There was a cabinet reshuffle a few days ago and the Ministry of Education was affected. President Tinubu announced a US-based Nephrologist specializing in kidney diseases and hypertension management as the new minister of education. The first thing that came to the mind of some people was whether the President think the education sector has a kidney disease that requires prescriptions from a Nephrologist.
Dr. Morufu Olatunji Alausa obtained his Bachelor of Medicine
and Surgery degree from the University of Lagos in 1993. The period of his
graduation fell within the period of brain drain of the early 90s. A situation
that is reoccurring now, 30 years later. The interesting part is that while
another generation of Nigerians is on another Brain-Drain mission (Japa), those
who left (Japa) 30 years ago are coming back home for political appointments to
lead those who either refused to "Japa" or had no opportunity to do
so.
In 1995, that should possibly be after his mandatory
one-year service, he left for the United Kingdom for a residency training in
Internal Medicine at Royal Bolton Hospital and the University of Newcastle from
1995 to 1997.
After 2 years in the UK, he moved to the United States,
where he completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at Cook County
Hospital, Chicago between 1997 and 2001. There, he held the position of Chief
Medical Resident responsible for coordinating training programs for interns and
residents as well as serving as an Attending Physician.
In 2002, he enrolled in a specialist training in Nephrology
and Hypertension at the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed it in 2004.
This advanced education qualified him as a board-certified nephrologist,
specializing in kidney diseases and hypertension management.
Following his tenure at CCH, he became an Assistant
Professor at Rush University Medical School before pursuing specialized
training in Nephrology and Hypertension at the prestigious Medical College of
Wisconsin from July 2002 to June 2004. He spent just about 2 years of his
nearly 30-year career in medicine as an academic.
He is the founder of Kidney Care Center and Dialysis Care
Center, a multi-state nephrology practice and dialysis service provider in the
United States of America. It is not in doubt that he has done very well for
himself and the United States of America as he has spent his working life in
the US and won awards.
However, he has zero working experience in Nigeria. The
available information shows that his first job in Nigeria since graduating from
Unilag in 1993 was his appointment as the Minister of State for Health about a
year ago. The medical doctor with 2 years of academic experience in the US is
coming as the new Education Minister. He is coming at a time when the education
sector is in deep crisis. A crisis that his 28 years in diaspora may have
shielded him from.
The issue of the Renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG
Agreement, a renegotiation that was due 12 years ago, is still hot on the table
and the lecturers need that renegotiation now than ever and determined to get
it done. We are at a time when we need to redirect our education system for a
purposeful impact on national development. We are in a period of a collapsing
secondary education system. We are in a period where supposedly educated people
can't differentiate between skills and degrees.
It's not enough for the President and his men to keep saying
ASUU will not go on another round of strikes if this administration fails to do
the needful. The education sector is in a sorry state and in dire need of
leadership that understands what is needed to salvage it. As Jacob Sule, from
Washington DC, United States stated in the Nation Newspaper of 25th October,
2024: The education sector urgently requires transformative leadership with an
in-depth understanding of pedagogical practices, teacher training, curriculum
development, and educational infrastructure. It also needs someone who
understands the socio-political dynamics surrounding student and faculty
welfare, an area where long-standing agreements have been repeatedly neglected.
The need for transformative leadership is more pressing than ever.
Don't let anyone deceive you that the FG-ASUU crisis is
over. For as long as the deep FG poverty of sincerity persists, ASUU is not a
Union you can use hunger to break. The members are preparing for a serious
industrial action. Countries that are making an impact in education engaged
experts to lead their education sector.
Now that we have a diasporan with zero working experience in
Nigeria and little knowledge of the education system as the Minister of
Education, what are the expectations? The elitist approach? Continued
dehumanization of our intellectuals? Does the diasporan understand the
socio-political dynamics of the Nigerian university system?
The education sector is surely sick, but not kidney failure,
and it needs expertise and not prescriptions. The sector is not experiencing a
kidney failure that requires dialysis. So, how will he use his expertise in
Kidney and Dialysis care in the US to turn around the fortune of the state of
the Nigerian education sector?
I have not seen the sincerity in tackling the crisis in the
Nigerian education sector. Hope Morufu Alausa won't leave us with a trench
deeper than what was left by Adamu Adamu, a Columnist and Chris Ngige, another
Medical Doctor.
I will keep you posted.
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