By Eben Enasco Kingsley, Benin City
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has urged the academics to concentrate more on researches and stay off Nigeria’s politics.
The state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole made the assertion at the Public Presentation/Launching of “New Perspectives on the History and Politics of Nigeria: The Etsako Experience”, held in Benin City yesterday.
Oshiomhole said the lecturers who should have been busy carrying out researches in their various institutions where they are employed to teach and impart knowledge on their students, they are busy politicking and analyzing politics of the nation.
The governor averred that in other clime of the world, professors and the academics are busy carrying out researches and finding solutions to the world’s problems and improving on the state of their economics and technology adding that, Nigerian professors must double up their efforts and concentrate more on their lecturing jobs and should leave politics for the politicians.
He noted that when he was growing up, he was always hearing Nigerians professors citing foreign authors in their speeches and that made him wonder if the Nigerian professors cannot equally cite the works of their colleagues in the country.
He affirmed that though much improvement have been made in the educational sector, there is every need for them to do more and draw a line between politics and the academic world
Meanwhile, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole similarly asked Nigerians to outlive politics of climes, ethnicity and religion and should base their choice of candidates on competencies for the country to attain its pride of place in the comity of nation.
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole made the assertion at the public presentation/launching of a book titled New Perspectives on the History and Politics of Nigeria: The Etsako Experience held in Benin City yesterday.
Oshiomhole said when citizens base their choice of candidates for any political offices on climes, religion, ethnicity, rather than the capability of the individual seeking office; it will only result to the country not having the best candidate to serve the people.
The Governor noted that what is important in the state of the nation today is how we could build bridges and mend the broken walls broken by politics of ethnicity, climes and religion stressing that Nigeria has a lot to learn from the America’ politics where Barrack Obama, of Kenyan’s origin ruled the people of America as President for eight years.
The Edo State Governor while commending the author for the book well researched, said he has demonstrated a rich knowledge of history of the Etsako people but differ with the authors call for an Edo Language summit stressing that a summit is meant for the elites.
Oshiomole said the solution to preventing the language from going into extinction, is to have trained teachers who can teach vernacular language in our various institutions of learning right from the primary school to the university level, pointing that the problem is that, such is lacking in Edo State as people prefer studying and teaching English Language in schools to learning and teaching vernacular.
Earlier on the part of the author, New Perspectives On The History And Politics of Nigeria: The Etsako Experience, Chief Dr. Robson Momoh, said the book is an history book chosen to present the history of the Auchi people within the context of the history of Etsako which has been projected unto the national political stage because he believed that every man is a product of history as it helps to inter-connect with the past, present and the future.
Chief Momoh said during the course of writing the book, he discovered that the Etsako Language is gradually going into extinction if urgent steps are not taken to salvage the situation as most homes now result to English as a medium of communication.
“My research preceding the writing of this book took me to all parts of Etsako land. In the process of interaction with my hosts, I found that conversation in Etsako language can now hardly be sustained without recourse to the English Language .
“English Language is now routine spoken in Etsako homes, particularly in the homes of the elites where it is now the medium of communication with the children”, Momoh said.
Dr. Momoh hinted that the issues of language going into extinction is not perculiar to the Etsako but other tribes within the Edo State and therefore, there should be concerted action on the part of all stakeholders-the government, the traditional institution and the academia while an Edo Language summit to brainstorm on the problem and at the end of the summit, a blueprint for the revival, revitalization, preservation and transmission of the indigenous language and culture will be made while aiming at a standard Edo Language, understood, spoken and written through Edo nation will evolve from such an exercise.
