By Adesina Wahab
A retiring Professor of Sociology, University of Lagos, Prof. Lai Olurode, has said Nigerians and their leaders fail their fatherland because they put more trust in foreign ideas and postulations at the expense of the local intellectual base.
He stated this on Tuesday while delivering a valedictory lecture as part of the activities marking his disengagement from the university.
The lecture was titled “Knowledge selector, public interest and power structure.”
Olurode noted that such could be seen in African nations bowing to the push by foreign powers that youths on the continent should only be trained as clerical officers and that higher education should be taken away from the reach of the majority.
“Unfortunately, African nations that bought such idea and make education unaffordable for their youths are the worst for it. Look at the situation in Nigeria, the government deployed the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information system, IPPIS, in the university system. Lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, said it has come up with the University Transparency and Accountability System, UTAS, but the government sticks to the foreign one, the IPPIS.
“Even if the UTAS has some flaws, why don’t we use it and work on it to perfect it. The hostility of the government to intellectual discourse is uncalled for. Now, if we take access to tertiary education in public institutions away from the children of the masses, the private universities cannot adequately fill the gap.
“Private universities don’t allow for the kind of diversities that public universities offer. Already, we are grappling with the high number of out-of-school children. The bitter truth is that the children that the rich strive to educate may not be able to enjoy life because those who could not go to school would not give them rest of mind,” he stated.
The former National Commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, paid glowing tributes to the late Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, former governor of Lagos State and the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, for their altruistic ways of life.
The Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Olufunmilayo Bammeke, described Olurode as a great role model.
“He is somebody who is very blunt. He speaks truth to power and he is very transparent and believes in accountability. He does what he preaches. We are already missing him. He is a father figure in this faculty and school,” she said.
A former Vice Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Rahmon Bello, said Olurode is someone who puts into action what he teaches his students.
Students and colleagues from within and outside UNILAG testified to the virtues and sterling qualities of Olurode.
Source: Vanguard