UNILAG lecturer reportedly teaches an empty class and we may know the implication to his students

Take a survey of how much Nigerian students like their lecturers and, you may be surprised at the responses. It is no different from high school teachers, except that the punishments are usually different – one uses actual tree stems to punish ‘erring’ students. The other will attempt to fail or eventually do everything to fail the ‘erring’ students. They are both public display of power (PDP).

A video was posted on a popular platform, Instablog, of a lecturer teaching an empty class. He may have reached out to his students through the class representative or not. It is not even confirmed that it is a lecturer or is a student just trying to cause a conversation on social media. If it is the latter, there is a conversation there.

It is no news that ‘lecturerhood’ in Nigeria is a call for PDP. The case where lecturers ‘understand and attend to the basic academic needs of the students’ is a rare occurrence. You could almost be agitated that a lecturer is that way. Just like we ask, “how we take get light since morning?”

You are usually in a dilemma, wondering why the lecturer is being good, hoping there are no future adverse consequences, like an exam that will sweep every single student off their feet into the gutters, causing heartaches in the process. There are no ‘good lecturer’ expectations. They exist but in rarity.

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Lecturerhood is an opportunity to tell students that their progress is dependent on the lecturer, and any attempt to bring down the lecturer from a high horse is met with adverse consequences.

It was not always like this. The older generation – the ones before millennials – tell tales of their time at the University. Good food, complimentary laundry services, deserved grades, healthy environments, conducive classrooms, All that is gone, just like most of the country’s systems. It seems the lecturers’ humanity went too, and this may, summarily, be a norm because they are grossly underpaid – in comparison to politicians and government officeholders.

The issue has become generational, and the PDP system will be passed on to the newer generation. This is in contrast to the knowledge that the key to transforming education begins with reflective lecturers, maybe not extensive strike actions at every opportunity.

We are talking about ideal lecturers who teach and model social, emotional learning skills like self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills. This may be a cumbersome task because Nigerian universities – especially the public ones – have over-filled classrooms. Yet, it always seems that there are no attempts at lecturing students without the PDP system.

The UNILAG lecturer would have rescheduled and will experience a whole class, as students usually do not like the idea of failure. But, he went on with the class, probably to punish the students in the future. Interestingly, we assume that will not be the case, and he will tell the students to read the topic. But, we know the opposite is usually what happens. Besides, he is supposed to teach every topic.

There are no 100 per cent certainties, and it is even arguable that his students did not know about the class, yet it is likely that the lecturer may use the class tests, and exams to punish the students. You know, the PDP way – to punish, notwithstanding the excuse.

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