Publisher's Synopsis
"Problems are like plants- they have roots. If we could find and destroy those roots, we would succeed both in solving and extirpating the causes of the problems and thus prevent their recurrence. But if we cut the stalks and leave the roots untouched, the plants will almost without exception grows again," says Obafemi Awolowo, the apostle of pen and paper. The above quotation is the sage's way of telling us that identifying WHAT a problem is can never be enough. The WHY must be established before we can effectively provide an appropriate and permanent solution to the problems that are confronting the education sector in Ekiti State. It is no longer news that Ekiti has the highest number of scholars per square metre in Nigeria. However, the poor academic performance of the state in public examinations in the last 15 years shows that the state that once prided herself as the 'Fountain of Knowledge' and intellectual capital pool of Nigeria has lost her identity. In the words of Norman Vincent Peale, 'Knowledge of the problem is a key to successful solution.' Therefore, this book provides a sociological analysis of the factors that helped the older generation that made Ekiti to be known as the Fountain of Knowledge achieved greatness, and why the current generation cannot replicate the success stories of the golden era. It takes a deeper look at the origins of success and failure. The book examines the invisible social currents that flowed in the veins of the older generation of Ekiti people. One People, Two Generations is about the huge differences in values, virtues, behavioural patterns, socialisation, nature of expectations and institutional incentives between the society that produced the academic giants in the state and the current generation that cannot replicate the success stories of the past. In this book, you will also discover the virtues that turned ordinary beings into gods. Also, readers will learn some of the factors that propelled the likes of Ojo Ugbole, the first Professor of Geo-Physics in Africa; Olubummo, the first Professor of Mathematics in Nigeria, Professor Ade Ajayi, a renowned Historian and NNOM laureate; Professor Niyi Osundare, the 2014 NNOM laureate; Professor Adelola Adeloye, a renowned Neurosurgeon; Aare Afe Babalola, founder, ABUAD, among others to greatness, and why the young ones are suffering from intellectual malnutrition, backwardness and atrophy. More disturbing is the fact that majority of the current generation Ekiti people are not only disconnected from the culture of excellence for which the Ekitis are known; they are equally detached from the history and the unbeatable records of excellence set by the older generation. This book takes a giant stride in bridging that gap by providing research-based information on the academic giants in Ekiti State and the inestimable lessons that we can learn from their success stories.
