The decision by the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Imo State, to bestow full professorship on the minister of communication and digital economy, Isa Pantami, is unconscionable. The title is worthless. It has diminished, rather than enhanced, the quality of honorary degrees awarded by FUTO. The decision to award the title of professor to Pantami is dishonourable, bizarre, irresponsible, wrong, unwarranted, indefensible, ill-advised, short-sighted, pretentious and thoughtless.
The management of FUTO has undermined academic integrity and ripped the word ‘merit’ off the criteria on which academic honours are awarded to deserving people by higher education institutions across the world.
The ground on which FUTO conferred the title of professor to Pantami is baffling. The title is an oversized toga that does not suit the man wearing it. The public is baffled by that strange move by FUTO. Was Pantami given the professorship because of his ministerial position? Did Pantami make any significant contribution to FUTO to advance academic scholarship and the quality of teaching, research and publications in the institution? Did Pantami produce any ground-breaking research outputs that deserve to be recognised through the award of the title of professor?
How did FUTO’s management determine that Pantami was a scholar of international repute who deserved to be honoured with the title of professor? Everyone is now asking the question: What is the value of a professor at FUTO? No higher education institution worthy of its name would go so far as to award the highest academic honour to a man who did not deserve the title.
Even the alumni of FUTO were adamant that the award conferred on Pantami was undeserved. In a statement, the alumni said: “FUTO Alumni Association reaffirms her position that the professorship of Pantami was inappropriate. FUTO Alumni Association appreciates the national body of ASUU and the local chapter for jointly condemning the appointment of Pantami as a professor in FUTO.”
While the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) cautioned about the award to Pantami and directed FUTO to overturn the decision on the basis that the award was improper, FUTO’s management has stuck to its decision, claiming the award was based on unimpeachable criteria.
The furore that erupted following FUTO’s award of professor to Pantami resonates a similar controversy that emerged when Mrs. Patience Jonathan was decorated with an honorary doctorate of science degree by the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in June 2011. That incident revitalised debate about the value of honorary doctorate degrees awarded by Nigerian universities. It also triggered unpleasant public commentary on the indiscriminate award of honorary doctorate degrees by universities.
What made Mrs. Jonathan’s honorary doctorate degree somewhat dubious and disgraceful was that President Goodluck Jonathan had approved N3 billion for the development of the University of Port Harcourt. That news was revealed by Vice-President Namadi Sambo who represented Jonathan at the 27th graduation ceremony of the university. The news emerged on the same day and at the same occasion on which Mrs. Jonathan received the honorary doctorate degree. To complicate matters, Jonathan, as President, was the official visitor to the University of Port Harcourt.
It was against this background that questions were raised about the ethics and appropriateness of the conferment of the honorary doctorate degree on Mrs. Jonathan at the same time that news broke indicating that Jonathan had approved the release of N3 billion to the University of Port Harcourt for the institution’s development.
While the University of Port Harcourt was entitled to award honorary doctorate degrees to people it considered worthy of the honour, it was the timing of the award given to Mrs. Jonathan that caused public outrage. Mrs. Jonathan was not the only recipient of the University of Port Harcourt’s honorary doctorate degree. Other people who received the honour were celebrated novelist Elechi Amadi, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and Jacob Nwokolo.
Some people had argued that Mrs. Jonathan was given the honorary doctorate degree because she was an alumna of the university. But that argument was not strong or convincing. It is specious to argue that a university’s honorary degrees are reserved for its alumni. That was precisely why some people felt something duplicitous about the President’s wife being awarded an honorary doctorate degree by a university that benefited from a N3 billion grant approved by the President.
Nigerian universities are abusing the award of honorary doctorate degrees and professorship because they have no clear criteria that define the bases for the awards. Universities cannot award honorary doctorate degrees or professorships on foggy, concocted standards that are neither transparent nor justifiable.
No matter how the management of FUTO views the controversial award of professorship to Pantami, a cross-section of the public will regard Pantami’s unmerited title as poor judgment on the part of FUTO. Many people will hold Pantami in low esteem. The title of professor conferred on a minister with unremarkable record of achievements will never sit comfortably with many people’s fair assessment of a merit-based award.
Long before now, honorary doctorate degrees or professorships were awarded on merit. The titles were bestowed on members of society who distinguished themselves through significant contributions to the development of human society in general and university education in particular. The recipients contributed significantly to the advancement of research and teaching, including services to the community and the academia. That was the practice, until universities transformed the process into a commercial avenue for earning revenue.
The sharp drop in funds allocated to Nigerian universities may have caused some of the institutions to engage in indiscriminate award of honorary degrees and professorships as a way to generate income. In that adverse environment, universities were left to shop for funds by any means, legal and illegal, ethical and unethical, to meet their basic operating costs. That practice has had the unintended consequence of devaluing the quality of honorary doctorate degrees and professorships.
When universities award honorary degrees arbitrarily to all classes of men and women, they convey the message that the degrees are available only to privileged members of our society who can afford the glorified titles.
We live in a society that adores academic titles. Everyone wants a university title of some value, whether it is high or low value. Our culture compels us to celebrate anything. We celebrate the birth of a child. We celebrate when we are promoted in our workplaces. We make merry when we receive chieftaincy titles. We celebrate the completion of a new house or the purchase of a new luxury car. All these confirm our large appetite for ostentation. These achievements transform us into superstars. They offer us some kind of therapeutic relief from economic hardships and everyday hard work.
As I argued in a previous essay: “Each time we wonder how we got to this point, we must reflect on our past and present practices. What were those qualities that held our society together? What social values were cherished and admired in our society? To what extent are they still valued and respected? The social disintegration of our society must be attributed in part to the haste with which we dumped our values. A society without values is a society without rules. And a society without norms is a dysfunctional society.”