Good Governance: We Must Elaborate On Awo’s Ideals – Fayemi

L-R: Executive Secretary, Awolowo Foundation, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu; Special Guest of Honour/Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and Chairman Board of Trustees, Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy (OAIGPP) Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, during the International Conference on Leadership and Governance in Africa, in Lagos.

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has called on political leaders in the country to elaborate on the ideational foundations of the late sage and Premier of defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and reconstruct them in the context of new challenges and new opportunities that would bring about good governance in the country.
Speaking in Lagos at the International Conference On “Leadership And Governance In Africa held at the Obafemi Awolowo Institute for Governance and Public Policy, Lagos on Friday,  the Governor asserted that Awolowo had already provided the ideational foundations for good leadership and good governance in Nigeria

At the event were the national Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande who chaired the conference, former Ambassador to Netherlands and daughter of the late sage, Dr Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, the representative of the Governor of Osun State, Mr Ajibola Bashiru, and renowned poet, Mr Odia Ofeimum.

Dr. Fayemi added that the struggle that some progressive leaders have engaged in the last three decades is based largely on Awolowo’s heritage in which the one and only purpose of political leadership and governance is the delivery of political goods.
He stressed that the grand purpose of leadership and governance in the context of Awolowo’s political philosophy can best be summarized as “public good and private welfare”.

“Whether in the context of political structure, particularly democratic federalism, in the nature, order, purpose and limits of government as evident in the rule of law, the rights and duties of citizens, or in the directive principles of state policy which should be geared towards the economic freedom, good health, liberty and welfare of the people, the struggle that some of us have engaged in, in the last three decades is based largely on this heritage; that is, a settled conviction in which the one and only purpose of political leadership and governance is the delivery of political goods”, Fayemi  stated.

The Governor explained that long before it became “a fashionable neoliberal consensus for international development agencies, such as World Bank and the IMF, to promote governance as performance, Awolowo had already theorized human beings as the sole purpose of governance and showed how the enhancement of the capacities of human beings to live well in all dimensions constitute the fundamental conditions of the existence and survival of any modern state and government.

While describing the assessment of Nigeria’s development by some international organizations as inaccurate, Fayemi said these assessments only mirror the failure of government at the federal level while the condition of the grassroots in sub-national level of governance is omitted.

The Governor cited the development of the Western Region under Awolowo as a proof of these inaccurate assessments saying that the five States under his Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the Second Republic renewed the possibilities of good governance in the areas of education, social welfare, social amenities, health and infrastructural development  while the federal state was “fumbling and failing”.
He asserted that it is not a surprise that political parties that were organized around Awolowo’s political ideology, even if imperfect in some ways, have continued to represent the best possibilities for good governance in Nigeria, even in the Fourth Republic.
The Governor said despite the imperfections and the challenges of this age, “the focus on the federal state must not prevent us from acknowledging good leadership and good governance at the local state level”.

While emphasizing that Nigeria’s salvation is impossible without true democratic federalism, Dr Fayemi, a political activist, affirmed that  one of the central purposes of federal governance is to allow the component parts to choose their paths while enabling those who wish to make the best of the opportunities available in all parts of the country to do so through federal assistance.

This, he said, is a major way of enabling citizens in the Northern and South Eastern part of Nigeria enjoy the various goods being delivered presently by Governors of South-West States even as he said that it is improper for students to enjoy the Laptop per child initiative of his administration’s e-school project in Ekiti State or the “Opon Imo” (tablet of knowledge) of the State of Osun while their colleagues in Zamfara are still being subjected to education practice of old in view of latest edu-technological development.

“We have had and continue to have great opportunities for good leadership at the level of the local state in Nigeria. Our challenge therefore is to create and expand such opportunities at the federal level, so that, in the end, we all will be able to say like Awo, in the famous UPN anthem: “Up, up, Nigeria, take thy rightful place, ’tis thy birthright and thy destiny, Africa’s leading light to be”, Fayemi added.

Also speaking at the event, a professor of Philosophy and African Studies, Professor Olufemi Taiwo had in his speech acknowledged Awolowo’s leadership qualities which he said many African leaders lacked and has created a rift between the State and citizens; leaving the countries in the hands of charlatans.
Taiwo said Awolowo held a strong belief that the ruled must play their roles in good governance while also having the liberty to enjoy from the abundance of the wealth of their nation.

L-R: Keynote Speaker, Professor Olufemi Taiwo; Executive Secretary, Awolowo Foundation, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu; Special Guest of Honour/Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and Chairman Board of Trustees, Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy (OAIGPP) Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, during the International Conference on Leadership and Governance in Africa, in Lagos.

Last modified: July 13, 2013