THE VISITOR, MR CHANCELLOR, YOUR EXCELLENCIES, MY LORDS, KABIYESI, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, My address this year will be shorter than that of last year not because the occasion is less impor­tant or colourful but because if I should give way to my own state of exuberance brought about by the 2sst anni­versary of this University I would, I am sure, cause you considerable distress and discomfort. This hall in which we hold our annual graduation ceremony has become hope­lessly inadequate for our needs and yet remains resistant to easy architectural modification which could have made it more comfortable.

First of all, I should like to take this opportunity of thanking our Guests, particularly those who have come from a distance, including our Honorary Graduands. We are very pleased to have you here to share our joy, happi­ness, hopes and sense of achievement on this important occasion of the 21st anniversary of the University of lbadan. The history and achievement of this University is an envia­ble one; its achievement and contributions to the social, economic and intellectual life of this country over the past twenty-one years are considerable and, without any exagge­ration, may be second to none in Africa.

Since its inception in 1948 to the present time, the Uni­versity has strengthened its sense of both self-identity and national identity, and has provided a rich and diverse spe­ctrum of creative and intellectual experience for many young men and women who have proved themselves worthy in various ways and in many important aspects of the life of our nation. Not unlike many institutions of higher learning which came into existence during the colo­nial era, the University of Ibadan inherited a lot that were premordial and incongruous and were later to be shed and remodelled. More emphasis is now laid on courses which are relevant to the overall development of Nigeria-both immediate and long-term. In addition, overall strategy of planning takes care of the perpetual change in the economic and social sectors of the population.

On this occasion it is particularly apt that I review briefly the history of this University and to mention its achieve­ments so far, in addition to outlining our aspirations and dreams for the future. In many spheres of human activity with a large component of past history, no advances will take place unless past mistakes and inadequacies are clearly understood, highlighted, and circumvented in the future.

The Beginnings

The University College of Ibadan was established as the result of the Elliot and Asquith Commissions charged by the British Government in 1943 to make recommenda­tions regarding University Development and higher edu­cation generally in her colonies.

On the 8th of May 1947 the appointment of the Princi­pal-designate of the College, Dr Kenneth Mellanby, was announced. He arrived in Nigeria in the following July and started preparing the temporary site of the College at Eleiyele for use by January 1948. The former hospital buildings there were then converted into lecture rooms, laboratories and quarters for staff and students. The equip­ment of the old Yaba Higher College was later moved in. The staff and students from Yaba were able to commence work as members of the University College of Ibadan on 18th January 1948, but their courses were in part a conti­nuation of those already started in Yaba. There were 104 students including three girls-thirty-eight taking Inter-mediate Science, seventeen Intermediate Arts, twenty-one Teacher Training and twenty-eight Surveying.

On the and of February 1948 the first full academic year of the College began. By that time many more staff had arrived. There were 210 students in all-thirty-five Intermediate Arts, five Final Arts, 113 Intermediate Science, eight Final Science, twenty-nine Medicine, and twenty Teacher Training. The last mentioned course was continued until the end of 1950. Those who commenced Intermediate courses were the first to do so under the arrangements made through the scheme of special relationship with London University. The Yaba medical school was incorpo­rated in the College, but pre-clinical work continued to be at Yaba until the end of November 1950. Administration of the Native Administration Hospital of Adeoyo and of the Government Jericho Hospital became the respon­sibility of the College.

Permanent Site

On the 17th of November 1948 the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Rt. Hon. A. Creech Jones visited Ibadan and formally inaugurated work on the permanent site by turning the first sod. The anniversary of this event has since been observed by the College as Foundation Day. Earlier in December 1946 a delegation sent by the Inter-University Council and led by Sir W. H. Fyfe, Vice-Chan­cellor of the University of Aberdeen, had selected the site a few miles north of Ibadan.

The renowned architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew were commissioned to design the University College buildings and the Firm of Cappa and D'Alberto were engaged to construct them. The result of this combination stands as a tribute to their excellence and set a new trend in architectural design.

The halls of residence were formally opened in 1952 by Lord Tedder, then Chancellor, Cambridge University. One hall was named after him and the other after the Prin­cipal Dr Mellanby. The Library was only just beginning and books remained on the temporary site for another two years. The Protestant Chapel was consecrated and Trenchard Hall was opened on Foundation Day 1954.

The Faculties and Departments

In October 1948 the College started with three professors and ten lecturers between the nine departments in the faculties of arts and science, but several professors and lecturers arrived during the session and within two years the number of teachers had risen to 46.

Pre-medical courses up to Intermediate level were given by the Science Faculty and pre-clinical training was under-taken by the Medical School. The pre-clinical departments of Physiology and Anatomy carried on their work in Yaba until late in 1950. Before the buildings of the U.C.H. were completed in 1956 medical students were sent abroad for their clinical training.

The Department of Agriculture was founded in March 1949, and the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Sci­ence was constituted shortly afterwards. The establishment of a strong professional School of Agriculture was espe­cially recommended by the Elliot Commission. By 1951 lectureships in Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Botany, and Soil Science, Tropical Agriculture and Agricultural Economics were established.

The Library was fortunate to acquire several book col­lections. In 1948 these comprised the library of the old Higher College at Yaba, some 10,000 volumes useful for undergraduates' needs; the Henry Carr Collection of 18,ooo volumes, the Dyke Collection of 10,000 chiefly on tropical agriculture, the Leeds Clergy Library of 1,000 volumes, and a miscellaneous collection of 9,000 volumes given by the British Council. Since then, many other collections have been received by gift, deposit or purchase. Among these are the Sir Charles Orr Memorial collection, some 250 volumes on Nigerian History, and the Herbert Macau-lay collection, consisting of 500 volumes and many thousands of other items including pamphlets, newspapers, documents, etc. There have also been many private donations from within Nigeria and from overseas. Under the Publications Ordinance of 1950, the Library receives two copies of every work published in Nigeria.

At this point, I should like to refer to two important Reports which formed the basis of our earlier major objec­tives-the Ashby Commission and the Visitation of 1961. From the deliberations on the reports of the two bodies and on the decisions of the Federal Government on the Ashby Report, the major objectives before Ibadan emerged more clearly.

These were as follows :‑

  1. A large increase in student numbers. From a figure of 1,050 in 1962/63, the student population was expected to double by 1966/67.
  2. A broadening of the range of disciplines taught (in some cases through the creation of new depart­ments) and greater adaptation of curricula to local needs.

The intensification of research into local problems.

  1. Special emphasis on staff development and post-graduate studies as a means of increasing the local supply of qualified scholars and men of science to staff Ibadan and the new universities which were taking shape in Nsukka, Lagos, Zaria and Ife.
  2. The need to build up its staff generally to fill gaps in undergraduate teaching and to meet the demands of research and postgraduate teaching and super-vision.
  3. The expansion of its infra-structure to cope with the expected increase in student numbers and the requirements of research and postgraduate work.

The needs represented by these objectives were embodied in the Quinquennial Estimates for 1962-67, but as negotia­tions for funds proceeded, it became quite clear that their fulfilment would require help beyond that provided by the Federal Government in capital and recurrent expenditure, and from Ibadan's own income from fees, interest on endowment and miscellaneous sources. To this end, active steps were taken to secure external assistance. The needs of the University were discussed with various Foundations and, with the assistance of an adviser from the Ford Foun­dation to the Vice-Chancellor's office, a general develop­ment programme entitled Development of University College Ibadan and dated January 1963, was drawn up. The prog­ramme discussed the future development of the new Uni­versity of Ibadan in relation to the whole educational development of Nigeria as determined by the decisions on the Ashby Report and the National Development Plan 1962/68. It also took account of the recommendations of the Visitation Report which the University had accepted.

I am happy to report that the objectives set before us during the 1962/67 quinquennium have in the main been reached. This does not, however, mean that we still do not have a long way to go in many directions in order not only to respond to urgent needs but also to be creative. To this end, we are constantly engaged in assessing our needs and priorities and these are never looked upon as recommenda­tions, but as subjects of future planning and an attempt to clarify the most vital and attainable future objectives, both long-and short-term.

We know that in terms of numbers we are not very far off- the mark. The Ashby Commission Report emphasized that a total student population of 7,500 for the whole of Nigeria could not be more than a first objective. The Re-port continues, "We have no doubt whatever that in the decade 1970/80, the student population must exceed this if Nigeria is to have all the graduates she needs, we have in mind a population considerably exceeding 10,000". Today, Ibadan University alone has within its campus a student population approaching almost a half of this target and to date has graduated a total of almost 4,000 students. How-ever, I should like to point out that in terms of relevance of our educational system to Nigerian needs, in terms of quality of the system, in terms of mode of delivery of educational service, in terms of its organization, etc., the dilemma still remains great but not insoluble.

If you are able to go through Sir Alexander Carr Saun­ders' book, `New Universities Overseas', coupled with such reports as the Ashby, Harbison, etc.,-in all these authoritative expressions of opinion, the African dilemma is well appreciated: the need for a very rapid increase in high-level manpower in every professional field, and yet the impossibility of providing such manpower quickly within existing resources, unless the standard of University and higher technical education is to be lowered. The short-fall will be serious if the existing Universities maintain their high standard, which is up to the level of first-class Universities elsewhere, and if they are not reinforced by the establishment of more institutions, not necessarily Universities. The conclusion is inescapable: African institu­tions for higher education must be multiplied, and they must be wisely planned and directed so that they do not fall below the existing high standards. What the Ashby Com­mission said of Nigeria is applicable everywhere:

`a much greater diversity of demand is likely to be made on Nigerian Universities than on their British counterparts. We believe that Nigerian Universities should meet this demand on one condition: that what is required of them is indeed greater diversity and not lower standards. University standards are an indispen­sable anchor for the whole intellectual life and profes­sional life of Nigeria; if this anchor drags, Nigeria will fail to take her rightful place among the Nations.'  

Flexibility and diversity are not the commonest attributes of Universities anywhere, but the Universities of Africa are young and exempt from many of the conservative ossifying tendencies that make some centres of learning elsewhere adhere to outworn methods.

Please allow me to return to the narrative, rather than deep analytical, examination of the present situation. I men­tioned earlier that today our student population is in the region of 4,000 men and women in spite of the civil war and we continue to receive the first choice of high quality men and women with the object of turning out eminent professional men and women, scholars, scientists, and lea­ders in many fields vital to the life and fortunes of our society; curriculum is under constant vigilance and critical evaluation; we are succeeding in violating the traditional barriers, defensive positions, and monopolistic aims of departments: interdisciplinary, inter-departmental and inter-faculty co-operation and collaboration in teaching and research is the order of the day.

We continue to increase facilities for undergraduate training and among the building projects completed during the past few years are the Institute of Education, the Insti­tute of African Studies, the magnificent extension to the Library, the Institute of Child Health and the Department of Nursing Buildings. In addition, some new building projects have recently been completed: these include new laboratories for Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology, Physiology and Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and a Pre-clinical Lecture Theatre. One of the most important courses which started this session is the postgraduate diploma in Petroleum Technology. I shall refer to this later.

Perhaps, when one is feeling the pulse of a University and evaluating its intraphysic life, the most significant change, as far as Ibadan is concerned, is now felt in the area of staffing. After ten years of intensive postgraduate prog­ramme to train a core of Nigerian scientists and scholars, this University has succeeded in producing a formidable group of highly qualified, highly motivated leaders in their respective fields. These are men and women of consi­derable academic and intellectual respectability, honesty and integrity when assessed by any standards. In spite of constantly supplying our sister Universities with staff of this calibre, a comparison of the staffing position in 1962 and 1968 shows that the staff has almost doubled, reflecting the general expansion of the University and particularly in the activities in the science faculty. Of particular significance is the proportion of the staff who are Nigerians. One can now feel confident that the academic work of the University can continue to expand, relying on an increasingly experienced and permanent staff.

We must therefore direct our attention to the teaching staff, and it is here that the effects of our postgraduate development have been most noticeable. Our postgra­duate training programme has been designed to accelerate a rapid build-up of competent staff. In 1962, there were sixty-four Nigerian members, forming only about twenty-eight per cent of the teaching staff. By 1967-68, this has more than tripled to 209, being fifty per cent of the total teaching staff, in spite of our perennial supply of teaching staff tc each of the four other Nigerian Universities. The trend is an upward one.

In spite of all these successes which encourage and stimu­late us into greater action, we continue to pay attention to other pressing areas of our academic life. Here, I should like to reveal that the most important consideration in drawing up our quinquennium plans is the heavy premium we have now placed on a more rapid development of scien­ce and technology. It is hoped that by the end of the quin­quennium, sixty-five per cent of our total enrolment will be in the faculties of science, agriculture, medicine, and the proposed institute of applied science and technology, while great care is taken to ensure proper balance between the sciences and the humanities. Meanwhile, we continue to intensify and expand our postgraduate programmes to meet the country's needs.

Although every Nigerian University is interested in research and postgraduate work, it is our belief that the facilities, skills and experience already built up and consoli­dated at Ibadan will certainly make it in the next ten years pre-eminent in this field. I should, however, like to empha­size the inherent flexibility and adaptability of our academic plans due to the nature of our societies. The upsurge of Africa is dramatic and powerful-so much so that "propo­sals which today appear to be reasonable and sensible will in a very few years appear to be short-sighted and timid". Our present forms of educational system continue to prove inadequate by themselves for our present needs, capacities and goals.

Briefly, I should like to refer to the current statistics of Higher Degrees awarded since 1963 when the postgraduate programme started.

Year

Masters

Ph.D.s

Total

1963/64

2

2

4

1964/65

2

             3

5

1965/66

3

4

7

1966/67

5

7

12

1967/68

10

17

23

1968/69

12

16

28

1969/70

4

18

22

Total

38

67

101

 

Through this programme thus we remain the most important single source of academic man-power for our sister Universities in Nigeria and in other parts of Africa. It must also be acknowledged that our postgraduate deve­lopment has done more than this; that it has aided research and contributed to learning; improved the quality of under-graduate teaching, and helped to attract to and retain at Ibadan a distinguished staff, both Nigerian and expatriate. The University of Ibadan as an institution of higher learn­ing continues to be goal-seeking not goal-setting. We realize the need for very harsh priority setting and it is necessary in the light of our experience to balance minimum desirable goals against minimum possible attainment.

There is a rising acceptance of University education in Nigeria. The unfulfilled expectations of young men and women have become legitimate demands and therefore heigh­ten the need to show visible progress towards their resolution. At this juncture, I should like to refer to a number of our staff or students who have become Vice-Chancellors either here or elsewhere:

  • Professor Parry, former Vice-Chancellor of the Univer­sity of Wales,
  • Professor Ajose, formerly of the University of Ife,
  • Professor Dike, formerly of the University of Ibadan,
  • Professor Njoku, formerly of the University of Lagos,
  • Professor Biobaku, Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos,
  • Professor Oluwasanmi Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ife,
  • Professor Irvine (until last session Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science) now Vice-Chancel­lor of the University of Guyana,
  • Professor Alexander, of the University of Lesotho,
  • Professor Audu, our former student, now the Vice‑Chancellor of the University of Ahmadu Bello,
  • Professor Davidson Nicol, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone,
  • Dr. Matturi, our former student, now Vice-Chancellor, University of Sierra Leone. 

While I am on this question of postgraduate programme and research which are so vital to the life of a University, I should like to say a few words to our leaders about the need to support research at all levels in a much more liberal way.

Higher education in Africa cannot advance by merely copying the methods used or system of education in other countries. It must advance by judicious empiricism and by research. If advance is to be made possible on these lines there must be men and women equipped by training to pursue these aims; progress by alert trial and error, and by scientific experiment and statistical analysis is within the powers only of those who have been suitably educated. And so often teaching and research are found to be linked almost intimately and it is hard to consider either for long without having to look at the other too.

Modern scientific research requires powerful installations and equipment. The evaluation, conservation and utiliza­tion of a country's natural resources necessitates the avail-ability of research centres, laboratories and experimental fields. They constitute the indispensable base for exploratory operations, for the utilization of modern research methods, and for the perfection of techniques of exploitation. Scientific autonomy is the key to economic autonomy. To prepare for the future is the ultimate aim of all research, and it is therefore essential that governments should have a precise understanding of the research potential at their disposal. The potential is not only composed of material factors but even more so of human factors: the scientists, engineers and technicians whose joint activities build the edifice of technological progress. Research is an indispens­able part of the vast and complicated system of academic and intellectual rituals and still remains the crucial point of all academic activities, the essential bond between man and his creative and imaginative life, i.e. his world of ideas. It is an activity which directly increases the element of intellectual and cognitive energy inherent in us.

Also in this connection I should like to mention the Oil Companies in Nigeria which have instituted the first Chair of Petroleum Technology in this University and have also provided a number of fellowships for this course at the postgraduate level. I mention all this enormous assistance coming from technologically advanced countries not only to show the magnitude of their contribution and their willingness to help but also to highlight the subject of priorities and international co-operation and to the improved relations between institutions, between nations and between scholars which technical assistance and aid programmes tend to generate.

Waddington (196o) in his book, "The Ethical Animal" observes, "The conclusion must surely follow that the application of modern scientific and technological methods to improving the human situation in the backward countries is the greatest ethical good which mankind has within its grasp at this period of history." He continues, "It would amount to the spreading over the whole period of the human race of the evolutionary advances which so far have been made by only a small part of it."

All over the world, the scholastic community is now being compelled to revise the whole of their task, to reflect on the nature and destiny of man, and also on the proper way of leading him from his youth towards that destiny. Ibadan will intensify its national role by continuing to play an important part in the development of our national economy, in the supply of much-needed man-power in various fields, and in assisting some of our States in the future development of their broad educational, academic and research programmes. Our commitment transcends the national boundary and imposes certain obligations which are international and are common to man in all cul­tures. We have to take part in fashioning new goals, in protecting and enhancing human rights and human liberties and in taking part in solving our pressing human problems of almost inhuman magnitude.

The major problems facing our contemporary world are the potential of nuclear warfare and the world food pro­duction and world population growth. Symbolic gestures and inadequate efforts which offer no real hope of altering the situation are to be avoided. Therefore it is imperative that scientists and academic communities everywhere should now move beyond such symbolic gestures and confront the substantive problems that have been raised. To mobilize the will of men to act on behalf of the well-being of man-kind each individual must be able to act with human dignity and to feel that his action is effective.

It can now be intelligently argued that nothing that man seriously cares to reverse is irreversible. I believe that the launching of the space rocket to the moon this year confirms more than ever before a nation's capability and technological sophistication to do almost anything within its aspirations. We are in an age of "irreversible scientific revolution" but unfortunately many of the intelligent scientific statesmen of our generation who have recognized the gigantic avalan­che of scientific activity have found themselves totally and completely incapable of controlling the overwhelming channelling of scientific utilities towards weapon develop­ment.

Universities and allied institutions arc important as reposi­tories of knowledge, and as discoverers of new knowledge, but they are rightly expected to be more concerned with the structure, progress and total welfare of our societies. Since most, if not all, societies are in a ferment, the Univer­sity, especially in a developing country, has the additional task of creating new needs and new satisfactions.

Before concluding this necessarily brief review of our activities over the past twenty-one years, I should like to express our thanks to many foreign governments, private Foundations and international Agencies. I should like to make special mention of the Ford and the Rockefeller Foundations of America which have both fully supported us in our development programme, especially our staff development. I should also like to thank the Carnegie Corporation, the Nuffield Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund. I acknowledge the continued assistance received from many governmental agencies, through their technical aid pro-grammes, such as C.I.D.A., O.D.M., U.S.S.R., French, Israel, Western Germany, Lebanon, Iraq and many other national governments. The inter-governmental Specialized Agencies of the U.N., e.g. UNESCO, W.H.O., UNICEF, F.A.O., have been most active in giving us assistance in the development of many of our new programmes. Many industrial firms, notably U.A.C., N.T.C. and so on, have been generous in the provision of scholarships and I should like to make mention of this.

Before I conclude this address, I wish now to direct a few remarks to our new graduates. All of you have gone through a unique experience, dabbling in fleeting philosophies,meetings and shows very keen interest in the affairs of this University. He has himself done a great deal for the deve­lopment of education in the Mid-West and has devoted practically all his life to the task of bringing opportunities to the disadvantaged. He is Rev. Dr Martin. Download