“People who work together will win….”
Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame American Football Coach
Recently, I caught up with a young friend who was feeling utterly drained, and no, it was not just the weather. Despite having completed her degree and paid all fees in full, she found herself in a frantic race against time to obtain her certificate from her Nigerian University to secure a fully paid scholarship at a European University. Never mind that she had completed all necessary requirements, and the scholarship deadline was in a few days; there was a delay within the University system, and nobody seemed to care. She had been visiting the University Campus daily for the last few weeks, going from department to department, making a compassionate plea to get what was rightfully hers and to ensure ‘’Nigeria doesn’t happen to her’. I wish I could say this was a rare, isolated incident, but alas, it is not. More people than we care to imagine face variants of these types of challenges on a regular basis, from obtaining transcripts or medical records to fixing wrong information on official documents.
And so I got thinking, is there no other way for us to combat this frustration? One against many is a tall order, but perhaps we could leverage technology and mobilization to flip the script and tackle these challenges in a structured and organized manner. If we wait for official channels to address this, we might be waiting for a long time. The ENDSARS skills of effective mobilization, selfless action and efficient operations could be put to use in tackling these delays.
If you’re intrigued by this idea and keen to join forces, I’d love to hear from you. We will start with a specific issue and location – perhaps it’s even these transcript delays at Nigerian Universities.
Looking forward to engaging on this.
There are numerous instances of occurrences like this. I once had a classmate in UNILAG who failed a course due to missing exam scripts. There was no recourse for him, no remediation, and of course, the impact on his overall grade, despite him being a top students in class. Technology can sure help improve our order flow. The societal trust in Tech has improved as evident with its current adoption rate. We can also benefit from improving our processes across board, especially at larger institutions.