Niyi Osundare:
“I also know that degrees from Nigeria are being shunned abroad. In our days, if you had your first class or second class upper, all the universities abroad will be struggling to get you with scholarship. Today, they don’t even recognize our first class. I get calls from friends wanting to know what is happening to education in Nigeria.”
Erudite poet and scholar, PROFESSOR NIYI OSUNDARE, recently spoke to newsmen in Ibadan about the disturbing state of education, his experience of Katrina, literary expendition and expectations from the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. GBENRO ADESINA was also there
Q: Do you agree with Professor Wole Soyinka that state of emergency should be declared in the education sector?
A: When Soyinka declared a state of emergency in the educational sector in asking the government to close down schools for a year during which drastic steps will be taken to fix the sector, we all laughed. Some people even said that Soyinka is here again with his exaggeration. Not quite so long after, we knew that he was correct because the educational system in Nigeria is near collapse. I must say that to put education right in Nigeria, we will need the service of Professor Ayo Bamgbose. He is the best to talk about the educational system of this country. He has been around for over 50 years in the educational system. He knew the kind of educational system that produced people like him and he knows the kind of educational system that we have now. There is a lot of work to be done. We are certificating people without educating them.
Our graduates know too little. J. O. Fagunwa did not go to any university. His last formal education was St Andrews College, Oyo. Look at the works Fagunwa did, both in Yoruba and English. I wonder how many Nigerian professors of English, Journalism, and Communication can do what that man did. The educational system at that time was solid. By the time I left Amoye Grammar School in 1966, the foundation for my education was already laid and it was solid while the university only added a little bit here and there. I fall back to what I learnt in the ‘60s in secondary school when I teach today. This is what I teach. Our educational system at the moment is horrible. If you open the pages of our newspapers, what do you find? Errors.
Niyi Osundare:
“Katrina taught me that material things are just material things that you could be disposed of any time. Katrina taught me that everything we possess end up in possessing us. The more you have, the more you are possessed. The more you have, the more you are asked. For two weeks, my wife and I were just all over the place. I left my house without a pair of shoes. My shirt was torn. Water had taken everything we had away. We had money in our bag, but we didn’t have money to buy food until the Red Cross and aid agencies came to our assistance. At the Red Cross centre, I was there among hundreds of other people, ordinary man.”
Books of poems are full of grammatical errors. When you point it out to the poet, he or she will say, it is not an error but a poetic license. Poetic license does not come through the innocence of error. It has to be deliberate and creative. A lot of works from the elementary stage to the university need to be done. I have met many people who have doctorate degree in English who cannot distinguish between an adjectival clause and adverbial clause. We learnt those things in form one in 1961. I am talking from anger. I also know that degrees from Nigeria are been shunned abroad. In our days, if you had your first class or second class upper, all the universities abroad will be struggling to get you with scholarship. Today, they don’t even recognize our first class. I get calls from friends wanting to know what is happening to education in Nigeria.
The ‘Ministries of education of European and America countries also call me to find out about the problems facing our educational sector. They know Nigeria more than our leaders know. They send report to their governments on how to treat candidates coming from Nigeria. We are not saying that the new generations are bad. No, they are so bright. What they can do with computer, I can never do, but there are basic things that need to be known and taught which they don’t know. Why? Because their teachers were not taught and didn’t know and you can’t give what you don’t have. We have to get serious. Teachers have to be more serious. They have to respect their students. The greatest work in the world is teaching. I have never seen a great person who never had a teacher. Teaching and teachers are extremely important. The Nigerian government has devalued teachers. We who teach must revalue ourselves. We must not give to the philistines who are ruling us. Again, teachers at any level in Nigeria must respect their students. Don’t violate their rights in any way. Don’t go late to their lectures; don’t cheat them of their time. When they give you their assignment, go through it and give them good correction.
In those days, the likes of Bamgbose, Banjos, Adelugbas, Adeyinkas and Adedejis encouraged me to be a teacher. I was encouraged to come into teaching because I saw these good teachers not because of money. When I started teaching in University of Ibadan, UI, in October 1974, my salary was about N1,200 a year. I bought my first car at Leventis, brand new Renault 12 at N1,700. We didn’t earn too much but society respected us. I have every reason to be angry about this country. How can I not be angry? I have children and I have a stake in the future of this country. Teachers should take their job more seriously. We should be different from those who rule us. Our children should take their work seriously and be more inquisitive. If you don’t read, you will not know what to write. You have to work hard. Make friends with the library and books.
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