The Miseducation Of Our Fathers

By

Francis Kizito Obeya

fkizito1@yahoo.com

 

A friend paid me a visit last week and for want of better things to do, we went to Washington DC to sightsee, visit with other friends and just generally, hang out. We went to the Smithsonian museums, walked along Pennsylvania Avenue drinking in the view between the Capitol and the White House. A word about the White House- one can take a guided tour of the White House. Every year thousands of tourists make pilgrimages to that epicenter of world power and modern democracy. The September 11th attacks have not stopped the tourists nor has the United States Government closed her doors to them (it will take more than a camelboy millionaire hiding in some mountain in Afghanistan to break the will of the American people, anyways.) We stood at the gates with other tourists and took pictures of that historic domicile as we marveled in awe at the ease with which people could loiter about the place without fear of harassment from gun-toting mobile policemen or mean-looking so ldiers. We tried to picture all these folks standing within a hundred meters of the Aso Rock villa or even trying something as foolhardy as taking a photograph of that symbol of naija’s powerhouse. Across from the side of the fence where we were standing lives a Korean couple who have been calling for the ban on nuclear weapons since 1981. They live in a makeshift tent of plastic bags and are very dedicated to their cause. Good luck to the family of the man who dares to carry out any form of protest anywhere close to Aso Rock. It is needless to worry about the man himself because he must have written his will and set his house in order before embarking on such a suicide mission.

 

Back to my friend’s visit: as we roamed the length and breadth of downtown DC, I asked her impression of the capital the United States. She was quite impressed and made note of the huge world of difference between Nigeria and the United States. She then informed me of the fact that her father had as a matter of fact, graduated from an American university. I gave her my ‘sister please’ look and asked her, “Do you know what I think should be done with every Nigerian who studied abroad?” “No.” She replied. “They should all be lined against a wall and shot.” Was my sarcastic response.

 

Ivory towers in distant lands such as the USA, UK, France, Germany, South Africa and Saudi Arabia (to mention a few) have produced countless Nigerian graduates over the ages. There is no family in Nigeria who is not related closely or remotely to at least an alumnus of a foreign university. The lure for higher institutions in foreign land can be traced to our colonial past when missionaries sent young men and women who showed outstanding intellectual capabiliti es to their home countries (Britain in our case,) for further studies. Such “ambassadors” would return years later to become church administrators, teachers, a few doctors here and a few lawyers there. The quality of education received by these “been-to's" set them apart from their peers in terms of speech, mannerisms and general etiquette. The confident air with which they carried themselves must have been  not only a trigger for envy among their friends but also a reason for a need by these  friends to also attain this feat or die trying. Consequently, what we have till this day is a nation whose citizens think that the next best thing to getting to heaven is to have one’s name attached to a foreign diploma. So great has been this need that in President Obasanjo’s first tenure Nigerians were shocked when a speaker of the lower house, Alhaji Salihu Buhari, was revealed to have faked a certificate claiming that he was a graduate of the University of Toronto. Further details will reveal that the university had never heard of the gentleman and so he was cast into the outer darkness. Nigerians are so steeped in the belief that a graduate of a foreign university makes a better man than anyone else since he must have had access to better lecturers (who do not go on strike,) better classroom facilities (adequately populated, not students climbing over each other in lecture halls,) and enough peace of mind (no NEPA, no cults and no squatters) to really face their studies. Although this myth may have its truths and untruths, there exists no proof that these “ideal” study conditions produces well rounded graduates who administer better, manages better or even show a superior wisdom in the handling of public assets.

 

In his student days, the Nigerian undergraduate of a foreign university must have been a witness to how life is in foreign lands. Those fortunate enough to study in these United States got front seat to watch democracy in action. There is freedom of the press(meaning that the president and his wife do not around shutting down newspaper houses or beating up journalists.)They saw how punctual the trains and buses kept to their schedules, how clean the streets are, how power failure was only a last resort. They must have taken long idle walks in the public parks (perhaps with a white chick on their arm,) or gone to see a movie at a well furnish ed movie theater. These plenipotentiaries would undoubtedly have witnessed the spirit of American philanthropy as they saw a millionaire give his life savings in trust to a people he will never meet, people he will never know. They have seen homes built for the sick, the aged, the poor, and the mentally unfit. Our naija brother must have seen how the foreign societies try to cast aside the mantle of self-aggrandizement in a bid for selfless endeavours. He must have been baffled at the weird mentality of a man who is more interested in seeing the public satisfied than in mere pleasing himself. What must have left him scratching his head the most would have been at the end of the semester when his college professor would pass the critique sheet in order to find out from his own students how he fared in passing the knowledge and what can be done to make the course more interesting or the lecturer more capable. I long for the day when we shall see critique sheets in Nigerian Universities (but first we must bid farewell to handout-hungry lecturers, randy, AIDS-infested professors who would rather pass the virus to their helpless female students than pass the knowledge.)

 

When one considers the matter intensely, one can only conclude that our fathers’ education has only been a waste. Their generation is the solid proof that the ability to read pages and write lines is no sure sign of being educated. They have mastered the art of readership and penmanship but have lost the lessons of studentship. Else how does one explain the years of military rule in Nigeria, the disgraceful transportation system, incessant power failures, dirty streets, unkempt parks and no welfare provisions for the poor masses? Our forebears walked blind through foreign education and returned home to applaud, condone and in some cases part icipate in the looting of this great country thus, bringing her to her knees. Theirs is the generation of the servant who went and buried his master’s money in the ground and so suffers the consequences.  Ironically, one finds it bewildering that these failures would willingly climb a rooftop to let the world know that they are graduates of universities abroad. Many is the time when the following boast can be made to the hearing of they that would listen: “careful how you talk to me, I did not receive my degree from any of your moin moin universities o. I studied from ----- university in America.” As if it made a difference. I often ponder a scenario when an old professor of these rambling graduates will meet with one of his Nigerian alumnus. As the y catch up on old times, I think their conversation might sound like this:

 

  PROFESSOR: Look at you, my young man. You have grown to become quite a man.

  ALUMNUS:    Thank you sir.

 PROFESSOR:  And have you applied all that I have taught you in and outside class?

  ALUMNUS:    Yes sir, I have. I took it to my country and made a lot of money with it.

 PROFESSOR:  Ah! You have become wealthy. And what else did you apply this knowledge to?

  ALUMNUS:    I used my education and wealth to ascend a privileged position. I have friends in high places and am well connected in the government.

  PROFESSOR:  That is awesome. It is good to have influence in the government else your principles may never be adopted in making good policies, right?

  ALUMNUS: Right professor.

 PROFESSOR:   And have you influenced the policies of your country in a way that will benefit your countrymen? Are their lives better because of your education, are they safer? Do they enjoy a better standard of living now? After all it was their taxes that were used to give you that education, right?

ALUMNUS: Excuse me professor, I am late for an appointment. I hope to see you some other time.

 

The traffic continues to flow as children of these graduates move abroad to continue in the family tradition. There is hardly any college (2year or 4) that one cannot find a Nigerian student in this country. Some are sponsored by scholarships obtained from a myriad of avenues, others by their parents hard earned money and yet others by funds looted from public treasury by unprincipled parents. It is hoped that someday, our alumni of foreign universities will justify the resources invested in them to yield the expected results. As we await the next generation and what it has to offer, it is not too much to hope that a rare breed of graduates (both from foreign and local institutions)will work hand in hand to restore this country to its original position as a giant of not only Africa but indeed the world.

                                          Francis Kizito Obeya

                                           Pennsylvania, USA.