Sanusi the Copy Cat

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi appears very quiet and speaks rather softly. He schooled in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where he obtained a degree in economics. During his research there, he must have come across a certain term or terms: citation and referencing. But the Kano born risk banker must have forgotten or at least appeared to have forgotten if the accusations of Professor Victor Dike are anything to go by.

The Professor a lecturer at the School of Engineering & Technology, National University of Sacramento, California, USA has dragged the CBN chief to an Abuja High Court citing plagiarism. The professor, has several of his works allegedly used by Sanusi without a single reference to him, prompting the lecturer to return to Nigeria to file the suit. He wants in return the cost of his return from the US, cost of prosecuting the CBN governor and a restraining order put on the governor barring him from utilizing his works in the future. A total of N15m will be enough to satisfy the professor.

It is not new to hear of copyright infringement these days, but it is new to hear that a self righteous banker, who often poses as a saint and know it all on national issues, can possibly stoop so low as to copy and paste another’s work and refuse to give credit to the giver. Sanusi’s inability to think his own thoughts shows how bereft of thought our leaders are. This accusation should not have come up at all. It is embarrassing not only to the CBN boss but to the intellectual group in Nigeria who consider him as a true intellect.

Originality of thought is a gift. Research however, is a painstaking exercise. Where a man wishes to use someone else’ work or gift, courtesy demands that a little respect be given that person for his ingenuity, after all no one is a repository of knowledge. But in this case, he failed to apply a certain principle, refusing to pay interest from whence came his capital.

With mass failures being recorded at national examinations like JAMB, and SSCE, the last news we expect is tale of the CBN chief copying another’s work. Sanusi has proven that the JAMBITES caught with phones in their shoes are not the only embarrassment to the country. It is also proof that Nigeria is steadily on an intellectual decline. Perhaps he imagined, the professor will never find out, or perhaps he thinks Dike will never return to Nigeria to challenge such abuse of published material. Surely Sanusi knows the consequence of faking Naira notes but knows possibly nothing of faking intellectual property.

In some civilized clime, a thorough investigation will commence on all previously published works of Sanusi to see if this man is a first time offender or a serial copy cat. But none of such will be done. There are many more Sanusis out there who brag that home work has never been easier with Google and Wikipedia doing the bulk of today’s work.  Yours truly has once been the victim of plagiarism resulting in a very punishment (mark deduction) from a rather highly disciplined teacher who though could detect the fake from original considered it worthy to punish as a deterrent to such acts in the future.

The court has not found the CBN chief guilty yet, but the American based professor would not have returned to make a name for himself by accusing SLS of something he is unsure of. Whether justice will be done is another issue and whether Sanusi will own up is another. Most expectedly, some staff will be blamed if an out of court settlement is not reached. Some staff does the thinking and downloads verbatim for our CBN boss. There will be a scapegoat or it will be the case of some hungry professor trying to find fame by making another small.

  

Copy many: research, copy one person: plagiarism. The Harvard style referencing requires the researcher to immediately declare the author for every quote soon after such quote. It is the ethic of good referencing but Mr. Sanusi has obviously learnt to bypass ethics considering he is a man who does his things as the spirit leads. Where a man is bereft of original idea but copies, he fails to grasp the idea unless he diligently studies the idea to internalize and master it. A certain leader once copied another saying Africa needs strong institutions, not strong men. That strong man is yet to neither form an institution nor lay the foundation for any, it was just a quote to impress listeners, and it was not original. Those are the sort of men who parade themselves in our offices today, men bereft of thought.