Dr Olayiwola Adejare Lawal is the famous author of several textbooks which were recommended by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for the teaching of Economics and Government in secondary schools across the West African countries in the 1980s. A former polytechnic lecturer and former commissioner in the old Oyo State, Lawal speaks with DAPO FALADE on his attainment of the age of 80, his journey through life and the motivation behind his famous books.
ATTAINING the age of 80 is a milestone. How would you describe the journey so far?
Very successful, I would say. One faced a lot of challenges but, thank God, one surmounted them all. Let me give a brief history about myself. I was born into the family of Pa Akintunde Akinpelu Lawal, popularly called Baba Elesin, because he had a horse in those years, and my mother was Madam Olaperin Adedewe Lawal of Aliu Compound, Oke Ola, Ikirun, in present-day Osun State. I spent most of youthful days in Ikirun where I attended primary school. Although my father did not have Western education, I was so fortunate that my two brothers attended both primary and secondary schools. When it was my turn, it was not easy for my father to send me to school. But he usually consulted his friends, particularly the late Akirun of Ikirun, Oba Kusamotu. He took me to the palace and I was measured to see whether my hand would touch the ear to determine if I was old enough to go to school. I passed the test; my right hand touched my left ear and I began schooling.
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I went to Anglican Church Primary School, Ikirun. As God would have it, when I was in Primary Four, I lost my father. Interestingly, I was the last born of the family. I have brothers who are old enough to be my father. My mother was the last wife so, I was the last born of the family. Upon my father’s death, one of my brothers, my direct sibling, took up the responsibility for my education. I finished my primary education, at Standard Six, in 1953. I couldn’t go to secondary school in 1954 due to lack of money. So, I had to teach in a primary school. Interestingly, my brother was the manager of Nawair-Ud-Deen Group of Schools and I was given appointment at the school. I taught throughout 1954. I took an entrance examination in 1954 and I passed. I was admitted to Osogbo Grammar School in 1955.
In those days, we usually spent about six years to complete secondary school. But I was brilliant, I must confess. So, when I was in Class Five, I took the West African School Certificate Examination and I passed. We had to do it privately as we must not allow the school to know that we were writing examinations. I sat my pre-GCE at Ilorin, Kwara State so that I would be far away from Osogbo. I did my GCE at Ibadan Boys High School, Oke Bola. I returned to school and I told one of my teachers who I was very close to that I passed the papers and he was very happy for me. I was then the senior prefect of the school, in 1961. So, I could not leave the school. I could have left with my five or six credit passes but I stayed. I took my School Certificate Examination in 1961 and I passed in Division One. In those days, we had divisions one, two and three. I was looking for admission into the university and I had to teach for one year again, at Oke Iragbiji Grammar School, in 1962.
I wanted to go for my ‘A’ Levels and I was admitted into the Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State. I paid my first semester fee but at the same time I took the Concessional Entrance Examination into the University of Ibadan. You could do that if you had your School Certificate; it is like the pre-degree that they do now. Fortunately, I passed and so, instead of going for the ‘A’ Levels, I went straight to the university in 1963. But instead of spending three years, I spent four. After my first year, I decided to read Economics. I graduated in 1967.
When I entered the university, I was looking for money but I had a scholarship. They called it Regulation 18 Scholarship. A secondary school had to sponsor you so that when you finished your degree, you would come back and teach there. So, I was given the scholarship through Akinorun Grammar School, Ikirun. After leaving the university, I returned to Akinorun Grammar School and I was there from 1967 to 1970. Then, I decided to further my education.
During the period I was teaching, I tried to enter the civil service. In 1969, I passed the Civil Service Examination and I was given an appointment as an administrative officer. But I did not take the appointment because I wanted to further my education. So, in 1970, I went to Sweden to do my Master’s degree and PhD. I was there for almost seven years. My wife and son joined me. We had a daughter in Sweden who is now a lecturer at Bowen University, Iwo. She has a PhD in Microbiology.
What incident can you point to as the most significant yet in your life?
I will divide my life into sections. In academics, I would say the most significant one was the day I was awarded PhD in Sweden. It was fantastic. I was so happy. That was in 1975. I returned to Nigeria in 1976 after the graduation ceremony. In fact, that was a day I will never forget. In my secondary school days, I was so happy when, as a private candidate, I sat for the School Certificate Examination (SCE) and I passed all the five subjects. Three of us went for the examination, but I was the only one who passed all the five subjects. I was really happy. I realised that there was reward for hard work. In those days, we never did anything besides reading.
My secondary school education influenced me a lot. It was my experience in secondary school that led me into book writing. Each time my school played a football match, I followed the team to cover the match from the beginning to the end and I spread the report on the notice board the following Monday so that those students who did not watch the match would be able to read the details. That was how I started writing and that was when I developed interest in writing.
Who between your parents made the most significant impact in your life?
I must confess that it was my mother because I did not stay so long with my father. My father had me when he was over 70 years, even close to 80. He died when I was so young. So, it was my mother who made the most impact on me.
How?
I was always with her and, interestingly, many did not know that she had another child because they always called my mother by my name, ‘Iya Layi’. My mother was a cocoa merchant. We usually went to farm together to carry cocoa produce home. My mother would go to the farm, buy cocoa and we would go there and carry it home on our heads. When I was very young, whenever my mother was in the village, on Friday, I would go there to see her. I was in Sweden for seven years and my mother was alive then. I came home every year to see her throughout my stay in Sweden.
Did her trading activities have any influence on your interest in Economics?
My interest in Economics developed from one of our teachers. He was Chief Olugunna who studied in Britain. He had BSc in Economics. He came back to teach us at Osogbo Grammar School. He was teaching us Geography and History because Economics was not taught then. Whenever he wrote his name, he wrote Olugunna, BSc Economics. We always looked at him and thought: how can we also become a BSc Economics? I read in the newspapers that Chief Obafemi Awolowo read B Commerce and I felt, how can I have BSc Economics? So, that man, Olugunna, influenced us and it was through him that we developed interest in reading Economics, though he was not teaching us Economics as he was teaching us Geography and History. He was a good teacher.
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So, what made you to become an author of several textbooks on Economics and Government?
First of all, I will continue to say Olugunna influenced me as he used to write a lot of articles in one news magazine then and which I always read. Interestingly, when I was in my final year in the secondary school, I took GCE A’ Levels and I took Economics. So, because of the influence of Chief Olugunna, I sat for A’ Level in Economics, Government (then, they called it British Constitution) and History in my Class Six. Interestingly, I passed History at A’ level, but Economics and Government were reduced to O’ Level in those days.
So, when I started at Akinorun Grammar School, automatically I was the head of Economics Department. I introduced Economics and Government to the school. I was very close to my students. We sat and discussed and I would ask them, how do you understand Economics? But they would tell me, ‘Oga, we don’t understand this very much because we crammed everything. You are talking about Yorkshire Coal Field, Sheffield Coal Field, we don’t know all these things”. Then I realised that I had to break some of these things down. So, when I was taught them afterwards, I used local examples: instead of Yorkshire Coal Field, I used Enugu Coal Field. Instead of using Sheffield Coal Field, I used Onitsha Market, Tejuoso Market or Dugbe Market. These were places people knew very well. I would not talk about winter or summer. Rather, I would talk about raining season and dry season and that was how the books became so popular.
I remember when I wrote the manuscript, one of the marketing officers of Onibonoje Publishers came to Akinorun Grammar School. I discussed with him and told him that I had a manuscript. He asked me to bring it. I gave it to him to take to Onibonoje. When Onibonoje got the manuscript, he came down to Ikirun himself and said I should do certain things and that really encouraged me. Initially, I was afraid to publish a book. I remember talking to one of my lecturers, the late Comrade Ola Oni; he taught me at the University of Ibadan. I told him that I wanted to publish a book and he said, ‘Lawal, go on’. When Onibonoje saw the manuscript, he was carried away and that was how we started.
Did you feel fulfilled seeing generations who benefitted from those books still remembering you?
One of the things that make me happy is when I see people and they talk about my books. Recently, I was at the Osun State University where we were doing accreditation for the Department of Economics. Those who came to do the accreditation told me that they had read my books. There was one professor from the University of Sokoto who insisted that we must take a photograph together. It makes me happy when I am somewhere and people say, ‘oh, this is O. A. Lawal, we have read your books’. It is a thing of joy when you write a book and it is published. It is like a woman being delivered of a baby. You feel fulfilled. It means one has been able, in his own little way, to contribute to the success of others.
The flair for educational book publishing has drastically reduced. How do you think the young ones can develop the habit of writing and being read?
The problem we have now is that we think so much of money. When we started writing, we were not thinking about money. We were thinking of spreading knowledge. Today, book publishing has been reduced to a level that is not all that encouraging. Many of our teachers today are not hard-working. Teaching is a difficult job; you have to update your knowledge almost every time. You should not use the note you used to teach last year to teach this year. You have to improve on your notes; you have to update your knowledge. If you don’t sit down and read, you will not be able to write. It takes a lot of efforts to write a book. It was when we started writing that we realised that it was lucrative, but today, people are thinking of the money they will make from a book. But it takes time for a book to be successful. More importantly, there is not so much encouragement from publishers.
Publishers should be searching for good authors. When I wrote Success in Economics, the publishers came to meet me at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, to discuss the possibility of writing Success in Economics, West African edition. In fact, I was taken to Britain for about six weeks to work with the other author, Derek Lobley. When I was writing in 1985, Longman invited me to write Business Studies. We were camped in Lagos every weekend for about three months. The writing involved three stages: The Commerce part; the Shorthand part and the Accounting part.
About three of us sat down and wrote the book. Interestingly, the book is still selling today.
What do you think youths can do to able to take to book writing and be read like you?
They have to work very hard. The unfortunate thing is that our youths are not prepared to work hard. Interestingly, I teach some courses at the Osun State University. I am happy to be back in the university as an Associate Professor of Economics. I discovered that the way we thought in those days is quite different from the way our youths think today. When you are doing anything, be passionate about it. Most of our youths are not passionate about what they are doing; some are being forced to go to school, though there are good ones. I told my students that the 400-Level students of today, I cannot compare them with my ‘A’ Levels students of 1984; that the ‘A’ Level students were better than the 400-Level students of today because they are not prepared to work hard.
You were once a lecturer at The Polytechnic, Ibadan. Lecturers used to rub off the chalkboard at the end of their lecture. But you did not have such a habit. Rather, you were fond of saying you could not destroy the work of your hand. What informed this habit?
I used to tell my students that ‘Olorun ma pa ise owo wa re’ (may God not wipe off the work of our hand). I even used to say it jokingly that teachers, after writing, would say, ‘rub off, rub off’. I am not in the habit of doing that, but, as a teacher, there is nothing you can do about it. When you write something on the board, you must erase parts of it to accommodate new ones. But majorly, I don’t write my notes on the board. Rather, I was dictating and the key words and sentences that I knew they would not understand, I wrote them on the board. So, there was no particular principle behind my saying ‘Olorun ma pa ise owo wa re’. It was a just a joke. There was no way you would write something on the board and it would not be rubbed off. If you don’t rub off, the students would definitely clean it off.
At a point, you were a commissioner in the old Oyo State. How enjoyable was public office?
The way I became a commissioner was quite interesting. In December 1983, I was in my hometown with my family and we were on Christmas/New Year holiday when the coup happened. We returned to Ibadan. We were talking and my wife just said, ‘Daddy, you could be made a commissioner’ and I said, ‘You are joking. I am not a friend to any soldier; I don’t know any of them and so, how can I become a commissioner?’ By middle of January 1984, a message was sent to my office at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, that the then Governor Oladayo Popoola wanted to see me. I was at home with one of my brothers because I would not go to campus until it was my lecture periods, but I would be there till evening. So, I had to go and tell my wife who was teaching in a school somewhere near where I was lecturing. She was so angry with me, asking what I had been doing at home. So, I drove straight to the state secretariat and when I got there, I asked for the Governor’s Office as I was not familiar with the place. I was directed to the office and I met a group of soldiers downstairs and I told them that I wanted to see the governor. I was directed to his ADC. When I got to him, I told him I understood that the governor wanted to see me and he asked, ‘Who are you?’ I introduced myself and the man said, ‘Oh! We have been looking for you since morning’. He gave me a salute and he took me straight to the governor.
Governor Popoola asked me to sit down. He was looking through some files. He said, ‘I was looking for a crop of commissioners and I stumbled on your name’. I was so surprised that my first response was that ‘sorry, I cannot be a commissioner’. All I am saying now are contained in my autobiography. I never knew or met him [Popoola] before then. But the man said, ‘Dr Lawal, I have decided to make you one of my commissioners. The National Security Organisation has investigated you, up to your town and I have decided to make you one of my commissioners. Please, give me your CV’. I told him I didn’t have my CV with me and he said, ‘Okay, go back to your office and get me a copy of your CV’.
I brought the CV and I just gave it to the governor’s ADC and I did not bother myself again until Friday of that week when it was announced that I had been appointed as a commissioner. It was quite dramatic. I mean, I was so disturbed because I had never worked with soldiers before. They were said to be bullies and I felt I should not allow myself to be bullied. But I got a wrong impression of Major General Oladayo Popoola.
How was the experience working with a military governor?
It was fantastic. If I have the opportunity to work with Major General Popoola again, I am prepared, anytime, any day. He is a gentleman. Interestingly, I was given three key ministries in one, the Ministry of Works, Housing and Land. Three ministries were merged together for me. I was thinking that I would be given the Ministry of Education or Commerce. The work was too heavy. I had to sign the Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) and the governor would tell you when he wanted the file and I had to be running up and down to meet his deadline. It was during that period that I experienced high blood pressure, but the work was very interesting.
We have so many experts in diverse fields across the country, especially in Economics and financial matters, but the gap is very wide between theories and implementation. What do you think could account for this?
Theory exists to help you to apply practical knowledge. Theories are useful but the environment differs from country to country. The Nigerian environment is quite different from the British environment. The theories would help you, but the problem we have in this country is that we do not make use of experts. That is one of the advantages of the developed countries which make use of their experts. How can you be talking of an economy without putting economists in positions?
But there are exemptions to the rule as former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, for example, made use of experts in the various ministries during his regime. Yet, the problems persisted… He used a lot of experts but the interesting thing about Economics is that it brings about a lot of questions. When you are solving one social problem, you are creating another. Look at the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) introduced by Babangida, for instance. It was a good programme if it was applied the way it was designed. But it was not so and that is why it failed. SAP is a good programme but the problem we have is that when we want to apply things, we put politics into it. There was a time Babangida said he was surprised that the economy had not collapsed. You see, economic problems are created by mismanagement. We said we had recession but you don’t have it in one day; it is a cumulative effect of economic mismanagement by the government.
Having occupied enviable positions at various times, do you have any piece of advice for the government, particularly on the economy and security?
On the economy, in the first instance, we are suffering from infrastructural deficits. If you want the economy to run very well, we have to improve our economy. Take for instance, power. You cannot develop an economy without regular, reliable and constant power supply. Then, our roads are bad. We need to develop the railway system. When I was in Sweden, whenever I was moving to Stockholm to attend seminars, it was easier and cheaper for me to go by train. We have to do more on security. The essence of governance is to be able to secure the lives and property of the people. A situation where people are being killed every day does not call for joy. It is a cause for concern. I don’t know what we can do. I am not a military man or a security personnel but the government, if necessary, should put more money into security; increase the number of policemen; increase the number of soldiers; provide facilities for policemen and soldiers.
We need to re-orientate our security officials; standing on the roads, checking particulars of vehicles and collecting money is not the way to solve the problem. We need to change our attitude; everybody needs to be security-conscious. We need to introduce new technologies, for instance, CCTV. In London City alone, there are about 4,000 CCTVs and if you do anything wrong, they catch you. Policemen in developed countries are not miracle workers and they don’t perform magic but they have facilities with which to work.
At 80, retrospectively, will you say you are fulfilled?
I thank God. When I look back, I would say I am fulfilled. But there are no silver linings without some cloud. About eight years ago, I lost my wife. It was a watershed in my life. I wish she were around. It is one of these things that have dampened my full joy. I was speaking at one place when one of my children gave birth and I told the gathering that I was happy but I would have been really happy if my wife were around. Her death has really been very traumatic and very painful. But I thank God for everything He has done for me. It has been a fulfilled life; if I could come to this world again, I would like to live way I have been living.
and then