Oji Onoko writes on the remarkable life of Seth Ajayi, a Professor at 36, first African Professor in Wildlife Conservation and fourth in the world and 2013 National Merit Award recipient for Science
AS he walked up the dais at the Banquet Hall, Aso Villa, penultimate Thursday to receive the insignia of the award, he remembered his father. How he wished the jolly old man were alive to see his son being cheered by political juggernauts, business barons and the very best from his constituency- the academia not to forget his lovely wife, friends and family members. He chuckled, the memory flooding back. It was his first day in school and as was the practice then he was told to place his arm across the head to see if it would touch his ear- the precondition for admission. It did not. His father reluctantly took him home but the next day he was back with his tot telling them: ”I can’t keep this boy. He is a different person entirely, you better take him.” After repeated appeal, the missionaries magnanimously took him. That day his journey on the education lane began. Now this, the highest honour for any scholar being bestowed on him…
Seated opposite you this Thursday morning at 805 Restuarant on Wuse 2, Abuja, a day after the investiture, Professor Seth Sunday Ajayi, the 2013 National Merit Award recipient for Science attributes everything to God. “This reinforces my faith in Christ. This award has given me the confidence to preach the gospel,” he says in Pentecostal fervour. “So I feel overwhelmed and I feel the greatest gratitude to God Almighty because it is God Himself that did it for me without anybody’s help.” But he worked hard, spent endless hours, days, months and even years seeking solutions to very intractable problems in his field of study, thus distinguishing himself.
Ajayi who attained the prime position of Professor, 33 years ago is not particularly new to awards from the highest quarters in recognition of his contribution to knowledge especially his chosen area of Environment. In 1994, he got the Global Roll of Honour from the United Nations on Environmental Programme. In a colourful ceremony which took place in London, his certificate and medal were handed to him by then British Prime Minister, Mr. John Major. “For me to be recognised at that level, I felt that I had got to the climax,” he recalls.
The awards were only the testament of his near prodigy in the academia. He got his PHD in 1974 which took him less than two years to complete for a programme he registered part time for four years! He used 12 months to gather the materials for the thesis; about six months to write it and another six months to get who is going to examine the PHD. “And they had to look for an external examiner who has a double PHD to come and examine me in Nigeria to make sure that this man truly deserves a PHD in less than two years,” he recalls joyfully. The task fell on Professor Beverly Halstead who got his Dsc at 33! He was a Professor of Geology at the University of London and at the same time a Professor of Zoology at the University of Reading. His supervisors were Professors Lawrence Roche and Loosli, both white men. “That was 1974, September 29,” he recalls in a precise manner. And six years later, on October 1, 1980 he became a Professor at the age of 36! In this he made history as the first African Professor in Wildlife Conservation and the fourth in the world! “I was getting promotion every year, every year, every year,” he repeats in a sing song.
So, what next after the award? You ask. He smiles, the youthful face belying his more than 60 years on earth. “You can never be too old,” he replies sagely, “once you are alive, hale and hearty to serve our dear country. Nigeria has given me so much; Nigeria has given me a lot. I should be ready to give a lot back to Nigeria. There are lots and lots of things of things I can do for Nigeria.” And topping his list is unsurprisingly the environment. “In the area of the environment, if you look at it in Africa, the deterioration of the environment and the decimation of natural resources are going on at an alarming rate; it’s going on too fast that something has to be done urgently to arrest it,” he says. In a grave voice, he submits: “There are five major environmental problems in Nigeria that are potentially catastrophic if urgent attention is not paid to them. One, the desert encroachment in the North which is approaching Southwards in which many villages are buried under sand and it’s causing hardship and displacement to many communities and their livestock. Second, the frightening erosion in the South Eastern part of Nigeria in which many communities, towns and villages are being washed away. Third, massive deforestation and decimation of wildlife in virtually all parts of Nigeria have reduced our natural resources to a rare level of scarcity. Fourth, the oil spillage in the Niger Delta has caused environmental pollution to such an extent that man and his environment are under threat of unhealthy living. Remember that Niger Delta is known for its endemic species of plants and animals which are under extreme threat of extinction because of pollution. Fifth, the menace of waste in Nigerian cities, towns, villages, market places and so on which has resulted into environmental pollution and hazard to human life.”
In a soothing voice, he proffers the way out indicating that the doomsday can still be averted if only there is the will by both the government and the people. “Many solutions to Nigeria’s environmental problems require careful, purposeful and practical, technical and business designs that will embrace human community development,” he asserts, the scholar in him coming to the fore. “Such a technical plan would lead to the formulation of action plans that will require major financial and technical inputs from the Nigerian government, and will also attract participation both financial and material from Donor organizations and foreign countries,” he adds.
The National Merit laureate is also bothered by the growing unemployment especially among graduates in the country. “I have been following the trend and I have been talking about it since 1995 that something has to be done,” he says in a worried tone. “NUC has tried in restructuring the curriculum of most of the universities but more than that we have to be more creative to create jobs. Not to follow some old economic theories that government has nothing to do with job creation. We have to be innovative in creating jobs and making job opportunities available,” he says. Government he believes has done a lot in commissioning projects even in the private sector on job creation but should now go a step further by “getting a group of intellectuals together within the University system; within the arena of the Merit Award Laureates and the private sector and put all the reports together; put all the experiences together and create an action plan for job creation and absorbing our graduates in this country year by year, phase by phase, discipline by discipline, where they can go and all the rest of them and government will give inducement and conducive environment for the private sector to perform and absorb most of our students if not all within our economy.” He scoffs at the idea that Nigeria is over producing graduates. “Why is the country is not developed yet? So where is the over production”? He queries. “There is a gap. There is something wrong. If you think that we are over producing graduates and the country is not developed then what are the problems”? He asks again shaking his head.
But what drives you? You ask in a parting shot, your eyes still fixed on him. “The driving force is God,” he says, a radiant smile on his face. “It is the Holy Spirit that drives you, you don’t drive yourself. It is the Holy Spirit that gives you the ideas-go and do this, go and do that and ideas are perishable as vegetables. If you pursue them immediately, they will just go. So you have to have that vigour and the zeal to pursue the ideas and make them a reality…”
