Abdulgaffar Amoka
The press release from ASUU after the Unilag NEC meeting that directed all ASUU branches not to recognize Dr. Pantami as a Professor opened up another discussion on his appointment by FUTO as a Professor of Cyber Security in 2021. Some people that are lazy to even read the press release are questioning the right ASUU has got to withdraw the appointment.
Dear lazy and misinformed fellows, ASUU did not withdraw any appointment and this was the statement. “NEC hereby rejects in its entity the purported appointment of Dr. Isah Ali Ibrahim Pantami as a professor of cybersecurity. From the evidence available to us, Dr. Pantami was not qualified, and the said appointment violated the established procedure for the appointment of professors in the university”.
You and the VC of FUTO can address him as a Professor, but the ASUU NEC directed all members and branches of our union across the nation not to recognize, accord, or treat Dr. Isah Ali Ibrahim Pantami as a professor of cybersecurity under any guise. That statement should not be too difficult to comprehend.
As the argument on the ASUU position was ongoing, a hilarious trending piece titled “Where was ASUU?” was on social media. Of course, ASUU was there and still there. Dr. Jerry Gana was a Reader in ABU before he got into politics in1983 on leave of absence from the University. From the university rules and regulations, staff on leave of absence is entitled to his next promotion. That qualified Dr. Jerry Gana to become Prof. Jerry Gana in 1985 while holding a political appointment. The same happened to Ngozi Osarenren, Abdul-Rasheed Kunle Lawal, Misbau Babatunde, etc, mentioned on the list that held political appointments. They were promoted by the same university they left on leave of absence for a political appointment. Pantami’s case was not the same and not even close.
Pantami; Now that you are a Professor!
The name that got me to laugh loud was that of Wole Soyinka. How can you mention the name of a Nobel laureate in this kind of situation? A Nobel laureate fa? Unbelievable? They should have put every other name but not Wole Soyinka. Haba! Ignorance is not an excuse to be stupid. It made the compiler look stupid. Meanwhile, as of the time Wole Soyinka was appointed as a Professor, PhD was not a criterion to becoming a Professor, his scholarly contribution was just enough. Until recently, you don’t even need a PhD to become a Senior Lecturer. But now you can’t be a Senior Lecturer without a PhD. So, the rules keep changing.
Pantami is a great Islamic scholar, was great as the DG of NITDA, and doing well as a minister. If I were him, I would have focused more on my responsibilities to complement my existing achievements and carve a niche for myself. But he wants the title of a Professor. This looks like a case of a man desperate to kill two birds with one stone. I still ask myself what is the big deal on that title that some people want at all costs.
Meanwhile, his PhD and the nearly 3 years post qualification experience in Saudi Arabia was in Information science. Not sure if cyber security is embedded in his information science. So, if it is, what are his scholarly contributions to cyber security? One of the FUTO’s criteria was web presence but we could not find that record of his presence on the web. The hailers should be telling us where to find the record and not emotional blackmail.
Some people brought religious colouration to create sympathy. His hailers were on it, passing fatwa, and MURIC Director nailed it. Note that the criticism of the appointment has no religious dimension else the first critics of the appointment would not have been Muslims. Farooq Kperogi and some Professors from the North were among the first people to write about it. MURIC felt that some branches of ASUU in the North may not heed to ASUU NEC directive. MURIC Director doesn’t seem to know ASUU well. Dear sir, every single branch is in agreement with the directive from NEC and will heed to it.
Another person that claimed to be a Professor from IBBU brought in the triple helix model. The triple helix model of innovation refers to a set of interactions between academia, industry, and government, to foster economic and social development. It is a brilliant idea and we need it in our society for national development. I had a triple helix experience. The project that I did a postdoc on at NTNU Trondheim was funded by the industry and the Norwegian government. During the project work, we had meetings that consists of us (the project team) in the academia, the industrial partners, and the government representative. We are also currently working on a project that involved TETFund, ABU, and TCN/Kaduna Electric. That is a triple helix. How Pantami’s controversial professorial appointment fits into the triple helix model is what I am trying to understand. Was his appointment a purposeful hiring to execute a triple helix project? Which cyber security project was he employed to handle at FUTO? Who is he representing? It can’t be the industry because he is not in the industry and has never worked in one.
He had all the opportunities to develop a career in academics to the highest rank but left as Assistant Professor to pick up a political appointment. If he was so passionate to teach and FUTO is so in need of his expertise and experiences, the VC should have appointed him as a visiting professor. That is a lesser evil and there won’t be much noise. But a fresh tenured professor for a serving minister whose last academic position was an Assistant Professor? Haba VC! Let’s even forget about the fact that his last position in academia was Assistant Professor. Visit the FUTO’s website for the advert for the vacancy. His about 3 years post qualification experience in academia has knocked him out since 12 years post qualification experience was a criterion on the FUTO vacancy advert and not 3 years.
He has been addressed as Professor even before he started lecturing there. Most people are beginning to think that the appointment may possibly not be about his experience or service to the university but the title for him and the opening of opportunities to explore for the university or the VC. He possibly wants the title “Prof” on his name like most of us also want. The race for the acquisition of titles in Nigeria has shifted base to academia.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, what experience has he got in cyber security as the DG of NITDA and now a minister that qualified him to be a Professor? Such appointments are more of an administrative job to coordinate the activities (technical and non-technical) and the people doing the job. A DG or a Minister won’t be in the lab to develop codes for cyber security. He does not have time for that even if he wants to. He is not involved in any technical department doing the real lab work or fieldwork.
For example, a Chemist is appointed as the Director of the Equipment maintenance and development centre of a university for a period of 4 years. He will coordinate the activities of the Engineers at the centre to get the job done toward achieving their mandate. Does that suddenly qualify him to be a professor of equipment maintenance?
I have no problem with people that insist that he is qualified for the fresh academic position even as a serving minister. But what I want to read is not emotions and blackmails but information on what qualified him for an elevation from the last position of an Assistant professor in information science to a Professor in a field he never did his PhD or have hands-on experience while In academia. What cyber security problem has he solved? What are his breakthroughs in cyber security? What cyber security system has he developed? Has he got any patent? Where are his scholarly contributions to cyber security? How many MSc or PhD theses has he supervised in cyber security? In which university? Who are the students? Why does FUTO want him?
We have discussed the reckless promotion to the rank of Professor in Nigerian universities that is making some people become uncomfortable having “Prof” with their name. A respected senior colleague once said that we have two classes of professors in the university. I look at the profiles of the likes of Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Prof. Deborah Ajakaiye, Prof. S.B. Ojo, etc, and I still wonder if as an academic I will ever be truly qualified to be called a Professor.
We’ve got several issues to deal with in the university. Adding a ridiculous appointment of politicians to the rank of Professor to our numerous problems in the Universities is like adding salt to injury. You definitely don’t want to open that door in public universities. The Nigerian university system is already messed up and some of us still wonder how we can regain the lost glory. We need to ensure that it is not further messed up by politicians or some self-serving university management.
To Dr. Pantami, you are still relatively young and will be done as a minister in about a year from now. If the appointment is not about the “title” to add to your name but “service” to FUTO and Nigeria, If I were you, I will honorably let go of the controversial appointment and pick up the academic job after my tenure as a minister.
To the hailing hailers that have got no idea how the university works and the difference between Assistant, Associate Professor, and Professor but arguing left-center-right, ignorance is not an excuse to be stupid.
©Amoka
