By Ibrahim Lawal Ahmed
On September 9th, 2023, friends, colleagues and students of Malam Mu’azu Muhammad Yusif, more popularly called M.M. Yusif, gathered to honour and celebrate his long academic service at the Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano. It was at the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano. They were remembering the old days and reflecting on the transformation that the academia has been going through in Nigeria. Malam M.M. Yusif recently retired from the Department and the occasion was a kind of sent-off party.
It was indeed a robust discussion, involving personalities such as Mal. Ibrahim Mu’azzam, Mallam Y.Z. Ya’u, Dr. Nasir Fagge, Prof. Ibrahim Bello-Kano (IBK) among others. As expected, the discussion spiraled from extolling the subject of the occasion to the character of students and teachers in the universities in Nigeria now, the current system of running the university, the struggles of and in Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). It can equally be captured as a reflective session on the neoliberal world order and its effects in Nigeria, particularly the universities.
It must have been a solemn occasion, with Prof Bjorn Beckman overlooking the room from his grave. Beckman, a Swede, was a star of that era of university education in Nigeria throughout the realm of the social sciences
University has been the life of Malam M M Yusif and being one of the longest serving Chairman of ASUU, BUK Chapter, ASUU is a union very close to Malam. One could, therefore, feel his feelings as he reflected especially on the last two battles between ASUU and the government (2020 and 2022) that almost finally destroyed the public universities in Nigeria. Below would be considered a fair summary.
The fundamental issue in ASUU-FGN conflict is not usually the non-payment of allowances but the rising poverty of governance The result is the systematic collapse of the social contract (and compact) and rising political cleavages, prebendal form of primitive accumulation and rentierism, the rise of sycophancy and the over-concentration of wealth in the hands of few.
As the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer in Nigeria, commodity fetichism becomes the defining feature of the social relations in Nigeria. In other words, money is now the moral compass in Nigeria. The needs and wants of average Nigerian is reduced to his stomach – you have to eat for you to think, for when you speak to a hungry man, he answers you with his stomach. For an organisation such as ASUU, there is an enormous challenge of mobilizing the society to back its course or battles with the state in such a state. Moreover, people are tired of the classical tactics of strike actions by ASUU which hurts the university education system more than it has salvaged it, particularly the last two. Thus, one key takeaway from the gathering is that ASUU needs to reinvent itself. While remaining steadfast to its goals that are, without doubt, of public interest, it has, however, got to change tactics.
Similarly, governments at all levels have to pay more attention to the educational sector. And in a bid to improve the education, the efforts should be more concern with qualitative development rather than the present quantitative development that is focused on establishing tertiary institutions in remote places largely because of trivial political reasons. This is not right. Situating schools and tertiary institutions has to take comprehensive cognizance of the environment. The questions such as how will the town support the gown at its embryonic stage and how will the gown support the town at maturity have to be asked. Answering these kinds of questions requires comprehensive analysis of the infrastructure (both hard and soft), human and physical factors in the environment where the school or tertiary institution is to be situated.
A good example was cited in how the late Sir Ahmadu Bello located Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria in those days. He could have sited it in Sokoto or Maiduguri. But looking at several factors, Zaria was considered more strategic and fitting host of the university. Such was a good leader that has vision that transcended personal and primordial interests.
Indeed, the issue of education in Nigeria cannot be left to the government alone. It is a social issue, therefore, it requires an All-of-Society-Approach – from parents to community leaders, traditional rulers, commercial and industrial enterprises. All have to be involved, especially regarding financing the education.
The policy of student loan was dismissed as a workable option because the socioeconomic condition of Nigeria is not prosperous enough to favour such kind of policy. In fact, some advanced countries have found the policy to be problematic and an obstacle to social mobility; thereby facing harsh criticisms. Students need grants, not loans. And the wealthy Nigerians have to join in philanthropic activities towards education, especially the tertiary education. There is no more rewarding investment than investment in education – though it takes time to ripe. There is no better means to empower the bulging youth in Nigeria than to educate them. The right education is one that enhances the ability of the citizens to think. And unless one can think and understand the complexity of the present world, one cannot address his personal problems, talkless of that of the larger society.
Listening to friends and colleagues listing the courses that Malam M.M. Yusif taught was another education: gender studies, labour studies, military studies, ‘third world’ studies, amongst others. The diversity of areas showed his degree of grasp of a complex world and how to interrogate it up. Everyone agreed one outstanding quality and lasting legacy of Malam is mentorship. Malam put a lot of his energy in guiding his students. For him, it was never about getting it right from Day One. Most students got a taste of that one time or the other if they went to his office to confess their confusion with a text. The reply was always: “Do not worry. Getting confused is a sign that you are learning.” It was on such days that one learnt that learning is full of confusion. It is not learning if one were finding learning easy. Then one is probably not learning anything new.
It will take time to fill the gap that Malam M.M. Yusif is leaving in academia. particularly in the Department of Political Science, Bayero University. He did have an accomplished academic career. His students will, no doubt, continue to cherish the memory and be thankful for the opportunity to have been taught by him. Many would say it should please his maker for Malam to have a peaceful and happy retired life.
Ahmed is a public servant and writes from Abuja.
