Being text of lecture delivered at the 2024 Ijebu Muslim College Old Students Association, IMCOSA, Annual Lecture with the theme, “Life After Secondary School Education” on Saturday, July 20, 2024 by Chief Fassy Adetokunboh Olore Yusuf, Ph.D., FCTI, FNIPR, FNIM, FIoD. Yusuf is also the Chairman, Ijebu Ode Branch, Nigerian Bar Association and Distinguished Fellow, University of Lagos.
John Dewey: Education is life
The theme of this year’s lecture was originally, College and Post-secondary education for SSSI to 3 Students. However, after a careful consideration, I have taken the liberty to change the theme to LIFE AFTER SECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATION. I am convinced beyond any doubt that the modified topic is very germane to my audience as they would be dispersing into the world sooner than later in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece or treasures and additional knowledge.
Let me digress a little by talking about the Golden Fleece. According to the Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the golden-woolled, winged ram (pet), Chrysomallos, that rescued Phrixus and brought him to Calchis, where Phrixus then sacrificed it to Zeus. Phrixus, it was, who gave the fleece to King Aeetes who then kept it in a sacred grove. It was from this sacred grove that Jason and the Argonaults stole it with the help of Medea, Aeetes’ daughter. The fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship. Fleece being in our context, the woolly covering of a sheep or goat is what we search for to make life full of abundance.
GOLDEN FLEECE: TREASSURES AND ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
We all want to be successful in life. Some of life’s success can be attributed to academic success, business success, work success, spiritual success, family success, political success and social success. To achieve things of great worth or value (treasures) in life require the possession of additional knowledge beyond the present-day Senior Secondary School education unless in exceptional situations/circumstances, e.g, by Divine will.
The current state you are in is a leveller. Immediately you complete your senior secondary school education, your life will change. Do not be deceived. Most of us would succeed while some of us would fall by the way side and become hangers on or dependent on our former SSS class mates. It all depends on the courage, seriousness, commitment and attention you devote to your intellectual/academic and spiritual development. My prayer is that you will all grow from senior secondary school certificate to become people of relevance in the society.
Mo ri Omo Oba t’o di eru ri; mo si ri Iwofa to di Oloro (one has seen a Prince who became a pauper; and one has also seen a wretched person becoming prosperous). May success be ours in life. Then, the choice is ours. Most failures in life are man-made.
LET ME TELL YOU, DEAR AUDIENCE, PART OF MY STORY AND THIS ACADEMIC GOWN :
Let me restate that it is my conviction that without additional knowledge after SSS education, one can hardly achieve things of great worth or value (treasures) in today’s world, except it is the will of the Almighty God. Allah is All-Knowing.
To achieve additional knowledge for a secured future and relevance after your senior secondary school education, you require one or a combination of two or more of the following:
1) Vocational and Crafts’ education
2) Technical and Religious (Islamic or Christian/Theological) education
3) Polytechnic and Professional education
4) University education
You will now permit me to expatiate on each of these four additional means of acquiring additional knowledge.
VOCATIONAL AND CRAFTS’ EDUCATION
This is the education that prepares people for a skilled craft as artisan, trade as a trader, or work as a technician. According to Wikipedia, Vocational education aims to equip an individual with the necessary skills for gainful employment or self-employment. A vocational school or institute is a type of educational institution specifically designed to provide crafts; and or vocational education.
Before completing your SSS education critically assess your capacity and competence to decide what you can do. Not all of us have the intellectual capacity to cope with higher education (polytechnic or university), but we delude ourselves by fruitlessly struggling to secure admissions into higher institutions. Why do you have to compare yourself with others? You should wake up. Let us accept our situation or fate (kadara) and check other areas where you can excel. You can succeed and be relevant as a carpenter (furniture maker), mechanic, hairdresser, make-up artist, cosmetologist, electrician, bricklayer, painter, artist, driver, etc. Be convinced that we all have a role to place in the society. Do not be fooled, you can succeed without university or polytechnic education.
Examples are legion. Check out the biographies of Chief Timothy Odutola, Alhaji Jimoh Odutola, Chief S. O. Bakare-Oluwalogbon, Chief Rasaki Akanni Okoya, Asiwaju S. Adebola Adegunwa, Balogun Okunola Shote, Bobagunwa Kassim (Shokas), Chief Bisi Rodipe, Alhaji Adebayo Owolegbon (Aiyepe), Otunba Sunday A. Adegeye (aka. Sunny Ade), Evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi, Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde Barrister, Otunba Wasiu Anifowose (KWAM I).
Indeed, we live in a complex world and only the fittest can cope. Life after secondary school education would be complex and challenging. But you can succeed and be relevant in every material sense. Since life cannot be a bed of roses, may I align myself with the late educationist and humanist, Tai Solarin by saying ‘may your road be rough’ as you strive to conquer the world and ‘ . . . leave footprints on the sands of time . . . .’ as canvassed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in one of his poems.
TECHNICAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Let us not deceive ourselves, some of you will end up becoming Islamic and Christian clerics. To go this route, you will need to take your education beyond SSS education. To be an Islamic cleric you will need to attend an established Arabic cum Islamic school for greater knowledge about Islamic and Arabic education. Also, if you want to be recognised as a good Christian cleric, you will need to attend a seminary or theological school for better exposure to the Bible and Christian knowledge and doctrines. The success achieved from the Arabic/Islamic School or Seminary/Theological School can lead to better and more advanced education.
Technical education is often confused with technological education. Here, I am using the word “technical” advisedly and contextually. I see it (technical education) as vocational preparation of students for jobs involving the skills and knowledge to succeed in technical fields. It is akin to vocational education. However, it goes beyond vocation as theories of each vocation are taught and applied. These are mostly taught at technical colleges and trade centres. Those who go through this route are prepared for jobs that are based in manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic but totally related to a specific trade, occupation or vocation. The national vocational qualification in Nigeria is NSQF (Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework), formerly called NVQF (National Vocational Qualification in Nigeria). The scheme inculcates entrepreneurial skills that help our youths to be self-reliant rather than depending on white collar jobs. I recall the old City & Guilds Stages III, II and I Certificates.
POLYTECHNIC AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
Polytechnics are post-secondary institutions that offer advanced technical education. The polytechnic model is hands-on and industry responsive education because it trains students in advanced skills. Unfortunately, this form of education has not been given the recognition it deserves in Nigeria because of the craze for university education. The point to be made here is that polytechnics usually offer more practical, hands-on approach to technical subjects, whereas, universities tend to focus on the empirical, research-based studies. As you move to senior secondary class II, you should start developing your capacity and competence to know what should suit you- May be polytechnic or professional education or a combination of both. Alternatively, you may opt for university education. By the present situation, you require five SSSC papers in five subjects (including Mathematics and English Language) each at a minimum of Credit level and at no more than two sittings for polytechnic education. During our own time, it was more liberal!
Professional education is similar to polytechnic education being programmes that improve the knowledge, skills, attitudes or behaviours of those who are considered professional or certified in a particular area. You can register as a Student member, if you possess the educational requirements and start to prepare for the professional examinations that eventually lead to the membership of the body when certified. It could be accountancy/accounting, marketing, public relations, advertising, etc. Your Career Counselling or Guidance teacher should be able to advise you after assessing you and your academic or educational records. Teachers’ training can also fall under this category. Know thyself!
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
This is referred to as a higher learning institution and an academic environment, where a community of scholars engage in study (teaching and learning), research, and community services. University education aims to empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to lead fulfilling lives, positively impact society, and advance knowledge and human progress by pursuing these objectives. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) states that university or tertiary education focuses on learning endeavours in specialised fields.
In the World Bank’s 2019 World Development Report on the future of work, it (the World Bank) submits that given the future of work and the increasing role of technology in value chains, tertiary/university education becomes even more relevant for workers to compete in the labour market and bring about innovations. Graduates of tertiary education are known to be more liberal, likely to embrace cultural and ethnic diversity, and easier to deal with. In Nigeria, after the completion of the senior secondary school education with at least Credit (it is better to secure A1, BI or B2) passes in five subjects including English and Mathematics, and three other subjects mostly at a sitting, you are required to sit for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Entrance Examination, and to meet varying cut-off marks to be able to secure admission to study the course of your choice.
Ordinarily, university education should be an optional stage. However, everybody wants to have tertiary education at all costs. Some students and their parents go to any length to secure university education (for their children), in the process perpetrating all manners of evils and nefarious practices. This is despicable and heinous. The situation is mostly attributable to our certificate-crazy environment. As someone who is involved in university education, I can categorically state that over fifty per cent of our university students have no business being in any tertiary institutions. They are there wasting their time and resources (their parents and their personal resources). Such people congest the university system and overstretch the facilities of the universities.
If you have the capacity and capability for university education, and you are focused, by all means, go for it. Any discipline- pure and applied sciences, engineering (civil, electrical/electronics, chemical, aeronautics, mechanical, etc.), architecture, environmental sciences, marine engineering, computer, informatics, software and hardware engineering, law, media and communication studies, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, animal science, agriculture, political science, accounting and finance, marketing, personnel management, business administration, theatre arts, art, social sciences, languages, and so many others. Nothing should stop you from achieving your goal. The sky is no longer people’s limit! Ensure you are not too far from your Course adviser or counsellor.
WE LIVE IN A COMPLEX WORLD NOW
Distinguished audience, I am an Ijebu-Nigerian who has been living in this complex world for nearly seventy years and I have been earning a living since 1973, while simultaneously pursuing academic and professional excellence. At the risk of sounding immodest, apart from Allah, nobody, I repeat, nobody can claim to have sponsored my education beyond the now senior secondary school education. You can also do it. Indeed, you can achieve more.
One of our youths, Alao Abiodun writing from University of Ibadan captioned his piece in TheCable thus: “Being a young Nigerian who fully knows what young graduates pass through in this country, the statistics are sobering, worrisome, disturbing and heart-rending. With the rule of thumb, 60% of Nigeria’s population is made up of the youth and youth unemployment in Nigeria is put at about 60%. Invariably, this gives one an insight into the terrible circumstances in which young Nigerians have found themselves.” They are not job creators, they are job seekers!
We presently face a paradox! Do we continue to teach centuries’ old ways of organising the world through traditional disciplines such as mathematics, history and music or throw them out in favour of innovation and creativity in order to move into a 21st century paradigm for teaching and learning? The truth is, innovation requires the creative transfer of the fundamental and powerful concepts of the traditional disciplines. We should put real-world challenges in front of those that require them to improvise based on what humanity has already discovered or can discover. Innovators stand on the shoulders of past chroniclers, scientists and mathematicians in order to innovate. They can only invent with a thorough understanding of how the world works.
Graduation is simply the receiving or the conferring of an academic degree or diploma after satisfying the academic and other requirements of the institution In Truth and In Deed. ‘The meaning of life as we perceive it is derived from philosophical and religious contemplation of and scientific inquiries about existence, social ties, consciousness and happiness (Wikipedia)’. Graduation can be exciting but life thereafter can be frightening and stressful. It is challenging and only those who love challenges can make success out of graduation. Yes, you may think that the world is now your oyster to grab, but you will discover that the world is not a bed of roses. The world out there is complex.
From my knowledge, you need to go beyond the degree certificate a tertiary institution would award you upon the successful completion of your studies by preparing for the complex world before (not after) graduation:
- The Uncertain and Complex World: The world is currently a huge social, informational, political, cultural and technical complexity and learning to cope with, adapt to and work productively with such complexity is one of the great learning challenges in our education.
- Global and cultural competency: We live in an era of globalisation- a world of interdependence. We must have competencies that have practical global applications. Our values, attitudes, skills, and behaviour must not fall below the benchmark of others. Global competence must be cultivated. You must be aware about cultures and respects for different perspectives. Your knowledge must have a universal standard.
- Adopt a lifewide approach to education: You need a more complete and relevant education to your future life. Therefore, you need different spaces to develop relationships, encounter and resolve different sorts of challenges, seize opportunities, aspire to live a useful, productive and fulfilled life and seek to achieve your ambitions.
- No more illusion or Utopian life: The days of wrong or misinterpreted perception of issues, mirage, hallucination, phantasm, phantom, fantasy, figment of imagination, etc. are gone. It will no longer be possible for you to demand for ideal conditions of life or for you to be advocating or proposing impractically ideal social and economic schemes. The realities will now dawn on you. Having a home, electricity, water, etc. will depend on your economic situation.
- Discover your passion: You must develop a very strong feeling about your vision, mission and core values, and pursue them with energy, doggedness and sincerity. Beyond your certificate, your life is hinged on discovering your passion.
- Don’t compare yourself with others: Many of you are from different background. Your parents could be rich or poor. It ends there. You must henceforth not compare yourself with others. Circumstances and situations will now be different. Ask Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Tony Elumelu, Otedola, Mrs. Folorunso Alakija, Olusegun Obasanjo, Afe Babalola, Wole Soyinka, and Muhammadu Buhari. Read the biographies of the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, late Ahmadu Bello, late Obafemi Awolowo, late Gani Fawehinmi, etc.
- Know your worth: How do you deserve to be valued or rated? It is for you to determine. However, I am of the opinion that most, if not all, want to be valued or rated highly. Therefore, it is expedient you define this now if not already defined. Delay could be dangerous.
- Prepare to take risks (no venture, no gain): After graduation, be prepared to take calculated risks. Bill Gates took a risk by abandoning his university education to pursue his computer passion. Tony Elumelu, Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote, etc. all took risks that enabled them to be what they are today. However, always take calculated risks.
- Learning how to cope with pressure: Do not deny it. Attempts to persuade or coerce you into doing something are to be expected. However, you must remember what you stand for and eschew lack of integrity like the plague. Do away with cultism, yahoo yahoo and yahoo plus, robbery, hooliganism, thuggery, stealing, pick-pocketing or ‘tapping’, cheating, rascality, absenteeism, irresponsibility, etc.
- Have and maintain impeccable character (transparency, accountability, probity, equity, justice and good conscience): Your greatest asset in this complex world is your character which must be impeccable. Without transparency, accountability, probity, equity, justice and good conscience you can hardly achieve sustainable success in life. Ensure your character is impeccable.
- Constantly update your skills: Possession of a certificate should be the beginning of intellectual pursuit. When you stop learning, you are inevitably decaying and dying. Our world is now knowledge-driven and you cannot afford to become a dinosaur (that is, being archaic or out of touch with the complex world) because if you do not keep old skills sharp and continue learning new ones, your career will become obsolete and your life will be rustic. During our early university education days, there were no computers! But now, can anybody survive without information and computer technology?
- Discern the company you keep: ‘Show me the company you keep and I will tell who you are’ is a Nigerian aphorism. Your world would be determined by the company you keep. Be discerning! Shine your eyes! A bad company could most probably destroy your life. Dangote o ni ori meji. Otedola o ni ori meji. Who is your friend? Are you proud of him?
- Actualise your dreams: Do not be afraid to dream big, that is, you must believe in yourself and show optimism. However, you must show clarity about what you want from or out of life, trust your intuition, relax your nerves, be observant, say no to obstacles and always be prepared like the Boy scouts. Indeed, the world is built on optimism.
- Learn from your mistakes: According to the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, ‘it is not how many times you fall that matters, but your ability to rise each time you fall’. Check how many times all great names and inventors failed before they achieved every success recorded. So, do not be afraid to fail but be prepared to rise and succeed or shine.
- Know that God’s delay is not His denial: Do not be fooled. Your life may momentarily be rough. However, as we say, ‘tough time does not last, tough people do.’ Indeed, God’s delay is not His denial. Occasionally, when God wants to do great things in your life, He may decide to start with impossibilities or difficulties. With commitment, doggedness and spirituality you will achieve it. I do not encourage too much of religiosity. Rather, I counsel about spirituality. Our clerics can take care of religiosity, but must incorporate spirituality into it for us to have an Eldorado.
Indeed, we live in a complex world and only the fittest can cope. Life after secondary school education would be complex and challenging. But you can succeed and be relevant in every material sense. Since life cannot be a bed of roses, may I align myself with the late educationist and humanist, Tai Solarin by saying ‘may your road be rough’ as you strive to conquer the world and ‘ . . . leave footprints on the sands of time . . . .’ as canvassed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in one of his poems.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.
