Varsity don lambasts Awo’s followers
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NIGERIA: AN AMERICAN university don has lambasted the followers of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, saying that the fold of Awoists has been bedeviled with crisis.
In such a situation, the lecturer at the Howard University, USA, Segun Gbadegesin, said that there was no way the Awoists could shape the future of Yoruba race, Nigeria and indeed Africa.
Gbadegesin has, therefore, urged the followers of the late Premier of the old Western Region to have a rethink of their philosophy in line with Awolowo’s vision for the country
He spoke on Thursday in Ikenne, Ogun State, at the yearly Awolowo Lecture, which was organised by the Awolowo Foundation.
“How will the present chaos and confusion in the camp of Awolowo shape the future of ideas in Yorubaland, Nigeria and Africa?” Gbadegesin queried the self-acclaimed followers of the late sage.
He tasked the Awoists to have a rethink and reflect on what has been lost to progressivism since the death of the leader of opposition in the First Republic.
The university don who spoke on “Awo, Then and Now: Politics, Economics and Education” pointed out that the inadvertent manner of the Awoists to unite their members had contributed significantly to the strength of antagonists of Awolowo.
Gbadegesin said: “Awolowo prescribed a medicine that had worked in other climes, arguing for a federation of eighteen states based on linguistic formula with great attention to the interests of minorities.
“If we had followed his prescription, we would now have strong and viable states that do not depend on federal allocations to survive.”
The guest speaker also said: “It appears that at all levels, we are inadvertently managing to entrench a dangerous system of inequality with our educational system in which we enlist the services of private institutions and agencies and were seen relish the idea.
“From pre-school to college, private institutions have become the vogue. The impact of this shift on citizens could be serious, with the poor and middle class being more adversely impacted than the wealthy.”
While speaking at the event, Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, described Awolowo as a man whose politics were governed by progressive ideas.
He also said that Awolowo was a leader who combined mental magnitude with an ability to implement his policies.
“It is conventional these days to salute the thinking and the comprehensive execution of the free education policy,” El-Rufai said, adding: “Sixty years after that signal policy, the consequences still echo in the dynamism of the professional classes and the political consciousness in the West.”
Gbadegesin added: “Less well-known are the battles he waged to overcome the impediments to that policy, including resistance to higher taxes to fund that service. Chief Awolowo stood his ground for the common good.
“It is a lesson for political office holders, an admonition to do what is necessary, important and consequential, rather than the merely popular education.”
Rufai, who stated that his government embraced Awolowo’s formula for education, said: “The outcome of the 2015 elections is both our present and our future, as it is our collective burden and opportunity.
“As the inheritors of the progressive legacies of Awo, we, the leaders and members of the APC, must strive as he did, to meet the expectations of our people for a peaceful, secure and corrupt-free nation that delivers social services to all, and rewards ingenuity and hard work.”
While also speaking at the lecture, the former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, said of the late sage: “Chief Obafemi Awolowo was outstanding in fiscal projects, his record of fiscal projects is such that surpass every imagination, I give you the numbers, in the budget year of 1950 to 1953 the revenue was 4.79 million pounds by the budget year of 1959, 1960 it has multiplied by four, that is likely 400 percent increase in revenue generation.”
“You have to be a fantastic leader to be able to generate that kind of increment of revenue growth,” Ezewesili said, adding: “Ladies and gentlemen do know that it was as a result of lack of good fiscal planning that made the European Union to kick out Greece from the European Union.”
The ex-Minister added: “When nations spend what they have not earned they wreck everybody and ruin everybody. Imprudence is the worse thing that can ever happen in economic management, imprudence is what sets a nation back.
“When Awolowo ran the affairs of the then Western Region government he was so interested in prudency that every budgetary function matters more than the size of the budget to him.”
“Awolowo knew that economic growth is a prerequisite condition for tackling poverty,” she said
Some of the personalities at the event were Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, who was represented by the State Commissioner for Technical and Higher Education, Mr. Wunmi Olatubora, daughter of the late sage, Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Akin Oduwo, Dr. Femi Okunronmu, Prof. Femi Osofisan, Gen. Oladipo Diya, Chief Bisi Akande, Mr. Dare Babarinsa, Chief Olaniwun Ajayi, Chief Biyi Durojaiye,
