The worst challenge you can face as a lecturer is when your students don’t love you —Prof Akinjobi

Adenike Adebola Akinjobi, a lecturer in the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, is a creative writer and producer. In this interview by TAYO GESINDE, the princess of Igogo-Ekiti, Ekiti State, speaks about her experience growing up in the palace and the price she paid to get to the peak of her career.

 

Background

I was born in 1965. I started primary school at age four in the village. My mother was a teacher so I had the advantage of going to school even when I was not yet ready to go to school. She went for a course and my grandmother was always dropping me off at school, so I won’t disturb them at home. I was put in primary one and when it was time for examination, I also took part in it and did well. My teacher went to the headmaster and told him I did well more than the registered students in the class. My headmaster in turn went to inform my father that I did well and should be allowed to proceed to primary two. Initially, my dad was sceptical about it but they were able to convince him. That was how I moved to primary two. I was the youngest in my class but I was always coming first or second. When I got to primary five, my parents were advised to allow me sit for entrance examination into secondary school. It was novel then in my village for someone not to read primary school. I sat for the examination and did well. So, I started secondary school at age nine and by age 14, I was out of secondary school and was teaching at a primary school in my village, while awaiting my result and later moved to the secondary school where I taught many people who were older than me. Eventually, I moved to Federal School of Art and Science, Ondo for my A Levels later got admitted to University of Ilorin to study English. I served at Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, Ogun State, where I was retained. From there, I came to do my Masters at University of Ibadan. It was after my Masters degree in English that I started lecturing in UI. Then, I did my PhD in Linguistics. After some years, I became a professor.

 

What informed your choice of career?

When I was growing up, I really wanted to be a lot of things but I had always been a teacher. I started teaching when I finished my secondary school education at the age of 14. I was given appointment to teach at a primary school and by the time I was 15, I was teaching in a secondary school.  I went back to school and at a point, I wanted to be a dramatist, newscaster but as fate would have it, I got admission to study education. That was how I became a trained teacher. I have no regret being a teacher.

 

What experience did you have while growing up which helped shape your life?

I grew up in a palace but I used to spend my holidays with my mother’s relatives who were living in Kaduna, Lagos and Ibadan. In Igogo-Ekiti, we were the first citizens. My father was an old king, not very educated but an old soldier. He was supposed to be exposed based on the fact that he travelled to fight the Second World War. However, when I had the opportunity to travel during the holidays, I discovered that life was beyond what I was seeing at the palace and I loved the life outside more than the one in the palace where everybody sees me as omo oba (princess). I told myself if you want to leave this place, you have to be educated. So, I committed myself to education early because I was exposed to what education can do in terms of transforming your life. So that was one motivation I had.

 

What were the challenges you faced?

It was fun when I started initially. I was happy to be a lecturer. I was twenty-two when I started teaching at Federal College of Education, Osiele. It was very exciting because I had always loved teaching, reading and writing. I never faced any difficulty knowing what to teach my students and I never had any difficulty with my students. I was always loved by my student everywhere I had worked. As a lecturer, the worst challenge you can face is when your students don’t love you.  When they don’t love you and you go to class to teach, you have to continue to be harsh to get the best out of them but if they love you, they will respond well to your teaching. It made the journey smooth for me so as a lecturer, I can’t say I faced many challenges. However, when you are struggling to get promotion, you need to write journal articles and you have to invest money because you have to carry out research and so on. Also, as a parent, you have to combine your career with the home front. The fact that I lost my husband early in a tragic situation and became a single mother made it very hard to combine raising my two boys with my academics. It was a very rough tide but to God be the glory.

 

What is the most defining moment of your career?

When I got pronounced as a professor. No matter what you are as a university lecturer, no matter what you get administratively, I think the best time for any university lecturer is when you have been declared a professor because that is the peak of your career. It comes with a lot of thanksgiving because it is what a lot of people struggle to get and even die in the process of waiting to be promoted to be a professor. So, if you are lucky to become one, it is the peak of excitement. I give thanks to God that I was able to become a professor before I was fifty.

 

Who are your role models?

Most of the people I saw as role models in academics were: Professor Ayo Banjo; a very nice man, quiet, easy going, fantastic educator and grammarian, Niyi Osundare because I am a dramatist, I write plays. One of my plays was nominated for national award; my family secrets published by Heinemann. I interact with him and learn from him. Professor Oyeleye, he is a nice and peaceful man and Professor Omamor of the Department of Linguistics. I tap from everybody as long as you have good potentials.

 

Where do you get inspiration for your writings?

My inspiration is divine. Most times I don’t write about things that I see. I have a fertile imagination so I am always thinking and put things together. My first play, Rag to Riches was written overnight.  I just sit down and do it according to the way it comes.  My poems were usually triggered by bad experiences that happened to me. I don’t think I will publish them but when it comes to my plays and drama, my exposure to tradition while growing up in the palace and my experience when I travelled to Harvard as a visiting scholar inspires my writing.

 

How do you combine all these with the home front?

I have always been restless. I try my hands out on everything and as I grow older, I discovered what I could do, not to concentrate on the negative side of life after I lost my husband was to direct my attention to things that are positive. I diverted that energy to working round the clock and now, I am finding it difficult to slow down. It is good to turn the tide of challenge against it. That is what I think the Lord has helped me to do.

 

What are your goals for the future?

I plan to affect lives and to the glory of God, I have been doing that with my forums where I teach free of charge and the programmes I organise at the university. I try to help the needy in my own little way because I don’t have inexhaustible resources. What cross my mind often is how to help women who are facing the kind of things that I faced as a widow. I am looking at the opportunity to help put widows in the right frame of mind. Helping them to psychologically identify with their unique situation and look at the positive way to drive it. So that they can come to terms with their situation.

 

How can one cope with the challenges of parenting these days, especially as a working mother?

We must have time for our children; I think that is very important. Unfortunately these days, people go out for money and come back very late so children are left with the house help who do not have right values. At the end of the day, we see our children doing the wrong things. No matter how busy we are, we should still try our best to inculcate the right values in our children. If you are the type that closes late at work, you can bring your mother to come and stay with you to assist in taking care of the children.