Awo, the thinker
Deep thought has to precede great achievement. Indeed, in the case of Chief Awolowo, it was the payment of adequate homage to thought that facilitated the action required and that clarified the means to adopt. True to his humanity, he put his mind to work for the progressive advancement of the nation that he believed in. It was thus that progressive governance has its thought leader and its foremost agent of praxis. He was an active thinker and a thoughtful actor.
A: Here is a sampling of Awo’s logical reasoning on the three existential issues:
- ON EDUCATION
- Human beings are the sole dynamic agents of development
- Education is fundamentally important for humans as individuals, family, and society to fully develop their skills
Therefore,
- The state has a duty to provide free education at all levels to citizens.
- ON THE ECONOMY
- The welfare of citizens is the most fundamental concern of the government
- The economy is the most fundamental social political arrangement that impacts the welfare of citizens
- A good economic outcome requires adequate planning
Therefore,
- “A progressive government must have a sound economic plan that prioritizes diversification and integrated rural development.”
- ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND CONSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
- There is a scientific and objective formula that determines the best political and constitutional arrangement for nation-states
- The best political and constitutional arrangement for a multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic state is a true federal system
Therefore,
- “The best political and constitutional arrangement for Nigeria is a true federal system”
It has been almost seventy years since Chief Awolowo first published and enunciated some of these ideas in his Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947) with subsequent reformulations and refinements in his other books and monographs. Since then, and especially since his passing, every serious contribution on the matter of Nigerian social and political challenges has been a series of footnotes on his seminal ideas.
An interesting question presents itself: How is it that Chief Awolowo, a politician who never attained the highest political office in the land, continues to be relevant to social and political discourse in the land almost thirty years after his transition?
An answer is not far-fetched: It is not Awo the body that resonates. It is Awo the mind that continues to animate and confound. Awo the mind remains an enigma of immense proportion. This is an interesting thought which again is traceable to him. Didn’t the sage himself place premium on the development of the subjective mind? Indeed, Awo himself was not shy about his worth in ideas and thoughtful solutions to national challenges:
“Look at the books which I have written, the lectures which I have given, and the many speeches and statements which I have made. You will find that there is no problem confronting or about to confront Nigeria to which I have not given thought and for which I have not proffered intelligent and reasoned solutions.” “The Framework of National Policies” in Path to Nigerian Greatness, 1981, page 89.
AND
“I have never regarded myself as having a monopoly of wisdom. The trouble is that when most people in life and in the position of leadership and rulership are spending whole days and nights carousing in clubs or in the company of men of shady character and women of easy virtue, I, like a few others, am always at my post working hard at the country’s problems, and trying to find solutions for them. With them the slogan always is: Drinking and Dancing Till Day Break; but with those of my breed, it is: Hard Work Till Midnight or the Early Hours of the Morning. Now, when out of the inflated emptiness of their minds they speak, they are naturally superficial. Only the deep can call to the deep. When, on the other hand, others of my ilk speak out of the fullness of their minds, what they say more often than not command attention and sometimes appeals to the majority of the people. This is the difference.”
In a series on the essence of progressivism as a body of ideas, I asked and attempted to answer a few questions: What issues present themselves to the mind of the progressive? What challenges agitate their mind? In the circumstance of a nation to which they express unflinching loyalty and express an unparalleled affection, what keeps them awake at night? And I suggested that at a time such as this, when the morale of the nation is at the lowest it can be before despair gives way to anarchy; when the level of corruption is sky-high and neck-deep, in an environment of thick social dysfunction occasioned by joblessness and hopelessness on the part of the youth; progressive thinking cannot just be reactive, it must be proactive and deep.
The message of progressive governance is simple. It stakes a claim in the arena of the progressive development of every citizen. It does not exist for the 1 per cent. The present reality has shown that where the fortune of the 1 per cent is the objective, there is no guarantee of peace and stability. Besides this instrumental and prudential reasoning, however, the rationale of progressive governance is substantive. The right policy is one that promotes the progressive development of all without bias or discrimination on any ground. It is an obligation which a government must discharge faithfully.
The common good of all as opposed to the special interest of a few must be the battle cry of a progressive government. In the wake of the political tension in the horizon, in the face of economic inequality, in the climate of religious bigotry and educational decline, this is an opportune time for progressive thinking and action. To paraphrase one of my favorite philosophers, action without thought is blind and thought without action is empty. Let us then examine Awolowo’s thought and practice in the areas of education, the economy, and political structure or constitutional arrangements.
