Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, a Professor of African and African American Literatures, Comparative Poetics and Performance, was invited from the Western Illinois University in the United States of America to be the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Kwara State University, Ilorin. During a visit to Abuja to conclude accreditation formalities for the University, he spoke with JIDE BABALOLA on his vision for the institution and other issues affecting education issues in Nigeria. Experts:
So many Universities exist in Nigeria, facing all sorts of challenges. What difference can a new one like the new Kwara State University make?
It is not a matter of choice; we have to make a difference. It has to be, otherwise there is no need for a Kwara State University. At the time the effort began about five years ago, there were exactly 94 Universities in Nigeria already. If you are going to establish the same thing, forget it. So, we are poised to make a real difference.
How do you hope to make this new University different from others in Nigeria?
It starts from the curriculum, the academic personnel being employed, the kind of content that we put together, the type of vision that we have, the kind of students that we want to develop, the kind of community that we think our university could engineer, the kind of contribution that we believe we can make to Nigeria as a nation. All these together absolutely show that we are different.
From the beginning, we started with a vision to be world-class in terms of the curriculum, scholarly activities in programming, in every aspect of our University. Part of the policy that was approved by the Council is that every person to be appointed as a lecturer in the University has to demonstrate the ability to teach in the classroom. That is a striking difference. There is no university today in Nigeria that is doing that. Its part of what we are putting in place because you know it is one thing to have first class or to be an excellent academic. To be a scholar is to be able to deliver in the classroom; to impart knowledge and work with students in such a way that they could have the changes you intend.
Number two, we are looking at inter-nationalization right from the beginning. We’re going to have a centre for innovation and international studies. We want to develop global citizens who have the mentality for community development. If you go to our website, we call ourselves the “University for Community Development”. Global reach is important. Today, in the global world you cannot effectively and efficiently be part of that world if you do not understand what it means to be a global citizen. We want scholars, lecturers, non-lecturers to, right from the beginning; have that mentality that they are scholars of the world that they can get support from any part of the world.
We do not want a University that will train people who will only depend on government. Many years after many young persons have graduated; all they do is roam the streets. I once gave a younger brother some small money, about N30, 000 to think of something he can do on his own. Eventually, I called him and asked: ’what have you done here? Obviously, he was not prepared for that.
Therefore, we want to prepare our students right from the beginning, to begin to think about creating wealth, to see themselves as individuals who are going to employ others and then think about creating wealth in the community. So we are going to have a career service that will work with the Centre for Entrepreneur Studies in which people can actually begin to take employment from the university, from outside the university as they are students. From the beginning, we are going to requires of every student of history, geography, industrial Chemistry, engineering, pharmacy or medicine to be practical; to go outside the community and begin to work and actually have work ethics so that when they finish they do not have to be a teacher simply because they read history. The first degree is only to prepare them to have ability for critical thinking; to have ideas, to be able to generate ideas, be innovative, so they can go into the world and make a difference. Those are the kind of things we are looking at. In essence, these are the reasons why Kwara State University will be different from the other universities.
Kwara State hosts the University of Ilorin; there is a polytechnic and two or three colleges of Education. Some people believe that instead of starting a new university from scratch, it would have been proper to upgrade the existing polytechnic to a university or try to refocus it.
I was not a part of the decision (to establish a new university) so, I can only infer. I have no idea why that decision was taken. Nevertheless, if you think about it, in trying to change something or a way that has been so established, you may probably waste your time and so much resources. I believe they have a valid reason; we now have the opportunity to be different, to set a foundation from the beginning to make something different. I am also aware that so many students of Kwara State origin who tried to get admission into many of the existing universities have problem getting into these universities. The capacity of some of them is limited. Then, most of the private universities are so expensive.
Therefore, there are so many reasons why Kwara State actualized a long existing desire to have its own university. For instance, Prof. Afolabi Toye, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, once headed a committee that submitted a report on the issues. At that time, there was a polytechnic and a college of education. At the time when many states that now have universities had never even started to talk about it, Kwara State had always thought of education and further opportunities to academically empower its own citizens. Now, we are in a global age, more than ever before, knowledge is fundamental to the creation of wealth today. Therefore, it is not a waste.
Kwara State does not produce oil and it has very limited industrial base; are you worried about sources of finance?
I am thinking about it, I have to as a foundation Vice Chancellor, I am not just thinking of something for the next five years, I am thinking of the long term. Therefore, we have our own plan. That is part of reason we are starting a centre for sponsored programmes. Right now, the governor of Kwara State has already secured some funding for the university at least, to cover the next five years. The governor says he wants everybody to participate – state government, local governments and parents. We are very conscious of the long term because Kwara State is a very poor state. That is why we cannot establish the same kind of university as others. It has to be different. It has to be a university where everybody in Nigeria and people from abroad will want to come. It has to be a university that can be showcased to others from different parts of this nation and make the place look international. It has to be something unique. That itself will engineer the creation of wealth at different levels of our nation.
What are the concrete preparations being made Kwara State University’s smooth take-off and what should be expected in terms of fees, students’ intake and accommodation?
The first phase of the construction, which is pretty much, just one college that will be enough for 500 students is ready, for a start. We want to start a bit slower than the capacity we have so that we will be efficient. As for fees, it is important to wait and see the outcome of the University Council’s survey of what is being charged in different parts of Nigeria and thereafter have the recommendation from government.
We have advertised close of thirty 30 different courses, from Mass Communication to industrial Chemistry, Animal Production and some languages like English and Arabic. We have lecturers in all of these areas and we have enough accommodation but students will have a right not to stay on campus. We will do a careful study, a very careful plan so that our foundation is solid. Of course we will revise, strengthen and get things right.
Don’t you think that the Kwara State University campus’ close proximity to the Nigerian Army School of Education Barracks at Sobi can present serious challenges, including conflicts?
I have met with the Commandant and his people. They have been wonderful and we have a joint plan. We all know the history of students and the military. We plan with to establish a consultative council that will include myself and the commandant. We will meet regularly, talk about security, and work together. As a university, we want to support the army people there. We want to help to provide them tertiary education and possibly, do joint research with them. They will benefit tremendously so that we will see ourselves as partners. Our students will collaborate with them; our staff will collaborate with them. Therefore, people will be surprised that this will be a chance for us to demonstrate that the students and military can be good friends. That is part of what we are hoping to achieve so that there will be no cause to worry.
What do you make of the incessant strikes in Nigerian universities?
I think we are lucky that we in Kwara State University have the opportunity to learn from the crises in the Nigerian University system and try to avoid all the pitfalls that you identified. It is a tragedy that there is no stability. You do not know when you are going to open, when you are going to close. It is a crisis of standard of education in our tertiary institutions. Many students end up being rushed through three weeks of lectures that should have taken 15 weeks. It is costing Nigeria hugely, in terms of standards, training, and in terms of even mentality for development. We are very hopeful that we will achieve relative stability because our goal is to be an excellent university. Universities should contribute to elementary education, contribute to local government development and contribute to almost every aspect of life to help the community to develop.
We will have programmes that will constantly bring elementary schools and high school students to the university during the summer, for example, that will le them begin to think about their future right from their level right now. We are going to be a university that is involved.
How do you hope to curtail peculiar social vices within the university system, especially that of cultism?
We have looked at such problems and we are carefully putting in place our own strategies, systems and methodologies. You know sometimes when there are problems, people don’t look at them from the top and it just continues to regenerate. We have seen this problem. We have seen the kind of ideas and solutions people try to put in place. We have seen where they have succeeded; we have seen where they have not. Therefore, we are actually lucky again that we are coming out this time, because we are going to do our best to try to avoid some of the pitfalls that are already identified.
What will be your disposition towards student unionism?
We will allow very strong student activities, student involvement at different academic levels. We want to empower students to be able to be thinkers and to create a vibrant student life.
