Speeches

A speech by Abubakar Abba Tahir, PhD, Vice President for University Relations, American University of Nigeria at the Annual National Award Ceremony of the Civil Society Coalition on Basic Education and Good Governance, 8th October, 2020.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

All across Nigeria, when civil society organizations come to a confluence like this, one of the main issues on the agenda, which is usually discussed include education, and the challenges posed by unemployment after schooling. This has continued to challenge governments, communities and other sectors of national and global economies. This is because, no one goes to school without thinking of how to get employed or engaged in doing something productive for self, family, country and indeed the world. Few people without basic or formal education succeed phenomenally in their career paths. Many do claim such phenomenal success, which usually have major limitations either because of inadequate education or the lack of it. This thinking underscores the primacy of education in all cultures and systems. There is therefore an organic interface between the imperative for basic and qualitative education, and the resultant engagement with salaried employment or entrepreneurship, where hands-on skills and competencies will be deployed and tested, to support various categories of livelihoods. Therefore, the essence of every education, is to chart a productive, sustainable and mutually rewarding career path for everyone in society. Basic education, which is the foundation for all types and categories of education, should as well be the building block for good governance. When all components of civil society converge in one place for the same purpose, such as this gathering and are consistent in pursuing their vision, which emphasises basic education, they are clearly looking for good governance to guarantee sustainable social security, political stability and economic prosperity for all. And when the emphasis remains on basic education, it underscores the primacy of that layer of education and how its presence or absence, impinges on other layers of education. In every successful thing we strive to build in life for the good of humanity, it is necessary to begin from the starting point. This is usually the ‘design layer’, before moving on to the ‘construction segment’, and finally concluding with the aspect of ‘finishing element,’ which is usually the last and least important layer in that tripod. However, most of the time, Nigerians, for being what we are – the endemically hasty people – we always seem to be in a hurry to reach the zenith of our lives or careers, without recourse to the formula we deploy, the route we follow or the ultimate impact, which the pace of our movement would have on our mission. This is also regardless of the irreparable damage, which our hasty decisions usually cause beneficiaries on the way. We always find ourselves jumping the gun, and hastily and consistently interchanging the placements of ‘design,’ with ‘construction’ and ‘finishing.’ This national attitude, which has become endemically Nigerian, seem to be one of the main genesis of our national woes. Anywhere in the world, when first things come last and vice versa, the wheel of development is usually turned upside down and countrymen remain stagnant in one place, if not retrogressing all the time. It is in recognition of the imperative for hands-on education in Nigeria’s sustainable development that this paper was conceived. The priorities in our educational curricular must therefore be refocused to come to terms with Nigeria’s present day needs. The educational curriculum of yesteryears, which mainly focus on producing job seekers, must change with a strategic emphasis on manufacturing job creators, in order to fastrack sustainable development of the country in all sectors of the economy. This is believed to have the capacity for producing lifelong entrepreneurs and businessmen, creating a vast pool of fulltime and part time jobs, thereby deflating the blind craze for salaried employment by Nigerians.

WHY DEFINE A CAREER PATH?

After six decades of political independence, the wobbling frame of Nigeria’s polity has made it compelling for me to choose this topic for today’s lecture. Nowadays, to every direction of the national compass we look, there is rampaging crisis and instability. These include banditry, the Biafran rebellion, agitations in the Niger Delta, the quest for Oduduwa Republic, kidnapping, ethno-religious conflicts, gender-based violence, farmer/herder entanglement, political assassinations, insurgency, and many more. Most of these crisis seem to have a common denominator, which revolves around poverty, which in turn is caused by pervasive unemployment in the land. This joblessness itself seem to be rooted in inadequate education or the complete lack of it. All sectors of the national economy within the private and public sectors have been searching for sustainable solutions to the cankerworm of poverty and unemployment for generations. Even where education is not the problem, its quality and scope have remained contending challenges. Most of the education we give our youth nowadays is oblivious of the practical search for solutions to the myriad of political, social and economic challenges facing the country. Therefore, Nigeria continues to produce half-baked graduates who turn out to become half-baked workers, with a mind frame for personal gains only, lacking the sense of responsibility for public good. Fundamentally, the educational curriculum or delivery style, which was being used during the colonial times can no longer work nowadays. This is because the realities, the chances, the challenges, the options, the opportunities and indeed the strategic solutions have grown to become fundamentally different. In the early days of Nigeria’s nationhood, the emphasis has been to encourage youngsters to enroll in schools, so that they can graduate and work as civil servants or as teachers. At this time, whoever graduated from school had a job waiting for him. The emphasis had always been on producing graduates who are focused on ready-made jobs in the public sector. There was virtually little or no effort made to train or produce graduates who could create jobs. By then, the emphasis on producing job creators was missing for a number of reasons. Therefore, the component of mentoring students with the mind frame to become businessmen and entrepreneurs with the necessary skills and competencies to succeed, was the major missing link in our systems. There were fewer schools and fewer places in the civil service. Also, Nigerian parents especially in the north were resisting school enrollment for their children. This remained so until it became compulsory for every family, especially rulers to release at least one son for enrollment in the few schools available then. However, gradually, more and more teachers were being required in the steadily expanding older schools and the newer ones being built across the region. The few trained teachers and civil servants at this time, became the first generation of Nigerian journalists who led Nigeria’s nationalism campaign for political independence from British colonialism. Today, it has become increasingly clear that more and more high school and university graduates are daily saturating the unemployment market. More schools and universities are being licensed and built. More and more teachers are being trained. More and more professionals are being produced such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, administrators, IT specialists, etc. Majority of the millions of educated Nigerians graduating from different schools are targeting to be employed in either the public sector or in private companies. Far fewer are thinking of establishing their businesses. Many in this category are educated Nigerian returnees from various countries abroad. Incidentally, the jobs we are seeking for are shrinking by the hour. Even though the computer boom, the internet age and multimedia technology have jointly and separately created thousands of jobs around the world, these same advancements in technology have also taken away millions of other jobs.

In this era of fast-changing technological revolution, more and more jobs will continue to shrink in all sectors. Jobs that are usually being done by five people could now be managed by at most two people, if not only one. This is the stark reality of the era of artificial intelligence, electric cars, robotics and more.

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Permit me to give a simple personal example to drive home the arguments I am trying to make in the foregoing paragraph. In July 2000, I was privileged to have joined eleven other colleagues from China, India, South East Asia and other parts of Africa for an Executive Management training at the Deutsche Welle Broadcast Academy in Cologne, Germany. On our first day, soon after orientation, the lady we selected as Class Captain, Judith Agyemang stepped forward and engaged me in a discussion. Judith was then the General Manager of Kapital FM Radio in Kumasi Ghana. She told me that she had longed to meet a Nigerian on the international scene so that he could help her draft a radio jingle in Pidgin English to advertise her station back home in Ghana. I obliged her request and quickly developed a draft script, which I read out to her. She was excited. We therefore secured a studio to record the jingle. At that time, CD plates were in vogue. We waited in the studio for several minutes and no one came to put us through. Our thinking was that a studio manager was going to supervise the recording. Upon further inquiry, we were told that we were on our own, that no studio manager or any technical assistant was coming to offer any help. The second issue was that the studio was four times smaller than the ones we use back in Lagos. In both Nigeria and Ghana, Judith and I were used to a bigger studio and at least three operators to supervise a professional broadcast recording. Everything we needed in terms of studio facilities were in place, very much in far more digital formats. The DW experience finally taught us a major lesson. The job that was being done by about four people in the analogue age, can now be done by only one person. This also means that the three other people would automatically lose their jobs. This is the same scenario with the gradual tilt to artificial intelligence, robotics and electric cars. All of these advancements are gradually taking over the jobs of men. When automobile companies such as Peugeot in Nigeria start full production of electric cars, they will no longer require most of their present personnel. This means that there will be a further boost in unemployment figures around the world. This will add up to the daily rising numbers from the pool of graduates who have no skills, because they were not trained to think, but only educated to seek for jobs. Similarly, robotics is also helping in the craze to take away peoples’ jobs. Many companies and big time supermarkets are now already being manned by robots. According to current figures from UNICEF, Nigeria has over ten million children outside primary school. This suggests that in the next twenty (20) years, about thirty percent (30%) of Nigerians will not be able to secure employment even as security men alone. This is because, the job, as low as it is being regarded, will henceforth require basic literacy as qualification, which includes knowledge of basic computing. This also means that whoever is not technologically proficient will gradually not be able to either secure even the lowest salaried job, or function successfully as a businessman or entrepreneur anywhere. Therefore, the Nigerian economy seems to be replete with jobless countrymen who are mainly targeting to work for someone, some government or some company.

START-UP SURVEY EXPERIENCE @ AUN

Between 2002 and 2003 when the American University of Nigeria (AUN) was licensed, a survey was conducted, to determine the volume of graduates who complete secondary school every year. The result of the survey indicated that every year, about 1.2m students from private and public high schools in the country graduate. This number excludes the annual volume of university graduates. Out of the number, Nigerian universities then could only accommodate about 100,000 applicants in their admission spaces. This suggests that over one million graduates would remain out of university, not because they fail to pass NECO, WAEC or JAMB, but because the enrollment spaces are limited. Assuming that another 100,000 high school graduates settle for polytechnics, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions; while another 100,000 who come from rich families enroll in universities abroad, we still had up to 900,000 graduates without admission, without jobs and without the necessary skills or mentorship to stand on their feet as entrepreneurs or business leaders. This challenge is more real with the millions of young men and women who graduate annually from the nearly 150 universities in the country. Without the necessary skills and mentorship in running a business, the graduates will continue to increase in volumes and pose a variety of social, political and economic problems for the country. It was on the basis of the compelling hindsight to train and empower youngsters to graduate as job creators that AUN was able to flesh out a typical American style curriculum to ensure that its graduates would not encounter the same challenges, which majority of Nigerian graduates face after leaving school. AUN visioners understood that without a fundamental shift away from merely producing job seekers, the problem of unemployment and youth restiveness will continue to escalate as jobs continue to shrink. That is why every student is mandated to offer entrepreneurship as a basic requirement, regardless of one’s course of study. The goal is to enable them acquire the skills and competencies to establish and operate a business successfully. During the entrepreneurship course, every student is expected to develop a business plan and present in class. This plan will be defended and critiqued by professors and fellow students. The student concerned will be expected to take notes of these critique and panel-beat his plan and represent severally, until it is finally approved. Without this approval, a student will pass the course. At the end of the course, students are expected to organise themselves in small groups and select a business plan they could experiment on campus or in the community. Each group will be given a seed money to fund its business. At the end of the day, proceeds from the business belongs to the students, while the seed money is returned to the School of Business so that it could be reallocated to another group. Afterwards, it will be understood that every student who participates and completes the entrepreneurship course in theory and practice, could now establish and run a business successfully. The AUN hands-on experience also involves giving students a range of opportunities to graduate as broadly educated entrepreneurs with the capacity, the expertise and mind frame to establish themselves along their chosen career paths. Apart from internships, class presentations, continuous assessment, field trips to industry, etc. students also have the opportunity to engage in work-study experience on campus.

MY EXPERIENCE AT THE HOMEFRONT

In my own home, permit me to share a personal story about the six boys I was blessed with, which made their mother curious about my suggestions.

One day, I called a family meeting to advise on the necessity for each of the boys to think of identifying his preferred career choice after school. The goal was to empower them with their chosen skills, give them the mentorship and mind frame to stand on their feet whenever they needed to do so, without languishing in long years of joblessness. Their mother immediately responded with an opinion that my advice was unnecessary. The woman reasoned that since they were enrolled in good schools and that their father was still alive, they could easily graduate and ride on my influence to secure quality jobs anywhere. The mother never gave any of the following thoughts: 1. I might die before the boys graduate, 2. There are millions of graduates already out there without jobs, 3. Technology is shrinking more and more of the available jobs, etc. My plan was for each of the boys to identify his preference so that during holidays, I could attach them with career leaders in the community for mentorship, ahead of graduation. The advantage they had is that I deal with many professionals who have been working for me for several years ranging from electricians, plumbers, building engineers, carpenters, welders, tailors, etc. The mother was not done with them yet, as she monitored one of them (Muhammad Sambo) and declared that, because he was too argumentative by nature, he will not be allowed to study law as he wished. However, I had to step in and remind her that with such argumentative traits, Muhammad Sambo could make a very good lawyer, because the entire legal process is built on the vitality of arguments. Incidentally, even as she argued against my suggestion for the boys to secure lifelong skills, today, whenever they are on holiday, the mother who owns a beverage shop in Yola, takes them there to supervise and learn the economics of buying and selling, before school reopens. In the light of the foregoing, its necessary for parents to monitor the preferences of our children in order to support them realize their personal career goals. If your children fiddle with flowers, trees and crops generally, they should be helped to find a bearing in Agriculture or Environmental Science. When they are worried about frequent collapse of buildings in Nigeria, as we see on TV every day, we should push them towards engineering or architecture. And if have an appetite for arguments and always stand on their viewpoint like Muhammad Sambo, we should encourage their need for legal education.

FOUNDATIONS OF MY CAREER PATH

My path into journalism developed from the urge to listen to radio and continue reading any press-like material anytime. This urge, which started right from primary school and moved to writing topical stories of the moment, and posting them on the campus notice board at Teachers College. I did not know that the stories were growing and developing in value and interest around the campus. Until one day when I was posting a new story written on the traditional A3 foolscap sheet, came Brother Fergus, the most senior among the Scottish Catholic Missionary teachers who run the Teachers College, which I attended. I did not know that Brother Fergus was waiting behind to read the latest news from my bulletin. I can’t remember the subject of the story, but it was clear to have enticed the Catholic teacher-priest. He then edited the script on the notice board with red ink, effecting some grammatical and structural corrections on the story. This experience, which happened around 1981 was my first lesson in news editing, which came from someone other than a news man. The experience no doubt left an indelible mark on my career path, giving me the necessary bearing in what was to become my passion in later life - journalism.

And when Mr. Tola Aluko was posted to serve his NYSC year in the college after graduation from University of Ibadan, I was among the first set of student volunteers who answered his call for membership of a press club, which he initiated. Part of my enticement was Tola’s plan to start a monthly campus newsmagazine. He got the numbers he wanted and moved on immediately with laying out the process for inaugurating the publication. First, he invited interested students and teachers to submit articles for publication. This was another auspicious opportunity for me to begin to hone my passion for journalism. I started television broadcasting as early as the month of graduation from college in June 1983. And after graduation from university with my choice degree in Mass Communication, I freelanced for newspapers briefly in Lagos, worked with a newsmagazine and later joined radio broadcasting. This was where I was randomly picked to become the General Manager of Adamawa Broadcasting Corporation Yola on September 22^nd 1999. In all of these media career exploits, I missed the roadway for an early career in teaching, until the summer of 2008 at the American University of Nigeria, where I taught courses, which included Public Speaking, News Writing, Public Relations, Photo-Journalism, Broadcasting, Media in Africa, Independent Study, Media Internship, etc. All of these developments aligned with my career plans and pathway - to work in all three major media platforms and finally move into PR, and resolved to acquire a PhD and retire into community service teaching. All of these happened consecutively until I was privileged to start a Media & Language Training Institute (MLTI) in 2012. The training component was inaugurated in February 2016 with 25 public speaking students who were trained and certificated for free. MLTI is a training, mentoring and consultancy institute envisioned to give back to community and country.

APPLIED UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

While in the university, I was privileged to have been taught by many distinguished professors from Africa, Europe and the United States. The most memorable among them were D’Arcy Drury from Canada, Ted Roberts from United States, Jerry Domatob from Cameroun and Jibrin Bala Mohammed, a fellow Nigerian. These professors and several others have had the most fundamental impact on my undergraduate education. Each one of them was unique in his own way. In news writing, the lessons from D’Arcy Drury laid the foundation for whatever skills I have acquired later that made me attain some level of success in the journalism profession. He was one iconic Canadian who understood and shared the barebones of the news writing and delivery business any day. He also laid the foundations for our success in crafting and the delivery of public citations. I recall the sample citation D’Arcy gave back in class about himself, which resonates till today. Jibrin Bala Mohammed who later replaced D’Arcy, successfully built on the foundation and excelled beyond measure. He was loved by every student. His teaching was remarkably different as no one failed his course easily. Even though he was short lived, his forays as an accomplished but down-to-earth academic, remain legendary. Ted Roberts joined University of Maiduguri as a visiting professor of PR and Advertising from the United States. He was for many years a radio host at the Voice of America in Washington DC. He therefore joined the University of Maiduguri with an exemplary mixture of academic and industry experience from the American perspective, which he lavishly shared with his students. We enjoyed his charm as a practical instructor that he was, with a characteristic baritone voice on top of the natural American slang as his trade mark. Our experience with him was the very first for most students who never encountered a typical American trained scholar and industry expert to come this close.

His classes in PR & Advertising were in the class of their own. Jerry Domatob who was Head of Department, has been another enigma loved by all for his simplicity, charisma and vast knowledge of the courses he taught. A Pan-Africanist to the core, he was highly foresighted, and students always looked forward to his very interactive classes. His lectures always sought to highlight the prevailing chances and challenges in the media industry, and the huge dossier of options and opportunities, which lie ahead. Jerry was like a soothsayer about the upcoming new technological advances, which were staring the world in the face, even at that time. These were only a few of the many accomplished scholars who tutored and mentored the Class of 1989, through four very productive years of hands-on undergraduate scholarship, that have finally made us what we became in later life. The list of such rare training and coaching are countless. However, I am excited to share a brief narrative about eleven of the most critical platforms, which shaped and sharpened our world view as budding Mass Communicators, in a way that have hardly happened for other colleagues who had a different experience from other institutions, departments and individual handlers.  

1. INDUSTRIAL WORK SCHEME: This is still common in most institutions. The purpose has been to expose students to the daily routine of relevant industry practices, and encourage them to begin to think of charting their careers for the future. During my experience at Hotline News-Magazine Kaduna in 1988, I was privileged to have earned the necessary on-the-job experience, which laid the foundation for the full time job I started there, after NYSC. It was while in Kaduna that I began to think of why and how I could become a publisher and succeed, just like Hassan Sani Kontagora (Founder of the magazine) did. I was mentored in news and feature writing, editorial management, newsroom logistics, news coverage and a broad range of routine media operations. Infact, that was where I secured the guts to take on a weekly news magazine lead story and craft the cover story on such a crucial and sensitive issue like the Kaduna Mafia, in a city adjudged the unofficial headquarters of the group. In 1988, when it happened, I was barely 24 years and was yet to graduate from the university. Infact the Industrial Work Experience gave me the courage to function as a freelance journalist in a tough, volatile and sentimental media environment like Lagos as early as 1989. For me and for many colleagues and well-wishers, it was really curious how I penetrated such leading national dailies like The Guardian, Vanguard, National Concord and Daily Times at that time. That was why I cared less with the freelance stipend but focused on the inroads I was making and the experience I was gathering from the best and brightest industry experts. That was also why I could very well function later as an inaugural member of the editorial board for NewsPage Newspaper in Abuja and offered a weekly column without any preconditions. That was also why in 1997, when the stillborn Blueprint Media conglomerate was being envisioned by the late Salihijo Ahmed of Afri-Projects in Abuja, my name also featured among the list of northern media boys to inaugurate the enterprise, which never saw the light of day after Salihijo’s sudden demise. These variety of experiences I have gathered from different angles, laid the foundation for a full time job for me on graduation in 1990 after NYSC. I served as a Senior Staff Writer for Hotline until 1991. Even while on internship, I was able to achieve three things: 1. Earned the required industry experience, 2. Got the opportunity to train staff who had not gone to any journalism school but only acquired on-the-job training, 3. Crafted one of the best-selling cover stories for Hotline Newsmagazine (The Kaduna Mafia: Who is Afraid?), etc. When I started teaching at the American University of Nigeria in the summer of 2008, part of the courses I handled was Students Media Internships – CMD 493. The course was responsible for connecting with the media industry and sending students for industrial training. I was also responsible for monitoring their work from afar, and eventually reviewing their grading at the end of the course. This came to me as something I liked doing for the simple fact that, my hands-on participation in the Industrial Work Experience Scheme, back in my school days, gave me the needed background and understanding of what was required of me as an adjunct professor of Communication & Multimedia Design at American University of Nigeria. More so, since at AUN I found myself serving as Coordinator for Media Internship. This is a course which every CMD student was expected to take as a basic requirement. It entails identifying a media outfit and officially connecting the students, monitoring and evaluating their work and performance periodically.
   
   
2. NEWSPAPER & MAGAZINE PRODUCTION COURSE: The department of Mass Communication at University of Maiduguri deliberately had a student’s training newspaper. This was usually produced and published by students as a practical vehicle through, which the Newspaper & Magazine Production Course was taught. Students offering the course during the third year were responsible for all the reportorial, editorial and logistic activities, processes and procedures leading up to designing, printing and publishing the newspaper. After all, the production planning routine would have been completed, including designing, page planning, dummy creation, and filming, students offering the course would be expected to shift their production base to either the University Printing Press on campus, or a selected private printer in town depending on the class choice. During my time, our class selected a private printer (Awosanmi Press) along Baga Road then, which was one of the best in Maiduguri at that time. The production period lasted for nearly twenty-four hours. The entire class shifted base to Awosanmi Press in the morning of the first production day, stayed overnight until the morning of day two, when a clean copy of a finished newspaper product finally rolled out of the press. From the moment we arrived at the Press, staffers stayed back to watch the Class of 1989 launch our industry experience in that aspect of Mass Communication. It was an experience like no other. The second and final day was actually Convocation day at the University to celebrate the graduating Class of 1988, which came before our own. We all rushed back to school to prepare for the big day and sell our product at the convocation square as proud members of the next graduating class. The experience we all got from the practical processes and procedures of newspaper production could never have been bought from any marketplace, no matter how much money we staked. Our spirit of teamwork blossomed, we cultivated industry professionals in a private printing press who were ready to help us learn, and we learned before their very eyes without paying a dime. We got the opportunity to lay our individual foundations and made lifelong decisions about newspapering and the print media industry, which we could use to enrich humanity as long as we lived. Infact the production experience actually honed my initial interest and preference for the print media rather than broadcast, which later got reversed at some point and intertwined afterwards. On Convocation Day, we left the printing press with practical experiences and lifelong orientations about the lectures we took on the history of printing technology back in school. Many of us were asking where was gravure printing, letterpress or offset lithography? At that time, direct imaging was yet to be envisioned, as the latest printing technology in use then, was offset lithography. As the Editor-in-Chief of the training Newspaper, Tambari, the fulfillment I personally felt and the general satisfaction, which the entire Class of 1989 had on the accomplishment, remained with us till today.
   
   
3. RADIO & TELEVISION PRODUCTION COURSE: Like the previous course, the department also maintained a broadcast studio to facilitate practical lessons in any aspect of broadcasting and film production. This was the practical vehicle, which anchored the Radio and TV Production Course. The first part of the course in the third year was anchored by Usman Hong, an American trained broadcast academic. Apart from the studio on campus that was fairly equipped to meet our training needs, the advanced aspect of the course was taken at the premises of NTA Maiduguri by the late General Manager of the station, Dr. Madu Mailafiya. All sessions were truly interactive. In addition, we have been opportune to be mentored by several other top ranking media veterans who have made their mark in the industry. Our privilege was also found in the broad variety of industry specialists in our class, who joined us from various local and international radio and television stations. Many of us also had Journalism Diplomas before enrollment. This list included Ali Loskurima, a veteran of the BBC fame, Abdullahi Galadima of NTA Maiduguri, Bakura Abba Jato of BRTV, Su’ad Lami Yakawu of Radio Niger, etc.
   
   
4. PHOTO JOURNALISM COURSE: This was another exciting and practically taught course at the university, which was aimed at ensuring that students had the hands-on training and skills to function in the real world. We were trained in the rudiments of photography, camera handling and film processing and production to enable us make crucial decisions if we desire to venture into photography either as employees or as business owners. I saw both windows staring us in the face very early in school. One of the most interesting scenarios I can recall was how we were drilled to personally produce individualized albums by handling cameras and shoot both static and motion pictures by ourselves. At the end of the day, we moved on to the Publications Unit of the Vice Chancellor’s office, which became the operations centre and production studio where all our films were developed and printed as individual class projects, which were presented for grading. Personally, this course experience gave me the foundation for teaching the Photo Journalism Course at American University of Nigeria in 2016, for the first time when I paired with an American press photographer, Ms. Daniella Vallisana. Back in school, Photo Journalism was actually not among the courses I was excited about, but the practical experience and spirit of team work, which drove the course, was the needed fillip, which introduced some flavor into the program, that encouraged me to like it. The level of likeness could easily be seen in my acceptance to teach the course at university level.
   
   
5. SCRIPT EDITING COURSE: This was the fourth course, which was taught hands-on from day one. It was among the courses offered in the third year. Before the class, many of us in the Class of 1989 thought editing was only meant for those who are weak in writing. From the very first lecture, that orientation was changed for good. Jerry Domatob, a dynamic scholar who taught it began with a very clear message, perhaps a quote from another communication scholar thus: ‘no writer that has been born who cannot be edited.’ He made it clear that editing was necessary for all writings because at the point when any writer starts writing, he would naturally have a psychological blind spot not to visualize certain things until much later. He told the class to test writing a script and move away from it for a while. Then come back to the script, definitely, the original writer could improve the script either for clarity, for grammar, for choice of words, for tense alignment, etc. Jerry also encouraged us to share our scripts with others so that they can help us spot certain necessary improvements, which our inbuilt psychological blindspots cannot pick easily. On the first day of this course, after his opening remarks, Jerry asked the class to bring out a plain sheet of paper and write a news story on any subject of choice. After the exercise, we swapped the stories. When each student eventually got a script other than the one he originally wrote, then Jerry asked each one of us to ‘review’ or ‘edit’ the scripts. He preferred reviewing than editing to drive home the point that the process is a basic requirement in all script writing, which originates from man. At the end of our individual review of the various stories, we handed back each story to its original writer and everyone appreciated the improvements in their scripts. Jerry concluded the day’s class by narrating a personal story of his article, which was sent to a journal in India for publication. After several months of peer reviewing, the article was published along with many others. When a copy of the journal was sent to him, he perused through all articles and began to think that it was likely that his article was not published in the sent edition. He lived with that conclusion until he was re-reading another article in the journal, then he began to ask himself about the commonality of the contentions in the article with his own views. Everything rhymed with his conclusions but virtually every part of the original article was reviewed and the choice of words altered completely. In fact, even the title was tampered with, only his byline at the end, that was not affected. That was how Jerry knew that the article was actually his work.
   
   
6. MASS COMMUNICATION LAW: Every journalist anywhere is expected to be fairly conversant with the basic laws of defamation, that is both libel and slander. This is because they always deal in writing, speaking and publishing. Their written or spoken publications deal with past, the present and the future of individuals, groups, organisations, industries, nations, governments, companies, systems, and more. That was why our curriculum ensured that we offered Mass Communication Law before graduation. The imperative for this offering was why the professor assigned to teach the course was not imported from the Faculty of Law, but was an accomplished Mass Communicator resident in the department. Unfortunately, halfway into the course, Tanimu Barau Ogbole, passed away. There was need to assign another professor to continue and complete his class in the second semester. I recollect how Mr. Jauro of the Faculty of Law was assigned to take charge during the second semester. Enrollees were initially excited that we were going to have a full-fledged lawyer to complete the remaining aspects of the course schedule. Our excitement was not because we did not like Tanimu or because his teaching was not good enough, but we felt that the change of guard will give us a new approach and deeper insights into the course from a lawyer. This opportunity would have been double-edged – one course taught by a Mass Communicator and a Lawyer. Mr. Jauro reported for class and introduced himself, promising to continue from where Tanimu stopped, but from a truly legal perspective expected of a law academic. He was initially celebrated by all, which eventually did not last beyond the first week. Every lecture day when Mr. Jauro stepped into the class, he would expect us to open our books and start notes from a dictation. The notes were long, boring and tiring! Everyone began to hate the course, not because he does not know the subject, but because the strategy was not a Mass Communication teaching approach. Mass Communication students were not used to long note-taking! Virtually all our courses were applied and we engaged in group work to deliver a variety of group projects. Even when we were engaged in individual assignments, they were projects in themselves, which are usually not anchored on memorizing or copying notes from anywhere. Every aspect of our work was research-based, and most of it happen outside of the classroom. Therefore, for any imported lecturer from another department of the university to suddenly alter the usual routine, students had every reason to resist. When we resisted, Mr. Jauro felt we were not ready to be as hardworking, as his Law students from what he arrogantly called ‘the noble profession’. We reminded him that ours was equally noble but remarkably different, and so should be treated differently. My class was very vehement in underscoring the point that, we would rather be given the relevant book chapters to research on our own than copying chunks with our bare hands only to attempt to cram and turn back during examinations. Ours in Mass Communication was reading and understanding and applying through a broad variety of team projects and individual assignments. Eventually we had our way!
   
   
7. AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & EXTENSION SERVICES: Apart from taking Law courses, the class was also compelled to take a few other courses in other departments such as Business Communication, International Relations, Agricultural Economics and Extension (AGX), etc. All the courses were exciting but AGX 305 and 405 taken in the third and fourth years from the Faculty of Agriculture, stood out for two reasons. The course content and the quality of the professor who taught it. Professor Ogunbameru who led both portions, was an accomplished Nigerian scholar who joined the Faculty of Agriculture from abroad. His pedigree in teaching was unrivalled as every student looked forward to his class. The purpose of the course was to expose students to the rudiments of routine interactions with farming communities. As journalists, we were mentored to cultivate the culture of relating with all segments of society, so that we could access whatever information we want from them easily. The area of Public Affairs Reporting played out very well in meeting the goals of the two AGX courses. Therefore, the class became more exciting as we were mixed with student colleagues who were majoring in General Agriculture. Since we were not Agriculture majors, we did not undertake the mandatory Farm Project component of the course, which Agriculture Majors were mandated to take. However, as colleagues, we were encouraged to work together on their Farms and participate in the extension services, in which they were engaged in throughout the course. Indeed, this was another great campus experience for my class. The course actually placed us on the proper pedestal to mark our limits as reporters and communicators when we eventually move into industry in later life.
   
   
8. MANUAL TYPEWRITING CLASS: Another critical course we offered in the second year was typing. It was never optional but compulsory on everybody as journalists need it in their daily professional lives. At that time, since computers were expensive and therefore not very common, we used manual typewriters whose prints had no soft versions like the electronic computers of today. However, we had the luxury of what was known as stencils. So typing was made on these special typing sheets (stencils) placed on carbon papers. Afterwards, the stencils were rolled over time and again for mass production. During the class, each student had a typewriter to himself. We were coached on the basics of typing, typing pace, quality of work, how to effect corrections with or without the white correcting fluid, etc. This was a fully graded course, which had a question paper but without answer sheets. Students were expected to use the typewriter to answer the exam questions, to demonstrate their understanding of the course. I can’t remember any student who failed to pass the course.
   
   
9. BROADCAST CRITICISM & ANALYSIS: One of the most challenging final year courses I undertook was Broadcast Criticism and Analysis. The course was both challenging in delivery and during examination whose structure was like no other. From its title, the course focused on collective review and analysis of a variety of broadcast content. These contents came in different lengths, production quality, target audience, etc. Students were expected to have offered the Radio and TV Production Course as a prelude to taking the Broadcast Criticism and Analysis course. Without that background, enrollees would find it tough to understand how to review and analyze the various broadcast content at stake, ranging from documentaries, films, news magazine programs, video commercials, etc. We were therefore placed in class to jointly review scheduled broadcast content in all their ramifications. Usually, under the tutelage of our professors, students were free to first watch, take notes, critically assess every production and recommend areas for improvement! We were also expected to identify areas where the content was well produced. The examination presented the most challenging experience ever. It had no question papers but answer sheets. This was my very final undergraduate examination paper to be written on the day I left the university campus in July 1989. In the exam hall, a television set was placed in a conspicuous location, at the frontage of the class where every one of the nearly forty students could easily see clearly. The other challenge for us was that the broadcast content to be reviewed and analyzed was never seen by any class member. Even if any of us had seen it somewhere before the exam date, that experience would have little or no impact on the day’s subject matter because of the examiner’s expectation from the students. Another challenge during this very exam was the fact that the video under scrutiny could not be paused to align with any student’s pace. What I did to personally tackle the brakeless video display of the content under review during the examination, was to prepare ahead of starting the paper. I cleverly wrote out all the potential sub-areas to be reviewed at different intervals on the answer sheet. When we were signaled to start the examination, I quickly prepared talking points to fill in any area that easily came to mind. Much later, I returned back to fill up and clean up all the different sub-areas of analysis. At the end of the examination, I was fulfilled that I had observed and commented on many critical production successes and failures, which was actually the hallmark of the course. I secured a ‘B’ grade from the course. Today, when I look back with much nostalgia, I could visibly see right through my professional life in broadcasting, how this tough course work, far back in school, which was nicknamed BCA (Broadcast Criticism and Analysis) had fundamentally affected my sense of analysis and judgement of broadcast products and programs.
   
   
10. PUBLIC RELATIONS & ADVERTISING: The PR and Advertising course was also a fourth year program and was the semifinal examination to be written. Every year, examiners present several questions for students to select from, but question number one, which is usually applied, has always been mandatory for all students. This was deliberately meant to test our understanding of Public Relations from the viewpoint of industry, not only academics. Because of its applied nature, the compulsory question was the only one I still remember till today. It reads as follows:

Imagine yourself being invited to a launching ceremony for the first sail of a new ship, built by a ship manufacturing company. This was the first time the company was launching its product/service. Countless letters were sent out inviting dignitaries and other stakeholders from all works of life, including major media organizations. Hundreds of dignitaries, reporters and CEOs from major media conglomerates eventually thronged the seaside waterfront premises of the company to witness the historic occasion. After all pleasantries have happened, dignitaries seated and opening speeches delivered, cameramen and videographers were at hand to start clicking their tools. The ship captain and crew embarked to kickstart the inaugural sail. When they got the signal to switch on, the ship started moving beautifully into the high seas. By the time it reached the centre of the sea, it gradually begun to sink. This was real, and nobody had any idea of the genesis of the problem. In the light of the foregoing, assuming that you are the Public Relations Officer for the ship manufacturing company, what kind of PR damage control strategy would you deploy to mitigate the image crisis for your company, and restore the confidence of potential customers and other stakeholders in the shipping industry?

Also under this course, a holiday term paper assignment was usually given to students to take home. The assignment was like an independent Public Relations management project, on which students were expected to work before returning to submit them after their vacation. In this case, I was assigned to select an organisation of my choice and write about its administrative structure and how PR management is handled there. I chose the then Faro Bottling Company Limited, manufacturers of a variety of soft drinks at the Kofare Industrial Layout in Yola. The products included Afri-Cola (Coke), Bluna (Fanta), Zit (Sprite) and Vimto (Blackcurrant). Today, this is the same company, which in 2004, metamorphosed into the present Adama Beverages, producers of Faro water and juice, located at the same premises, but with astronomical expansion. At this time, the former Ardo Balala (District Head of Ribadu), Alhaji Hamman Tukur Hamza, was the Administrative Manager at the then Faro Bottling Company. He was the one who obliged to grant me the interview about the company, which gave me my first experience about the organogram of a corporate organization and how its PR structure works. For me, it was indeed a privilege to have had unfettered access to such a distinguished royal icon (the Ardo Balala) at the head of one of the earliest beverage companies in the region. When my encounter with the late Ardo Balala was happening in 1986, I least expected that seventeen years later (1993) that I was going to hire and work with one of his daughters at the Voice of Nigeria in Lagos, Princess Hauwa’u.

11. SPEECH & PUBLIC SPEAKING COURSE: In my second undergraduate year at UniMaid, one of the applied courses we offered was Speech and Public Speaking (MCM 202). Like many other MCM programs, the course covered a little bit of foundation theories and mostly practical delivery. After laying the theoretical background in the inaugural weeks, most part of the remaining semester was focused on practical presentations and deliveries in class, which served as a typical events audience. Students were required to select any speech topic of their choice and develop original speeches for presentation in class. Ahead of this very important assignment, the professor admonished us against two things: 1. Selecting speech topics that we have no interest in, or have no knowledge and skill to write about. 2. Secondly, we should ensure that we originate our scripts by ourselves and never to copy from any source or ask someone to write for us before presentation. Regardless, many of us plagiarized and presented other people’s work and it became glaring. However, even though the instructor was not oblivious of that fact, he decided to keep silent about it initially. There was a reason for that, as he wanted to catch defaulters red-handed, which was also a teaching strategy to drive home a critical point into students about the compelling need for originality in public speaking. He warned that for Public Speech presentations to be confidently and ideally delivered before any audience, they are supposed to be original. In this context, we were reminded that the word ‘original’ means two basic things. First it should be the presenters’ own idea; and secondly she/he should be the one to originate the script and craft it in his/her own way, in the best way she/he thinks can be easily presented. Speeches that are lifted from other people’s work, which are not originally written by their potential presenters cannot be confidently delivered without any apron strings attached. Secondly, those presentations that are not based on topics selected by the presenters or based on the background of those presenting cannot be effectively presented. I was among many classmates who learned significant lessons from this aspect of the class, which stayed with us till this day. Incidentally, I was also among those who opted to deliver someone’s speech against the preaching of the course instructor. Even though there were many other colleagues who decided to do the same, mine was not because I wanted to copy. As a top leader of Gamji Club on campus, I had been conversant with many of the speeches of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late Sardauna of Sokoto. In fact, Gamji was a club established to immortalize his legacies. Part of the immortalization was to enliven his speeches, principles and works. I presented my speech (that of the Sardauna, on the Launching of the New Nigerian newspaper, which was originally delivered on January 1, 1966, two weeks before his demise. The speech was considered one of the best presented, even though it was copied. Two reasons accounted for the success. First was the fact that I rehearsed the speech countless times and presented it in many fora. I have even crammed and can easily quote many aspects of the speech. Secondly, I cherished the works and legacies of the late Sardauna considerably, which accounted for two major decisions I made in life. Joining the Gamji Memorial Club and serving as its spokesman, which also led to my selection as the Editor-in-Chief of the Club’s Newsmagazine, The Herdsman. Thirdly, I joined Hotline magazine Kaduna because, the publication also eulogizes the legacies of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello. We were also introduced to the three famous Ps in fleshing out our speeches namely: Preparation (or Planning), Practice (or Rehearsal) and Presentation (or Delivery). The class was reminded that since no building thrives without a foundation, we should always begin with the right foundation. Therefore, all three Ps in public speaking are equivalent to the process of building a house, which also involves three stages namely: Design, Construction and Finishing. While Design represents Preparation, Construction is equivalent to Practice and Finishing stands for Presentation. Out of the three stages, we were reminded that Presentation is usually considered as the most difficult, while in reality it is the easiest, once Design and Construction are addressed adequately. One of the main reasons why presentation (or delivery) is usually considered difficult, is because both the Design and Construction components are often taken for granted by public speakers or speech writers. Once these two basic steps are taken seriously and executed according to professional prescriptions and standards, the final stage, which is Finishing or Presentation (delivery) will be made very easy. Public speakers and speech writers are hereby challenged to always try to understand, respect and role-play all the three steps in all their experiences.

ENDNOTE

In the light of the foregoing modest paper on this critical and timeless subject matter, which concerns everyone, DEFINING A CAREER PATH for every profession should therefore be anchored on the type and scope of education received from elementary, to high school, through university. It is now clear how several inter-related and interconnected elements of my educational foundation have been fleshed out and consistently integrated together from the beginning to the very end. It can also be seen how the various educational systems from secondary school to university, have been able to build and sustain my appetite in journalism, so much so that it became difficult for me to disconnect from my already chosen field from childhood to retirement. In every profession, this should apply for every career path chosen by youngsters early in life. These variety of career development opportunities have given me a broad range of options to either work in the public sector, become an entrepreneur in my field, or establish a media related business than can generate revenue and also offer volunteering service to community. All of the three options have happened to me. As a result of the foundations I was privileged to have, I specialised in virtually all of the basic areas of mass communication or journalism practice in industry and academia. I started as a newscaster, became a reporter, served as media intern, appointed an editor, became a producer, rose to the post of editor-in-chief, and later became a features writer, columnist, director, journalism teacher, broadcast manager, PR consultant, media institute founder, etc. Once the model of my experience is replicated anywhere appropriately, the same career path success can happen to anyone in any field of human endeavour. What is important would be injecting and continually sustaining the necessary elements of the basic education required in each career path. In this era, when Mass Communication offerings have been decentralized to seven different areas, one advantage, which journalism graduates of yesteryears have had over today’s upcoming enrollees in the program, had been the convergence of a broad range of all the media-related courses under one umbrella. During our time, all the different course contents, which cut across the seven newly decentralized areas were clustered into one course. Therefore, one Mass Communication graduate of the past can be equated to seven graduates of the upcoming generation. Here lies the hands-on background, which we were privileged to receive, which cannot be found nowadays as much as before. Personally, I was also privileged to have earned the journalism education, which for many decades has been regarded as being too broad for one undergraduate degree offering. But for beneficiaries like me, it was the tonic that gave us the foundation we got to become broadly educated graduates in our field and other associated areas. This opportunity enabled us to secure the necessary career foundations in a broad range of ways from which we could choose and define our direction. With this background it was clear very early in school that graduates would not be entirely seeking for only salaried jobs. And even if they do, they are already exposed to a variety of independent career options where they could easily move to. Many of them take up salaried jobs in order to secure the necessary workplace experience to establish and successfully operate their own businesses. Whoever graduated from a Mass Communication program at the University of Maiduguri then, was therefore fully equipped with the necessary skills to function in a variety of ways and systems he so desires. His options will remain unlimited for the rest of his life!

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Secondary schools and tertiary institutions should fundamentally review and refocus their curricular, in order to ensure that the required emphasis is placed on training students and producing graduates, who can stand on their feet as budding entrepreneurs and potential business leaders, regardless of their course of study.
2. Policy makers should seriously start thinking of the necessary policy to give legal backing to this fundamental need. Where the law is available, the government needs to wake up from slumber to give it the appropriate teeth that will make it genuinely functional.
3. Teachers and education administrators should prepare to deliver new knowledge that will be anchored on securing hands-on skills to enable students to think outside of the box and stand on their feet with hands-on training. No course of study should be carelessly regarded as a single honor or a field in which a career path cannot be created. Once the necessary foundations have been laid, a broad range of career paths could emerge.
4. Parents should monitor their children very early in life and support them all the time by tailoring their choices appropriately, in order to realize their career goals. They should avoid forcing a career path on their wards, which usually backfires.
5. Professionals in fields other than journalism or media work should critically review the career foundations of student training in their areas to see whether the necessary inputs have been appropriately injected and could work to produce job creators rather than job seekers. Engineers, Lawyers, Geographers/Environmentalists, medical and veterinary doctors, IT Specialists, Business graduates, communicators, scientists, etc. have a responsibility to critically explore this reality.