Tribute: Professor H.M.A. Onitiri, modest and humble leader

Two years ago, family, friends and professional associates gathered at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos to launch Professor Onitiri’s autobiography titled:  It’s Fun to Remember. In December 2016, he passed on to be re-united with his God and maker. I started my formal professional career as Junior Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) when Professor Onitiri was Director.

During his tenure, he succeeded in gathering within the Institute a formidable array of social scientist carrying on research into key aspects of the Nigerian economy and providing valuable policy advice to the government. Prof. Onitiri was a brilliant and perceptive economist. This was to be expected because in his youth, he used to listen to Nigerian trade unionist when they converge at his father’s garden in Railway Compound, Lagos discussing fabian socialist ideas, influenced by Harold Laski of the London School of Economics. This exposure influenced his choice of the London School of Economics as an undergraduate.

His exposure to Prof. J.E. Meade, a specialist in the field of international economics influenced his decision to specialize in the rather technical area of the balance of payments. Further academic preparation at Yale University, University of California, Berkeley and Oxford provided him the arsenal for a distinguished career in academics, research, policy analysis as well U.N.D.P. Administrator in Zimbabwe. The following were his greatest policy concerns: productivity; little or no value-added by Nigerians to exports and imports; growing income and wealth gap between urban and rural dwellers; and the small size of African economies. It is a tribute to his foresight that these concerns are still relevant today.

Prof. Onitiri was a modest and humble leader. He exposed his juniors to opportunities to improve themselves through sponsorship for advance degrees and participation at important local and international conferences. He was modest in taste and avoided any form of extravagance.

As Director-General of NISER, he was a key factor in Nigerian policy architecture between 1964 and 1980. He enjoyed close working relations with key Federal Permanent Secretaries such as Allison Ayida and Phillip Asiodu, fellow Nigerian Economist such as Dr. Okigbo, Professor O.Aboyade, Prof. T.M. Yesufu and such leading international scholars as Maede E.AG. Robinson, Paul Samuelson, Arthur Lewis, Jan Tinbergen and Tibor Scitovsky.

These scholars, in spite of their intimidating credentials, were distinguished by unusual humility and modesty. It was noteworthy that as a result of the professional expertise of Professor Onitiri and his fellow Nigerian economists who like him graduated from some of the best universities in the world, Nigeria attained middle-income status in the comity of nations in the 1970s. The middle class grew, and junior staff enjoyed considerable improvement in quality of life. This achievement was of course, facilitated by political leaders of that era (Alhaji Tafawa Balewa and Dr. Gowon) not arrogating to themselves expertise over economic matters.

I am sure that Professor Onitiri would have been disappointed with the Nigerian economy in recent years. but we should realize that the culprits are not only global economic turn down and corruption but (more importantly) also official pretense not to know the difference between professional economist and other related professionals who may not be knowledgeable about technicalities  such as appropriate macroeconomic frame work and choice of effective policies.

While we mourn his passing, we rejoice in the enviable legacies he left behind. These include, among others, NISER, successful children in their different occupations, and the Onitiri Research Foundation, design to assist post graduate students at the stage of writing their theses.

Professor H.M.A. Onitiri, brilliant economist, mentor, researcher, policy analyst and adviser, and distinguished international civil servant, we bid you good night till we meet at the feet of our Saviour  Jesus Christ.

•Professor Eghosa Osagie, is Chairman of the Board, Onitiri Research Foundation.