A Nation in Mourning: The Death of Professor Abubakar Roko and The Tragedy of Nigeria’s Academic Neglect

By Abdulkadir Aliyu Shehu

The death of Professor Abubakar Roko, a respected lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, has sent shockwaves across Nigeria’s academic and intellectual communities. More than just the passing of a scholar, his death reflects the devastating collapse of Nigeria’s education and healthcare systems.

Professor Roko was not only known for his brilliance in computer science but also admired for his humility, integrity, and unwavering commitment to nurturing young minds. For decades, he dedicated his life to advancing knowledge and mentoring the next generation of Nigerian technologists.

His final days were defined by a desperate attempt to raise 13 million Naira for a medical trip abroad a sum that should have been readily covered by a functional healthcare system in any responsible country. Despite his status as one of Nigeria’s brightest minds, he was left alone to battle both illness and financial hardship.

This tragedy is not isolated. It reveals the deeply entrenched disregard of Nigeria’s ruling class for intellectuals and educators. While billions of naira are allocated to sponsor the children of the political elite to elite universities overseas, Nigerian public universities remain chronically underfunded.

The contradiction is disturbing: those entrusted with reforming Nigeria’s education system continue to sideline it, choosing instead to outsource their children’s future to Europe, America, and Asia, while local institutions deteriorate into ruins.

It is a national shame that, in 2025, a senior professor in Nigeria earns less than 700,000 monthly Naira, while in smaller African countries like Botswana, Lesotho, Rwanda, or Mauritius, even junior academic staff earn over 4 million Naira monthly with additional perks like research grants, quality healthcare, and free and qualitative Education for their children.

As Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria should be leading the way in academic standards, innovation, and research excellence. Instead, it has become a place where dreams perish and intellectuals suffer in silence, often dying without recognition or support.

Professor Roko’s death also points to the catastrophic state of Nigeria’s healthcare system. In a country where eminent scholars must resort to crowdfunding for medical treatment, it is evident that we have lost the essence of governance.

Reports indicate that Professor Roko was battling a health condition requiring urgent care abroad. His colleagues and students rallied to raise funds, but time ran out. His passing was not just a personal loss it was a national failure.

The decay of our universities is all too visible: empty staff offices, broken infrastructure, unpaid researchers, and the silence of a government that continues to prioritize personal luxury over public responsibility. How many more Professors must die before this rot is addressed?

Once revered institutions like UI, ABU, UNN, BUK, and OAU formerly ranked among Africa’s best have now lost their global standing. Years of neglect, poor funding, and policy mismanagement have turned these citadels of learning into symbols of decline.

Professor Roko’s death also represents the growing crisis of “Japa” a phenomenon where Nigerian academics flee the country for better opportunities abroad. Those who stay often do so out of patriotism, only to pay with their lives in a country that offers no reward for sacrifice.

It is profoundly disturbing that in today’s Nigeria, more lecturers die from preventable illnesses, hunger, depression, and even suicide than from natural causes. These are not statistics they are human lives, dreams lost, and futures destroyed.

Nigeria must confront hard questions: How can a country with vast oil wealth and immense human capital treat its intellectuals with such contempt? Why is education always the first victim of every economic downturn or budget cut?

There is something broken when a professor with 30 years of experience cannot afford basic healthcare, while the children of politicians study at Ivy League institutions abroad, fully funded by public resources.

The irony is heartbreaking. Many Nigerian students in the UK, US, and Canada are taught by Nigerian-born professors who fled home due to frustration and poor working conditions. The brain drain continues, and Nigeria suffers the loss.

Professor Roko’s students described him as a rare gem someone who could make Artificial Intelligence understandable to beginners and who was always available to help struggling students. He published extensively and supervised countless PhD theses with passion and patience.

He was known to pay students’ school fees from his modest salary, share his meals with the hungry, and offer mentorship without expectation of reward. He believed in Nigeria and in the transformative power of education.

But he died disappointed, knowing that the nation he served with distinction failed to stand by him when it mattered most. His death must not just be mourned; it must provoke a serious national reckoning.

May the death of Professor Abubakar Roko serve as a catalyst for reform a moment that awakens both policymakers and the public. If we truly value knowledge, then we must protect those who teach, research, and inspire. Until then, the death of Professor Roko will remain not just a tragedy, but an indictment of Nigeria’s failure to protect its finest minds.

Abdulkadir Aliyu Shehu is a journalist and public commentator. He writes from Kano and can be reached via [danfodio247@gmail.com