Why Nigeria varsities are not fairing well in global ranking —Prof Idowu Olayinka, UI VC

The Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka, was an undergraduate student of the late former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu who died five years ago. In this interview by AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, he speaks about the former governor as a lecturer, businessman and politician. Excerpts: 

There was an international rating that puts Nigerian universities at the lower wrung of the ladder. What do you think is the problem?

In terms of the ranking, it is true that most of the universities, including Ibadan, are not fairing too well. Too many reasons account for that. You cannot build something on nothing. The reality is that what makes a university to be top-notch or rank high are not there. Funding is central. You have to pay your staff and run the university, build lecture theatres in order not to pack too many students in a class. You need decent offices for your staff and other welfare packages, including hostel facilities for students. A university should be able to attract top quality students as well as top quality staff. A university has to internationalise. There is no point having all your staff and students from the same local government area. A university has to attract students from different parts of the world, even though a larger percentage may come from your catchment area. Quality assurance is very important as well as governance. The best way you can advance knowledge is to have a high concentration of talents among the staff and students and then you provide them with resources. Then you leave them to be independent to solve societal problems. What differentiates a university from other tiers of education is that we have to conduct research. If somebody is not doing this, how is he going to create new knowledge? For University of Ibadan, the first responsibility as regards funding goes to the Federal Government. You cannot have a child and leave the responsibility in the hands of others.

What is the level of collaboration between UI and the foreign universities? 

We collaborate with them. From historical perspective, the University of Ibadan started as a College of University of London. We still maintain healthy collaboration and cooperation. We belong to many networks and, recently, we established the Alliance of Research Universities in Africa comprising about 15 universities in Africa which I am the chairman of the Board of Directors. UI belongs to the Association of Commonwealth Universities which is the largest of such networks in the world. Such are the areas of collaboration and we also collaborate with individual universities in Africa, Europe, US and North America.

How would you describe the late Dr Olusegun Agagu as a lecturer and also as an associate? 

I cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered his associate. He was my lecturer in the Department of Geology. In fact, last weekend, I was discussing with one of his former teachers who said the late Dr Olusegun Agagu finished in 1971. Of course, I know that he got his B.Sc in Geology in 1971 and that he was the best in his class. Immediately, he was employed by Gulf Oil Company as a young graduate for a year. He was encouraged by the then Head of Department of Geology, Professor Jamiu Oyawoye, to take up teaching appointment. The first time he came to Professor Oyawoye, they offered him a Graduate Assistant position. Some other people who finished in 1972 were to be given graduate assistants position but he had spent a year in the oil company so Dr Rahman put in a word for him and they gave him the position of an Assistant Lecturer. The department sent him abroad for his Masters and when he came back, he thought me Petroleum Geology. He was highly respected. Looking at the gap between us, we were just students while he was up there. As a lecturer, he said in our class that those who succeed most in life were neither those who graduated with First Class Honours in the university, nor those with Second Class Upper but those who made Second Class Lower. I have also mentioned this on a number of occasions. He was just saying that when you finish from the university, it was not about what you know but what you can do with the knowledge that you have acquired in the university. He was an exceptionally brilliant person, who finished top of his class coming straight from Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan. That struck me so much; it was not just about the lecturers teaching the students, but letting them know what they are likely to face when they graduate from the university. These are not things you will read from any textbook.

When I was in the United Kingdom doing my post graduate studies, I wanted to come and lecture here. By that time, he had become the Head of Department (HOD).  When I wrote in 1986 that I was interested in teaching in the Department of Geology here but that I would still need about a year before I finish my PhD, he said they wanted me immediately but, of course, I would not abandon my PhD to come and pick up the job. So, I took up the appointment in April 1988. By that time, he was on sabbatical leave. It turned out that when he was here, he became an entrepreneur; he collaborated with two of his colleagues; Dr Olu Agunloye, who was in the Department of Physics and Dr Ofiafate Affray, who was also my lecturer in the Department of Geology. The three of them teamed up and set up a company which was largely involved in borehole drilling, probably the best in Ibadan at that time. They had two other companies.  I was not surprised when he became the deputy governor in Ondo State to former Governor Bamidele Olumilua. He was a very young person at that time.

He contested as governor. He was appointed minister by President Olusegun Obasanjo and was later elected as a governor in 2003. Dr Agagu was a very successful man. It was like he had the Midas touch in anything he was involved in. If he had not left the university, he would have easily become a professor.

How would you describe the rapport between him and the students, especially as a young lecturer?

We were not close. They were like gods to us. They were the sages on the stage, not that they were oppressing us but they were not close to us. For instance, there was a lady who was also Agagu. She was a year ahead of me. She said she would not take his course because she learnt that Agagu was very strict in marking. Though very friendly, he had no time for frivolities. You would not have problem with him; what was important to him was to teach our class. There was one of the students who asked a question and Dr Agagu said the student was not serious, but after graduating, he employed him. He employed some of my classmates. He was a very likeable person. I actually said I would want to be like him.

Can you recall a time when any of the students ran into trouble with him? 

Not in my class. We are talking of 1980. At that time we used to look at them as very old people. We shared the same birthday, 15th February. At that time, it was father-student relationship. I can’t remember anytime any of my classmates had problem with him.

Did anything about him inform your decision at any point in life? 

I had a Second Class (Upper Division), probably the best in my class. But what he said about the best not being the most successful taught me to be humble. That statement stays with me for about 40 years now. The lecturer will teach but it depends on the lesson that you want to draw from what you are taught that matters. Some will say this is rubbish, while others will draw inspiration from it.

He was in business while lecturing; did his personal venture affect his productivity as a lecturer?

I don’t think so because, if for a particular reason he would not come to class he would have given us an advance notice. And you know that PhD is seminar work, so he could still make reference to what he has gone to do outside the class. We didn’t have much difficulty with him.

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Was he into politics as a lecturer in the university? 

I don’t know. You know we were just students and it was not our concern. Only his colleagues can say. But, I remember in 1991 we asked whether he was going to contest and he just dismissed it. Soon after, we learnt that Chief Olumilua nominated him as deputy governorship candidate. I used to be an adjunct lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Akure. There was a day we went to the University Guest house. Lo and behold we saw him presiding over a political gathering. After he lost his position as the deputy governor in 1993, on account of annulment of elections by the late General Sani Abacha he knew that he would still be relevant in politics, so he continued. I am not surprised that he was a governorship candidate in 1999. Though he did not emerge as governor at that time, he was nominated as a minister. He contested as a candidate on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was a very rugged person. He must have been strategising on his ambition to become the governor.

What was the lesson you learnt from his attitude to life? 

I learnt about his attitude to work and persistence. It teaches that one should not give up hope. One must be hardworking and have faith in God.

You took up an appointment in the Department of Geology; did you have opportunity of working with him? 

No, I came to the department as a lecturer in April 1988. He was on sabbatical leave at the time and he didn’t come back to the department and from there, he retired.

Was there anytime he called for the services of the department, either as a governor or as a minister? 

Sometime ago, when I was the HOD of Geology we needed his support as governor of Ondo State and he asked us to come to Akure. Before we got there he had detailed the Permanent Secretary to liaise with us.