I have been reading some depressing stories about the state of the Obafemi Awolowo University, formerly University of Ife, which provide an equally depressing metaphor for the state of higher education in Nigeria. Great Ife as that university is known to its staff, students and alumni, is probably Nigeria’s first model university in every respect. Its major competitors were the University of Ibadan, the University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. But Ife was far ahead in terms of the beauty of its environment and the facilities made available to staff and students. Built with Cocoa money (not petro-dollar!) by the Western Region Government, that university was a perfect illustration of the idea of the university and it managed to produce generations of scholars and students, known for nothing but distinction.
I studied at the University of Calabar (Malabites!), and at the time, I took time out to visit all the universities I mentioned earlier. In those days, the top universities in Nigeria were tourism destinations. Ibadan and ABU had the best bookshops anyone could think of, and the bookshop in UNILAG was also professionally run. UNN students insisted that they attended the University of Nigeria! But Ife had the most beautiful campus. It was the only university that had a special publication titled "Ife University in Pictures." I remember receiving copies of that publication as a gift at different times from my friends: Kola Ogunleye, Akeem Adewuyi, and Kayode Ajala who served in the university as a youth corps member.
Whenever UNIFE students spoke about their university, you would think it was a little piece of heaven that had been converted to a university. They spoke about beauty, excellence, intellect and great scholarship. Every lecturer on the campus was painted like an Oracle at Delphi. So much mythology mixed with tales of absolute excitement attracted other students to the university. Curiousity once took
-The Eagle Online.
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