FAREWELL, PROFESSOR ADAMU BAIKIE

This accomplished scholar, university administrator and public servant has left behind huge, definitive legacies, writes MONDAY PHILIPS EKPE

Aoiri Obaigbo, a distinguished alumnus of the University of Benin, Benin City (Uniben) couldn’t have captured the quintessential Professor Adamu Baikie better on his Facebook account: “We nor go gree o/ We nor go gree/ Adamu Baike/ We nor go gree! Don’t ask me why we were chanting at Ekenwan Campus, we, students of the greatest, of the greatest, greatest Uniben. It was probably in 1984, and I have forgotten what we were sounding so fierce about. In those days, we didn’t need the rubber stamp gavel of Akpabio to trigger ‘Aluta’ songs and dance of a forest. We shall pluck leaves and stir some dust.

“Then a rumour blew in that Professor Baikie had driven into our campus. Someone shouted, ‘Lock the gate, lock the gate!’ He should have kept his mouth shut. Division sprang up. ‘For what?’ ‘Is he a prisoner?’ Whether we shut or do not shut the gate, the campus belonged to Adamu Baikie. In the evening, students were enthusiastic about how he mounted something and spoke nicely to the students. If I were Leo Oronsaye, I would have captured my first vice chancellor on a dais talking nicely to irate young men and women. Now that he has passed, I remember him more vividly standing elevated.” Courageous. Empathetic. Charming. Disarming….

I had my undergraduate education at Uniben in the 1980s under two vice chancellors, namely Baikie and, later, Professor Grace Alele Williams. Writing this tribute to the former exactly on the 93rd posthumous birthday of the latter accentuates my nostalgia. Professor Alele Williams who encountered plenty of storms left behind several indelible achievements nonetheless. And Baikie, known more as northern Nigeria’s first professor of education, gave an enduring account of himself against all odds.

Those two great Nigerians were true barrier breakers. Coming from the north at a time when it could only boast of very few professors, Baikie knew that it would take more than his curriculum vitae to convince the people down south that he merited that appointment. On her part, Alele Williams was acutely aware that the gender-galvanised prejudices which had so far probably hindered women from attaining that position in Africa and elsewhere were not cosmetic and would not be dethroned by a mere feminine mystique. She was instantly confronted by a university community that couldn’t figure out quickly why it was its own lot to host that novelty.

Part of Professor Williams’ initial problems was that her leadership style was constantly compared with Baikie’s who had earned his own flowers – after surmounting some primordial hurdles – as a worthy, competent and admirable helmsman. Again, Alele’s travails couldn’t be divorced from the shock of having a woman call the shots in an unfamiliar terrain. But, thankfully, by every decent standard, both education majors became Uniben legends, having successfully defeated the demons of their time and left the nation’s last of the first-generation universities better than they met it.

Baikie’s career is a classic grass-to-grace narrative. Born in Zaria in 1931, his father who worked at some point with some Christian missionaries latter became a storekeeper with Nigerian Railway Corporation. The young Adamu attended primary, middle schools and teacher training college in Zaria; travelled to Gusau to teach after his Grade III; returned to Zaria in 1953 for his Grade II and became a headmaster afterwards; finished his first tertiary schooling in 1962 and was promptly recruited by Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria as a graduate-in-training and sent to America for postgraduate studies with the support of United States Agency for International Development (USAID). And returned to ABU to lecture before heading back to the US.

A PhD was in his bag by the time he journeyed home in December 1969 to head ABU’s education department the following year. There, professorship came his way in 1971 at 40 years. ABU was the only university in the north then, and Baikie only had professors like Ishaya Audu, Iya Abubakar and Umaru Shehu as his seniors from the same region. His Uniben posting in 1978 wasn’t anywhere in his imagination. So, accepting it wasn’t easy. But he already had in-built mechanisms to checkmate negativity and self-defeat. That mindset propelled him to also scale the challenges in his next two vice chancellorships at the National University of Lesotho (1988-1996) and Nasarawa State University, Keffi (2001-2009), and the other less prominent offices he held throughout his active years on earth. Baikie truly lived a life of selfless service and devotion.

His interview with Daily Trust, published on February 19, 2017, revealed a bit about his well-groomed personality: “You must work very hard to prove yourself. My first test was to go to Benin, a place I had never been to. In all the places I served as vice chancellor I put three things into my head, namely God, the North and my family. These were my guiding principles. I worked to make sure I did not disappoint the people who sent me there and the people I represented. How would I face my people, particularly my family, if they heard that I stole money somewhere? So, I went all out to give my best.”

Another personal recollection of his college days provides a window into his illustrious past: “There was absolutely no issue of religion, tribe or any other sentiment. I was responsible for ensuring that the allowances were paid. I was the one who checked the list, and if I certified the list, the payment would be made. There was no discrimination at all. I can remember that when there was a strike at the College, Sardauna (Ahmadu Bello) came down to Zaria with his top ministers and asked for the leader of the northern students. And I was the one.” Here was a Christian from the north east whose father had made Zaria and Kano his home, proudly flying the flag of the then heavily educationally disadvantaged part of Nigeria.

Quite sadly, however, the north that the late titan spoke glowingly about appears to have faded away. The one north that the late Sardauna forged so wisely has since been decimated mainly by the regional leaders who took over from him. It’s reassuring though that true to his stable character, Baikie’s faith in his region and country stood unshaken till his last breath.

Obaigbo is right. Even in death, the holder of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) stands uplifted and unconquered by the numerous vicissitudes that are threatening to bring the nation to its knees.     

Dr Ekpe is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board