Recently, the National University Commission (NUC) gave its approval to the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State, to begin a Law programme in the institution, an elated President of the University, Margee Ensign, spoke with ZEBULON AGOMUO, Deputy Editor, on the uniqueness of the programme, the institution’s emphasis on information and communications technology (ICT), among other issues. Excerpts:
Congratulations President on the NUC approval for a law programme in AUN. We already have many universities in the country running law programme and lawyers are being turned out every year. One would say there’s nothing to celebrate because AUN now has a faculty of law; that it is just adding to the number. If I may ask, what is unique about a law programme in your institution?
I think that’s a very good question, on why a law curriculum in AUN is different. All law students will have a year to get the Liberal Arts education. What we try to do at AUN is to create people who can solve problems. And we need lawyers who can solve problems. So, in the early years, the students will get the same education that every other AUN student gets. While they will be studying, and learning, they also will be teaching people in the community and all that. That alone is different and unique. But, secondly, our law school is going to focus on three areas that we feel are seriously needed in Nigeria right now. One is environmental law, the second one is gender law, and the third one will be humanitarian and international humanitarian law. Of course, we will do the curriculum required, but we’ll have a special focus on those three areas, and I think that will make us pretty unique.
What quality of personnel is AUN hiring to drive this dream?
It’s actually a very important question, because it’s all about having the right kind of people who understand the mission and vision; and AUN is so different because we are a development university. We have got a very accomplished lawyer with international exposure as the founding Dean of the Faculty of Law; his name is Professor Oladejo Justus Olowu; he’s been in South Africa for many years; he has a very distinguished career, doing peace work there. The head of one of the department is Professor Madaki; he’s been in Nairobi, another Nigerian, he’s coming home because he believes in his mission here. There’s another distinguished Professor from the University of Jos who is joining us. We have Professor Gidado, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN). So, we look for people who believe in our mission, and we want to do things very differently in Nigeria. I think we’ve got very good stars. I am really very proud of our leadership team. And we shall continue to hire high quality personnel in line with the mission and vision of AUN. We make sure that, one, our students have the knowledge and the skills to solve problems; two, to actually make a difference in our community and in our region, and three, that we pioneer solutions for the whole country.
You have always spoken passionately about the place of ICT in realising the vision of a country and in human development generally. ICT is being offered by many institutions in Nigeria, how is AUN doing it differently?
You will agree with me that nowadays, students hardly have all the resources to buy all the books they need in the course of their studies. Let me give you one example, the student I showed you on the slide who studied in one of the universities in America, she didn’t have the money to buy her books but she availed herself of the opportunity AUN has to offer. We have millions of free resources on our library system open to not just (only) the faculty, but to the whole region. We have something calledLibrary-on-a-flash (LOAF). We’ve created this device at Adamawa State, at the College of Education, Federal Medical Centre; so we are spreading the resources everywhere. You don’t have any other solution for education. Right now, your country’s education indicators are among the worst in the world; Nigeria has higher number of out-of-school children than anywhere in the world. Eleven million children should be in school. So, it can’t be business as usual. There has to be a new approach, new initiative. But thanks goodness we have the technological solutions with Apps to teach kids. So, Nigeria’s policy makers have to think totally out of the box. It is not all about building classrooms and training teachers, it is about deploying ICT all over the country. You just can’t have so many illiterate people who cannot participate in society. You can’t have a larger number of the population out of school. Technology is a great solution; it is not a second best solution. If Nigeria does this right, in 20 years, it would not just be one of the great countries in the world; it would be a power house. So, AUN believes so much in this.
Why would you recommend the study of ICT programme in AUN than in any other institution in the country?
We are blessed with resources. Our founder understands how important technology is. We have a great school of computer science. We have a board member, Dr. Fonkam, who has worked in the US Software Industryand has pioneered ICT solutions in health all over Africa. He has been of great help; he has encouraged us to use the ICT to get some Apps out there in education and health, etc. I think ICT is a growth industry for this Next generation. I spent a lot of time in Nairobi; Nairobi today is called the Silicon Valley. It can be in Nigeria. It should be Nigeria next.
In AUN, we are using e-books everywhere. Every faculty member, student, and staff member has a desktop computer, laptop, or an iPad. So, we use the internet to access knowledge and that is truly the solution. Our job as faculty members or teachers is to train people on how they access that knowledge and how to evaluate it.
AUN is also reputed to insist that every student passes through some tutorials on entrepreneurship. Are there some of the graduates of the institution who are doing great on their own as a result of the exposure to that programme?
Yes, we have a long list of such names. But I don’t believe you learn entrepreneurship by lectures and tutorials, I believe it is creating solution to problems by going the extra miles, using the limitless exposures, ICT and personal involvements in real life situations. It is not just about sitting in the classroom; it is about students working on their projects. It is a mindset, it is not saying you all have to take a class in XYZ, it is learning by doing.
Assuming you were the president of this country and you want to solve the unemployment problem, how would you do it?
If I had the resources, I would start with what is called public works. You have to ensure that everybody has something to do to improve public good in the country. I think I would start there. I would start by improving the infrastructure and at the same time education and health; this is because if the people are sick they can’t work. If the people can read and write, if they are healthy, they can work and create wealth. So, when you give them schools, when you give them roads and functional health system, unemployment would reduce drastically. Again, agriculture must have to be given a priority. For poverty rate to come down like in China, like in East Asia, because more people are employed, Nigeria must rethink its strategy. Nigeria can easily be self-sufficient in food production and be the food basket of the continent. When this happens, you put a lot of people to work.
Do you think the private sector is doing enough in that regard in this country?
I think some private people like our founder are already doing well; he’s got a sophisticated feeds factory in the North East that is hiring people to work, growing and producing high quality feeds. It is also solving some community problems. I know there are other private sector people doing great in their areas of businesses who have also provided employments to many people by what they do. There’s need for collaboration between government and the private sector because government cannot do it all alone.
Has any organisation approached you to develop/train students in specific areas in line with the services they render to the public?
We do that through our special computer science programmes, which are designed to take on such problem-solving tasks; our students develop apps for specific programmes; quite sure we can do so. We are a Development University and I do know that we do recruit our graduates to fill some vacancies for some A-grade companies. If you look at the list I gave you earlier, it contains some of our graduates in blue-chip companies within and outside the country. We are prepared to develop a quality workforce which is what Nigeria needs right now.
Agomuo Zebulon
