By HENRY AKUBUIRO
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, has nominated prolific author and the President of Nigerian Folklore Society, Dr. Bukar Usman, for the Award for Ethical and Value-Oriented Leadership.
In a letter dated 1st November, 2016, Dr Ani Casimir Kingston Chukwunoyelum,
Director, Directorate of Strategic Contacts, Ethics and Publications, University of Nigeria Nsukka, said the award, courtesy of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Benjamin Ozumba, was in recognition of his personal and institutional appreciation of the national strategic need to embed core values in the educational system to achieve technological and ethical innovation in our tertiary institutions to achieve the goals of sustainable development in the country.
The letter reads: “We are happy to inform you that the Inter-University Committee of the Conference made up of the Federal Ministry of Education, Foreign affairs, Globethics Geneva, Enugu State University of Science and Technology and Bishop Godfrey Okoye University have also decided that the transformative roles you have played and still playing in your life bring about societal and individual transformation with core values content for our present and future ethical project.”
The opening ceremony of the three-day conference on Ethics, Governance and Higher Education, to be declared open by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, takes place on Wednesday, November 23, 2016, at the Princess Alexandria Auditorium, University of Nigeria, Nsukka campus.
In a chat with The Sun Literary Review, Dr. Usman said it was a pleasant surprise to be nominated for the award: “The news of this award came to me as a surprise like the other previous awards, in that I had not met in person those who were privy to the decision.”
Asked whether it was his leadership of the Nigerian Folklore Society that earned him the award, he said: “It could well be that my leadership of the Nigerian Folklore Society had given me some exposure. However, those who had been following my education and working career would have known that I held leadership positions at the secondary school and in the public service. I would say that the decision makers know best what motivated them.”
His idea of value-oriented leadership is for a person in leadership position to be aware and uphold such values. A former permanent secretary in the presidency, Usman has made the most of his retirement, writing and publishing books, as well as steering the Nigerian Folklore Society along a new path. Where does the motivation come from?
The author A History of Biu tripped memory lane: “Arising from my participation in the Nigerian Folklore Society Conference at Bayero University, Kano in 2013, there was a challenge on the need to revive the society which had been somewhat inactive for some years prior to that time. The conference decided to saddle me with the responsibility of heading the revival steering committee. The committee presented its report to the society’s annual conference, the following year at which I was elected the President of the society, a position I still hold until the next election.”
He admitted that he was motivated by the enthusiasm of the conference participants on the revival of the oral tradition, which had been the first school of the child in nearly all societies. He recalled: “That tradition as was observed at the conference was dying under the threat of globalisation and civilisation, in spite of the numerous values derivable from folklore.
Aside from folklore on which he carried out research and written several books, he has also written other books motivated by his conviction that, “having spent over three decades in the public service, I have some ideas which I want to share with the general public. The feedback I got from the articles and books I published encouraged me to write more. I would, therefore, continue to write, so long as I am able, enjoy the confidence of the readership and I do not run out of ideas.”