On a bright Wednesday morning, the winds blew in the North-East direction, reminding everyone that the harmattan was there. I walked into his office and introduced myself to his secretary who promptly asked me to go straight in as I arrived just on time, and he was likely waiting for me already. I then proceeded to his door, knocked on it twice and heard that unmistakable voice from the inside, ushering me in. As I walked in, he stood up, right hand outstretched, face brimming with smiles, and said “welcome Nonso, I knew you will be here on time; please have a seat”. Really? Did he have to be so warm, kind and respectful? Even though I was in his office to “take” some of his time – that commodity we cherish so much but often mismanage – he welcomed me with that endearing candour that defines him.
The challenges with the Nigerian university system are legion. Over the last forty years, we have systematically ensured that each decade, the students are exposed to less education and training than those of the decade before theirs received. The poorly trained students graduate, somehow, and some of them (sometimes those in the bottom 25%) find their way back to postgraduate programmes (often as a way of buying time while searching for jobs) where they also receive less of what is expected, and they understand and internalize less of the less, given their questionable intellectual abilities, but somehow also graduate with postgraduate degrees. These fellows then run to Abuja where they have friends and relations in powerful MDAs and the National Assembly that “do business” with universities. These MDAs and legislators then foist these fellows on universities as academic staff because university Vice-Chancellors can’t say no.
The Vice-Chancellors can’t say no, often because that will imply that their university may never get the approvals and subventions they need to run smoothly; or if they are unlucky, they may become victims of instigated negative press, and may spend the rest of their tenure visiting MDAs to answer all sorts of queries and summons. The poorly gifted, poorly trained staff then train the youth of our country. This explains why it is now becoming common for staff of public universities to send their children and wards to private universities where the academic staff are not trained any differently but where good grades are guaranteed and strikes are unheard of. Head or tail we are faced with the challenge of universities producing many certificated idiots posing as graduates.
In the last 25 years, Government in a bid to curb corruption and wastefulness in universities in Nigeria has inadvertently introduced measures that are killing our universities. In the past, the National Universities Commission was responsible for defending the budgets of federal universities before the National Assembly; universities did not need the approval of three or more MDAs to recruit staff; and national assembly committees did not invite Vice-Chancellors and Bursars to Abuja for all sorts of matters. These days, Vice-Chancellors go to the National Assembly to lobby for projects to be included in their universities’ budgets and to defend same (and there are bilious stories of what goes on during such exercises). These days, to hire any number of staff, Vice-Chancellors need to get approvals from the Budget Office, the Office of the Accountant General, IPPIS, Federal Character Commission, and maybe more. In practice, what happens is akin to what the Americans call pork barrel deals.
These days, Vice-Chancellors get invited to Abuja by law enforcement agencies that have regional and state offices, and National Assembly committees to answer to often spurious allegations bordering on finances (but which in practice boils down to “where is our own?”). Vice-Chancellors not only get initiated into this unsavoury behaviour, but often adapt to preserve their office and also selfishly benefit from the rot. The fact that since 2016 one may count on the fingers of one hand the number of advertorials for employment into any federal university in Nigeria in the media, despite systematic recruitments (and the attendant flooding of our universities with often incompetent people whose allegiances are to government officials and politicians in Abuja), is testament to how the policies created by Government have led to a gangrene threatening the lives of our universities.
As I discussed these matters with Professor (Emeritus) Nimi Dimkpa Briggs that fateful November morning, I could see the pains he bore, the memories he held, and the future he envisioned. They were like some intricately woven collage on his face. Prof. Briggs told me that as a medical student in the 1960s, his room was so clean that he often thought it was a hotel room. He said he had 4 hours of dissections every day, other than the excellent lectures he received from properly motivated staff, in proper classrooms. He did not have to worry about food, shelter or clothing, but simply concentrated on his studies. His classmates all got admitted on merit, not their parents’ financial wherewithal. As he spoke, I recalled how as a postgraduate student, I complained to my supervisor that the undergraduate students were receiving only 2 hours of practical sessions, once a week, as against the 2 hours of practical sessions, three days a week, which I received.
My supervisor laughed and told me that he had 4 hours of practical sessions, five days a week during his days. These days it is not just common to have 1 hour of practical sessions once a week, but also common to have 200 students engaged in practical sessions in a laboratory designed for fifty and equipped for twenty. Professor Briggs told me that he worried about the trajectory of public universities in Nigeria. I share his worries.
Behind Prof. Briggs’ worries, I saw the optimism in his eyes. He believed that with patriotic leaders in universities, relevant MDAs and the Government, Nigerian universities would easily regain their pride of place. I understood him clearly for he was exemplary in his conduct and patriotism. Indeed, he had fought for Nigeria in every conceivable sense. Prof. Briggs was never late to a meeting. He always read all his papers and made copious notes before meetings. He would remain attentive, his mind acute and brimming with ideas, throughout meetings, irrespective of how long it lasted. At 79 years of age, he was as engaged as a pugilist, and as energetic as a bull in its prime. He was polite but resolute, friendly but firm, and had an uncommon capacity to make connections between apparently disparate points or ideas. His command of the English language was unimpeachable.
Though an Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, he was also a man of letters whose hat was adorned with both scientific and literary feathers. Prof. Briggs was at home with the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the educated and the uneducated. He is one of the few Nigerians who would easily berate the Government for its failings and also refuse to be intimidated by the shenanigans of unions. He spoke the truth irrespective of his audience, and yet knew how to use words to make truth pierce the heart without hurting the individual. If there existed orders of refinement for Homo sapiens, Prof. Briggs belonged to the highest order possible.
Having spearheaded the development of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards for Medicine and Dentistry, he moved on to developing textbooks based on the new curriculum, for use in teaching in our medical and dental schools. On the 17th of March, 2023 I wrote him to report on the task and he informed me he was in the Intensive Care Unit of the UPTH. His health condition could however not arrest his work ethic and patriotism as he continued working, writing and attending meetings (albeit virtually) from his hospital bed. I still remember the seraphic radiance on his face on the 28th of March when he (virtually) attended a meeting of the AEFUNAI Council. He looked every inch like a man who had fought a good fight and was ready for his crown. On Easter Monday, the 10th of April, 2023, as we were celebrating the resurrection of Christ, we received the news that Prof. Briggs had gone to his maker to receive his crown of glory.
Professor (Emeritus) N.D. Briggs was the quintessential clinician, academic, university administrator and patriot. He gave his best to the Nigerian University System, and indeed to Nigeria. He died in active service as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of AEFUNAI, and as the Chairman Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities. Nigeria should find a befitting way to honour him. I recommend, as a first step, the immediate stoppage of the throttling of Vice-Chancellors and administrators of federal universities by MDAs and the National Assembly.
As Professor (Emeritus) Nimi Dimkpa Briggs is laid to rest on the 20th of May, 2023, may all the challenges facing our public universities be laid to rest too. Amen.
Chukwunonso ECC Ejike, PhD, Professor of Medical Biochemistry & Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies,
Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike,
PMB 1010 Abakaliki, Ebonyi State,
Nigeria.Inst. Email: nonso.ejike@funai.edu.ng
