Professor Michael Omolewa was Permanent Delegate and Nigeria’s Ambassador to UNESCO during the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency. He clocked 80 years on April 1, 2021. In this interview by SAHEED SALAWU, Professor Omolewa speaks on a wide range of issues from his personal life to his life as an academic and as a diplomat. He also addresses other national issues:
Congratulations on your 80th birthday sir. How does it feel being 80?
I am so grateful to Almighty God for the gift of life. Its not easy to live for 80 years in the face of the various challenges in the different spheres of life, including health, education, peer pressure, travels and others associated with the wider society.
You are from Ipoti-Ekiti, how was growing up like in that very rural setting? Did you ever imagine you would be this big in life?
Yes. I am from Ipoti-Ekiti in Ijero Ekiti Local Government Area. I, however, left the town at the age of nine to live in Erunmu and later Ibadan. I have since lived in Ibadan except for the few years that I was at Ido-Ekiti and later Ado-Ekiti. I attended Ibadan Grammar School, and later the University of Ibadan. I became a lecturer at the University of Ibadan where I worked for 35 years before my retirement. After retirement, I was appointed emeritus professor at the university and the appointment is for life. I was not particularly interested in being any big in life. Growing up at the home of a church pastor taught me the virtue of being useful to people, not consumed by the pursuit of being big.
Sir, who and what inspired you to go to school and why Education History as your area of specialisation?
I responded to the request of my parents to go to school. Thereafter I found myself attracted by the pursuit of excellence at all the levels of education. I studied History with subsidiary in French. My first degree was in History. My specialisation at the doctorate level was European History. I was employed Assistant Lecturer in the History of Adult Education in Britain at the Department of Adult Education of the University of Ibadan with effect from 1 November, 1971. After my doctorate degree in European History in 1973, Professor Tekena Tamuno, the Head of the Department of History at the University of Ibadan, invited me to serve as associate lecturer in the Department of History, in addition to being lecturer in the Department of Adult Education. At the same time, I was invited by Dr Saka Balogun, Head of the Department of History at the University of Ilorin, to teach European History to his students. At Ibadan, Professor Tamuno later left to be Dean of the Faculty of Arts and later Vice-Chancellor. As the saying goes, when the king who knew Joseph left, things took a different turn. After the exit of Professor Tamuno, the new Head of Department no longer requested for my services as specialist in European History and I faced my work at the Department of Adult Education. The reduction in my teaching load led to my accelerated promotion and by 1 October, 1982, I had become a full professor of the History of Education at the University of Ibadan.
The study of History was my first love, the teaching of education was my later preoccupation, and the combination of the History and Education became the History of Education in which I later professed. Babcock University has given me the opportunity to teach European History again.
You must be concerned that unlike your own time, many of today’s youths no longer see education as a pathway to success. The craze for quick wealth appears to be the fad now. How, in your opinion, sir, did we get here?
It is possible that the coming of the military to governance led to the change in the emphasis on education. It became clear that learning and the pursuit of academic excellence was no longer required for access to power and influence as the soldiers ruled with immediate effect and frequently addressed fellow Nigerians after the frequent coups and attempted coups. The discovery of oil also led to the accumulation of wealth and the disregard for due process and accountability. By the time civilian rule was restored, it had become difficult to return to the age in which the craze for wealth was derided by the society. In politics and community recognition, money has become the tool for access to power, prestige and position.
Northern Nigeria presents a particularly scary picture. Millions are out of school and are getting frustrated and radicalised daily. How can they be rescued?
Malam Adamu Adamu, Honourable Minister of Education, produced the Ministerial Strategic Plan on resumption as minister. His plan was to improve the condition of teachers, and get the out-of-school population to be integrated into the educational system in the country. He also appointed a top professional to handle the much neglected mass education and adult education. There is no doubt that funding has been a major problem. However, it is becoming clear that there is considerable danger if we continue to ignore the need to provide appropriate education to the millions of out-of-school population. The increasing wave of unrest and antisocial behaviour of people are clear manifestation of the result of the neglect of education for this group of citizens.
Politics in the First Republic was quite interesting; you witnessed it, sir. What was good then that is absent now?
The First Republic politics was attractive because the system of operation was a federal form in which regions had the responsibility for social services such as education and health and critical areas such as industry and agriculture. There was, therefore, a healthy competition among the regions. The incursion of military rule and the subsequent constitutions gave the centre more power and destroyed regionalism which has led to the growing discontent in the society.
How did you get appointed as Nigeria’s permanent representative to UNESCO? What was your experience like working closely with President Olusegun Obasanjo during that period? Any memorable occasion on life in Paris?
President Olusegun Obasanjo was eager to reposition Nigeria in the international community when he returned to power as civilian president in 1999. I was lucky that my NGO, the University Village Association, UNIVA, which I founded to promote literacy in rural areas, won a UNESCO literacy award that year. Professor Tunde Adeniran who was Minister of Education wanted someone who was familiar with the UNESCO work. He was familiar with my work as a consultant to UNESCO for many years and my UNESCO literacy award. When my nomination got to President Obasanjo, he promptly approved it and I was sent to Paris. I believe that fortune smiled on me with the award of the UNESCO prize, the election of President Obasanjo and the appointment of Professor Adeniran as Minister of Education.
My arrival at the Permanent Delegation of UNESCO was like a return home. I was also lucky to have a very competent team with which I was able to work. We got Nigeria into the important councils and committees of UNESCO and I became the first West African to be elected President of the General Conference of UNESCO. Nigeria had inscriptions in the World Heritage List, including the Osun Osogbo grove. Nigeria also succeeded in having the first Category 2 Cultural Institute in Africa with the adoption of the International Institute for African Culture and International Understanding in Abeokuta with its affiliate, Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo.
You authored very many books, which of them would you describe as your best? And why, sir?
Education Through the Rear-View Mirror published by the University of Ibadan Press in 1987 has remained my favourite. The book was developed from my Inaugural Lecture which I presented at the University of Ibadan in the same year. In the book, I was able to link education and history and I tried to demonstrate how history is useful to the understanding of the contemporary situation and helpful to planning the future. I compared the history of education to the rear-view mirror used with profit by drivers to prevent unnecessary accidents in planning education programmes to meet the need of the society.
Who is your favourite author? Why that choice?
He is Professor Jacob Festus Ade Ajayi, my teacher and mentor, my former Head of Department of History at the University of Ibadan and former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the university and vice-chancellor at the University of Lagos. He taught us African History when the subject was being introduced to students and his books on the Yoruba Wars, Christian Missions in Nigeria, A Thousand Years of West African History, the African Atlas and volume six of the UNESCO General History of Africa have remained classic. I appreciate his pioneering work, his enthusiasm and passion for the study of history. He was an international figure, highly respected and trusted. He became chairman of the International African Institute which was founded by Lord Lugard in 1926 in the UK. He also became the chairman of the Governing Council of the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan. He was President of the Historical Society of Nigeria and acclaimed authority on the subject.
How did you meet your wife? What were the attractions? Who made the first move?
As a postgraduate student at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London, I had joined a group of students and friends at a gathering in London. I was attracted to a girl whom I thought was from South Africa, given her stature. Later I got to know that she was Gambian and I thought that West Africa was still good enough for a life partner. I told her that I needed a life partner who would support my academic ambition, give me good food and accept my religion which had been my anchor in life. She told me that she had no objections to my expectations as a wife. Her parents who were staunch Muslims in the UK, however, did not accept my proposal at first but later they released their daughter to me. We had the court marriage in London followed by our wedding at the mosque. All our children have been given both Christian and Muslim names: Christian names, the choice of my wife and me, and Muslim to confirm our respect to the parents.
Your favourite food, sir?
This is predictably pounded yam with efo riro, as a thoroughbred Ekiti man, and if this is not readily available, I would go for Jollof rice, due to the influence of my wife whose favourite dish was the Gambian meal.
One of your hobbies is music, what kind of music and who is your favourite musician?
Gospel music has always been my priority because it arouses my natural feelings; this is followed by Fela Anikulapo’s Afro music which provokes my passion for social justice and fundamental human rights enforcement.
Who made the greatest impact in your life? How?
It is difficult for me to make a choice. This is because Chief Stephen Awokoya, the Minister of Education of Western Nigeria, threw open the doors of my access to education when he awarded me the West Nigeria Scholarship to Ibadan Grammar School, Professor J. F. Ade Ajayi led Professor Ayo Bamgbose, Professor Horatio Oritshe Jolomi Thomas and Professor Tekena Tamuno to ensure that I obtained the PhD in History while Professor S. H. O. Tomori and Professor Jones Akinpelu allowed themselves to be used to make my dream of becoming a Professor at the University, and Pastor E. A. Adeboye, supported by his wife, Pastor Folu Adeboye, have led the team of ministers, including Pastor S. A. Dare to help in acquiring my basic and fundamental spiritual immersion in life.
What is your advice for the young ones on how to succeed in what they do?
Our young ones must not allow their social background to define them. Success in life does not depend on the wealth or influence of parents and relations but on hard work, dedication and determination to succeed in life. They should be reminded that many children from poor homes have ended up being poor while many other children from poor homes have ended up being very successful. The youths should be reminded that very little was known of the parents of the early Nigerian nationalists: Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe or the Sardauna of Sokoto. Yet these made names for their families.
The young ones should also not expect help exclusively from those of their ethnic or religious groups. Chief Awokoya was an Ijebu man who did not bother to know where I came from before he used his influence to transform my life. Similarly, Professor Tomori was an Egba man and Professor Akinpelu was an Ibadan man, both of them believed in me in spite of my source of origin. I had the likes of Igwe Aja Nwachukwu, Paul Mbaeyi and Chinwe Obaji, my former teachers and ministers of education, who gave me the cooperation and encouragement when I was in Paris. Of course, there were the likes of Professors Ade Ajayi, Ayo Bamgbose, Tunde Adeniran, Bola Borisade and General Obasanjo with whom I shared the same ethnic origin. My best and most trusted friends include Professors Rashid Aderinoye, Kola Kazeem and Ishaq Oloyede who are Muslims and Professors Oduaran and Adekanmbi who are Christians. I have the likes of Professors Roland Oliver and Douglas Johnson, English men, and white, who helped me find my feet in the academia.
Finally, everyone needs to pray for divine help and intervention, so basic for success in life. Prayers have brought help to me from unexpected and unknown sources and helped resolve so many challenges that have confronted me in my journey of 80 years.
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