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Showing posts from September, 2022

Queen Elizabeth II, why it is hard for enlightened Africans to celebrate her in death.

The British, under the powerful monarch overseeing a vast empire that stretched from the Atlantic sea to the Pacific oceans, were among the 1st to abolish slave trade in 19th century but continued to plunder the wealth of Africa and terrorize its people under the guise of colonialism. They stopped slave trade but overturned the continent by dividing it among themselves. The death of Queen Elizabeth II creates a mixed feelings on the continent of Africa. Should we celebrate her humanity without questioning the atrocities of her ancestors that made her so rich that she was an unnamed billionaire, an empire she sustained until it was no longer possible to hold.   She was the monarch compelled to modernize the British imperialist approach by granting independence to several former colonies in the process falsifying documents, hiding/distorting history, and installing their stooge who protected the kingdom's interests for decades after their hold on these colonies were superficially l

Impact of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)'s strike on the foreign perception of Nigerian Graduate Students

This is a true story of what happened to one of the Nigerian students I hired as a graduate student in 2019. The outcome was not wholesome for the student, and this was partly because of the perceived low quality of education in Nigerian public universities. When a session is shortened to 5 or 6 months instead of the normal 9 months, there is no way the quality will not be watered down for the majority. Here is the story: I hired this smart student from one of the leading public universities in Nigeria. He graduated with first-class honors ( summa cum laude ). He did not disappoint when he joined my group. He worked in a very difficult area of research. He was done with lab work mid-way into his 3rd semester. Since he told me of his interest to proceed to Ph.D. after his master's, I began to pursue opportunity for him to be fast-tracked to Ph.D. at the end of his 2nd semester of M.S. When he put in his application, the DGS of the program told me that there is no way he would suppor

The State of the Nation Nigeria - Guiding Book for 2023 Election

If the electorate decides the result of elections in Nigeria, an incumbent government would not allow ASUU labor unrest to linger for seven months. If they believe the electorates' vote will decide the fate of their candidates in the next major election in 5 months, they will engage in reasonable dialogue with ASUU who have genuine grievances that border on development and qualitative education for our wards and resolve the problem asap. And this will not be a concern for APC's incumbent government alone, it will raise a red flag for other major parties and their politicians. They will mount pressure on the APC government to engage and be reasonable with ASUU's demands. The majority of Nigerian politicians send their children to private schools or schools abroad, so, they are not directly impacted. But the children of the voters or young voters are affected. Does Tinubu think that youths who have been home because his party refused to engage will vote for him? I believe he