The Lost Glory - The Awo Era In Yoruba Land

 My first reaction when contacted by Mr. Wale Adedayo to give this lecture was to wonder, why me?  After all, I am known as a die-hard Afenifere, in fact the Secretary General of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group.  I am also known as being an AD member.  But on further reflection, my initial hesitation vanished.  After all, the importance of Obafemi Awolowo transcends political party barriers.  Awo impacted on all Yoruba and indeed, all Nigerians and even long after his death, his legacies remain very vital parts of our consciousness.  Some of my colleagues in the AD, and Afenifere, upon hearing about this lecture, have asked if I am now in PDP, to which the answer is of course a capital No!  But to all who have asked this question, my answer has been that whatever our political party affiliation may be in Yorubaland, we are all children of Obafemi Awolowo, except for those who choose to deny the fact.  It is, however, important to note that not all children of the same father choose to fellow their fatherís footsteps, but that does not deny them their common paternity.  It is therefore my pleasure to be here this afternoon, to deliver this lecture in commemoration of the 96th birthday of our great leader, Papa Obafemi Awolowo.

First, I must thank the governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, for his liberal mindedness and generosity of spirit which has made him give his consent for someone outside of his party to be standing before you as I am this very moment.  May God continue to make him increase in wisdom. In this lecture, I intend to take a kaleidoscopic view of the Awoist era in Yorubaland, take note of the great achievements of the era and the forces and principles that gave impetus to the achievements, in the hope that all this will serve as inspiration to all of us seek to transform our present abject conditions into a brighter and more prosperous future.

Morning Shows The Day
Born of very lowly parentage and having lost his father at the age of 11, his early struggles to develop himself already exhibited the kind of qualities that would later make him a leader among men.  He took up all sorts of odd jobs, at different times working as a house boy, water carrier, fire wood seller, public letter writer, pupil teacher, shorthand typist, college clerk, transporter, produce buyer free lance journalist and trade unionist all the while consumed by an insatiable yearning for education.  After much personal sacrifice, he succeeded in going overseas at the age of 35, and qualified as a lawyer in 1946, at the age of 37, and returned home the same year.

The Action Group
There have been many great Yoruba men before Awolowo, and there surely will be many after him.  But except for the legendary and largely mythical Oduduwa, the acclaimed progenitor of the Yoruba nation, Awolowo stands as the greatest of these Yoruba heroes to date.  He realized quite early, even while still a student in London, and before his active entry into politics, the importance of Yoruba unity. This must have been what led him to form, while in London in 1945, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, a socio culture organization. The Organisation played a significant role in welding together and fostering a feeling of oneness among Yoruba people, and promoted a sense of a shared destiny among a people who hitherto had been more noted for internecine warfare among themselves.  Thus if Oduduwa was the founder of the Yoruba nation, Awolowo can be said to be the founder of modern Yoruba nationalism.
The Egbe Omo Oduduwa was a fitting prelude to the emergence of the Action Group formed by Awolowo in Ibadan in 1950 and officially inaugurated in Owo in 1951, thus launching him into the serious vocation of politics.  The Action Group is arguably the most efficient and most dynamic political party that has ever appeared on the Nigerian scene, having in its ranks at its formation, people like Abiodun Akere, S.O. Sonibare, Ade Akinsanya,  S.T. Oredein, Ayo Akinsanya, Olatunji Dosunmu, James Oladejo Adigun, Emmanuel Alayande and Adekunle Ajasin.

It was the Action Group that provided the machine through which Awolowo performed all his epochal feats in the former Western Region which included the present Edo and delta States.  He quickly succeeded in selling the party to the people, taking it especially to the rural areas and offering a distinctly welfarist manifesto that promised programmes of immediate relevance to the people.  In order to establish a closer bond with the people, he and his colleagues gave the party a Yoruba name, Egbe Afenifere, that reflected the welfarist nature of their manifesto, a name that was actually suggested by Chief Adisa Akinloye.
The party set the pace for principled and people centred politicking in Nigeria throughout the fifties and the early sixties.  The very year it was formed, that is in 1951, it contested the Western House of Assembly elections against the much older NCNC (National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroon), led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwa and a mushroom of other smaller parties.  In spite of its newness in the political terrain, it won the second highest number of seats in the elections, coming next to the NCNC.  However, by forming an alliance with the Ibadan based Mabolaje Grand Alliance which had won all the seats in Ibadan, the AG was able to form the government of the Western Region, and Obafemi Awolowo became the Leader of Government Business and Minister for Local Government.  It was a feat for a party that was less than one year old.

On October 4, 1954, Awolowo was sworn in as the ñ first Premier of Western Region, and Minister of Finance, thus marking the beginning of what may be described as the Awoist era in Yorubaland.  The AG under Awolowo was the most dynamic political party in black Africa.  It was the only pan-Nigeria political party of the time, as it not only formed the government of the Western Region, it was also the leading opposition party in both the East and North, of the other two political parties of the time, the NPC (Northern Peoples Congress) and the NCNC (National Councils of Nigeria and the Cameroon) the NPC did not exist outside the North, while the NCNC existed only in the East and West.  Its pan-Nigeria successes were made possible by cross- country alliances, with the United Middle Belt Congress in North, and alliance with Calabar ñ Ogoja-Rivers minorities in the East.  In the West where it ruled, it turned the region into a pace setter in all fields of development and made even the colonial masters marvel at the Leaderís exceptional management skills.  Let us examine some of these achievements.

Achievements
The first welfare programme carried out by the Awolowo government was the introduction of the Free Health Scheme in 1953.  This was quickly followed in January 1955, by the introduction of universal primary education, the first time such a scheme would be introduced anywhere on the African continent.  The poor resources available at the time did not daunt Awolowoís determination to embark on the programme which he believed would transform Yorubaland and modernize her people. While the financial projection for the successful take off of the programme was put at § 10 million, the capital and recurrent expenditure for the region in 1952/53 was a mere § 5 million.  Faced with this reality, he embarked on several cost cutting measures, such as the use of laterite for the construction of school buildings.  Many of his opponents criticized him, even ridiculed him as a mere dreamer, but he was driven by a burning passion for the upliftment of his people, and Samuel Johnsonís philosophical observation that “nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

Fortunately, the Commodity and Marketing Boards were soon regionalized and the principle of derivation became a basis for revenue allocation.  The region received an accumulated revenue of § 34 million which definitely brought much relief in the course of financing the UPE scheme.  This illustrates one of Awoís beliefs that when there is a will, and the necessary effort by man, God will provide, the way.  The success of the scheme is attested to by the phenomenal increase in primary schools in 1953, the number had risen to over one million by 1959.  Also within the same period, the number of secondary schools in the region rose from a mere 25 to 159 while pupils population rose from about 9,000 to 84,374.  Today a conservative 80% of all Yoruba professors in all our higher institutions, and of all living educated Yoruba below the age of 50 are products of Awolowís universal, free education.

The process of introducing free primary education offers us an opportunity to understand the very democratic nature of the Awo leadership.  When the scheme was first being debated, Awo wanted it to be free but not compulsory, whereas majority of his colleagues argued that it should be compulsory also, and Awolowo bowed to the majority wish.  The opposition however, capitalized on this, and persuaded the illiterate farmers that Awolowo was merely scheming to rid them of the productive labour of their children on the farms.  The next election in 1956 showed that the opposition had succeeded in its blackmailing tactics, as the AG suffered some electoral reverses.  The party then went back to the drawing board and unanimously agreed to remove the compulsory aspect.  In spite of Awolowos having been vindicated, he never gloated over it.

With the enormous increase in primary school enrolment, and in realization that not all products of the primary school can be accommodated in the secondary schools, which were as yet not free, he also embarked on the establishment of secondary modern schools, (the equivalent of todayís junior secondary schools) trade centres, technical  colleges and teacher training colleges. All these provided further opportunities for educational advancement to the products of primary schools.  And he did not stop at that.  By 1962, the first regional university in Nigeria, the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, was established at Ife.  All these have translated to a quantum leap forward in education by the Yoruba people, such that today, there is hardly and Yoruba family which cannot boast of at least one university graduate.  It is one of the great legacies of the Awoist era.

A remarkable thing about the great achievements of the Awolowo era was that they were multi-dimensional.  The execution of the free education programme did not in any way hinder the planning and execution of equally bold development initiatives in other areas.  His government introduced the first television station in Africa, the WNTV, in 1959 to, as he put it, at the official commissioning of the station “serve as a teacher and entertainer and as a stimulus to us all to transform Nigeria into a modern and prosperous nation.

Obafemi Awolowo was a consummate manager of men and resources.  To assure a steady stream of flow of funds for the prosecution of his many visionary programmes, his government set up a chain of businesses which today constitute the Odua investment conglomerate, again the first of its type in the country.  This conglomerate has over 51 companies in its holding, owned either wholly or partially, including the Lagos Airport Hotel, the National Bank, the Great Nigeria Insurance Co, the United Nigeria Insurance Company, the Nigeria Textile Mills, the West African Portland Cement, Askar Paints, Wrought Iron Nig. Ltd., Cocoa Industries Ltd, Guinness Nig. Ltd., Dunlop, Nigerite, etc.  The first industrial estates in Nigeria were created at Ikeja and ilupeju in 1958 to accommodate many of these industries, and have since become models which up till today, are yet to be suppressed, or even matched by any subsequent government.
The regionalization of the marketing boards in 1953 led to the establishment of the Western Nigeria Marketing Board, primarily for the marketing of cocoa, which was the regionís major earner of foreign exchange for the execution of its various programmes.  To reflect the buoyancy of the region, and the significant contribution of cocoa to that buoyancy, Awolowoís government, in the late 50,s put up the 25 storey Cocoa House at Ibadan, a building that was, at that time, the tallest in Nigeria.

While cocoa was unquestionably the dominant foreign exchange earner, Awo recognized the importance of agriculture generally to the regionís economy and he spared no efforts in promoting its rapid development.  He encouraged the cultivation of cocoa, cola nut, rubber, palm trees, citrus and cashew plantations and ensured a sustained supply of high yielding and disease resistant seedlings to farmers.  The  Western Nigeria Development Corporation (WNDC) had six plantations of its own covering 20,517 acres while under the rubber improvement scheme, 380,000 seedlings of high yielding clones were distributed to farmers between 1958 and 1959.  To further boost agriculture and also provide productive employment for school leavers, Awoís government established farm institutes, designed to teach prospective farmers basic farming skills, and farm settlements to absorb the trainees from the institutes.  He went further to set up various agricultural research institutes, such as the Cocoa Research Institute and, the Tropical Agriculture to give research support and provide extension services, thus guaranteeing a steady improvement in methodology and yield.

Another sector that recorded great achievement was road construction.  As vast as the region was, the road construction efforts of the government were felt throughout its territory, so that no area felt marginalized or neglected.  Many of the roads constructed in that era still have their wearing surfaces intact and in some places, are the only roads the people have, because those that were constructed under succeeding governments have become unusable, having developed pot-holes and craters.
For Awolowo and his government, sport was considered an essential part of the total development of man, which involves the development of the intellect and the physical body.  Thus, they provided sporting facilities that were unexcelled.  The Liberty Stadium at Ibadan, built in 1960, was the first Olympic size stadium in Nigeria.  Sited on an area of about 75 acres, it has one of the best soccer pitches in the country.

Awolowo not only strived to provide for the welfare of the people while maintaining a prosperous economy, he also realized that if his governmentís programmes were to remain on course, he needed a happy and contented work force.  He thus had a very enlightened labour policy that ensured that government workers remained contented.  His government was the first to introduce a minimum wage in the country and while the minimum wage in the West was fixed at five shillings (50k) per day in 1954, the corresponding wage in the East was a mere two shillings and six pence (25k), and lower still in the North.  It is a tribute to his far ñsighted labour policy that throughout the eight years of the Awolowo administration (1951-1959), workers did not go on strike for a single day.  He was able to extract maximum loyalty and commitment from the civil service, because his own commitment and total loyalty to the cause of the people was so transparent that it simple infected all those around him and spread down the ranks to the lowest paid workers.   Former Head of Services under Awolowoís government, the late Chief S.O. Adebo, long after he had retired, had cause to visit a permanent secretaryís office in Ogun State.  By his own narration, he nearly burst into tears, lamenting what had become of the civil service.

To understand the inner forces that were driving the man Awolowo, and facilitated his monumental achievements, we need to take a look at his general personality profile and his philosophical and political thoughts.

The Man
Awo was both an organized man, and an organization man, and he owed his successes in no small measure to these two characteristics.  His personal life was organized, his professional life was organized; his public and political lives were organized.  Nothing was left to chance or happenstance, every event that happened was part of an organic plan, each event happening at its allotted time and place.  He was a master planner, skilled in building organizations and was quick at spotting individual talents, and slotting then into the appropriate place within the organization for optimum results. It is not by accident that any political party which he led throughout his life time was always the best organized and has the most productive of results.
Awo was a man who did not tolerate any ambiguity as regards the goals to be attained, and once those goals are identified, he often committed himself totally towards their achievement, even though he might be flexible about the means.  Said he, in Path to Nigerian Greatness, “l have learnt’’ ...... that whilst one can be flexible about means and methods, one must be absolutely rigid or immutable about goals, principles and ideals once one is convinced that one is right.

For him, principles and ideals are sacrosanct, not to be sacrificed on the altar of expediency, no matter the allurements of such sacrifice.  He had no respect for opportunities or for demagogues, who would pay lip service to certain ideals, but by their action would render the attainment of those ideals impossible.

Awo was a courageous, honest, and forthright man.  He spoke the truth as he saw it, even when such truth might bring him momentary setback.  In a statement issued on September 22nd 1978, and published in Path to Nigerian Greatness, he said:

“In all my political career, I am guided by a number of rules. Firstly, I never permit myself to speak of or promise anything which cannot be accomplished within the time stipulated.”

To this rule, Awo remained faithful throughout his life.  Those who knew him intimately over many years, especially during the period he was premier of the former Western Region confirm that once Awo promised anything, that thing was as good as done.  That was the extent of his credibility, a trait that must be seen as one of the distinguishing features of a true Awoist.

Awo imposed on himself, a high level of moral discipline even when judged by Western puritanic standards.  His devotion to wife and family was exemplary.  His abstention from almost all forms of traditional indulgence that especially characterize the political class was singularly “un-Africaî.  This quality is linked to his theory of the “regimes of mental magnitudeî which according to him, is cultivated when “we are sexually continent, abstemious in food, abstain totally from alcoholic beverage and tobacco, and completely vanquish the emotions of greed and fear.î  Because of this exemplary moral posture, he was able to exercise considerable moral authority and influence over others thus confirming his postulate that “only those who are masters of themselves, become masters of othersî.  Having freed himself from the lures and distractions of the baser passions, he was able to focus attention on the goals he had set for himself, and the means of attaining them.  This attribute of his is well conveyed in the now famous personal attestation of his, boldly displayed, at Efunyela Hall in Ikenne.  It runs thus:

I have never regarded myself as having a monopoly of wisdom.  The trouble is that when most people in public life and in the position of leadership and rulership are spending whole days and nights carousing in clubs or in the company of men of shady character and women of easy virtues, I ,like a few others, am always at my post working hard at the countryís problems and trying to find solutions to them.  Only the deep can call to the deep.

Awo was very open in his personal relations with colleagues and associates.  While he held strong opinions on issues, he was always willing to enter into dialogue with those who held contrary opinions, and seek to convert by persuasion and argument.  While he operated tight schedules, he was always  ready to give appointment to anyone who wished to see him, and for those who were intimate with him, his dinner table was  always open, not only for unscheduled discussions, but for dinner as well.  This openness encouraged the growth of intimacy with associates, allowed an easy flow of information both upwards and downwards and helped to dissipate unpleasant rumours and gossips before they became explosive.  His discussions with colleagues were always warm, cordial, accommodating, educative and entertaining, always spiced with humorous anecdotes that helped to break down the barriers of age, experience and class.  It was hard for anyone not to be enchanted by Awo after a close personal discussion with him, even if one remained unconvinced by his arguments and view points.
Awo was a non-quitter.  He was an unyielding fighter for any cause he believed in.  From the depths of defeat, he would not only radiate optimism but also infect with it, even the most despondent associate.  Defeat was seen as an opportunity to plan more thoroughly, to executive more flawlessly and to hope for even greater successes in future.  He never allowed himself to fall into a mood of self pity or dejection.

The above personal attributes then are considered the bedrock on which Awoism as an ideology is founded.  It is doubt if it could thrive on any other sub-structure.  Having examined his personal attributes, let’s also explore his political thoughts and philosophy.

Awo’s Thoughts and Political Philosophy
The kernel of Awoís political philosophy was Man ñ the creation of the conditions for the maximization of the well being of every man in society.  And of the greatest essence in the realization of this lofty objective is the guarantee of individual freedom and liberty.  By Awoís social contract for co-existence between families, which constitute the basic social unit, the primary motivation for such coming together being the prospects of economic advantage and the safeguarding of conditions for the full exercise of individual freedom and liberty. By Awoís social philosophy articulated extensively in The Peoples Republic  society emerged as a social contract for co-existence between families, which constitute the basic social unit, the primary motivation for such coming together being the prospects of economic advantage and the safeguarding of conditions for the full exercise of individual freedom, and the enjoyment of a full and happy life.

Thus, in Awolowo’s view, anything that erodes from the freedom of the individual, subject to such accepted constraints as are necessary to protect the freedom of other individuals, is a negation of the social contract upon which society is founded.  “The state is made for man, and not man for the stateî and government is an instrument was created and intended for the common good, that is, the welfare and happiness of man in the state.  The importance Awolowo attaches to democracy, individual freedom and human liberties recurs over and over throughout his works.  In The Peoples Republic, Awo states quite unequivocally that democracy is the best form of government.
In  The Voice of Wisdom, he lashed out at autocrats and oligarchs, conceding that they may start well but adding that by their very nature, they can never really seek the interest and welfare of the masses of the people, and sooner than later loose their original sense of mission and degenerate.

Because of Awolowo’s commitment to democracy and the preservation of civil liberties, he disapproves of military rule, even the most benevolent one, except in periods of national emergency.  In Awoís view the worst democratic government is still preferable to the best military dictatorship, especially in peace time.  In 1971, he resigned voluntary from the Federal Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon partly because, as he put it in Path to Nigerian Greatness, he could not, “in peace time Nigeria, work in an unelected government in a military or any other setting.  Awo’s belief in democracy and freedom embraces a belief in the enjoyment of equality of opportunities by all men, regardless of circumstance of birth.  For Awo, freedom implied equality of chance and opportunity for all in the society, for freedom is meaningless, unless it is equally enjoy by all.

Once man’s freedom is secured, the next responsibility of the state according to Awoism , is to effect his economic well being, and promote in totality, his welfare and happiness.  In achieving these ends, the state must set out in more specific terms, certain well defined objectives.  These objectives must serve to unite the people and give them a sense of purpose and, in Awolowoís words:  “Must be of such quality and character as will evoke an abiding sense of patriotism and loyalty from citizen of the state, and must be such as will in their execution benefit all the citizens substantially and without exception.

In accordance with these precepts, Awo proceeds to formulate welfarist objectives for his ideal state.  Awoís welfare state is one “where both the rich and the poor feel all can have access to at least the basic things of life without the loss of  respect for their human dignity as citizens of the same stateî. It is thus within the framework of this welfare state that Awoism seeks the fulfilment of its social contract with the people, the enhancement of the welfare, happiness and prosperity of every individual within the state.
Leadership occupies a central place in Awoism, for it is only a dedicated, forthright and sincere leadership that can lead the people on the path to the welfare state and guarantee the satisfaction of the basic needs of the citizens, as well as other social objectives such as the provision of education and health services free of charge to all.

The discussion of Awo’s political thought will not be complete without reference to his views on constitutions, which is a topical issue at the moment.  Awo’s position on the suitability or otherwise of constitutions derive principally from his theoretical postulates as regards the origin of society itself.  Just as individual families originally enjoying a free and harmonious existence amongst their members decided to agglomerate to form unilingual nations, so these nations, much for the same reasons that drove the families together in the first place, namely, economic interests and the need for survival, find it expedient to come together to form multi-national states.  For Awolowo, the nation is a very important and vital part of the state and one belongs first to the nation and then to the state, a fact for which one needs not be apologetic.  From the above premises, Awolowo postulates, in Thoughts on Nigerian Constitution, that a unitary constitution is ideal for a uni-lingual or uni-national country and a federal constitution for a multi-lingual one.  In the later case, not only must the constitution be federal, the constituent states must be organized on a linguistic basis.  He proceeds to add quite emphatically, that:

Any experiment with a unitary constitution in a bi-lingual or multi-lingual or multi-national country must fail in the long runî and concludes that: We are now in a position to asseverate categorically and with all the emphasis at our command that since Nigeria is a multi-lingual and multi-national country par excellence, the only constitution that is suitable for its peculiar circumstances is federal constitution.  Man, is central to all of Awolowo’s thoughts, whether social, political or economic. According to him, in Path to Nigeria’s Greatness,.  Man is so dynamic in nature.  He is the generator of all causative and innovative impulses aimed at taming, harnessing, and directing the forces of nature and the natural tendencies of man, for the total progress and happiness of his species.  Elaborating further on the same theme, in the same work, he adds: “Man is therefore, the prime mover in every economy.  Without him nothing at all can be produced.  In other words, the resources of nature are negative and inert. Man, on the other hand is positive and dynamic. 

Thus, for Awolowo, economic development starts with the development of man.  It was for this reason that the education of everyman up to the limit of his potential had always been the first priority of any party which he led.  Education is seen by him as not only a fundamental right of the citizen, but the more citizens are exposed to it, the more the ability of the state to develop its other resources and meet the welfare needs of its citizenry.  Man is not just the end, but the source as well, of all development activities.

Recapturing The Lost Glory
The above gives us the personal, philosophical and ideological underpinnings of the economic miracles of the Awolowo governments of the 50ís in the Western Region.  With the current level of economic and social decay of society, can the glory of this golden era be recaptured?  We have no choice but to answer this question in the affirmative, for to do otherwise is to lose hope and become resigned to continuing doom.  But to restore the lost glory will certainly pose serious challenges to us all, and demand personal sacrifices.

First, since man is the prime mover of all forces of development and change, the first challenge is to change our attitudes and outlook, and return to the basic, traditional and Awoist values and principles of honesty, hard work, self discipline and sincere commitment to the welfare of our people.  Not only must we go back to these values and principles, we must strive diligently to inculcate them in the younger generations.   Each of us must strive to emulate Awolowo in thought and practice, for it is only thereby that Awoist qualities of leadership can be developed and our leaders will have the requisite qualities to resume the halted advance to the Awoist era.  The restoration of values cannot be done by mere precepts.  There must be an effective system of rewards and punishment. The judicial system must be speedy, effective and above board.  The values we preach to the youth must be consistent with their real life experiences.  We must stop the practice of applauding and honouring known crooks and vagabonds and begin to accord due recognition to honest, diligent and patriotic citizens.  We must give reality once again to that traditional admonition that a good name is worth far more than riches.

The next step in our quest for the lost glory of the Awoist era is to seek a return to true federalism such as prevailed during the period.  It can be said that it was the abandonment of federalism and the move to unitarism after the military incursion into politics that slowed down the momentum of development in Yorubaland.  Under a federal arrangement, the Yoruba took their future into their own hands, had reasonable control over their own resources, such as cocoa and palm produce, through a revenue sharing formula that gave adequate regard to derivation and therefore encouraged local revenue generation efforts. The insidious unitarisation of the country has stifled all these efforts, not only in Yorubaland, but in all parts of the country with the consequent collapse of Agriculture and other non-oil sources of revenue.

The multiplication of states by successive military regimes has further accelerated our move towards unitarism, and was most probably intended to do just that, with the result that most legislative or government powers which had belonged to Awolowoís regional government and were so efficiently used for the peoplesí benefit, have now been appropriated by the central government, leaving the states severely handicapped.  This is not to say that the creation of states was totally unnecessary, but a move may be good up to a point and become very bad beyond that point, moving as it were, from the sublime to the ridiculous.  The twelve states created by Gowon served the purpose of stabilizing the country geo-politically. Further states created by Gowon served the purpose of stabilizing the country by granting minority groups some long demanded measures of autonomy, and balancing the country geo-politically.  Further states creation exercises, however, clearly had other agenda, although they seemed to have satisfied elitist groups looking for spheres of dominance and control.  But for the country as a whole, they disturbed the geo-political balance, and further enhanced the powers and dominance of the central government over the states, reducing the latter to