Why August 8 should be declared Awo Day — Ajasin

Precisely, 61 years ago, the Western Region, now called the South-West, including the present Delta and Edo states, became self-governing. Chief Tokunbo Ajasin, the leader of the Yoruba pressure group, Atayese, in this interview with KUNLE ODEREMI, underscores the significance of the date to the Yoruba nation, vis-a-vis existing realities.

ON August 8, 1957, the struggle by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, along with other nationalists, culminated in the Yorubaland or to be specific, the then Western Region gaining self-governance. What did it imply that time, and why are you so passionate about the date?

That date marked a watershed in the annals of Nigeria and we owe our people the duty to constantly remind the Yoruba nation that we are proud of our history, especially the enviable legacies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and there is no better period to underscore such fact than what has become of the nation today. We need to know the past so that our present can be better. August 8, 1957 was the day the Western Nigeria attained self-autonomy with all the inherent opportunities to tap into the potentialities of Yoruba Nation. Don’t forget there were three regions then: Western region, Eastern region and the Northern region. In each of these places, the fire of agitation for self-rule was burning, which led to the late Chief Anthony Enahoro moving a motion for self-independence for the country from the British colonial masters. But people from a certain section of the country said they were not ready for Independence. But, the people of the Western Region led by Awolowo said we were ready. So others advised to take their time since they were not ready for self-governance in 1957.

However, the other regions followed thereafter before the entire country eventually became independence on October 1, 1960. So from 1957, the Western Region became autonomous; we had our own Constitution; we had a Premier who was also the Leader of Government in the Western Region. The gains were tremendous and astonishing to the whole world as the leaders practically open up the Western region, creating new window of opportunities. The Yoruba Nation witnessed rapid and sustained development in critical sectors like education, heath, infrastructure (roads, electricity, pipe-borne water, and so on), employment and social scheme interventions. The leaders were passionate and engrossed in service and good governance, and were in hurry to create a template for others to emulate and so, the Western Region became a model in development to other countries even in Europe and Asia.  There was no question about integrity, accountability and due process. People could take security for granted; people valued life, name and honesty.

Unfortunately, there was an interruption of the progressive and upward swing in the Western Region by the Federal Government no sooner that Nigeria became independent in 1960. The interruption was destructive, if not catastrophic.  The central government tried to lord itself over parts of the country. Since then, the Yoruba Nation has been asphyxiating, necessitating the idea of Atayese designed as a platform for re-awakening of the people to seek an end to the disguised military arrangement foisted on us.

Some claim that Nigerians were probably not prepared for freedom as of that time, given the quick lapse to a dysfunctional system Nigeria became shortly after independence?

No, that’s not true, particularly as regards the Western Region. The pace of progress and development in the region was phenomenal. One good thing about federalism is the freedom and autonomy for each constituent unit to develop at their own pace. The Northern Region was not ready for self-governance then because they apparently felt they did not have the kind of preponderance of educated people in the Western Region. The Yoruba Nation had a crop of focused, dedicated leaders; distinguished men of vision and purpose, who could plan for today, tomorrow and beyond. They knew what could be done to release the potential of the region; they knew that development was not rocket science; that you must plan, liberate the minds of the people towards galvanising them for real and genuine development. Education was regarded as the real catalyst for development and synonymous with economic empowerment. The northern Region thought it was better they stayed on they sustained the status quo ante until they could catch up with the Western Region in terms of development.

Sadly, that’s exactly what we are still witnessing today. They offered contract employment to southerners because they didn’t have enough educated hand. They gave you a job on contract like a foreigner on Nigerian soil. That is why we are saying Nigeria should be restructured so that the constituent parts can develop through a healthy competition. Our organisation has gone further in this advocacy. In the South-West, we have organised ourselves (Yoruba Nation) in terms of a federal system. We have we what call, Eyas, it is like a sub-ethnic group of the Yoruba nation: Ijesa, Egba, Ijebu, Remo, Owo, Akure, and others. These people also develop at their own pace within the Yoruba nation. We are preaching what we are already doing. We feel that’s the model the country must follow rather than sustain a system that is not working; a system that remains a source of anger, frustration, violent agitation and bloodshed; a system that lacks equity; a system where people are constantly at each other’s’ neck, because of marginalisation.

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In concrete terms of what are the concrete gains of the 1957 proclamation for self-governance in Yoruba land

It is development. It was the period of compulsory free education for all children. It was something unheard of. The entire world acknowledged the vision of the leaders of the Western Region in adopting the policy and its astounding success and impact. That was why I was surprised that we should be talking about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) because that was a feat we achieved in Yoruba Nation 50 years ago. So, why should anybody be talking about what we were able to achieve five decades ago today? It doesn’t make sense; we should have doubled or even tripled such goal and achievement if we had not been held back by the system foisted on us and sustained by inept leadership. On health, all school children had free medical treatment in the Western Region. I recall that as a young boy, when I had a bruise, I walked into the nearest dispensary to be treated free. That dispensary is still there but it no longer serves any useful purpose; each time I pass-by, I shake my head and wonder how the entire system had crashed and deprived the citizens of the purpose of government. I recall that during that period, people trooped to government health facilities to be attended to by dentists without paying a dime. Old people were looked after specially, just as there was an aggressive adult education progamme for people to learn how to read and write. There was a minimum wage and people willingly paid their taxes because they could feel the impact and essence of good governance in their lives. Government was very close to the grassroots level. Just look around you today, most of the monuments you find are part of the legacies of that era. One of them is the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan; the Western Nigerian Broadcasting Service (WNBS/WNTV) took only seven months to be completed. It was the first in Africa. The pace of development was infectious because others began to copy the model; they hardly succeeded because they lacked the vision and understanding of those behind the project in the Western Region. The commissioning ceremony of Liberty Stadium held the whole world spellbound.

Most Nigerian youths are under 40 years are not likely to know all of these things I am talking about. We should blame the unfortunate trend because we abandoned the teaching of history as a subject in schools, and I think it is a deliberate policy not to allow history in the subconscious of our people, especially the youths. Why must you say people not know about their history? People must know the way we were in the past. The other day we were reminiscing about our university days when feeding was free of charge; we had standard hostel accommodation; you had hostels of that were comparable to the ones you had in developed countries then.

What do the people and their leaders need to do so that the glory of that era that began 61 years ago can be regained, though a lot of people are pessimistic regaining such lost grounds?

The first thing we must quickly do is to embark on aggressive teaching of what we had in the past; you must look at your past and let people know. We should ask ourselves, who was the leader at that time: Chief Awolowo. Why don’t we dedicate August 8, 1957 to remember him? We should study his philosophy; vision, administrative prowess. Who is this man that people talk about every day, yet they do not follow his progressive footstep and ideals? What is so unique about him; why does he still stand out? So, we should have August 8 as Awo Day. It could declared a public holiday. However, the most important thing is to make sure we use the occasion to teach, learn and inculcate in our sub-conscious who the man was; his philosophy; leadership style; legacies in education; pioneering efforts and what we must continue to do if we indeed appreciate and have ingrained in us the values, ideals and virtues Awo stood for. Through this, people will work and be determined to emulate him and even try to possibly surpass his records of service, good governance and dedication to the course of human capacity development. They will have a template in what Awo stands for. But most of those born this time don’t have anything to go by; what they have to go by now is perverted values; greed and avarice, as well as other unedifying factors like looting of public tilt. No party was well organised like the Action Group; that is part of his legacy. So, we must make August 8 a remembrance day to commemorate Awo and his ideals that made the Western Region a model to the world in development and pragmatic leadership.  We should teach his philosophies in schools just as we learn about other great philosophers like Socrates, and translate his works into the Yoruba language. All these things will also help our language because by the time you are reading a subject in your Yoruba, you would be developing the language.

You will need the political elite to key into all these proposal, including your bill on referendum on federating the six states in the South-West. To what extent are they ready to coopt them into the whole project, in view of the inordinate ambition for power for self-preservation these days?

Some of the problems we have with the political elite is the way politics is being played. Most of our politicians have abandoned the concept of development and replaced it with the uncomplimentary politics of self. They want to make money at the expense of the welfare of the people; they want to build business empires, rather build institutional framework for prosperity and the good of the majority and society. Politics has become the most paying job in the country; people do not care about what happens to the people. Such class of politicians are able to have their way because the majority of the youths do not know what happened in the past that I have talked about, otherwise the people might revolt if they should know how they are being shortchanged. But bad situations do not last for every.  It is a matter of time; the famous Yoruba concept of Omoluabi we are trying to restore will be attained.