Day I climbed Tafawa Balewa Square’s tall steelgates just to see Awo –AfDB President Adesina
March 6, 2024 is a date that will linger in the memories of the President, African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina. Being awarded the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership is a feat he would cherish for life, going by how highly he revered the enigmatic politician who bestrode the nation’s political landscape for decades as the Premier of the Western Region in the First Republic and leader of the opposition Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the Second Republic.
The ADB boss admitted that much in the address he delivered as a special guest on the occasion as he expressed his “deepest appreciation and gratitude” to the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation for selecting him to receive the “distinguished award”.
He said: “My special thanks go to Ambassador Dosumu-Awolowo, Executive Director, Obafemi Awolowo Foundation; the Chair of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, former Head of State General H.E. Yakubu Gowon, as well as the Chairman of the Selection Committee, Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership, and H.E. Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, and members of the Technical Committee for the Prize.
“My immense gratitude goes to H.E. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who nominated me for the Prize. He was my boss as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and it was my greatest honour to serve Nigeria under him as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“My immense appreciation also goes to several global leaders who supported my nomination, including the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon; Rt. Honorable Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, former United States Ambassador to Vietnam and President Emeritus of the World Food Prize Foundation; Professor Soji Adelaja, Distinguished Professor of Land Policy, Michigan State University, USA; and Professor Patrick Verkooijen, Chief Executive Officer, Global Centre on Adaptation.”
Noting that the conferment of the award coincided with what would have marked Chief Awolowo’s 115th birthday and 37 years since his passing, he prayed the erudite politician’s soul to continue to rest in peace, “even as we draw inspiring lessons from his life, policies and philosophy”.
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He then underlined how highly he regarded the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership in spite of the multiple global awards in his kitty, for which he is very grateful.
He said: “I have received several global awards for which I am very grateful. Receiving the Awolowo Prize for Leadership is particularly very special. That’s because it brings back so many personal memories.
“Growing up in the old Western Region of Nigeria in the 1960s, only one name was synonymous with people-centered development: Awolowo. We lived in the same community as the sage in Okebola, Ibadan.
As a young child, passing by the frontage of his house was a favourite pastime. I remember peering over its low walls to see if I could just catch a glimpse of the man who transformed the lives of millions in the then Western Region.
“My father was enamored by Chief Awolowo. He devoured his books, writings and articles. The name ‘Awolowo’ was a constant guidepost for every discussion in our home.
“So much was the admiration that when I was 19 years old and Chief Awolowo ran for President under the Unity Party of Nigeria in 1979, myself and a close friend desperately wanted to simply catch a glimpse of him.
“When we arrived at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, the stands and the grounds were packed to capacity. The gates were locked. But we were absolutely undeterred.
“We had travelled all the way from Ife and would not be denied. So, we climbed the tall steel gates of the square; an unbelievable height when I look at it today.
“Once we scaled through, we ran up close to the stage where he was speaking from and proudly stood just one arms length from him and his dear wife, Mama Hannah Dideolu Awolowo.“Just a glimpse was enough. We listened with rapt attention to the exposition of his plans for Nigeria. We were mesmerized. Like a fragrance, his words took our breath away.
“We could smell hope in the air. Hope that Nigeria would be great. Hope that education would be free at all levels. Hope that there would be health for all. Hope that the remarkable transformation witnessed in the Western region of Nigeria, in education, agriculture, health, and infrastructure, undergirded by a highly professional and disciplined civil service, would soon take hold in Nigeria.
“Like the refrains of an orchestra, the sounds of Awo, Awo, filled the air, as our hopes were raised. We could see a new Nigeria. Alas, this was not to be.
“Nigeria missed its best opportunity to be great under a ‘President’ Awolowo. Chief Emeka Ojukwu said of him ‘the best President that Nigeria never had.’
“Let me say clearly: Chief Awolowo was bigger than Nigeria. He was the pacesetter and forerunner for development in Africa.
“His intellectual capacity, vision, pragmatic social welfarism helped him accomplish what was seemingly unimaginable at the time.
“He built the first skyscraper in Africa – the Cocoa House. He built the first television station in Africa, WNTV. He built the Liberty Stadium, the first of its kind in Africa.
“He implemented a blueprint for development that focused on building human capacity through massive programmes to educate the people, develop skills, lift people out of poverty, provide massive rural infrastructure, and develop institutions that turned farmers into wealthy entrepreneurs.
“I dare say that Chief Awolowo implemented the sustainable development goals decades long before the phrase was coined. He was an inspiration for Africa, far beyond the shores of Nigeria.
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“His philosophy, “Awoism”, was studied globally and helped shape programmes and policies in other countries.”
In his lecture titled ‘Making a New Nigeria: Welfarist Policies and People-Centered Development’, Adesina recalled that from his early days, he was influenced by the same drive as Chief Awolowo.
He said: “I promised myself then that if I ever got into any public position, I would run welfarist and people-centric policies.
“My heartbeat has always been about people; nothing more, nothing less. My life is only as useful to the extent that it is used of God to do my utmost to transform the lives of people.“Awo inspired me. Decades ago, the perfume of building hope rubbed off on me. It’s a fragrance that still lingers today.
“So, as I stand before you to receive the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership, I am humbled, inspired and motivated. I feel a new sense of responsibility.
“I am reminded today of the words of Martin Luther King Jnr, ‘History has thrust upon me a responsibility from which I cannot turn away’.
“Yes, I have a dream of a better and prosperous Nigeria. Yes, I have a dream of a globally respected Africa. Yes, I have a dream that Africa will not be condemned to the bottom rungs of the global economic ladder.
“I refuse to accept poverty’s imprint on Africa. I still believe that Nigeria will rise again. I still believe that Africa will shine and fulfill destiny. I still believe that we shall be who we are meant to be.
“Today, I accept this prize as a trustee of hope for millions of our people.
“You bestow upon me this honor at a momentous period of great global challenges, from rising debt, climate change, fragilities and vulnerabilities.
“Your honour is a call to do more amid these challenges. So, I celebrate with measure, as I know with all humility the work of making Nigeria great, and by implication making Africa great, is still in progress.
“It is my lifelong mission to do all I can to improve the lives of all Africans. The wind of challenges may sometimes shift us away from our destined path, albeit momentarily, but we shall overcome our challenges.
“Nigeria must dream. Africa must dream. Yes, we may have challenges, yet all I see tells me we will get there.
“We must start by unleashing our full potential, while managing our challenges. We must make poverty history in Nigeria. We must make poverty history in Africa.
“We must deliver a better Nigeria, and a better Africa, for this generation and generations to come.”
The ADB boss noted that given the high level of poverty in Africa and Nigeria, what is needed are welfarist policies that “exponentially expand opportunities for all, reduce inequalities, improve the quality of life of people.
“These must be anchored on public-centric policies and private sector wealth creation for all.”
In this respect, he said, the focus should be on five areas.
“First, rural economic transformation and food security. Second, health care security for all. Third, education for all. Fourth, access to affordable housing for all. Fifth, government accountability and fiscal decentralization for a true federalism.
“First, Nigeria must completely transform its rural economies to ensure food security for all.
“A better Africa must start with the transformation of rural economies. That is because some 70% of the population lives there. Rural poverty is extremely high.
“At the heart of transforming rural economies is agriculture, the main source of livelihoods.
“When agriculture moves away from being a way of life to a business, everything changes. Higher incomes and wages from agribusinesses will support education and health, and spur even greater job creation for millions of youths.
“As a young student who attended high school in the village, I witnessed the high correlation of agricultural performance with education. Several of my classmates were children of farmers.
“I noticed then that when the agricultural season was good, they stayed in school and performed well. But when the season was poor, several dropped out or attended intermittently.
“The decision by Chief Awolowo to start with the transformation of the rural economy was a very sound policy.
“The establishment of farm estates, and the expansion of rural roads, supported by professionally run marketing boards helped stabilise the prices of farm produce.
“It is worth noting that the prudent fiscal management of the cocoa revenues powered the economies of the states that then constituted the Western Region.
“These revenues allowed the government to embark on an unprecedented idea – free education and free basic health care services.
“It was common then to hear the phrase Agbe loba (farmers are kings), uttered with great pride.
“We must give new life to our rural areas. If Chief Awolowo could do this in the 1960s, there is no reason why rural economies today should be immersed in extreme poverty.
“Clearly, rural economies have been abandoned by politicians, planning and policies. Today, they have become zones of economic misery. The pauperization of rural economies is what is causing the implosion of many countries across Africa.
“When rural economies (the fulcrum of the African society) falter, nations falter. This leads to the spread of anarchy, banditry, and terrorism.
“This troika of social disruption takes advantage of the economic misery to entrench themselves. The transformation of rural economies must therefore be structural, systemic, strategic and comprehensive.
“Doing so, means agriculture must be turned into a wealth creating sector. I aggressively pursued this philosophy when I served as minister of agriculture and rural development of Nigeria from 2011-2015.
“Many call this period the “farm revolution” years, as Nigeria witnessed an impressive transformation of its agricultural sector.
“With farmer-centric policies, we delivered improved seeds and fertilizers for 15 million farmers. We delivered millions of cocoa seedlings across southern Nigeria.
“We delivered a cotton transformation across the north. We provided millions of oil palm seedlings to farm estates, including small farmers and large farm estates across the East, South and West.
“We accelerated the delivery of improved rice seeds across Nigeria and sparked a rice revolution that transformed several regions across Nigeria.
“Sound public policies transform the lives of people. I fondly remember one of my farm trips in the company of the then Governor of Kebbi State, H.E. Usman Dakingari.
“Amazed by the revolution happening, I recall him saying, “Minister, thank you, we no longer measure our rice yields in hectares of land, but in kilometres.”
Rural economies boomed. Local well packaged rice took over the market. The price of rice at the time was N6,000 per bag, which helped to stem food price inflation.
“Unfortunately, today, that same bag of rice, just nine years later, is N77,000 per bag. That 12-fold price increase unfortunately puts rice, a basic staple, beyond the reach of millions of people.
In several parts of Africa today, farm revolutions are happening at scale, with the support of the African Development Bank.
“Over the last seven years, we have invested over $8.5 billion in agriculture, which has impacted 250 million people.”
