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Bastardising Honorary Degrees
By
Sola Akinyede
"It is not titles
that honour men it is men that honour titles"
- Niccolo Di Machiavelli (1469-1527)
culled from GUARDIAN, April
30, 2006
The rate at which Nigerian
universities are churning out honorary degrees and splashing them on
high political office holders and people who are perceived as wealthy
has, to say the least, become less than honorable. Ours is a country
that has become title-crazy.
Before the advent of the
military, a Balogun in Yorubaland for instance, was a man whom
society would have generally acknowledged as having made a
significant achievement in some fields of human endeavour. So it was
in every other part of the country. A Chief Awolowo for instance to
use the words of Machiavelli quoted above honoured that title
"Chief". A Nelson Mandela honours the title "Dr". Wole Soyinka and
Chinua Achebe honour the title "professor" , while Mallam Adamu
Ciroma has the character and respectability that many rogue
politicians with long strings of honorary degrees would never dream
of.
Perhaps, as a
sub-conscious acknowledgement of the fact that we live in some
sort of jungle, it seems as if there is a frenzied and frenetic
rush to be at the top of the pecking order. It is no longer
enough to be a chief, we must out-do our neighbours by labeling
ourselves as double chief, high chief, Otunba, etc. It is not
uncommon to see a semi-literate traditional ruler in Yorubaland
for instance giving someone the title of Bamofin (the most
knowledgeable lawyer) of some village or hamlet. There was the
story of a man who went to a traditional ruler to ask to be
conferred with a chieftaincy title. The traditional ruler
responded "Oye ti tan" - translated into Yoruba, it means I have
exhausted all titles. The desperate man said 'Oye tan' is a
title and he was promptly made the Oye tan of his town.
The race among
Nigeria's self-indulgent and self-serving elite whose ego is
inversely proportional to its achievements has spurned a
thriving industry - that of creating awards such as the most
influential politician of the year. Influential in doing
what and for whom? Female politician of the year. The most
consistent bank of the year. Consistent for what? And many
other meaningless awards. Even the dead are not spared for
we now have what was described in one magazine as "post-humous
of the year" whatever that means.
It is a case
of self-importance by self-invention by all concerned.
The person or organisation giving the title or award is
inconsequential but arrogates to itself or invents its
own importance. The title or award itself is meaningless
or inconsequential and is nothing but an invention of
the inconsequential giver. The awardee's importance is
of course invented for only an inconsequential or
insignificant person will take a meaningless or
inconsequential award from the inconsequential.
The
situation has become so bad that even 419ners have
joined the fray. On my arrival from my holiday in
January, one of the first mails I opened was a
letter from some Biographical Institute in the
United States of America stating that I had been
nominated as man of the year in 2005. "Me?" I mused
to myself. Being someone with a disdain for such, I
did not even bother to finish reading the letter
before throwing it into the trash can. However when
I got a reminder on my award three weeks later I
decided to read through the letter and of course I
was required to indicate my credit card number or
send some money to an account in North Carolina
before I could collect the award. 419ners know that
politicians have large egos. I have since dispatched
a copy of the letter to the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission.
That
this depravity has now crept in at the highest
levels into our citadels of learning which are
supposed to be beacons of values for the rest of
society is unacceptable. Time there was when
honorary degrees of foreign "universities" were
awarded to the less discerning and people of
questionable character in lobbies of hotels here
in Lagos. It appears that since those large
"certificates" have become dishonourable, the
universities are now the place to acquire
academic chieftaincy titles.
We the elite in Nigeria have a penchant for
borrowing reputable institutions or ideas
from foreign countries and bastardising
them. This year Oxford University will be
awarding honorary degrees. Leading
scientists, prize-winning writers, a
historian and a senior university
administrator are among the international
group of eight men and women who are set to
be honoured subject to approval by
congregation. The honorands will be awarded
their honorary degrees at Encaenia, the
University's annual honorary degree
ceremony, on Wednesday June 21, 2006. Permit
me to state the profiles of just four of the
awardees.
Sir John Houghton, MA, D. Phil. CBE, FRS
is Chairman of the John Ray Initiative,
an educational charity that develops and
communicates a Christian understanding
of the environment. A former Professor
of Atmospheric Physics at the University
of Oxford (1976-83), he was Director
General and Chief Executive of the UK
Meteorological Office from (1983-91) and
was Chairman of Scientific Assessment
for the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (1988-2002) and of the UK
Royal Commission on Environmental
Pollution (1992-1998).
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, B.Sc,
Ph.D, D.Sc, FRS, F. Med. Sci,
F.I.Biol, FRSA, MRC, Professor of
Psychology at the University of
Manchester is a leading figure in
the field of neuroscience. Her
research has contributed toward
major advances in the understanding
and treatment of conditions such as
brain injury and stroke. She is also
credited with discovering the
importance of a small tissue called
'brown fat' in body-weight
regulation.
Professor Allison Lurie,
Frederick J. Whiton, Professor
of American Literature Emerita
at Cornell University is a
Pulitzer Prize winning writer
(for her 1984 novel Foreign
Affairs) whose work has often
been described as social satire.
She has also published
collections of ghost stories, a
book on the psychology of
fashion and a collection of
essays on children's literature
and folklore and was co-editor
of the 73-volume Garland Library
of Children's Classics.
Mr. Derek Walcot, OBE, FRSL,
is a Noble Prize winning
poet and playwright.
Educated at St Mary's
College, St Lucia, he won a
scholarship to the
University College of the
West Indies in Kingston
Jamaica where he studied
French, Latin and Spanish.
Formerly of Creative Writing
at the University of Boston,
he has worked as a teacher
and journalist and founded
the Trinidad Theatre
Workshop.
You will notice that the
list is not populated by
moneyed men or holders
of high political
offices but by people
who have devoted their
whole lives to the
service of humanity and
development of human
knowledge. If these men
and women were in
Nigeria, not only is it
that they would not be
so honoured, some of
them who have retired
would have been
pauperised by years of
not receiving their
pensions. How can we
develop as a country and
how can Nigerian
universities be within
the first 200
universities when we do
not acknowledge,
appreciate and reward
merit, excellence,
dedication and service?
In the 90s when Lady
Margaret Thatcher
was the British
Prime Minister, the
committee in Oxford
University that was
to consider her
nomination for an
honorary degree
rejected her
nomination on the
ground that she had
among other things
presided over the
cancellation of free
milk for primary
school children.
This is not to say
that politicians who
have made
exceptional
achievements should
not be recognised.
For example, Dr.
Manmohan Singh, the
14th Prime Minister
of India who studied
at Punjab
University,
Cambridge and Oxford
Universities was in
2005 conferred with
an honorary degree
by the University of
Oxford which like
other leading
universities in the
world has developed
rules and
regulations to
prevent the kind of
bastardisation we
are witnessing in
Nigeria.
One hears
whispers that
some of these
honorary degrees
are sold to the
awardees and
this may not be
surprising as it
is not uncommon
to have awardees
announcing
during
convocation
ceremonies the
donation of
money or
building
projects which
they know they
will never
fulfill.
Perhaps, the
logic is that
having fulfilled
their own part
of the bargain
by paying cash
in exchange for
honorary
degrees, those
pledges were
ex-gratia
pledges given
without what we
lawyers call
consideration.
Top-rate
universities
in Britain
such as
University
of Oxford
and
University
of London
have
developed
rules and
regulations
to prevent
abuses.
Honorary
degrees are
only to be
conferred
on:
* Those
whose
distinctions
and
achievements
are
outstanding,
command
international
recognition
and
constitute
a
contribution
of
unusual
importance
to
society
as
opposed
to
what
might
be
described
as a
successful
career.
* Persons of conspicuous merit who are outstanding in their field or
who have given exceptional service to their university.
* On persons of outstanding intellectual or creative accomplishments
and shall be awarded to recognise only the exceptional accomplishments.
The nominee's special achievement and contribution to society shall be the fundamental consideration and shall be evaluated without particular regard to the nominee's attainment of influential position of financial status.
Honorary degrees shall not be conferred on a person whose contribution or achievement is chiefly in the service to the college. Honorary degrees shall not be conferred on a serving politician, a serving chairman of the governing body of a college or person in the employment of the college.
The situation in our universities today is the obverse of the words of Machiavelli. We have got to a stage where men are beginning to dishonor titles. Although honorary degrees are the prerogative of the Senate in a university, unless the Committee of Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities with facilitation of the National Universities Commission develop similar rules and regulations and adhere strictly to them, the words of Machiavelli will in an ironic way be so prophetic because honorary degrees might become so worthless that our universities may have to pay awardees to accept them.
It is a sad commentary on us as a people that what was so obvious to Machiavelli about five hundred years ago is still too cloudy to be understood by Nigeria's elite.
*Akinyede is Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.
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