My contribution in re-orientating our youths to the right direction are found in my two books and chapter – (1) The Evils of Campus Life: Problems of Education in Nigeria; (2) Nigerian Youths: Claim Your Future & Destiny and (3) My Epistle to the Youths (chapter 11) in Okrika Nweke Our Beloved Community: A Narrative of Ezeship Tussle in Igboland, which I edited.
In one of my recent articles – Radical Solution to Educational Crises in Nigeria, I clearly stated that universities and research institutes in the advanced nations have more positive impact on their environments. Apart from their core mandate of knowledge providers, they are also agents of technological and economic development of their immediate environment. In other words, they directly ensure that their research findings/writings address societal problems or directly develop their environments. For example, you cannot mention Silicon Valley (in California, USA) a home of many of the world’s largest and richest high-tech corporations and thousands of start-up companies, without mentioning the role of Stanford University, its industrial park (Stanford Research Park) affiliates and graduates. Most global technological centres trace their foundation, growth and visibility to nearby universities. I still ask – do we have any university in Nigeria that have pioneered or engineered any industrial hub or serious, visible business environments?
There are many perspectives in writing. The writer’s training (in writing and communication skills), profession, religion, history, culture, sports, experience, inspiration, idiosyncrasies, development issues, sincere reflection about the society, etc. If the writer is a student – undergraduate or postgraduate, he or she is required to follow the approved format for writing term papers, projects, dissertations and theses. The student is assisted with a course – research methods. It is important to note that no article is perfect. And it is subject to further inputs or criticisms. The most important ingredients are clarity, logic and sincerity of purpose. On my part, I try to do a lot of homework or historical and comparative researches before putting any article in the public domain. Critics should endeavour not to be intellectually lazy, religious bigots, emotionally shallow, tribal champions or political jobbers. They should be conceptual, diagnostic and analytical. They are free to write the same or similar article(s) from their own perspective(s). They must not agree with the writer. They can point out areas of the article they don’t agree with, provide superior points, better still, with data from authoritative source(s). Critics must avoid name calling, abuse or raising innuendos. Don’t be lazy, write yours and let others read and comment. That is how scholarship can grow. One can’t dismiss a ten-paged article, or a serious academic effort with one sentence or two paragraphs. That is intellectual lousiness. Again, stop hiding in that small corner or comfort zone. We must write position papers, identify topics of public interest and provide solutions to many other challenges in our community or nation. We must be impactful. Let’s make our society a better place to live in – a place of equity, justice, fairness, egalitarianism, equal opportunities, meritocracy, etc.
One of my recent articles – Spiritual Angle to Development got one of my former students angry that he wanted to be rude. As a very weak but loquacious student, I could understand his anger coated in One-Nigeria mantra. This man cannot go to his village because Fulani herdsmen have taken over his community. The menace of herdsmen is both a topical and security issue that should worry all and sundry. In addition to wishing him luck, part of my response to him reads … “If your challenge is that I use my Igbo race as a case study, no problem. Write about your own race and tell us her uniqueness … I will learn, other people will learn. There are thousands of write-ups and books on the Jews, and their achievements/global relevance. Nobody is losing sleep on that. Rather, many tribes and nations are striving to emulate them”. This reply is also relevant for those of the same ilk with this guy. As a matter of fact, I am an avid reader of Jewish documents and books … call me a Jewish fanatic, you will not be wrong. And I try to emulate them as much as I can, with enormous benefits.
What are the motives for writing? They are many and include:
1. Academics are required to write and publish to be relevant in their professions and for promotions. The parlance in the academia is publish or perish. All academics are supposed to be good writers, but some are not, for reasons outside the scope of this write-up. Conversely, not all good writers are academics. Many are in other fields of human endeavour. For example, majority of those in the literary world, seasoned journalists and columnists are good writers.
2. For the purpose of graduating, students are required to write term papers, projects, dissertations and theses.
3. Some writers have passion in addressing societal or developmental issue.
4. Some write-ups are educating, entertaining or upholding religious, cultural and societal values.
5. For mentoring purpose. For over 25 years, I have been mentoring some of my colleagues mostly junior ones, to be both relevant in their professions and society by writing. This I did by joint authorship, financial assistance and providing avenues for publishing. I even foundedAfrican Journal of Entrepreneurship as part of the program. As the Editor-in-chief, I reworked a lot of badly written articles. I also exposed them to other journals where I am a member of their editorial boards or in books I edited. As expected, a good number took advantage of these little efforts from me. Some chose the easier options of hero worshipping, sycophancy, and other channels for advancement. Very few succeeded, others got stagnated.
In the last eight years, I have been mentoring my PhD/DBA students in the art of attending academic and professional conferences, and presenting papers. They are also required to write and publish serious papers in peer reviewed journals. I have achieved enormous results in this direction, with over 75 published articles. As an author, I am eagerly looking for successors. I am mortal, after all. Few of my other colleagues are also in this mentoring programme for the benefit of the society.
Prof. B. CHIMA ONUOHA
Onuoha, a professor of Management and a former ASUU leader, writes from the University of Port Harcourt
