The Nation Newspaper

Category: Jide Osuntokun

  • America and the world of Islam

    In July and August, I was in the United States on a long visit including a lecture tour of one of their universities. I had all the time in the world to follow the discussion in the media about American foreign policy. The foreign policy of any country is essentially designed to protect that country’s national interest and the office charged with articulating and prosecuting that interest is the Office of the President or Prime Minister depending on which system of government that is being followed. In the case of the United States, it is the office of the President that is responsible for executing America’s foreign policy. The Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, the Central Intelligence Agency and all other security forces contribute to advising the President in the formulation and execution of the foreign policy. When President Obama was running for office, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were raging. He ran on a peace platform to end these two wars to bring American soldiers home, he was able to extricate the United States from the quagmire in Iraq and was determined to wind down American military involvement in Afghanistan and in spite of provocation by Iran and the urging of Israel, the tail that waxed the dog of American foreign policy, to take on Iran militarily on the grounds that that country is building atomic bomb, Obama had resisted and he is working with the P-5 and Germany to prevail on Iran not to go the way of building atomic weapons. The resolution of this problem is still ongoing and the recent meeting between the two parties has not resulted into expected solutions. Iran says, it has its sovereign rights to go into peaceful use of atomic power without any restriction and that it has no plans to build atomic weapons which it claims would even be against the dictates of the Quran but nobody believes them. The situation in the Middle-east in general characterised by violence, wars, and Islamic fanaticism frightens the western world about an Islamic bomb. Of course, Pakistan an Islamic country already has the bomb which makes some people to feel uncomfortable because Pakistan is totally unstable and its government could well fall into the hands of Muslim fanatics. It is with this background that the west particularly the United States and the Europeans and apparently excluding Russia are scared to death when there is instability in the Middle-east.

    The declaration of the so-called Islamic Caliphate (IS or ISIL) in Iraq and the Levant has further introduced a complex factor into the Middle-east cauldron. The beheading of American and British nationals by this so-called Caliphate has put so much pressure on the Americans and their allies to do something. Obama for weeks resisted the urging of the media and the right-wing politicians in the Republican Party that feel that Obama’s foreign policy was amounting to appeasement and was leading to lack of respect for American power globally. They want America to resist Russian aggression in the Ukraine, intervene militarily in Syria, send troops back to Iraq to degrade and destroy the Caliphate and possibly invade Iran to remove the possibility of that country building nuclear weapons. In their madness, they would also want America and their allies to intervene and probably engage in nation-building in Libya that has collapsed after the NATO murder of Muhammad Ghadafi. I watched with dismay, the ignorance of many so-called experts in the US put pressure on their government to embark on military adventure overseas without counting the cost. I of course remember President Dwight Eisenhower’s warning Americans to be careful of not handing over its government to what he called the military industrial complex. This is to say corporations that are building weapons of war as the basis of their industrial prosperity. Without these weapons being used their prosperity would not be sustainable. Ironically, it is when Americans are at war that there is more employment if not full employment. The point to make is that there is economic interest in going to war among some circles in United States. The public face of this war mongering group is the Fox network and the rest of the Murdock media empire. Their constant barrage of information and abuse of Obama as a weakling has finally forced the poor man to start bombing ISIL in Syria and Iraq and occasionally bombing Al-Shabab in Somalia and sending drones into Pakistan’s Waziristan. One would not be surprised even without discussion with Nigeria, the war party in the US may prevail on Obama to start bombing north-eastern Nigeria all in the cause of putting down global terrorism. The recent mid-term elections in the United States in which the Republican Party took over the two arms of Congress amounted to repudiation among other things, of Obama’s foreign policy of employing diplomacy to solve inter-state problems rather than using the awesome military might of the United States. We now have a situation in which 3000 foot soldiers are now deployed back to Iraq while Obama continues with the charade that he would not deploy back American foot soldiers in Iraq. The logic of this situation is that mission creep would set in and 3000 troops would grow into hundreds of thousands before the forces of ISIL can be degraded and destroyed. The air force alone which has been dubbed the Shiite air force would not do the job and there would be need for American infantry and armoured forces to clear the forces of ISIL on the ground. This unfortunately would totally destroy the pacific legacy of Obama’s presidency and his campaign of bringing American soldiers home, a campaign platform on which he was elected. There is also no certainty that when American forces are drastically reduced in Afghanistan, the situation there will be stable. The worst scenario therefore is that Obama will end his presidency and be disgraced out of power with America fighting wars in Syria, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. This will gladden the hearts of the racists who ab initio expected the first black American president to fail. This unfortunate legacy will seal the fate of future non-white aspirants to the White House.

  • Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru 1948-2014

    Death is an inevitable end. Life itself is like a stage and each of us has a role to play before we exit from the stage. The Yoruba people have a saying that death does not announce the day it is coming neither does illness announce the month it will come; what will be will be. The question of death has been problematic to all mortal beings from time immemorial. We all know that one day or the other, the owner of our lives will come for them but in most cases we are usually not prepared for that eventuality. In Yoruba religion, it is generally stated that heaven is our home and that the earth is a market place where we come to buy and sell temporarily but inevitably return to our home in heaven. We also say that heaven is anxious to have us come home even though heaven itself knows that we will all eventually go there.

    When the Christian and Islamic religions came to our shores, the concept of the Almighty God did not seem strange to us. Yoruba people believe in a pantheon of gods and that the Supreme Being is indeed supreme over all other gods and over all creation. As Muslims and as Christians, Yoruba people now believe in a monotheistic God who is indeed jealous of other gods and would not tolerate our worship of other gods. Christians and I believe Muslims know that there is a correlation between what we do on this earth and what we will do in eternity in heaven. This is why we try to live according to the holy books of our religion because what will a man profit if he gains this whole world and loses eternity.

    As a Christian, I share in Martin Luther’s concept of a priesthood of all believers. This is to say all Christians should behave in such a way that the Holy Spirit will live in us and the Holy Spirit cannot live in a sinful body. By living the life of a good Christian, you will gain this world and you will gain eternity. We cannot gain eternity unless we die. In other words, it is through death that the transition to eternity takes place. That is the hope that we have when we lose a dear one. This concept also permeates the two other monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam.

    I had known that Gbenga Ashiru had been ill shortly after he was removed as Foreign Minister by President Goodluck Jonathan some two years or so ago. What immediately came to my mind was that he was fatigued by his constant travelling and that he needed to rest. My friend, Bolaji Akinyemi also had the same experience of fatigue when he was foreign minister. So it never occurred to me that this illness was unto death. A student of mine had a few weeks ago told me that she would like to do a thesis on Gbenga Ashiru and the conduct of Nigeria’s foreign policy. I told her that would be no problem and gave her a guarantee of direct access to Gbenga Ashiru. Gbenga Ashiru was like a younger brother to me and I am sure he related to me too on that same basis because I had known him since he was in high school in Ijebu-Ode and I had also watched him grow into a brilliant and easy going diplomat. He always had something going for him because of his sociability. He was good looking, likeable and a good mixer and an extrovert. These attributes are very important in diplomacy where the machine of diplomacy is oiled by entertainment. Gbenga Ashiru also comes from a remarkable family of the Ashirus of Ijebu-Ode where education was given the pride of place among competing brothers and sisters. His mother had retired as a nursing sister while his father had taught in Ijebu-Ode Grammar School before going into business and making a success of it. Gbenga went to Ijebu-Ode Grammar School like his father and the University of Lagos and after graduating, he went into the Foreign Service. He served in such places like London, Stockholm, Bangui and became high commissioner to South Africa which was his last diplomatic posting before retiring from the ministry of foreign affairs.

    After coming back from South Africa he served as Under Secretary-general in the ministry of foreign affairs. These were specially created positions for senior and able diplomats who would have been permanent secretaries in the home ministries. He was considerably young when he retired after the statutory 35 years in service. It was in retirement that he was appointed foreign minister, a position which he deserved and more than merited. He carried himself with dignity, suavity and sure-footedness as foreign minister. He was in his elements. He brought a lot of innovation to his ministry and I remember once being in his office when he had to pass quick messages to some heads of missions. Right there in his office, he was able to communicate on skype with his ambassadors. I am sure older ambassadors would have been envious of this technological advancement in communication.

    He was loyal to his diplomatic colleagues and I remember he pushed through a policy by which former career diplomats were allowed to keep their diplomatic passports even after retirement to avoid embarrassment meted out to Nigerians at the entry point to foreign countries. One of course is not sure if this measure will work especially these days when hundreds of members of parliament would insist that they should carry diplomatic passport with the effect that the passports do not carry the respect that they ordinarily should confer on them. As foreign minister, he was patriotic in the defence of Nigeria and was particularly critical of South Africa’s treatment of our people which he must have found difficult to do publicly because he had many friends in that country but what had to be done, he did not hesitate to do it. During his term in office, he also ensured that considerably large number of Nigerians got elected and appointed into international bodies and institutions. He was a successful foreign minister who was removed because of intra-party politics and fight among the top dogs in the PDP. Gbenga was of course not a politician but a technocrat. He did his bit and he is now gone, he now belongs to the ages. History will be kind to him and he will live in the hearts of those of us who love him. His death to me is like the loss of a junior brother. I pray that the Ashiru family will be able to bear the loss of this brilliant diplomat and a gentleman. My heart goes to Kehinde his wife and to his young children. Adieu, good man.

  • Russo-American relations softly, softly

    The on-going civil war in Ukraine in which the Russian federation is directly and indirectly involved is a cause for global worry. America and its allies in the west have also personalised the crisis by trying to put all the blame on the Russian President, Vladimir Putin who is being isolated and treated almost like a pariah at global conferences.

    His government is being subverted at home through economic sanctions imposed on it by the west especially the European Union and United States and Canada. In recent years, apart from armaments, Russia has been reduced to almost a primary producer of gas and petroleum from its vast oil fields stretching from the Caucasus to the wilderness of Siberia.

    This makes it easy for Russia’s economy to be undermined because unlike countries in the west, it has almost become a mono-cultural economy depending on exploits of hydrocarbons but Russia remains a great country with its possession of nuclear armaments that is capable of burying the whole world a few times over if pushed to the wall and forced to embark on a suicidal mission of using nuclear weapons against its enemies which would in retaliation destroy it. This is the danger of mutual annihilation which the world now faces. We all thought that we had moved away from the cold war.

    But because of the Ukraine crisis and apparent Russian desire to assert itself globally and to defend the interests of ethnic Russians in independent countries that are the successor states of the Soviet Union. Her interest in this regard will also put her on a path of conflict with the rest of the world especially the western world. This problem can only be solved not by sabre-rattling but by dialogue and diplomacy and by respecting the mutual interest of Russia and the west.

    Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union rightly feels that it is being ignored and being relegated to the status of a minor global player and sees the military adventurism of the United States in the current uni-polar world in which American power is largely unchallenged.

    Russia is particularly irked by American military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and in the expansion of NATO to the borders of Russia especially the incorporation of states in the former Soviet bloc into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The intended desire by Ukraine to join NATO and to become a member of the European Union was seen by Russia as an unacceptable provocation. The annexation of Crimea which was part of Ukraine but largely inhabited by Russians was Russia’s reaction to the provocation in Ukraine. Crimea for centuries had been the major warm water port of Russia.

    If Ukraine had fallen into unfriendly hands, Russia felt that its interest would be challenged and threatened. This is why when Russia annexed with Crimea, Europe and America apparently understood Russia’s desire to protect its national interest and they were not in the position to do anything that would have precipitated the military conflict with Russia.

    The west is angered by continued Russian support for rebels in Luhansk and Donesk, two areas that have declared themselves independent of Ukraine and that are 90 percent inhabited by Russians. Russia continues to deny its involvement in the fighting in eastern Ukraine but there is no doubt that Russia is directly involved. Many high-ranking Russians do not see Ukraine as an independent country.

    They can not envisage a situation in which their forces would be fighting Ukrainians. They see such a scenario as reminiscent of Nazi created Ukraine during the Second World War. For example, the mother of Mikhail Gorberchev was a Ukrainian and she is buried there. So also are the parents of many Russians to the extent that it has become a psychological problem to see Ukraine looking west rather than looking east to Russia.

    It is not in the interest of Ukraine itself to have Russia as a permanent enemy because the long arm of the United States, short of going to war, cannot protect Ukraine and it must therefore establish a modus vivendi with Russia that would guarantee its autonomy while having a friendly relation with Russia and normal diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. This is not to suggest a policy of finlandisation for Ukraine but it must exercise restraint in its policy choices and take the interest of Russia into consideration at all times.

    This is what is called real politik in international relations. What is ideal is not necessarily real. The ideal of total and untrammelled independence of Ukraine irrespective of Russia’s interest is not realistic. Peace in Europe cannot be guaranteed through Russian isolation and treatment of Vladimir Putin as a non-person rather, his friendship has to be cultivated and Russian economy has to be assisted to prosper and it is in her prosperity that political liberalism would thrive in Russia.

    Because hardship created by sanctions would no doubt lead to rabid nationalism in Russia arising out of hardship and frustration. The current western policies of pushing Putin into the warm embrace of rising China has thus replicated the alliance formation that led to the division of the world after 1945 into two rival camps armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons. The world does not need this again but unfortunately, this is what current policies in the west and in Russia are leading to.

    The danger we now have is that the Obama administration is being pushed to embark on bellicose and military policies towards other competitors for global influence and power particularly Russia and China. This is at a time when the situation in the Middle-east is becoming more and more complex following the creation of a blood-thirsty Caliphate which America sees as a direct threat to it and its allies.

    The spread of the nuclear weapon states to unstable countries like Pakistan, North Korea and possibly Iran in the future poses enough threat to the world and requires solidarity among the established nuclear weapons states particularly the United States, Russia and China which unfortunately do not see eye to eye on most issues facing the global community.

    If the world is to have peace, America must ensure that its interest harmonise with the interests of Russia and China without America sacrificing the interest of its allies. I believe this can be done as Putin has publicly called for dialogue along this line. America should take the gauntlet and welcome Putin into the dialogue while exercising its right to ensure that Putin respects international law as it concerns national sovereignty of all nations.

  • Redeemer’s University at Ede -2

    The significance of the presence of Redeemer’s university in Ede is huge. This is unquantifiable on a spiritual level for both the town and the state as well as for Nigeria. Everybody needs prayers especially now when we are faced with challenges of existential nature. Ede is predominantly a Muslim city but it has a forward-looking Oba, the Timi, Alhaji Muniru Adesola Lawal who in spite of being a fervent and practicing Muslim, is totally supportive of the university in terms of making land available. This he has sometimes done in spite of opposition of some of his subjects who do not have a global perspective of the material spin-off that the university would bring to the Ede community. We have sometimes put the monarch in the invidious position of having to defend a Christian institution against the opposition of conservative Muslim subjects. Within a short time to come, this monarch’s vision would soon become manifest to his subjects and would be praised for taking his people to the right path. Ede is an historic city at the frontier of the old Oyo Empire. His kings were battle axes for the Oyo Alaafin and the Sango worship was the imperial religion that was practised in Ede. It still has adherents but not as many as before the coming of Islam and Christianity. Towards the end of the colonial era in Nigeria, Ede was made famous by its Timi, Oba Laoye, the father of the present deputy governor. Timi Laoye was proficient as a drummer and went all over the world particularly to Great Britain as a cultural ambassador of Nigeria, exposing to the western world, the drumming ingenuity of the Yoruba talking drum. He shared the glory of mastering the talking drum with Ibadan’s Chief Ayorinde, the father of the current Baale of Ekotedo, Chief Taiye Ayorinde. Timi Laoye was a forward-looking Oba and he laid the foundation for his forward-looking successors and he ensured that all his children were well immersed in western education.

    Even though Osun State as a whole is probably 60 to 70% Muslim, Yoruba people for centuries have managed to reconcile the fact that religion is a personal affair and everybody would be individually answerable to the Almighty. There would be no collective judgement on the last day. This has helped Muslims and Christians to co-exist peacefully in Yoruba land. In my ancestral family, the graves of Christians and Muslims are side by side. On a material level, Osun State would benefit to the tune of millions of naira from the tax that we would accrue to it from the workers of the university. The institution would not only be an academic institution at the tertiary level, it would have schools from kindergarten through primary, secondary to university level. So if you permit my immodesty, Redeemer’s University is coming to Ede on a civilising mission. Because of this we hope, pray and expect to benefit from Osun state’s infrastructural budget especially in helping us open our vast campus for development. It would also be necessary for the state government to build a police post somewhere near the university preferably at the gate so as to keep miscreants and hoodlums from disturbing the peace of the university community. The university is in its 10th year of existence and during this period it has attracted attention from local and international bodies. It is today a centre of excellence in West Africa for Genomics research and some of our staff were at the forefront for testing people for the Ebola virus because we have a strong foundation in microbiology. Thanks to Professor Oyewale Tomori, our founding Vice-Chancellor who is presently President of Nigeria Academic of Sciences. His able successor, Professor Debo Adeyewa has sacrificed his personal comfort by moving the university screamingly into its permanent campus as well as by encouraging research and excellence among staff and students and he would go any length to see that this is the central focus of the university without losing touch with our foundational credo of making God the centre of the university’s activities. Graduates of our university are globally recognised and when they go abroad, their certificates confer respect on them and they complete their master’s programme within a year and without having to do a make-up year as is the case with the graduates of public universities in Nigeria. The future of this university is great. All that it would require is support from its proprietor and commitment on the sides of staff and students and encouragement from the society and state in which the university is located.

    The plan of the university is that it would probably not exceed 10,000 students when it is at optimal level of development. The plan also is that the university would be a comprehensive university, having all the traditional colleges of medicine, engineering, dentistry, pharmacy, and law in a programmed development. It has three colleges right now- natural sciences, humanities and social and management sciences which would be split into two colleges of social sciences and management sciences. It also has a budding graduate school and because there is no trade unionism on campus, there is predictability in the number of years students spend and whatever school fees students pay which is not huge, it is money well-spent considering the quality of education being provided by able hands of young and experienced professors some of who have retired from public universities but who are not yet time expired. Even the 10,000 planned student body would eventually have to be increased and I can see the university in future, taking more students than 10,000 and probably increasing to 20,000. Just like the most famous universities in the world such as the University of Al-Quarawiyyin in Morocco, Al-Azar in Egypt and European universities like Oxford and Cambridge and their American counterparts like Harvard, Yale, and Columbia all started as religious institutions and have grown into academic trees that they are today. Redeemer’s University in the future should also become a global centre of learning with its doors open to all and sundry from all over the world. This is my prophecy.

  • Redeemer’s University at Ede -1

    After almost 10 years living in borrowed robes by staying in the comfortable Redeemed Christian Church of God’s camp on Km 46, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Redeemer’s University finally moved to its own home and its own campus at Ede in Osun State. To many of us who are used to electricity supply 24/7 and regular water supply, as well as peace and security and the opportunity to fellowship with the body of Christ at the camp, and particularly with God’s appointed shepherd, Pastor Adeboye, moving out of the camp has been a wrenching experience even though all of us expected that one day or the other we would have to make this move. When the time came it was like a thief in the night because no one really expected it. Many of our students were praying earnestly that this would not happen in their own time.

    Apparently, their prayers have not been answered. The vision of the man of God who is the proprietor of the university was to locate the university in Ede for which several years ago land has been made available to him for the fulfilment of this mission. When the university started in 2005, considerations about staffing, about students’ intake, about proximity to Lagos and all other earthly reasons made the authorities of the university to begin to toy with the idea of building the university along the expressway from Lagos to Ibadan.

    Temporary facilities were rapidly built in the RCCG camp at a cost of some millions of naira and it was gradually becoming unthinkable that this vast investment will be abandoned by moving the university out of the vicinity of the camp. The proprietor of the university then began to look for land near the expressway. Several hectares were purchased and paid for sometimes not only once but twice yet people continued to encroach on this land, forcing the authorities to spend billions of naira to open a brand new road through Simawa from the RCCG camp to Ikorodu.

    Again, land was paid for but because of the greed and the avarice of the land owners and the mistaken assumption that the church has a deep pocket, they kept demanding for more money and even at a time asking inhabitants of one or two villages to be put on pension without having performed any work for the church. In exasperation, the proprietor apparently seeking the face of God felt that our problems in the university were due to disobedience to the vision God gave the proprietor.

    It was in this circumstance that the decision to move to Ede was taken and anybody who has had contact with Pastor Adeboye would know that when he takes a decision inspired by God, nothing can change it. Within a year of taking that decision to go back to Ede, billions of naira was deployed to transform virgin forest into a university campus.

    The existing master plan was quite grandiose and it would have taken years and perhaps a trillion naira to bring it into a reality. Interestingly, there were local banks and foreign financial institutions, some of them of doubtful integrity that were ready to provide funds of course at interest to the university authorities to build a 21st century campus. Redeemer’s University is quite different from other universities even from other sectarian church-inspired universities.

    The proprietor does not believe in usury and would not allow the university to go borrowing money from the market. This means then that an action plan within the master plan had to be drawn up. This action plan is what is being followed right now. With less than a year, hostels that can accommodate 4,000 students have been built in modules of 24 students per house and two students staying in one room en suite that is with toilet and bath for two students.

    A friend of mine who saw this praised the proprietor for building for students what he called executive accommodation and this is the absolute truth. I remember when I was at the University of Ibadan; on my floor we probably had about 20 students to two toilets and three points of shower. Of course this was the golden years of the University of Ibadan in the 1960s.

    When my nephews went to the University of Ibadan, water was no longer available in the hostels for bath and flushing of toilets and my poor two nephews that were studying medicine had to dash home anytime they wanted to ease themselves or to have a bath because the bath and toilets in the university were no longer functional and I am not sure the situation has changed. I do not know of any university in Nigeria whether public or private that could provide this kind of social facilities for their students.

    I was myself a Pro-Chancellor of Ekiti State University and I struggled unsuccessfully to build hostels for students on campus and I am still hoping and praying that in the course of time, EKSU will be in a position to build hostels for their students. Without students living in hostels, they will pass through the universities but the university will not pass through them. They will be as raw and uncouth when they graduate as they were when they came in. Students acquire good manners and ethics through interacting with other students, by going to debates and various university clubs, going to theatre, eating in cafeterias and in our case in Redeemer’s University, worshiping together.

    I must say that most of what is needed to bring out the good in students has already been provided even if in a nucleus form in our new campus and come January, we will have our first convocation on campus starting with the convocation play in our brand new Arts Theatre.

    I do not want to paint a picture of perfection because the campus is still developing, buildings have not been completed and several facilities are still to come and no single building with the exception of the nursery and primary school has been painted. Staff housing is uncompleted and many of the staff are living rough, I myself have been staying in hotels but all this is to be expected of pioneers.

    Pastor Adeboye himself has made a surprising visit to the students during which time he assured them of his support and even told them that as pioneers, all their names will be engraved on the walls of the auditorium so that future generations would know what they went through as pioneers. What is good for the goose should also be good for the gander and I hope in like way those of us who are staff would also be remembered either while we are still there or when we would have left.

  • Lagos School of History: An exploratory discourse – 4

    Lagos School of History: An exploratory discourse – 4

    The Lagos School has taken off where the Ibadan School stopped. The Lagos School assumes that there is no point discussing whether Africa has a history or not but rather of the usefulness of historical scholarship. In straining to be relevant, the Lagos School exposes itself to critics who feel that many of the published articles from the Lagos School’s exponents read like political science and economics rather than history. There is a suggestion that topics being researched into are too current and that the dust of history should be allowed to settle before any meaningful research can be conducted. It is the old question of whether historians should give a hundred years or 50 years between them and their subjects of enquiry. This antiquarian approach to historical writing has been brushed aside by the Lagos School that feels that unless historians adapt to change, the academic discipline of history may die a natural death because young people will not be interested in studying the past for the past’s sake without relevance to the present. The utility value of history will therefore be called into question. The shift from the traditional concern of historians to question of functionality has even led to the nomenclatural change of the Department of History to the Department of History and Strategic Studies. The debate of what to call the department was a lively debate in the 1990s and there were different formulations such as History and Diplomatic Studies, History and Cultural Studies, History and International Relations and History and Strategic Studies.

    The choice of History and Strategic Studies was arrived at so as to avoid conflict and involve history in territorial dispute with political science over international relations. In spite of this, the subject of international relations has become a lively area of research of the Lagos School. International Relations broadly defined to mean interstate economic relations, defence studies, boundaries, cultural and diplomatic history. This nomenclatural and academic orientation of the Lagos School has led to a revival of interest in the study of history as a foundation for understanding the problems of modern times. This shift of emphasis has not gone unnoticed in many parts of the country even though this shift of emphasis began in Lagos State University but in terms of development and application University of Lagos takes the Victor Ludorum in the game of intellectual competition among Nigerian’s departments of history. The Ibadan University’s Department of History and its sister departments in Obafemi Awolowo University and Ahmadu Bello have refused to rebrand their departments and have continued their resistance to this new paradigm shift in the academic study of history.

    In recent times, and in order to remain alive, and be in tandem with current developments in the Lagos School, the University of Ibadan’s Department of History now seem to have embraced the historical modernity and currency of the Lagos School. The Department of History in Ibadan seems now to have left the Ibadan School of History whose task seems to be over after blazing the trail of the Nigerian nationalist historiography for which the Ibadan School can justly be proud of. Either because there is a dearth of topics on the distant past of Nigeria and Africa, students in Ibadan are now almost at a convergence with their counterparts in Lagos in their research offerings. Recent theses completed in Ibadan illustrate this point. These include; Adesina O.A. Gender Relations in Ikaleland of South Western Nigeria in Historical Perspective (2010), Afolabi A. Taxation and Revolts among the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria 1900-1970 (2010), Ugboajah P.K.N. Juvenile Delinquency and Its Control in Colonial Lagos 1861-1995 (2010), Attah N.E. The Dynamics of Peasant Oil Palm Production in Igalaland 1900-1995 (2010), Ehimore M.O. A Socio-Economic History of the Ilaje of Southwestern Nigeria 1500-1900 (2010), Erinosho T.O. Nigeria and ECOMOG Peace-Keeping Operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone 1984-2004 (2010), Nwaka J.C. The Catholic Church and Conflict Management During the Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970 (2011), Ugbogu M. Management of Public Enterprises in the Western Region of Nigeria 1946-1966 (2013), Muojama O.G. Nigerian Cocoa Exports and Global Capitalism 1914-1960 (2013), Nwaokoro T.T. Women Education and Social Changes in Ondo Southwestern Nigeria 1875-2008 (2013), Oparah O.M. The Nigerian Civil War and the Adaptive Diversity of Biafra’s Research and Production Group 1967-1970 (2014), Alo L.K. Legal Regulations of Chieftaincy Disputes in Yorubaland 1939-1960 (2014). Theses in view include; Achoba F. A History of the Igala People 1100-1900, Oluyitan J.A. History of Colonial Medical and Health Services in Ibadan 1900-1960, Muritala M.O. Urban Livelihood in Lagos 1861-1990, Ajayi A. Change and Adaptation in the Commercial Sector of Osun Division Western Nigeria 1900-1960, Oladejo M. Ibadan Market Women and Politics 1900-1995, Ajayi D.O. A History of the Nigerian Bar Association 1960-2010, Adeyeri J.O. British Imperialism and Socio-Political Transformation of Akokoland 1987-1960, Sanni H.A. Origin and Development of Eastern District of Lagos 1850-1972, Animashaun B.O. A History of the Idejo Political Institution in Lagos up to 2000.

    It is now obvious that the Ibadan University’s history department has definitely borrowed a leaf from their sister department of history of the University of Lagos in embracing relevance and applied history.

    The Lagos School must of course take care in not radically departing from its roots in historical scholarship and fall victim to what is new and fashionable. This warning is particularly apt in the area of biographies which is an area in which the University of Lagos department of history has blazed the trail and has continued to attract invitation by the worthy and unworthy Nigerians who want themselves celebrated in books. There is of course nothing wrong in scholarly biographies. Great historians like A.J.P. Taylor and Allan Bullock wrote great biographies during their time of pre-eminence in the historical firmament in England.

    Some may argue that what the Lagos School has done is not new and that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka when it was established offered combined honours courses in history and archaeology and that the twining of history with a related discipline at least in Nigeria is not new and certainly is not new in the Anglo-Saxon world and that it is even coming back in different versions in universities in America where history and conflict/peace studies, history and development studies, history and political science, history and philosophy are becoming quite fashionable. The criticism that young historians in those days levied against the Ibadan School of History about not being concerned with social and economic interpretations and about not being ideologically driven may not be relevant in the case of the Lagos School. In any case socialism which became fashionable in the 1960s and 1970s are on the wane following the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism generally. Nevertheless, the Lagos School must like Ibadan School embrace multi-disciplinary approach, and must ensure analytical rigour, without sacrificing what is central to the school which is relevance and intellectual adaptation. The breadth and scope of historical research in the department of history at the University of Lagos, takes on board issues of social, political and economic importance in the country. The crop of younger professors such as Ayo Olukoju, Bayo Lawal, Yomi Akinyeye, Taiwo Akinyele and Funke Adeboye are breaking into fields such as medical history, history of commerce and industry, sub ethnic nationalism, defence studies, international relations, women and gender studies with direct importance to the problems of development. Younger lecturers such as Omon Osiki has just returned with a doctorate from China and should put the department on the global map of Afro-Chinese studies which will become more and more relevant in the future predicted to see China emerge the greatest force in global economy.

  • Lagos School of History: An exploratory discourse – 3

    The Lagos School of History was more concerned with relevance of the discipline to national and international problems facing Nigeria. The Lagos School did not want to concede finding solutions to political, social and economic problems of Nigeria to political scientists and economists because the study of history probably provides a more solid foundation for understanding the problems of social and economic development. And in any case history provides the basic foundational structure from which the social sciences take off. Even though most of the staff of the Department of History in Lagos were trained outside the University of Lagos and came from different universities ranging from the University of Ibadan, American, British, Australian and Canadian universities and have trained and written their doctoral dissertations not with the aim of developing any school, they however found themselves involved in what later became the Lagos School of History.

    One of the interesting things about the Lagos School was its bias for International Relations, Biographies, Defence Studies, Cultural, Maritime and Economic History. The founding fathers of the department were Professor A.B. Aderibigbe, who had interest in the history of the city of Lagos, Professor Olusanya whose interest was nation-building, the rise of Nigerian nationalism and international relations, Professor Gbadebo Gbadamosi whose interest lay in Islamic tradition and culture in western Nigeria and Professor Tunde Agiri whose interest was economic development.

    They all applied their scholarship to the socio-political problems of the times. And just like the Ibadan people, they were able to create niches for themselves especially in the functional approach to history. Professor Tony Asiwaju brought his wealth of border land studies and boundaries into play in assisting the National Boundaries Commission as a member of the Commission and later as a member of the International Commission on the Bakasi Question. His training and dissertation on Western Yorubaland under Western colonialism with its emphasis on comparative assessment of British and French colonialism provided a foundation for his training and development as a boundary man and he was able to leverage this in helping Nigeria to resolve boundary problems both nationally and internationally. This columnist trained in Canada and his training in military, diplomatic and international relations evidenced by his book on Nigeria in the First World War provided the basis for his branching into international relations where his study of relations between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea launched him into the policy arena of international relations.

    Professor Ade Adefuye even though majored in East African History has since shifted his focus to Nigerian foreign policy and cultural diplomacy and this has led him into diplomatic representation of Nigeria in Jamaica, Great Britain, United States and in working in the Commonwealth secretariat. Junior colleagues and students of these trailblazers have found niches in economic, defence, maritime, ethnic, naval and social history. The significant thing about the Lagos School is its relevance.

    The engagement of members of the department with the government in several advisory capacities led at one time three members of the department being appointed ambassadors and at another time Professor Olusanya was appointed Director-General of N.I.I.A., while Professor A.I. Asiwaju was appointed member of National Boundaries Commission, and this writer became Special Adviser to the Ministry of External Affairs and later ambassador to Germany after having served in quasi-diplomatic posts in Ottawa and Washington DC. What was significant about all this was the placement of round pegs in round holes. Most of the post-graduate students coming out of the Lagos School attempt to study topics that are of direct application to policy without sacrificing the rigour of historical analysis.

    Within the last decade, two doctoral dissertations from the department were adjudged the best in the Humanities Law and social sciences in Nigeria by the National Universities Commission. Recent theses coming out of the department of history, University of Lagos bear out the orientation of applied history which is the strength of the department. These dissertations include A.O. Ogunyemi “Federal Budgets in Nigeria, 1954-1999”, O.J. Ogen “The Ikale of South Eastern Yorubaland1500-1900”, Paul A. Osifodunrin “Violent Crimes in Lagos 1861-2000”, Ganiyu O. Davies “The Interconnectedness of Urbanisation and Colonial Land Policies in Lagos 1914-1960”, Uche Igwe “The Impact Migrant Labour from Owerri Province on the Economy of Eastern Nigeria 1915-1965”, Obichere G. Iwuagwu “Socio-Economic History of Food Crop Production in Igboland 1900-1980”, Victor Ukaogo “From Palm Oil to Crude Oil: The Impact of International Trade on Niger-Delta Communities 1895-1995”, Femi Adegbulu “Oyo from the 16th to the 19th Century: A Study of External Relations of an African State”, Danladi A. Ali “Nature and Impact of Trade and Inland Water Transport in the Lower Niger Region 1879-1997”, Irene Osemeka “The Casamance Peace Process 1947-2004”, Kenneth C. Nwoko “The International Committee of the Red Cross in Nigeria 1960-2007”, Uche Okonkwo “A Socio-Economic History of Alcohol in South Eastern Nigeria since 1890”, Sikiru Momodu “Nigeria and International Labour Organisation 1945-1993”, Falode A. James “The State and Nation Building in Nigeria 1967-2007”, David Aworawo “Diplomacy and Development of Equatorial Guinea 1900-1990”, Monday M. Ogbeidi “Educational Exchanges in Nigeria-USA Cultural Relations 1938-1988”.

    In the same vein and following the same tradition and trajectory of relevance are the current ongoing doctoral dissertations namely; Ogunjewo Henry Bandele Diplomatic Missions and Foreign Relations: A History of the Nigerian Mission to the United Kingdom 1960—2010, Anaemene Benjamin Uchena Nigeria and the World Health Organisation 1960-2007: A Study in Health Diplomacy, Friday Aworawo Third-Party Intervention in Intra-State Conflicts in Africa: A Comparative Study of Chad and Sierra Leone 1975-2005, Segun Bolarinwa A History of Development Initiatives in Africa 1975 to the Present, Adinuba Bernard Chuks The Quest for Food Security in Anambra State, 1960-1991: A Historical Analysis, Bernard Fyanka History of Small Arms Control in Nigeria and Liberia 1967-2012: Implications for Peace Building and Security, Eguedo-Okoeguale Hysaint Nigeria-India Relations, 1960-2010: A Study in South-South Cooperation and Development, Chilaka Edmund Mbama Ghana’s National Shipping Line and Ghana’s Black Star Line 1957-1998, Grace Emeka Ogubo Economic Impact of Colonial Rule on the Upper Cross-River Region 1900-1960, Adeogun Adebayo Hegemons and Regional Economic Integration: Nigeria in ECOWAS and South Africa in SADC, Ashe Muesiri A Historical Study of Local Government Administration in Urhoboland 1917-1999, Decker Jonathan B. A History of the Poor in Lagos 1861-1967.

    From these doctoral dissertations, it is clear that the orientation of the Lagos School of History is what may be called applied or functional history, not just history for history’s sake, neither is it in the tradition of total detachment from subject matter like those followers of Leopold Von Ranke tradition of historicism. A.J.P. Taylor, distinguished Regius Professor of history in Cambridge dared to say history should not be written with the purpose of its relevance to present events or situation but should be written from pure academic detachment and that a historian should never worry about where his scholarship may lead.

     

  • Lagos School of History: An exploratory discourse – 2

    What the Ibadan School of History was largely interested in was establishing the fact that Africa had a past that was worthy of study. In other words, they were following European tradition of history for history’s sake. Most of those involved in the development of this school were not concerned with functionality or application of the study of the African past to solve present problems. It is, however, fair to suggest that exponents of the Ibadan school believed in the continuity of human experience from the past to the present and that the past certainly informs the present and that the present can only be totally understood by studying the past and that the present will have an impact on the future. It will be unfair to say that the Ibadan School of History was only interested in the study of history as an intellectual and academic exercise only and that it was not concerned, with the use of history in solving problems that may face society. However, the question of relevance was not a major question. Critics have also accused the Ibadan School of History for not having been concerned with social and economic analysis whereas its main concern was Islamic and Christian proselytisation and colonialism generally and political issues especially the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires. Publications ascribed to the “Ibadan School” include the following; K.O. Dike Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta 1830-1835 (Oxford, 1956), Akinjide Osuntokun Nigeria in the First World War (1979), B.O. Oloruntimehin The Segu Tuklor Empire (1972), Murray Last The Sokoto Caliphate (1977), T.G.O. Gbadamosi The Growth of Islam among the Yoruba 1841-1980 (1978), Fred I.A. Omu Press and Politics in Nigeria 1880-1937 (1978), Akitoye S. Adebanji Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland 1840-1893: Ibadan Expansion and the Rise of Ekitiparapo (1971), Tamuno Tekena N. The Evolution of the Nigerian State (1972), Omer-Cooper J.D. The Zulu Aftermath: A Nineteenth Century Revolution in Bantu Africa (1966), Freund Bill Capital and Labour in the Nigerian Tin Mines (1981), Ryder Alan F.C. Benin and Europeans 1485-1897 (1977), Cookey S.J. Sodienye Britain and the Congo Question 1855-1913 (1968), Adewoye Omoniyi The Judicial System in Southern Nigeria 1854-1954: Law and Justice in a Dependency (1977), Adeleye R.A. Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria 1804-1906: The Sokoto Caliphate and its Enemies (1971), Yahya Dahiru Morocco in the Sixteenth Century (1981), Ajayi J.F.A. Christian Missions in Nigeria 1841-1891 (1965), Asiwaju A.I. Western Yorubaland under European Rule 1889-1945 (1976), J.A. Atanda The New Oyo Empire: Indirect Rule and Change in Western Nigeria 1894-1934 (1973), P.A. Igbafe Benin Under British Administration: The Impact of Colonial Rule on an African Kingdom (1978), A.E. Afigbo The Warrant Chiefs: Indirect Rule in Southeastern Nigeria 1891-1929 (1972), J.C. Anene The International Boundaries of Nigeria 1885-1960 (1970) and E.A. Ayandele Missionary Impact on Modern Nigeria 1842-1914 (1966).

    The Ibadan School has been successful in its task of establishing the fact of African history and developing a body of literature to be used in historical pedagogy by teachers and providing literature for the reading public.

    The intellectual erudition of the exponents of the Ibadan School was noticed at home and abroad and many of the older scholars found themselves in the editorial boards of many overseas based distinguished journals as well as in councils and academic bodies on education including at one time Professor J.F. Ade-Ajayi serving as Chairman of Council of the United Nations’ University in Tokyo, Japan. Apart from Kenneth Dike who became the first African Vice Chancellor of the University Of Ibadan, others like J.F. Ade-Ajayi, Emmanuel Ayandele, Tekena Tamuno, S.J. Cookey, Omoniyi Adewoye became vice chancellors of Lagos, Calabar, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Ibadan respectively. Others became federal ministers and state commissioners not necessarily in the areas related to the history in which they specialised. In other words, those who were appointed into political post did not bring any special knowledge arising from their research into the ministerial departments to which they were posted.  The Department of History of the University of Ibadan became a victim of its own success. The Ibadan scholars did not replicate or reproduce themselves and the department became denuded as a result of a high profile appointments of the academic staff to the extent that at one time the history programme at the fountain head of the Ibadan School of History suffered de-accreditation in the hands of the National Universities Commission. This was the greatest tragedy that could happen to Ibadan which in the 1960s and 1970s was designated centre of excellence in African history. Although things have changed for the better in Ibadan but the lingering effect of what happened to the School is still apparent even till today to the extent that Ibadan School of History has become history and hardly does anyone talk about it today.

    The Lagos School of History seems to have learnt some lessons from the Ibadan School. It did not deliberately set out to be different from the Ibadan School since in any case some of its leadership came from Ibadan and were initially those of its weakest link in the Ibadan School. But as time went on and because of its proximity to government, the academic staff of the University of Lagos, Department of History were individually and severally called upon to advise government on policies which government felt they had expertise and over time the academic staff in the University of Lagos’s Department of History began to see sense in applied history.

  • Lagos School Of History: An exploratory discourse – 1

    The Lagos and Ibadan Schools of History are not as definable as the Marxist School of economic determinism or historical materialism. Both Schools of History are rooted not in ideology but in pragmatism and historical methodology. It should be clear from the above statement that neither the Ibadan nor the Lagos Schools of History is a building that one can see in Ibadan or Lagos; they are also not totally synonymous with the academic departments of history in the universities in both towns. They are however, the academic approach to the purpose of history or what John Tosh in his book Why History Matters (2008) calls applied history. There was no deliberate attempt to create schools but the end products of their research and their utility value was what for better choice of words, have become known as either the Ibadan or Lagos Schools of History. The two schools are also not sharply divided and there are overlaps because even some of the prominent exponents of the Lagos School came from Ibadan or from outside Nigeria. And just as the Ibadan School influenced the Lagos School, the Lagos School in recent times has reciprocated the favour. But over time, just as in Ibadan, the approach to historical scholarship in both schools has taken on separate characters of their own. The Ibadan School is not distinguishable from the Western historical approach which it strains very hard to break away from. The reliance on multidisciplinary approach and the use of oral sources are now embraced by Western historiography which hitherto had been nurtured on written documentation. The Lagos School is in fact a melange of the Ibadan School and its own functional and applied history and policy relevance. But there is no doubt however that while the Ibadan historical orthodoxy is dying, the Lagos functional approach is thriving and attracting more students and policy attention because of its relevance. The Lagos School does not go out to conduct research with the aim of applicability of its findings ab initio but the outcome of its research and writing present policy makers paradigmic options not in terms of history repeating itself but in terms of comparison with what happened in the past. The modernity of historical research in Lagos also provides allied disciplines in the social sciences particularly economics, political science and sociology foundational basis from which to see the problems facing Nigeria. The Ibadan School’s success is basic to the new approach in Lagos to research, writing and methodology but the approach and choice of research topics in Ibadan in the past until recently is seen more as antiquarianism in Lagos where relevance seems to be now an article of faith.

    The first generation of academic historians in Nigeria led by Kenneth Onwuka Dike and including Professors Saburi Biobaku and J.F. Ade-Ajayi and supported by their colleagues particularly in the University of Ibadan’s Department of History and later by sister Departments of History in the then University of Ife and later by some of the staff of the Department of History in Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Lagos were seized of the task of creating and defining African history. There were also centres of academic study of African history in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) led by Professors Rowland Oliver and Richard Grey. Other centres for the same purpose exist in the University of Wisconsin at Madison led by Professor Phillip D. Curtin as well as the Centre for West African Studies in Birmingham led by Professor J.D. Fage. Even within apartheid South Africa especially at the University of Cape Town were people engaged in academic pursuit of African history. Various journals such as the Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria (JHSN) and the Journal of African History (JAH) published by the Cambridge University Press sprang up to provide medium of expression for cutting edge research in African historical scholarship. In later years, the study of African history took its pride of place in many European and American universities particularly in such places as the University of Hamburg in Germany and the University of California (UCLA) in Los Angeles. Excitement about African history can be correlated with the emergence of sovereign African states in the global community in the 1960s. It was then fashionable for African history to be taught in the unlikeliest places including Oxford University, the same university where Hugh Trevor Roper had arrogantly declared that there was no such thing as African history. Unfortunately, the promise of Africa has remained unfulfilled and consequently there has been a wane in the study and teaching of African history in many countries. Secondly, African history is more or less a victim of its success because there is no point any longer in declaring that Africa has a history because this is now an accepted fact.

    The pioneers of African history at the University of Ibadan were driven by the mission to assert the fact that Africa had a past that was worth studying in universities. On the eve of independence and immediately after independence the curriculum of the Department of History at the University of Ibadan was largely the same as that of the University of London because the University of Ibadan started as a constituent college of the University of London. Most of the courses taught were European and English history and what was called European expansion overseas as well as the history of the Commonwealth. Even American history was hardly taught. But in the drive to give confidence to the new leaders of the country, the development of African historiography became an imperative necessity. Furthermore it sounded a little bit out of place for a department of history in an African university not to be totally involved in researching and teaching the African past. The problem of reconstructing the African past lay in the fact that there was scarcity of written documents apart from travellers’ accounts of Arabs and a few Dutch and Portuguese explorers and the Ajami scripts found in Islamic part of the West African Sudan as well as Arabic scripts in the Eastern Sudan, the Maghreb, and Egypt. Ethiopia of course had documents in Ge’ez and Amharic from which the past of Ethiopia could be gleaned. Black Africa generally did not have a written civilisation and this presented historians a challenge especially since Western historiography on which the academic historians in Ibadan were trained was based on written documentation. Hence, the challenge was a challenge of adaptation of their training to the elucidation of the African past based on oral tradition, archaeology, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, ethno-zoology and ethno-botany and other sciences that could be enlisted to throw light on the African past. The approach therefore to the writing of history in Ibadan was multi-disciplinary. It was based on collection of data from different sources and subjecting them to rigorous analysis. The post graduate school of the department of history at Ibadan was based on this tradition. The teachers who established the school were Western trained historians who decided to apply their training to the creation of what J.D. Homer Cooper and Love Joy have described as a “nationalist school of history”.

  • The future of Nigeria – 3

    Between 1999 and 2013, which spans a period of about 14 years, the Nigerian economy has been growing at over six percent per year and this is at a period when most of the countries of the world are in recession. Apart from Rwanda, Nigeria is the fastest growing economy on the African continent. Indeed Nigeria is leading the economic renaissance in Africa. The GDP is greater than all the GDPs of the remaining ECOWAS countries combined. With a population in excess of a projected 160 million, constituting a huge internal market, and with access to the wider ECOWAS market, and a manufacturing base capable of supplying substantial portion of domestic and West African needs, Nigeria is capable of being one of the world’s 20 most developed economies in the nearest future. Nigeria has also witnessed tremendous expansion in education particularly in tertiary education where private participation has played significant role. There is of course much to do in improving the quality of education in Nigeria but there is no doubt that there is a yearning for learning among the youth of the country. The drag towards optimum performance in all areas of Nigeria’s development is the inadequacy of physical infrastructure particularly roads, railways, aviation and shipping. These areas, of inadequacies are being tackled and it would take time before Nigeria can arrive at a comfortable level of infrastructural development. ICT facilities are being made available rapidly by local and international companies that are operating in Nigeria and tele-density is now considerably high. The greatest problem facing the country is in the area of energy; a country of over 160 million people depends on less than 4,000 mega watts of electricity. This ridiculous situation is being tackled by privatisation of generation and distribution of electricity. Experts have suggested that Nigeria will need at least 100,000 mega watts in the immediate future. What Nigeria has today compared with the 35,000 mega watts of South Africa is just too ridiculously low. The result is that private generation of electricity through company and individual electric generators is almost as high as what is nationally generated by the government. The result is the cost of production and the cost of living is quite high and this makes Nigerian products uncompetitive. Even the tourism sector that is witnessing tremendous growth in terms of building of hotels is being handicapped by the shortage of energy and the fact that power has to be provided by each hotel thus making the cost of hotel business unsustainable. There is awareness of this problem and there is even international offer of support especially by the new Obama Energy Initiative through which a $7 billion fund is being put together by private companies to support Nigeria’s and Africa’s energy need.

    Nigeria’s transportation grid needs total overhaul and transformation. The current situation whereby goods are moved by road haulage is not only primitive but also damaging to the environment. Roads are constructed at an exorbitant cost and also degraded through constant use by heavy vehicles in the absence of railways. The sad thing is that Nigeria even during colonial days witnessed the criss-crossing of the country by railways. These lines were made to go into disuse and disrepair with the excuse that Nigeria will have to reconstruct a new rail system to cope with the regular movement of goods and people. However, it is important to mention that any country that is not in constant motion by road, rail air, sea, river, and possibly underground has not arrived at modernity. This unfortunately is the situation in Nigeria. The country needs an integrated transport grid that would facilitate the movement of goods, people and even services. The new railway age in Nigeria will not be like the old rail lines running from the North to the Coast alone, but rail lines running from East to West will have to be built to connect the important economic centres of the country seamlessly with each other and with the rest of the country.

    There is no doubt that the potentials of Nigeria are great but there are certain problems that have to be addressed. The current population that is growing at almost three percent per year and that has made it conceivable for Nigeria to be one of the most populous countries in the world within the next two or three decades is unsustainable. Nigeria has to be careful that its population does not increase at a geometrical rate while its food production is increasing at an arithmetical rate. The current trends where substantial foreign exchange earnings are being spent on food import have to be reversed in favour of local production. Nigeria has vast agricultural land, adequate rainfall and sunshine and large pool of labour. Nigeria is basically an agricultural country before the discovery of crude petroleum and gas. The prosperity of Nigeria was based cocoa, rubber and palm oil production. It will be wise for the country to return to those good old days. If done properly, and if we invest a lot of money on mechanised agriculture, away from the laborious and tedious primitive practice of today, many young people will find agriculture a noble profession and this will reduce the army of the unemployed and consequently reduce the general insecurity in the country that is becoming a disincentive to foreign direct investment. Going back to agriculture as a source of wealth is even quite urgent in the face of environmental concern globally arising from the deleterious effect of hydro-carbon usage and the environment. Because of the increasing use of shale gas which is now found in many parts of the world particularly in North and South America, our overdependence on external market particularly in Europe and North America for our exports of crude oil and gas may no longer be sustainable and competitive so diversification of the economy into agricultural and industrial production should be the way of the future. Happily, the industrial economies of the world particularly if North America, Europe and Japan are looking for outlets for industrial production in Africa, Asia and Latin America and with our cheap labour and use of English, our country should be attractive for industrial manufacturing from first world countries that are increasingly relying on service industries for their own sustenance.

    In a world increasingly committed to free trade, we must ensure that we put in place the right infrastructure, legal regimes that would make our country investment friendly. In a world whose economy is basically based on knowledge, we must continue to improve our educational institutions so that our young people are at the cutting edge of information and knowledge. If we do all these, and we have jobs for all those who want to work, the problem of political instability arising out of our multitudinous ethnic groups and languages may be obviated because the people are busy working, it would not matter the ethnic origin of who is in government. It is only when the national cake is small and there are many people wanting to share it that the problem of fair sharing arises. If we are stable and prosperous, Nigeria would be able to play a significant role in the Comity of Nations. Our population and wealth would naturally recommend this. We are the only country in the West African sub-region that has capacity and capability to project power outside our immediate neighbourhood. Apart from Egypt, South Africa, Morocco and Algeria, there is no country on the African continent that has the potentialities to rival Nigeria but in order to be the best we can be, Nigeria must remain united and remain together and do what it is possible to manage our differences in a pacific way.