This National Assembly Lacks Depth -Prof. Olutayo Adesina

 BY SHOLA OSHUNKEYE

 On a day he added another feather to his glittering studded cap, many in his shoes, would have moved straight to the upper class of pleasure and enjoy themselves to the brim. After all, hasn’t someone said that the reward for success is more success, and celebration?

Of a truth, Dr. Olutayo Charles Adesina, Professor of History and Director, Centre for General Studies, University of Ibadan, did celebrate as he was celebrated by family members, friends and fellow eggheads that came to witness his investiture as a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, at the University of Lagos.

That was on Thursday, August 9, 2018. But as he feted his guests at the Faculty of Law Conference

Centre that afternoon, the patriot in him took his better part as he made out time to grant The Crest an exclusive interview.

He appraised the state of the nation and came real hard on the National Assembly, rating the august body below par.

Adesina, who has been Secretary of the Nigerian Academy of Letters since 2016, and President, Society of Nigerian Archivists, since 2017, upbraided the federal lawmakers for short-changing their constituents by displaying dismal knowledge of issues that affect their lives on the floor of their respective chambers.

“These people don’t have depth at all.” Adesina, an internationally acclaimed expert in Economic History, declared during the encounter with The Crest. “They don’t have an understanding of the society beyond their immediate environment. They don’t even know about their immediate communities. So, how do you begin to legislate in favour of the community you don’t know anything about?

“You think it is just about sending Naira and Kobo to people? No! It’s about building society. It’s about building community. It’s about building people. It’s about how are you connected to the lives of the people you are representing! There is a disconnect. They don’t see it. It is not that they are deliberately stupid. They are stupid because they don’t know anything about anything. You can’t blame them for being stupid. That’s why I said out of nothing, nothing comes.”

Still, the Ipetumodu, Osun State-born academic was not done. He also condemned the way science and technology, especially smart phones, have robbed Nigerians of their sense of community and fellow feelings through over-dependence on gadgets. Of course, he didn’t spare the country’s warped educational system which, in his estimation, succeeded in “raising automators”, and “a very mechanical generation”.

Although a universal problem, Prof. Adesina regretted a situation where more and more Nigerians, especially the youth, do not care about their history or ancestry, but would rather interact with their phones and other gadgets instead of real humans.

“Now, in every home,” Adesina continued, “people talk to their Whatsapp rather than talking to each other. Now, humanities is coming out strongly again to tell everyone that there is no alternative to humanity. Yes, it is good for science and technology to advance but they should not be masters of man. They should exist to serve man. But the way we are going now, man is serving technology.”

Apart from making people “very mechanical”, Prof. Adesina agonised, that technology has made them to become pathetically selfish.

“People are becoming selfish and mindless,” he lamented. “Mindless in the sense that everybody is thinking in a mechanistic way; and if you see the way this young generation describe it now, it’s about being interested in only three people-I, me and myself.”

However, it’s not all lamentations by the professor of History. He spotted some oases of hope, including a change in the teaching methodology of History, a step, he was cock-sure would restore our sense of community and fellow-feeling.

Well, as they say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. Please, sit back, relax and enjoy the exclusive interview. It’s vintage The Crest.

The full encounter:

No doubt, today’s event will impose more responsibilities on you. What are these extra responsibilities expected of a Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Letters?

It is the responsibility of a fellow to maintain and advance the ideals of humanistic studies. In this regards, we are  expected to encourage people to know what the  humanities is all about, the fellowship and the fellowhood of man, if there  is a language like that,, and basically, the need to also allow people to know what it means to have the sense of fellow-feeling.

Which is grossly lacking in our society…

Exactly.

Or is the lack of fellow-feeling a universal problem?

The way things are going with science and technology, I would say yes. Now, in every home, people talk to their Whatsapp rather than talking to each other. Now, humanities is coming out strongly again to tell everyone that there is no alternative to humanity. Yes, it is good for science and technology to advance but they should not be masters of man. They should exist to serve man. But the way we are going now, man is serving technology.

But there is the other school of thought that opposes this line of argument, insisting that technology is life…

(Cuts in…) Yes, because they don’t know what it means to live a good life. Living a good life does not mean you have to surrender everything to science and technology. Living a good life is about your community, it is about your people, it is about your friends, it is about being human and being humane. That is what it means.

In a nutshell, what damage would you say that technology, despite its tremendous advantages, has done to society, especially the family?

People are becoming selfish and mindless. Mindless in the sense that everybody is thinking in a mechanistic kind of way; and if you see the way this young generation describe it now, it’s about being interested in only three people.

Who are they?

I, me and myself. Because, now, man is learning to live an independent life-independent of the society, independent of the family, independent of community, and independent of even brothers and sisters. So, because of that, people now behave in such a way that we are afraid that our sense of community is going to an extinction; and without the sense of community, humanity suffers.

In your capacity as a Professor of Economic History, a scholar with great passion for humanities, what do you do, whether you are in the classroom, or conducting a research, or in your many tours across the world, to ensure that we revert to the old order where you had closely knit societies, where you had people with strong sense of community, and where people had humane feelings for one another?

If you go through some of the topics we have been dealing with in History especially, even in literary studies, they are all about human values. You talk about human values everywhere, telling people that this is accepted, this is not accepted; this is acceptable, this is not acceptable; these are the things expected of you as a people. In other words, the ideals, and the values of society. You find time everywhere, every time, to tell people that society must retain certain values.

Society must understand empathy and sympathy. Society must understand support. Society must condemn wanton killings and destructions. Society must get back from the edge of the precipice. Yes, it is working now because in the last ten years, students who come for history have become disillusioned and disoriented. They don’t know what to do.

 

‘Society must understand empathy and sympathy. Society must understand support. Society must condemn wanton killings and destructions. Society must get back from the edge of the precipice.’

 

Why?

Because everything in society is about money. It is about business. It is about what is in it for me. It’s about what I can accumulate. But in the last two years, I don’t know what is responsible for this, but I am beginning to see a new sense of humanity with the new generation of students.

What has changed?

I have not been able to apprehend what is changing in the society. But I have come to notice that in the last two years, students have become more attentive in class. Apparently they have come to certain conclusions or the realisation that the unbridled capitalist instinct that ruled the last 20 years has brought society to its knees. Now, they are also beginning to understand that for them to live a good life, for them to understand the future, they must understand the past; and relate with that past in a sense that will give them a sense of mission, a sense of direction. And that is why, also, the methodology of teaching has got to change because that is the crux of the matter.

The methodology in teaching that we talked about when we were younger-will teach you about the values of society, the ideals, your civic responsibility to society, your duties to the society. But we abandoned  that in favour of ‘oh, the business world is where you are going to make money’; this is how you can make money; this is how far you can go; and so on. But now, society has seen that, in the last twenty years, that methodology has failed the people. So now, in history, in particular, you are going to make much sense if you abandon the methodology of causation, which was what was used to train us. Because what the society wants, what this generation wants, is the search for meaning.

Yes, meaning because if you say Mansa Musa of Mali Empire (the first African ruler to be widely known throughout Europe and the Middle East) headed a very strong and rich empire, they want to know: how did he become rich? Why did he go to Mecca with so much gold to the effect that he spent so much gold in Egypt that the economy of Egypt collapsed? But if you teach this present generation that same history, they want to know why he was that stupid to take such an amount of money out of his empire and destroyed the economy of another country.

Causation tells us: how do we do this? How did he arrive at that level? Oh it was awesome. It was beautiful. But now, this generation wants to know it’s profligate! Why did you do that? So, that search for meaning is now what would rule part of the intellectual engagement of this generation. So, it is always about causation. One big question in the historical discipline then was: account for the causes of the rise and fall of empires. So, that cause is the umbrella that ties a lot of things together in history. It’s always about the cause. What caused the destruction? What caused down the fall? What caused the rise?

 

‘People are becoming selfish and mindless. Everybody is thinking in a mechanistic way; and if you see the way this young generation describe it now, it’s about being interested in only three people. I, me and myself.’

 

Can we relate this lack of fellow-feeling amongst us to what is happening in our country today, vis-à-vis the wanton killings, the destruction of lives and properties of lives all over the place-in the north-east, in the Plateau Basin, in Benue, Zamfara, etc? Can we relate them…?

Yes. Yes, because what caused that was the collapse of the educational system. The educational system no longer saw it as its own duty to raise humans. The educational system is raising automators; technical-thinking people.

Very mechanical; no feelings…

Yes, very mechanical. But now, we have to go back to the basis, and say: yes, you can make money, but that money has to be used to solve certain problems in society; to help people. It doesn’t stop you from making more money. But humanity is the first thing that you must understand. You go to the hospitals now, the doctors don’t see why they should sympathize with you. They don’t see it.

They just see it as normal for you to be there and for them to do their minimum.

Yes. Yes. We live a mechanistic existence: I close from work, I go home. It is not about thinking about that boy I saw in the morning that had a problem, what do I do in the morning to help him?  No. It’s about: you go to work; you open office, you do your duties; 4 o’çlock comes, you close; you go home. There is no connection between your existence and the problems of anybody in the society.

 

‘(Abolition of the teaching of History in schools is) one of the greatest problems (facing Nigeria) because we…raised a generation that has no sense of history. And without a sense of history, you don’t have a sense of mission. And without a sense of mission, you don’t have a vision.’

 

Can we also look at the policy summersault, not too long ago, when the teaching of History was abolished?

Yes, it’s part of the problem. In fact, it is one of the greatest problems because we then raised a generation that has no sense of history. And without a sense of history, you don’t have a sense of mission. And without a sense of mission, you don’t have a vision. The political elites that we have now, apparently, also failed to internalize the values and lessons of history. Because of that, everybody does whatever he or she wants.

Could it also account for what people believe as the hollowness of the politicians in handling issues, in interpreting how policies impact on society?

Yes, because they don’t know their society.

When you watch your television every night, you watch the news, and you watch debates at the National Assembly-the People’s Parliament-a place populated by the people’s representatives of the people, discussing about our future, do you see depth? Do you see fellow-feeling? Do you see humanity in their contributions, even in attendance? Because, most of the seats are empty most of the time.

Out of nothing, nothing comes.

How do you mean?

It’s a cliché. It is Latin. Nothing comes from nothing-meaning: ex nihilo nihil fit. What you don’t have, you can’t give. These people don’t have depth at all. They don’t have an understanding of the society beyond their immediate environment. They don’t even know about their immediate communities. So, how do you begin to legislate in favour of the community you don’t know anything about? You think it is just about sending Naira and Kobo to people? No! It’s about building society. It’s about building community. It’s about building people. It’s about how are you connected to the lives of the people you are representing! There is a disconnect. They don’t see it. It is not that they are deliberately stupid. They are stupid because they don’t know anything about anything. You can’t blame them for being stupid. That’s why I said out of nothing, nothing comes.

So, to properly address the leadership problem, there is always the need to judge our steps for decades now.

Yes.

For us to address this effectively, do we then recourse to history?

No. It is more than that actually. When you read the history of France after Napoleon came to power, what Napoleon did as the condition to change France, was first and foremost to affect the educational sector. Nigeria is not going in that direction. Nigeria has no educational sector. It doesn’t have any. Now, if you are going to change this society… yes, you are fighting corruption; yes, you want things to change; oh you are condemning the politicians. No! Leave them. Go back to school. Go back to the drawing board. What do you want us to do at the primary level? What do you want the children to know?  How are we going to raise a new set of teachers, based on a new set of curriculum, based on a new set of principles, based on a new set of national needs? It has to come from the basics up, so that as the older people are doing their own things, we are now seeing a new generation rising to do new things. So, forget those ones. Let’s go back to the basics. Let’s start from the primary school. And when I’m talking about from primary school, I am not talking about bringing in the same experts, who have always been doing things the same way, over and over again. They are the ones under whose watch these things collapsed. They are the ones who are the experts. They are the ones who will give us the blueprints. It’s not going to work.

So, who is going to do it?

We are going to dismantle a lot of things. We are all going to roll up our sleeves, put a large sheet on the ground and start drawing. And as we are drawing, that this has to take place here, this has to take place there, we are also under-guarding it with certain philosophy and ideals, and then, you add to it the grand strategy of the nation. By grand strategy, I mean how things are connected in every way. How technology is connected to the police; how police is connected to society; how society is connected to the army; how the army is connected to the civil service; how the civil service is connected to the educational sector. That is what they call the ground strategy.

That grand strategy, we are going to clear a room, put a lot of things on the ground; all of us will be on our knees drawing, charting the path to say this is where Nigeria is going. What do we want to achieve? Okay, how do we achieve it? Who are the kind of people that we need to achieve this? How do we begin to train? So, it has to be something very fundamental that will come from below up. In ten years, you will see, society will begin to change. But now, the way things are, it’s like you trying to bend a dry fish. It’s not going to work.

What efforts are your academy, the Nigerian Academy of Letters, making to ensure that these ideals that you have so passionately propounded get translated into making the society work?

You know the problem of the humanities actually is government itself. Government has now turned it in favour of sciences so that everything is now 60:40; 60 percent in the favour of science and technology and 40 percent in favour of the humanities.

Because of our dwindling level of industrialization and all that…

(Cuts in…) No, no, no. What I mean is: they want science to be 60:40 because they think it is that that is going to lead us on the path of technological advancement. No. That is not it. If you look at sciences and technological sector in the advanced world, it’s Hollywood that, first of all, imagined the things that would later actualise as science and technology.

Star wars, for instance…

Oh yes. So, there is no way you can push the humanities back and say, no, we are not relevant. That is not true.  A lot of things that will put us on that path towards technological advancement will be found either in the values, or ideals, or the principles set by the humanities. So, we need it. But answering your question, the Nigeria Academy of Letters has tried over the years to bring up plans, publications and lecture series that have tried to raise the consciousness of society. And in raising the consciousness of society, yes, we are battling with lot of issues. But then, our publications are out there; we do annual lectures; we do convocation as we have just done today. By that, we bring in people and we begin to talk to them about human values, human ideals, human consciousness, and the way to re-programme and re-plan society for the sake of everybody. We need peace of mind. If you are going to build technology, you first of all need peace of mind. If you are going to construct industries you need peace of mind. You need people whose consciousness is about protecting the industries. You need people whose consciousness is about protecting lives. So, without talking about that first, everything you build will be destroyed.

Certainly, we can’t discuss all the issues in one day, Prof. We will pause it here and continue some other day. But I want to thank you very much for your time. And congratulations, once again, on your investiture as a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.

Thank you very much.