Lecturers Who Referenced The Cubanas, Portable And Poco Lee In Examination Questions Are Not Suffering From CWS As Public Opinion Alleged -By Isaac Asabor

According to an African proverb, “If the keg of palm-wine is not quickly snatched from the hands of an exuberant drunk, he may drink himself to stupor.” A similar proverb has it that “If an overzealous child is not assisted by his elders when roasting yams in the farm, he may innocently set the farm and the hut ablaze”.

The foregoing proverbs which are collectively and contextually a warning stemmed from the fact that reckless condemnations of celebrities can be a damaging sword for them. Public attention plays a vital role in celebrities achieving success in the entertainment industry; but the excessive negative comments of fans can sometimes prove problematic, especially when it can lead to the sudden downfall of a targeted celebrity.

There is no denying the fact that the foregoing African proverbs was necessitated by the rumour making the rounds that some lecturers that are suffering from Celebrity Worship Syndrome (CWS) have resorted to setting out-of-syllabus examination questions for undergraduates offering their courses. 

Before proceeding to cite instances that might have led to the unfounded rumour, it is germane to say that it is no more news that some lecturers were wont to set out-of-syllabus questions for their students during Semester examinations.

However, in the opinion of this writer, that setting out-of-syllabus questions for students does not justify disparaging such lecturers to be suffering from CWS.

In fact, it appears those that have resorted to brand some lecturers as those suffering from CWS are ignorant of what the psychological ailment is all about. For the sake of clarity, it is germane to ask, “Were they crazy fan of a star when they were children? Didn’t they have the poster of their favorite movie star all over the wall?”

If they can relate to the foregoing questions, one cannot but equally brand them to be obsessed with celebrities as they erroneously think our scholarly and erudite lecturers are. In fact, only few people can deny the fact that they never had obsessive tendency to have adoration for one or two celebrities; and even seemingly see them as demigods that deserve to be worshipped.  As gathered, the term ‘celebrity worship’ (CW) is a term that was first coined by Dr. Lynn McCutcheon and her research colleagues in the early 2000s. In fact, someone who goes through this syndrome gets obsessed and overly involved in the personal lives of their favorite stars.

This obsession can be with anyone who is in the public eye, be it authors, politicians, journalists or film stars. But research suggests they are more likely to be someone from the world of television, film and/or pop music.

As gathered, the obsession can lessen the analytic thinking of an individual, and the person who goes through it finds hard to differentiate between illusion and reality.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is not in the least surprising that a lecturer who plies his trade at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, last year, set an examination question that revolved around the personality of a popular businessman in the hospitality industry, Obi Cubana, in the second Semester examination of the university. It would be recalled that the Nigerian businessman and philanthropist had his name included in number 4 question of the second semester examination of the university which was conducted on Tuesday, September 7, 2021 for 400 students in the department of English language and literature in the Faculty of Arts. As gathered, the question reads, “Obi Cubana could be likened to the Great Gatsby. Discuss”.

In a similar vein, the Nigerian Socialite and businessman, Obi Cubana and his colleague, Cubana Chief Priest, became a case study in a federal university’s first semester exam.  It was observed that the examination was set by a lecturer of the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi state.

The billionaires names where used as case study for an accounting examination. The students were asked to prepare the trading, profit and loss Account for the year which ended 31 August 2020 and a statement of financial position with the information provided.

At this juncture, permit me to confess that this piece was inspired by the backlashes that have been trailing the news that fast-rising singer, Habeeb Okikiola popularly known by his stage name as Portable, was featured in a recent examination question set by a lecturer at University of Ilorin . The exam question which focused on the singer’s Zazu lyrics was made the number one and compulsory question for students of the department of mass communication to attempt.

According to viral reports on the issue, the fast-rising singer’s hit song, Zazou Zehh, was made the centre of the compulsory question and allotted 24 marks. The students were directed to carry out an analysis of the music using an attachment of the full text of Zazou’s lyrics as a guide.

As much as it can be reiterated that lecturers have in the recent time started to set semester examination questions around the personalities of celebrities, that they are they suffering from CWS as alleged cannot be swallowed hook, line and sinker. It is enough to say that the examination questions were aimed at ascertaining the level of general knowledge possessed by the students.

For the sake of clarity, general knowledge can be defined as culturally valued knowledge about any particular topic relating to the social interest of a society, culture, civilization, community or a country. In simple words, general knowledge is the knowledge of every aspect of human life, which may or may not be a part of students’ academic studies. It is also evident that this knowledge may or may not be of some great importance to a person and also may not be related to him or his community. There can be various areas identified as different domains of general knowledge like arts, discovery, games, politics, culture, film, medicine, history etc. Hence it would not be wrong to say that general knowledge covers almost all the aspects of human life.

However, the main branches of general knowledge unarguably cut across current affairs, fashion, family, physical health and recreation, arts and Science. At this juncture, it is not a misnomer to say that lecturers who referenced the Cubanas, Portable and Poco Lee in examination questions are not suffering from CWS as public opinion alleged since the lecturers are not oblivious of the fact that there are some perspectives that should be looked at while setting a paper for examinations. The perspective are the objective and scope of the examination, design of the paper and the relative weightage of the concepts and selection of questions, analysis of questions, evaluation aspects and criteria for moderation.