NHEF News

Ivory Towers and Beyond
The Role of Partnerships in African Sustainable Development. The Case of Nigeria
Columbia University, New York

November 13, 2008

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation, I welcome all of you to our first NHEF Symposium. My name is Sola Olopade and I have the honor and privilege of serving as President of the Nigeria Higher Education Foundation (NHEF).

I wish to extend a special welcome to His Royal Majesty, The Obi of Onitsha Honorable Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe. To Her Excellency, Uche Joy Ogwu, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, Ibrahim Auwalu, to Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for taking time out of their busy schedules to join us today. To Professor Mbuk  Ebong, Director of Development office, University of Port Harcourt, to Professor Sam Ofodile, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to Professor Ekhaguere, who is representing the Vice Chancellor for the University of Ibadan and to Professor Shehu Abdullahi, Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, to Prof Ozumba, Provost College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, for making the long trip from Nigeria. To Professor Jeffery Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, and the wonderful panelists participating in today’s symposium. To the Trustees of the Nigeria Higher Education Foundation, for your willingness to serve and finally, to my colleagues and friends of Nigeria.

How did we get here?

About five years ago, Jonathan Fanton, President of MacArthur Foundation was on his way back from Nigeria, feeling very good about the wonderful outcome of the Foundation’s investment in four Nigerian Universities that they support. He wrote an opinion piece, which captured his enthusiasm and hopes for the future and sent it to most of the major newspapers in this country. None of the newspapers picked up the story.

Why one might ask? It was too good to be true as such good news is not expected from Nigeria.

Luckily, Jonathan Fanton was not discouraged. He became energized and determined to make successful Nigerians in America represent the face of support for Higher Education in Nigeria. The Nigeria Higher Education Foundation was founded in 2004 with seed funding from the MacArthur Foundation. Today, we have a board of 19 Nigerians who are leaders in the fields of medicine, business, law, finance, science and technology and social sciences.

The goals of NHEF are to provide support for Nigerian universities, to leverage the leadership positions of Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in various academic and entrepreneurial disciplines to the benefit of Nigerian universities, to raise funds for strategic needs of the universities, to assist the universities in the training of development officers and to assist in improving educational opportunities for students through curriculum improvement, long-distance learning and improved access to experts in the Diaspora working in various disciplines. The NHEF Board intends to turn “Brain Drain into Brain Gain.”

The five NHEF universities are: University of Ibadan, Ibadan, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Bayero University, Kano and University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt. The ultimate goal is to extend successful programs of the NHEF universities to other universities in the country.

We are thankful for the visionary leadership of Jonathan Fanton, President of the MacArthur Foundation, in the creation of NHEF and for the Foundation’s unflinching support of higher education in Nigeria. I extend a special welcome to Elizabeth Chadri, who is representing Jonathan Fanton at this symposium today.

In the last year, we have witnessed the impact of global interconnectedness as worldwide economic woes and inflation pose challenges to many of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, especially the eradication of poverty and hunger.  This recent economic trend underscores the importance of establishing global partnerships towards sustainable development in emerging economies like Nigeria.

Nigeria’s democratic process is beginning to take root after decades of poor governance and leadership.  Academic institutions of higher learning that are essential for economic development were dismantled and now need to be rebuilt. With democracy has come an increasing willingness on the part of the Nigerian Government to put its “economic house in order.”  Most significantly, Nigeria is no longer a debtor nation.

These important developments put Nigeria at the precipice of a socioeconomic renaissance. However, the slow development of science and technology education and the ineffective relationship among government, business and higher education institutions, which provide the basic infrastructure to power science-and-technology-driven growth, pose major challenges.

Today’s symposium is focused on bringing together these three essential components for socioeconomic renaissance in Nigeria: government, business and the institutions of higher learning. A collaborative relationship among these components that links supply and demand of scientific and technological innovations on a scale required to transform Nigerian society is urgently needed.

We are encouraged by the willingness of the vice chancellors to make the long trip from Nigeria to join today’s discussions and delighted by the prospect of a growing and mutually beneficial relationship with the Earth Institute at Columbia under the leadership of Professor Jeffery Sachs. The presence and participation of many successful Nigerians and friends of Nigeria who are in leadership positions within academia and the private sector is encouraging. This collaborative effort brings us closer to converting the “Brain Drain” of the past into a meaningful “Brain Gain” for Nigeria.

We are hopeful that today’s event will be the beginning of a conversation that will expand collaboration and encourage more Nigerian experts and friends of Nigeria in the Diaspora to get involved in the birth of a Nigerian economy driven by science and technology.

Christopher ‘Sola Olopade, MD, MPH, FCCP
President, The Nigeria Higher Education Foundation