Adebayo Williams at 70

•From a humble background to global star

Celebrated public intellectual and essayist Prof. Adebayo Williams, who turned 70 on September 9, is known for his profundity and potent prose. By training, he is a specialist in African literature, but his scholarship transcends the literary sphere. He is internationally recognised as a multidisciplinary and multidimensional intellectual, and respected for his contributions to literary theory, political theory, post-colonial theory, cultural production and creative writing.

It is significant that his involvement in academia was undiminished by his involvement in journalism.  Interestingly, he was a journalist before he became an academic. He had worked as a sub-editor at Nigerian Tribune in Ibadan before going to university in 1971.

A homegrown intellectual, he became an intellectual giant among intellectual giants, which is a testimony to his phenomenal mental capacity. He was produced by the former University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. He earned his first degree in English Studies, and master’s degree and doctorate in Literature, and rose to the position of Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature in English at the university in 1986.  The giant from Gbongan, in present-day Osun State, rose above this background to become a man of the world.

His role as a columnist for Lagos-based Newswatch magazine, 1985 – 1990, put him in the spotlight. He demonstrated patriotism and progressivism through his stylistically sophisticated columns.  He also wrote memorable columns in Tempo/The News magazines, 1993-1995, and was a major participant in their journalistic crusade against military rule in Nigeria. As a one-time star columnist for London-based Africa Today magazine, he was a vibrant voice of the continent.

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The national turbulence that followed the annulment of the country’s historic 1993 presidential election won by Chief M.K.O. Abiola brought out the political fighter in Williams. During the intense pro-democracy struggle to reverse the annulment of the election by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Williams fought on the side of the people. Babangida’s successor, Gen. Sani Abacha, who supported the annulment, made the country unlivable for many political activists, which was compounded by difficult socio-economic conditions.  It was perhaps predictable that Williams joined the exodus of the oppressed.

He became the Director-General of Africa Policy Group, a London-based think-tank focused on governance issues in 1995. His deep interest in governance and democratisation in Africa can be observed in his profound essays in various newspapers and magazines over the years. In 1997, he returned to the Centre of African Studies, University of Birmingham, England, as Visiting Lecturer and Honorary Research Fellow, a position he held till 2006. He had an earlier stint at the centre as Leverhulme Fellow from 1988 to 1990.

In 1998, he became a fellow of African Studies Centre, University of Leiden, Holland, and Professor of Liberal Arts, Savannah College of Art and Design in the US.  In 2004, he joined University of The Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas USA, as Amy Freeman Lee Distinguished Chair of Humanities and Fine Arts.

He has occupied positions that highlight his political value. He was Chairman, Lagos State Electoral Reform Panel, 2008-2010. Also, he was Chairman, Lagos State Gubernatorial Advisory Committee, 2010-2018, under Governors Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode. He is a member of the Board of Trustees, Obafemi Awolowo Institute for Governance and Public Policy.

Williams has made a name for himself as an arresting and inimitable prose stylist.  His essays, thoughtful and thought-provoking, are presented with linguistic grandeur. He won the Odunewu Prize for Informed Commentary in 1993 and 2000. He writes consistently about the country’s underdevelopment and why underdeveloped leaders cannot bring about development.

Apart from his numerous scholarly articles, and essays in newspapers and magazines, he has published three novels, The Year of the Locusts and The Remains of the Last Emperor, which won the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize in 1988 and 1995, and Bulletin from the Land of Living Ghosts.

At 70, he remains a powerful progressive voice demanding development in a country faced with challenges of underdevelopment.