THE FUTURE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE IN BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO

In place of my contribution in the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences orientation organized for the new academic staff of the faculty which I did not attend

THE FUTURE OF POLITICAL SCIENCE IN BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO

The "Faculty of Political Science" Bayero University, Kano – Nigeria has unprecedentedly expanded by about 50%. This means a new academic community is created. Some of the new members are very young.

Given this sudden and unexpected development, it is not wrong to say, especially the younger ones, are the future of Political Science and of Department of Political Science, in Bayero University, Kano.

The task is not small. The scenario will be either to make Political Science of excellence, to make it competitive in global knowledge industry or to spoil it. As far as raising the standard of the Department, that is an administrative matter and I think is not a big deal as once knowledge becomes of excellence with all its ethics embodied in it, its administration cannot be otherwise.

So, what do we expect? I hope we are all aware that in the last 15 years of Scientific Revolution across the globe, Political Science is being transformed. It is no longer that American Political Science which some of us in the Department still thinks is the god and goddesses of the discipline. Even in the United State of America that old Political Science is put underground, only to say more sophisticated multidimensional theories and approaches have evolved to serve the same interests.

It is worthy to note by the younger ones that like "Government" has disappeared as a field of study Political Science may also disappear. But the issues will remain. Hundreds of years ago, Aristotle said Political Science is like a "mad man in the market". This is because it has not got its own method and it has not got its own approach. It derives and reformulate from other Social Sciences. This makes it chaotic but at the same resilient to transform and survive in the face of the on-going scientific revolution. The complexity of the science under this transformation has made it more fragmentary and in some universities across the globe is called Political Studies.

The reason why I have gone brief into the present transformation of the science is to inform the new members of the Faculty of Political Science that now there are new issues and methods for research.

In accordance, with a drive if there is, for a more academic future, you need to ask yourself what is going to be your role, what model Political Science and Political Science Department are you going to build, and what are the problems towards this model of excellence.

The role of an academic in an academic community, individually or collectively is generation and transmission of knowledge through research, study, documentation, discussion, production, creation, teaching, lecturing and writing. So these are your responsibilities. I think you should take them seriously if you want to change the Department to change the Department to a centre of excellence in learning and research in Political Science.

However, teaching and research are primary and from them the others may be fulfilled. I think the new members of the faculty are aware that teaching and research are facing serious problems. This problem has reminded me of what one senior Academic from university of Ife convinced all the participants in one workshop that in Nigerian Universities today there are no teachers. Another colleague in Bayero University, Kano while recasting our minds to the past intellectual activities, on this campus concluded that now we have a school, not a university. Familiar with many of you in the academic community during the undergraduate study programme, I have no doubt you are capable of starting the revolution here, except if you are overpowered by careerism, market scholarship and local obstacles.

Now, how do you do research? I am not going to tell you how to do research here. Just to say social science research is a social criticism. That makes contribution to knowledge. There are so many basic of research which are not going to be said here, because this is not writing about research. Yet researchers in Nigerian Universities today must consciously guard against abuses in research.

What of teaching? Some university academic staff think that they are lecturers not teachers. Yes! There is but a very thin difference between a teacher and a lecturer.

Nevertheless, the concept of teaching/teacher receives more international recognition and usage. For example UNESCO instruments in the field of education as in the Recommendation concerning the status of teachers (1966) had never used the concept of lecturer. Furthermore, in all the known Declarations on Academic Freedom in higher institution i.e. the Lima Declaration (1988) Poznan Declaration (1993); the Kampala Declaration (1990); and ASUU-Codesria Conference on higher education in Nigeria resolution (?); all used teachers, except in Lima Declaration where "Lecturer" is used only once in the whole document. I think new academics should be expected to read these documents.

Again, the concept teacher/teaching has greater social responsibility. Teaching is a profession so there are ethics and code of practice of teaching. There are three broad areas on the code of practice of teaching as a profession:

1. The relationship of teacher with his/her students
   
2. The relationship of teacher with his/her teacher colleagues
   
3. The relationship of teacher with the society.
   

The POZNAN (1993) Declaration on Academic Freedom noted that students of higher education institutes "have the right to participate in the governance of institutions of higher education and in the organization of the educational process". This falls in line with the code of practice of teaching which says that a teacher must take his/her students seriously and recognize the students as important in learning. This means that the concern of a teacher should always be towards the progress of his/her students in learning. By this you are hereby advised:

1. It has been observed long time ago that long period of military rule has militarized relations between individuals every where including in the universities. This trend should be stopped, especially in the university in order to allow free development of knowledge for National development. So, here we should allow democracy to work by fist listen to the students; attend to their problems, let them understand why what happened to them has happened. Knowledge does not develop wherever there is show of power.
   
2. Following that, don't harass and traumatize students in examination halls, in tutorials or during lectures
   
3. Take your students as partners in learning. Don't take your position/ideas in learning is absolute. Because you are their teacher, you are only relatively better. That's all. Yet, you can learn from your students too.
   
4. When you are assessing your students don't compare what you know from what they present. As you too, you may not know is only very little you know.
   

Regarding relationships with others is to be only for development and dissemination of knowledge. Create a vibrant academic community here where ideas are discussed and debated. In debating ideas there is no question of the truth or the correct ideas. Just talking of ideas and bring more ideas. The Bayero University, Kano Old campus was like that in those years (see my speech in M.M. Yusif Debate 2011). Debates and discussions will bring new issues for research. All sciences including political Science in the twenty-first century could make more and relevant contribution to knowledge only through joint research work. This is so, as it is observed by one distinguished writer that individual researchers tends to cast old theories and methods into new data which resulted in wrong conclusions. Secondly, in view of massive data available on social sciences issues only a sophisticated theory with a wide scope can be able to accommodate and analyze the data available. Many other team and joint works will create new Political Science and a new department of Political Science to compete in global knowledge industry.

The last one is the relationship of teacher with society. An acamic is a teacher and also a researcher. If you combine these two functions, makes a scholar. On the other hand a scholar is an objective social critique for development of human society. All human societies that have developed do so through research. In many advanced countries, research is taken very serious that in the White House (USA) and Down Street (London), for example next to the office of the President and the Prime Minister respectively is the office of research and development, which is linked with all serious academic communities and research centres in the world. Research for development is generation of ideas for development, which along the way the researcher will be paid. This is different from careerism which the research is searching where to do research to get some money. Here, there is no feeling of national development but of the small money to get.

However, this is not a problem of only the developing world as in recent years in Britain, academics have to get into debates about careerism in British knowledge industry. Furthermore, careerism is opposite of scholarship which is to tell the truth, to be objective and raise ideas for development of human society. So, these are the options do your choice.

Let me rest my pen. But do not forget that your choice is what would make Political Science in Bayero University, Kano of excellence or to spoil it.

M.M. Yusif

Department of Political Science,

BUK – Nigeria

6^th June, 2012