Please help raise awareness over the activities of Dr Agbiaka,Unilorin Microbiology Post Graduate Coordinator. This is pure victimization. A student simply shared a post and he is being threatened. Below is the message.

Message forwarded by the student

DEAR NIGERIAN LECTURERS/PROFS,

This is a letter from me (Nkechi Bianze) to you.

When my Dad died in February, I was approaching the end of a professional academic program that I was running at the time. I was to finish all my course works by end of April at the earliest.

However, when the whole family had a conversation, we all decided that 18th-21st April were the most convenient time for us to do the burial and all the burial rites. My sisters and their families were to come from the UK. Some other extended family members were to come from different parts of the country and the world.

My exams were scheduled for 3rd, 8th and 22nd of April. And I knew I wasn't going to be in Canada by 22nd of April. So, I requested for my Dad's medical/death certificate and I had this conversation with my prof (see screenshots below), and everything was sorted easily and smoothly. In a nutshell, SHE DID MY OWN EXAM FOR ME 10 DAYS EARLIER SO THAT I COULD MAKE IT HOME TO ATTEND MY DAD'S BURIAL.

I also spoke verbally to all my other profs that I lost my Dad and had to be in Nigeria before the scheduled end of my program. So, I was going to hand in all my courseworks earlier. They all sympathized with me and told me to let them know if there was any other way they could assist me in this difficult time. And that they could grant me extra time if needed.

They all told me that if I couldn't do any exam or assignment because I'm grieving, that they would be happy to grant me enough time as I would need in order to get back and do my academic work.

I preferred to rush and finish than postpone. I worked hard. It was difficult but I told myself that my Dad wouldn't be happy wherever he was if I ended up failing my exams. So, that kept me going.

The results are out. And although this was my last semester and the most difficult time of my life because I fell sick in December/January and lost the most important person to me in February; this same semester, I had the best results I've ever had in my postgraduate academic journey which began in 2013.

For some odd reasons, I perform best when I'm under the most pressure or in the worst frame of mind. But this is NOT the point of my post.

When I got home, I told my family how I was able to finish my academic work about a month earlier. Some of my uncles, aunties and cousins told me that such is almost impossible in most Nigerian Universities. It came as a surprise. I mean, I thought "Why won't a lecturer be just a little sympathetic?"

My mum told me how she failed an exam because I was sick with whooping cough when I was less than a year old and before I was old enough for the vaccination. (My mum was an undergraduate University student when I was born.) She wasn't granted any consideration. She even wrote it with those who had carryover in the course because she was scored zero for the main exam even though she couldn't write the exam because her few months old daughter was fighting for her life in the hospital.

One of my cousins told me how she had an extra year because she had an accident that left her in the hospital for weeks.

One of my cousins told me how his lecturer asked him to choose between going for his father's burial and graduating that year. My cousin actually did miss his father's burial because his lecturers were too heartless to grant him any sort of consideration even for the fact that he lost his father.

That brings me to the question: why are many Nigerian lecturers of Nigerian higher institutions so wicked and heartless?

No! This is NOT the fault of Buhari or the government. This is the wickedness of the average Nigerian against another. I class it as a form of man's inhumanity against fellow man.

I stand to be corrected but I would want to believe that lecturers in Nigeria have some discretionary powers like the ones we've got in the UK and Canada. Which means that if a student is facing a difficult situation such as sickness, accident, death of parent, spouse, child or any other close relative, or any other genuine unforeseen situation, that a lecturer can grant such a student some fair consideration. If not for anything else, for the sake of humanity. For the fact that these misfortunes can happen to ANYONE and if it happens to you, you would wish that those in authority over you would be kind enough to grant you some needed consideration.

I didn't ask my Dad to die. I didn't pray for it. I didn't even expect he would die the day he did. He went to sleep that night like everyone else and suffered a cardiac arrest in his sleep and never regained consciousness. Why do anyone in my situation have to choose between finishing their course/program or going to attend their father's burial?

I'm writing this because there is a good chance that some Nigerian lecturers, Profs, Heads of Departments, Deans of Faculties, Rectors, Provosts, Vice Chancellors and other academic staff members will come across this and read it. And I want them to know that it isn't just the right thing, but the humane thing to grant students who are facing difficult times some needed consideration.

From Harvard, to Oxford, to Yale, to ALL the best Universities around the world, provisions are made for considerations to be given to students who are facing difficult times at some points in their studies. Why is Nigeria so different?

With all these forms of wickedness, the standard of Education in Nigeria is still at the lowest one can imagine. We still have no Nigerian University on the list of the best 200 Universities in the world. So, apparently, it is obvious we are NOT benefiting anything from being so cruel to ourselves.

I'm calling on all lecturers and academic staff of Universities to PLEASE have a change of heart and attitude and be a little more human. Because this better Nigeria we are all praying for is a joint effort. This is a bit of the part you have to play towards a better Nigeria. And it will cost you very little or nothing.

Do it for your children and grandchildren most of whom will someday be students of Nigeriam higher institutions and might face some difficult times. And you would wish they get the considerations they need to pull through those difficult times.

Most of you are Christians and muslims who go to your places of worship weekly. What kind of worship are you doing if you can't show the slightest of kindness to your brethren? Even your Bible says that "... Whatsoever you do to the least of your brethren, so you do unto me (Christ/God)"

This planet earth turns slowly, and we all have our share of life challenges. But if only we try and be just a little kind, we can do our bits in making life a little easier for ourselves and thus, leaving a better world and institutions for the generations to come.

Yours Sincerely,
Nkechi Bianze

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Share this gospel by clicking the share button and/or tagging any lecturer/Prof, Rector, Provost, Vice Chancellor, or staff member of any Nigerian higher institution.

Am sympathetic towards your situation. However, the lecturer in person of Dr Toyin Olayemi Agbabiaka supervised me during my undergraduate days at the University of Ilorin and I can categorically confirmed him to be a good person,a very good listener and a reasonable man to the core.
Though sometimes Doctor react based on the extremity of the situation or perhaps when a particular student did not follow his instruction.
I'll always remember his lesson and undoubtedly be forever grateful for his fatherly advice and support throughout my academic journey in the University.
Wishing you all the best

It is so unfortunate. What you wrote is what most public university lecturers exhibit in many public universities in Nigeria. I pity those kids boasting about their alma because their schools are saturated with sadist called lecturers.

“No! This is NOT the fault of Buhari or the government. This is the wickedness of the average Nigerian against another. I class it as a form of man's inhumanity against fellow man“. WHAT HE SAID RIGHT HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT, NIGERIA IS NOT A COUNTRY THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN MAGICALLY CHANGE. CHANGE BEGINS WITH YOU!! NIGERIA IS A COUNTRY WHERE EVERYONE IS WORKING TIRELESSLY TO MAKE SURE NOTHING WORKS.

People should posting broadcast messages anyhow in groups, it's annoying.

Just imagine that sadist of a lecturer. instead of him to start thinking and have a change of heart he is talking about disciplinary action

nawao
Sir,pardon her abeg.
Forgive her even though she did you nothing. This is Nigeria where we ask for forgiveness for wronging no one