In his 927-page autobiography: ‘My Life’, which was published in 2004, Bill Clinton, an ex-President of the United States of America, wrote frankly and elaborately on the Monica Lewinsky affair. In pages 773/4, he wrote: “In February 1997, Monica was among the guests at an evening taping of my weekly radio address, after which I met with her alone again for about fifteen minutes. I was disgusted with myself for doing it, and in the Spring, when I saw her again, I told her that it was wrong for me, wrong for my family and wrong for her, and I couldn’t do it any more”.
One Professor Richard Akindele (2018) in Obafemi Awolowo University had less than 15-minutes talk encounter with another Monica. That encounter resulted in his dismissal from service for gross official misconduct. It is quite instructive how excited people can become over sex-related scandals, especially with some air of sanctimony.
For the Nigerian academic community, there are issues which the public should know about, namely: prevalence of a “digging culture” in the public services. Some people call it “pull-him-down syndrome”.
Briefly, it has to do with the formation of cliques and interest groups, whose members are often in a cold war with each other. Apart from fostering rivalries, division and animosity in institutions, such cliques polarise the staff, creating opportunities for chief executives to take advantage of.
In the case of universities, such animosities and gossips arising therefrom, become instruments for the dethronement of people whose faces Vice Chancellors do not like. Some chief executives encourage and set up such divisive tendencies and even bring in sections of the student population to act as ears and private eyes of Vice Chancellors. It is quite a dangerous management strategy. It breeds sadism.
In the Akindele/Monica affair, the probability is that some colleagues who wanted to get even or settle personal scores, may have aided the plot through provision of technical support. Obviously, Monica Osagie was not alone.
The “digging” or pull-him-down culture became enthroned in the universities between 1992 and 1995, when military politics sought to expand its support base. Many lecturers became consultants and friends of the establishment, in order to augment their poor salaries.
Behind all bravado and pretences, many lecturers wanted appointments and promotions through patronage system. Devotion to the task of teaching and research and other core academic values such as learner-centred principle, suffered severe setback. Appointment of Vice Chancellors became a fouled political affair, and then an internal witch-hunt.
In a semester, some lecturers would not have up to three contact hours with their students, and when they came to classes, it would be to tell students what and where to read from prescribed textbooks. More time was spent in travels, conferences and assemblage of materials for promotion to professorship. When patriotic lecturers under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) alerted the public about the growing decline, many parents resorted to sending their children abroad for study.
Learning is of little value if character is excluded, neither is the rat-race for promotion the ultimate joy or purpose of the Ivory-Tower culture. Wherever money becomes the driving force and orientation of public servants, true service ethics gets undermined. Cult phenomenon in the universities is a part of the collapse of the Ivory-Tower culture, via power tussles.
Among female students, Monica is a jinxed name signifying rat-race, with the following message: “Go for the man with money and car”. Thus, university women become “hunters” and agents who can be used to dethrone vulnerable lecturers. Let the Akindele/Monica affair teach soft-hearted lecturers to be stern with students, whether males or females. Those who cannot meet up with the rigours of excellence should drop out.
Professor Richard Akindele is hereby urged to write up a fat autobiography like Bill Clinton and tell the story of his experience with Monica Osagie and more especially the politics in the Nigerian university system. Let his wife, like Mrs Clinton, show some understanding rather than add more to the embarrassment which the man had gone through.
May Monica be given a National Award as a crusader against sexual harassment, confined to universities alone.
Dr. Amirize is a retired lecturer, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.

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