MLR 2023 “Hereafter, you shall see heaven open”

Professional Workshop Report

Group 19: Tertiary Institution Teaching Profession – Researchers and Lecturers
Day 2
Time: 3:30 to 5:00pm
Facilitator: Prof Justice Onu

Our institutions have suffered under closed heavens for long and this happens through academic
corruption.
1. Aspect of our profession that has suffered under closed heavens:

 Where staff will have to pay to be awarded promotions that is rightfully theirs.
 Sexual exploitation of students by staff.
 Examination malpractice is a big issue as it involves both students and lecturers. Some Lecturers
are paid for exams questions and grades by some students while some get too close in order to
gain certain advantages over others.
 These acts produce unprofessional and quack graduates being pumped into the labor market. And
paying attention to ensure the right thing is done is our first step.
 We should all be agents of change. From the top official, there must be a resolve to stand for the
right thing to be done.
 Lecturers should be very careful with the extent to which they relate with their student as they
students will not open up their bad (secret) intentions at the instance. Take a stand as a Christian
and everybody should know it early enough.
 There are reports of students bribing the whole system so things will work in their favor when the
time comes, e.g. students making huge donations of gadgets to the whole department.

2. How do we handle the matter of malpractice and falsification of result which leads to failure of
students to graduate on time?
 Stop engaging in academic corruption.
 Be close to students so you can be able to know what their problem is and trust God for a
solution.
 The solution, as Christians, must come from us and we must be deliberate about influencing our
fellow lecturers.
 Our lives should be “letters” that staff and students can read as Christian lecturers.
 Christian lecturers should be the best in their field and be intentional about relating with their
student as this will motivate them to follow in their steps.

How to curb plagiarism in research work (students and lecturers)

 Know your field well.

  Have a stand to do the right thing to avoid it.
 Be creative and have passion for your work. This will help you stand and do the right thing as a
supervisor to students.

3b. Role away these stones:

 The love of money

 Lack of passion and creativity
 Selfishness
 Fear
 Laziness
 Not being defined and definite

DAY 4
Time: 3:30 to 5:00pm
Facilitator: Prof Justice Onu

3c. How to effectively remove the stone:

 Take lecture delivery a serious responsibility.

 Ensure you share relevant information to students.
 Don’t be alone with student of opposite sex in the office at odd hours.
 Don’t give much attention to particular students or sex, treat and attend to them equally.
 Disciple your students and don’t be ashamed of taking out time in the day to be with God.
 Visit your fellow Christian staff.
 Identify with Christian student fellowships.

4a. Being intentional about discipling your students and mentoring them in the academic field to raise
good replacements.

5a. We all pledged to live for Christ alone and to faithfully represent Him in all we do professionally.

5b. practical ways to diligently focus on living for Christ in our profession.

 Stand for the truth.

 Depend on God for your daily living.
Challenge: how does a lecturer make himself available to students and at the working place when he
can’t afford to fuel his car to go there due to the present economic situation in the country?

 As a Christian, stop complaining about the challenging situation of the country.

 Stand to ensure that Christian students are not victimized in your department.
 Don’t avoid taking a position in your department. It’s an encouragement to the students.

5c. Hindrances to living for Christ:

 Sin.
 Fear.
 Love of money.
 Running away from responsibility.
 Lack of self confidence in your field.
 Distancing oneself from technology.
 When a man is without Christ.

6. Practical steps to take in our pursuit of all these loses:

 Believe that Jesus is the Lord over all, even the department and school. This will give us the
boldness to do all things for His kingdom.
 Have the consciousness that you can do all things because Christ is in you.
 Study more and strife for excellency in you field.
 Be prepared to fight to stop all acts of unrighteousness and enforce righteousness.

7a. how to overtake the enemy and begin to recover all:

 Get involved in the administrative functions of the profession and be deliberate about being the
light.
 You can support the students financially, especially in this present situation.
7b. i. For the salvation of their souls:

 Reach out to them for the gospel.

 Invite your fellow lecturers for meetings like this.
 Grow in Christ so our lives can attract men to Him.
ii. Strategies for raising disciples among influential colleagues:

 Trust God for wisdom and direction.

 Identify with influential people so you can try and win their hearts.
 Pray
iii. To envision all disciples who are professional colleagues for kingdom service:

 Encourage Christian staff to encourage one another in Christ.

 Attend the school chapel and encourage the students.
  Stand with the brethren when an election is taking place and don’t be against them.

Aggressive rewriting and replacing the unrighteous principles:

 Stand to contend to be in the system by doing the right thing and taking responsibility. Nothing is
too small for us to do for Christ.
 Network with fellow staff and believers to rewrite them.
 See our fellow Christians as one in the university.

Conclusion
We further discussed the following:

 The need to share relevant information about what is going on in the school.
 Ensure that we don’t have an intruder in our Christian platforms.
 Play our part to ensure there is oneness amongst us.
 The university chaplaincy can do well to organize the brethren in the body of Christ om campus.
 Ensure to always go through chats on our platforms for information.