Eminent Humanities professor Toyin Falola gives a detailed guide on how Nigerian universities can take over the informal sector of the economy to elevate it for the benefits of the youth, technology and economic development. However, university administrators also believe Nigeria’s specific challenges must be considered in implementing the ideas, report BISI OLADELE and KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE.
Technology is usually seen as something very complex. Nigeria’s path to technological development may not lie in fancy theories and degrees but in elevating the informal sector, says renowned Professor of Humanities Toyin Falola.
Falola of the University of Texas at Austin, shared his unconventional ideas at the first annual distinguished lecture of the First Technical University (Tech U), Ibadan, titled: Technology, Culture and Society.
Contrary to popular belief, Falola said Africans had recorded exploits in science and technology long before colonisation. Tracing the historical exploits of Africans in technology in arts, construction and culture before the 15th Century, Falola said Africans already constructed great buildings, bronze and many products before the arrival of Europeans. He pointed out that there is technology in virtually all areas of human activities, including food processing, textile production and farming, transport, furniture and other tools used for daily living.
According to him, the problem of African technology is that it has not been structured and documented in a way that can be further developed to solve modern problems.
He said: “Science has been with us for a long time. Amala, eba, fufu and others were all invented through technology but we never paid attention to it. So, we have always had technology.”
Falola recalled how Sango, who was the fourth Alaafin of Oyo, came to be renowned for controlling lightning and igniting fire through technology. He said technology starts with an idea and improves with time.
“Most of these great tech products started as ideas that looked magical but Africans did not advance with most of their own ideas,” he said.
Falola, who is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas, advised universities to introduce short courses on services offered in the informal sector, focus on simple technology, create room for students to innovate in technology and also reward their innovation through awards and scholarships.
He referred to the idea as professionalising the informal sector, pointing out that it would make university graduates major players in the informal sector and also establish the sector’s relevance in the society. In addition to jump-starting development of local technology, Falola said professionalising the informal sector would boost self-esteem of practitioners, open up more jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, make institutions more relevant to their immediate environment, and also help government take better control of the informal sector.
He said: “The university should develop diploma and certificate programmes in services such as barbing, photo/videography, fashion design, fabrication, welding, media technology, printing and e-commerce to equip its students and practitioners in the sector. Achievement of the goal is interpreted as professionalisation of the informal sector. ”
Falola also advised the university to redefine how youths are engaged and consciously promote women in technology, fuse humanity with technology and recruit outside the academic circle to widen students’ access to practical knowledge and experience of real practitioners.
“Youths of today have their own wisdom in technology. If we give them the capacity, they will surprise us. They know what they are doing; it is just that they are not thinking like us. This university must lead in the efforts to redefine how we engage these young people. We need to empower them to innovate technologically,” he said.
With technology changing the way of living, learning and doing business, Falola said presidents and vice chancellors of universities in the West recently agreed that they would make regular teaching and learning virtual with the goal of reducing the number of physical buildings being constructed on university campuses. He, therefore, advised Nigerian institutions to embrace e-learning as impartation of knowledge now takes place outside the four walls of the classroom.
“The world is changing, and we should not be left behind. We have been left behind before. By the 15th Century, Africa was at the edge of global technology. The city of Benin and many African artefacts attest to it. The old Oyo Empire extended to today’s Central Africa. But we began to lose our position in late 15th Century when our forefathers traded our talents and artefacts through various means including slave trade. In the 19th Century, they began to take our muscle power. Today, they are taking our skilled power. Billions of dollars are being taken away from Africa simply because they are able to make technology that solves problems and meets needs.
“We must create indigenous technology that will transform our space. Tech U must take the lead in the efforts. So, what universities like Tech U should do is to focus on how to reduce the technology gap, ” he said.
The erudite scholar said today’s economic strength lies in knowledge more than in natural resources. He cited the examples of Japan, South Korea and Italy which thrive on technology; Singapore and Hong Kong which thrive on re-export ; and Belgium and Switzerland which thrive on the niche industry.
Falola described how Tech U could play a role in Nigeria’s technological development by solving Ibadan, its host city’s problems.
He said: “Located in one Africa’s leading city and the intellectual capital of Nigeria, the First Technical University must key itself into Ibadan’s socio-technological needs. I will reiterate, first, my main message of the crucial role of technology; second, link the university to the transformation of Ibadan, the lead city; and third, the crucial niche that the First Technical can fill in this amazing forest of intellectual density.”
Some university administrators believe that Falola’s suggestions should be considered along with prevailing circumstances in the Nigerian education system.
Reacting to the professor’s views, Tech-U Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ayobami Salami, said the institution was dynamic in its training approach of preparing market-ready graduates.
“The University seeks to create a niche for itself in the Nigerian higher education emporium by training students to combine intellectual advancement with the development of innate and acquired technical and vocational competences in diverse work areas.” Salami explained.
Vice-Chancellor of Lead City University Ibadan, Prof Kabir Adeyemo, said there was need to focus on government’s education policy which focuses on science.
“All these recommendations are lofty and quite futuristic. However, we should have conscious consideration for the government’s focus on the current national policy on education and the preference for science education with the aim of boosting the nation’s scientific and technological advancement.
“In the developed climes, it is crystal clear that scientific discoveries give fillip to the humanities. Indeed, the arts find greater expressions in the veritable platform that the sciences offer humanity,” he said.
On his part, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Toyin Ogundipe, said the university was already doing some work in the area of Community Social Responsibility.
“It is aligned with our vision for the university. We are going to work on it and introduce it as our Community Social Responsibility,” he said.
However, Vice- Chancellor of the Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) Prof Kayode Soremekun, expressed concerns that introducing diplomas could worsen Nigeria’s craze for certification.
“If the suggestion will lead to the desired breakthrough, it is good. But there is the danger of certificated seduction. A bit of elaboration is necessary here. Did the other industrialised countries go through this route that is being suggested? The answer comes in a resounding No!” he said.
Another professor, who does not wish to be named, also expressed concerns about inviting artisans to study in universities that are poorly equipped. The don, a former Vice-Chancellor of a university in the Southwest, said if universities were well equipped, they would deliver on their community development mandate.
“In my view, the artisans are doing their best and doing very well. As of now, our universities are not well equipped. Our libraries and laboratories lack requisite equipment. If universities take up diploma and certificate programmes, they would mislead the artisans, who are already very good. You do not teach people if you do not have the equipment. You will be doing alternative to practical and that is nonsense,” he said.
The professor said a small community in Ontario, Canada, had a well equipped library that was promoting youth engagement, entrepreneurship development, and others. He lamented that many universities in Nigeria do not have such well-stocked and innovative libraries.
He lamented that developing countries focused on big structures rather than content.
“In developing countries, we spend funds on only buildings, not on equiiping libraries, laboratories, universities, and generally our institutions are substandard. Pickering is a small place in Ontario Canada, catching them young in entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, etc. Children, adults of all ages are exposed to modern information communication technology. It is incredible.
“Research is the main essence of universities along with learning, teaching and service delivery. Research is to find solutions to challenges in our societies. Good scholars will go anywhere with excellent facilities to advance knowledge,” he said.
