Elation as Falola gets first honorary doctorate in public administration

For prolific writer and professor of African studies, Toyin Falola, the rain of awards of recognition has not stopped, the most recent being his honorary doctorate in public administration from the Fountain University, Osogbo.

Professor Falola, at a well attended convocation ceremony of the faith-based Islamic institution, Fountain University, Osogbo, on Friday, January 14, 2022, was awarded his first-ever honorary doctorate in public administration.

A day before the award, the university had held its first international colloquium in Falola’s honour where the honoree gave a stimulating lecture titled: “The Comfort of Faith, The Insurgency of Hope, The Promise of Success.” At the colloquium, Falola revealed that “To create a situation in which education attains its desired place of importance, there is the need to reorientate the nation’s leaders toward appreciating the importance of education, especially higher education. Furthermore, there is the need for government policy to be directed at prioritizing education through ensuring quality funding and enabling environment.”

While speaking on the colloquium, he stated that: “As you are aware, similar ones had been in my owner. Most recently was the one at the Federal University, Lokoja. But this is particularly unique to me and I appreciate it a lot because it is the first faith-based Islamic university to honour me. This is a testimony of my detribalized nature, of my ability to accept all religious identities, and my ability to transcend narrow idiosyncrasies. At that level, it is also a testimony of my personality and character. It is also a testimony from them to recognize what I stand for in scholarship which is about nation-building and extending the frontiers of knowledge. At the colloquium which the university held in my honour, it was about bringing new innovations in teaching, research and looking for solutions to the country’s problems.”

On the lecture which he delivered at the colloquium, Falola said that “Before hope is what I call faith. And that faith is because millions of millions of Nigerians are very religious, as Muslims, as Christians, and as traditionalists. So they have faith; what faith does is that irrespective of the condition of your country, of your people, of your children, of your family, you still believe that the superior cosmos will be on your side. Faith is about your capacity to look for a superior force to give you protection. That faith is very important. It balances your emotions; it lifts you forward but it also connects with hope.

“As parents you send your children to school, you are hoping they will jobs. If you work for the civil service and you want to retire, you are hoping to have enough pension. If you are sick and you are in the hospital, you hope you will heal. You are in a fragmented, distorted country like Nigeria, you hope that you will see change. So I combined them. But I warned that both faith and hope are not nuclear options. The nuclear option is to combine that hope and faith with strategic social engineering, social economic engineering, and strategic ethical engineering. It is in the order tradition which is pray and work. There is no religion without work. Look at the protestant ethics that moved the United States forward after the pilgrims. You must pray but you must work hard. I balanced all those variables and I added a concept of success: the success of progress. Have faith; have work but do all the work, and in the Nigerian condition, that work must include elimination oof corruption, good followership, good leadership and strategic use of resources, diversification of the economy, re-engaging communities, and empowering individuals, especially the poor.”

On his new honorary doctorate in public administration, the university don expressed his appreciation to the awarding university. “In the last 12 months, I have actually rejected four doctorate awards. Why did I accept this one? One, it is my support for a university that is doing well. Second, it is my support for an Islamic faith-based university. But they did two unique things, and I was very impressed. I was the only one they gave; that is very impressive. Most times, universities want to crowd the people they give these awards so as to make money from them. I was given that award based on my merit and not because of any promise to do anything. It was the merit of my scholarship.

“Another thing which impressed me when I got there was that I was given my first honorary doctorate in public administration. I never knew; I was only told that I would be given an honorary doctorate; I was not told in what area. Previous ones have been in the humanities and history. Let us say that we are resetting the clock and you should wish me well,” he said.

Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair professor in the Humanities and a distinguished teaching professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

He is a Fellow of the Historical Society of Nigerian Academy of Letters. He has received various awards and honors, including the Jean Holloway Award for Teaching Excellence, the Texas Exes Teaching Award, and the Ibn Khaldun Distinguished Award for Research Excellence, and the Distinguished Fellow, Ibadan Cultural Group.

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