,'H;ERJAN,\"AITlTl'IJE TO UIJRARY-OR/ENTEIJACADEMIC WORK ANDAFRlCAN UN1JERlJEVELOPMENT Revd Dr. ObiorGN,.'osil. /J,. Iletll (}keke"ndAnJn'"'lHl!nml ()xhlNfnll iii

NIGERIANS' ATTITUDE TO LIBRARY-ORIENTED ACADEMICWORKANDAFIDCANUNDERDEVELOPMENT

BY

REVD DR. OBIORA NWOSU

Department of Library and Information ScienceNNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY, AWKA,

ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA.

DR. IFEKA OKEKE

Department of Library and Information ScienceNNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY, AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

and

ANDREW UCHENNA OGBONNADIGITAL LIBRARY

Nnamdi Azikiwe university, Awka. Anambra State, Nigeria.

AbstractThe study examined the Nigerians' attitude to library-oriented academicwork and Africa underdevelopment. By way of introduction, the studyhighlighted the different concepts that made up the investigation, afterwhich it discussed extensively on the place of library in the over 'alldevelopment in Nigeria and Africa in general. Several questions wereposed regarding the purpose of the study. These questions relate to theestablishment of "use of library" as a general studies, the nature oflecturers' attitude towards library work or education and finall,y, theinstitutions' intention towards evolving new knowledge. The study was anon-statistical-based research. It highlighted causes, effects andsuggestions on the underdevelopment discourse. It concluded thatNigerians' attitude to library-oriented academic work have contributedimmensely to the African underdevelopment.

Introduction

Library is an inevitable component of development. Simply put, libraryis a storehouse of knowledge. The library acquires, organizes and stores

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UNIZlK JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN UBRARY AND INFORMAnON SCIENCE VOL. 2 NO,J

existing body of human knowledge. Knowledge is dynamic, ever evolvingand is now at the explosion stage. It has exploded. The advent of internet ha:

given concern to this explosion as it stores unorganized body of knowledgeThe librarians of this present century give order to the internet-capture(

knowledge in the databases / libraries or information systems.In her National policy on education, the Nigerian governmen

recognizes library as one of the essential educational services. The governin~

bodies of the Nigerian's tertiary institutions (the National Universit~Commission (NlJC), National Board for Techncan Education NBTE, aneNational Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) do not givEaccreditation to any academic programme without at least adequate library

books, journal title collection in terms of recency, volumes and quality. Nwosu(2007) asserts that education is a means oftransmitting knowledge. This is whyeducational system, cannot do away with library as an important agent ofeducation.

The Federal Ministry of education (2006) reveals that the Ministry asconstituted in July 2006 represented dysfunctional structure unable to

,articulate~\~md~deliver sound educational policy and planning for thedevelopment of our human capital. To achieve development goals, human

capital must be adequately developed. Development -is achieved throughpeople that are well informed. When peopi~ are not well informed or fail to

acquire the right knowledge, it makes for underdevelopment. Development-\

conscious people are relentless in contactwith every available develop'ment\. "

goals and to equally keep pace with the worfd'sdevelopment state.

The Concept of Development and UnderdevelopmentNwosu (1995) in agreement with Conyers and Hills (1984) asserts that

three (3) major interest groups emanate on the concept of development.These groups are;

(i) Government, non-governmental organizations and individuals in thethird world,

--.fii) International agencies, such as the various United Nations (UN)43

!tIGERlANS' AlTlTl'DE TO LIBRARY-ORIENTED ACADEMIC WORK ANDAFRlCAN UNDERDEVELOPMENT Rewl D,. OhiOI'll NWOSII, D,. 'J~ktl Ubke III1i/And,ew Ut.:lrl!lfllil Ogbonllll ••

agencies and the World Bank, and(iii) Academics from the developed world.

Aboyade (1987), after considering the important features of

development, defines it as "essentially, a continuous process of generating, andmore efficiently allocating resources for achieving greater socially-satisfying

ends. National development, according to Aguolu (1989). incorporateseconomic growth as well as cultural, educational, political and socialadvancement of the people- that is, all the process that are aimed at improving

the quality oflife ofthe people.The development process is unending. Human society is in constant

transformation. When the pace of development is not followed,

underdevelopment sets in. vUnderdeveloped countries are any of the world's poor or 'have-not"

nations. The term 'underdevelopment' stigmatizes a nation as primitive. Most

economists now prefer the term "developing country or less developedcountry. A typical developing nation has a shortage of food, few sources ofpower and a low Gross National Product (GNP) (The World BookEncyclopedia (2006). Physical capital as well as social capital are scarce indeveloping countries.

Attitude and Development

The concept of attitude arises from attempts to account for observed

regularities in the behaviour of individual persons (Encyclopedia Britannica2007). Attitudes are predispositions to classify sets of objects or event and to

react to them with some degree of evaluative consistency. Logically, attitudesare hypothetical constructs (i.e. they are inferred but not objectively

observable), they are manifested in conscious experience, verbal reports, and

gross behaviour.Attitude is a central concepts for development. Attitude c'overs the full

range of human behaviour and experience. People tend to develop attitudestowards whatever they experience.

To achieve development goals, people must have positive attitudes44

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UNIZlK JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE VOL 2 NO.1•

towards development and development information. A visionless andmissionless people cannot attain developed nation status. They will remain asunder developed nation.

Nigerians' Attitudes to Library.!'Oriented academic Work

Library is the nerve centre for all academic work. Apparently, nouniversity, school or college can be established or allowed to exist without theestablishment of a library. Besides, the famous University of Nigeria and the

University of Ibadan, formally University College, Ibadan, were established

through personal library collections, thanks to late John Harries, Tom Jonesand Nnamdi Azikiwe. According to the Commonwealth Universities (2008),

there are ninety-two (92) universities in Nigeria, comprising twenty-seven(27) federal universities, thirty-one (31) states Universities and thirty-four (34)private universities. Okebukola (2004) once said that the establishment of

university education is to provide opportunity for individual and nationaldevelopment through learning. However, there can not be any effectiveteaching and learning in the absence oflibrary. This because libraries, whetheracademic, public, special or national, etc have enormous roles to play for theirusers. Edoka (2000) states that the major functions of the academic librariesare:

to provide information materials required for the academic

programmes ofthe parent institution.To provide research information resources in consonance withthe needs of faculty and research institution;

.To provide information resources for recreation and forpersonal self development of users;To co-operate with other libraries at appropriate levels for

improve information services.

Judging from the well-articulated functions of the academic libraries, theexisting number of universities and the university librarians, one should notstop to imagine the why quality of the present crops of Nigerian graduates who

are not current information conscious and the over-all national development.45

\ U;FRI." SS'A TTITl'1JK.• UBllARY·ORJENTElJ ACAlJEMIC WORXANlJAFRlCAN UNDERDEVELOPMENT Rn'II nt'. OhiQf'1l NW()SN, lJt'.IJf!ka Uktk~a"dA"dt'I!~' VL'hennll OKb()nna ••

(These are but a mirage, the closer you come, the speedy it disappears). It is sadto note that most of the African, nay, Nigerian universities do not offer courses

in Library. aFld Information Science, especially the "use of library" forfreshmen in their universities. Even where it is the opposite, they are usually

part of General Studies (GS) course, which, to the chagrin of librarians, aretaught by non-professional librarians. Elkin and Wilson (2002) have wonderedwhy library courses are not widely borrowed in other faculties or department asit is done in other courses. Emphasizing further on the importance of "use of

library course" to freshmen, Elaturoti (2Q03) was of the vIew that librarians

and university management sh~uld strive so much as possible to provideadequate, broad-based library collections on all the courses offered in theinstitution. In effect, there should be equal provision of relevant materials todepartments and faculties, and none should be made to flourish at the expenseof the other. When this is done, students and even teachers would have no cause

to work without consulting the library.Nonetheless, for a well developed attitude to library-oriented academic

work for the purpose of this study, one is bound to ask the following pertinentquestions:

How many Nigerian institutions have compulsory library­oriented academic work for critical mind and rigorousinformation search?

Are the existing library collections strictly based on all thecourses taught in the universities?

In other words, does the collection development policy reflectthe available courses taught in the university?If yes, does the collection development librarian follow itreligiously?

Then, on the part ofthe teachers, one can also ask:

What are the lecturers" attitudes toward giving the students

library;based assignment~?Do the lecturers offer relevant reading lists to students on allthe courses in the academic curricula?

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UNIZlK JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN UBRARY AND INFORMAnON SCIENCE VOL. 2 NO~

What is the degree of currency oflecturers' lecture not~s? (Dothey rely on old lecture notes?)Are the students given term papers that will lead them intoserious informatjon search, both at the library and internet?

And finally, it is also important to ask whether institutions in Nigeria haveintention of conducting postgraduate researches geared towards evolving newknowledge?

When these questions are honestly addressed, it will become clearerwhat has been responsible for Africans underdevelopment. Ekere (2001) once

pointed out that the whole is greater than the part and in essence, the integral

part of individual contributions to his own well-being amounts to the greatnessof his society and then the nation. Education is the catalyst for national

development and no education thrives without the presence of the teacher, thelearner and the library. No wonder Harining (1996) looked at education as co­operation. The teacher "co" and the learners "operate". So, the learner is at thecentre.oHearning without whom, no learning takes places. Just as the library isat the centre of teaching, learning and research, without which the quality ofteaching and learning is hampered.

Causes of African Under-devel9pment and LibraryAfrican countries started getting their independence in the late 1950s.

Countries like Ghana and other West African British colonized areas were

offered independence in 1957 while Nigeria was in 1960. The issue is not how

far but how well. The question then is, to what extent has the African continent

developed or underdeveloped after several years of independence? What arethe causes for its dismal situations of underdevelopment?

All the African countries, including Nigeria have remained

underdeveloped practically because of poor and low information and

knowledge acquisition. Knowledge, they say is power and as Essienhower(1999) remarked, information is the bedrock of any meaningful developmentin all progressive conscious nations. It is because the United States of America

(USA) is the highest investor in information around the world that gives them47

NIGERlANS'ATTI7W>E TOUBRARY.(JRlENTEDACAVEMIC WOBKANDAFRICAN UNDERDEVELOPMENT _ ~ lJ6i". N••••• , 0.. 1ja. Okm •• ilA_ U<••••• lJt/6oIr.. ~

the position of the super power of the world. They have remained the police ofthe world. Security conscious nations are the information rich nations.America was' able to contain Mummar Gaddafi of Libya throu~ their

sophisticated information network in which they took his (Gaddafi) snapshotwhile in the bathroom.

Worrisomely, Eme-Awa (1992) in Olisaand Obiukwu (2000) stated thatmost of the Nigerian agricultural and economic programmes such as the"Green Revolution and Operation Feed the Nation failed, compounding

Nigerian underdevelopment due to a number of reasons. Part of these reasons,he said include:

• Inadequate technologies to embark on the programme smoothly .• Lack of available information to manage the programme

• Inadequate developed human resources• Political instability, and• Lack of investment opportunities in the global market, etc. ./

President Olusegn Obasanjo, while instituting the Green Revolution

emp)"lasizedthe need to boycott all problems that marred the former -operationFeed the Nation ..

Unlike USA, almost all the African countries have no National

Information Policy. In other words, there is no legislation regarding "information collection, processing, organization, access, retrieval and

dissemination. Nzotta (2006) states that national information policy stipulatesthe types of information that need to be generated, those that will bedisseminated or censored and who should be in the custody of such

information. While many countries have established data ballk for informationstorage and referred services, Nigeria has just in 2007 started to legislate on "to

be or not to be" of information policy. Some countries such as South Africa,

Botswana and Central Africa Republic etc, have established workable blue

print on information legislation. The set back are many but the solution are atlarge. For Africa to forge ahead and get up with the committee of nations,National Information Policy must be worked out with all intensity. In Barack

Obama's speech during his inauguration as the President of USA, he said, "let48 ••

UNIZlK JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN LIBRARY AND INFORMA TlON SCIENCE VOL. 2 NO,1••

us rebuilt the library, the source and custodians of the world's information.Infoffilation grows, just as the world grows. By rebuilding the library we arerebuilding the heritage of our fathers and leaving enormous legacy for ourchildren". This speaks volume of now the international, developed countriesreckoned with library and information compared to our developing world thatdoes not recognize the library and its potentials.

Sequel to the absence of National Information Policy in Africa is the

disillusionment of ma,ny stakeholders in the African Data Initiatives. This non­enthusiastic posture results from lack of requisite environment and poorgovernment support to these initiatives. Besides, a great number of Africancountries are not profitably linked to the internet and so can not contributeeffectively to the international information systems such as International

Nuclear Information System (INIS), and Agricultural Information System(AGRlS) etc. These are major set-backs which have contributed immensely toAfrica's under-development.

Lamenting over the cause of continued African under developmentNwozor (2006) pointed out that Africa lack internationally acclaimeddeveloped African Technology. And this lack of technology has made Africans

to remain mere consumers of product rather than manufacturers in industries.Before now, the igbo Nation in Nigeria has manufactured "mass destructive"

ammunition, otherwise referred to as "ogbunigwe" during the Nigerian civilwar. But all these went with the war as those (make-shift) technological base

went down with the war. The technology was not documented for posterity.There was also the Universal Primary education (UPE) of 1976 which

was later changed to Universal Basic Education (UBE) in 1999. This education

system has introduced attendant pervasive educational problems, leading tounder-development in Nigeria. According to Ukeje (1985), the introduction of

UPE has led to the influx of market women with very low intelligent quotient

(I.Q) in teaching. Sad still, people with very poor academic standing were lefto give basic academic foundation to our Nigerian children. This has remainec

a very faulty foundation to our society. And finally, low take home, !hat is, poc::­

salary had led to the teachers to resort to private practices and small scal.:49

\HiER/ANS' ATT/TUllE TO LJBRARY~ORlENTEDACADEM/C WORK AND A FR/CAN VNDERDEVELVPMENT Rel'J Dr, OMara N~msu. Dr. /jeku Okl!kl!undAndrew Uehen,," Ogbonna •

business inorder to make ends meet. The effect of the problems emanatingfrom this UPE results from the over burdening of the pupils with so much

teaching, with little or no time for the pupils to do private studies. Even athome, private lessons are organized for them, leading to making the pupilstabularasa. However, when these foundations remain faulty, the pupils willturn to special centre for their qualifying entrance examinations such as WestAfrican Examination Certificate (WAEC), University MatriculationExamination (UME) and a host of others.

Onyeabor (2007) while condemning the Nigerian attitudes on this,states that special centre phenomena have mirrored Nigeria as certificate­oriented illiterates, whom through examination malpractice have acquired

certificates but yet very ignorant and untrained.Cultism is another problem affecting the development of African

countries. Cultism has turned so many tertiary institutions into war front andno longer a citadel of learning. In Nigerian academic environment, cultistsrarely attend lectures and which lead to knowledge, human and national under

development. These cultists threaten lecturers to give them pass marks. Manyof them do not know where the library is located, let alone utilizing them.Chukwuma (2007) further laments that Africans are lamenting over under

development while there are only very few that are interested in gainingknowledge, just that they are not exposed. For him, with the youths of this

century, time will come when they will recede from underdevelopment toprimitivity if they refuse shun cultism and its dangers and embrace library forknowledge and development.

And finally, Nwaka and Iloabuno (2006) considered strike and the

method of election process as part of the causes of under development inAfrica. According to them, the effect of industrial strike is enormous to the

economic well-being of the nation. This i~because it hampers productivity andcripples the economy, generally, regarding the method of election process inNigeria, Nwaka (2006) contends that many Nigerian elections are bedeviled

with thuggery, rigging and day-broad looting of ballot boxes. Elections are no

longer carries out but selection. And worst still, nonentities are normally50

UNIZlK JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN UBRARY AND INFORMAnON SCIENCE VOL. 2 NO.'

sel~cted into the public offices. This problem has lead to high level ofpoliticalapathy among the suffrage, and in effects, leads to under development. It isonly knowledge that should liberate Africans from these unprogressive that areamong the factors of African underdevelopment.

Summary and ConclusionWith all the available human and natural resources, Nigeria and indeed

Africa should have been one of the leading developed countries and continent

- iof the world. There is no single country in Africa that has not gotten'independence. It is not an overstatement to1;ay that Nigeria was more focusedduring colonial era and few years after independence. Academics had values inthe 1960s. Where is the glory of academics of the 60s to 80s. Nigeria, it is

generally believed, it the giant of Africa. How can a country whose people areagents of underdevelopment as a result oftheir very poor attitude to academicswork, library and knowledge lead African to the promised land of development

Academics are one of the interest groups and agents of development.The primary goal of the academics is to always generate new knowledgethrough constant research. The library is the focal pointof every component of

research. Chukwuma (2004) asserts, no component of research can be

effectively carried out without a meaningful consultation ofthe library.Every research builds on the already conducted and documented

researchers, and the library otganizes them for easy location and use. In

essence, therefore, every component of research project which must result in

generation of new knowledge (contribution to existing knowledge) for

development must be dependent on effective information search in the library .."Therefore, the library is the nucleus of all research activities and developmeJ;lt

. efforts. Africans have ignored effective and efficient library which is the

academic engine hub and the foundation or rock of development. AJn,ericaandother developed countries of the world love information and invest heavily onit. They are information rich but African countries are information poor.America is the information richest country and that is why they are the most

powerful nation of the world. The American Congress has the largest library in:.-. 51

-1:~ .J.TTITCIJE TO f.lIJRAR}:ORIENTElJACAIJ£MIC WORKANIJAFRICAN l.'NIJERlJn·Ef.UPME .•••T &On'Vr, U""-..r& ', •. ,;-,.. _ - '-' .• -. ..,,~ ••,.-. _Ytc_'"""": •....•...•••. •

-:-__~ \\·orld. Where is the library of the Nigerian Senate or other African

.:•.:"untries?There are no known such libraries in any African countries.

In conclusion, Therefore, Nigerian, and indeed Africans attitudes to

.:-rary-oriented academic work have contributed in the African

~'1derdevelopment.

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Okebuokola, S. (2004). "Libraries and University Education: a priority foacademic excellence" A keynote Address presented to the Committee 0Univesity Librarians of Nigerian Universities. Abuja: NUC.

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53