Professor Eghosa Osaghae is the new Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and the former Vice-Chancellor, Igbinedion University. He spoke with SEGUN KASALI on his life journey.
You often say you were your father’s experiment.
Yes. My father was a headmaster. So, he wanted me to do a lot at a tender age. So, he put me in primary one when I was five years old. He took me out of primary school from primary five. In 1969, I entered secondary school and ended up entering the university at the age of 16 and graduated at the age of 19. I became a Master’s degree holder at 21 and PhD at 26. And I became a professor at 34. So, that is how my life has been.
He must be a disciplinarian.
Of course, he was. He gave me all the close markings (laughs). He did not give me all the luxuries my peers and younger ones enjoyed. He ensured that my primary business was to read, read and read. But it is remarkable that just before he passed on in 2001, he came to the house one day and saw my daughter whom I thought would follow my footpath and he said no, that if he knew I was going to remain in academics all my life, he would not have bothered to have such experiment.
So, in a sense, he felt sorry for me that I did not know life outside school at all. In a nutshell, he did not want my daughter to toe the same path that I had gone through because as far as he was concerned, I never had the opportunity to enjoy life because there was no time or year, month or week lost- I entered secondary school straight from primary school did HSE, entered university, went in for Master’s programme, got appointed as assistant lecturer. So, as far as he was concerned, there was no breathing space.
Do you regret being his choice for the experiment?
No, not at all. What that meant is that I had done everything very early in life. I was made a professor at 34 in South Africa I got married at 26 and I became a vice chancellor at 44. So, everything just went pretty well like that, maybe because I was relatively too young to become vice chancellor. I went on to be the vice-chancellor for 14 years at Igbinedion University, which is Nigeria’s first private university.
I had to discover myself. I came to the realization that this is the life I was meant to live, because I just found myself liking everything that I did – all the inspiration, all the motivation about self-actualization. So, I have been happy thereafter because I don’t think there would ever have been another kind of life that could have been meaningful for me. Looking back, I was saying it was my father who led me through the path. But I found out that at the end, the great discovery that this was the only thing I could ever have done. And I am grateful to my parents for the guidance and direction.
What are the traits from your parents?
My father, in his time, was one of the notable people. He was well known in Benin as a famous headmaster and he was the most humble man you ever come across. Sometimes, people talked about him without knowing he was the one. He was a church person and was a bush man because he was always shy to eat whenever he went to parties. I imbibed that from him too. If you invite me to a birthday party, I am not likely to eat there. I am likely to take the food back home. This is like reporting back home where I had been. My mother was a caring woman. She was the one you can trust to tell you the truth all the time. All through the process, she was fiercely protective of my interest and I feel she shared the same thing with my father. The one I can never forget is if you play truancy, she would take you to her room and tell you that “you, look inside my eyeballs.” So, she was a great pillar. I think that these days when I look back, I have to keep giving gratitude to God because I found completeness.
Completeness?
Yes, because I was too little and because young people were not many going to school then, I had some things that made me loud. My classmates would remember that I was a noisemaker and I like to think of myself as being radical, because that was the only way I could fill the gap to meet up with those guys to let them know that I do not only belong, but I could intimidate them (laughs). Thank God for the upbringing that I had, because it was something I went out of my way trying to be a tough man (laughs). So, that compensated for my being too young.
But you were one of the best. How did you combine radicalism with studying?
I think it was the benevolent spirit. My attitude then was not incompatible with doing well in school. When I look back, some people still say I was being too careful. But I don’t think I read more than my classmates.
I must have been very fortunate. But of course, hard work always pays. Even though I was stubborn or being a man around town, I never stopped reading my books as it was the abiding value that I had held strongly till tomorrow.
Have you got nicknames?
While I was in primary school, I was the youngest. So, every teacher and administrative heads, knew me as that very small boy and they tried to protect me. So, I was regarded as ‘Sergeant very short’ because I was sergeant in the Boy’s Brigade (laughs). But, it was all fun.
Some of your classmates are in high places now
In my class at Edo College in Benin, we had the governor of Delta State, His Excellency Ifeanyi Okowa; governor of Edo State and so many others. I recall that Governor Okowa was a bigger bookworm. He had aggregate six in school certificate. Aggregate six means A1 in all the six subjects. He was extremely intelligent. Thereafter, we all went to various universities.
After university, you wedded at 26.
My wife was a journalist with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ibadan. If I had my way, I would have got married at 21, because once I completed my Master’s degree, I was like what more? But, I had a younger brother who had to apply the brakes for me. He advised me to take it easy and do it comfortably and I heeded his advice. I had always wanted to get married very early. You know people have different targets.
It was love at first sight. After we got married, she told me a few times he saw me on TV her father was always saying I like that guy even though we haven’t met. I was usually on TV because journalists would call me for reactions to some political issues as a lecturer at the University of Ibadan. My wife was born and bred in Ibadan, though they are Bini. So, we met at Radio Nigeria, Ibadan. We both eyed each other (laughs).
You know when you find what you like, that is what the expression love at fight sight means. You are going to look for justifications after. It is hard to explain here, what endeared her to me, because it is the meeting of minds.
Her father must have been dramatic when she took you home.
Yes (laughs). You know that he had been seeing me on the TV, so he told me you this big man and that had been my alias with him. They all like me and I like them too. Today, I have grandchildren. When I go to places and I tell them I am a grandfather, they find it unbelievable. I find a great joy in that and I thank God that my children are all doing well.
Do you have your carbon-copy amongst them?
All of them to an extent. I was never a science person. All of us were into Arts, Social Sciences, no more, no less. But, my second daughter is a medical doctor. The other ones are like me – my first son is a political scientist, second son is a businessman and my first daughter is a lawyer. My wife is also in the academics. She has a PhD in Community Development. So, all of us are in the Arts.
What experience comes so dear to you?
In 1981, when I completed Master’s programme, my department offered me the job of an assistant lecturer in Ibadan. But I did not want it. And I remember the head of department coming to meet me to ask why I don’t want it and I remember that I said that I don’t want anything that would take me away from the path of PhD. But he said you could do the PhD and I said that it would be part-time and I don’t want to do part-time. So, he said why? And I said because I am giving myself two years with dedication to bag it. He said you know you cannot get a PhD in two years, but I told him I would try sir. Well, I became an assistant lecturer and at the same time became a part-time PhD student. By 1984, I had completed the thesis, but I did not defend until 1986.
Why was that?
It was the first time I was coming to reality. I remember my father used to say “come on, all your life had been too smooth perhaps this is to remind you that life is not all like that. So, take heart.” But two years after, I had the opportunity to go for my defence and I got it.
So, I held the record in the University of Ibadan of the longest wait for a PhD defence. Up until that time, everything went smoothly for me and that time I don’t think I was any exceptional because in 1976, in my school at Edo College in Benin, we were 66, finishing the HSE and 58 of us entered University of Ibadan.
However, professorship was smooth again. You know there are those of us who are regarded as bookworm. They devoted their own lives doing that. I enjoy teaching and preaching. These are the things that define me and my life.
How do you socialise?
I don’t have that luxury of time anymore. I have everything set out for me. I was a vice chancellor for 14 years, which was a kind of a regimented life. To socialise, I have very extensive international travels. So, those punctuations have helped me since 1980s.
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