by YWriter
Analysis
An external observer would definitely find it difficult to understand how we survive in Nigeria in spite of our everyday challenges, Boko haram in the Northeast, Kidnapping, herdsmen violence and a recently receding recession. But he would not have to wait too long to realize that this is a country of megalomaniacs and a scene of unending dramas. All you need is just a Dino, with just one Dino, you are sure to either have your own share of pensive laughter or philosophic muse.
How did we get to this point? What is so controversial about the educational status of a sitting Senator to warrant it becoming a National issue that puts a stop to other relevant matters begging for attention.
First you do not need the vice chancellor of a University to appear before the Senate to prove the legality of the certificate of an old student. If the school has record, all they needed to do is to publish the details for all to see. No one can dispute the truth and facts are incontestable. The University can as well produce his transcript.
Only the University can tell for sure if Melaye graduated or not, only them can present incontestable fact to justify whatever claim they come out with, but ABU has also jettison the opportunity of teaching our Senators how to do things right by not clarifying the matter but by further complicating the controversy.
The issue here is not in whether what the Vice Chancellor of ABU said is right or wrong, it is rather in the ubiquity and prevalence of unseriousness and the celebration of pettiness in every sector of the country, It is in our propinquity for making things that are straight forward a big deal; we do not need a senate hearing to clarify the academic qualification of Dino, we do not need to invite the Vice Chancellor of ABU to determine whether Dino finished from there or not. The University themselves could have replied Sahara Reporters with facts and figures before it becomes an issue of unnecessary controversy
It took ABU more than a week to account for their own student; we cannot even tell if they have his transcript to silence those who raised the issue in the first place.
Something is wrong with accountability and transparency in this country, for it is not only when it comes to funds and monies that these issues come to play, they come to play in everything that we do as individuals and nation. The University does not have to spend more than a week to justify the certificate of Senator Dino Melaye, it should be there for all to see.
Even after the clarification of the matter by Prof Ibrahim Garba, Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, It still did not change the fact that our accountability and transparency system is nothing to write home about, and that we have not grown to the point of depoliticizing our institutions, which is an essential ingredient if they must mature.
All these are not new, the pettiness, the tradition of wasting time and resources on issues that have little or no impact on the lives of the people, the unnecessary hilarity; these are the usual shenanigans.
However, Senator Dino can have his Bachelors of Art to himself, as for us, we have moved on.