• Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact
Premium Times Opinion
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
No Result
View All Result
Premium Times Opinion
Home Columns

Nigerian Army, Innovation and the Key in the Dog’s Teeth, By Pius Adesanmi

by Premium Times
April 6, 2017
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0

Buratai

Given the history of the Nigerian Army, you are not really talking to your boys, are you? You are warning Nigerians in general: use social media to talk about the Army in a way we don’t like and you shall see!


Never be too quick to commend a Nigerian official who, Allah be praised, finally does something commendable. There will always be that little spoiler – as if they are allergic to doing anything that does not have comma somewhere and somehow.

I was just going to commend General Buratai for taking time away from the rigours of snake farming and Dubai property management to announce “the upgrading of the Nigerian Army Institute of Technology and Environmental Studies, Biu in Borno, to University of Technology and Environmental Studies” (PREMIUM TIMES).

Africa is crawling towards the age of specialised innovation universities. That is the discourse of the future and it is a pleasant surprise to see the Nigerian Army take the plunge at a time when Nigerian education authorities are largely absent from global discussions of the idea of innovation universities.

I was going to say to Buratai: great idea. Wonderful that you appear to be up to date in global education discourse. Innovation Universities – that is what we are all talking about now. However, please look at the kinds of budgetary figures and resources that those who are talking about innovation universities in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Arab Gulf States have in mind. An innovation university is not just what you open the Nigerian way.

That is how you opened Universities of Agriculture and turned them into a joke.

That is how you opened Federal Universities of Technology and turned them into a huge joke.

Now the world is talking innovation universities and the Army wants to blaze the trail for Nigeria. Good. But go and find money and find global visionaries to run your vision according to global best practices. Don’t launch it with fanfare and then run the university exactly the same way Nigeria has run her Universities of Agriculture and Universities of Technology.

I was going to say all these nice things to Buratai. Then I saw the spoiler: he warned against “the inappropriate use of the social media by personnel of the army” (PREMIUM TIMES).

Now, I have no wahala with an Army General grumbling about inappropriate use of social media by his officers. After all, in universities, in the work place, in the corporate world, employers have various social media usage policies and are always grumbling.

However, what is the business of the public sphere with Buratai’s issues with social media use in the Nigerian Army? Matter of routine military discipline that should be in internal memos, Nigerian Army Generals will jump up and down, go on Channels and AIT, summon ThisDay and Punch and Vanguard and begin to issue public directives.

We can’t repeat this enough: the Army in the public sphere is an aberration. It is a hangover from our dark days. Our people think it is normal because they have mostly never seen and experienced anything different from the military being in their face and in their space all the time.

If you want to regulate social media use in the Army, go and do it internally. Besides, it is ironic that you are using the occasion of the launch of a university, a space of ideas, freedom, and innovation, to announce a clamp down on unauthorised social media use by your boys.

And, by the way, you may have addressed your message directly to your boys in the Army, I hear, differently. Given the history of the Nigerian Army, you are not really talking to your boys, are you? You are warning Nigerians in general: use social media to talk about the Army in a way we don’t like and you shall see!

Are you blaming me for hearing something different from what you said? General, don’t blame me. Blame the Army’s history of brutality and violation of civilian spaces.

Next time, go and give your orders to your boys in the barracks. Stop disturbing our peace in civilian public spaces.

Pius Adesanmi, a professor of English, is Director of the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Canada.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Previous Post

Why The Tears For Ndume? By Azu Ishiekwene

Next Post

Are We Getting Our Children Into Tech Careers Early Enough?, By Adetola Salau

Related Posts

Trust and Confidence Building As Conditions of Good Governance, By Uddin Ifeanyi
Columns

The Policy Implications of 2021’s Low Growth Projections, By Uddin Ifeanyi

February 1, 2021
Akinwunmi Adesina: Africa’s Spotless Son, By Wole Olaoye
Columns

Iron Woman of Berlin, By Wole Olaoye

January 31, 2021
Rethinking Heroism and the Nigerian Civil Service, By Festus Adedayo
Columns

Aliko Dangote’s Costly Mess of the Libido, By Festus Adedayo

January 31, 2021
Why Lai Mohammed Must Be Fired Immediately, By Femi Aribisala
Article of Faith

Is God Invisible?, By Femi Aribisala

January 31, 2021
Religion As Africa’s Trojan Horse, By Osmund Agbo
Columns

South-East Governors: Preparing For a Post-oil and Restructured Nigeria, By Osmund Agbo

January 30, 2021
People Deserve The Coach They Hire, By Owei Lakemfa
Columns

Again, Entombed Humans Triumph Over Death, By Owei Lakemfa

January 30, 2021
Next Post
Are Nigerian Engineers No-Good?: Need to Build the Capacity of Our Teachers, By Adetola Salau

Are We Getting Our Children Into Tech Careers Early Enough?, By Adetola Salau

El-Rufai: A Critic’s Desperation for Silence, By Immanuel Ibe Anyanwu

The Governors of Vice and Repression, By Immanuel Ibe Anyanwu

Editorial

  • EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

    EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

  • EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

    EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

  • EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

    EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

  • EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

    EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

  • EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

    EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

Subscribe to our Opinion articles via email

Enter your email address to get notifications of new opinion articles as they are published.

Join 526,543 other subscribers

Most Popular

  • Wasting Nigeria's Scarce Electricity, By Gimba Kakanda
    Wasting Nigeria's Scarce Electricity, By Gimba Kakanda
  • The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • World Teachers Day and The Position of Teachers In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    World Teachers Day and The Position of Teachers In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Women Prohibited For Men To Marry In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Women Prohibited For Men To Marry In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Importance Of Keeping Secrets In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Importance Of Keeping Secrets In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Islam and the Conditions For Marrying More Than One Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
    Islam and the Conditions For Marrying More Than One Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Showing Gratitude To Allah For His Bounties, Blessings and Favours, By Murtadha Gusau
    Showing Gratitude To Allah For His Bounties, Blessings and Favours, By Murtadha Gusau

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Podcasts

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

  • Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
 

Loading Comments...