The word, ‘academician’, sounds so powerful and tempting that many are often eager to use it. They remember the academic environment and know that lecturers are the ones who call the shots there. So, who deserve to be called ‘academicians’ if not the knowledge-wielding ones?
As a result, it is not unusual to come across statements such as:
My uncle is an academician at the University of Ibadan.
Seven academicians from different universities assessed the thesis.
But note that ‘academician’ does not refer to a lecturer in the sense the speakers in the above clauses intend. It does not mean a lecturer. Rather, an academician refers to a member of an academy while an academy is really neither a university nor a polytechnic. It is ‘a place of study in a special field’ or, according to Cambridge Dictionary, ‘a society or institution of distinguished scholars and artists or scientists that aims to promote and maintain standards in its particular field.’ As a result, the way we can have a science academy, we can also have a police or football academy:
Some members of the Nigerian Academy of Science are in Abuja to see President Muhammadu Buhari.
The academicians want to discuss some matters arising at colleges of science with him.
What this further means is that while a lecturer can be an academician – by belonging to an academy – an academician may not be a lecturer. He may never have been. Instead, he could be working in other areas that include research and production.
Also, the other correct name for a lecturer – which is usually mixed up with ‘academician’ – is ‘academic’:
