Short Biographical Profile on Emeritus Professor Olugbemiro Jegede
Emeritus Professor Olugbemiro Jegede is the immediate past Secretary to the Government of Kogi State of Nigeria, a past Secretary-General and Chief Executive of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and at the invitation of Federal Government of Nigeria, was the National Co-ordinator of National Open and Distance Learning Programme (NODLP) from 2001 to 2003, and foundation Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), 2003-2010. By the time he completed his tenure in 2010, he had developed the University to the position of the 7th best University in Nigeria as rated by the Webometric global ranking of universities. NOUN has as today registered over 700,000 students.
Professor Jegede holds a double professorship in two academic areas of Science Education and ODL (digital learning). He is well regarded and respected globally as a result of his numerous and monumental contributions to teaching and learning.
FIVE out of these major global landmarks and significant contributions to education and the development of knowledge by Professor Jegede are:
(i) Jegede’s Theory of Collateral Learning propounded in 1995, to explain how non-Western science learners attempt to cope within a classroom environment not very receptive to their indigenous knowledge; This Theory of Collateral Learning which, along with other publications has been cited over 8,000 times in global scientific literature at the last count, has been studied by over 56 doctoral graduates world-wide
(ii) (ii) Jegede’s Theory of Webagogy propounded in 1998 in Cambridge, England for the development of a web-based E-Learning course materials;
(iii) (iii) Professor Jegede was a co-founder of the e-Journal in Instructional Science and Technology in 1995 as the first electronic journal in ODL in Australia.
(iv) (iii) He co-organised the first ever Video-conferenced general session at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST) on Scientific literacy: Contextual realities and postmodern controversies with a multi-point linkage with Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa and the conference site at Radisson Hotel, New Orleans, LA, USA held from 10.30 am to 12 noon on Saturday, April 29, 2000. This is what has now been developed by others and globally known as zoom.
(v) Professor Jegede was the first in Australia and most probably in the world to successfully run two electronic/online conferences from October 1993 to January 1994 at the University of Southern Queensland to promote campus-wide dialogue on instructional design and its contribution to the development of distance education study materials, He also held a globally acclaimed online conference for the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia as RESODLAA-L on the topic ‘Instructional Design in Distance and Open Education’ from 2 September – 7 October 1994.
Among his national and international awards which Professor Jegede cherishes most are:
• the Best Vice-Chancellor in Nigeria 2009 by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS),
• the 2009 African Leadership Star Award for Excellence in Tertiary Education,
• the 2010 Hitachi Software of Japan Award of Hitachi Prominent African Leaders for Change in Education,
• and the AAU Award as Higher Education Ambassador for Open and Distance Learning, July 2023.
As a seasoned scholar and administrator, he has made numerous presentations, and demonstrable expertise, in many areas which include Instructional Design, Psycho-Social Environment and Learning, Knowledge Engineering and Cognitive Science, Assessment and Evaluation of Learning, Information and Communication Technologies in Instructional Delivery, Virtual Reality in flexible delivery of instruction.
In addition to over 170 invited keynote addresses at conferences, workshops, summits, retreats and convocation/graduation ceremonies, he has published more than 25 books and over 173 refereed articles in foremost journals in the world.
Emeritus Professor Jegede served in various higher education capacities in outstanding institutions in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Europe including Curtin University of Technology, Science and Mathematics Education Centre, Perth, Australia; The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia; The Open University of Hong Kong; Manager of the East Asia Regional Node for the World Bank Global Distance Education Network at its inception in 1998; and received the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) grant to establish in 2005 the Regional Training and Research Institute for Open and Distance Learning (RETRIDOL) to support capacity building and research in ODL in the West African Sub region.
He served on the Advisory Board of the United Nations University/ L’Université des Nations Unies Institute for Natural Resources in Africa/Institut des Ressources Naturelles en Afrique.
He is the Chancellor of the Littoral University, Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin; and honoured with PhD (honoris causa) of that university. He was conferred in 2013 by Salem University with the degree of D. Sc in Public Administration (honoris causa). He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Education (FNAE), Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning (FCOL), Fellow of the African Academy of Science (FAAS) and Fellow of the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (FSTAN). He is the 2015 recipient of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) Prize of Excellence for Lifelong Contribution to the field. He is the first and only African who has been awarded the digital badge (credential) as a Special Speaker at the just concluded 29th World Conference of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) held in San Jose, Costa Rica, Central America from 6-10 November 2023.
Olugbemiro Jegede is currently the Chairman, TETFund Advisory Committee on Digital Literacy, Productivity and Emerging Skills to, amongst others, work towards setting up centres of excellence for Digital Literacy in Nigeria.
Olugbemiro Jegede was appointed Emeritus Professor (the first of the only two Emeritus Professors) at the National Open University of Nigeria in 2015. He serves as a consultant to many agencies including AAU, EU, UNESCO, COL, World Bank, AfDB and UNDP.
1.0 Preamble
• The Founder of Ajayi Crowther University, the Supra Diocesan Board (West) of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).
• The Primate, Metropolitan and Archbishop of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion);
• The Governor of Oyo State of Nigeria, His Excellency, Oluwaseyi Abiodun Makinde;
• Members of the Federal Executive Council; Members of the Executive Council of Oyo State;
• Members of the National and State Assemblies;
• The Ag. Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Chief Chris Maiyaki;
• The Pro-Chancellor & Chairman of Council; Dr. Olutoyin Okeowo;
• All the previous Pro-Chancellors & Chairmen of Council;
• Members of the Governing Council including the Representatives of the Supra Diocesan Board (West) of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Representatives of the House of Bishops; and St. Andrew’s College Old Boys’ Association (SACOBA);
• The Vice Chancellor and our most learned colleague, Professor Timothy A. Adebayo;
• All former Vice Chancellors: Professor Olajire Olaniran, Professor Ven. Kolawole Jaiyeoba, and Prof. Rt. Rev. Dapo Asaju;
• Principal Officers (both past and present) of the University;
• Distinguished members of the Senate of this University;
• Honorary graduands;
• Visiting Vice Chancellors, Registrars and other principal officers of all universities present here;
• Captains of Industry;
• Our Royal Highnesses;
• My Lords both Temporal and Spiritual; All the Clergy;
• The Chief Judge of the State and other members of the Judiciary;
• Chief Executive Officers and Heads of all Federal and State Government parastatals;
• Heads and Representatives of all Non-Governmental Organisations;
• Members of the immediate communities in which the various campuses of the University reside;
• Highly regarded members of the Press;
• Staff and Learners, who have made this university what it is today; and
• Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
I wish to thank the Proprietor; the Board of Trustees; the Vice-Chancellor; Principal Officers and the Senate of this University for the invitation to give this 15th Convocation Lecture today. Above all, I wish to pay gratitude to God for ensuring that today, which He has made and reserved for this lecture as part of the convocation ceremony and has asked us to rejoice in it, has eventuated.
Although this is my first time of stepping on to the grounds of your globally respected university, it feels like I have been part of the ACU community for several reasons emanating from the relationship I have built over the years. Being the only reputable and reliable teacher training institution many people in the old Anglican diocese of Ondo of the 50s and 60s attended, I had relatives and older people from my own recently created home diocese, the Ogori-Magongo Missionary Diocese, who attended St Andrews College. They made us proud and instilled in us the love for the teaching profession. I can still remember their well-ironed short nickers and shirts, neatly dressed and never late for morning assembly or choir practice at the St Peter’s Anglican Church, Ogori. In recent times, many of my friends, colleagues and relatives have been members of this university. These people which include Rt. Revd. Professor ‘Dapo Asaju, former VC; Professor ‘Ronke Ogunmakin (the recently crowned Yeye Gbayegun of Ondo land); and Venerable Architect Professor ‘Yinka Gbotosho, all of whom have always come across to me as some of your best ambassadors outside the confines of your campus.
So, you would see that the significance of the name of your institution, right from its primordial roots, has preceded its fame of becoming a university. More on this later.
I must pay my unreserved gratitude and respect to The Vice Chancellor, Professor Timothy Adebayo; and Dr. Jadesola Taiwo Babatola, the Registrar and Secretary to the Governing Council, for believing in me and presenting my name to Senate for approval to give the 2023 convocation lecture, no matter the obstacles.
I do not wish to end my Preamble without saying one or two words about the Vice Chancellors, who have raised this institution to this stage and especially their pioneering roles in midwifing this university. No doubt, what would be agitating the minds of many are what have been accomplished by Professor Olajire Olaniran (foundation VC), Professor Ven. Kolawole Jaiyeoba (the 2nd VC) and Prof. Rt. Rev. Dapo Asaju, the immediate past VC who I am told did such a great job, in the face of limited resources and had to go cap in hand to all and sundry to raise funds. By my own reckoning and experience they have done excellently. They merit our resounding gratitude, commendation and standing ovation.
Now that the pair of shoes is firmly on the foot of the 4th VC, Professor Timothy Adebayo, people are watching and waiting to see how he plans to take this university to the greater heights expected. I sincerely empathise with him because I had been the foundation VC of NOUN from 2003 to 2010; and it was not a bed of roses. You can hardly sleep for more than 3 hours every night knowing that everything about the university (not to say the least, the frightening tall expectations of the founders and Council). Given what I have heard about his workaholic nature and all he has achieved so far in spite of several limitations, I have no doubt in my mind that he would spend the remaining years of his tenure to comprehensively implement the strategic plan of the university as the road map for his journey to greater success. Consistency must be the name of the game and the focus must certainly be the vision and the mandate of the University.
The next decade will be most challenging for universities in the world and especially Africa. Any university that misses the nuts and bolts that tie excellence with growth and development will be left at the junk yard. ACU must forge ahead and overtake others in the global race to be relevant, creative, innovative and responsive to the needs of the stakeholders and the larger society. This is where digital literacy in the emerging global society must be uppermost in the minds of everyone in this university. This is also the reasons why upholding the name of the ACU over and above the shoulders of others around you should be paramount. I shall again return to this later in the course of the lecture. I wish the VC and his formidable team the very best wishes they require in the daunting job of visionary leadership by example and hard work.
2.0 Introduction
There are two ceremonies I always love to witness in the university. They are matriculation and convocation as they brighten the faces of learners, parents, families and friends of the celebrants and by implication reinvigorate the management of the university to stand firm and pat themselves at the back for the great job they are doing. So let me go straight to the role I have been invited to play here on this day that the Lord has made in which we are rejoicing.
2.1 Attractive and Compelling Reasons to be at ACU today
There are three attractive and two compelling reasons that are responsible to my being with you today.
2.2 The Attractive Reasons
For this convocation ceremony, three things drew me to your university.
The first is the meteoric rise in the progress I heard the university is making. Confidently located in the ancient city of Oyo, next to Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa, Ajayi Crowther University, received its operating license from the Federal Government of Nigeria on 7th January 2005, for its operation as a faith-based private university in Nigeria. The university began academic activities on 18 January 2006 with 306 foundation students in the two start-up faculties of Humanities and Social & Management Sciences. The university now has about 3409 learners in twelve faculties with many fully accredited academic programmes. It began with the avowed intention to work with the vision of being ‘a top-class institution in the pursuit of knowledge and scholarship through teaching, learning, research, and exemplary service to humanity’ derived from the conceptual framework of the university as per the Motto: ‘Scientia Probitas’ which means ‘Knowledge with Probity’ as the guiding principles of the University’s philosophy, goals, and objectives.
Today, 18 years after, we are witnessing the exceeding blessings of the Lord and His pleasure with this well-kept intention, which has in part been translated through the 15th convocation ceremony for successful learners. This is made up of 974 first degree graduands, 500 postgraduate graduands including 30 Ph.D. holders. Three personalities: Sir. Gbolahan Folayan OON (Doctor of Finance), Barr. Dr. Taiwo Afolabi CON (Doctor of Business Administration) and Mrs. Kate Isah (Doctor of Science), will receive honorary degrees at the 2023 Convocation. Please note section 2.0 sub section h (i) of the AVCNU Keffi Declaration which says that, ‘The use of ‘Dr’ as a title for honorary degree graduands/awardees is unconventional and therefore, not allowed. This shall be strictly observed in all academic documents and publications’. Wherever the names of the honorary graduand are written, it must be preceded by hr causa (honoris causa).
The second reason is that despite stiff competition from many universities in and around Oyo and Ibadan, and with 265 universities operating in Nigeria, ACU continues to strive to be a ‘produce graduates who are imbued with the fear of God and a sense of service to humanity and who are endowed with a well-rounded education to enable them to operate successfully in the Nigerian environment, both as entrepreneurs and top-flight workers in the private and public sectors of the nation’s economy’. ACU says it is poised to ‘provide a living and learning environment that is influenced by Christian ethics and principles.
The third reason, which has endeared me to ACU and its vision and mission, has to do with its name. It is apt and quite suitable to take its name after the late Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther (the first African Anglican Bishop and Primate), who was a native of Osoogun in Oyo State and a devout evangelist who took the gospel to various parts of Nigeria and translated the English Bible into many languages including Yoruba, Nupe, and Ibo with his Episcopacy covering the entire West African sub-continent. Being a faith-based institution of Anglican extraction, I not only expect nothing less but also expect that everyone in the university is firmly aware of the meaning of the name and that you all work towards what it represents.
What does this mean to us as hard-core Bible-believing Christians, and especially what does this mean to this university?
Now, as you can guess, I am getting closer to the title and substance of my lecture. In a few minutes, we shall begin to unpack what the title means. But let us deal with the compelling reasons that virtually forced me to accept your invitation to be the speaker today.
2.3 Two Compelling Reasons
In spite of the late invitation, I was compelled to accept for a number of reasons. Let me reduce them to two, for want of time.
The first is that as a committed Anglican, I will always find time out no time to be part of any major programme I see as complementary to raising the game of Anglicanism. My life and times are intrinsically and intractably linked with Anglicanism having been born into an Anglican home, attended Anglican schools for my primary and secondary education. At this stage of my life, there is nothing left than to continue to commit to my Anglicanism. As a member, and indeed Chairman of the Church of Nigeria Taskforce working on its Education Policy, I have been privileged to be part of the team that has crafted the Declaration of Our Anglican Faith which the Taskforce had noted that it is lacking, with deafening silence, and a necessary void that should be filled.
The hope, aspiration and prayer of the Taskforce is that once the report is submitted and adopted, all of us without exception, beginning with all our institutions, will ensure that this becomes an integral part of our daily recitation and commitment.
The second compelling reason is somewhat related to the first. On Thursday, 24th of August 2023, The Archibshop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, The Most Rev’d Dr. Henry Ndukuba appointed me as Adviser on Education Matters to the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). This has a wide coverage on all education matters within the Communion including, even though not expressly stated, attendance at graduation, convocation and other ceremonies of our educational institutions. Therefore, willy-nilly, I should and must find myself here, as narrowly convenient as possible to attend your functions. I am pleased that I am able to make it despite my travels crisscrossing the globe for one educational matter or the other and all associated the health issues.
3.0 The State of Higher Education in Africa
Let me revisit my passion for higher education which I have been part of since over four decades ago. I recently discussed this at a convocation ceremony lecture early this month. A significant reason why I have taken some interest in ACU is her active engagement with the community as an integral part of its civil roles and social responsibilities in higher education. According to Lawrence Bacow, chair of the Talloires Network Steering Committee, at a recently concluded conference on Building the engaged university, held in 2012 at the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain, community engagement “act as an amplifier for all of our scholarship and teaching and in the process, they make us better universities. Public service is not a marginal activity; it is an essential way that our staff and learners can do their job. “Community engagement is an area in which more and more universities around the world are situating themselves. Ajayi Crowther University is emerging as being amongst the top bracket of universities seeking for excellence within the emerging global shift in the higher education paradigm (as interpreted in the ACU logo, ‘the golden square stands for high quality, endurance academic distinction, and excellence’). I have no doubt that if ACU continues in the track it has paved for herself; it would not be too long before it is seen within the top 100 universities in Africa and the world.
Developments in higher education in Africa continue to be as tremendous as they have been challenging for the continent, to various governments, and all other stakeholders. However, the challenges have never been as profound as they now are in recent times. The catalysts for educational reform, which include massification, equity and social justice, inclusiveness, expansion, employability, globalisation, skills and competencies shortage, and national development, have continued to multiply. At the same time within the continent, between countries and within countries, differences in areas such as demography, funding, physical infrastructure, levels of academic support, qualified academic staff, and local challenges have continued to increase rather steeply. This is not to mention the double-edged effect of brain drain which stands apart as an issue of major occurrence affecting higher education in Africa. All these are occurring in an environment which demands that higher education in Africa must focus on global competitiveness while it strives to be locally relevant and centrally placed to contribute meaningfully to sustainable total development of the continent, countries and individuals. The emerging global landscape being drawn by recent developments, has shown very clearly that knowledge capability and capacity, rather than natural resources, is the greatest determinant of a country’s entry into, and effective participation in global competitiveness. It goes without saying; therefore, that higher education contributes significantly to the political, scientific, technological, economic, social and human development of any country. This is even more so for the developing countries of Africa, a continent of over 1.3 billion people (projected to hit the 2.5 billion in 2050) characterised by the poorest countries in the world, with the world’s highest illiteracy rates, lowest participation rates in higher education, huge capacity development needs, with over 10 million seeking employment annually with the youth constituting 60% of the unemployed, and a massive demand for tertiary education. All these have contributed to altering the balance of power between the State and the university system in many ways.
In the face of continuing dwindling government provisions of fund to universities and higher education system as a whole, a number of changes are taking place. Africa has over 1000 universities in which the percentage of private universities is on a sharp increase especially in the past couple of years; the indication is that in 5 years, Africa could have 5 times the number of private universities than those established by governments.
Faced with the huge unmet demand in higher education, governments’ inability to properly fund higher education amidst the opening up of the terrain of higher education, Africa is faced with students seeking admissions in institutions with varying and many with questionable quality profile. Stakeholders including businesses will increasingly demand for better and relevant curricula, state-of-the-art infrastructure and graduates better prepared for the job markets.
In addition, the social and economic dimension of providing education for all and laying solid foundation for sustainable development will face serious threat. Needless to say that all the above would have significant impact on universities’ local and international agendas, including their responsiveness to the demand of delivering quality higher education to Africa.
As African universities struggle to become notable players in the global arena, they must grapple with a number of salient issues which include the need to rethink what higher education means to Africa in the 21st century, address issues of balance between enrolment and quality of education, consider the shift from and tension between existing model of fixed campus environment and emerging concept of ODL, vigorously embark upon curriculum change and review key skills to be acquired in undergraduate studies, properly situate postgraduate and research studies, and reassess the place of private universities and comparability.
3.1 Private Universities
I call upon all governments of Africa to give serious thought to the place of private universities as it becoming increasingly evident that they will be a force to reckon with in tackling the issue of access to higher education on the continent. Although many of them are merely for-profit and their quality is questionable, we cannot ignore that, if properly channelled and nurtured, private universities will be part of the solution rather than be scorned as the ‘unwanted kid on the block’ in the street of higher education previously populated by government-funded institutions.
Private universities are tremendously assisting government by shouldering some of its responsibilities to the community and the teeming population seeking placement in universities. Records and experiences abound in various parts of the world showing that private universities can be as good if not better than government-funded ones. The experiences of Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, are living witnesses. And closer home, Covenant University, Bell University, and Babcock University have demonstrated excellent signs of rising up to be one of such globally recognised quality private universities.
3.2 Nigeria and the enigma of managing education
Difficulties in identifying the beacon of light for national development and lack of focus in the effort to govern Nigeria as effectively and appropriately as expected impact seriously on other sectors of the economy. Bad governance and chasing irrelevancies exert their effects on a country’s political, social, economic, health care and other sectors. Unfortunately, the damages bad governance does to education only become visible after a number of years had passed, leaving everyone to wallow in ignorance and immeasurable decadence.
Nigeria is no more reckoned with worldwide in education, as was our pride several decades ago when even our NCE graduates got admitted to pursue postgraduate programmes abroad. What is going on at moment is our country serving as an educational raw material production site to feed the developed world with our potentials in knowledge and future skills development. Unfortunately, this is another self-inflicted high-level slavery of the 21st century! Graduates of our universities hardly come out with limited, if any employable skills at all; they find communicating in English an uphill task; and those with master degrees cannot define what research is or means to a nation, let alone to themselves.
Our educational system is driving in reverse full throttle without the use of the back or side mirrors. In the same vein, our secondary school graduates can best be described as half-baked illiterates who constitute a danger to the society and to themselves. Nigeria has regressed into a nation where mediocrity is the rule and being allowed to lead where we have intelligent people. I am told that faced with lack of gainful employment and other avenues to get education, our youth have taken to the five most popular careers they have created for themselves. Ask any child what they wish to become in the future, s/he says footballer, yahoo-yahoo person, kidnapper/bandit, comedian, or a local government chairman – the easiest way out with illiteracy and make easy money in Nigeria!
Education is the best legacy a nation can bequeath its younger generations. Yet, we seem to be playing politics with establishing universities and no concerted effort is made to completely redraft from scratch our national policy on education, as the one we are currently panel-beating has outlived its usefulness. It is like using 19th century tools to solve 21st century issues and concerns in nation building. To add insults to injury, the nation has driven our youth into the hands of ‘militancy/banditry’ and ‘Boko Haramism’ – two perfect examples of a rudderless nation ridden with bad governance, lack of incisive accountability and breading illiteracy and lawlessness faster than the rate maggots reproduce.
Let me use the analogy of volcanic ash to illustrate the educational cul-de-sac Nigeria has driven herself into. You would have heard on the news regarding the periodic eruption of the volcano in Iceland, throwing its ash all over Europe and beyond, and making it impossible for airlines to operate their flights at times. The last time this occurred, up to six million passengers worldwide were affected by the effects of volcanic ash from Iceland. Some of Europe’s busiest airports had to close for days and weeks. Several precautions have now been taken on this matter because of the similar experience that occurred over Indonesia 19 years ago.
According to the Weekend Australian Newspaper, “Eric Moody was the pilot of the aircraft called the City of Edinburgh, a Boeing 747-236B registered as G-BDXH which flew as scheduled British Airways flight BA 009 from London Heathrow to Auckland, with stops in Bombay, Kuala Lumpur, Perth, and Melbourne. The aircraft flew into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung around 110 miles (180 km) south-east of Jakarta, Indonesia, resulting in the failure of all four engines. After 14 minutes of silence, and aiming to ditch in the ocean, Captain Moody and his two flight officers managed to relight the engines and landed in Jakarta. The incident on 24 June 1982 was the first such encounter with high-altitude ash. Captain Moody’s announcement to the passengers after losing power has become part of airline wisdom. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our best to get it under control. I trust you are not in too much distress.” All 4 engines stopped working and Capt. Moody called it a small problem? I can imagine how panicky all the passengers would have been!
There is a greater and more serious problem affecting Nigerian educational system today; it is no small problem; and one – sadly – that seems to be of little distress to us, especially those who rule and govern us. It is the failure of government and her people to seriously and honestly tackle the challenges of education in the 21st century. Other activities, like volcanic ash, have endangered our journey to nationhood. Our economy is in shambles, our roads and railways are an eye sore, our hospitals still record that 2 out of every five expectant women in the labour room never return alive, and where 3 out of every 7 children die before they reach the age of 6 years. I have said it before, and will re-state it today with all the emphasis it deserves: Nigeria must declare Education a disaster area needing emergency rescuing strategy. Without seriously addressing our educational problems, Nigeria will be like Captain Moody’s jet with all its four engines out of action in mid-air and heading for disaster.
All is not lost because God always has a way for His creatures. God says that “at times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. Then, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made. But you must faithfully follow and obey all my commands, decrees, and regulations” (2 Chr 7: 13-17).
God has asked us to seek truth, knowledge, understanding and wisdom through Him without which we can neither serve Him appropriately nor serve humanity effectively.
Education is the main industry for the acquisition and nurturing of these life skills, which I believe ACU has instilled in our fellow citizens graduating today.
4.0 To the Graduands: ‘Go Forth and Soar like Eagles’.
Let me therefore now turn my address to the graduands who are all bubbling with excitement, grinning from ear to ear and wishing the convocaction ceremony comes to an end sooner than planned for them to party and celebrate with their friends and families. I am sure you cannot believe that it has all ended. The daily lectures, gruesome laboratory sessions, endless tutorials, conformity to the rigid rules of the game, waking up at the wee hours every morning in readiness for boring lectures and months of struggle in the library and data collection and analysis. It is unbelievably over because everything that has a beginning has an end. After today, you will be as free as the air, ready for NYSC or to go brandishing your glittering certificates for employers to consider.
You are a pride to your country, university, community, family, friends and, indeed to yourself! In the face of all the celebrations, I would like you to pause and consider at least 100 points I have in mind. But due to time I will mention only three of them. The first point is that you did not do it all alone. ACU has made you what you are today and what you will become in the future. Your parents, relations and friends and even your communities gave all they have for you. Even the cleaners, drivers, cooks, gardeners, etc., have contributed to moulding you at this university. Just look around at the huge crowd to confirm what I have just said. Above all, God has decreed and made it possible for you to graduate today. Only a fool says there is no God (Psalm 14:1). The wise don’t make a show of their knowledge, but fools broadcast their foolishness (Proverbs 12:23).
The second point is that in spite of the degree you are collecting today, (be it Bachelor, Master or even Doctorate), you need a lot more knowledge to deal with the larger society. In short, it must be continuous or what is now known as long life learning. The degree you received today has a used-by date of less than five years. In fact, we are told that the half-life of all the knowledge we have in our brains is only 18 months. Without going back to school and learning daily, you will quickly be out-of-date than you think. More over in today’s world, a first degree now measures more like the West African School Certificate of some decades ago. You must make it a point of duty, even at great discomfort to yourself and family, to acquire more knowledge on a daily basis through several channels including the internet. Indeed, it is now compulsory in Nigeria for all seeking employment to acquire Digital Literacy Certification.
The third and most important point is that you need much more than the daily acquisition of knowledge to deal with all the issues and concerns we are daily faced with at home, work, community or at learning centres. You require a daily walk with God to skillfully meander through the obstacles and challenges of life. As a matter of fact, this is your most guaranteed insurance against failure or disenchantment with the world. You must reciprocate God’s promise. God kept his promises to you. He promises to love you, accept you, and forgive you each time you falter. He promised you this degree. It is your turn to keep your promise with Him. It is called your covenant with God. Whatever it is, you must not fail to keep your promise. To support the ability to keep your promise with God you must add obedience. Obeying God restores our relationship to Him. The only way to enjoy the benefits of God’s promises is to obey Him. Keeping your promise and obedience to God brings the fruit of prosperity. Prosperity goes much deeper than mere material wealth. True prosperity and fulfilment come as a result of obeying God. When people obey God, they find peace with him, with others, and with themselves. Additional to all this, you must know now, if your lecturers have not already told you so, that you are going into the world to continually fight battles and wars.
Consequently, you must prepare by arming yourself with what you need to fight the battles and wars on a daily basis. Fortunately, you need not go beyond the Word to get all the arsenals you require as your tool-kit. You need the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6: 10-17) so that you can stand firm against all strategies of the devil. This is because the Word says once you go out into the world your fight begins not against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. I don’t want to sound as if I am preaching to the choir, but let me remind you that the armour of God consists of six very important arsenals. They are (i) truth – waist gird (ii) righteousness – breast plate (iii) peace that comes from the Good News – shoes (iv)faith – the shield (v) salvation – helmet, and (vi) the Word of God. These are all that you need. Nothing more! They will be your protection as you plan to serve humanity. If you adhere to all these, soon people will begin to marvel at your wisdom and they will question, just as they said after Jesus preached in Nazareth, “Where did He get all His wisdom and the power to perform such miracles? He’s just the carpenter!” (Mark 6:2-3). Beside the spiritual armament, you now need the digital literacy armoury to navigate your way through the society for employment and bridging the skills gap.
I hate to repeat this, but be rest assured that once you are so well armed, you will never be tired because unlike ‘the youth who get tired and weak or the young men who crash in exhaustion, those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:29-31).
Ladies and gentlemen, having listed above what the issues in our education, society and universities are, I would now like to address what Nigeria must do to stem the tide. I understand that the buzzword or the current cliché is transformation. Since this is the cliché that people now choose to understand, let me use it just in case those that should listen might, for the sake of the use of their pet cliché, stop to think through. There are three lessons about transformation. First, it must begin from the heart, with individuals determined that transformation must be from the unit of human population. In other words, it must begin with me and you. Second, to transform a decadent society begs the need to completely cart away the old and replace with new, more productive, efficient and relevant agenda. It has to be fearlessly done without minding whose ox is goad. Third, transformation must be strategic, comprehensive, sincere and focused. For far too long, the government of the day has deceived the people with clichés and, as soon as the people begin to sing the song, they turn the other way to continue with the usual, once the people have been successfully distracted from paying attention to their evil deeds of corporate deception. I shall address what Nigeria must do to stem the tide to the various segments of the Nigerian populace.
5.0 What’s in a Name?
We have spent about 20 minutes as preamble, introduction, speaking with the graduands and briefly mentioning issues with higher education in Africa and Nigeria. It is now time to turn to the main focus of this lecture. What is really in a name?
Why is a name so important, especially in the African culture where names have meanings emanating from the circumstances which surround the giving of the name?
5.1 Multifaceted Significance of Names
In every culture and religion, names hold immense significance, serving as vehicles of identity, heritage, and spirituality. The multifaceted nature of names, act as symbolic conduits of personal, spiritual, and cultural identity. A thorough examination of the biblical, spiritual, cultural and other dimensions encapsulated within names, shows the profound power and resonance that mere words hold. Understanding the intricacies of names not only enhances our perception and appreciation of others but also encourages self-reflection on the vast depths of our own identity. An analysis of these dimensions, illuminates the profound influence that names exert on individual, community and national identity.
As the Bible tells us, ‘A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. (Proverbs 22:1, NIV)’
This is the reason family members, including grand-parents, older aunties and uncles, and of course the husband and wife always have a good bit of thought and soul searching before naming a new born child. Names could be borrowed or copied, while other names that embody either family characteristics or those parents hoped would be a part of the child’s lives. As the Yoruba adage goes, ile la ma nwo ki ato sọ ọmọ l’oruko.
The reason we spend so much time picking names for our children is because a name speaks to identity, and identity is a big deal. It is a big deal in Africa due to its significance.
There is a three-word question that most of us spend our lives trying to answer, even if we don’t realise it. That question is: Who are you?
What comes to mind when you hear those three words? How do you answer that question? It’s a question that cuts to the core of identity. It reveals what you believe about yourself. It reveals what you value and where you find your significance.
Some of us answer it with our vocation or our job title. Some of us place our identity in our family roles — husband, wife, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, mom, or dad. We define ourselves through our relationships with other people. But what happens when those relationships change? What happens when death or divorce enters the picture, or when the children leave the house? Many of us have discovered relationships are not a stable place to put our identity.
Sometimes we tie our identity to our behaviourur — our successes, accomplishments, besetting sins, sinful patterns, or even our shame. But what most of us forget is the identity God has for us.
What I have tried to explain is that names hold meaning, tells who we are, what we should be called, the family or clan we hail from, who we are to become, how to be recognised, and indeed what we should not be or do or portray.
5.2 Different Identities of a Name
Let us now examine, albeit very briefly, the multifaceted significance of names through the personal, spiritual, and cultural identity, I had alluded to above. There are many facets of names, as you would appreciate, but let us limit our conversation to just the three I have mentioned.
5.2.1 Biblical Significance of Names
Names possess great biblical import, as they are oftentimes tied to divine purpose, ancestral lineage, or divine intervention. From Adam and Eve in Genesis to Jesus Christ’s various appellations in the New Testament, biblical names inherently carry spiritual and moral connotations. Ascribing names to biblical figures showcase the belief in the spiritual power and divine choice encapsulated within a name. It is interesting to note that names are so significant in the Bible that God himself changed or named people. For instance, there are TEN Bible characters who received new names. Not all these names came from God, but all name changes marked a transformation in the people who were renamed. They are as follows:
• Abram/Abraham (Genesis 17:1–5)
God appeared to Abram when at 99 years old and made a promise to bless Abram and multiply his descendants. God then changed his name from Abram (meaning “exalted father”) to Abraham (meaning “father of a multitude”).
• Sarai/Sarah (Genesis 17:15)
In the same conversation where God changed Abram’s name, He also changed his wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah. Both names mean “Princess”, but the change marks a new season in Sarai’s life as God works through her as well.
• Joseph/Zaphenath-paneah (Genesis 41:45)
Pharoah was so impressed by Joseph, he gave him a new Egyptian name, Zaphenath-paneah, along with a wife.
• Jacob/Israel (Genesis 32:28)
After an overnight wrestle with God, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (meaning “He strives with God”) and a blessing was bestowed on Jacob (Genesis 32:28).
• Hoshea/Joshua (Numbers 13:16)
At his first task of leading the spies in scoping out the Promised Land, Hoshea (“salvation”) becomes Joshua (“Yahweh saves”) at Moses’ direction.
• Solomon/Jedediah (2 Samuel 12:24,25)
At his birth, a young Solomon (meaning “peaceable”) is given a new name from God through the prophet Nathan. This name is Jedediah, meaning “beloved of the Lord”.
• Naomi/Mara (Ruth 1:20)
On return to her homeland without her husband and sons, Naomi tells those who excitedly greet her that she should no longer be called Naomi (“pleasant”), but Mara (“bitter”).
• Mattaniah/Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17)
Nebuchadnezzar conquered Israel and put Mattaniah on the throne, changing his name to Zedekiah (“righteousness of Jehovah”).
• Simon/Peter (John 1:42)
Jesus gives His disciple Simon (meaning one who “hears”) a new name in Peter which means “rock”. At the time this name seem strange as Simon Peter’s character does not seem reflective or worthy of this moniker, but he really grows into it as he continues Jesus’ ministry on earth after the crucifixion.
• Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah/ Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 1:7)
When Daniel and his friends were taken as captives into Babylon, they were designated new names by the chief official as a way to force their assimilation into Babylonian culture. Hananiah, Mishael and Azaria had to change their Hebrew names to Chaldean names: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. In the New Testament it was common for a Jew to have two names, one Hebrew and one Greek.
You may wish to recall the name change which the Nigerian Christian community experienced in the 80s because as explained by the Overseers and Senior Pastors, our indigenous names were not Christian enough. They said some were names of other gods and fetish. Names have meaning because they reveal our identity. All of a sudden people began to change their surnames to the baptismal names of their fathers, and no more the family names. What was of interest and not fully understood was that all the new names were Jewish names with scanty meaning to the Nigerian. We definitely could have done better because Ọlọrun or Olodunmare in the local ecosystem are used as such in the Christian naming. Why does the right name matter? Can changing names change your identity? You answer is as good as mine. All that is needed and necessary is to call a person or a thing by its proper name. Confucius once said, “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.”
It should be noted that while cultural assimilation occurs in all parts of the world, unity is not uniformity, and uniqueness is not division.
5.2.1.1 God Also has names
There are Seven names of God as recorded in the literature of Judaism. They are:
יהוה (YHWH),
אֲדֹנָי (Adonai),
אֵל (El transl. God),
אֱלֹהִים (Elohim transl. God, a plural noun),
אֵל שַׁדַּי (El Shaddai transl. God Almighty), שַׁדַּי (Shaddai transl. Almighty),
יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת (Adonai Tzevaoth transl. Lord of Hosts) and
צְבָאֽוֹת (Tzevaoth transl. [of] Hosts);
some also include I Am that I Am.
Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased.
5.2.1.2 The Name of Jesus
There are very many theories about the origin and etymology of the name Jesus. I am neither preaching nor teaching but only referring to and wading through historical documents to get to the core of my lecture. Indeed, with so many men of God here, with my Lords and Graces here I cannot, and should not, make the mistake of ever allowing the thought of preaching to run through my mind. In fact, your immediate past Vice Chancellor, the Rt Rev’d Prof Dapo Asaju is Bishop Theologian of the Church of Nigeria. He must have at his finger tips all that I have mentioned here.
In the original Hebrew translations, Jesus was called Y’shua (or Yeshua), which is translated as Joshua in English. The English Bible has been translated from Greek, in which Jesus was usually called “Iesous,” pronounced “Yay-soos,” which means “healer” in English. The English name Jesus derives from the Late Latin name Iesus, which transliterates the Koine Greek name Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs.
The word “Jesus” in modern English is derived from the Early Middle English word Iesu in the 12th century. The first person to distinguish the “I” in Iesu into a “J” was Frenchman Pierre Ramus in the 16th century. However, since modern English didn’t use a “J” until the 17th century, early versions of the King James Bible continued to use an “I” instead. Note that Christ’s name wasn’t given the form “Jesus” until its Latin roots entered the English language.
The literature has it that ‘In Jesus’ time, the main written alphabet used at the time was Aramaic. By the 8th century BC, the an cient Aramaic alphabet had developed as a distinct script from the Phoenician alphabet.
The Phoenician alphabet was used to write the Aramaic language and had displaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. The Aramaic alphabet gradually replaced Early Hebrew in the 6th and 2nd centuries BC, resulting in Classical Hebrew, or Square Hebrew. Over the next 1,500 years, the Square Hebrew alphabet slowly developed into the modern Hebrew alphabet used today’.
Names are very important in the Bible.
There was more to a person’s name than just their identification. In the Bible, names were meant to both tell stories and express messages. It is because of this that Jesus was given such meaningful names. Their stories tell us of His life and describe the kind of man He was.
Throughout scripture, we see Jesus more clearly in the names He’s given. They are countless!
Let us briefly mention the different names of Jesus and what each of them means. The names of Jesus in the Bible are as follows:
• Jesus’ story begins in Luke 1:26 when the angel Gabriel first appeared to Mary and told her she’d conceive a child named Jesus, who was the son of God.
• “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they’ll call him Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23).
• “The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29).
• “I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelations 22:13).
• “For us, a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he’ll be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
• “Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life’” (John 8:12).
• Messiah: A leader or savior of a particular group or cause.
• Christ: The title Christ used in the English language is from the Greek Χριστός (Christos), via the Latin Christus. It means “anointed one.”
• Prophet: A person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God.
• Saviour: A person who saves someone or something from danger and who’s regarded with the veneration of a religious figure.
• Son of David: The title “Son of David” indicates Jesus’ physical descent from David, as well as his membership of the Davidic line of kings.
• King of the Jews: In the New Testament, Jesus is called the King of the Jews on three occasions, coming at the beginning of His life and at the end.
• The Good Shepherd: Christ’s symbolism as a shepherd is directly taken from John’s gospel.
• The Son of Man: For centuries, the Christological perspective on the Son of Man (“man,” referring to Adam) affirms His humanity. This is especially significant considering Jesus’ human parents were Mary and Joseph.
• King of kings
• The Lord Jesus, Lord of Lords, Bread of Life, Light of Life, and Deliverer of Eternal Life.
5.2.2 Spiritual Dimension of Names:
Departing from the biblical realm, names take on spiritual significance in various faiths. Spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature. The literature has it that there are FOUR broad ‘types’ of spirituality. These are ‘ascetical’, ‘mystical’, ‘active-practical’, and ‘prophetic-critical’.
Hinduism, regarded as the oldest religion in the world gives names that represent the self’s divine connection and influence one’s destiny. In Islam, the choosing of a name is considered a sacred responsibility, reflecting the aspirations and virtues that parents hope their child will embody. The spiritual dimension of names extends beyond religious practices, touching upon the metaphysical concept of identity and its inherent connection to one’s name.
5.2.3 Cultural Significance of Names:
Names also function as cultural touchstones, reflecting customs, rituals, and values within societies. They embody historical legacies, celebrating familial lineage, and preserving cultural continuity. For instance, surnames in many cultures denote family heritage, while given names may be influenced by regional traditions, language, or significant events. In all cultures of Nigeria, there is always merriment with a lot or joy, happiness and gratitude to God in the naming of a child. As is often said, to underscore the importance of names, there is the Yoruba adage which says, orukọ ti ao sọ ọmọ, inu loma nwa. Names can also bridge cultural divides, representing individuals’ multicultural identities and fostering a sense of inclusion within diverse societies.
According to Adelaide Arthur (2016), ttraditional African names often have unique stories behind them. From the day or time, a baby is born to the circumstances surrounding the birth, several factors influence the names parents choose for their children.
Whichever ethnic group you look at, these local names reveal a wealth of information about the bearer. Shye records that there are nine different ways African parents name their children. There are: Events surrounding birth, Emotional warnings, Celebrity culture, Order of births, Day-born names, Faith-based names, Day and night, Meet the Ancestors, and Rude nicknames.
5.3 Origin of ‘What’s in a Name?’
The older ones here would remember the popular play we read in the literature class, Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare in his renowned play, Romeo, and Juliet, during the late 16th century. In the play, As the narration goes, Juliet is from the Capulet family and her lover, Romeo, is a Montaque. The two met each other and fell in love, only to realise they were from feuding families who would never approve of their union.
In an emotional outburst, Juliet says, “What’s in a name?’ that which we call a rose. By any other name, would smell as sweet.” What she means is that her name does not define her. She would be the same person no matter what name she was given.
In other words, Juliet was saying that her name had nothing to do with who she was. Just as the beauty and aroma of a rose are the same no matter what name you assign it, Juliet was her own person. According to Amy Gilmore (2022), ‘What’s in a name?’ is an idiom that dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries. It means that while a title or name may imply a specific rank, family, designation, or station, the implied information may not be accurate.
6.0 What is in the Name Ajayi Crowther University?
6.1 The journey towards being a university
From the foregone, you should have begun to deduce my target in the title of my lecture. The university got its name through a long journey which began in 1853 as the defunct Church Missionary Society (CMS) Training Institution, Abeokuta. and the defunct St. Andrew’s College, Oyo. It relocated to Lagos from 1868 to 1896. And in March 1896 it came back to its roots in Oyo and was rechristened in 1920 as St. Andrew’s College, Oyo.
In March 1964, the proprietorship of the College changed hands from CMS, London to the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and became fully faith-based with specific church-based objectives. For a short while Government took over the control and administration of the College as part of its take-over of institutions which occurred nationally from 1977.
We must, from the bottom of our hearts, and on behalf of the Primate and all education stakeholders in the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, commend the resilience of St. Andrew’s College Old Boys’ Association (SACOBA) in ensuring that the institution was up and alive in all its journey. SACOBA did not relent even when the road proved very rough. It persisted with the government and nudged the Church to support it becoming a faith-based university. Through the intervention of SACOBA the old Oyo State Government upgraded the institution to NCE campus in 1980 and to a full-fledged College of Education in 1985.
Again, SACOBA rose to the occasion to pioneered the transformation of the College of Education into a full-fledged University starting from 7 September, 1999 when the Church of Nigeria granted SACOBA’s request for the establishment of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo at the site of the former St. Andrew’s College, Oyo, under the proprietorship of the Church. The long and tedious journey for a university status arrived its destination of being licensed by the Federal Government of Nigeria to operate as a private university in Nigeria on 7 January 2005 and to be ‘named after the late Rev. Samuel Ajayi Crowther (the first African Bishop), a native of Osoogun in Oyo State and a devout evangelist who took the gospel to various parts of Nigeria and translated the English Bible into Yoruba, Nupe, and Ibo, etc. with his Episcopacy covering entire West African sub-continent’. About a year later, on 18 January 2006, ACU opened its gates to 306 foundation students in the two start-up faculties of Humanities and Social & Management Sciences.
For the federal government to have allowed the university to bear the name Ajayi Crowther University, she must have seen and appreciated something in that name. Granted that the name seemed to have been imposed on the university, one way or the other as there was no congregation meeting to vote on names nor was there a push by the Church that it must be named as such, the name became sacrosanct, enduring and endearing. Until the end of time, you have become saddled with the name of a person whose shoe lace none of us as individual or as part of an organisation has the capacity or capability to untie!
6.2 So what’s in a Name? Specifically, what is in the Name of Samuel Ajayi Crowther?
The story of Samuel Ajayi Crowther is one of great significance to the CMS, the Anglican Community in West Africa and especially Nigeria, to evangelism, to emancipation of the black race, to endurance of racism and jealousy and hatred even in the church, to education at all cost, and to ensuring that we all make heaven. Discussing each of these would take us days if not months. I am pleased that none of them is the main theme of the lecture today, otherwise we would not leave here for days to come.
7.0 The Story of Samuel Ajayi Crowther and Relevance of his Name
The story of Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c. 1808-1891) is not what can be told in one year. It is all over on the internet and physical books. But I will just mention a few things germane to our situation today. He was an extraordinary man who was multi-faceted, multi-skilled, multi-tasked and multi-endowed. He was quite focused, resilient and committed to a course he believed in. He was a slave from age 12 together with his family and sold several times before being taken away from the shores of Nigeria, a linguist who was proficient in 30 languages, and translated the Bible into Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Nupe, and Creole. He was educated at St Mary’s Church, England, Fourah Bay College, Freetown and Oxford University, priested and first African bishop (consecrated in London as the Bishop of the Niger). As far back as 1880 he read the Lord’s prayer in Yoruba to Queen Victoria. He founded an Academy, in conjunction with Captain JPL Davies (who was an influential politician, mariner, philanthropist and industrialist) in colonial Lagos, for social, cultural and pubic enlightenment in 1866.
The exceptional role which Ajayi Crowther played in Education in Africa, with particular reference to the Niger Benue axis has been so aptly and excellently treated by Rt. Rev’d Emmanuel Egbunu (2022), the Bishop (and past Archbishop) of Lokoja Diocese and Province. Crowther underwent so many persecutions both abroad and at home when he got back. He was virtually rejected by very many people. He endured racial discrimination to the extent that he virtually became an outcast even within the Anglican clergy circle. He was instrumental to several developments which included:
• the metamorphosis in mission educational policies, resulting in a transition from sole missionary control to a partnership with the colonial government within the context of the Niger Mission, and the CMS Northern Nigeria from about 1908–1940, and the colonial participation in educationthrough what Egbunu (2022) labelled as a ‘paradigm shift’.
• igniting other organisation’s interest in education which led the Society of African Missions (SMA) of the Roman Catholic Church in 1884, and the Cambridge Universities Missionary Party (CUMP), followed still by the influence of the first wave of indigenous expressions of Christianity—the Aladura revival of the 1930s, Wesleyan Methodist Church, and the Southern Baptist Convention to follow the examples of the CMS.
• the colonial government enacting the Education Ordinance that was binding on all the British colonies of Lagos, Ghana, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone. This became a regulatory act which affected all the missionary agencies in the Southern Protectorate of Nigeria. It could therefore have been the beginning of regulation of education and indeed higher education in Nigeria.
• encouraging all mission agencies working in Africa at that time addressing the same concerns about the place of education in the missionary praxis. This necessitated several joint meetings by mission agencies working in Africa.
• the setting up of the Preparandi institution in Nigeria (in Lokoja). Preparandi institutions had been established and blossomed in India and other parts of world for middle level human capital development. The great advancement experienced by those countries can be traced to the establishment and use of the Preparandi Institution as the foundation of higher education. In hindsight, if only the Anglican Communion (CMS) or Nigeria had capitalised on the Preparandi experiment, our story on education would have been pleasantly different.
• In addition to schools, setting up health care facilities, model farms, companies; and Bishop Ajayi Crowther was adept in cordial interreligious relationships (especially among Christian and Muslim adherents).
• The fact that, According to Egbunu (2022), ‘it is almost impossible to discuss the missionary encounter (of Bishop Ajayi Crowther) in the Lokoja Niger-Benue Confluence area, as indeed all of Africa, without paying particular attention to the education sector. Its role has become pivotal and has been interpreted in different ways by different interest groups’.
• He was the greatest pioneer of Education for Africans. There is a quote that says:
‘It is a Missionary job of first importance, for the Christian schools of today are building the Christian Church of tomorrow, and will determine the quality of the Africa which is to be’.
Meaning that education is pivotal to what Africa and Africans will become in the future’.
No wonder, 130 years after his death, Bishop Samuael Ajayi Crowther, the first African Anglican bishop, had been declared a national hero by researchers led by Pelu Awofeso. Although coming rather late, we were not ready to honour our own who had contributed more than anybody else in making education to have a foothold in Africa today. No wonder they say that, ’A prophet is not without honour (respect) except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household’ (Mathew 13:57).
The bottom line is that Samuel Ajayi Crowther’s name is a magic wand that automatically opens any doors for you and others, and ACU can leverage on it to open doors no matter how tightly shut. Leveraging on his enormous work on education, and given what he has done to achieve that name, it is my utmost belief that ACU can capitalise on his name to be an exceptional player in the field in many ways. We shall, for the purpose of this lecture dwell on just three (3) as follows:
7.1 ACU and Ajayi Crowther’s Relevance Locally
ACU can become exceptionally relevant in the local set up of universities especially within the Anglican communion. ACU is arguably the first faith-based universities of the Anglican extraction. There are two others: Paul University and the Anglican University on the Niger. Two others are on the drawing board and will soon emerge. They are the Anglican University of Technology, Koita, Abuja; and the Walter Miller University, Diko; Niger State being founded by a group of Anglican laities in the northern part of the country. Within the Anglican Communion, ACU commands and should command huge respect because your history is awesome and the name you bear is gigantic. ACU should set a pace that all other Anglican universities should copy or and follow. Your 18 years of experience as a university and 170 years of sojourning through the wilderness right from the days in Abeokuta till becoming a full-fledged university should have conferred on ACU the audacity to be different, to be a pace setter in all directions, to be a second home for the training of our clergy as priests and researchers at the highest level to be envied by all and sundry, to render immense assistance on the platform on inter-university for Anglican universities to share information and knowledge on all areas. ACU by now should be the beacon to guide educational discourse and conversation within the Anglican Communion. By now ACU has no business scratching its body looking for funds to undertake all necessary growth and development, it should come as easily as it is thought of and without much effort in convincing people to donate. ACU should and must rise from being a university of the dioceses of the West to being the foremost Anglican university in Nigeria. This should take us to the next level.
7.2 ACU and Ajayi Crowther’s Relevance Nationally and Regionally
Several dozens of faith-based universities have emerged in Nigeria and thank God are doing very well. I shall limit myself to Bible-believing faith-based institutions of higher learning for the obvious reasons for this lecture and others we have no time to unpack. Some of them are doing very well and on the top 20 university ranking in Nigeria. Covenant University (Living Faith, 2002), Madonna University (Catholic, 1999); Babcock University (Seven Day Adventist, 1999); Bowen University (Baptist, 2002). Given ACU’s pedigree and the fact that the Anglican Communion through the CMS was the first to pioneer education in Nigeria, it is not too much to expect that its universities should be in the forefront of faith-based education in Nigeria and in Africa. One would have expected that all other faith-based institutions should have queued up coming in and out of your gate to seek the path to excellence in higher education. Perhaps we need to re-strategise for the 21st century faith-based institutions for many reasons including those I wish to now focus upon.
Faith-based schools, set up by religious organisations of different beliefs and orientation, do have as their underlying philosophy and strong belief that a true education is the ability to think, reason, and create from a moral perspective.
Faith-based education which springs from the Christian background follows the scriptural meaning that people are created in the “image” of God. As a result, these philosophical leaning of Faith-based education have entrenched the aforementioned issues into the school curricula, and very recently, the area of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) involving the world’s faiths which others believe, remain unexplored.
Yet in seeking to deliver on a number of global initiatives including the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2000, Education 2030 Framework for Action Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2015 United Nations Paris Climate Change Conference (Conference of Parties 21), Agenda 2063 (AUC/ENECA/NEPAD), and Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2016-25), the philosophy of Faith-based education has been largely neglected.
The approach to using faith in solving society’s development issues; a context in which God’s principles and values are mainstreamed in our day-to-day classroom and out-of-class learning environments, has been found appropriate, relevant and effective in solving sustainable development issues. Indeed, there is a school of thought that emphasises that the absence of any noticeable and pragmatic reliance on the principles of faith-based education is one principal reason for the collapse and eventual failure of the MDGs. What it means is that twenty years ago, the world realised that human well-being cannot be achieved without ensuring sustainable development. This 21st Century has made it a compelling and pressing priority. The world, as stated above through all the current and emerging development agendas, is committed to an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet, for the present and future generations.
What Faith-based Education is premised upon is that while we work towards finding technically and scientifically sound solutions to our challenges as well as building on our opportunities, we must integrate the spiritual and moral values in our undertakings. We are confident that the experiences of the past, reinforces our conviction that the values embedded in the Christian faith could provide a great motivation to honor, respect, celebrate and take care of our resources, which are God’s creation.
As a Church, the Anglican Communion plays a major role in the education sector in Nigeria. The practice and strict adherence to our Faith in all our institutions of learning, in which we stress on the holistic formation of the learner to complement academic work is our testimony to the efficacy of our system of education. The spiritual and moral formation of the learner is an important ingredient in the development of the human person. We believe that well-formed learners are better prepared to face every day challenges and the values they have learnt will make them develop into better citizens.
The Anglican Communion brand of faith-based education encourages learners to efficiently nurture four types of relationships if they are to make any serious progress in addressing so many of the ecological, social and spiritual issues that face us. They need to have a right relationship with God; they need to have a right relationship with their neighbours whether around the world or next door; they need to have a right relationship with themselves; and they need to have a right relationship with the rest of Nature. It is by so doing that we live right within our ecosystem and with the spiritual environment we operate in. It is my firm believe that ACU can rise above the clouds and make the Anglican Communion proud. ACU must become a national and regional university of repute to be pointed at as the best and what all others aspire to become. The Anglican Communion should regain its leadership position in education in this country and region through ACU.
7.3 ACU and Ajayi Crowther’s Global Relevance in Education
It is no gainsaying that the role Samuel Ajayi Crowther played in the 19th century has been the pivot on which our missionary education hangs today. He has been an international figure in education in all of Africa and indeed more revered in other places including Sierra Leone, than in Nigeria. He was involved in the total development of the individual from education to health, to commerce, to infrastructural development, to peace and conflict resolution, to safety and security, and many others.
There is a myriad of roles performed and niches filled by Faith-based education in Nigeria and in other places which stem from the solid and selfless foundation that Ajayi Crowther laid and died for. For a variety of reasons, we will only mention a few. The literature shows, and we know for a fact, that faith-based organisations (fbos) function as agents of transformation, they mobilise the moral energy of faith communities as well as developed the spiritual base of the people. Faith-based institutions develop in the people the ability to embrace a less materialistic world, less secular vision of well-being and a more culturally inclusive approach to partnership with all segments of the society. Faith-based organisations encourage ethical participation in democratic processes while the curricula in schools relate to policy and pedagogy for citizenship and democratic education with the ability to demonstrate how central themes in learners’ lives (such as freedom, faith, autonomy, equality, rationality and rights) can be read and interpreted in more ways than the society or secular environment view the issues.
Faith-based organisations teach learners that character education is neither indoctrinatory on one hand, nor intermingled with Christianity on the other. It shows that Christian‐ethos curricula can promote the autonomy of their students in matters of religion while also providing character education that enables them to choose well. In addition, character education can in one hand be critical and on the other foster a tolerant, respectful and inclusive school and society.
8.0 New Direction on Education for The Anglican Communion
Developments, in this 21st Century we are witnessing, will make many changes to the world and the ways we live and view it. The new world has changed many things and we are now being forced to consider ‘wrong’ as ‘right’ and ‘evil’ as ‘good’. Through the lenses of the people in the semi-urban and rural Nigeria, ‘the world has turned upside down’. The Anglican Church, led by Ajayi Crowther University, which bears the name of the forerunner of quality transformational education in Africa must be in the forefront with appropriate education to guide the people. As a result, new frontiers must be developed and new routes and paths charted to bring probity, moral uprightness, truth, elimination of corruption and corrupt practices in our polity. Also, the role of the church leader is no longer about building a congregation but about bringing about Transformation of Society – our battle is not against flesh but false ideas. The word Ekklesia was used by Jesus to describe a movement that would permeate society with the values of the Kingdom of God.
Given the types of developments going on around us, the new education, which the Anglican Church must spear-head should aim at transformation, relevance and competitiveness, developing knowledge economy and bridging the skills gap.
The Word has the answers to many, if not all, issues trending in the world. Faith-based education has always drawn inspiration and curricular insights from what the Bible has recorded. Just for an example, let us illustrate with the current global movement towards entrepreneurship. The Word of God is replete with several examples of the development of entrepreneurial skills by many notable biblical figures. Jesus called some of His disciples (Simon Peter and Andrew, as well as James and John), to leave their fishing businesses and to become ‘fishers of men’ (Mark 1:16-20). Similarly, Matthew, also known as Levi, was summoned to abandon his profession as tax collector to follow Jesus (Mark 2:14).
The Bible is also full of stories of people who fulfilled God’s purposes in the course of their ordinary daily work—such as Abraham, Joseph, Ruth, and David as both shepherd and king, Nehemiah, Esther, Luke the physician, and Lydia. So, the new path to be charted by the Anglican Church must, amongst other things, have as its central theme the encouragement of people of all ages to consider a calling to serve God through own business or self-employment and employers of labour. It also means that the type of education to be encouraged by the Anglican Church is that which develops skills in the learner. There should be no more total reliance on academic or cramming of facts without significantly translating them into practical usage for the benefit of the learner and others.
Many adolescents and those in early adulthood often ask the existential question ‘what is God’s call for me?’ It also relates to an even more fundamental question: ‘What is the meaning, the purpose of human life?’ Sadly, secular education has very little to offer as answers from or for our daily living. However, we know that several instances in the Bible, as recorded in the Book of Genesis revealed to us why human beings were created (see Gen 1:27-28; 2:5; 8-15),
According to Newell (2020), ‘the first human being’s first act of oversight was naming, and thus indicating the character of each of the animals and birds (Gen 2:19-20). Identification and classification were the first steps in developing and caring for all of creation. This comprehensive ‘creation mandate’—to fill, subdue, and rule over the earth—provides the foundation for the development of all fields of knowledge, including arts, science, technology, and the development of various forms of applied knowledge and organised social engagement, including manufacturing, commerce, and government, encompassing all good human endeavors under the sun’.
God wants human beings to be creative, entrepreneurial, curious, and masters in all fields. Such biblical, holistic perspectives which are not new to people of Faith, are what the world requires in these trying times and seemingly confused educational journey, especially as we now have it in Nigeria. What this means in real term is that Nigeria must overhaul its education system and develop the skills for the 4th Industrial revolution of the 21st century. In so doing, entrepreneurship, in as practical terms as can be, should be part of the new directions. This is the import of calling for an Educational Policy that not only meets with the current clamour for change in our educational system as engendered by the constant change in the needs of the 21st century society but also as recently brought to the fore by the corona virus pandemic (covid-19).
The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), supported by ACU basking on the name already established by Bishop Ajayi Crowther, must resuscitate her widely known and acclaimed contributions to the development of Nigeria through its time-tested education. There is no other better time than now for us to create newer and better vista to significantly affect the course of education in Nigeria, point it to the right direction and use its education as the focal point for both secular and faith-based education.
To seriously and honestly tackle the challenges of education in the 21st century, Nigeria must develop an enduring rescuing strategy. It is our hope and expectation that the Anglican Church must give a serious thought to a full re-launch into its time-tested and quality-validated education as its contribution to salvaging the sinking ship of the nation.
Our faith-based education must be resuscitated and re-invigorated. The establishment of Faith-based institutions by the Anglican Communion moved up to the establishment of universities by our sister denominations beginning with Madonna University (Catholic, 1999); Babcock University (Seven Day Adventist, 1999); Bowen University (Baptist, 2002); Covenant University (Living Faith, 2002). Living Faith has established what has become the most flourishing of all these institutions and has indeed established another University – Landmark University in 2011 with a view to establishing the third.
It is a matter for regret that The Church of Nigeria only has 2 universities currently running (St Paul and Ajayi Crowther) with three new ones on the offing (Walter Miller University, Anglican University of Technology and The Anglican University on the Niger). Many believe that the Anglican Church should have had many more tertiary institutions all over the country.
9.0 Final Word on the Term ‘What’s in a Name?’
Let me conclude by going back to where I had started from. What’s is in a name?
This is where all the answers to most of our problems as a nation, in higher education, in skills development and relevance of our curriculum lie. In relation to this, let me refer us to the words of Mahatma Gandhi as shown below in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Seven Dangers to Human Values
It is in view of this and the hope that all of us would key into the transformational agenda to the best of our abilities that I thank the Ajayi Crowther University, for the invitation to deliver this 15th Convocation Lecture and I wish to dedicate the Lecture to the graduands or today, and to God Almighty.
This lecture draws attention to the emerging massive, unprecedented and irreversible transformation that has taken place due to, and since the time of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther who died in 1891. His name not only means a lot to the Anglican Community but to Christendom, Africa and the world. Does the name mean anything to Ajayi Crowther University? Can we show it at all or more than we have been doing?
To our graduands, the wise words of the sage, Mahatma Gandhi, says ‘the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of humanity.’ If you belong to God and not of the world, the Lord will always renew you with unimaginable strength. ‘And you will sprout fresh feathers and soar almost effortlessly like an eagle’. Go forth, therefore, into this sinful and fallen world and soar beyond your imagination. The Lord is your strength.
I saw a commentary in the documents I reviewed for this lecture that said ‘When playwright William Shakespeare asked the question, “What’s in a name?” in Romeo and Juliet, he was referring to the idea that names themselves are a convention to distinguish things or people, but themselves do not have any worth or meaning. While we can certainly understand that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” we do have to be careful with names and their meaning in the world of business, contracts, construction and education’.
Please, now, you tell me, What’s in a Name?
Why does your university bear the revered, distinguished and well accomplished name of Samuel Ajayi Crowther?
Does the name and its use matter to ACU? I shall await your answers.
Long live Ajayi Crowther University!
Long live The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)!
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Long live the name of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther of blessed memory!
Thank you very much, Congratulations, and God bless you tremendously.
Emeritus Professor Olugbemiro JEGEDE
Abuja, Nigeria
Monday, 20 November, 2023
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