THE recent dismissal of five and demotion of 10 academic staffers of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), by the Governing Council of the University, for what it calls ‘academic dishonesty’, is certainly a sad commentary on the Nigerian academia. For the avoidance of doubt, the academia has, in recent years, been enmeshed in crisis of immense proportion, epitomised by acute under-funding, infrastructural deficits, declining quality of postgraduates studies and research outputs and poor international image. Added to these is the increasing manifestation of various dimensions of ‘intellectual corruption’, particularly patronage, that is, ‘favouritism based on attributes not connected with merit or performance’. Hiring, promotion and tenure have been highly influenced by nepotism, cronyism, discrimination and other undesirable considerations. Avenues for such behaviours also abound in the decision making organs of the University system and its regulatory agencies, particularly the National Universities Commission (NUC). Adding plagiarism, acclaimed as the greatest crime in scholarship, to the rot is a major source of worry. With such a malaise the future of this country is jeopardised.
While it may not be certain the exact extent of the problem, there are sufficient reasons to assume that it is now assuming some notoriety in the Nigerian university system. To be sure, Professor Patrick Igbinovia, then Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Benin, was suspended in 2008 for plagiarism. Professor Victor Dike, a US-based Nigerian scholar, also accused two academics of the Department of Economics, University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), a Professor and his junior colleague, of plagiarising his work. As Dike claimed, he reported the matter to the then Vice Chancellor of UNIPORT, Professor Don Baridam and requested that appropriate disciplinary actions be taken against the affected academics, without success. Professor Victor Dike has since taken the matter to court. The same Professor Dike, it would be recalled, has also accused Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, of plagiarising his work and the matter also in court. These were, however, isolated case.
To be sincere, plagiarism is not peculiar to Nigeria. It is a global problem. The difference, however, is that the problem is much more pronounced among politicians, not academics. Recently, two high ranking cabinet officers, the Minister for Defence and Education, were relieved of their positions for plagiarism in Germany. But having 15 cases from the same University at a time, as the case at hand indicates, is scary. Suspicions are that many more, within and without UNICAL, may have engaged and profited from the same ignominious act and escaped with it. UNICAL is in focus today because its current management decided to tread the part of honour. There may be far worse cases in other Universities now, as then, that may have gone undetected or swept under the carpet. The authority of UNICAL should, therefore, be commended for taking the courageous step in dealing with this ugly incident in its domain.
Though a local issue, it has national ramifications because plagiarism is not only an academic offense, but a developmental issue. Not only does it violate intellectual property rights and copyright laws, it is also one of the banes of educational development in Nigeria. It is also a major source of excruciating international image crisis for the already battered reputation of Nigerian universities in the international system.
It is, therefore, grossly insufficient to limit punishment to mere dismissal and suspension. These should be the starting point, depending on the extent of the established case. As in the cases of financial corruption, there should be room for prosecution of anyone suspected or accused of intellectual corruption.
The recent move by some Nigerian universities to unite and wage war against plagiarism, by deploying highly rated anti-plagiarism software by Turnitin, is a welcome development. It is a promising intervention by the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVC) to tame the monster. While the software may not be a perfect antidote, given that it can only recognise and work for items on the internet, it is certainly a good starting point. After all, it has been reported that Turnitin is used by more than 10,000 institutions in 126 countries worldwide. It is also said that in the UK alone, ‘98 per cent of the country’s higher institutions use the software to check for academic originality and authenticity, save instructors time and provide valuable feedback to students’.
As Nigerians await the full deployment of the software in May, following the completion of ongoing training of staff and students of Nigerian Universities on the use of the software, it may not be totally out of place to revisit and authenticate publications used in recent cases of promotion. The hope, however, is that the process would not be abused, by turning it into another tool for patrimonialism, for rewarding ‘loyal’ ones, and sanctioning the disloyal, real or imagined.
Source- The Guardian
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