70 YEARS OF INSPIRING GENERATIONS FOR GREATER HEIGHTS BY PROF MICHAEL OMOLEWA, AT ADULT EDUCATION 70 YEARS ANNIVERSARY LECTURE, DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN.
Preamble
I must express my gratitude to the Department of Adult Education of the University of Ibadan for the honour given me to present the 70thAnniversary Lecture of the Department, the first to be established in Africa and in the first University in Nigeria. I would like to begin by congratulating the Department for the yeoman service which it has rendered not only to Nigeria but also to the global education community during these three score and ten years.
I have, today, a flexible topic, which can be approached from different angles. First, it can be explored starting from the foundation and development of the Department. One can also embark on a study, tracing the impact the Department has made through the production of its graduates at the certificate, diploma, degree and postgraduate programmes.
The role of the department in research and policy formulation can also be discussed here. However, I have chosen to tell the story chronologically, as a historian, using the pioneering Heads of the Department to illustrate the issues faced and to identify the challenges encountered and the progress made so far, as well as highlight the impact made over the years. We are of course conscious of the value of the dedication and commitment of the generality of staff of the Department, the Heads of the Department and the enabling environment provided by both the administrations of the University and the State.
The First Generation: The Pioneers
Just a year after the establishment of the University College in 1948, Dr Kenneth Mellanby, the Principal of the College, who also doubled then as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, decided to found the Department of Extramural Studies. One year later, the College invited a Ghanaian economist, Robert Gardiner, a Cambridge University trained academic, to Ibadan to take the position of Director of Extramural Studies.
The Oxford Delegacy for Extramural Studies under the leadership of Thomas Hodgkin had introduced liberal education programmes to Nigeria as far back as 1946. The University College considered the programmes attractive and decided to incorporate them into the work of the new University College. The place of adult education had been recognised during the process of decolonisation when social critics of colonial rule assisted in the promotion of democratic principles of governance.
Robert Gardiner, 1949-1953
The Department began with three goals: to promote liberal democracy, to serve as the window of the University to the outside world, and to promote learning for those who were outside the walls of the university community. The Department saw its function as doing much more than the delivery of education, but also serving as the window of the University to the outside world.
The Department faced considerable problems at its foundation, much of which has persisted. Funding was a major challenge. The money released by the University was inadequate. The Department therefore approached the regional governments for assistance with its work. The regional governments sympathetically considered the proposals submitted and agreed to provide funding for the work done in the regions. Thus, extramural programmes were planted in all parts of the country.
Having solved the challenge of funding, a fresh opportunity was presented for the experiment in adult education practice in the country. Happily, appropriate staff of thinkers and trailblazers in adult education were attracted to the Department. These pioneer staff were able to run the adult education programme efficiently and to transplant the mission to other parts of the country.
Adult education was one of the instruments used by the University of Ibadan to provide service to the wider community. It provided a forum for the popularisation of subjects and the dissemination of information. Examples include: Ogunsheye and Economics, Tomori and English Language, Ulli Beier and English phonetics, Lalage Bown and English literature, Dudley and Political Science, and Majas and Geography. In addition to the promotion of democratic values, discussions on democracy, participation, and artwork, Ulli Beier was attracted to Osogbo where he began some workshops for the Osogbo artists and got traditional rulers such as the Timi of Ede and Olokuku of Okuku interested in his work for young and promising artists.
A major constraint faced by the Department during the foundation years was the narrowness of its focus on non-formal education, which left a gap in the advancement of programmes in formal education, especially teacher training and preparation. Extra-mural studies covered all subjects and were not the exclusive preserve of any faculty.
Thus, the Department could not make any worthwhile contribution to curriculum development, education staff preparation, monitoring and evaluation of learning and education management. On Wednesday, 18th June 1952, at the session of the House of Commons in the UK on Written Answers to Questions, Mr. J. Johnson asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he was aware that there was no faculty of education at the University College of Nigeria at Ibadan; and what steps he was taking on the matter. The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Lyttelton, responded: “I am aware of the fact, but the matter is, of course, one for the Provisional Council of the College” [Parliamentary Debates, 1952].
To make up for the deficiency of the Department of Extramural Studies, the University of Ibadan later established the Institute of Education in 1956 to assist with the training and preparation of teachers. Six years later, a Faculty of Education was established. The Department of Extramural Studies was invited to be a part of the Faculty. However, the Department believed that it would be inappropriate to domicile its programmes in a Faculty of Education because the Department serviced all the disciplines in the University.
Standing in for the then Head of Department at the discussion meeting on the establishment of the Faculty of Education, Lalage Bown explained in her Memorandum of 21st December 1961, addressed to Professor Andrew Taylor, that the mandate and responsibility of the Department was larger in scope than what could be confined to the proposed faculty. As she argued:
We are a service Department to the whole College and therefore don’t seem to fit into one Faculty any more than the Library does. An Institute of Adult Education definitely does fit into a Faculty of Education, just as the Institute of Librarianship would, and if we get such an Institute, I can’t see anyone objecting to its inclusion in the Faculty of Education. This doesn’t mean that we as a Department don’t have certain interests in common with other Faculties; it simply means that a lot of our work is not comparable. [Extramural Papers, 1961]
In the end, a compromise was reached and the new faculty was to be named Faculty of Education and Extramural studies to emphasise the distinct identity of the Department within the new faculty. The Senate and University Council approved the name as reported at the Senate meeting of the University on 25th February 1963 [Senate Minute 1167].
At the return of Gardiner to Ghana because of his invitation by the government of Ghana, Professor J.W. Welch from the Faculty of Arts was invited to act as the Head of Department. Professor S. G. Raybould, a top Adult Education specialist and academic from the United Kingdom was invited as the Acting Head from 1954 to 1955. However, Ogunsheye was appointed Deputy Director of the Department of Extramural Studies and full Head of the Department from 1955. His headship, which lasted till 1970, was interrupted by his departure to Harvard University in the 1961/62 academic year, during which time Ira de Reid served as Head of Department.
Ayo Ogunsheye (1955-61, 1962-1970)
Ayo Ogunsheye was the youngest member of the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT). He later became an assistant secretary of the Union. The NUT awarded him a scholarship to pursue his degree programme at the London School of Economics.
On his return, he resumed his work as an assistant secretary of the NUT but quickly decided to take up employment at the University College, Ibadan. On his arrival to Nigeria, Ogunsheye had acquired considerable knowledge in the work which the Oxford Delegacy for Extramural studies was conducting in some West African countries. He also knew about the workings of the Workers Educational Association.
Gardiner recommended the appointment of Ogunsheye to the authorities of the University College, which subsequently appointed him in 1950 as a tutor in Economics. He thereafter began to serve as a tutor for economics for the Lagos Centre. It was reported that the Lagos Centre was one of the largest and most active of the extramural classes in Nigeria. In addition to serving as a tutor, Ogunsheye generated much interest amongst the public in the study of economics, contributed articles regularly to newspapers and delivered public lectures on topics related to economics and development.
Ogunsheye was concerned about the quality of the products of extramural classes. To this end, he wrote a paper on the subject, which was entitled “How Can We Improve Our Standards”. In the paper, he made some important suggestions. He suggested, in his conclusion, the determination of the priorities of the Department, and emphasised consistency in the promotion of excellence.
Like Gardiner, Ogunsheye was by no means keen on getting his Department involved in literacy work. For him, his limited staff and resources could not be used to promote any literacy programme and consequently spread its catchment net of interest too wide, without the risk of lowering standards [Thomas and Elsey: 471] . S. G. Raybould, the British Visiting Professor to the Department, shared the views of Ogunsheye and advised that under no circumstances should the Department be drawn or pushed into trying to meet all needs at almost all levels [Thomas and Elsey: 471].
Ogunsheye decided to address the question of the status of his Department in the University’s governance and administration. Recognising the central role which research and publications play in the determination of promotion in the University, Ogunsheye was disturbed that very few of his teaching staff possessed higher degrees and carried out any research work.
The tutors also did not have resident students in the university as they settled down in various outposts in the country. Kenneth Dike, the foundation African Vice-Chancellor of the University was not impressed by the quality of the academic contributions of the Department.
One of those adversely affected by the stand of Professor Dike cried against what he described as ‘Dike’s war against the Department’. The Director himself had the problem with his academic orientation as he had to prove his competence as an economist as well as an adult educator. Hence, he wrote on economics, which he popularised, and at the same time, explored some concerns about the development of adult education as a concept and an academic discipline.
Ayo Ogunsheye introduced the Certificate Course in Trade Unionism and Industrial Relations.
Using his background knowledge and training in trade unionism and industrial relations acquired as an assistant secretary general of the NUT and his training at the London School of Economics, Ogunsheye believed that it was important to train the leadership of unions to prevent conflict with management and ensure industrial peace. He also introduced the Diploma programmes in Adult Education and Community Development.
He recruited experienced staff in trade unionism and industrial relations and the broad field of adult education. Among these were pioneers of Adult Education during the first phase of the work of the Department of Adult Education: Messers S. S. Allanah and O. Sonubi, Tijani Yesufu, Tunde Oloko, Emmanuel Akande Tugbiyele, Miss Lalage Bown, Dr Akin Durojaiye, Professors Sunday Hezekiah Oluwanwo Tomori and J. T. Okedara.
In introducing these two programmes, Ogunsheye tried to meet the needs of the new Nigerian nation, which required a work force sufficiently versed in adult education, literacy teaching, social work and community development. He also tried to use the new programmes to bring adult education closer to the needs of the University requirements for upward mobility and relevance of the tutors and other categories of staff.
The name of the Department was changed from the Department of Extramural Studies to the Department of Adult Education in 1964 when it was introduced. By implication of the new designation, the Department also began to offer courses for students who were resident in the University.
Professor Ogunsheye conceived the Department of Extramural studies as the outlet of the University to the world outside the University. To this end, he introduced the Conference Centre project.
The Conference Centre, as proposed, would serve as an appropriate venue for the hosting of conferences and provide accommodation on the campus for guests. Professor Ogunsheye was in the position to influence the budget of the Faculty to which he inserted the Conference Centre project on which university funding was to be provided. Professor Ogunsheye prepared the draft structure of governance and funding of the Conference Centre for the consideration of the University Development Committee, which the administration approved.
Thereafter, he appointed a socialite and Ibadan indigene, Mr. S. M. Winsala, as the foundation Conference Officer who would be based at the Conference Centre but remained a member of staff of the Department of Adult Education. The Head of the Department of Adult Education was to serve as the statutory Director of the Conference Centre.
Furthermore, Professor Ogunsheye as a trade unionist was aware of the importance of representation of the Department of Adult Education at the apex organisation of the University. He, therefore, coveted the position of Dean of the Faculty of Education. He carefully participated in the preparation of the Constitution of the Faculty.
Thereafter, he expressed interest in the deanship elections, following the expiration of the tenure of the New Zealand born Professor Andrew ‘Andy’ Taylor who had joined the staff of the University from Ghana, and had served as the foundation Dean. Ogunsheye won the election by just one vote and became the first African Dean of the Faculty of Education and Extramural Studies. Many of the expatriate staff were unhappy that Professor Taylor was not allowed to serve the second term as Dean of the new Faculty. Ogunsheye was delighted that he could implement some of the proposals that he considered dear to the development of the University and the Nigerian nation.
Following the expiration of the tenure of Ogunsheye as the Faculty Dean, he resigned his appointment at the University and moved to the private sector. Professor Sunday Hezekiah Oluwanwo Tomori (1929-1985) thereafter succeeded him as the Head of the Department. Another Briton, D. C. Miller succeeded him as Dean of the Faculty.
Professor Ogunsheye is considered as a major contributor to the growth of the Department. The major criticism of his administration was the initial failure of the Department to join in the national project of reducing illiteracy in the country. In the country where the illiteracy rate stood at over 80% of the population, such failure to incorporate literacy into the Department’s programme gave the impression that the University’s Department was only interested in catering for the needs of the elite and indifferent to the needs of the general population.
Professor Ogunsheye reviewed his stand on the question of literacy programmes and changed his mind on his earlier position. He used his contact and connection to attract the UNESCO Institute of African Adult Education to the Department, launched vigorous research work in literacy, and brought technical support in literacy to the University. For his contribution, Professor Ogunsheye was one of the first three Nigerians awarded the Distinguished Services recognition by the Nigerian National Council for Adult Education in 1976.
Professor Sunday Hezekiah Oluwanwo Tomori (1970-1977)
Professor Tomori was a stickler for the pursuit of excellence (one of his daughters rose to the position of Rear Admiral in the Nigerian Navy, a field dominated by men). A graduate of English of the University of London, Tomori taught English at Abeokuta Grammar School before he joined the staff of the Department of Extramural Studies as a part-time tutor of English.
The Department in 1962 employed him as a Grade 2 Tutor. In 1965, he was appointed the Nigerian national counterpart to the UNESCO specialist on the newly-founded Institute of African Adult Education. The Institute publicised the concept of Functional Literacy and in August 1971, it hosted the first National Functional Literacy Seminar, which attracted delegates from all parts of Nigeria.
Many field workers in literacy considered the annual Functional Literacy a pilgrimage to update their knowledge, exchange ideas about their work and make contacts with colleagues from all parts of the country. The Institute of African Adult Education produced fourteen primers for tobacco growers, which were used by selected tobacco growers in Iseyin in the then Western Region of Nigeria, now in Oyo State. Therefore, it is not a surprise that he raised the level of training to include undergraduate programmes.
For some time, the title of the degree to be awarded was considered at the Faculty Board of Education before the recommendation was sent to the Senate of the University. It was finally resolved that the degree would be the Bachelor’s degree in Education including Adult Education and the subject of choice of the candidate, B.Ed (Education with Adult Education and the Teaching subject).
The idea behind this innovation was that the graduate from the Department of Adult Education would have been a student of the Faculty of Education, hence the location of the degree, but would have also taken Education courses, and Adult Education courses as well as a teaching subject from any of the other faculties. He later also introduced the postgraduate programmes in adult education.
Tomori was the master in advocacy of quality delivery. As soon as he was appointed the Head of the Department of Adult Education, he decided to upgrade the level of Adult Education programmes at the University. He introduced degree programmes in 1971. That decision required the recruitment of staff that were qualified to teach classes up to the degree level. This advancement led to the appointment of the foundation lecturers in 1971.
The pioneers were Saka Balogun who had his PhD in History to teach the History of Adult Education in West Africa, Michael Omolewa who had just submitted his PhD thesis for examination at the Department of History of the University, to teach the History of Adult Education in Britain, Askok Kumar to teach Economics of Education including Adult Education. To these were added C. N. Anyanwu who was to handle community development, and later, Jones Adelayo Akinpelu, who was brought in from the University of Ife to handle the teaching of Philosophy of Education including Adult Education.
Professor Tomori also decided to launch postgraduate programmes in adult education.
He also gave the first inaugural lecture from the Faculty of Education in 1973. Titled “Language in Education”, Tomori used the lecture to discuss his contributions to scholarship and chart a course of action for the furtherance of the learning of English as a foreign language.
Tomori demonstrated his commitment to make those who had been left behind, or had withdrawn from formal education, those who learnt out-of-school, were too old to learn, or too poor to make it, resort to adult education as an alternative access to the realisation of their potentials and the fulfillment of their educational ambition.
The University of Ibadan decided to inherit the tradition of the University of London. Under the inspired leadership of Professor S. H. O. Tomori, the Department’s proposal for an external studies programme was approved in 1972 and was expected to begin in 1976. Tomori had earlier proposed that the external degree programmes would prepare students for the external degrees of the University of London, as was done for his father-in-law, Rev Emmanuel Odukoya Ajayi.
The University had suggested that the programmes be made to prepare students for the examinations of the University of Ibadan. The approval of the National Universities Commission was obtained and the programme was successfully launched in 1988 as the external studies programme of the University, supplementing and complementing other initiatives for the preparation of teachers and other professionals by distance learning.
Post-Tomori, 1977 to date
Professors Akinpelu, Okedara, Omolewa, Anyanwu, Akintayo, Omole, Osuji, Egunyomi, Aderinoye and Sarumi, Dr. Adelore and Mr Sonubi served various terms as Heads of the Department of Adult Education and also invested their energies in the work of the Department. Professor Akinpelu later became the first Provost of the College of Education at the University of Ibadan and the first Emeritus Professor from the Faculty of Education at the University of Ibadan. A number of issues were common to all the administrations; listed hereunder are the major ones.
Matters Arising
A number of issues have been addressed by the successors to Professor Tomori over the years. Some of these are itemized here.
Literacy promotion
Literacy promotion has remained at the heart of the work of the Department as the responsibilities of the Department were expanded to include providing coverage to the nation at the levels of primary and post -primary education. The idea was to cater also for those who had been deprived of the opportunity to learn in formal schooling.
The Department believed that literacy could assist a person to become a better and more efficient person. There have been cases outside Nigeria where the art of writing and reading, reproducing language with the aid of graphic symbols for storage, reproduction, mutual intelligibility; memory and retention have assisted people in making new discoveries.
Literacy has also assisted in the preparation of minds for the worship of God, the Creator. This was the background to evangelism by the Christian and Islamic faiths. Literacy has also helped in the improvement on the administration of medical prescriptions and in the process of medical healing. At some stage, Nigeria had tried to include mass education in the education priorities of the nation.
Of remarkable note is the fact that literacy programmes had been in existence before the founding of the Department of Adult Education for the troops recruited at the outbreak of the Second World War.It was observed that the Nigerian troops were a hindrance to the prosecution of the war due to their lack of literacy.
They did not know how to respond to the marching orders of left, right and had to resort to the use of “lefutu, rete”. To get the order about moving to the trenches was going to be more complicated. For non-combatants and for the ordinary citizens, there was the dread of illiteracy in not being able to read newspapers or even prescriptions. The signs on buses and shops have remained an embarrassment and disrespectful of grammar and spelling even until today.
At the House of Commons Debate of 29th July 1947, Mr Skinnard had informed the law makers of the work in Udi district, where a transformation had been effected by mass education and that they now had in the villages a sort of local education and health service on cooperative lines. He further reported that people, old and young, were literate because it had been the pride of the young literates to teach the old illiterates, and it had become a code of honour to go to school however old you were, to learn to read and to prepare your own books.
In Udi, they had solved the problem of literature supply and newspapers by printing their own. Self-help was the key. Patronage was all very well, but the thing that endured was the thing one did oneself [Parliamentary Debates, 1947]. Yet, illiteracy has persisted in the country. A mass education programme was launched in Nigeria but very little success was recorded for many reasons.
The Department of Adult Education at the University of Ibadan had been at the forefront of the literacy drive in the country and has been recognised for service rendered to the community.The Department of Adult Education began to host the annual Literacy Seminars.
Further areas of the preoccupation of adult education were in the area of mass literacy campaigns, and its support to the Federal and State governments with the training of literacy personnel. In 1989, the Department became the first University in Africa to be awarded the much coveted UNESCO International Literacy Prize. It also became the first Department of Adult Education in Africa to have a UNESCO Chair. It is good to note that the department has been lucky to survive the various challenges and that today it remains standing.
Service to the community
The Department also provided remedial education in which students who had been unable to complete their formal education for a variety of reasons were prepared for examinations through the evening classes organized for them.
Through the extra-mural work of the Department, candidates who had left the formal school system came back to actualize their dreams and fulfill their potentials in life. There are testimonies of such candidates who later became important personalities and successful professionals. Many of the products of the extra-mural work have appreciated the immense contributions of the extra-mural officers, especially Messrs. Agbi, Banjoko, Adeosun and Olaitan and Mrs Maduemezia.
Policy moderation
The Department has made an important contribution to the furtherance of adult education through its influence on policy formulation. The founding of the Nigerian National Council for Adult Education (NNCAE) was the brainwork of one of the earliest members of staff. The promoter of the vision of the NNCAE was Emmanuel Tugbiyele, a former member of the Department who decided to relocate to the University of Lagos because of the brighter career prospects at the new University.
He was able to rise quickly to the position of Professor and later, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos. The Head of the Department of Adult Education, S. H. O. Tomori, joined in the founding of the NNCAE and released a member of his staff, J. T. Okedara, to serve as the pioneer Secretary of the NNCAE, working with E. A. Tugbiyele. Michael Omolewa was later voted successively as the Editor of the Council’s publications, and later as the National Secretary and National President of the NNCAE from 1979 to 1989.
The NNCAE set out to influence national policy to favour adult education. For example, it decided to draw attention to the earlier national mass education programmes in the country, which were discontinued with the departure of Major A. J. Carpenter, the first mass education officer in Nigeria.
Following the exit of Carpenter, regional governments continued with some adult education programmes but the absence of central coordination weakened considerably the national performance. The efforts of the NNCAE through advocacy visits, resolutions and lobbying, led the Federal Government to establish the Education Unit at the Federal Ministry of Education. The unit later grew into the National Commission for Adult and Non-Formal Education with branches in the various states of Nigeria.
The Department also continued to build partnership with global adult education bodies such as the International Council for Adult Education, which was spearheaded by Professor J. R. Kidd of Canada, following the convening of the second UNESCO World Adult Education Conference in Canada in 1960.
One major challenge was the failure of the public to understand and/or appreciate the philosophy that guided adult education work. Learners were mocked for doing in the evening of their lives what they should have done much earlier. Yet, the limited facilities could not accommodate everyone. Left behind were those who came from homes with little political or economic influence and those who were late learners who could not quickly respond to the dictates of classroom teaching.
All these were accommodated in the adult education classes. The duty of the Department was to ensure equitable access to learning for all, in spite of the age of the learner. The result was that the adult learning was described as Eko iwoyilaaro, learning in the evening for those who have just woken up to appreciate the learning that they should have carried out in the morning of their lives.
Policy ignored this category of people, many of whom were considered too old to make any impact before their death. For example, during the parliamentary questions at the Federal House of Representatives, on 23rd November 1961, a member, Mr T. I. Etuk-Udo, had asked the Minister of Education what was the percentage of literacy in Nigeria and what plan he had to eradicate illiteracy in the shortest possible time.
The Minister of Education responded that, “It is the hope of my Ministry to eliminate illiteracy among the few that are nearer the grave by increasing the facilities for those that are about to face the battle of living”. Generally, it was assumed that adult education was provided for those about to live and formal education for those who were beginning to live, as articulated by the Minister who was the major spokesperson for the education sector at the highest level of governance. Yet, it is clear that some of these adults made enormous contributions to the development of the country.
Chief Stephen Oluwole Awokoya, the first Minister of Education of the Western Region of Nigeria, who introduced the first Free Primary Education programme in independent Nigeria within the context of the policy of his Action Group, once observed that development would not take place if adult education were denied the adult. As he put it:
…they are the people who participate in voting for a government, producing the food, building the houses, curing the sick, cleaning the environment, making the clothes, transporting goods and personnel, producing electrical energy, distributing and selling goods, operating and using the financial institutions, administering the government, adjudicating in the courts, and preserving the territorial integrity of the nation. [Awokoya, 1982]
Access
The duty of adult education is to break the barriers to learning for every individual in the country and provide access to education. During colonial rule and after, education was rationed. Access was denied the poor and the downtrodden, those without ‘connections’ and whose parents had little influence.
It is noted that during the time, there was no provision for university education in the country. Adult education filled the gap by helping to provide the education that was required for social change. Under those circumstances, adult education became the last hope of the ordinary people, helping them to realise their full potentials and capabilities, to explore their possibilities and giving them the encouragement never to give up their dreams and visions for a better and improved future for themselves, their families and communities.
It would be recalled that during this period, there was criticism of the attitude of the colonial office by the Phelps-Stoke Education Mission to Africa, which was inspired from the United States.
In response to the observations of the Commission, the British government had set up in 1923 an advisory committee to assist government with the coordination of the formulation of an educational policy. But access to higher education remained limited: there were no universities and Africans were denied the opportunity to fully realise their full potentials through the acquisition of formal education. Private tuition, evening classes and self-education came as an alternative route for the education of the more ambitious and more determined.
The Ijebu-Ode blacksmith, Emmanuel Odukoya Ajayi, began to use private study to acquire education. After his primary education, he registered for the external degree programmes of the University of London.
He passed the London Matriculation examination in 1922, the Intermediate Arts degree examination in 1925 and the full degree examination in 1927 [Adekanmbi, 1992]. As a graduate of the University of London, Ajayi’s fortunes changed dramatically. He got married and educated his children, all of whom became distinguished personalities in the country. Other graduates followed, inspired by the success of fellow Nigerians. Alvan Ikoku graduated at his Awka base in Eastern Nigeria and Josiah Soyemi Ogunlesi of Sagamu became the first history graduate of the University of London in 1933, having studied at his school base at St Andrew’s College, Oyo. His colleague, S. A. Banjo also graduated, using correspondence courses.
The use of correspondence education as an alternative to acquiring education helped produce men of distinction who contributed immensely to the development of Nigeria. Ogunlesi became the first graduate editor of the Daily Times and the first mass education officer for Western Nigeria.
Alvan Ikoku became the Vice-President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers and later succeeded Ransome Kuti as President. Today, his face is captured on the ten naira note. Ajayi became a respected teacher and disciplined professional and Banjo’s work at St Luke’s College is yet to be equalled in the history of education in Nigeria. The children of these pioneer graduate teachers have continued the illustrious work done by their fathers.
In addition to those from places that were near the coast, there were a few in the hinterland who also decided to take their own destinies in their own hands and used adult education and self-directed-learning to escape from the limitations posed by restricted access and the challenge of travelling abroad.
Many people in the area that is now Ekiti State used adult education, defined as self-education, to improve their lot. It would be recalled that this was a part of the country that was among the last to be served with Western education, which had become indispensable for personal, social, and political mobility in the country, then under British colonial rule. For example, while the first secondary school was established in Lagos as far back as 1859 and Ogun State had its first secondary school in 1908, it was not until 1933 that Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, the first secondary school in Ekiti State was founded.
A further limitation in Ekiti State was poverty. There was abject poverty. Afe Babalola said that in his days, he lived in “an unplastered mud house” and that “water was a rare commodity”. He notes:
. . . we did not wear shoes to school. But on Sundays I wore the white tennis bought for me by my mother … On my return from the church I used to clean my tennis shoes, wash them, apply white Nugget, dry them and keep them till the next Sunday. [Babalola:29]
Employment in government offices was a rarity as there were few openings and little government presence in the state. Yet, there was a boldness to develop, a strong determination to explore opportunities and a commitment to the pursuit of excellence among the people. Below are a few examples.
The first example would be Afe Babalola, who is perhaps an excellent demonstration of the impact of self-directed education. For a number of reasons, his parents did not send him to secondary school. As he put it:
My friends who went to Christ School, Ado-Ekiti, Ilesha Grammar School, Government College, Ibadan, and Kings College, Lagos, passed out in 1952. Some later went for a two-year course for the Higher School Certificate (HSC), but most of them were employed as clerks in the Railways, Marine Department and in the Civil Service.
As civil servants, their salaries were higher than teachers’ salaries. They were better dressed. They were contemptuous of teachers. Indeed, I also believed that I was inferior to them. [Babalola:41]
He was advised by a colleague to use the Wolsey Hall tuition materials developed in Oxford for his various examinations. Using the correspondence education materials, he passed the Cambridge School Certificate examination from his base as a teacher in Gbongan in 1952. He also passed the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary level examination in 1953, and the GCE Advanced level examination one year later.
With his excellent results, he applied for the Western Nigerian government scholarship. As he explained:
I put in my application. I was confident that I would be awarded a scholarship because of my impressive educational qualifications namely: Teachers High Elementary Certificate, Grade II by private study, Cambridge School Certificate including Mathematics, English and Geography by private study, six subjects at London GCE Ordinary Level including Mathematics, English and Geography; four subjects at London GCE Advanced Level at the same sitting including Geography and Economics.
In fact I was the most qualified in the Region that year.
To my utmost surprise, when the scholarship awards were published, my name was nowhere to be found. Under the political arrangement, Ekiti was entitled to one scholarship in Economics. The slot for Ekiti was awarded to one Mr. Adu from Ikere, the son of the Chairman of Action Group in Ekiti. What was most annoying and immoral in the exercise was that Mr. Adu had only Cambridge School Certificate and did not meet the mandatory requirements advertised by the government. [Babalola: 43]
Afe Babalola decided to invest all his energy and resources in private study and passed the B.Sc. honours degree in Economics. Still as a teacher at the City Academy in Ibadan, he passed the Intermediate Law examination of the University of London in 1960 by private study, again using correspondence courses. When he arrived at the University of London for the mandatory residential course for his final law and bar examinations, he was recognised as “the wonder man who specializes in private study” [Babalola: 49].
Used to private studies, Afe Babalola found it difficult to benefit from the face-to-face lectures given at the University:
Firstly, I found that I did not comprehend what the English teachers were saying. They were either too fast or not sufficiently audible. A JJC (Johnny Just Come) to England needed time for adjustment.
Secondly, for over two decades I was used to reading textbooks on my own, making notes and learning through reading. The new system was difficult and boring to me. I therefore chose to attend only a few classes where we had foreign teachers like a German teacher whose English was easier to understand.
I made use of the university library and canteen. By June 1962, I had passed the LL.B Part I Final and Part I of the Bar Final [9].
Babalola notes that his achievements came by hard work, courage and dedication. During his working days, studying part time, he says that as soon as he left the Secretariat every afternoon he would go to a primary school with his lamp and remain there till about 1 am every day, except Saturdays and Sundays.
He also notes the very ‘sweet’ reward of his labour:
I sat for the B.Sc. Economics papers in June 1959. My examination centre was the British Council in Lagos. I was the only candidate who sat for the B.Sc. (Econs) (Hons.) paper of London University in the Lagos Centre that year.
One morning in September, 1959, I received a letter from the Secretary to the Senate of University of London. I knew it was my result. I opened it with trepidity and utmost eagerness. It was a congratulatory letter informing me that I was successful in the B.Sc. Economics examination which I took in June 1959. I jumped for joy. The staff in the office passed the letter round. I showed it to my boss, Mr. Omage, who took it to the Senior Assistant Secretary, Mr. Akinyemi, who in turn took it to the Permanent Secretary, an English man.
Within hours, the news had spread round the whole Secretariat at Ibadan. The following day, the Under Secretary who was sent to the Head of Service, Mr. Mcgrath, a white man, sent for me. He congratulated me very heartily and told me that he was going to promote me to the post of Assistant Secretary – which was a post of an Assistant District Officer. To his utmost surprise, I rejected the offer. As an Assistant Secretary I would have been entitled to a car, government quarters in the GRA and some other allowances as against my one room apartment at Oke Ado and my rickety bicycle. [Babalola: 45]
It is lamentable that the world of learning has not fully appreciated Afe Babalola. Literature about him is limited to his exploits in the judiciary and the legal practice [Akinseye-George, 1998]. Many of the current works on him have not done adequate justice to the contributions of the man who rose above the poverty and oppression of his roots to address those very needs in his fellow men.
As soon as he became better educated than the people in his community, he resolved to assist them in their development efforts to fight poverty and oppression. He provided jobs, built bridges in places least served, and established agricultural programmes and projects, complementing the work of government, but receiving no taxes or levies. He knew where the shoe pinched.
He has also contributed to the welfare of the middle class, employing seasoned professionals as specialists, professors and university teachers, preparing lawyers for recognition and upward mobility, many of them becoming Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN). He had the freshness of a vision inspired by his experience as Pro-Chancellor and chairman of Council of the University of Lagos to establish one of the model private universities in Africa, the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD).
He is unmistakably a man of genius who would never have realises his full potentials in life without the assistance of an adult education programme in the forms of correspondence education and the external degree programmes of the University of London.
Another person of note who had achieved success via adult education is Oluremi Festus Omotoso, the current Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Ltd, listed in Nigeria’s annals of corporate titans; former chief executive of Lever Brothers, now Unilever Nigeria, and former Group Managing Director of the Oodua Group. He was also the Conference Lay President of the Methodist Church of Nigeria from 2004 to 2009 and served as the Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2005.
His childhood was marked by poverty, for which reason he did not step out of his home town for the first 14 years of his life. His parents were so poor that they could not afford to send him and his half-sister to secondary school. He had to attend the then secondary modern school where only Arithmetic, English, Social Sciences and Agriculture were taught, and outside school, had to assist his mother to sell kerosene, cigarettes and matches. When his mother bought him his first pair of shoes, people came to congratulate her for what was considered an investment in her son.
Omotoso eventually got admitted into a teacher training college. He lost his father at an early age, but he graduated and got posted to a village where he rented a room. The room was not plastered and the house had no toilet. The room had no bed and Omotoso bought a mat on which to sleep. He remained undaunted and resolved to cause a change in his fortunes. He was lucky to be introduced to an alternative means of education, that is, the external degree programmes of the University of London. He met the requirements for the qualifying examination. He registered for six papers of the General Certificate of Education (GCE) and passed them all.
He made the Western State Library his unofficial home and his textbooks his regular companions. He also used the correspondence courses and evening classes of Rado and Wesley College. Omotoso recalls that he was very hard on himself and denied himself all luxuries and personal pleasures. In the end, he passed the GCE Advanced level and got admission to read Geography at the University of Ibadan from where he eventually graduated. His graduation brought him into the world of work and affluence and gave him the confidence to excel [Omotoso: 21-40.]
There are many other cases in Ekiti, in which poverty was eliminated, and helplessness removed by the intervention of adult education. Professor Afolabi Ojo of Ado-Ekiti passed his London Matriculation examination at home while he was the headmaster of a school at Emure-Ekiti; while the renowned economist, Professor Sam Aluko of Ode-Ekiti, passed his B.Sc honours degree examination in Economics at home by private study. Professor Tunji Oloruntimehin of Omuo-Ekiti studied at home for admission to the University College Ibadan.
There are others in Nigeria who attended the secondary modern school by self-directed learning at home to upgrade their qualifications. Among these is Professor Pai Obanya, who made a first class in his degree examination at the University of Ibadan, having studied at home from his base at Ibadan for his qualifying examinations for admission to the University, with his secondary modern school background.
In pondering on the past and future of adult education, the issue of equity is perhaps not the most critical. Rather, I think that it is the philosophy of education and the place of adult education within the overall educational philosophy that should engage our attention.
For as long as there is inequity of access to education, adult education will continue to be relevant as it seeks to provide alternate routes and access to education, which is a core mandate of adult education. It seems to me that the strength of adult education, which is also its major weakness, is its potentials; and it is clear that it is the potentials that will continue to sustain the discipline both as a field of study and practice.
The ‘quick response’ to the issues that confront the problem of the individual, the community and the wider society, will remain the pillar on which adult education will continue to mount and shine. Abidoye Sarumi has noted that the future of the department is very bright, given the noble and excellent manner adult education has performed in the past:
When the universities were called upon to provide expert knowledge towards the reduction of the illiteracy rate in the country, adult and non-formal education came to the rescue. When the universities wanted to take advantage of the revolution in Information Communication Technologies, to expand the frontiers of knowledge and literally widen the “four walls” of their enclosure to a large segment of the society, adult and non-formal education came to the rescue.
When the scourge of HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases were threatening human existence, and the universities were required to provide a blue-print on how education can be used to spread the message and not the virus, adult and non-formal education arose to its responsibilities, through its social welfare component, by providing such education to the adults in the society. [Sarumi: 128]
In spite of its achievements, it is clear that the Department has suffered from the old physical structures, including the building and the furniture. The Department has also had many of the programmes that it initiated withdrawn to other parts of the University. One major reason may be the failure to appreciate the scope of adult education. To many, the perception of adult education is education provided for those who have nothing else to do. We may note that definitions of adult education, which began as far back as the time of the UNESCO world conference at Elsinore in Denmark in 1949, have continued to evolve.
There is a suggestion that the Department should consider a possible change in its name as done with some university departments in the country. Perhaps more preferable should be the need to upgrade the Department and give it the status of a Faculty of Adult Education which will embrace all the areas of the mandate of adult education.
The proposal to bring all the service programmes under one large umbrella, a Faculty of Adult Education, should attract the interest of the University. The large family will prevent any dispute over the custody of the children of the same patriarch.
This arrangement should not be conceived as a process of empire building, but should be seen as steps towards the re-integration and restoration of the various components of the family. The new family will consist of Distance Education delivery and take advantage of the expertise of adult education in the field of adult learning methodologies.
The National Orientation Unit will be able to assist to support programmes in the area of values development at a time that transformation is required in the nation. The learning outcomes would include the inculcation of basic attitudes that will make wealth, religious or ethnic connections less effective in the nominations for positions.
It will also assist in the transformation of the citizens through an aggressive campaign to end the culture of secrecy, manipulation and planting of mediocrity. There would be Departments for Literacy, Social Welfare, Industrial relations, Trade Unions, Ageing Studies and Gerontology, Self-directed Learning and Continuing Education.
At the moment, adult education has not effectively confronted the obstacles that limit its path to the full realisation of its vision and mission. Some writers have drawn attention to an imaginary war between theoreticians and practitioners when the real issue has been the question of the search for power and influence and the willingness to allow outsiders intervene in domestic matters of the discipline and practice of adult education.
Some have warned that the absence of commitment, dedication and patriotism, and the rewards of treacheries and betrayals may continue to work against the interest of adult education programmes. It is imperative that adult education avoids the luxury of complacency or stagnation in its programmes, activities and mission and begin to have clarity of its visions and missions.
Threats and challenges
Today we can identify the various units and programmes birthed by the Department of Adult Education that have found a distinct identity during the seventy years of its existence. One can almost speak of a dismemberment of the Department as the Conference Centre, Social Work, Centre for External Studies and Industrial Studies units have bid the Department farewell, at least for now. The Department is also competing with some bodies for the supervision of extramural studies.
The Department grew from the concept of an extramural setting, extramural being a Latin rendering of outside the walls, extra=outside, and murus= the wall. The University College, Ibadan, had clearly addressed this subject in its Gazette supplement of 1961 in which it stated the objectives of Adult Education: “An extramural department should enable the university to maintain direct contact with the community, preventing graduates from becoming a separate class, divorced from the aspirations of their influence far and wide, and giving the public an understanding of what the university is doing”.
The current Head of the Department suggested during his inaugural lecture that the University needs to pay reparation to the Department. Perhaps, the University would wish to demonstrate its commitment to social justice and respect for ownership by allowing the Department to revive its bid for the establishment of the aborted Institute of Adult Education. It can also consider establishing a Faculty of Adult Education as an Anniversary Gift to the Department. The Department should of course prayerfully present a strategic plan for the consideration of the University in a bid to recover some of its lost territories and assets.
Another major constraint to the furtherance of the learning of adult education comes from the lack of understanding of the status of the remnant of adult education. An example is the value of the capacity of the adult for learning. Thus, an important body such as Chevron Nigeria Limited excludes adult education from the list of disciplines to award scholarships for degrees, preferring Architecture; Law; brands of engineering: oil and gas, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical; Accountancy; Business Administration; Economics; Mass Communication; and Journalism. Adult education may indeed not be known for the promotion of wealth generation, but it is a service weapon that supports and complements the production of the various specialized disciplines. Adult education remains the foundation for the acquisition of knowledge that leads to specializations.
Stories abound of students who had been written off as never-do-wells by even their parents but were helped by extramural studies. The university extramural programme has helped stabilisze such so-called drop-outs who, in reality are dropped out by impatient parents, insensitive society and inequitable, discriminatory policies that exclude the weak, voiceless and vulnerable in the society.
As long as learning remains lifelong, adult education will continue to be relevant. Its focus should continue to include the marginalised, the feeble and the ignored, including roadside mechanics, vulcanizers and drivers, who will require massive doses of literacy to be able to read appropriate signs and notices on vehicles.
The adult education initiative will help keep out some of the errors of spelling and writing, which made the ‘danfo’ bus, XP 498 KTU registered in Ketu, Lagos, demonstrate the abysmal ignorance of citing Psalm 121 for the caption on the bus that read, “The Lord is my Shepherd”. Meanwhile, the correct reference is Psalm 23 while Psalm 121 is “I will lift my eyes unto the hills”.
The efforts would also include the intensification of programmes in continuing education for the professions and for those planning to change jobs or update their knowledge. Adult education will ensure that lifelong learning would be for all, and not just for some.
Nevertheless, all these new expectations of adult education will of course require a new drive, a new imagination, zeal, commitment and dedication.
Adult education practitioners themselves have a role to play to define specifically what constitutes the principles and philosophy of adult education. For education is primarily something to equip one with some skills, something to earn a certificate and make a living. Education is a compulsive urge and curiosity to know, to learn, to acquire knowledge for its own sake and for service to the wider society, to humanise, to make one a citizen of the world and somebody who can pursue knowledge for its own sake.
The point is that adult education is capable of providing opportunities for continuing learning throughout life. Thus, even a graduate after retirement can be encouraged to become interested in the pursuit of knowledge. I know that these expectations are possible and that the proposed programmes and structures are in the good interest of the nation and for the purpose of continuing development.
Appreciation
I should end from where I began this presentation and thank the University through the Faculty of Education and the Department of Adult Education for the privilege given me to explore some background issues that have influenced the direction of the Department of Adult Education during the past seventy years.
My appreciation goes to the past Heads of Department with whom I have worked since my return to the University: Professor Deborah Egunyomi and Dr Bola Adelore.
I thank them for making my continuing membership of the Department a special joy and satisfying experience.
I thank my teachers at the Faculty of Arts, especially late Emeritus Professor J. F. Ade-Ajayi, Professor Paul Mbaeyi, Dr Remi Adeleye, Dr G.A. Akinola, Professor Tunji Oloruntimehin, Professor T. N. Tamuno, and others from outside the Department: Professors Roland Oliver, Douglas Johnson, Roger Boshier, Kenneth Charlton, J. D. Ojo, Ayo Bamgbose, Ayo Banjo, and A.B.O.O. Oyediran.
I am particularly grateful to past and current Honourable Ministers of Education, especially Professor Tunde Adeniran, Professor Bola Borishade, Mrs Chinwe Obaji, Professor Fabian Osuji, Liyel Imoke, Dr Igwe Aja Wachukwu and Mallam Adamu Adamu; and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who kept me in Paris for a decade as Nigeria’s envoy. I am grateful to my current Head of Department, Professor Rashid Aderinoye, for his wisdom and constant support and encouragement.
