Ruyi's World of Books & Stories

Dear Prof. Pius Adesanmi, How are you doing sir? And how has work been? I hope you're fine and that you remain fine to continue your examplary but mostly thankless service to fatherland. Indeed you're a mentor to some of us. As you​ might remember, we haven't spoken since the first time you called, upon receiving my mail. I'm still pained that, that conversation was cut short by poor network connection which remains an insurmountable challenge in Nigeria. I'm writing you this time, I'm afraid to wail over the unending nightmare I've had to endure since I entered the University (UniJos) and may I please request that you keep me anonymous if you decide to share this. So much has been said about the falling standard of education in Nigeria but I think we're been unfair when we say that the standard is falling. Truth is, there's no standard and nothing is falling. It's been buried and forgotten. Tertiary education in Nigeria is in a state ...

Not everyone should be writing for the public. Sadly, the democracy of social media and the internet is such that we must endure the co-presence of all sorts of opinionated intellectual dilettantes who can wear the toga of "public commentator". There are always the giveaways. You will always recognize the dilettantes through their slippages and errors of the rendering. In the Nigerian context, you recognize them when you see the inexperience, the ignorance, often powered by an intractable, self-assured arrogance and presumptuousness. There is the presumptuousness of thinking you have lessons and lectures for an entire race. My advice to the Igbo... My advice to the Yoruba... My advice to the Hausa-Fulani... Anyone you see wielding lectures and lessons for an entire race is an inexperienced dilettante who shouldn't be writing for the public. In the Nigerian context, those who are wiser, cleverer, and more intelligent than an entire race; those who are bet...