a grade one office for zoning by the ruling party since 1999.
This was how it started in 1993 when the Social Democratic Party (SDP) zoned its offices and what was given to the Igbo was the SGF, which Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu rejected, saying the position of secretary was for a tea server. Sadly, Ojukwu is still hospitalized and no person to speak against it. Thus, this position has reared its ugly head again and forced down the throat of Ndigbo when Imo State, an Igbo enclave, gave President Goodluck Jonathan the highest number of votes. So, what did Ohanaeze and other Igbo leaders negotiate with President Jonathan during the pre-election campaign? Well, this is a topic for another day.
Despite the fact that Nigeria is the trouble with the South East, even as the region is always painted in bad light when actually its sons are enterprising and ingenious, there are certain things, like other tribes, we are not doing right. How? Diplomatic ties between America and Japan went sour and the USA dropped atomic bomb in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1946 killing 140,000 out of the city’s 350,000 population. Two days later the U.S. bombed Nagasaki, another town in Japan, and 76,000 people died.
To tell the story to the unborn generation, Japan made these two cities tourist centres and ensured that every child born in Japan is taught and lectured about the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki even as it preserved the carcass and debris of the shattered towns till date. Japan is yet to forget the bitterness of Hiroshima and Nagasaki .
British journalists and authors continue to regale us with tales of Winston Churchill’s heroics during World War II. But Ndigbo have no trace of all the fabricators and manufacturers of the Ogbunigwe (bomb) and have allowed them to die unnoticed and uncelebrated. This is not how to survive as a people in a plural state like Nigeria. How many Igbo men and women that witnessed the war, especially those who fought at the battle-fronts or who held positions, have told the story in a book for posterity? Is there any institution that was preserved so as to point to the coming generations that there was an incident called the Civil War in which about two million Igbo lost their lives? There is the Ojukwu Bunker in Umuahia, the Ahiara Mbaise Declaration Joint, Zik Mausoleum, etc. But these historic and symbolic memorabilia are allowed to decay even when it is less than 50 years after the war ended. Will anybody recall the Civil War again after 100 years?
You see, the Igbo have so many heroes, heroines and monumental achievements to be proud of and even celebrate but they do not toe this direction. Rather, we allow the efforts of our ancestors to waste like that. In sports, the Igbo have always held sway. For instance, how many us know that the first sports person to win an international medal for Nigeria was Emmanuel Ifeajuna, an Igbo? Ifeajuna put Nigeria’s sports on world map when he jumped over 6ft 8” high and gave the country gold in high jump at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada. As you read this, you may not know that an Igbo ward, Dan Anyiam was the first Nigerian coach to obtain an overseas certificate in coaching and eventually became the first indigenous coach to be hired by NFF.
Anyiam later made Enugu Rangers the most dreaded team in Africa as the side emerged as Nigeria’s undisputed champions between 1974 and 1976, leading to its African Cup glory in 1977. By 1975, Enugu Rangers, formed after the war, was the first Nigerian club to play in any CAF competition, the CAF Champions League, in the final , but lost to Hafia of Guinea. The late Chris Udemezue was the first coach to make Nigeria qualify for any FIFA competition. Udemezue attained this enviable height when he took the Flying Eagles to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Mexico in 1983. From here, the gate was opened for other subsequent qualifications and glories at the world level. Sadly, Udemezue is not credited for this wonderful feat rather, he is remembered more with the Chile’ 87 calamity than his other glorious deeds. Do you still remember Dick Tiger (Richard Ihetu)?
Till date, Dick Tiger remains the only African to be inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame. He took the world by storm when he punched America’s Gene Fullman to stupor and was crowned the World Middle-weight champion He successfully defended the title in a spectacular first world title fight (boxing) ever to be held in Africa, staged in Ibadan in 1963.
We also had Chief Jerry Enyeazu, the ebullient sports administrator who founded Enugu Rangers, Heartland, Enyimba and Grasshoppers of Owerri. Enyeazu was Nigeria’s first Director of Sports who conceptualized what is now called National Sports Festival and put in place the second All Africa Games in 1973 in Lagos which Nigeria hosted. He also facilitated the establishment of the National Institute of Sports (NIS) . Nwankwo Kanu led Nigeria’s soccer team to the 1996 Olympics and won the soccer gold. Chioma Ajunwa and Emeka Omeruah also did Nigeria proud by winning gold medals on the international scene. Chioma Ajunwa won Africa’s first ever individual gold in a field event.
Do not forget that Omeruah as Sports Minister groomed the team that won FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1985. With him as NFF Chairman, Nigeria qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1994 and lifted the Nations Cup for the second time in Tunisia. To cap it all, it could have been marvelous , if Ernest Okonkwo were alive to tell Nigerians how Enyimba lifted the elusive CAF Champions League cup for Nigeria in 2003. How many of these persons are honored nationally or remembered by the Igbo nation? Yet, the South West honours Awo annually and new books on him emerge. Just recently the Yoruba celebrated Pa Awolowo’s legacies but not so for the Great Zik by his Igbo people. Emulating the South-West, the South-South have learned to celebrate Adaka Boro with fun-fare via the Niger Delta Volunteer Force but the Igbo remain adamant about their heroes.
An example of what Ndigbo can do is Prof Kenneth Onwuka Dike’s notable deeds. He wrote about contemporary Africa; supervised the transformation of colonial University Ibadan to a glorious modern university. He was the institution’s first Nigerian indigenous Vice Chancellor[thus he was Nigeria’ first ever VC] ; he established the Nigerian National Archives. He also headed Nigerian Antiquities Commission that set up the National Museum and eventually founded the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs[ NIIA],Lagos.
Dike was among organizers of the first World Festival of Negro Arts which was held in 1968. Despite all these accomplishments, has Dike been honored by any government in Nigeria or Igboland? As it is with Dike, so also it is with Prof Eni Njoku , the first Chairman of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria(now Power Holding Company of Nigeria) .That was in 1956. Later in 1962, Njoku was made the Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos. Him with Dike, were the first two indigenous Nigerian VCs of Igbo extraction! Still in academics, the accomplishments of Profs Chike Obi, Chinua Achebe and Ben Enweonwu cannot be overlooked. How many Igbo students in the higher institutions know Ben Enweonwu?
Great minds like Jaja Wachukwu, Nigeria’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs drafted the country’s foreign policy thrust. Mbonu Ojike; K.O. Mbadiwe; Akanu Ibiam; M. I. Opkara; Amanze Raymond Njoku who was voted by British journalists as Africa’s Most Well Dressed Man in the 1960s. K.B.C. Onwubiko was West Africa’s most accomplished historian and author; Mbazulike Amaechi, was the first Aviation Minister. They and few others who are of Igbo extraction who worked assiduously for Nigeria’s independence and greatness. If Nigeria forgets, why should Ndigbo forget?
Between 1950 and 1966, Sir Louis Ojukwu was not just West Africa’s richest man but also the greatest investor in transport and mercantile businesses and was the first DG, Nigeria Stock Exchange[NSE].
•Ori Martins (08060205494) works for The Sun.
By ORI MARTINS
Sunday, June 26, 2011
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/26/national-26-06-2011-004.html
This is not a very good time to be an Igbo man in Nigeria. If you don’t understand what I mean, read my mind. The Igbo do not occupy the Presidency nor Vice Presidency, Senate Presidency, Speaker of the House of Representatives and even chairmanship of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Rather the PDP gave the South East the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). This is the first time this position will be ranked as a grade one office for zoning by the ruling party since 1999.
This was how it started in 1993 when the Social Democratic Party (SDP) zoned its offices and what was given to the Igbo was the SGF, which Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu rejected, saying the position of secretary was for a tea server. Sadly, Ojukwu is still hospitalized and no person to speak against it. Thus, this position has reared its ugly head again and forced down the throat of Ndigbo when Imo State, an Igbo enclave, gave President Goodluck Jonathan the highest number of votes. So, what did Ohanaeze and other Igbo leaders negotiate with President Jonathan during the pre-election campaign? Well, this is a topic for another day.
Despite the fact that Nigeria is the trouble with the South East, even as the region is always painted in bad light when actually its sons are enterprising and ingenious, there are certain things, like other tribes, we are not doing right. How? Diplomatic ties between America and Japan went sour and the USA dropped atomic bomb in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1946 killing 140,000 out of the city’s 350,000 population. Two days later the U.S. bombed Nagasaki, another town in Japan, and 76,000 people died.
To tell the story to the unborn generation, Japan made these two cities tourist centres and ensured that every child born in Japan is taught and lectured about the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki even as it preserved the carcass and debris of the shattered towns till date. Japan is yet to forget the bitterness of Hiroshima and Nagasaki .
British journalists and authors continue to regale us with tales of Winston Churchill’s heroics during World War II. But Ndigbo have no trace of all the fabricators and manufacturers of the Ogbunigwe (bomb) and have allowed them to die unnoticed and uncelebrated. This is not how to survive as a people in a plural state like Nigeria. How many Igbo men and women that witnessed the war, especially those who fought at the battle-fronts or who held positions, have told the story in a book for posterity? Is there any institution that was preserved so as to point to the coming generations that there was an incident called the Civil War in which about two million Igbo lost their lives? There is the Ojukwu Bunker in Umuahia, the Ahiara Mbaise Declaration Joint, Zik Mausoleum, etc. But these historic and symbolic memorabilia are allowed to decay even when it is less than 50 years after the war ended. Will anybody recall the Civil War again after 100 years?
You see, the Igbo have so many heroes, heroines and monumental achievements to be proud of and even celebrate but they do not toe this direction. Rather, we allow the efforts of our ancestors to waste like that. In sports, the Igbo have always held sway. For instance, how many us know that the first sports person to win an international medal for Nigeria was Emmanuel Ifeajuna, an Igbo? Ifeajuna put Nigeria’s sports on world map when he jumped over 6ft 8” high and gave the country gold in high jump at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada. As you read this, you may not know that an Igbo ward, Dan Anyiam was the first Nigerian coach to obtain an overseas certificate in coaching and eventually became the first indigenous coach to be hired by NFF.
Anyiam later made Enugu Rangers the most dreaded team in Africa as the side emerged as Nigeria’s undisputed champions between 1974 and 1976, leading to its African Cup glory in 1977. By 1975, Enugu Rangers, formed after the war, was the first Nigerian club to play in any CAF competition, the CAF Champions League, in the final , but lost to Hafia of Guinea. The late Chris Udemezue was the first coach to make Nigeria qualify for any FIFA competition. Udemezue attained this enviable height when he took the Flying Eagles to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Mexico in 1983. From here, the gate was opened for other subsequent qualifications and glories at the world level. Sadly, Udemezue is not credited for this wonderful feat rather, he is remembered more with the Chile’ 87 calamity than his other glorious deeds. Do you still remember Dick Tiger (Richard Ihetu)?
Till date, Dick Tiger remains the only African to be inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame. He took the world by storm when he punched America’s Gene Fullman to stupor and was crowned the World Middle-weight champion He successfully defended the title in a spectacular first world title fight (boxing) ever to be held in Africa, staged in Ibadan in 1963.
We also had Chief Jerry Enyeazu, the ebullient sports administrator who founded Enugu Rangers, Heartland, Enyimba and Grasshoppers of Owerri. Enyeazu was Nigeria’s first Director of Sports who conceptualized what is now called National Sports Festival and put in place the second All Africa Games in 1973 in Lagos which Nigeria hosted. He also facilitated the establishment of the National Institute of Sports (NIS) . Nwankwo Kanu led Nigeria’s soccer team to the 1996 Olympics and won the soccer gold. Chioma Ajunwa and Emeka Omeruah also did Nigeria proud by winning gold medals on the international scene. Chioma Ajunwa won Africa’s first ever individual gold in a field event.
Do not forget that Omeruah as Sports Minister groomed the team that won FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1985. With him as NFF Chairman, Nigeria qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1994 and lifted the Nations Cup for the second time in Tunisia. To cap it all, it could have been marvelous , if Ernest Okonkwo were alive to tell Nigerians how Enyimba lifted the elusive CAF Champions League cup for Nigeria in 2003. How many of these persons are honored nationally or remembered by the Igbo nation? Yet, the South West honours Awo annually and new books on him emerge. Just recently the Yoruba celebrated Pa Awolowo’s legacies but not so for the Great Zik by his Igbo people. Emulating the South-West, the South-South have learned to celebrate Adaka Boro with fun-fare via the Niger Delta Volunteer Force but the Igbo remain adamant about their heroes.
An example of what Ndigbo can do is Prof Kenneth Onwuka Dike’s notable deeds. He wrote about contemporary Africa; supervised the transformation of colonial University Ibadan to a glorious modern university. He was the institution’s first Nigerian indigenous Vice Chancellor[thus he was Nigeria’ first ever VC] ; he established the Nigerian National Archives. He also headed Nigerian Antiquities Commission that set up the National Museum and eventually founded the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs[ NIIA],Lagos.
Dike was among organizers of the first World Festival of Negro Arts which was held in 1968. Despite all these accomplishments, has Dike been honored by any government in Nigeria or Igboland? As it is with Dike, so also it is with Prof Eni Njoku , the first Chairman of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria(now Power Holding Company of Nigeria) .That was in 1956. Later in 1962, Njoku was made the Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos. Him with Dike, were the first two indigenous Nigerian VCs of Igbo extraction! Still in academics, the accomplishments of Profs Chike Obi, Chinua Achebe and Ben Enweonwu cannot be overlooked. How many Igbo students in the higher institutions know Ben Enweonwu?
Great minds like Jaja Wachukwu, Nigeria’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs drafted the country’s foreign policy thrust. Mbonu Ojike; K.O. Mbadiwe; Akanu Ibiam; M. I. Opkara; Amanze Raymond Njoku who was voted by British journalists as Africa’s Most Well Dressed Man in the 1960s. K.B.C. Onwubiko was West Africa’s most accomplished historian and author; Mbazulike Amaechi, was the first Aviation Minister. They and few others who are of Igbo extraction who worked assiduously for Nigeria’s independence and greatness. If Nigeria forgets, why should Ndigbo forget?
Between 1950 and 1966, Sir Louis Ojukwu was not just West Africa’s richest man but also the greatest investor in transport and mercantile businesses and was the first DG, Nigeria Stock Exchange[NSE].
•Ori Martins (08060205494) works for The Sun.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
He cheats and beats me
Agatha Edo, womaneditor@independentngonline.com, gataedo@yahoo.com or agatha.edo@gmail.com, 08054500626
Dear Agatha,
I am 26 years and my husband is 37. We have been married for three and half years now. My problem is for about two years that I have lived with my husband, he has cheated on me with more than 10 girls.
The first time I discovered his infidelity, I couldn’t believe it because one of the major reasons I married him was because of his religious disposition.
I was naturally devastated. Worst of all, he didn’t even try to explain things to me. Instead of apologies, I got the beating of my life that very day although he later came to ask for forgiveness. I forgave him with the confidence he would change, but he didn’t, he continued cheating and beating me. This has happened more than 10 times.
Three months ago, I heard him telling someone on the phone that he would send money to pay for a hotel accommodation where they would stay when he comes.
I was forced to check through his phone and discovered he was making an arrangement with his girl friend on where they would meet.
I got the beating of my life that same day and was admitted in the hospital. According to him, I had no right to go through his phones.
Agatha, I now hate him for all the pain and embarrassment he has caused me.
We are yet to have children; we have been to hospitals and they confirmed he has watery and low sperm. He was told to stop smoking and drinking, though he drinks once in a while but he doesn’t want to give up smoking as instructed by doctors.
Right now, I don’t know what to do; my father is an evangelist and I always consider my parents in all that I want to do.
I am in tears as I write this. I have no kids yet, the person that should be my source of happiness is causing me so much pain, always beating and cheating on me. Please advice me on what to do.
Amara.
Dear Amara,
Life, most of the time, isn’t fair because we always don’t get what we want or deserve.
And when it comes to the issue of marriage, it can be very complex and complicated. However, many a time, we are also architects of our pains. Because of your family background, you simply wanted a man who was religious without bothering about the person behind the mask.
You looked at his ‘cloak of religion’ without looking at his life. Before walking down the aisle with him, what did you know about him; about his background; his friends and values? What did you know about his mind and the workings of that mind? Did you bother to find out about the man you planned to spend the rest of your life with beyond his religious disposition?
Did you ever consider what marriage was before marrying him? What precisely was your idea of marriage and its many challenges? What were the things you noticed and pretended didn’t matter until now?
Religion comes from the mind, an awareness of who God is and what He requires of us as His people while ‘religiosity’ is pretentiousness and comes without the conviction of a deeply religious person.
Had you a clear idea of the type of man you would be most happy with, not one who is masquerading to be another person you would have noticed that he has always been unfaithful and a complete cheat.
To be frank, he didn’t deceive you. You did the most harm to yourself by treating the issue of marriage with levity, something which isn’t serious, that doesn’t need planning and preparations.
You don’t marry for a single reason. An enduring marriage survives on multiple tripods.
Your mistakes are not in his unfaithfulness but in his attitude and the violence that follows your every new discovery. While a marriage can endure unfaithfulness, only the living survives to tell of the story of violence. This is one time, you have to overlook the desires of your parents and face the challenge with all the seriousness it deserves.
Your life is the one at stake, not your parents’ or their image. Your father is the evangelist, not you. Even evangelists know when to give up.
If his beating is serious enough to get you admitted into hospital, there is the need for your families to know about it. Go to your parents and report the issue because if you leave it for too long, you might be driven to commit murder because when hatred gets to a boiling point, it can deaden all reasoning faculties.
As it is, you are already suffering dejection from his totalitarian approach to your matrimonial challenges. This is definitely something you cannot handle on your own. You need help to define your marriage and fashion a way out of your mistake.
It is either you keep quiet and continue to endure maltreatment or depression or take the bold step of making open a potentially dangerous trend. Telling your parents doesn’t automatically mean you are quitting the marriage but their own experiences and knowledge of God would offer you and your partner something to lean on with a view of managing your own peculiarities.
Don’t feel ashamed of anything, believe me, you don’t have the solution to this problem. A lot of women are contending with worse situations in their own marriages but the difference is in their willingness to get help.
You both need peace to settle the issue of his infertility. There is no way you two can ever discuss and solve any issue without first clearing out the deficit of trust.
Talking to your parents is not ridiculing your marriage or the image of your parents. As a matter of fact, the ridicule would come if you do something out of character.
Your husband has to be helped to realise that with a problem like the one he is facing, it can’t be solved going from the arms of one woman to another. He has to realise it is a very serious medical condition that not only needs the grace of God but a good attitude on his part to solve.
No doubt he has hurt you more than words can say but if you don’t find it in your heart to let go of these pains, the clarity and objectivity of mind to offer him help would not be easy for you to summon.
The knowledge that he might not be able to get you pregnant might be one of the top reasons for his attitude. Deep down, he understandably feels less than a man and might have convinced himself that you would eventually leave him hence sees no reason to be nice to you or elongate the marriage.
For a man, the knowledge that he cannot get a woman pregnant is crippling. Your husband may appear to you to be wicked or having all the fun in the world with the many women he is being unfaithful with, but his attitude is also a cry for help. He seems determined to ruin himself because he thinks there is nothing worth living for. Deep down he may feel that his life is completely ruined as a man.
This is the point you, your parents and his family have to step in to offer him a solid pair of shoulders, love and words of encouragement. The first step is to help him realise the damage he is causing you by beating you. Once he is made to realise that your love is unconditional and that violence would only drive you further from him and even cause him to lose his home, the tiny step of reformation would have started.
For now, you may have to relocate to your parents or another place to drive home the point that you don’t like to be treated like an animal but there is no way both of you can avoid discussing all the troubling issues in your marriage.
As part of your plans, include the option of child adoption. The fact that he has a medical condition doesn’t mean you cannot adopt children. Discussing the issue with him with all the honesty and care you can, would give him the assurance of being loved by you and make him consider constructive options instead of this path of self destruction he seems hooked on.
Let him know he has something worth living for in you.
Marriage is a voyage of sacrifices and patience. It is also a journey which requires wisdom at every point. If you react to the current situation without applying wisdom, there is the danger of you destroying your happiness forever. You may have married him for the wrong reasons but if he is the one God has destined you to be with, you may never find happiness with another man.
Leaving him completely isn’t a solution, at least for now. It is only when he refuses to change you can consider it as an option but for now, the option is to find ways of getting him to listen to and see the love you have for him through your support for his predicament.
This is the agenda you should present before your parents when you go to them for help.
Furthermore learn to pray for help and strength from God to be able to go through this period successfully because the pains of what is happening in your home now could make even the most sane woman make mistakes.
Good luck.
Dear Agatha,
I am 26 years and my husband is 37. We have been married for three and half years now. My problem is for about two years that I have lived with my husband, he has cheated on me with more than 10 girls.
The first time I discovered his infidelity, I couldn’t believe it because one of the major reasons I married him was because of his religious disposition.
I was naturally devastated. Worst of all, he didn’t even try to explain things to me. Instead of apologies, I got the beating of my life that very day although he later came to ask for forgiveness. I forgave him with the confidence he would change, but he didn’t, he continued cheating and beating me. This has happened more than 10 times.
Three months ago, I heard him telling someone on the phone that he would send money to pay for a hotel accommodation where they would stay when he comes.
I was forced to check through his phone and discovered he was making an arrangement with his girl friend on where they would meet.
I got the beating of my life that same day and was admitted in the hospital. According to him, I had no right to go through his phones.
Agatha, I now hate him for all the pain and embarrassment he has caused me.
We are yet to have children; we have been to hospitals and they confirmed he has watery and low sperm. He was told to stop smoking and drinking, though he drinks once in a while but he doesn’t want to give up smoking as instructed by doctors.
Right now, I don’t know what to do; my father is an evangelist and I always consider my parents in all that I want to do.
I am in tears as I write this. I have no kids yet, the person that should be my source of happiness is causing me so much pain, always beating and cheating on me. Please advice me on what to do.
Amara.
Dear Amara,
Life, most of the time, isn’t fair because we always don’t get what we want or deserve.
And when it comes to the issue of marriage, it can be very complex and complicated. However, many a time, we are also architects of our pains. Because of your family background, you simply wanted a man who was religious without bothering about the person behind the mask.
You looked at his ‘cloak of religion’ without looking at his life. Before walking down the aisle with him, what did you know about him; about his background; his friends and values? What did you know about his mind and the workings of that mind? Did you bother to find out about the man you planned to spend the rest of your life with beyond his religious disposition?
Did you ever consider what marriage was before marrying him? What precisely was your idea of marriage and its many challenges? What were the things you noticed and pretended didn’t matter until now?
Religion comes from the mind, an awareness of who God is and what He requires of us as His people while ‘religiosity’ is pretentiousness and comes without the conviction of a deeply religious person.
Had you a clear idea of the type of man you would be most happy with, not one who is masquerading to be another person you would have noticed that he has always been unfaithful and a complete cheat.
To be frank, he didn’t deceive you. You did the most harm to yourself by treating the issue of marriage with levity, something which isn’t serious, that doesn’t need planning and preparations.
You don’t marry for a single reason. An enduring marriage survives on multiple tripods.
Your mistakes are not in his unfaithfulness but in his attitude and the violence that follows your every new discovery. While a marriage can endure unfaithfulness, only the living survives to tell of the story of violence. This is one time, you have to overlook the desires of your parents and face the challenge with all the seriousness it deserves.
Your life is the one at stake, not your parents’ or their image. Your father is the evangelist, not you. Even evangelists know when to give up.
If his beating is serious enough to get you admitted into hospital, there is the need for your families to know about it. Go to your parents and report the issue because if you leave it for too long, you might be driven to commit murder because when hatred gets to a boiling point, it can deaden all reasoning faculties.
As it is, you are already suffering dejection from his totalitarian approach to your matrimonial challenges. This is definitely something you cannot handle on your own. You need help to define your marriage and fashion a way out of your mistake.
It is either you keep quiet and continue to endure maltreatment or depression or take the bold step of making open a potentially dangerous trend. Telling your parents doesn’t automatically mean you are quitting the marriage but their own experiences and knowledge of God would offer you and your partner something to lean on with a view of managing your own peculiarities.
Don’t feel ashamed of anything, believe me, you don’t have the solution to this problem. A lot of women are contending with worse situations in their own marriages but the difference is in their willingness to get help.
You both need peace to settle the issue of his infertility. There is no way you two can ever discuss and solve any issue without first clearing out the deficit of trust.
Talking to your parents is not ridiculing your marriage or the image of your parents. As a matter of fact, the ridicule would come if you do something out of character.
Your husband has to be helped to realise that with a problem like the one he is facing, it can’t be solved going from the arms of one woman to another. He has to realise it is a very serious medical condition that not only needs the grace of God but a good attitude on his part to solve.
No doubt he has hurt you more than words can say but if you don’t find it in your heart to let go of these pains, the clarity and objectivity of mind to offer him help would not be easy for you to summon.
The knowledge that he might not be able to get you pregnant might be one of the top reasons for his attitude. Deep down, he understandably feels less than a man and might have convinced himself that you would eventually leave him hence sees no reason to be nice to you or elongate the marriage.
For a man, the knowledge that he cannot get a woman pregnant is crippling. Your husband may appear to you to be wicked or having all the fun in the world with the many women he is being unfaithful with, but his attitude is also a cry for help. He seems determined to ruin himself because he thinks there is nothing worth living for. Deep down he may feel that his life is completely ruined as a man.
This is the point you, your parents and his family have to step in to offer him a solid pair of shoulders, love and words of encouragement. The first step is to help him realise the damage he is causing you by beating you. Once he is made to realise that your love is unconditional and that violence would only drive you further from him and even cause him to lose his home, the tiny step of reformation would have started.
For now, you may have to relocate to your parents or another place to drive home the point that you don’t like to be treated like an animal but there is no way both of you can avoid discussing all the troubling issues in your marriage.
As part of your plans, include the option of child adoption. The fact that he has a medical condition doesn’t mean you cannot adopt children. Discussing the issue with him with all the honesty and care you can, would give him the assurance of being loved by you and make him consider constructive options instead of this path of self destruction he seems hooked on.
Let him know he has something worth living for in you.
Marriage is a voyage of sacrifices and patience. It is also a journey which requires wisdom at every point. If you react to the current situation without applying wisdom, there is the danger of you destroying your happiness forever. You may have married him for the wrong reasons but if he is the one God has destined you to be with, you may never find happiness with another man.
Leaving him completely isn’t a solution, at least for now. It is only when he refuses to change you can consider it as an option but for now, the option is to find ways of getting him to listen to and see the love you have for him through your support for his predicament.
This is the agenda you should present before your parents when you go to them for help.
Furthermore learn to pray for help and strength from God to be able to go through this period successfully because the pains of what is happening in your home now could make even the most sane woman make mistakes.
Good luck.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
JUST A MUM?
A woman, renewing her driver’s licence, was asked by the woman at Registry to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself. ‘What I mean is, ‘explained the woman at Registry, 'do you have a job or are you just a ...?' 'Of course I have a job,’ snapped the woman. ‘I’m a Mum.’ We don't list 'Mum' as an occupation, ‘housewife’ covers it,' Said the recorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like, 'Official Interrogator' or 'City Registrar.' ‘What is your occupation?' she probed. What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out.
'I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.' The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in mid-air and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words.
Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire. ‘Might I ask,' said the clerk with new interest, 'just what you do in your field?' Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply,
‘I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters).
Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.' There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up and personally ushered me to the door
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy!
And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just another Mum.' Motherhood! What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door.
Does this make grandmothers? ‘Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations' and great grandmothers ‘Executive Senior Research Associates? I think so! I also think it makes Aunts, Associate Research Assistants.'
Please send this to another Mum, Grandmother, Aunt, and other friends you know. May your troubles be less, your blessing be more,And nothing but happiness come through your door! Be kinder than necessary. Everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life! Hi people, Enjoy!
Josephine Nzerem (Ashoka Fellow) Executive Director, Human Angle; Suite 24, Zuma Complex E Close, 202 Road, FESTAC Town Lagos, Nigeria Tel: +234.802.308.5551
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like, 'Official Interrogator' or 'City Registrar.' ‘What is your occupation?' she probed. What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out.
'I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.' The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in mid-air and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words.
Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire. ‘Might I ask,' said the clerk with new interest, 'just what you do in your field?' Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply,
‘I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters).
Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.' There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up and personally ushered me to the door
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy!
And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just another Mum.' Motherhood! What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door.
Does this make grandmothers? ‘Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations' and great grandmothers ‘Executive Senior Research Associates? I think so! I also think it makes Aunts, Associate Research Assistants.'
Please send this to another Mum, Grandmother, Aunt, and other friends you know. May your troubles be less, your blessing be more,And nothing but happiness come through your door! Be kinder than necessary. Everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life! Hi people, Enjoy!
Josephine Nzerem (Ashoka Fellow) Executive Director, Human Angle; Suite 24, Zuma Complex E Close, 202 Road, FESTAC Town Lagos, Nigeria Tel: +234.802.308.5551
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