Senior Lecturer at the Accounting Department of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Dr. Uche Uwaleke
A Senior Lecturer at the Accounting Department of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Dr. Uche Uwaleke, speaks with AKEEM LASISI on how he has been keeping himself engaged as the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities lingers
Using you as an example, what is the feeling of the average lecturer about the protracted ASUU strike?
The academic staff of Nasarawa State
University voted to identify with the struggle to revitalise the
university system in the country. It is often said that he who wears the
shoe knows where it pinches. Authors of some commentaries I have read
on the ASUU strike don’t seem to appreciate the enormity of the
challenges currently facing universities and indeed tertiary education
in Nigeria.
Those who work in the University,
especially the academic staff, are in a better position to appreciate
these challenges, among which are inadequate facilities, whether it is
lecture halls or hostels or libraries or laboratories. Lecturers have
been working under very harsh conditions. So, the issue is more about
providing a conducive environment for teaching and research than what
the lecturer takes home.
The implementation of the 2009 agreement
with the government will go a long way in ameliorating the current
sub-optimal condition of learning, which is why ASUU is on strike.
There is nothing ‘impossible’ or ‘outrageous’ in the patriotic demands
of ASUU – when you consider the fact that attention to education (in
terms of percentage of budgetary allocation) is getting better even in
poorer countries.
What have you been doing in the past four months the schools have been on the forced holiday?
Well, you rightly described it as
‘forced holiday’. Holidays are meant to be enjoyed but nobody seems to
be enjoying this one. Students are the worst hit. But then, it is a
sacrifice we all have to make for the future of education in this
country. Parents should advise their children and wards to make positive
use of the ‘forced holidays’. By the same token, any lecturer worth
his/her salt will use this period for personal research. You know a
lecturer is engaged to teach, research and undertake community
development.
In a sense, though the strike has been a
total one, which shuts out any academic activity in the system,
lecturers are also working when they undertake research because the
output of such will ultimately rub-off on his/her primary assignment.
So, I have actually been busy trying to put some materials together and
praying – like many well-meaning Nigerians, that the government will do
the needful and bring the ‘forced holidays’ to an end.
We understand you recently published a
new book on capital market. What is the focus and what was your
experience while publishing it?
I have actually written or co-authored
nine textbooks in corporate finance and business economics. The most
recent, “Contemporary Issues in Capital Market Studies”, was published
in 2012 and was well received. By the grace of God, another co-authored
book on “Insight into the Nigerian Capital Market” will be out before
the end of 2013.
It takes me between one and two years to
write and publish a well-researched book. The longest has been my work
on “Managerial Economics”, co-authored with my wife (also a lecturer and
a graduate of Economics Education) and published in 2011, which took
about three years. The fact remains that the Internet has greatly
reduced the ‘gestation period’ of research outputs.
I wouldn’t say I have had any regrets
with any of my publications. This is because I use reputable publishers
in Nigeria, with good track records. Publishers require sufficient time
to do a thorough work. So, I allow them adequate time ranging from four
to six months. Within this period, several corrections are made and the
dummy is generated in its final form ready for mass production.
Some people have argued that we
don’t seem to be having highly and widely acclaimed books coming from
Nigerian academics generally any more. Books that can also break into
prominence internationally. Why is this so? Is government still
responsible for this?
I do not agree that we do not have
“widely and highly acclaimed books coming from Nigerian academics.” I
just mentioned that my books are also read in Ghana. I also know some of
my colleagues whose publications are making waves on the international
scene. I agree that the scale can be stepped up. In the field of
finance and economics, for example, one could say that the Indians have
taken the lead among emerging economies since their books are widely
read here in Nigeria and elsewhere. That is partly because of the
enabling environment which has been provided for research in India,
where a significant amount of the budget goes to education. Nigerian
academics have the capacity to break into prominence internationally –
if only the environment is made conducive. And that is why we are saying
that the government has a major role to play in ensuring this,
beginning with the full implementation of the well- articulated 2009
agreement it reached with ASUU concerning the revitalisation of the
education sector in Nigeria.
As I have noted, my works have been well
received by the academic community and the industry partly due to the
very unique areas they address.
For example, my book on “Capital Market
Studies”, published last year, is currently out of print. The first
production run was 3,000 copies. The marketing strategy includes
donating copies to educational institutions’ libraries in Nigeria and
Ghana and have them order more copies subsequently.
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