By Baba Adamu Isa
Professor Ahmed Abubakar Audi, the Commandant-General of Nigerian Security Forces and an alumnus of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, says he feels “highly honoured” and “extremely excited” after receiving an award at the university’s Silver Jubilee Anniversary and Eighth Combined Convocation Ceremony.
Speaking with Education Monitor Magazine on the sidelines of the event, Professor Audi said the recognition would motivate him to continue serving the country and contributing to the university.
“I feel highly honoured and I am extremely excited. I feel very encouraged that this award will go a long way to support me to continue to give my best in the service of this country, particularly through my contributions to the university and my commitment as one of its strong alumni,” he said.
Responding to the convocation lecture delivered by Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, Professor Audi described it as “very apt, germane, and very central” to Africa’s development.
“He supports the development of Africa and he challenges new colonial tendencies that seek to substitute Africa as a continent,” he said. “His lecture was very central to Africa’s development. He has been able to tell Africans that the continent needs to awaken to the realities of development indices.”
On how government should engage with Lumumba’s message, Professor Audi cited the “triple helix” model as a framework for progress.
“There is a principle called the Triple Helix. It brings together three key actors to work closely: academics, industry, and research institutions,” he explained. “Government institutions that oversee research, alongside academics in universities, should make policies that will further strengthen this collaboration. That way, what Lumumba has said can be placed at the centre and begin to propel development.”
He emphasised that Africa must define its own development agenda. “The whole concept is about development, and development has many indices. What he said reminds Africans that we should follow our own path of development and should not allow ourselves to be used as guinea pigs,” he said. “Government should introduce policies that project Africa and help the continent to realise and harness its own potential.”
As an alumnus, Professor Audi called on the university to remain focused on research and knowledge dissemination, while cautioning against an overdependence on Artificial Intelligence.
“The university is a centre of research. The university is a centre of excellence. As an alumnus, I want to say that the university should concentrate on research and on disseminating knowledge,” he said. “In this era of Artificial Intelligence, we must recognise that Artificial Intelligence has both positive and negative sides. The negative side has very consequential effects because it has weakened what we call critical thinking.”
He added: “Artificial Intelligence is a straitjacket. We should discourage students from depending on it entirely. Let students apply critical thinking. With that, we can begin to offer solutions to most African problems. African problems require African solutions. It should not be that some people elsewhere sit down and propose solutions for our problems. Our problems are our problems, and we know them. We should be able to solve them. Universities have a key role to play in this.”
Professor Audi, who is also an academic and a Professor of gender and sexual studies, said he teaches and conducts research at the university. He advised university intellectuals to prioritise research, effective teaching, and critical thinking.
“I am part of those who conduct research in the university and I also teach,” he said.
“University intellectuals know that the only drivers that will take universities to an excellent level are research and effective teaching.
My advice to the intellectuals of the university is that they should emphasise critical thinking.”