Do not mock Nigerian scientists and engineers. But feel free to mock the political leaders. I read one extremely unfair article, making a mockery on how Nigerian scholars are not participating in the global Covid-19 vaccine race. If not that our pragmatic and virtuoso innovation systems of the 1960s were broken, by successive visionless men, our Oxfords and Johns Hopkins would have risen. This is the fact:
Prof. Augustine Njoku-Obi, his son married from my clan, was one of the finest vaccine creators of his time. He may not sound a name. But he could have been the father of cholera vaccine in the world. He was the man who invented the cholera vaccine that stopped the Kano Cholera outbreak in 1972. The World Health Organization (WHO) approved the vaccine in 1971 and when the outbreak came in Kano, Nigeria deployed the vaccine.
Our professors are at home now [too bad], bargaining for their wages. It used to be different – they used to be at the forefront. So, instead of mocking the university system, let us during the next election vote for competence over tribal sentiment.
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I am from Ovim, Abia state- we voted against all ruling parties in the last election: we voted against APC in presidency, PDP in governorship, PDP in senate and PDP in house. The conclusion was this: the incumbents failed and must be replaced. Abia state has more than 95% literacy rate, Ovim has close to 99%. They told the governor point blank: we would not vote for you because you have not done well! I wish Nigeria can replicate that model – vote for competence and not tribal sentiments.
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