My thought on alma mater debate By Nurudeen Dauda

To begin with, I initially do not want to “comment” on the ongoing “supremacy battle” among some Nigerian universities graduates in favour of their respective alma maters which is being championed mostly by graduates from the North in the “social media” which in my view should not be our “priority” for now and always.

In my thought, our “priority” for now and always should and or must be using our various “energy” , “knowledge”, and “skills” acquired from our various “universities” across different “professions” in order to “debate” and “proffer” solutions to our numerous “states” ,”regionals” and by extension “national” problems.

For me, the university you graduated from and or the course you studied do not matter most to me, what matters most to me is whether the university you graduated from and or the course you studied “passed” through you or you “passed” through it. Please don’t tell me you studied “Medicine” or “Engineering” and or “Law” I am more interested in who you are in the field and or what you know in the field? Please don’t tell me you graduated from ABU or BUK or UDU or ATBU, or UI or UNN, and or UNILAG etc., I am more interested in your “worth” in your field and or your “weight” in your field.

Let us channel our various “energy” ,”knowledge”, and “skills” as Medical doctors or Engineers or Biologists or Physicists or Political Scientists or Public Administrators or Economists or Accountants and or Lawyers regardless of where we graduated from to “debate” and “proffer” solutions to our numerous problems in our “states”, “regions” and by extension “Nigeria”.

Growing up in the late 1990s and to the early year 2000s as a “Northerner” then my thought was going to ABU or no university education. I got admission in one of the Nigerian universities at that time. I got registered, paid for accommodation and attended classes for close to a complete semester, but because then it was ABU or no university education I was still going to ABU for follow up, pushing, and praying hard for ABU’s admission which I later got.

I immediately left for ABU without saying goodbye to my roommates much less my the then classmates. That was my then thought! The more one is advanced in “age” and “learning” the more his “thinking”, “perception”, and understanding” of “issues” and of course world views change. For me now, it is neither the “institution” nor the “profession” that matters the most, but what essentially matters the most is the individual “student” and or the “person” in question. An ideal society is a system which functions as such!

In my humble opinion, the “person” or the individual “student” is the most important thing not the “university” he or she graduated from and or the course he or she studied. A hard working student everywhere can be great. Whatever course he or she studied if he or she doesn’t know more about it he or she is just a “quack”. No matter how the people or the society looks down on the course you studied, for me, if you know it very well you are my hero. Please just know your onion! A student can be great everywhere for as long as he or she is willing to study hard. Let us use our various professions for our nation building!

May God bless Nigeria!

Nurudeen Dauda sent article from
nurudeendauda24@yahoo.com

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