Mr Olufemi Adewumi, former Head of Civil Service in Ekiti State and the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Joel Babatola Annual Lecture Series (JOBAL), an initiative under the Ekiti Council of Elders (ECE), speaks on the purpose of the initiative, which is expected to hold its maiden lecture entitled: Governance, Structural Reform and the Economic Landscape of Nigeria in November. Excerpts:
I learnt that your Board under the auspices of Ekiti Council Elders is planning to institute a lecture series to commemorate the contribution of Chief Babatola to the development of Western Region under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Could you please tell us about this initiative?
The Ekiti Council of Elders, which has been deeply involved in many community development programmes, especially those targeted at enhancing traditional values and respect within the Yoruba nation, has already instituted and upgraded our board. The board is called the ‘Board of Trustees of Joel Babatola Annual Lecture Series’. Chief Babatola was identified as one of the closest political associates of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in his days. You recall that Chief Awolowo was widely respected, particularly in the South-West and beyond. During his tenure as both leader of government and Premier of Western Nigeria, he achieved many things that became legacies, particularly the Free Primary Education and several infrastructure developments that made Western Nigeria stand far ahead of other regions of the country.
We recognise that Chief Awolowo had a dedicated team that assisted him in implementing those policies and one of those key individuals was Chief Joel Babatola, who happens to be from here. All over Nigeria today, people still make reference to the development strides of the old Western Region. We talk about the good old days, but not many people truly know what those good old days were, or the people behind them.
So, this initiative serves as an awakening to enlighten the younger generation about that era, to remind the older generation of what once was and to emphasize that it is still possible to follow those legacies and replicate such progress, even in a small community like ours. Ekiti was part of the old Western Region, though today it may be the smallest in political jurisdiction. Essentially, what we are trying to do is to remember those good old days, recall those who made them possible and inspire our people to believe that similar achievements are still possible in our own time.
If people can appreciate the driving forces behind those past achievements, the new generation will imbibe that culture, appreciate it and hopefully commit themselves to reviving those glorious values.
I read that he was involved in engineering and implementing many of those ideas the party had at that time. Could you mention the key areas where his impact was most felt, maybe education, industrial development, or others?
Before that, let me say this, the Ekiti Council of Elders is part of the Yoruba Council of Elders and when the Ekiti chapter was established, it was Chief Babatola who served as the first chairman. So, the advent of the Council of Elders here is traceable directly to him. Many of those who worked closely with Chief Babatola have now passed on, which is another reason we felt it necessary to immortalise him. He not only played a critical role in policy implementation under Chief Awolowo, but also provided leadership in both Ondo and Ekiti states.
You see, when you talk of the government, anybody who serves at a particular point can claim to be part of its achievements or its failures. For instance, when people talk about free Education, not many know it was actually initiated by Chief Awolowo, while the Minister of Education then was a parliamentarian named Adekoya Ajayi, an Ijebu man.
Today, except you are a student of history, you rarely hear their individual contributions. But our research shows that Chief Awolowo relied heavily on Chief Babatola, who was brought in to replace another minister dropped during a cabinet reshuffle. Prior to that, he was already in government, though not at the ministerial level.
What do you intend to achieve with this lecture series?
It is a reawakening, a reminder to those who lived through that era and an enlightenment for those who have only heard about it. That period, the era of progress and human development produced the best public service in the entire Federation. The Western Region had better pay, better working conditions and stronger moral values than even the Federal Government. Public servants then were encouraged to think independently, propose initiatives and even disagree respectfully with government based on superior argument. What we see today is no longer a reflection of that time.
Our lecture topic, ‘Governance, Structural Reform and the Economic Landscape of Nigeria: A Reflection of the Past, an Analysis of the Present and a Projection into the Future’ is designed to make us reflect on why we were respected then and how we can regain that respect now and in the future. Unfortunately, our values have been subjected to abuse and desecration, there is moral decadence and corruption. There was a time when being corrupt was an aberration. Now it is almost normalised.
Many of our best children have left for the diaspora because they believe opportunities are no longer here. In those days, studying abroad was rare, it was only for those who couldn’t gain local admission. Our universities were world-class. If you studied in America, then, your certificate would still be re-evaluated before employment. People going to India today would be placed several levels below in those who studied in Nigeria in those days. But now, those same countries have become attractive to us. We want to reverse this trend and charity must begin at home. This lecture will start the conversation here in Ekiti and we expect participation from across the entire South-West.
We have invited Chief Bisi Akande, a man respected across Nigeria both in governance and education to deliver the maiden lecture. He experienced much of what we are talking about and represents the generation closest to Chief Awolowo’s era.
Can you compare the political ideology of then and now, what difference do you see in the implementation of party manifestos?
The difference is vast. Then, there was what we called party supremacy, once the party decided on a policy, every member from the Premier to the councillors was bound to follow it. Today, there is no strict ideological divide between parties. People easily cross from one party to another without any sense of betrayal. In those days, egalitarianism was the guiding principle. Chief Awolowo and his followers believed education was the path to lifting people out of poverty. There was commitment to the party’s ideology, to its agenda and to its people. That commitment no longer exists.
Governors today act more on personal beliefs or what makes them popular, rather than what aligns with the party’s ideology. The party no longer structures policies; individuals do. So, the era of strict commitment to party ideology no longer exists. You see, the truth of the matter is that certain things people don’t even know. Those who were funding AG (Action Group) were not even holding political positions. They might nominate people, but they never felt too big, they subjected themselves to party discipline. Now, one of the things that made it successful at that time was the absence of what we now call transactional politics. What we have today is transactional politics, what is your take on this?
Let me tell you this, Chief Babatola was a teacher even when he retired from politics, he was still teaching. Just like Osuntokun who was minister then and still went back to school, to the classroom and became principal. They were not ashamed to go back to where they came from. At that time; it was the members that were funding the party. You had a party card, as you contributed one penny or one pound, it was recorded there. Those records were gathered at local levels and taken upward to fund the party. So, it was members funding the party rather than individuals waiting for the party to give them money even to vote.
The man or woman who contributed his money like every other member saw it as an investment in the party and committed him or herself to the party’s success. Who would even give you money? As young as I was then and I witnessed elections around 1963. You were the one giving money to strengthen your own party. There was rivalry, yes, sometimes even violence during elections, but there was commitment to your party and you invested in it. As long as individuals do not share the ideology or belief that you must fund your party so that, when it gets to power, it can benefit you and the society, you will not move away from transactional politics.
It is those who have access to money that now determine what goes on. I do not know what we can do to reverse this trend. I almost see it as impossible but even if it is possible, it will be very difficult. Because people, including those who were around during Awo’s era have now accepted this derogatory trend, it’s a very shameful thing.So it goes beyond politics, if we are going to stop transactional politics, it must go beyond the political realm. We have to address it holistically. It may surprise you or maybe not that even religious leaders, when they get involved in politics, are no different from the transactional actors.
So, now we have to sit down, that’s part of what we’re discussing here. We have to sit down and look at values beyond monetary values. Let people understand that, when you have sold your vote, you have no right to call the man you sold your vote to come and account to you because of the accountability he was supposed to owe you, you’ve already sold away. It’s a very serious issue, it’s a herculean task if we’re going to change it, it will take time but I am an apostle, a believer, a disciple of those who advocate that let us start the process of changing this transactional political ideology.
Let’s talk about the life and times of Chief Babatola, what do you know about him?
Well, he was somebody I knew personally but my knowledge of him didn’t start until I graduated and rejoined the service of the old Ondo State when he was the Chairman of Housing Corporation and was the right-hand man of Chief Adekunle Ajasin.I knew him first because I started my career in the Department of Lands and Housing and I also knew him as the owner of the largest layout plot here in Ado-Ekiti. If you bought land then and you bought from his layout known as Olora layout, you knew you had bought land in a peaceful place. Sure, there were many layouts then in Ondo, but apart from the GRA which was already done by the colonialists, his layout was the first major one.
I also knew him then as the leader of Ekiti in the old Ondo State. Very many of the political leaders from this side of Ondo State respected him. He had been a benefactor to many and from that perspective, those of us who were not even close to him, who were young also respected him. When you see old people respecting a particular person, even if you do not have direct benefit from that person, you must know there must be something good about him. Besides that, it was not long after the 1983 election that he returned to Ado-Ekiti, he was no longer active in politics but I also knew him as somebody whom Ado-Ekiti people respected deeply.
When I was first posted to Ado in 1981, he was one of the people that the Kabiyesi then respected so much and the late Kabiyesi Aladesanmi. He was a deep, religious person, very brilliant and full of what we now call local knowledge and a kind of native intelligence. For him to respect anybody at all, it means that person must have been a good person. Because I met him once or twice and Babatola was one of the people the Kabiyesi referred me to consult on land matters. So, I don’t know much more than that but everywhere I went from 1981 till about 1985, everybody respected him. So, I was bound to respect him too, because the elite class in Ado-Ekiti regarded him as their benefactor and a man to be respected.
Now, can you tell us briefly about the offices that he held during his active years in politics?
He was Minister of Home Affairs and Information in the Western Region of Nigeria under Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola during the First Republic in 1960. He was also a Commissioner where he represented Ekiti Divisions in the Government of Western State of Nigeria in 1971 under Brigadier General Oluwole Rotimi. He was the Chairman of Ondo State Housing Corporation and held this position during the Second Republic of old Ondo State between 1979 and 1983. He was also a Patron of Ekiti Council of Elders and Government Elders Advisory Committee and inaugurated by former Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State in 2012.
He was equally the Vice President of Yoruba Council of Elders. Until his death on November 24, 2014, at the age of 96, Chief Babatola held this position and was also the oldest surviving disciple of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.