A senior Nigerian lawyer and lecturer, Professor Bello Mohammed Magaji has returned home to Nigeria after five years as lecturer at the faculty of law, Uganda Islamic University.
Before he left the East African country, Magaji was the Dean, Faculty of Law, at the Islamic University, the first Nigerian to hold such position in that academic institution.
He however regretted that he would be missing academic calendar of the university devoid of strikes, unlike Nigeria’s public higher institutions.
The Uganda Ivory tower was founded by Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which Nigeria is one of the contributors.
However, having recently secured employment with American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State, the Professor of law said he felt fulfilled coming back home to contribute his wealth of experience to educational development in Nigeria.
In a chat with newsmen, Prof. Magaji said he got the AUN job as an Associate Professor of law, school of law of the University for a period of three years, which is subject to renewal on mutual terms with the Ivory Tower.
He added that he would be responsible for teaching courses assigned by the Dean, as well as conducting research and engaging in community service.
“I feel fulfilled coming back home with various experiences gathered in my academic sojourn to improve our system with the knowledge and experience obtained in Uganda.
“I wasn’t reluctant to return home. Upon the offer and in line with academic practice, if you are offered a professorial position, the university offering you will send your academic papers and publications to three different external reviewers to assess the quality of your publications. It is on the basis of the report that you would be confirmed or not. In my own case all the three external assessors returned positive results on my publications after a detailed scrutiny and assessment. Based on the external reports, the University formally invited me to join the academic staff in a professorial position.
“I will miss many things in Uganda, firstly, the security of lives and property, apart from recent isolated incidents. I will also miss the peaceful academic calendar devoid of strikes and interruptions. Only that unfortunately COVID-19 pandemic has shattered this plus to the serene academic culture. I will miss a group of brilliant and hardworking students of Uganda whose constant academic probe kept me on my toes, and many more. On a very personal note I will be remembering Uganda as the birth place of my son, Fahad.
“I will be attending academic conferences both virtual and physical in Uganda so I am still not completely cut off from Uganda.
“I spent a little above five years in Uganda during which I was a Senior Lecturer, Associate Dean for Research, Faculty Deputy Dean and Dean of faculty of law”. Professor Magaji said.