Read my short charge on Medium (Feasts of bottles...)

Happy New Year

What if we had wings...

In response to the question, I'd say "we'd fly". That sounds like the most appropriate response, yet I don't consider it close to it. Wings are obviously used for flying, we may all know that, but the answer to a question, is most likely not always the obvious.
As we continue in another year, in the Nigerian sense, because of our Independence celebration, we should rethink obvious responses to peculiar questions. Our way to success may not be the obvious path.
Happy Independence Nigeria; my country, with pride, I raise my flag.

Submit my CV...No I won’t

Submit my CV...No I won’t



My good friend- Technopreneur Tobi Soyombo (check out his website here) inspired me to post this write up, which I have been nursing as a private affair for a long time now.
In academic employment, it is easy to see intimidating long pages CV of especially senior academics in the professorial cadre, with some ranging from 20 to 60. I find it quite uninteresting that employers request a minimum of 15 copies of such CVs and other accompanying documents.
I foresee an era where all that an employer requires is your research profile, which may be a URL to a research profile or unique identity that links to an online research profile. Many of such exist for free now and I have provided a brief list below:
Academia.edu- click to join
Google scholar- click to join
ORCID- click to join
ResearcherID- click to join
ResearchGate- click to join
Mendeley- click to join
Kudos- click to join



*Note that this is not an exhaustive list.
Any serious academic and/or researcher should begin to rethink online profile creation, as technology is taking center stage and only those who can evolve with the times, will survive.

Competence and certificate: acquisition and obtainment

Competence: more than just a certificate

Certificate is to be obtained as evidence of competence… One major challenge with Nigeria and Nigerians is the craze to acquire certificates. The problem is that we do not want to accept that it is competence that should be acquired, while certificates should be obtained. In Nigeria, we strive to acquire certificates, which is why even senior academics tell you that a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, in its true sense a research degree is reduced to Politics, Humility and Diplomacy (PHD). Educational value has deteriorated so much that graduates from competent foreign universities who spend 12 months on a Master degree are better than many of us in Nigeria who spend 18 months to 3 years on the same degree. It baffles me when we try to equate extended duration to quality. Sometimes, you hear university administrators and senior academics pride their schools as having quality, based on the length of period students use on campus as they argue that “our degrees are not cheap, you cannot just come here and go like that”. Many times, I am mouth agape at their level of mediocrity that all I see in them is folly. After all, there is no dedication to quality but an engagement with bureaucracy that delays students unnecessarily without any value-added. It is a pitiable condition that we find ourselves and I count lucky those who can afford foreign degree; I also crave a foreign degree. It is of no use trying to stay here and become an inferior quality graduate. That is all that is available in Nigeria, except for some few universities that strive for excellence or some few departments with dedicated staff. In some schools abroad, I see that the duration of completing a degree is a performance index and I can boldly assert that if that is used in many Nigerian universities, only 1% may pass. Assuming the extended duration significantly contributes to advancements in knowledge and competence, then I can say, it is a fair deal, but no, it has no value at all than a culmination into frustration of the student. No wonder our graduates find it hard to develop innovative systems, since all we know and learn is how to be frustrated, demand false humility and extortion. Another frustrating issue is the manner at which examination malpractices have eaten deep into students’ fabric and mentality. It is hard for students to think for themselves in examinations. They always tend to believe they cannot make it alone and on their own, so they seek help even in the examination hall, while confident ones take in chips and some even go on to offer bribes in cash and kind to lecturers to acquire certificate; this cannot translate to acquiring competence. If we must make progress in this country, we must re-orientate our minds to know the difference between certificate and competence and acquiring and obtaining. Competence is to be acquired, while certificate is to be obtained as evidence of competence.