Folasade Osho, AIG scholar, shares his experience at University of Oxford
With this piece, I hope to share personal reflections from living and studying in Oxford. The Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) Scholarship programme was the springboard to accessing this opportunity. Since 2017, this public sector-focused philanthropic organisation has, among many other initiatives, endowed 27 West Africans with scholarships to undertake the one-year Master of Public Policy (MPP) at the Blavatnik School of Government (BSG), University of Oxford. After an intense four-stage selection process and a successful Oxford application, I became a recipient of this competitive much-coveted scholarship. To the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, I will be eternally grateful for this world-class learning experience at Oxford.
Before the MPP, I trained as a pharmacist and worked for eight years with a government parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Health. Although, this Agency operated with some level of efficiency and independence, challenges around resource constraints, evidence-based policymaking, silos-thinking, bureaucracy, stakeholder collaboration and coordination, ensued. Hence, my motivation for undertaking the MPP was to obtain the skills and capacity, that Infuses multi-disciplinary and global perspectives, to tackling these public policy challenges.
I will be sharing five reflections from the many lessons gleaned during the intensive one-year MPP learning experience.
First, The MPP experience revealed how much I did not know. The MPP program is aimed at imbibing value-based judgements, stimulating critical thinking, effective use of evidence and outstanding decision-making in its students. Hence, the course work includes modules in Philosophy, Economics, Politics, Law, Evidence, Health Policy and Systems, Managing Public Sector Organisations, Negotiations, Design Thinking, etc. Also, interacting with world-class academics, policy experts and a very diverse cohort, revealed how much knowledge was out there. Reinforcing this knowledge gap was my health background, which was particularly narrow, expert-centric, having limited interaction with other fields of study. Though sad to admit, the gap also included knowledge of Nigeria and her history.
Initially, I was overwhelmed and struggled with an impostor syndrome. Later, I understood that the MPP Program, being a generalist training, was not structured to make experts of its students. Rather, by providing a bird’s eye view, it creates the awareness that this knowledge sources exist, and when required could be accessed in making holistic decisions. Regardless of background, one can engage constructively and imbue microeconomic, behavioural, political, philosophical, legal, data and other perspectives to policymaking.
For my second reflection, I will share an anecdote from an applied policy class which occurred in my first semester at Oxford. The class was facilitated by a brilliant public policy practitioner of international repute. During the class, a graph around education and learning outcomes was presented, and Nigeria was conspicuously at the bottom. Ordinarily, I would not challenge statistics for the following reasons; first, these findings are results of rigorous and credible research. Secondly, I do not have counter evidence. And thirdly, I had become accustomed to Nigeria and other SSA countries being ready examples for non-functional or failing systems. But the surprised gasp from my classmate and perhaps a desire to challenge a negative stereotype, salvaging whatever was left of our national reputation, as well as my personal truth and experience of Nigeria’s diversity; motivated me to publicly request clarification of the stats. The response was even more disheartening which was; “if this study was conducted 50 times, it will deliver the same result”. My second reflection is around harnessing the power of narrative to frame, perpetuate and challenge stereotypes.
I doubt any narrative is fully objective or free from bias; whether positive or negative. No wonder Chimamanda Ngozi in her famous Ted talk decried the danger of a single story. While acknowledging the challenges we face, should we be continuously defined by them? In another discussion with a classmate from Europe, he expressed his passionate desire to live and work in sub-Sahara Africa. Excited, I asked why, hoping to hear perhaps Africa’s climate, fashion, music, was the allure. Apologetically he said: I am in love with the problems”. We owe ourselves and the world a duty to reclaim, own and tell our stories. Without this sedulously undertaken, we will internalize, live out and perpetuate these narratives and stereotypes.
Let me conflate this with a closely related challenge, the paucity of data to assess impact of government policies and interventions. For a class paper to evaluate government welfare schemes, I researched Nigeria’s poverty relief initiatives such as cash transfer programs. For such a salient government intervention, publications and research papers were sparse and inadequate. Even where they exist, they articulated problem statements by rehashing aphorisms, making speculative, sweeping, non-evidence-based statements such as “woeful failure and disappointment”, “well-known”, “chaotic, epileptic, scandalous”, almost exhausting adjectives for unsatisfactory performances. With this information gap, I opted to research another country with readily available and accessible publications. University dons often recommend strong integration between town and gown. Pragmatically, how can government encourage and incentivize the academia to undertake policy-relevant research for government programs and interventions? Similarly, civil servants, who in carrying out their mandate generate tonnes of data. While, I acknowledge the resource requirements of such endeavours, are there low hanging fruits that may be explored and leveraged upon?
My third reflection is on how the MPP broadened my appreciation of Nigeria’s policy problems to embrace global, historical and multidisciplinary contexts. Given the basic social amenities Nigeria still grapple with, it is understandable that these challenges dominate our policy debates and discussions. On average, we may be forced to understand our problems from a state-centred, diversity-induced lens. Without denying the impact of the afore mentioned, this outlook may limit the available options for change. Understanding and situating our challenges within broader global policy contexts has become more important than ever in devising viable and sustainable solutions. For instance, before the MPP, climate change and its impact on sustainable food supply, security, health did not resonate with me. With a traditional state-centred approach, our understanding, analysis, and recommendations may be simplistic, barely scratching the surface. Looking beyond this perspective, I recognize government’s limitations vis-a-vis influence of international organizations and other non-state actors (e.g, Donors, Transnational corporations, etc. Hence, we can robustly demystify, unpack this much-talked-about and least-acted upon “problem with Nigerian”.
Fourth, the MPP increased my level of Self-awareness. For the first time, I was introduced to Rawls, Nozick, Bentham, Anderson, Iris Marion Young and other philosophers. I also engaged with concepts such as Egalitarianism, Utilitarianism, Libertarianism, Nationalism, and many other isms. For a mind trained in the sciences, thinking, and engaging philosophically was very new and problematic initially. To help navigate these concepts, one of our professors surmised the module on moral philosophy as “helping you think about how you think about things”.
Coming to the MPP with about 10 years work experience, and in my mid-thirties, I believed I had a high level of self-awareness. This new approach to thinking challenged this notion, interrogating deeply held values and beliefs. I was called to rethink and challenge reasonings underpinning my beliefs. For instance, being an ardent advocate of meritocracy, I believe a nation should be built and sustained by meritocratic systems. Having no connections or influential family name, i had assessed many life opportunities through competitive merit-based processes; thus, reinforcing this ideal. Exploring meritocracy alongside conceptions of an egalitarian societies presented a tension for me. How do we justify meritocracy when equality of opportunity is not guaranteed? And how do we mitigate meritocracy from unwittingly perpetuating aristocracy?
Part of the AIG scholarship package is a self-directed non-prescriptive monthly coaching program. Hence, besides the MPP course work, this coaching program played a huge role in this journey to increased self-awareness.
On the fifth and final reflection, interacting with 145 classmates from 53 countries revealed just how similar we all are; susceptible to similar biases, and incentives. Yet, I was challenged with the impact my classmates were making in their respective countries. From the environmental activist rescuing and resettling sea turtles to maintain ecological biodiversity, to another who established a scholarship fund for indigent students in her university, and yet another who led the youth wing of a national political party and many more I could recount. Interestingly, all the afore mentioned are women, relatively young, in their mid-twenties. Even in handling mundane classroom tasks, I observed how prone to action and problem solving my classmates were. While an Oxford selection bias might be at play here, yet engaging these phenomenal people reflect the spectrum of options available and endless possibilities for motivating change in any country.
Attending a world class institution, like Oxford, comes with very high expectations. Likewise, the temptation to belt out answers and opinions at every opportunity will ensue. One lesson I will take with me is an excerpt from the final address delivered to my cohort by the Dean of the BSG, Prof. Ngaire Woods, which is to “Listen more”. Ultimately, my greatest fulfilment will be to utilize all I have learnt and experienced to make Nigeria function for the coming generation through an improved public sector.
Osho is Africa Initiative for Governance Scholar
