Why Former President Olusegun Obasanjo Decided To Return To School

Former president and Nigerian Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo has enrolled in the National Open University of Nigeria for a Master/PhD in theology and he revealed that he decided to do this to deepen his knowledge of God and serve Him better and not because he wanted to become a pastor.

Speaking after completing his registration at the university’s main study centre in Lagos, Obasanjo said that by enrolling for a Ph.D, his aim is to prove that one’s position or age should not deter that person from furthering his or her educational status.

“Learning should be a continuous process and if you can do it and learn without the formality of a university, all well and good. But I chose to learn and continue to learn by other means and through the discipline and the formality of the university system,” he said.

Mr. Obasanjo said the other reason he decided to enrol at the institution was to showcase the opportunity NOUN provided for those intending to acquire a higher education but unable to get admission into conventional universities.

He said, “I wanted to throw a bit of limelight on this institution; knowing fully well that this country at no time in the foreseeable future would be able to provide built and walled universities for all the Nigerian students who want to have higher education.”

Mr Obasanjo declined to reveal his current age but he did say that age should not be hindrance to acquiring knowledge.

He said, “I’ve told my children that when I have difficulty I’d tell them to come and teach me. This proves that there should be no shame in learning and any knowledge that you acquire becomes your own, nobody has to take it away from you.”

The former president who has always been publicly approving of the institution previously enrolled for a postgraduate diploma in Theology at the university and graduated with “flying colours” in 2009.

According to the Dean of School of Arts and Social Sciences, David Otubanjo, the number of students that enrolled at the university increased a great deal following the former president’s enrolment in 2009.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Vincent Tenebe, said the number of enrolled students jumped from 32,000 with 16,000 of them being active students in 2010 to 308,000 enrolled students with 16,000 of them being active in 2014. He said its study centres had grown from 32 to 55 in the same period while the institution’s staff strength grew from 820 in 2010 to 25, 000 in 2014.

Speaking to the Obasanjo after his enrolment, Tenebe said “Your intervention in educational development in Nigeria by resuscitating the National Open University, ensuring vigorous development of the institution, enrolling as a student and graduating with flying colours and yet today returning for a higher qualification of PHD can never be over emphasised,”