On Wednesday, July 20, one of Nigeria’s most accomplished scholars and a globally recognized expert in the field of comparative public administration clocked 80. The life of this distinguished academic and administrator illustrates vividly the grand irony of a nation brimming with renowned talents in diverse fields, yet trapped in the mire of underdevelopment due, largely, to failure of leadership. It is not surprising that to celebrate his birthday, Professor Adamolekun published and publicly presented a monograph titled: ‘Nigeria and I: Getting Politics Right to Make Nigeria Work’, which analyzed the country’s multi-dimensional crises and proffered ideas to help actualize her latent potential.
Identifying three critical factors for getting politics right, which he sees as a necessary condition for accelerated transformation of Nigeria, Professor Adamolekun stressed the urgent need in the country for a devolved federation, good democratic practice and administrative competence. Decrying the ‘unitary federalism’ inherited from the military in 1999, which he describes as an oxymoron, Professor Adamolekun advocates that Nigeria should urgently adopt and function as a devolved federal system and proposes that the country should be made up of six federating units with assignment of functions between the central government and the federating units based on the principle of subsidiarity.
Obviously not enamored of the oft-repeated mantra that the country’s current structure is non-negotiable, Professor Adamolekun in his monograph offers bold ideas for Nigeria’s renaissance. It is inevitable that as the country prepares for the 2023 elections, the kind of transformational leadership necessary to halt the current ever-deepening poverty and steady slide into anarchy is a key concern of the scholar. In his words, “Nigeria needs a development-oriented political leader, one under whose watch the country can begin to record steady progress in growing the economy, reducing poverty, assuring security and moving towards prosperity for all the citizens. This would be a leader who, at the end of his/her tenure, would be competitive for the Mo Ibrahim Africa Leadership Prize that was established in 2007. To the imperative of development-orientation, I would add four essential leadership attributes to the characteristics of the political leader that would make Nigeria work: integrity, intelligence, competence and vision”.
Born in Iju, Akure North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State, on July 20, 1942, Professor Adamolekun, after his elementary education, attended Oyemekun Grammar School, Akure where he obtained his secondary school certificate. Even that early in life, it was evident here was an academic star in the making. As he recalls in his memoir, ‘I Remember’, published in 2016, in his first year in secondary school, he was appointed as an Assistant Librarian for reading the highest number of books in the library among 120 students in Forms One, Two and Three.
Early in life, he had a clear vision of the success he sought to achieve as exemplified by two personal mottos he adopted as a youth. At age 13, he decided to be guided by the motto: “per Ardua ad astra”, which means “through struggle to the stars”. His second motto adopted about two years later was the admonition by the author, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that “the heights that great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight; but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night”.
This seriousness of purpose and commitment to hard work was no doubt responsible for his graduating from the University of Ibadan in 1968 with a First Class degree in French as his major and Political Science as minor. After obtaining M.Sc degree in Public Administration from then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), he proceeded to Oxford University where he obtained his doctoral degree in Administration in 1968.
A dedicated teacher, researcher and university administrator, Professor Adamolekun taught at the OAU from 1968 to 1988, serving at various times as Head of the Department of Administration and later, Dean of the Faculty.
After his academic career in Nigeria, he moved to the global stage where he worked as a public sector management specialist at the World Bank for about 18 years. His experience at the World Bank helped to consolidate his reputation as one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of comparative public administration. One of the most prolific writers in his area of specialization, Professor Adamolekun has published at least 36 books and monographs as well as 111 journal articles and chapters in books on politics and public administration.
In December 2005, he was conferred with the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), which is the country’s highest national recognition for academic and intellectual achievement. He also bagged Doctor of Science, D.Sc (honoris causa) in 2016 from Lead City University, Ibadan. The publication of his monograph on the state of the nation to mark his 80th birthday was in continuation of what has been Professor Adamolekun’s life-long vocation of contributing qualitatively to public discourse. We wish him a very happy and fulfilled birthday.