A LOOK AT OUR INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION OF PhDs! Between “S/he Has a PhD” and “S/he Is a Scholar”: Nigerian Academics and the Products of Our Peculiar Mess (Penkelemeesi)
By Adéyẹmí Johnson Ademọwọ
Few days ago, I had a conversational encounter with a “Dr”; it was a sordid experience. As I recount the unpalatable tale with a soliloquy, my mind jolted to the reality that somewhere in our campuses, another doctoral gown is being ironed, another “Dr.” title embossed, and another set PhD holders are about to be unveiled into the Nigerian academy.
In reality, however, beyond the applause and photographs, a troubling question lingers: when did “S/he has a PhD” become more important than “S/he is a scholar”?
Those of us inside the system know that the difference between the two is more than grammatical; it is moral, cultural, and intellectual. In Nigeria today, the PhD has become less of a journey of discovery and more of a passport to promotion or boosting self-esteem. What was once a sacred covenant between mentor and mentee, a supposed long, rigorous conversation with (and about) ideas, has been replaced by hurried supervision, perfunctory defense, and sometimes, industrial-scale academic production.
We now live in what one might call the PhD economy: a thriving marketplace of degrees without a corresponding culture of scholarship.
The result is what I often describe, with equal parts affection and frustration, as our peculiar mess (our Penkelemeesi, a la late baba Adelabu). Because we are not innocent observers but both the architects and inhabitants of it.
Our system now rewards titles, not thought. We clap for credentials, not contributions. We attend conferences where PowerPoint replaces argument, citation replaces reflection, “impact factor” of journals replaces the impact of ideas and “Scopus-indexed” craze becomes the desired normal. Unfortunately, the more we inflate our CVs, the more we deflate the integrity of our disciplines and our cherished acada career!
To be sure, this is not to romanticize the past. Even in the so-called golden age of Nigerian academia, there were cracks: gatekeeping, elitism, academic feudalism. But there was also something recognizably scholarly (deep ratiocination too): a seriousness of mind, a fear of mediocrity, an apprenticeship culture.
At the time, the scholar’s identity was not built on the prefix “Dr.” but on a sustained relationship with thinking and writing. Today, the PhD is often seen as an end rather than a beginning. The question “What is your PhD about?” is too often met with “I just wanted to finish”. Some don’t even remember the title of their dissertation; “I wrote something around..” Sometimes the titles are undoctoral too; many a times too shallow to produce a scholar that worth more than the signed piece of paper/card called “certificate”.
Part of the problem lies in our institutions. We open postgraduate schools without research libraries, mount doctoral programs without qualified supervisors, and celebrate “defenses” that are little more than rehearsed rituals (with coolers of rice, chicken and wine/juice).
And then there is the social dimension. In a country obsessed with status, the PhD title carries weight. It confers dignity, authority and sometimes access to power. Society reveres the title more than the intellect behind it. In our peculiar culture of spectacle, being called “Dr.” is sometimes more important than doing the work of a scholar. The result is a growing tribe of academics who possess the paper but lack the practice; brilliant in certification, barren in contribution.
Yet, it would be hypocritical to pretend we are not complicit. We supervise theses we know are weak, sit on panels that rubber-stamp mediocrity, and maintain a silence that masquerades as collegiality.
We, the older academics, have normalized shortcuts in the name of mentorship. The younger ones, watching us, are learning fast. It is, after all, a system that rewards compliance over curiosity.
But all is not lost. The first step in redemption is recognition. We must collectively confront the truth that our universities are becoming factories rather than forums. We must restore the idea that the scholar is not merely a degree holder but a disciplined mind committed to knowledge and community. The PhD should return to its original meaning, not Permanent Head Damage, as students jokingly say, but Pursuit of Honest Discovery through Patience Humility and Doggedness.
The way forward demands courage: strengthening peer review, mentoring with integrity and insisting on substance over status. University councils and regulatory bodies must rethink their metrics; promotion criteria should privilege quality, originality and mentorship. And as individuals, we must cultivate the humility to ask ourselves: am I still thinking, still learning, still teaching or merely existing as a title?
In the end, our crisis is not about the PhD per se but about the meaning we have attached to it. Until “S/he is a scholar” regains moral and intellectual weight over “S/he has a PhD,” we will continue to produce decorated degrees but starved disciplines. The mess is ours but so too is the possibility of cleaning it up.
Ire o!
Adéyẹmí Johnson Ademọwọ is a professor of sociocultural anthropology and social advocacy at Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. [email protected]
