A fortnight ago, the news broke that Distinguished Humanities Scholar of the University of Texas, Austin, Prof. Toyin Falola, has been awarded a Doctor of Letters degree by the Postgraduate School of the University of Ibadan. Were the latest academic memento an honorary degree, it would have caused little or no stir, especially as the recipient is already bedecked with laurels of recognition from across the globe. However, the statement posted online made clear that this is an earned degree being awarded by the University of Ibadan for the first time.
A Doctor of Letters can be described simply, as a Higher Doctorate degree, patterned in the Anglophone University tradition on the Oxford University, England’s prototype. Initially called the ‘Doctor of Literature’ at Oxford, the degree became known by the broader and more significant ‘Doctor of Letters’; some countries apply the name, ‘Doctor of Humane Letters’ to emphasise the Province of the Humanities. When you leaf through the regulations empowering the Senate to award higher doctorates, they specify, in the case of Oxford, for example, that the recipient of the degree possesses intellectual output of the highest quality, substantial in scale and in contribution to knowledge. Furthermore, such contributions must have been kept up over a period of time, contain as well as demonstrate impact on the work of other scholars in the discipline. Obviously, this is not a degree to be awarded flippantly, accidentally or as an afterthought, as only a tiny proportion of scholars meet the rigorous criteria. Perhaps, this is why Ibadan, evidently one of our best institutions of learning with an appreciable niche in postgraduate education, took its time to make such a seminal award. Checking through the records, it was discovered that the cognate degree of Doctor of Science in 2019 was awarded by Ibadan to the renowned and endowed Professor of Medicine and translational research at the University of Tennesse, Health Science Centre, Memphis, Tennese, Prof. Samuel Dagogo Jack.
In other words, Ibadan has so far maintained the aristocracy of the intellect and world-class standard expected of the holder of the higher doctorate, as enunciated in the Oxford University handbook. In Falola’s instance, to give an illustration, there is broad, almost unanimous agreement that his contributions to the humanities documented in top journals, and well-regarded publications have been encyclopedic, judging from the volume of academic writings– he has over 120 books– as well as the quality of knowledge generation.
In this respect, I call as witness the citation by the City University of New York when Falola in 2013 was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters ‘honoris causa’. Revealed the university Orator at that event; the honoree is ‘a profoundly original thinker, intellectual leader, engaging teacher and institution builder (who has) made a global impact…’ Doubtless, there have been several other reputable witnesses testifying that the Senate of the University of Ibadan made its decision after a diligent study of the evidence available. It was in recognition of Falola’s publication of 12 books in the year 2016, that this writer designated him, ‘Man of the Year’, seeking to contrast his prodigious intellectual labour with what Prof. Akin Mabogunje describes as the ‘awuff culture’ of easy money, prodigally spent, that Nigeria has become. It is interesting that since 2016, Falola has continued to accelerate his output, branching into hitherto unexplored areas, such as gender studies, mentoring younger scholars by co-authoring books with them, maintaining an acute public intellectual profile demonstrated in the ongoing Toyin Falola interviews, and commenting regularly on topical national issues.
In a recent tribute, Bridget Teboh, Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, alluded to ‘Falola’s excellent record of research and originality, a distinguished scholar with remarkable academic achievements (operating in the league of) Wilmot Blyden, Cheikh Anta Diop, W.E.B. Dubois, Ali Mazrui’. There is no need to call anymore witnesses but it is pertinent to mention that Falola continues to be prolific, topical, and original in a sense getting better at it as the years go by. Remarkably, the two academics who have been found worthy of the distinction of the Higher Doctorate by the University of Ibadan reside in the Diaspora in a sense, confirming the already well-known relative backwater status of Nigeria’s higher education. This raises two issues, namely: whether academic excellence has finally fled Nigerian shores and taken full residence in distant vistas abroad and a related issue, to what extent the country is making effort to reproduce intellectual giants on the scale of Dagogo Jack and Falola.
To be sure, the exploits of Nigerians in the Diaspora spanning several fields have been much discussed. Names like star writer and award winner Chimamanda Adichie, Deputy Treasury Secretary to President Joe Biden, Adewale Adeyemo, World Heavy Weight Boxing Champion Anthony Joshua, among others feature prominently in this conversation. Indeed, Distinguished Political Science scholar, Emeritus Professor Richard Joseph, suggested recently that the heroic advances of Nigerian professionals in the United States could be a springboard for Nigeria currently bleeding from many years of arrested governance and underachievement. However that may be, it is getting increasingly clear that the rebirth of Nigeria will not happen in a hurry but over a longer period of time in which efforts are made to reverse the contemporary dystopia.
Why are academics in Nigeria not matching the standards maintained by their colleagues in the Diaspora? The answer is simple, world class science requires world class funding. An anecdote will put the matter in clearer perspective. A few years back, I and some colleagues visited an academic friend who had just been made a vice-chancellor in a state owned university located in the Middle Belt. In the ensuing camaraderie and obviously exuding the comfort level of his new job, he pulled me aside and whispered triumphantly to me, ‘Ayo, for the first time in my career, I have no money worries’. I did a quick calculation, our former colleague had been Head of Department, Dean of Faculty and Provost of one of the Colleges, yet financial hardship trailed him until he became Vice-Chancellor earning a salary, three times that of a regular professor. What professors are paid in one month in Nigeria, not to mention the abysmal lack of facilities is the equivalent of what up and coming politicians spend in one night at dinner. Unfortunately, the irrational multiplication of universities and the inability for political reasons of university proprietors to increase fees continue to limit their potential for excellence. There also is growing philistinism in society, the appropriation of huge chunks of national resources by a wasteful political class, decline in learning culture to put up with.
If this trend is to be reversed, and Nigeria is to produce more Falolas and more Dagogo Jacks in the foreseeable future, the country will require a determined and visionary political class who will set an educational agenda that will lift us out of the current rot and miasma. As this columnist argued last week, there is not much attention among the political elite to rebuilding our national foundations for greatness. Sadly, the politics of the belly predominates and there is little discussion about the enabling conditions and sociological pathways that produce excellence.
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