Academically Askew

In Nigeria having a postgraduate degree is essential currency for professional advancement. It is now very rare to be promoted into a position of leadership at work without having at least a masters degree.  As a result Nigerians are driven to postgraduate academic study even if they didn't have much of an aptitude for it during their first degree. Nigerians are also well known for their love of titles. They wear them with pride and a haughty air. It's in Nigeria that people who no longer hold professorial chairs in universities still hold on to the title of professor for life. It's also in Nigeria that you have professors and holders of doctorates who seem even less competent and conscientious than the "ordinary citizen". 

Too many Nigerians embark on postgraduate study without giving too much thought to how the course of study will improve their professional skillset or equip them for a career. Most employers encourage this fear driven approach to acquiring qualifications. Hence you have a lot of postgraduate students who are barely able to conjure up an original thought, nevermind articulate an original idea. 

It is time that a distinction is made between education and training. While education offers you the prerequisite knowledge and understanding for most careers; higher education is not needed to become proficient in every career. In some careers professional or vocational training are what is needed to develop the necessary skills to become proficient. This is certainly the case in accounting, I.T. and administration. Maybe if we focused more on work skills there wouldn't such a culture of incompetence. It's time we stopped wearing qualifications like jewellery and focused on job-related training and skill development.