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Some leading visual
arts practitioners have condemned the National University Commission
(NUC)’s policy that demands that only lecturers who are PhD holders can
lecture in Nigerian universities.

The artists spoke
at the second Grillo Pavillion Visual Arts Fiesta to celebrate foremost
artist, sculptor and art teacher, Bruce Onobrakpeya over the weekend.

Dele Jegede, a
professor with the Miami University, Ohio called for more pressure to
be put on the NUC to upgrade the Masters in Fine Art (MFA) into a
terminal degree rather forcing every artist in the academia to pursue a
PhD.

Wrong decision

Questioning how the
university regulator arrived at such a conclusion, Mr Jegede opined
that studio work is no more like it used to be.

“Everyone is now rushing to get a PhD… we need to go out there and do crazy things and create things,” he said.

The nation’s ivory
tower regulator, in 2008, announced in an ultimatum to all lecturers in
the Universities that “only PhD holders will be eligible to lecture in
the higher institutions.”

Mr. Jegede however said this kind of policy will gradually eliminate creativity and encourage laziness.

“The structure, as
we have it, is already producing a lot of PhD holders who cannot
sculpt, who cannot paint, who are bad designers and this NUC’s policy
will only extend the vicious cycle of PhD holders, which is at the
detriment of the art community,” he said.

Yemi Adetoto, a
professor of Fine Art said the system must find a way of bringing
distinguished contemporary artists into the academia as artist-scholars
based on aspects of their work.

“It is very wrong
for the NUC to say, for all courses, all lecturers must have PhD before
they can lecture in the university,” he said, noting that an artist can
excel in practicals and proceed to get a PhD and even become a
professor directly.

Pat Utomi, another
guest at the event, described the problem with PhD as “Dele Jegede use
to be cartoonist but since he became a PhD holder, we don’t see those
great cartoons anymore.”

He likened the PhD to the problem with the MBA (Masters in Business Administration).

With an MBA, “one
is already trained to solved problems in the corporate world and the
same should be for the MFA as a terminal degree, but yet there has
always being battle for relevance between the PhD holders and their
Masters counterparts,” he said.

Noted for his
indifference to academic qualification and never rejecting any work
submitted to his annual Harmattan Workshop and Exhibition held
Agbarha-Otor, Delta state since 1998, most of the guests present agreed
with Bruce Onobrakpeya that ‘academic exposure does not make the
artist.’

Perpetual dichotomy

Foremost art
collector Yemisi Shyllon noted that there has always being the
dichotomy in every profession for those who want to specialise in
professional work and those who want to question knowledge. Hence he
recommended a PhD for those who want to question knowledge, but “that
doesn’t mean the specialist in the profession must be segregated or in
any way or be prevented from passing down their skill.”

Mr. Shyllon called
on Nigerian art professionals to get the NUC to address the policy,
saying “there is need for people to become dons in their profession
without PhD.”

Pam Makanju, who is
also an artist, warned the discussants of the possibility of
short-changing members of the art community when they (artists) compete
with their colleagues in other fields. Noting in particular the issue
of eligibility to the office of the vice-chancellor or rector, he
pointed out that applicants for these offices are scored during
evaluations based on their degrees cum qualification and not just the
skill.

Mr Makonju then called for an upgrade of the MFA to a DFA or a PhD.

The event featured the exhibition of diverse art works by Mr Onobrakpeya on different platforms.