By Samuel Sedara
In 2011 when I completed my master’s degree program, I never wanted to further for a Doctorate because I wanted to travel out of Nigeria. Then I had the opportunity of getting a Visa but all efforts went into the drain.
The hustling started at least to get a job in the oil and gas or the telecommunication industries to keep body and soul together, but only got feedback from teaching jobs which I always declined because I never wanted to go that line. Between the period, I got some marketing and other jobs but I wasn’t satisfied doing these jobs. Eventually, I had to accept the teaching job at Kings College Lagos. After accepting the offer letter I was later called for an interview in one of the private universities in the Southwest.
I immediately registered for my PhD at the University of Ibadan in 2013 because I knew it was the minimum qualification for lecturing jobs which led to the beginning of my Ph.D journey. My two years of teaching vacation at the private university were tough and interesting. Nevertheless, I got the experience I needed in terms of teaching and improving my research skills even though I had prior teaching experience at an advanced institute in Lagos and a Polytechnic in Ibadan. Some of my colleagues there can bear me witness and many of us then left for better offers.
My Ph.D experience at the University of Ibadan was not a rosy one after spending many years without a green light, coupled with sessional payment of school fees for eight sessions without checks and balances. After many years in the program, I was made to believe I was not good enough until I took control of my life through God’s help and my mentors. So many times I would become sober in my heart and wonder what else I could do to scale through the hurdle. I hoped for a day I would get their approval; sadly, that day never came.
I even went as far as going to India for a benchwork to support my Ph.D work and published articles on my findings but all went the same way. The research experience I gained during the short visit to India is far more than the entire years I have spent so far despite all the money I spent on the research with no single support from anywhere.
My sanity and health is too heavy a price to pay for a degree, so I abandoned the program even though I lost a lot during this period. I decided to take a step of faith by enrolling in a doctoral program at another University and eventually graduated under a distinguished Professor of Physics and produced a high-quality thesis and published many articles from the PhD work.
The same bureaucracy almost affected me at the new University where memos will get missing in transit, and some people not doing their job diligently, and you will be advised to be prayerful for someone to do their job.
The Nigerian University system has allowed many insubordinations and slumbers within the system which has crippled the system.
I discovered that you may not be doing something right but that does not mean you are not good enough. That you don’t know how to do a particular thing does not mean you are a complete and utter failure in life. Don’t let anyone make you believe you are not good enough. You may not be good enough for them in that relationship, but you are good enough for others and for God. Failure is only an event; don’t let it define you and your potential. God has more in store for you in your future.
Now talking about undertaking a Ph.D program in Nigerian public universities, I would like to share some views and advice. It is pathetic that Ph.D programs of public universities are designed to take students to a head-splitting and exasperating point where they are compelled to withdraw. For example, most of these Nigerian public universities don’t have a check and balance system where they assess the progress and update of student’s work and supervisor’s input.
In advanced climes, such things never happened. There must be a clear path of where your research will go just like when I visited India for bench work. There is a timeline for everything. I am not saying the University system is not working in this regard because there are students who finished their Ph.D under stipulated time. I have also seen some who spent ten years or more in the same environment and some got frustrated, depressed, and died along the way. Many students are known to have started their degree programs but were forced to quit midway. Do supervisors of Ph.D students derive pleasure from inflicting pain and shame on the students? Are supervisors so sadistic?
In advanced climes and societies, a supervisor who maintains the habit of failing students or a record of supervising students who never complete their Ph.D programs is clear evidence of a lack of supervision skills, lack of knowledge of current issues in the field, and sheer lack of ability and this, in turn, tarnish the reputation of such a supervisor.
A good supervisor mentors his or her students and provides clear direction for them. The supervisors motivate their students and provide invaluable advice that will carry the students seamlessly to the end of their program which was what I enjoyed during my stay at the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India, and my Ph.D program at my new University.
One golden advice for new graduate students who intend to pursue postgraduate degree is that you should consider these important things before registration:
1. Your University option for a Ph.D program doesn’t matter.
2. Check the Scopus rating of your supervisor to know how he or she is active in research.
3. Make sure you and your supervisor agree on a workable project.
4. Make sure you publish at least two of your PhD works in a good impact factor journals (Scopus journals preferably). At least two of these must be adhered to to have a hitch-free program.
I thank Almighty God for life and the many successful journeys over the years.
I want to thank my mentor and Ph.D supervisor whose efforts and mentorship formed the foundation of my research and teaching experience.
Dr. Samuel O. Sedara, MNIP, MNIM, MITPA
Lecturer and Head of Thermal Geophysics Laboratory,
Department of Physics and Electronics,
Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State
samuel.sedara@aaua.edu.ng
+2348065651819
