Critique: “Kingdom of Pharisees and Sadducees: Covenant University, A Shame of Nigeria.”

I came across an article titled “Kingdom of Pharisees and Sadducees: Covenant University, A Shame of Nigeria”. It was a well written article that depicted what I would assume a significant percentage of both current and past students of covenant university have experienced. Although, I am part of this population, I believe the article does not tell the entire story. I thought of creating a twitter thread to respond but it seemed wiser to create a medium post. It is my hope that this post helps to add more context especially for those who have not passed through covenant university as a student or staff.

I agree with some of the author’s points but I would like to address some of the points I disagree with. They are:

1. Covenant university has failed in its attempt to build a successful religious university (i.e. the increase in the ranking of the university in respected rankings of universities does not matter).
2. Forcing people to attend chapel services, sign bio-metric attendances is wrong and violates their fundamental human rights.
3. Suspending/expelling students who have broken the rules is not the best way to “save” them. In this case, he mentioned students who have flouted the rules in terms of drug abuse.

My Background.

I am a graduate of Covenant university (Computer Engineering ‘10-’15) and was part of the infamous 5/11 group. This group were a set of students punished under the policy initiated by Muyiwa Oludayo (formerly known as Fadugba), the Dean of student affairs in January 2011. The policy was that students who were caught for minor offences were asked to re-write with a pen in one week, the Book of Proverbs and another book (whose name I cannot remember) by Bishop David Oyedepo. In addition, we were asked to attend special services at 11 pm and 5 am everyday for a week, hence the coined name 5/11. Previously, these offences were usually punished with a letter of warning especially for first time offenders. By the way, you might be curious of what my offence was to merit such punishment. It was because I came 5 mins late for a chapel (church) service. Note: this policy was scrapped less than a month later.

The point of this story is to illustrate that I know where the author was coming from and to a large extent he is right about how this was borderline abuse of our fundamental rights. But it is important to understand the context of why Covenant University’s policy is this way. To sound cliche, CU’s main goal is to raise a new generation of leaders who will transform the world especially Nigeria. To achieve this in a country where chaos (anyhowness) and corruption is a way of living, very strict rules are implemented to filter out as much bad eggs as possible. Phones are not allowed, the use of internet is controlled and monitored, signing attendances etc.. These rules seem crude but it is important to note that in some top level jobs in developed countries, these same rules are implemented. We all know of China’s great firewall and we know that tweets of current western leaders are highly scrutinised. I believe it is best to view Covenant University from the eyes of the US Navy Seals. The rigour of their training is borderline human rights abuse but the success of those who can endure the training is well-acclaimed. The success of covenant university graduates is not a coincidence. The unemployment rate of those who finished in my class is well below my high school friends who went to other universities. I am certain that other alumni can testify to this.

Even in terms of personal growth, I can assure you that whatever progress I have made in my career post-CU is as a result of CU not “in spite of”. If we are being honest, attending CU is a choice, transferring to another university is also another choice. However, it would be ignorant of me to neglect the part our parents play in removing that choice but that is another discussion for another day. Now in terms of the degree of punishment that is dished out for breaking rules, this needs reform but I don’t think there is any motivation for them to do so because most students who graduate turn out okay.

In terms of the role rankings play, I understand that you are in your third/fourth year and your exposure to how academia works is quite limited. I will use my experience as a final year PhD candidate to enlighten you a little bit. Right now, covenant university is mostly funded by school fees and donations from the Church which I believe owns the University. Firstly, the rankings are mainly judged by the number of papers published in selected journals and the impact of these papers. Impact is mostly judged by the number of citations (in other papers) that these papers have. Yes, it sounds weird but this publish-or-perish culture has been well discussed in several articles. Secondly, why do these rankings matter? The answer is FUNDING. Research in top-tier universities are funded by grants from government agencies, international organisations and companies. Obtaining funding from international organisations is extremely competitive and the rank of a university and the reputation of the Principal Investigator (a.k.a main researcher) play a huge role in getting them. My guess is that the university wants to be more independent in its funding so it is pursuing a tough goal of being a top 10 university in 3 years. The probability of them achieving this is slim but it is worth trying. If this happens or they even come into the top 100, there may be a reform in the university rules as the university becomes less reliant on the Church’s funding. However, I still expect it to keep a significant majority of the rules as they are necessary to maintain the same quality of graduates.

In as much as I might have sounded like a fanboy right now, I am not.

https://twitter.com/Emmaggent/status/981210365383053312

My Advice to Current students who are facing similar situations

This time will pass, put your head down. Accept the rules and obey them, you will be better for it. To those who can’t, I understand and I don’t blame you. But don’t waste your time fighting, talk to your parents and transfer to another school, you might finish later than your current peers but your mental health is more important than a graduation date!