Opinion

Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the fabric of Nigeria’s history and society

Published

2 months ago

July 2, 2026

By Sabella Ogbobode Abidde,

As a scholar, I have always wanted to edit or co-edit a book on the Big Ten of Nigerian nationalists, focusing on their lives, times, and generational impact from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century.

Also read: NCC Urges Rapid Fibre Rollout to Boost $1trn Economy Growth

An august list would include greats such as Aminu Kano, Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alvan Ikoku, Anthony Enahoro, Ahmadu Bello, Egbert Udo Udoma, Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Eyo Ita, and Nnamdi Azikiwe. Two or more scholarly volumes would be ready before I bid farewell to my academic career.

But for now, this column briefly sheds light on a philosopher and mystic, who was also a political and economic giant: Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

His impact is multigenerational and wondrously woven into the fabric of Nigeria’s history, culture, and society.

Publicly available records indicate that the Nigerian nationalist movement began in the 1920s (Awolowo was born in 1909), so he had forebearers in the movement.

He later became one of the movement’s central figures, and by independence in October 1960, he had perhaps become the dominant personality shaping Nigeria’s political development and economic growth.

Awolowo was also a federalist. The first Premier of the Western region of Nigeria. The founder of the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe Omo Oduduwa.

He was the leader of the Action Group (AG), a political party and an opposition leader in the federal parliament, from 1959 to 1963.

A noted lawyer, author, journalist, and the founder and publisher of the Nigerian Tribune newspaper.

And in later years, under the first military regime, he served as the federal commissioner for finance and as vice chairman of the Federal Executive Council during the Nigerian-Biafran Civil War, 1967-1970.

Much later, Awolowo founded the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and became the party’s presidential candidate in 1979 and 1983.

The consensus was that, on both occasions – especially in 1979 – the electoral body, acting at the behest of the then military regime, put its foot and thumb on the ballot-counting machines to the detriment of Awolowo.

In other words, those who voted didn’t count; the military counted and secured the votes for their preferred candidate.

Those officially sanctioned electoral irregularities, many Nigerians have asserted, partially account for why Nigeria has remained politically and economically miserable and socially chaotic in the years since.

And in the years since his passing, many of the so-called Awoists — men and women who claimed to be adherents and practitioners of his precepts — have fallen by the wayside.

They failed! By 1997, one rarely finds a school of politicians parading themselves as students of or members of the Awolowo Cathedral.

In the second decade of the twenty-first century, many politicians lack the impudence to call themselves Awoists.

The irony is that in the northern part of Nigeria, one can rarely find a pool of politicians who, today, adhere to the teachings and practices of Mallam Aminu Kano. And in the east, there are no more followers of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

Many politicians, from the east to the west, from the north to the south, and from the middle belt to the south-south, have done away with ethics, morality, ideology, or remaining faithful to their political parties.

Most no longer care about party manifestos or going to the State House, National Assembly, or the Presidency with the people’s burden on their hearts or shoulders.

In public or in private, participants in the Nigerian political and economic space think nothing about integrity, posterity, nation-building, or national interest. It is mostly about self-interest now.

That is what Nigeria has become! Many of the good, effective, efficient, visionary, and purposeful Nigerians are in hiding, while the audaciously corrupt are masters of the game, leaders at various levels of governance.

And we expect to change for the better? Heck no! It is a painful three-ring circus at all three levels.

I do not for once contend that the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a lost cause, a lost experiment, a lost entity, or a forsaken project. No! It can be saved; it can be brought back from the edge of the cliff.

And I also do not for once think that Nigeria should be partitioned into three or four separate countries.

Oh, no! I believe that sustained, first-rate, courageous, and visionary leadership can turn the Nigerian ship around. It is doable. This is not a hopeless country. It is not!

Many of the institutions Awolowo built are still going strong. Many of his policies have been proven right and correct. Many of his teachings have been found to be the appropriate panaceas for Nigeria.

And many of the physical infrastructure projects he built lasted for more than four decades.

And so, imagine where Nigeria would be today on the development scale – on the same level as Taiwan, South Korea, New Zealand, China, and Australia? Or the oil-rich Middle East countries.

Not having Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the president of this federation set her back three to four decades.

Examined dispassionately, his economic and political achievements have yet to be rivaled for several decades after his premiership of the western region, and neither has his commissionership (now minister) of the finance portfolio.

He was good, he was great, and he was miles above his contemporaries in the development of their various regions and in their generational legacies.

Without Awolowo’s policies, much of southern Nigeria – especially the western region — would perhaps be one of the least developed in today’s Nigeria.

Directly and indirectly, Awolowo was the man who made it possible for millions of Nigerians and their offspring to dream of and have a better life.

He promised, he delivered; he built and encouraged others, such as Michael Adekunle Ajasin (Ondo State), Lateef Kayode Jakande (Lagos State), Bola Ige (Oyo State), and Olabisi Onabanjo (Ogun State), to be builders.

If General Yakubu Dan-Yumma Gowon was the most consequential military leader Nigeria has ever had, Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, was the single most consequential leader and public figure beginning with his premiership in 1954.

Above all else, he was a family man, a good man, a good Nigerian, and a Pan-Africanist. He was better than most and far better than we thought. That’s Awo for you, a man who’s woven into our consciousness.

Also read: Abolish state of origin: A prerequisite for true national integration

Chief Obafemi Awolowo would have been 117 this year, but he died at 78 in 1987 at his home in Ikenne, Ogun State. Chief Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, affectionally called HID, was Awolowo’s “jewel of inestimable value.” He had said of her: “I do not hesitate to confess that I owe my success in life to three factors: the Grace of God, a Spartan self-discipline, and a good wife. Our home is to all of us, a true haven; a place of happiness, and of imperturbable seclusion from the buffetings of life.” HID was born in Ikenne, in1915 and passed in 2015 in the same locality. She was 99. It was a union and a marriage that lasted for five glorious decades.

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Opinion

From Lagos to Germany: How Rotary Youth Exchange Transformed Arnold Faranpojo

Published

1 day ago

September 7, 2026

Mariam Balogun

By Ehi Braimah and Victor Ojelabi,

At 16, Arnold Faranpojo had already completed his secondary education, earned impressive examination results and begun charting a path towards an international future.

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But his participation in the Rotary Youth Exchange Programme, facilitated by Rotary International District 9111 during the tenure of then District Governor Henry Akinyele, would take his education beyond the classroom, giving him an experience that would reshape his outlook on life, culture, independence and the world.

Born in Lagos on 28 July 2009, Arnold is the second of three boys in the Faranpojo family. Although his roots are in Ile-Ife, Osun State, he grew up in Lagos, where he completed his secondary education at Nigerian Navy Secondary School, Abeokuta.

He graduated in 2025 with his WAEC and NECO certificates and recorded an impressive 319 in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examination the same year.

Rather than immediately proceeding into university, however, Arnold embarked on an 11-month Rotary Youth Exchange experience in Germany, an opportunity he describes as one of the most memorable chapters of his young life.

A Family’s Leap of Faith

News of Arnold’s selection was met with excitement in the Faranpojo household, although it also came with understandable concerns.

For his parents, sending their son away for almost a year was a major decision. For his two brothers, the prospect of having the middle child away from home was initially unsettling.

“Knowing that the middle man of the three boys was going to be away for a year was at first unsettling with uncertainties,” the family recalled. “But with some clarification and explanation, the news was later greeted with faith and hopes for better things.”

For Arnold himself, the selection brought a mixture of gratitude, excitement and pride.

“It was a very exciting and memorable moment for me,” he said. “I felt extremely grateful, excited and proud because it was an opportunity to experience a completely different country and culture.”

His parents shared his excitement and were proud of the opportunity, even as they recognised that their son was about to take a significant step towards independence.

Arnold is the son of Rev. Alexander Faranpojo mni, a business consultant, clergyman and member of the National Institute.

He is the founding pastor of Virtues Christian Centre in Lagos and London and president of Virtues Life Foundation, an organisation focused on humanities, societies and governance.

His mother, Pastor Mrs Funmilola Faranpojo, is also a business consultant with interests in educational advancement and international agency services.

She serves alongside her husband in ministry and has close to two decades of experience spanning banking and human capital development. She holds a postgraduate qualification in Human Resources from the University of Winnipeg.

Together, they have supported Arnold and his brothers while encouraging their educational and personal development.

Eleven Months That Changed Everything

Arnold spent approximately 11 months in Germany, living and studying in Wuppertal and attending Wilhelm Dörpfeld Gymnasium.

The experience exposed him to an education system different from the one he had known in Nigeria, while also placing him in an environment where communication, adaptation and independence became part of everyday life.

“Everything was different — the language, culture, school system, food and daily lifestyle,” Arnold recalled of his initial experience.

The early days were challenging. Adjusting to a new country, learning to communicate in another language and understanding unfamiliar social and educational systems required patience.

But gradually, the unfamiliar became familiar.

Arnold improved his German language skills, became more comfortable communicating with people and learnt to navigate daily life with increasing independence.

Beyond Wuppertal, the exchange opened the door to travel and cultural discovery. He visited Düsseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, as well as Paris in France.

Each journey offered a different perspective, allowing him to experience new cities, cultures and ways of life.

Yet, for Arnold, the exchange was about much more than travelling.

He spent considerable time at school, participated in Rotary activities, built friendships with Germans and young people from other countries and learned how to interact with individuals from different backgrounds.

“Overall, the exchange helped me become more independent, adaptable, confident and open-minded,” he said.

More Than a Language

One of the most significant outcomes of Arnold’s exchange year was the development of his confidence.

Living away from his family required him to take greater responsibility for himself. Communicating in a foreign language pushed him outside his comfort zone, while interacting with people from different cultures broadened his understanding of the world.

By the end of the programme, Germany no longer felt like the completely unfamiliar environment he encountered when he first arrived.

“I had developed a strong appreciation for the country and its culture,” he said.

The experience also gave him something that cannot easily be measured by academic certificates: an international perspective.

For Arnold, learning German became part of a much larger lesson about communication, tolerance and adaptability.

“My exchange year taught me much more than just a new language,” he said. “It taught me how to adapt, communicate with different people, become independent, and appreciate different cultures.”

The strongest placement is immediately after the “More Than a Language” section and before “Building Towards the Future”. It creates a natural bridge from Arnold’s return to Nigeria into what comes next.

A Special Homecoming

Arnold’s return from Germany brought another memorable Rotary moment.

On 18 August 2026, he had the rare privilege of joining Rotary International President Olayinka Hakeem Babalola and other Rotary leaders at a special reception in Lagos held in Babalola’s honour.

The reception, jointly organised by Rotary International Districts 9111 and 9112 under District Governors Bukola Bakare and Layi Abidoye respectively, brought together Rotarians and other guests to celebrate Babalola’s historic leadership of the global service organisation.

Arnold did not attend the reception alone. His parents, Rev. Alexander Faranpojo mni and Pastor Mrs Funmilola Faranpojo, accompanied him, giving the family an opportunity to share another significant Rotary experience together following his return from Germany.

Babalola was full of praise for Arnold and the journey he had undertaken through the Rotary Youth Exchange Programme.

He noted that about 7,000 young people around the world are offered the opportunity to participate in Rotary Youth Exchange each year, placing Arnold’s experience within a global programme that enables young people to live in another country, experience different cultures and develop a broader understanding of the world.

For Arnold, meeting the Rotary International President so soon after returning from an 11-month exchange provided a fitting connection between the opportunity Rotary had given him abroad and the organisation’s leadership at home.

Babalola’s emergence as the second Nigerian and second African to serve as President of Rotary International also carried particular significance.

For a young Nigerian whose worldview had been broadened through a Rotary programme, his leadership offered another powerful example of how service, opportunity and exposure can transcend geographical boundaries.

Building Towards the Future

With his exchange year behind him, Arnold is now focused on the next stage of his journey.

He is continuing to improve his German language skills as he prepares for university, with plans to study Business Informatics (Wirtschaftsinformatik) in Germany.

The field sits at the intersection of business and technology, an area that aligns with Arnold’s growing interests and his ambitions for the future.

But his aspirations extend beyond technology and business.

He hopes to combine his interests in business, technology and fashion to create something that contributes positively to humanity.

His Rotary experience, he believes, will remain an important foundation as he pursues these ambitions.

Looking back on the opportunity, Arnold is clear about what the experience has given him: greater confidence, independence, adaptability and a broader understanding of the world.

It has also taught him not to be afraid of unfamiliar territory.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity and believe the experience will continue to influence my education, career, and personal development,” he said.