Hot Question of the Day #10
Chinua Achebe: “Writers don’t give prescription. They give headaches.”
“As of 2023, there are 2,389 universities in Africa according to the UniRanks Africa University Rankings. This is an increase from 2020 when there were 1,225 officially recognized higher-education institutions in Africa, as reported by the UniRank database.” - https://africacheck.org/infofinder/explore-facts/how-many-universities-are-there-africa
With over 2k universities, why does our continent remain the poster child for world hunger, poverty, illiteracy, and political cum economic underdevelopment?
Why do our people continue to live at the mercy of the elements, perishing in both drought and flood in 2025?
If the original reason for establishing universities was to solve society's problems, should we not ask ourselves why we set up and continue to fund over 2,000 universities when we cannot feed, clothe, or house ourselves without foreign assistance?
We talk here about seven decades after we began to self-govern ourselves.
Those who blame politicians for the sad state of affairs should ask why African scholars refuse to think outside the box. They are the experts expected to find the answers to our problems.
Why can't the Business Administration department of our universities in Africa collaborate with, say, the departments of agriculture or engineering to successfully commercialize a product for the benefit of our people, or are we sentenced to a life of only the theoretical?
I would like to know how our African scholars responded to queries from their international colleagues about why our continent remains mired in the quagmire of underdevelopment and what their contributions are to uplift the continent. Apart from blaming the political leaders?
Now, the MOAQ (Mother of All Questions): Is there any reason African scholars would not practicalize and reap some fruition from all their theories?
Those interested in the topic can look up the Technical University in the Dutch city of Delft to see how a university earns both kudos and big cash by engaging in top-notch consultancy.
PS: Please, try to read my article, ‘Africa: the politicians are not to blame’: https://femiakogun.substack.com/p/africa-the-politicians-are-not-to
©️ Fẹ̀mi Akọ̀mọ̀làfẹ̀
(Farmer, Writer, Published Author, Essayist, Polemicist, Satirist, and Social Commentator.)
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Excellent piece.