A few weeks after his inauguration as executive governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola sent me a text asking me to set up a centre for the study of Awolowo’s ideology. He also asked me to cost everything pertaining to the new centre except the building which he said was in place on Ikirun Road, Osogbo. I immediately went ahead to write a 17-page blue print for the centre.
In February 2012, the governor called me to find out the name of the centre which I gave as Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance.
The following day, he announced the establishment of the centre, which he said would be headed by me. By that time, we had met only once, and that was when he was in Ado-Ekiti to attend the lecture his colleague, Dr Kayode Fayemi, commissioned me to deliver on Chief Awolowo’s social and political philosophy. I now realise that, as a great disciple of Awolowo, Ogbeni Aregbesola had to attend that lecture. When he became governor, he invited me to his office at Aregbe’s House, Osogbo, where we talked after I had given him three of my published works: Awo as a Philosopher, Awo: The Last Conversation, and Africa Philosophy: The Demise of a Controversy. I did not know what went on behind the scene but I was pleasantly surprised when he publicly announced that I would head the Awo Centre.
Thereafter, I was appointed as Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, effective from 1st of May, 2012, for a period of five years by a person I met only once but whom I had sent a congratulatory text which included my appreciation of his revival of Awo’s legacy as I observed, with a great administration, that the UPN’s anthem was played at his inauguration as Executive Governor of the State of Osun.
It is important to know that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s love and interest for Awolowo was probably influenced by his father when he was a school boy at Ikare- Akoko where he grew up. His father who traded in articulated Bedford lorries on Jubilee Road and his brother, who owned the then popular Aregbesola Motors, were staunch members of the Acton Group and Awolowo’s loyalists in Ikare-Akoko. I was then in Victory College, Ikare. Like the Olaitans and Adagunodos, the Aregbesolas were also from Ilesa as businessmen resident in Ikare-Akoko. As a son of an Action Group politician, he grew up with it and his father’s influence on him has persisted till today.
For a man whose interest and love for Awo started from youth and has grown up with it without a break, he has harboured his interest in Awo from Ikare-Akoko to Osogbo until he became a governor and seized the opportunity to externalise his undying interest in Awo by establishing the Centre in Awo’s name. This, in short, is the genesis of Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance founded by a consistent Awolowo loyalist and disciple.
The Centre becomes imperative at a time the African continent is beset with three notable problems: leadership, management and corruption. Selfish, corrupt, fraudulent, deceitful and autocratic leaders have often emerged in most of the African countries, especially Nigeria. These leaders are known for mismanaging and scandalously squandering the resources as well as looting the government treasuries. Nigeria, which is blessed with all kinds of natural resources: oil, gas, iron, tin, gold, bitumen, marble, coal and fertile land most suitable for agriculture in addition to human resources, is wallowing in abject poverty as a result of bad leadership, poor management and bad governance. Thus, the country is beset with serious social, economic, political and security crisis in the last few decades, but most conspicuously in the last 14 years.
Apart from high integrity, some of the qualities associated with good leadership include: self discipline, accountability, transparency, responsiveness, justice, equity, egalitarianism, probity, honesty and high sense of responsibility. This is where a proper study of Awolowo and his philosophy and ideology is in need of special attention. Apart from his resourcefulness in the management of men and natural resources, the above qualities and virtues have contributed immensely to Awolowo’s successes in life, and especially during his regime as premier of the old western region of Nigeria where he demonstrated his philosophical idea of the Regime of Mental Magnitude.
His love for education and socio-economic development for an egalitarian society (life more abundant, prosperity for all) will forever be remembered by his admirers and foes alike. Hence, after his life, he became “the best president Nigeria never had”, the “main issue in Nigeria politics” and “a great philosopher of 20th century Africa”.
The establishment of Awo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance is one of the best ways by which the legacy Obafemi Awolowo left behind could be preserved and maximally utilized by present and future generations to foster integrity education, Yoruba culture and values, ethics, religious tolerance and, above all, the art of good governance in Nigeria in particular, and Africa in general, especially as Awo believes that Africans must be capable of governing themselves in freedom and virtue.
Also, the establishment of such a centre is long overdue, coming up 25 years after Awo’s death in 1987. The centre will, indeed, be a great resource centre for academia, politicians, policy makers, administrators, managers both in the private and public sectors. The new Centre will play a leading role in strengthening African Philosophy, especially African Social and Political Philosophy and Ideology as powerful tools of good governance, using indigenous knowledge, culture, models and skills, subsidized by relevant knowledge, culture, models and skills from the outside world.
The broad goal and objective of the Centre is to provide an avenue for the study of the philosophy, ideology, achievements in political engineering, political life as well as public and private lives (physical and spiritual) of Jeremiah Obafemi, Awolowo with a view to understanding the man and the secrets behind his numerous successes and how he overcame the challenges he met on his way.
Some of the specific goals include (1) exploratory work into the philosophy (including social and political philosophy), speeches, lectures, ideology, thoughts and writings of Obafemi Awolowo (2) In-depth study of his philosophy that “every man”, irrespective of caste, creed or colour, is “a potential genius” and its derivation that “man is an instrument of change.”
It is expected that there will be a series of seminars involving internal and external speakers, workshops and annual distinguished lectures, all of which will be open to the public and show-case the life, philosophical thoughts of Awolowo on administrative competence, social and political engineering, the art of good governance, self discipline, education, law and morality, integrity, accountability, transparency in public service as demonstrated by him, especially as Premier of the old Western Region of Nigeria, and his brief services to the nation as Federal Commissioner for Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council in General Gowon’s administration. His track records, his numerous books and other writings, speeches as well as scholarly publications on him and his works will provide research materials for teaching, seminars and workshops in the Centre.
– Professor Makinde is the DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State.
