By Amanze Obi
I feel a sense of honour and privilege to be invited to give this lecture on this auspicious occasion of the matriculation ceremony for fresh students of Coal City University. Being my first public assignment with the university on assumption of duty as Senior Visiting Fellow, I am inclined to feel that today’s event signposts the proverbial journey of a thousand miles that must, necessarily, begin with a step. I am grateful to the authorities of the university for this opportunity, while looking forward to a mutually beneficial intellectual relationship.
To the matriculants, I am delighted to fraternize with you on this occasion of the formalization of your entry into Coal City University. Many of you must have looked up this day with great expectations. This occasion, I believe, will provide you the much needed purgation after days or weeks of anxiety. It is now time for you to feel at home, in readiness for the exploration of the intellectual mine field that lies ahead.
Having said that, may I now congratulate all of you on your admission into this “globally focused and fast rising University”. Given that your university is working hard to join the league of universities with global reckoning, I consider it germane to speak to you on the unique selling point of Coal City University and how you can use that to connect with the idea of the University.
The University, from what I understand, is a not-for-profit institution. Those of you who are here today as students will attest to the fact that the fees you paid for your enrollment into this university are moderate. This is unlike what obtains in a number of private universities where cut-throat fees have denied many intending applicants the opportunity of admission into such schools. Significantly, Coal City University, rather than go for the money, is offering affordable fees, while remaining focused on becoming a world-class centre of learning and research. The university’s ultimate objective, from what we can see, is to produce “well-rounded, entrepreneurial and globally employable graduates”. Information available on the university’s website tells us that the university prides itself on “offering an excellent learning experience for students….facilitated by high-quality learning environment.” This is one of the innovations that stand the university out from the motley array of private universities that we have in Nigeria. With these enticing offerings from the university, it will not be out of place to say that you are lucky and privileged to be a part of the success story that the university is fast becoming in its less-than-a-decade existence.
It is on this promising note that I welcome you to this reputable citadel of learning. You will agree with me that the founding fathers of the university are visionaries in their own right. What makes for the right vision is one’s ability to look and see beyond the immediate environment. It is such perceptiveness that makes persons and institutions stand out from the crowd. At a time and age when the liberalization of the education sector has given rise to an avalanche of universities, most of them privately owned, the need for an enduring and sustainable vision in setting up and running a university becomes imperative. In a situation where private universities far outnumber public ones, the promoters of such private institutions must think out of the box in order to stay afloat.
Advent of private universities
How did we come about this turn of events in tertiary education in Nigeria? I recall that the idea of private universities came up in Nigeria in the early 1980s. One of the things the government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari did, on assumption of office in 1979, was to purge the civic space of the yoke of military mentality. Military rule in Nigeria was a regimented order in which authority flowed from only one source. Sub national governments such as the states and local governments existed at the pleasure of the central government. Shagari was poised to change as much of this as possible. One of the spheres in which this change manifested was in the field of education. The Shagari order liberalized the academic space, somewhat. That made it possible for a few states of the Federation, particularly in the south of the country, to establish their own universities. But private universities were completely non-existent until 1981 when Basil Nnanna Ukaegbu, through his Technological and Economic Development Mission, set up the Imo Technical University, Imerienwe, Imo Sate, making it the first private university in Nigeria. It was quickly followed by Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Onitsha and Pope John Paul University, Aba, all in the then Imo and Anambra states. Nigeria had 19 states at that time. Regrettably, the vision and mission of these universities were cut short. The military coup of 31st December, 1983 saw to their disbandment by the new military leader, General Muhammadu Buhari. The universities, new as they were, did not graduate any student before the axe fell on them. With that development, the idea of private universities in Nigeria got deferred for a long time. But the return of civil rule in 1999 changed all that. On 10th May,1999, just days before the exit of the military, operational licences were issued to three private universities, namely, Babcock University, Illishan Remo, Ogun State, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State and Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State. However, Igbinedion University beat Babcock and Madonna to it by taking off on the same day it got its operational licence. Igbinedion thus became officially recognized as the first private university in Nigeria. It was quickly followed by Babcock University and Madonna University.
Since then, there has been a deluge of private universities in Nigeria. At the last count, Nigeria has a total of 149 private universities, 63 state universities and 62 federal universities, bringing the total number of universities in Nigeria to 274. However, as is usually the case in all human endeavours, multiplicity tends to impact negatively on quality. The same situation is largely true of private universities in Nigeria. What we have in Nigeria today in that area is a case of many are called but few are chosen. But I dare say, without fear of contradiction, that Coal City University, your University, is holding its head high in the comity of private universities in Nigeria. With just nine years behind it, the university has become a good example of the saying: it is not how long but how well. The university’s transformation strategy anchored around the tripartite pillars of quality, internationalization, and sustainability is working for it; and students and researchers alike are the happier for it.
This is the privileged environment to which you are being warmly welcome.
This endeavour did not come easy. It is borne out of the vision and acumen of those who muted the idea of the University. Because they understand what it means to stand out in a competitive environment, the brains behind CCU have applied the marketing strategy called unique selling point. They may be doing what everyone else is doing. But they are doing so in a unique manner. That has given the university an edge. That is what is called niche. That way, the university is getting its market share without having to break its back. I doff my hat for the founding fathers, as well as the Council and Management of the university for riding the crest in the face of a seemingly rough tide.
TOWN AND GOWN
It is against this background that I invite you, our matriculating students, to this ivory tower. As freshmen, you may not be familiar with the phenomenon called the ivory tower. The Ivory tower simply refers to “a state of privileged seclusion or separation from the practicalities and concerns of everyday life, often associated with intellectual or academic pursuits”. It is a disconnect from the real world. It suggests that scholars or researchers are out of touch with the experiences and priorities of ordinary people. This is the raw, pristine definition of the ivory tower. The university, any university, is seen in this pristine sense. Time was when university campuses were exclusive environments where scholars and students were, loosely speaking, just married to their books and other pursuits that were uniquely intellectual. The whole idea behind this was to ensure that the academia was not distracted or tainted by non intellectual pursuits.
But the changing world has watered down all of this. The reality of the moment makes it impossible for the ivory tower to stay packaged the way it used to be. We now live in a digital age where information can be transmitted from any confine of the universe. No environment is too sacred now, or too removed from the toil and grind of daily life. The world has become one huge global community with its essential interconnectedness. This has, to a large extent, taken the veil off our campuses. The seclusion of old is giving way to the interplay of town and gown. Both are in a marriage of convenience. Whichever plays the dominant role depends on the characters involved. Regardless of this compulsive interplay between town and gown, academic purists insist that the university must not lose its halo. It must remain the centre of learning, a haven for teaching and research. The town with its hustle and bustle can wait.
However, given that the modern age has broken down the walls of intellectual seclusion, the modern day student needs to be properly guided. He needs to stay focused. He must remember at all times that he is in the university to acquire knowledge. Your education must remain the reason for your being here. As students of the modern age, you are being called upon to recognize the preeminence of knowledge and good learning in the scheme of things. It is the centrality of learning in our everyday lives that got Francis Bacon, English philosopher and statesman, who lived between 1561 and 1626, to alert us to the fact that “reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” You should, as Bacon has counseled, strive to be a full man by reading your books. That is your primary assignment in this university. What you make of this will determine whether you will, in time to come, graduate to become a ready man or an exact man. But just be a full man first, so that the whole idea for the existence of the university will be fully realized in you.
DAWN OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The perspective and counsel I have offered so far tend to assume that we are operating in a straitjacketed set-up where things will follow a one to one correspondence. But we know that that is hardly the case. The point that must be made and recognized here is that every age or epoch has its defining characteristic.
Henry Adams, American historian and journalist, was one of the first to espouse on the dynamics of history and its impact on society. As a prolific writer and intellectual, Adams explored the themes of history, culture and the impact of the social and technological change. He was a pioneer of what is called historical scholarship. Thus, his writings explored the themes of historical determinism, the impact of scientific and technological advancements and the role of the individual in a rapidly changing world. He is known for his analysis of historical trends. A good example of this is his thesis on the Virgin and the Dynamo. After taking a hard look at the disruptions wrought on the traditional society by the industrial revolution, Adams concluded that the spiritual fabric of society (the Virgin) had given way, yielding to the mechanistic, power-driven instinct (the Dynamo).
We are aware of the fact that pre-industrial society was stable. Then, there were no rapid changes on the face of the earth. There was certainty; and there was security. But the industrial age changed all aspects of society, including the scientific and the intellectual. Consequently, the sense of cohesive communalism disappeared. Urbanization became the norm. Many got uprooted from their traditional environments. What the traditional setting lost was gained by the city. Economic gains were made. Corporations became powerful. Big businesses turned to centres of power, and individuals could no longer compete.
Why have I taken you through this gamut of Henry Adams’s historical scholarship? I have done so in order for you to appreciate the basis of the disruptions that have taken place in society since the industrial revolution and the ones we are grappling with at this point in time.
The world today is in the mainstream of the digital age. We are in an age in which hand-held devices are threatening to take over our lives. Digital phones and computers have become the new mode of doing things. We rely on them so much so that the traditional method of doing things is systematically and steadily being displaced.
Since the advent of the Global System of Mobile (GSM) communications technology in Nigeria in 2001, Nigerian schools and homes have been battling with how to keep the use of these devices at bay among our youths. While we acknowledge the fact that mobile phones have advanced our mode of communication and, by so doing, made our daily routines a lot easier and, sometimes, seamless, the fact remains that they are a huge source of distraction. The technology carries with it a burden that we are struggling to shake off. Besides not allowing people to concentrate in their daily chores as much as they would want to, mobile phones are conduits for deviant indulgences, ranging from fraudulent activities and pornography, among other unwholesome activities. These anti-social activities, where they existed before the birth of mobile phones in Nigeria, have multiplied in geometric proportion. That has been the headache. This is the other side of what is supposed to be a helpful technology.
We were still battling with what to do to keep the menace of mobile phones in check when a phenomenon called Artificial Intelligence (AI) suddenly stepped in. It is the latest disruption that our society is saddled with at moment.
In November last year, the 20th edition of All Nigeria Editors Conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) made Artificial Intelligence one of the major subjects of discussion at the event. Even though AI is being widely discussed across the globe and has even become a course of study in some institutions of higher learning, a practical dimension was brought to bear on the subject matter at the NGE conference. One of the topical questions posed at the conference was: How does the media survive the onslaught of AI? That was the concern. The conference provided me with the opportunity of coming to terms with the fact that AI is not the passing fancy that I thought it to be. Rather, I was confronted with the fact that the phenomenon is being taken seriously in high places. It is even viewed with trepidation in some other circles. A presentation made on “AI-Generated story-telling: Opportunities and Challenges”, brought this to the fore. The gist of it all was that AI is viewed with both enthusiasm and dread.
Permit me therefore to share with you aspects of my intervention in this subject matter as a fallout of the aforementioned NGE’s conference. I will reproduce or paraphrase aspects of my intervention, whichever that is appropriate. It goes thus:
“Artificial Intelligence, by the way, is a set of technologies that enable computers to perform a variety of advanced functions, including the ability to see, understand and translate spoken and written language. In other words, it
is the ability of a digital computer or a computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. Because of the global impact that AI is having in the field of technological advancement, it has come to be seen as the backbone of innovation in modern computing.
“But what manner of innovation are we talking about here? From what we know and can see, AI is beginning to fill roles reserved for human beings. At the conference, for instance, while the presenter was vigorously trying to demonstrate how intelligent AI can be, the chairman of the session on Artificial Intelligence quickly consulted AI before our very eyes to tell him what his opening remarks should be. AI quickly provided him with one. When he read it out to the audience, many felt scandalized by the strange audacity of this robotic order. Who the hell authorized AI to play that role? Whose mind did it read? Certainly not that of the chairman who went scavenging for information from AI.
I continued:
“A further look at the phenomenon showed that AI can write or give lecture on any subject matter. It can clone a known writer and claim to write something in the same way the writer does. It is this aspect of AI’s intrusion that got journalists at the conference agitated. Is AI about to take over their jobs? How can this phenomenon be managed in the work place? While these questions were generally being posed, I had my private worries and reservations. I was not amused by the fact that a writer can decide to consult AI and get it to write something or anything on his or her behalf. In this regard, issues were raised about ethics and all of that. That, for me, is even tangential. The real point to ponder is that there is something called originality in writing. In academic circles, any writing that lacks originality is usually dismissed as inconsequential. It could fall into the disrepute called plagiarism. Any writer that wants to earn respect or make a mark must be himself. He must not be a copycat. While it is legitimate to consult authorities or engage in research to enrich one’s writings, it is completely unacceptable, even fraudulent, to pass off something written by someone or something else such as AI as if it were one’s own.
“I am also skeptical about the claim that AI can imitate a writer’s style to the extent that readers can come to believe that such a delivery is original to the particular writer. This claim is bunkum. I insist that AI cannot imitate Amanze Obi, for instance. AI cannot intrude into my vocabulary. It also cannot hack into my style of writing. Every writer of note has a style that is peculiar to him or her. Style is the man. It is like one’s finger print. No two writers write the same way. Not even AI, in its audaciousness and intrusiveness, can change this. For me therefore, AI has its obvious limitations. It is relevant to the extent that we want to make it so.
“However , it must be noted that the case of the writer may not be the same as that of those who belong to other professions. In other words, the importance or lack of it of AI depends on the area of human endeavour in which it is being applied. Different professions should therefore sit back to reflect on this with a view to knowing how, when and where AI could come in.
“The intrusion of AI, as a matter of fact, is one of the manifestations of an age that has lost its soul. Rather than tap into the gains of natural intelligence, we have chosen to pay undue attention to artificiality. Many are at home with AI simply because we live in the age of the machine. It is an age in which reason and the human mind have been relegated to a second order position. It is an age that has chosen to rely on the machine at the expense of the human element or imagination. This is an aberration.
“Regardless of this, it is a well known fact that there are ongoing discussions on how the Nigerian youth can embrace AI as a tool for the advancement of technology. Google, the author of this intrusive phenomenon, is already investing heavily in this regard. AI epitomizes the arbitrariness in the way taste and fashion change. However, absolute caution must be applied in our effort to embrace this disruptive innovation. If we ignore this, we will wake up one day to discover that we have all been turned into robots, actually or symbolically.”
This was my reflection on AI then. I still feel strongly about my position. I have raised this issue here for the benefit of the entire university community. Students and staff must be properly guided in the deployment of this technology. Neither Meta nor ChatGPT should be treated as the student’s companion. Any companionship with them should be creative, not no-holds-barred. Our new students should take this to heart . They should not imagine that AI is there to do their job for them. Instead, they should apply their God-given intellectual faculties in whatever they do. AI can come in only when and where it must. I expect that instructors should set the rules so that students will not apply the technology the wrong way.
THE IDEA OF THE UNIVERSITY
Having counseled our matriculating students on the way to go, it is now imperative that we spare a thought on the policy makers and drivers of change in our university system. We have to do so because there is an overriding need for those whose duty it is to mould the students to engage in some introspection. This should consist in answering questions like: what is the reason for the establishment of a university? In other words, why do the universities exist? Are they living up to their billing as institutions of higher learning? What should be the content and quality of instruction? A cursory reflection on issues around these questions will enable the authorities involved in the setting up and running of universities to do a better job. To answer some of the foregoing questions, we need to take recourse to John Henry Newman’s espousal on the idea of the University.
Newman, an English Catholic theologian, philosopher and academic, had a book with the title: “The Idea of a University” published in 1852. The book, the most timeless of all Newman’s books, is an eloquent defence of liberal education. It should be noted that liberal education places emphasis on a broad, foundational approach to learning. It focuses on the development of a well-rounded individual with critical thinking skills rather than specializing in a specific vocation. It is rooted in the historical concept of liberal arts which encompasses disciplines like literature, language, history, philosophy and mathematics. It also includes the social sciences and natural sciences. As
a traditional academic course in Western higher education, liberal arts encompasses a broad range of subjects that explore what it means to be human. It is a form of education that aims to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and other soft skills. These make graduates adaptable and well-rounded.
Newman’s philosophy of education supports this liberal approach to university education. For him, “education, like truth, must result in wisdom and positive action as well as more intellectual and theoretical advances”. He also holds that real education informs the intellect as well as forming the moral heart of the person. Newman’s postulation rests on the principle of education as a transformative force.
At a time and age when science and technology, and, lately, information communications technology have taken the centre stage in university education, Newman’s idea of the university appears to be receding. Emphasis is shifting away from humanistic education in preference for practice-oriented disciplines. While it is good to embrace science and technology, the human element in education should not be thrown overboard. The university, whose responsibility it is to impart knowledge, must ensure that its products are well-honed human beings. They must be humanistic rather than mechanical in their approach to life. When this is the case, the product of university education becomes a well-rounded individual rather than a fraction looking for its integer.
The fact of our situation in Nigeria is that we are, today, saddled with universities with an array of courses. Yet, their products can hardly operate outside the confines of their academic disciplines. This lack of flexibility is a negation of what a university should be. The overemphasis on specialization is ossifying our universities to the point of irrelevance. This has not done the university system any good.
I recall that the content of our university curricula was an issue of controversy at some point in our national life. The Ibrahim Babangida government, in its heyday, had cause to accuse some University lecturers of subverting the university environment, and by extension, the country, by teaching what they were not paid to teach. One of the positive fallouts of that spat was the re-engineering and broadening of the scope of instruction in the General Studies curriculum of our universities. We need to do more in this regard by incorporating course contents that will promote the liberal approach to education. Our universities must strive to meet up with global challenges and expectations at all times. That is the message the instructors and administrators of our universities must take to heart. Thank you all for your attention.