Opinion
When Degree And Skills Collide! Common Sense To The Rescue
By Sani Bello Hamza
It all started with Fatima Mai Zogale and the controversy surrounding Rara’a new song praising Fatima and her well prepared Zogale. The conversation graduated to salary can not make one rich, where salary earners and entrepreneurs argued tirelessly to prove how salary has made them rich or otherwise. The conversation completely took a new dimension when two elephants (Prof. IBK and “Prof” Pantami) started groaning and flexing their muscles to get at each other. As the popular saying goes, when two elephants are fighting only the grass suffers. The grass get mutilated to the extend that it can not grow in the same place.
Well, that’s not the case for us in this intellectual discourse, when the two elephants in our midst were exchanging blows, we were busy widening the scope and horizon of our knowledge. When one elephant tries to match another, we got busy enriching and fertilizing our minds with philosophical arguments and adding new words to our vocabulary. We were introduced to new dimensions and areas which we never knew existed before. We indeed witnessed a clash of the Titans!
During this short period, we found ourselves delving into the intricacies of skills and degrees on the arewa social media space. This is not the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last time we’ll have a conversation of this nature. The topic will live even after the death of the author.
“Skills rather than just Degrees” a book published by “Professor” Isah Ali Pantami; a cyber security expert whose wide knowledge of Islam is globally satisfactory. The title of the book sounds provocative to academics and students pursuing degrees. Students and their teachers felt the tittle was specifically couched to undermine their hard work and reduce their chance of getting into the cooperate world to secure a white collar job.
If you follow the trend carefully and objectively like I did, you’ll agree with me the debate originate from the book title and the use of “Just” in the tittle; to questioned the authenticity and legality of the professorship title of the author. They said, you can’t live in a glass house and throw stones.
Students and their teachers felt describing degree as “just” which may perfectly be substituted with “mere” was deragatory, abusive, and undermining their effort to produce degree holders or become certified graduates. Professors’ and Drs’ from various field of study express their opinion regarding this. Some of them believed the author does not intend to undermine the value of degree certificates, rather he’s advocating for a paradigm shift from acquiring degree certificate alone to combining it with soft and hard Skills.
The conversation took a different turn when Pantami call for a debate with his critiques and some of his “colleagues” criticizing his beloved book. This singular act provoke and bring back the spirit of Prof. IBK to social media platforms. The renowned professor who’s known for his famous critique of Chinua Achebe’s Best Selling Things fall apart vehemently critized Pantami for this act and went ahead to describe him as semi-educated, which I believe was uncalled for.
Pantami’s call for debate made me wonder if as a “professor” he truly navigates through the academia as he claimed in one of his recently published books. Not only in the academic field, Literature in general is not devoid of critisms, you can’t divorce critisms from literature, if you don’t want to be criticized or you want to impose your views and opinions on your readers, trust me, publishing and writing is not your calling.
Professor Goodhart and Julius Stones exchange more than 10 academic papers on the meaning of “ratio decedendi”. The same thing happened between Professor Hart and Professor Fuller; the two renowned professors of law flexed their intellectual muscle on the application of a particular Nazi law after the fall of Germany. Professor Hart wrote his book “concept of morality” and Professor Fuller replied with “The morality of law”. I’m sure Mallam is not unaware of the fact that Sahih Bukhari and Muslim (the second Islamic Books after Qur’an) were also reviewed and religiously criticized by Muslims and non-muslims.
As an author, “Professor” Pantami should’ve died immediately after publishing the book and let the book speak for itself. By calling for debate, the “professor” is indirectly trying to impose his view and solutions to societal problems on others which is unacceptable. Human beings are naturally free and enjoy freedom of thought and conscience.
Lest I forget, Pantami ought to have learned from Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman and be contented with his Sheikh, Alaramma, Malam, Dr, CON, FCIIS, FBCS, FNCS titles. The “Professorship scandal” seriously affect his credibility in the eye of the world. I believe he’ll one day come out and reveal the requirements he fulfilled before he was awarded the professorship title. It’s easier to get rid of a cancer when it’s still small than to wait for it to grow bigger.
As Peter Tosh succinctly put in his famous song the “Glass House”;
if you live in a glasshouse
Don’t throw stones
And if you can’t take blows brother
don’t throw blows
A stitch in time…
Sani Bello Hamza is a Law student at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. He writes from Zaria and can be reached through 09013506168 or sanibellohamza@gmail.com.
Heineken Lokpobiri, minister of state for petroleum resources, says the federal government plans to commence implementing the drill-or-drop provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Section 94 of the PIA gives operators a period of three years to begin oil production or relinquish the assets to the federal government.
Speaking during the Cross Industry Group (CIG) meeting held on Tuesday in Florence, Italy, Lokpobiri said it is in the best interest of the country that all inactive wells go to work.
He said the federal government, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, has provided every necessary incentive to ensure international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria run smoothly and profitably.
“Now, it is imperative for these industry players to match the government’s efforts with increased investment by announcing final investment decisions (FIDs),” he said.
Furthermore, Lokpobiri discussed “the challenges, expectations, and measures to enhance the sector’s contributions towards domestic energy needs and regional expansion across Sub-Saharan Africa”.
He emphasised that while IOCs have highlighted engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors as a challenge, “EPCs will not come unless they see strong commitments from industry players”.
“The government has done its part to provide the requisite and investment-friendly fiscals, the ball is now in the court of the IOCs and other operators to make strategic investment decisions that will drive increased production and sustainability in the sector,” he said.
“We must also recognise that domestic crude supply is essential to national energy security. The best solution to this challenge lies in increasing production, which will ensure a balance between domestic supply obligations and external commitments.”
The minister further urged industry players to explore collaborative measures, such as shared resources for contiguous assets and the release of underutilised assets to operators ready to invest in production.
The Progressive Students Movement (PSM), a leading Pan-African student body, has commended the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in Ogun State under Commissioner of Police (CP) Lanre Ogunlowo, PhD, for its commitment to security and community engagement.
In a statement released on Thursday, the President of PSM Nigeria, Comrade Ambassador Okereafor Bestman, highlighted the CP’s efforts in strengthening collaboration between the police, stakeholders, and other security agencies to maintain peace and stability in the state.
“It is worthy of note that CP Lanre Ogunlowo, PhD, has further fostered a harmonious working synergy between the police, stakeholders, and other security agents aimed at ensuring peace and tranquility in Ogun State,” Okereafor said.
The student leader expressed confidence in CP Ogunlowo’s leadership, stating that Ogun State is on track to becoming one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria under his administration.
He also praised the professionalism and dedication of the Ogun State Police Command in tackling crime, regardless of its scale.
Additionally, PSM acknowledged the Ogun State government’s continued support for security agencies, particularly in providing mobility and logistics to enhance their operational efficiency.
The commendation comes at a time when security remains a top priority for residents and authorities in the state, with ongoing efforts to curb crime and ensure public safety.
BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF
On assumption of duty in January, 2025 , the new Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, Boss and well grounded World Bank expert , Aisha Garba envisaged the need to reposition the Basic Education through interfacing with the critical stakeholders.
Amongst them is the office of the National Security Adviser , NSA, led by Malam Nuhu Ribadu whose achievements in the last few years in the area of security has become distinct and outstanding.
Therefore, seeking to cooperate and collaborate with the office became germane and needful particularly the protection of lives and properties of actors in the promotion of Basic Education ranging from the pupils , teachers , workers and facilitators to enable it drive the new wave to curb Out of School Children OOSC in the country.
Aside providing the basic security arrangements for schools , the need to engage the security apparatus at the level of National Security Adviser NSA became needful, so as to address the sophistry of security problems in the country, to nip in the bud any unforseen circumstances.
With the high rates of kidnappings, abduction , banditry, cattle rustling, ritual tendencies among many other vices, the idea of bringing on board , the security architecture of the country in all ramifications will assist the commission to consolidate the implementation of Basic Education policies and programs, also introduce new ones .
Since pupils at the Primary, Junior Secondary and Secondary Schools are prone to such ugly development and security issues , the need to be proactive on the part of the commission became timely and desiring.
This led to the success story of the bilateral interface between the management of the commission and NSA, to streamline, perfect and chart a new course on the issue of security of actors in the Basic Education.
The visit described as timely and long overdue, discussed fruitfully the way forward and the immediate and long term intervention of both agencies in the area of collaboration.
According to the Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC, Dr Aisha Garba she stated by discussing” strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing educational access and security in Nigeria. ”
She further said” the engagement focused on strategies to address challenges such as the safety of schools, particularly in vulnerable regions, and the promotion of equitable education for all children.”
“the meeting highlighted the critical intersection between education and national security and the need for collaboration between UBEC and Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), on improving access to basic education and safety of safety schools across the nation. ”
“This collaboration underscores the government’s commitment to fostering a secure and inclusive learning environment as part of its broader agenda to strengthen the nation’s educational framework,” it added.
“UBEC boss had pledged to engage critical stakeholders to break down barriers to education and create inclusive learning opportunities for children across the six geopolitical regions of the country.”
“She said: “My goal is to deliver on this mandate which includes strengthening collaboration, partnerships and institutional learning for effective service delivery. ”
“Together, we will work to increase access, improve quality, provide conducive and safe learning environments, supply adequate teaching and learning materials, and adopt the concept of ‘best fit’ in addressing specific basic education challenges, state by state and region by region”.
Highlights of the program which included the engagement of both bodies with a commitment to ensure the introduction of security architecture in schools in Nigeria is achievable.
Written BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.