OBJ PhD @80: Some lessons to learn
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was pronounced worthy and competent for the award of PhD after 163 minutes robust defence of his voluminous work before a six - man panel. On the topic titled: “Resolving the Unfinished Agenda in Liberation Theology: Leadership, Poverty and Underdevelopment in North Eastern Nigeria.”
Permit me to “digress” a bit from the title of this write ups in order to discuss one of the “virtues” of President Obasanjo afterwords I shall return to the main title. No matter what anybody would “say” or “think” about President Obasanjo, as far as I know, he is a true Nigerian who believes in “One United Nigeria”. I have not known any southern Nigerian who truly believes in “One Nigeria” as President Obasanjo. However, permit me to salute President Obasanjo for his “enviable habit” of documenting his “past experience” through “writing of books” to which many of our leaders past failed short of our expectation.
I have not known any Nigerian leader “death” or “alive” who has written the numbers of “books” on his role in public service/ military as President Obasanjo did . I stand to be corrected!
In my view, President Obasanjo has paid his dues in terms of documenting his “past experience” in public service. He has written a lot of “books” such as: My Command: An Account of the Nigerian Civil War-1980; Nzeogwu: An Intimate Portrait of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu -1987; Africa in perspective 1987; This animal called man1998; and My Watch - A Memoir by Olusegun Obasanjo (3Vols).
In the United States of America and other advanced democracies, “political leaders” always write books on their “stewardship”immediately after leaving office in order to “explain”,”clarify”, and or “justify” some of the “policies” or “decisions” taken by them while in government. Writing ones “actions” or “inactions” would go a long way in assisting future leaders to “learn” and or “avoid” some “mistakes” which might been committed by their leaders past.
President Obasanjo was born on March 5, 1937. He attended Abeokuta Baptist High School; Mons Officers’ Cadet School, Aldershot, England; Royal College of Military Engineering, Chatham, England and School of Survey, Newbury, England. He also attended the British Royal Engineers’ Young Officers School, Shrivenham, England; Indian Defence Staff College; Indian Army School of Engineering and Royal College of Defence Studies, London. He worked as a teacher before enlisting in the Nigerian Army in 1958.
In November 2006, a few months to the end of his eight - year tenure, the then president enrolled for a post graduate diploma in Christian Theology at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) which he graduated in January 2009. He concluded his Masters Degree (MA) in Christian Theology during the 2014 -2015 academic session. He has on Friday the 15th day of December, 2017 successfully defended his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Christian Theology from the National Open University of Nigeria(NOUN), Abeokuta Study Centre, Ogun State.
In my observation, some of the lessons to learn from the return of President Obasanjo to school are: That age should not be an obstacle to learning; Knowledge should not be sought for employment opportunity only; There should be no position in the society too high for learning; Education should not be sought for career progression only; and that knowledge should be sought from cradle to grave.
In my understanding, President Obasanjo’s age did not stop him from pursuing PhD. Moreover, he did not go back to school in order to get certificate for Job or get a higher position in the society or get promotion from his place of work. President Obasanjo’s PhD is his dream come true.
The vice- chancellor of NOUN has once acknowledged that: “President Obasanjo’s display of tolerance by choosing to go back to school after attaining such great height in life which, the VC said, “has always shown that nobody is too big to learn, that you don’t need to study for promotion but for knowledge, nobody is too old to learn and that he is studying just for knowledge sake.” (Prof. Abdullah Uba Adamu). Congratulations sir! Nurudeen Dauda, Kaduna.