At a period in history when democracies as strong as that of the United States suffer so much stress that some pundits can even predict coups, nobody should be under any illusion that Nigeria is immune to what is happening elsewhere in the sub-region but a Nigerian American Professor of African Religious Traditions and American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Jacob Olupona has said coup d’état and illegal seizure of power will not address the current problem of Nigeria.
Olupona, speaking at the 16th annual Faculty of Dentistry conference, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, tagged: ‘Dentistry without borders,’ also expressed worry over the unemployment rate of graduates in Nigeria.
“We have a crisis in Nigeria, we have people carrying certificates all around, they have no job, it is not their fault it is the system that has failed them. So, those of us who are responsible for this learning process must begin to think about how best we can help these students.
“The kind of social revolution we need is not using coups or using guns but cultural revolution so that we begin to believe in ourselves, we begin to know when people are deceiving us and telling us stories and lies.”
Speaking during a discussion session, Professor of Archaeology, Adisa Ogunfolakan lamented the lack of record keeping of teeth that has been removed by dentists in Nigeria so as to proffer solutions to problems associated with teeth.
He said, “No record keeping on teeth that have been removed by dentists in the past generations to see the nutritional changes. Dentists must work with historians, this will help to generate data for action plans.”
The host, Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, Professor Morenike Ukpong disclosed that the conference started with six pre-conferences and had nine national and international resource persons with 690 participants from multiple locations in and outside the country.
