Nigeria, June 28 -- My immediate motivation for writing stems from a line in an article shared on the WhatsApp Forum of The Compatriots of the University of Ilorin on 24 June, titled, "Prof, no one is reading you." The authors observed that "An average academic journal article is read in its entirety by about 10 people" and suggested that "To influence policy, professors should start writing commentaries in popular media." The underlying reasons are encapsulated in these excerpts, inspired by the shocks and disappointments expressed at different times and in similar situations by presidents and commanders-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT).

Against the backdrop...