IBADAN ABROAD

Ibukun Awosika of Africa: From Oke -Foko to First Bank Plc.
  by Augustine Togonu- Bickersteth London, England
Ibukun Awosilka used to reside in Oke-Foko, an economically challenged area of Ibadan. She has come long way to   become the Chairperson of Nigeria's biggest bank_ FIRST BANK PLC.
I went to school with  Ibukun Awosika. We took physics 201 together  way back at the university of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) this was 36 years ago. I remember her as pleasant to talk with  in  her 'Hawaii shirt'. Looking back, a chemistry undergraduate ,you could see she  was already moving about like an executive  if you are to go by her ownership of a black plastic brief case.
 Now that she has confirmed she is an  'Ibadan Girl' to the gathering of 36 Governors,  I ask what  is she doing about Ibadan? All her investments  are in Lagos.  Obafemi Awolowo did remark 'Even for the saints and sinners Lagos has got socio -gravitational pull'. So all roads lead to Lagos   but someone like an ace actor Dele Odule affirmed that Lagos is too congested for creativity.
Ordinarily   Ibukun Awosika could have   been employed by any of the 36 Governors to serve tea or coffee  but what she got  recently from them there and then in the executive chamber of the Presidential Villa where matters of  of state are deliberated was a standing ovation. It's like all those Governors have read  'LET HER FLY': a fathers journey and a search for equality by Ziauddin Yousafzai  father of Malala the youngest ever to win the Nobel Prize for Peace.
They would no doubt like their daughters to be like Ibukun Awosika. In   'Let Her Fly' Yousafzai reveals the principal of his daughter's college at Oxford served  Malala some tea; it was perhaps the greatest moment of his  life
   I read the Guardian so my conscience is  clear.   In The Guardian we have  some reports  on Ibadan namely:  Ibadan the best ,(Guardian July 14,2015  Editorial Comment celebrating the World ranking of the University of Ibadan  six places to visit in Ibadan October 11,  2017 by Chidimirim Ndeche  Ibadan Media City   Culture Technology collide 17th June, 2017   by  Gregory Austin Nwakunor, So there have been so very positive write ups in the Guardian  on Ibadan City where I lived for close to 40 years.
So I had a write up titled, Of New York City and Ibadan City in the Nigerian.com sometime in April  24, 2019  and  to my surprise  on the 26th
of April, two days later was a feature in The Guardian titled, 'IBADAN IN THE THROES OF REFUSE HEAPS'  by  Muyiwa Adeyemi and Rotimi Agboluaje. I sent it to a former reporter of the Guardian, son of the soil and now a  Professor  at Indiana university    Akin Adesokan. I also sent it to Yann Leclercqre who was in-charge of the Master Plan of Ibadan City for comments. To Omoseye Bolaji  Onigege wura ( Owner of the Golden pen) of Ibadanland  then I wrote to Microsoft to ask them how they could help with solid management  in  Ibadan city  how they could help in transforming   Ibadan City into a Smart City. Just like  there is the New York Economic Development Corporation  there should also be a similar body in Ibadan preferably  with Ibukun Awosika as Chairperson. I Ibadan has hope  and potential she would just need technology and behaviour modification (  for instance through the medium of film  as in India)as far as solid waste  menace is concerned. Ibadan would have to tout her strength and opportunities and   also work hard on her weaknesses and threats.

Aliko Dangote, Arinze Madueke, make top philanthropists in Nigeria

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Published on April 1, 2019

Looking at the stakes and contributions of Nigeria’s largest private foundations, using criteria such as the size of their foundations, track record of activities, the volume of interventions, the strategic importance of areas of focus and evidence of impact created in the society by their foundations, based on my opinion, here are the top 10 philanthropists at the moment, in no particular order.

Aliko Dangote, founder of Aliko Dangote Foundation

The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) is the Philanthropic endeavor of Aliko Dangote. The main objective of the Foundation is to reduce the number of lives lost to malnutrition and disease.

The foundation has also invested in health, education, and economic empowerment to help lift people out of poverty.

Uche Ogah, founder of Uche Ogah Foundation

The Uche Ogah Foundation is a non-profit and non-governmental charitable organization established in the year 2011 by Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah. The Foundation was established to coordinate and harmonize the philanthropic efforts of Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah. The major thrust is to alleviate the sufferings of the less privileged persons in our communities and society through education and empowerment.

Tony Elumelu, founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation

The Tony Elumelu Foundation [TEF] was founded in 2010 by Tony O. Elumelu, an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist who is passionate about Africa’s economic development.

Jim Ovia, founder of Jim Ovia Foundation

Jim Ovia Foundation supports youths and young ICT enterpreneurs by means of educational scholarships and innovative training programs that provide a benchmark for youth development.

Theophilus Y. Danjuma, founder of TY Danjuma Foundation

TY Danjuma Foundation is an independent private Nigerian philanthropic organisation committed to improving the quality of life for disadvantaged Nigerians, by supporting primarily health and education interventions implemented by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community Based Organisations (CBOs), faith-based organisations, youth organisations, women’s groups and similar groups working in Nigeria.

Emeka Offor, founder of Sir Emeka Offor Foundation

The Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF) is a charitable, non-governmental organization founded by Sir Emeka Offor in the early 1990s and registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act in 2006 to help people in need become independent and self-sufficient.

Oba Otudeko, founder of Oba Otudeko Foundation

The Oba Otudeko Foundation (OOF), formally inaugurated in 2003, is a private, independent, not-for-profit institution that is “committed to programmes aimed at ensuring that Nigeria keeps pace in the technologies and competencies that will define the twenty-first century and beyond, through people empowerment, capacity and institutions building.”

Arinze Madueke, founder of Zidora Aid foundation (ZAF)

The Zidora Aid foundation (ZAF) has empowered widows and orphans in some inner city communities around Lagos with free medical treatment and foodstuffs for thousands of widows and orphans. The foundation is focused on eradicating malnutrition and also providing homes for the homeless.

Folorunso Alakija, founder of Rose of Sharon Foundation

The Rose of Sharon Foundation aims to guarantee financial independence & educational opportunity for widows & orphans through schemes & programmes that assure greater self esteem & ease of socio-economic integration.

Muhammadu Indimi, founder of Mohammadu Indimi Foundation

The Muhammadu Indimi Foundation, a humanitarian organisation founded by Alhaji (Dr) Muhammadu Indimi, established in 2013, the Foundation was created to unlock Northern Nigeria’s potential through the alleviation of hunger and illiteracy.

The founder, Muhammadu Indimi, an Officer of the Federal Republic, OFR, is a native of Borno State and holds firm to the belief that charity begins at home. That is why the Indimi Foundation has been prioritising the North-east in its efforts to rebuild the nation one state at a time.

Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi, founder of Obijackson Foundation

The Obijackson Foundation was established to challenge tragedies, especially in rural areas where illiteracy, hunger and poor healthcare have regrettably become a commonplace. it also aims to bring the marginalized back into the society

New York City and Ibadan City

By
Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth
London, England

There are some interesting developments common between New York State and  Old Oyo State comprising now  Oyo State  and Osun State. New York City in New York State is the largest city in the United States of America while Ibadan City in Oyo State, the largest city in Nigeria. 

   New York has a mayor presently in the person of  Bill  de  Blasio and   Ibadan has instead, the traditional title basorun currently being held by Chief Kola Daisi, founder, Kola Daisi University, Ibadan.

  In addition to this   basorun  title, mention must be made of Iyalode of Ibadanland   which could be translated as the matriach of Ibadan city. The Iyalode - elect of Ibadan City is High Chief  (Mrs.) Theresa  Laduntan Oyekanmi .

New York City is the cultural capital of the U.S. and Ibadan City used to be the cultural capital of Nigeria. New York City is the publishing capital of the U.S. and Ibadan the publishing     capital of Nigeria.        In New York,  you have a well known monument to liberty – The Statue of Liberty. In Ibadan was also a well known monument to liberty – The Liberty Stadium (now Obafemi Awolowo Stadium). Over 60 million people visit New York every year. What about  Ibadan City?. Why not Ibadan city?

New York State and Oyo State have the best places for agricultural research of their respective countries.
In the U.S., it is the Cornell University, Ithaca, and in Oyo State, it is the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).       At Ibadan, precisely University of Ibadan we have the best programme in History in Nigeria also known as the Ibadan school of History. In New York City, precisely at Columbia University is the best programe in History in the U.S.    State University of New York, the largest in New York State, was founded in 1948 and 1948 also saw the founding of University of Ibadan, the largest university in Oyo State.
In New York State and Oyo State, we had Franklin Delano Roosevelt and James Ajibola Ige respectively. Roosevelt was Governor of New York State and Ige was Governor of Old Oyo State. Both of them served as governor for four years.

Roosevelt became President of the United States while Ige was a presidential aspirant. Franklin Roosevelt’s father, James Roosevelt, invested in the railway business whereas Bola Ige’s father, Solomom Ige, was a railway officer.

Roosevelt and Ige both studied at the premier degree-awarding institutions of their respective countries: Harvard College Cambridge and University College, Ibadan, respectively. Roosevelt and Ige were both lawyers. They both have been described as orators. What is more, they both died in office.

The seat of the Office of the Governor of New York is at Albany whereas the seat of the Office of the Governor of Oyo State is at Agodi. Indeed, what interesting coincidences!

Michael Bloomberg and Michael Faborode

  by
 Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth,London,England


 What is it that Michael Bloomberg knows   that Michael Faborode does not know?
Michael Bloomberg is the World's 9th richest man and Faborode  had served as 9th Vice- Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in Nigeria.  Bloomberg and Faborode are both engineers.
Bloomberg an electrical engineer  and Faborode an agricultural engineer.
Faborode shares the same birthdate   September 22 with Michael Faraday the fore-runner of the electrical engineering profession. Faraday was born in 1791  and Faborode was born in 1956.
 Bloomberg who was an ex mayor of New York city, U.S.A. has 325,000 subscribers to his    Bloomberg Terminal. How many units are there of Faborodes Innovation.He won the Nigerian Innovation Prize
  I was just wondering as I saw Faborode in the THISDAY Newspaper on Feburary 13,  2019  the next day, Feburary 14, 2019      it was Michael Bloomberg featured in the  Times of London. It was his    77th birthday anniversary and   and the wedding anniversary Source Prabook) of the head of department to Professor Faborode  ex- secretary general of the Committee of  Vice-Chancellors which like Oliver Twist, was always calling for more.
 On November 2018, John Hopkins University announced a gift of  1.8 billion dollars from Bloomberg making it the largest private donation in modern history to an institution of higher education making his contribution to Hopkins in excess of 3.3 billion so reveals Wikipedia.
 I gathered  also  from the Nigerian Tribune that Professor Michael Ologunde was installed vice- chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso in Nigeria on Feburary 14, 2019. Ologunde himself, a food scientist and  food technologist like the wife to Faborode's  Head of Departmet, Professor Banjo Aluko

OYEKANMI IYALODE-ELECT OF IBADANLAND MAKES MAIDEN OUTING

High Chief (Mrs.)Theresa Laduntan Oyekanmi, a.k.a. 'Arilewola Atobatele' the Iyalode-elect of Ibadanland has made her maiden official outing on the occasion of the formal installation of four new Mogajis and Baale which took place at the  palace of His Imperial Majesty. Oba Saliu Adetunji, Aje Ogubgunniso I, the Olubadan of Ibadanland recently.

The four newly installed Mogajis are:
1. Chief Muritala Lawal of Open Agbe Omiyale Family in Omiyale area of Ibadanland
2. Chief Wahab Sanusi Adelowo of Asunmo Family in Inalende area of Ibadanland
3. Chief Ismail A bass Adebukola Bioku of Bioku Anikulapo Family in Oranyan area of Ibadanland
4. Chief Akeen Lawal Agbara if Agbara Family in Oke-Ado area of Ibadanland

The newly appointed Baale Asanike Village in Oluyole Local Government Area of Ibadan is Chief Sulaimon Amoo Gbadamosi Asanike

Here:
Kabiyesi Olubadan of Ibadanland,Oba Saliu Adetunji,Aje Ogungunniso 1, is being flanked with the Iyalode-elect of Ibadanland,High Chief (Mrs.)Theresa Laduntan Oyekanmi(left), Olori Rashidat Aje Ogungunniso 1,Asaaju Iyalode of Ibadanland and Oloye 'Lekan Alabi the Agba Akin Olubadan of Ibadanland

Engineering, and Innovation

A Call for partnership towards publishing for a prosperous Nigeria  and Africa  by Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth,London,England  atogonub@yahoo.com


Without Engineers we are told, we would all be living in caves  and Nigerians are metaphorically cave dwellers,

Kelvin Doe,   John Magiro and William Kankwamba   three  africans from sierra leone,  Kenya and Malawi  became internationally recognised inventors, Innovators and Engineers   as teenagers when barely out of secondary school. Dear Reader I would not want to spoon feed you so I urge you to look up the names I have mentioned.

  William Kankwamba saved his   Village from Famine after reading a book he found in the library.  He constructed a windmill. Note it’s a Book not  36 books or   the latest Scientific Journals. What have Nigerian Engineers  in or out of Academia done with all the Engineering Books and journals found in Nigerian Libraries?  Nigeria has  so many Engineers and she  is as well the poverty capital of the world

 John experienced  a  problem  and found a solution- a solution that is transforming the lives of  his community. He built a mini hydro electric power station. And Kelvin Doe Built a Radio Station. Doe was even invited as a Practitioner to MIT which we used to know as the best place in the world to study physics and electrical Engineering.

    Rather than focusing on Government, Celebrities, crime    sex and violence the Nigerian and African Newspapers should spend more time asking” what s happening by way of Engineering and innovation in Africa  or why things are not happening at all”, I am quite sceptical about all the noise been made about ICT, which  seems to be about  sitting in front of a computer screen or eyes glued to a smart phones , playing around with  a Key Board and hoping to make lots of money.. Maybe ICT would make a few millionaires but what Africa needs is not more millionaires or  but millions of Jobs.

   There are opportunities in problems. For instance after writing about a collapsed building or Inadequate Housing or dilapidated housing for Students maybe the journalist in question should go out to ascertain the state of Building Research and innovation in Nigeria. Mind you , you would not have to wait for  President  Muhammad Buhari to sign a Bill on the research and innovation council  because councils do not achieve anything in Nigeria or Africa. To a large extent you have to look to the  the private sector   and civil society to solve Nigerias problems and by extension Africas  problems. In many cases Government has enough intelligence but Government is over burdened.

OLOYE LEKAN ALABI ,CHILDREN OF IYALODE IBADAN-ELECT VISIT GOVERNOR-ELECT OF OYO STATE

The Olubadan of Ibadanland,His Imperial Majesty,Kabiyesi Oba Saliu Adetunji,Aje Ogungunniso 1, has sent a message of congratulations to the Governor-elect of Oyo State of Nigeria,Engineer Seyi Makinde.
The royal message of Olubadan Adetunji,Aje Ogungunniso 1,was delivered by  Oloye 'Lekan Alabi,the Agba Akin Olubadan of Ibadanland,today on behalf of Olubadan Aje Ogungunniso
 at his Agodi GRA,Ibadan home.

In the royal message,the Olubadan,on his behalf,the  Chiefs,indigenes and residents of Ibadanland,congratulated the Oyo State Governor-elect,Engineer Makinde,on his victory at the polls. He praised Engr.Makinde for his tenacity,sagacity and magnanimity in victory.
The Royal Father recalled past charity and developmental deeds of Engr.Makinde. He enjoined the Governor-elect of Oyo State,Engr.Makinde,to continue being godly, humble,honest, diligent, hardworking, respectful and kind.
Olubadan Aje Ogungunniso 1, prayed that God would enable the Governor-elect and his in-coming government to make life more secure and abundant for the citizens and residents of Oyo  State.
In his response,the Oyo State Governor-elect,Engr.Makinde, thanked the Olubadan,indigenes, residents of Ibadanland and the people of Oyo State in general, for their prayers and  support,which he said contributed to his victory at the state governorship election last Saturday.
He promised to deliver on his party's electoral promises,emphasising that his government would accord traditional rulers and the citizens of Oyo State their rights and privileges.

PHOTOGRAPH CAPTION
The Governor-elect of Oyo State,Engineer Seyi Makinde(3rd from the left) Oloye 'Lekan Alabi,Agba Akin Olubadan of Ibadanland (3rd from the right)Mr Jide Oyekanmi (right)Mr Bankole Oyekanmi (2nd from the right)Mrs Folasade Adebayo(nee Oyekanmi)all children of the Iyalode-elect of Ibadanland,High Chief(Mrs)Theresa Laduntan Oyekanmi. On the left is Mr Yomi
Agarawu,an associate of the Oyekanmis.

Of Michael Faraday, Obafemi Awolowo and Michael Faborode

By Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth

 Michael Faraday and  Michael Faborode were born on September 22  1791  and  1956  respectively .Faraday, a British chemist ,physicist and forerunner of the electrical engineering profession  and Faborode, a Nigerian Professor of agricultural engineering.
Faraday rejected the presidency of the Royal Institution  the Nigerian equivalent which is the Nigerian Academy of Science whereas Faborode  a farm machinery  and processing  expert   and a  fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering served as the President of the West African Association of Agricultural Engineers and is the incumbent secretary  - general  of the Commitee of Vice Chancellors.
 Its been said that if Michael Faraday had lived in the 20th Century, he would have won six Nobel Prizes for 'revolutionary discoveries in the area of physics and chemistry' so opined Sir John Thomas, former director of the Royal  Institution of Britain
Faborode has won   three prizes so far.  These include: joint  1st  prize, NOTAP National Innovation Award 2002; Joint  4th Prize Winner  RMDC processing plant design 2005 and 1st Prize Winner RMDC Plant Design 2008.
 On September 22 1978,the 22  Birthday  Anniversary of Faborode, the Unity Party of Nigeria was founded by Obafemi Awolowo and coincidentally, Faborode was appointed  as the  9th vice- chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU). Ile, Ife Osun State.
  On September 9,  1980, coincidentally, the 49th birthday of  the late  Profesor  Ojetunji Aboyade a noted economist   and university of Ife(Now OAU)  vice- chancellor, in a  foreword to a book, 320 worked examples in mechanics by   Professor Ayodele Awojobi,  Obafemi Awolowo wrote, 'One of the badges of Poverty is the inability of men to invent and maintain machines'.The Economist's Pocket Book of Figures of year 2019, reveals that Nigeria spent  10 Billion Dollars on importing machinery  and transport equipment in 2018. The Business Agro section of The Guardian August 6, 2018  had a report by  Femi Ibirogba captioned, Agric equipment fabricators seek end to job, wealth exportation. The report states Nigeria is import dependent on agricultural equipment and technologies despite colleges of agriculture and universities.

Olubadan assures Ibadan People on New Iyalode

His Imperial Majesty, Oba Saliu Adetunji, the Olubadan of Ibadanland has affirmed that the installation of Chief (Mrs.) Theresa Laduntan Oyekanmi as the substantive Iyalode of Ibadanland would soon hold.

Kabiyesi gave the assurance while welcoming chiefs from the Iyalode line who paid him a surprise visit at his Popoyemoja, Ibadan palace recently.

According to Oba Adetunji, there is no doubt that following the death of the former Iyalode, High Chief Aminat Abiodun, on December 8, 2018 and observation of the 41-days mandatory mourning period, the Otun Iyalode, Chief Mrs. Theresa Oyekanmi, is certain to be automatically installed as the new Iyalode of Ibadanland.

'Everybody knows that our chieftaincy system in Ibadan is based on promotion',he said.

Of Scientific Research in  Africa:Waiting for BILL GATES?

Feb 3, 2019 | Togonu-Bickersteth

Africans in Diaspora sent home about 40 billion Dollars last year. What do Africans do with all this money? How much of this money goes into research in Mathematics, Science, Engineering, Technology, Medicine and Agriculture? Africans love to lament cases of discrimination and racism against Africans but Africans might not begin to get the desired respect until they begin to do more significant things in Mathematics, Science, Engineering ,Technology , Medicine ,and Agriculture and these are areas Domiciled and Diaspora African can come in. Africans are well known for their physical prowess As in Athletics , Soccer and the performing arts but they should also do more to show case the use of the African Brain. The brain is said to be the most complex system in the universe and this Is why some categories of persons would be concerned if Africans do not seem to be making the most of it or not having the necessary support to make the most of it bearing in mind that the African Brain is just as good as any other Brain on the planet.

According to the Africa Asia Wealth Report of 2018 there are 147,000 Africans with more than one Million Dollars living in Africa along with 7,100 Multi Millionaires, having at least 10 million Dollars in Africa, 320 centi millionaires each with assets of 100 million or more and 24 billionaires each with assets of one billion or more.

Africans should not wait for Bill Gates to make Africa liveable . True, Bill Gates made money out of Africa through selling them Microsoft products so we should expect he gives something back but what are Domiciled Africans and African in the Diaspora giving back to Africa?

Take Malaria , for instance, it is more of an African Problem but Bill Gates has spent more than a hundred and fifty Million Dollars on finding a vaccine for Malaria, take Agriculture he is supporting research to produce a” super Cow” that would produce as much milk as a European cow but which can withstand the African temperature. Still on Agriculture Gates has supported research that led to artificial photosynthesis which might have far reaching effects as far as agricultural yield is concerned and this is more to Africa's benefit. .Toilets are more of an African Problem in fact open defecation has been described as the greatest nightmare in Africa. Nigeria for instance is the country with the World's second largest number of people practicing Open Defecation and Bill Gates is working on the next Generation of Toilets. So far he has spent 200 million dollars to develop a new kind of toilet-called the 'waterless toilet of the future' and is out to spend 200 million Dollars more to bring it to people around the world. Lastly Bill Gates spent 76 million to settle Nigeria's Debt to help to eradicate Polio in Nigeria. IN 2017, Nigerians in Diaspora sent 22 billion dollars home. Apart from Property development, and Care of relations, anecdotal evidence suggests Nigerians, and Africans in general, would tend to spend money on Business,Birthdays, Burials and Betrothals rather than Libraries, Laboratories and workshops. it would seem most of them have adopted a mantra of 'every one for himself, God, Government, Google and Gates for us all'.

Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth writes from London,England

Saint Augustine, Wole Soyinka, Donald Trump, Segun Odegbami and a conference on African Philosophy

 

 

 

 Author: Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth, 

ISBN:978-978-964-995-2

Publisher: Media Report Projects, Ibadan

Year of Publication: 2019

 

Sometime in 1995 there was a conference on African Philosophy at the SS Peter and Paul Seminary Bodija, Ibadan. It was focused on The History and Historiography .

History is about Chaps we are told and Geography is about Maps but what is Historiography? Historiography! I had learnt the word in the newspaper,   when Dyaily Times was still Daily Times.  with Ayo Olukotun  a  former  Student Union President  writing a column. He is still at it now a Professor, one of the Columnists  had said he had come to some kind of conclusion and so 'Historiography'.  I liked It.

The internet had not arrived in Ibadan by then or the smart  phone. So  I did not do an instant check on the word. Is Historiography a combination of History and Geography? Father of African Geography ,Professor Akin Mabogunje reveals in his voluminous  Autobiography, 'MEASURE OF GRACE',that about 70 years ago, he learnt from his Professor at University College, London that all geography is historical.And so, HISTORIOGRAPHY? If Mabogunje learnt that all  Geography is Historical then you can guess we would all be asking What did 'bapitan' Professor Jide Osuntokun learn from his own professor?  I have gone on the web searching for his autobiography without success  I am wondering if its been the case of a historian writing about other people and other nations but forgetting to write  or too busy to write about himself. This is part of the Philosophy of Life like civil engineers working themselves to death, producing engineering marvels but forgetting to sign off.

I invited  a childhood classmate   practicing  Law next to the gate of the Seminary. This former classmate of mine ,bears the name of a king. None of the kings were   mentioned  at this Conference .It was Saint Augustine of Hippo attracting  rave reviews. Comrade Ola Oni, Marxist, now late, was at the gate to the venue of the conference but  he was not out to participate. He was seeing a friend off.  He lived close by. Comrade Oni   affirmed that those in there, I mean participants at the conference, were  merely after career advancement. One of those in there was Professor Sophie Oluwole a pioneer woman philosopher  now late,  and recently too . With a prophetic name she spoke like a parrot,  Sophie means wisdom

 Professor Segun Sowunmi also,now late was there listening sympathetically. He was then Nigeria's leading exponent of creative thinking.  Also present at the conference was a    'babaosha' Sanya Osha,a Gregorian and Russian authors loving poet, novelist,Philosopher of the Thursday group of intellectuals  at University of Ibadan. The motto of the Philosophy Students at Ife is 'Man lives to think and Man thinks to live'. Are Nigerians  thinking ?

My Mother was the Carpenter to the conference..Yes.  She helped to knock the seats together at the venue of the conference. Yes, Men Philosophizing  and Women being Carpenters. Its reminds one of the anthropologist visiting a community , observing on his visit that   men were not busy at anything . Curious ,he asked one of the women, what the  men  did in the community , she smiled and said they did nothing. Professor Tomi Adekanye  Nigeria's first woman Professor Of Agriculture  revealed that more than any other continent African Women are farmers but African women are not the majority of the staff of our faculties of Agriculture perhaps because professors of Agriculture  are not expected to produce food;  they produce  papers instead. Many of the papers presented at this conference sold like hot cake and  some of the participants were very greedy about these papers.

Some of these papers travel far and wide but one should be concerned perhaps because a major handbook of African Philosophy as edited by Nwalimu Toyin Falola aand  Adeshina Afolayan was published by a London based firm Palgrave Macmillan and so you are bound to ask: What happened to the Philosophy of self- reliance as espoused by  Nwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania ? Interestingly, the world conference on African Philosophy is due  in Tanzania   from October 28 to 30 ,  2019.

 As the conference proceeded, Wole Soyinka who is now 'confirmed' to be  present in in Tanzania for the World Conference on African Philosophy , was  then  in the Kitchen washing dishes, not qpuite, he was on the book stand in a 1970s  Interview with John Agetua of Ghana denouncing a philosophy of violence. Soyinka is still at it.  I first saw a Soyinka Play at the venue of this Conference. It was the Road, directed by Africa's first  woman  professor of   theatre arts  Zulu Sofola now late, I thoroughly enjoyed   'THE ROAD'   but like 'Historiography', I do not think I understood it.  I was only in Primary Four . Imitating the actors, of 'The Road', I went home with 'SAY TOKYO   KID. SAY TOKYO KID. THAT SOME MEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO CALL ME TWICE…..ME SELF I BE PEACE LOVING MAN BUT WHEN E REACH FIGHT I No KNOW MY Brother AGAIN...' These I wrote on  the cover my exercise book, my teacher crossed all out with red ink.

 Wole Soyinka is the son of a Catholic mother but does the Pope read Wole Soyinka? One of the seminarians who acted in  'THE ROAD', bore the  nick name   Janjala he played the bata drum in the church.   Theatre Artiste  Duro Ladipo was expelled from the Baptist Church for doing the same thing for they thought he was trying to bring another god Into the church. The Catholic Church has what it calls LITURGO-Cultural. We are told that  a  man who loses his culture has lost his soul We are also  told that the Church is the hospital of the soul. More than any  denomination, the  Catholic Church built hospitals for  mental and physical ailments.

  On a radio interview, Archbishop Alaba Job of the Catholic Diocese of Ibadan, once the youngest bishop in the world , perhaps, by popular demand like Saint Augustine,  speaking  in Yoruba ,  he affirmed  'A ki se Roman, Catholic ni wa' meaning, 'we are not Roman. We Are Catholic'. He spoke of what he called 'ecclesiastical imperialism' to a caller  to the radio station who referred to him as Roman Catholic. Well, in the Seminarians Magazine  they have asked the questions "Can we be Christians and at the same time Africans.? How can we be Christians and at the same time Africans?” 

There at the conference, Wole Soiyinka's  cousin, Fela   Anikulapo- Kuti was spiritually present. He was brought in as a philosopher by one of the participants complete with the invocations of the Chief Priest. But  one of the priests  said he had come  to the  conference not  as  a priest  but as a philosopher. Fela was a philanderer  and  a mystic Like Saint Augustine. One of the names given to Fela by his numerous fans is Augustine   but  the name Augustine  comes about from his protruding  head. In Yoruba Language, a protruding head is known as 'ogo' pronounced AuGur and so the name elongated to Augustine.  Do not be surprised to find a priest  quoting Fela on The pulpit. Even Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okojie is a fan Of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Bishop Matthew Kukah, referred to the Catholic Church as the Church of Sinners. Saint Augustine is described as a great sinner and a great lover. A great genius. A great saint/,he was the chief student of the university and the chief of professors.

    A reverend sister who participated at this conference had opined that if  a man  does not know the disease that killed his father that disease might end up killing him. This is why we study history and its some how a validation of Fela Kuti  Who  opined 'If you do not know where you are going to you would at least know where you are coming from' as  surprisingly  quoted in an edition of the Scientific American  Magazine first published on Saint Augustine's Day(  August 28) precisely  1845 and interestingly  on the 170th anniversary of the publication of the Scientific American, August 28 2015 ,  Wole Soyinka was hosted by Globacoms  promoter ,  Dr. Mike Adenuga   just as another  Dr.   Olukorede Adenuga was presiding, that day, over the scientific conference of the Opthalmological Society of Nigeria in Jos where you have the Saint Augustine Monastery and the Saint Augustine Seminary. Fela was born in 1938 the year the Augustinians came to settle in Jos. Born on August 28 1938 is Alexander Animalu currently with 28 books to his credit he is the greatest scientist to have come out of Africa. You can call him Alexander the Great but perhaps his parents should have given him the name Augustine. Same goes for Segun Odegbami, soccer genius, visionary and a philosopher of development like Professor Mabogunje particularly through the game of soccer. Odegbami has a VISION OF OGUN STATE AS A BEACON OF  THE BLACK RACE. HE WAS BORN ON August 27 1952, the eve of Saint Augustine's day and he grew up in Jos. Odegbami's was given the name Patrick which is prophetic for Odegbami studied engineering and Saint Patrick is the patron Saint of Engineers. Without Engineers we would all be living in caves we are told and Nigerians  are, metaphorically, cave dwellers. Engineers are at the top of government business in China and as such they seem to have done very well in China. They created heaven on earth. It's left to the historians and philosophers to explain why as someone one put it its only the Black man that would have to die to experience heaven. Almost exactly ten years before Odegbami was born, The world saw the birth  of  the Engineer  JOSE EDUARDO DOS SANTOS PRESIDENT OF ANGOLA, 1979 to 2017 the unofficial richest man in Africa. Interestingly his daughter Africa's richest woman attended King's  College, London. Remember Remember none of the kings were mentioned at this conference.Coming before her father as first president of Angola was Agostinho  Neto a poet.

 Present there as the chairman of the Globacom Literary Prize was Femi Osofisan born June 16, 1946 two days after  Donald  Trump , born June 14, 1946. June 16 in the world of Literature is known as Bloomsday to celebrate  the  Famous  Irish writer James Joyce in his first outing with Nora who was to become his wife. James Jocyce's   middle name  is Augustine and has been influenced by  Yoruba  'Esu'  whom  I learn from Soyinka on Youtube is a dialectician. Esu is not the devil as many think.  Femi Osofisan has a play titled, 'Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels'. Joyce was also influenced by Adamawa and Hausa but his biographers would not mention .

  Furthermore,Wole Soyinka's 'Ake: The Years of Childhood' has been compared with Saint Augustine's Confessions  detailing the first 35 years of his life. Soyinka has  also been referred to as a secular saint  but he would rather refer to himself as a secular Humanist. Saint Augustine was poetic and literal.

  Saint  Augustine was into wine women and song before he got converted whereas, Wole Soyinka has been described as a connoisseur of wine and women. Wole Soyinka's 'best friend'   Donald Trump,  with regards to his 'graphic sexual remarks' has also also been compared with Saint Augustine  by  Rudy  Giuliani   former mayor of New York then addressing the people of St. Augustine city, the oldest city in the United States...Interestingly on November 13, 2016, the anniversary of the birth of  Saint Augustine,  Trump's first interview as president- elect was broadcasted to  the American people. It coincided with the 160th anniversary of the birth of the people's Lawyer Louis Brandeis the first Jew to rise up to the Supreme Court of the United States.Brandeis set a record that remained unbroken for many decades at Harvard University.

On November 14, 2017, exactly one year and one day after Donald Trumps  first broadcast as president-elect, Wole Soyinka gave a three part lecture at the Harvard University's  The Hutchins centre for African and African American Research. His Childhood friend Muyiwa Awe, who set a record at Unibadan would have been 85 years the day  before his widow is Professor Bolanle Awe ex long serving director of the Institute of African Studies University of Ibadan, Nigeria's response to Harvard. In the African world view there must be something to all these but in the Western world view these are just just coincidences .

Saint Augustine had been accused  of throwing Europe Into darkness by stressing belief over reason.

 Would Donald Trump throw the world into darkness by being a climate change denier. Belief had not been a bad thing for traditional Africa . its kind of made Africans  live in harmony with nature. Take Wangari Maathai in her book, 'The Challenge of Africa before the arrival of the White man' she claimed that Kenyans believed that God lived on   mount Kenya but the White missionaries were able to convince them that God did not live on Mount Kenya the result of this what that mount Kenya ceased to be sacred ,it ceased to be preserved  all the trees on mount were cut down  for furniture ,   building and fire wood. In Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' we have the 'evil forest' which was nothing of evil to the missionaries.

One of the participants at this conference affirmed  that when sharing food the fewer the people around the better. It appears he wants philosophy to be exclusive if not elitist this has been explained as the reason for the rise of  Donald Trump, philosophers talking to other philosophers  in a language only they understand.

The African Philosophers spent about ten years in trying to define whether there is African Philosophy. It is now generally agreed that there is African Philosophy. Aside from Saint Augustine, some of the other philosophers regularly  mentioned at the conference were Anthony Appiah ,Kwasi Wiredu, Paul Hountondji, Odera Oruka    V.Y. Mudimbe other names have emerged on the African  but its seems the African Philosophers or Teachers of African Philosophy seem to covet the  title,    PHILOSOPHER  for people within the departments of philosophy. 

I have recently referred to Professor Ladipo Akinkugbe as a philosopher. Is there a philosopher in him. In his autobiography 'Foot Notes and Foot Prints he Unknowingly quotes Saint Augustine's   'WHAT IS TIME?'.   His body reflections  is contained in 'Strands of fabric of mind.' Professor Ladipo Akinkugbe  and  Muyiwa Awe  his classmate at Government College shares the same birthday with Saint Augustine having been born on November 13, 1932. Like Saint Augustine, Muyiwa Awe has been referred to as a genius. Like Saint   Augustine, he was a  pastor and professor.

And there is another Anthony, after Anthony Appiah also with a British Mother, Anthony Marinho. Is there a philosopher in Anthony Marinho? He seems to have been flaring like gas in the Niger Delta. I can discern in his writing, political philosophy, social philosophy, educational philosophy ,moral philosophy and the  philosophy of   business. Marinho  is good with  non profits  whereas  his time twin time twin   Ronald Chagoury is good at  for profit enterprises.. They were born at the same point in time, January 8 1949, but at different points in Space.

 Attending the conference,I was wondering what  was making the seminarians so  excited. It's like they were filled with new wine. Jide Olaniyan, who was  nicknamed  Othello, was an undergraduate then a president of the Unibadan Debating Club,  a student of philosophy had told me  Undergraduates  at  Unibadan were 'free but not disciplined' and seminarians are 'disciplined but not free' but these seminarians  attending the conference were like  people dancing disco fuji to the rhythms of African philosophy. I could hear them calling out, OB! OB!! OB!!! That’s the now Professor OBC Nwolise. He should have told them Africans do not call their elders by first name except of course in the Fela Anikulapo- Kuti's household maybe they had forgotten they were not in the 'Kalakuta Republic'. 

What was the Drama at this conference? I have heard of Claude Eke's 'Coming from nowhere dazzling the crowd' and going like that.. Plane Crash.  I have heard of Christopher Okigbo being invited 'Surveying the crowd' finding there were no poets and  subsequently returning  home  in the next available plane. I have  even  seen Kayode Soremekun, internationalist, of the 'GURUS Go TO KURU' fame, now a Professor and vice- chancellor breezing into the venue of  an  International Conference on Nuclear Energy   at  Ife, telling the participants there that they had a knack for keeping their heads in the clouds and the conference  participants eliciting some assurance from a senior colleague of Soremekun, a certain  Dr.  Onwuka who himself had been involved in another drama at Ibadan a Skirmish over a Publication.

The drama at this conference revolved round the colour black and white. Philosophers have been described as People who raise a cloud of dust and complain they cannot see through it. It seemed a simple  situation but not simple to hair splitting philosophers. One of the participants, an albino, had given a presentation on Othello who I learnt is a black soldier created by William Shakespeare but the presentation did not seem to go down well with one of the seminarians who pointed to his own skin as not black but brown.  One of the philosophers who referred to the rest of the participants as 'professionals' had threatened to stage a walk out. So What Happened to the philosophy of tolerance?

Exploring Minimalism:The joy of living more with less the number could be higher today but in 2013 there were 6 billion clothing in United Kingdom's households  roughly a hundred per adult and a quarter of these never leave the wardrobe so  informs the book, 'Empire of things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First by Frank Trentmann, a professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London

Research by the Professional organizer, Regina Lark, also reveals  the average American home has 300,000 items and one in ten Americans rent outside storage for their many possessions

It so happens now that there is a growing movement around the world to 'Live More with Less'. Members of this movement are called Minimalists. Many are finding fulfilment in leading simple lives and not being slaves to possessions   which  in many cases the advertising world has made them to purchase,  In Africa we are seeing what some have termed the 'supermarketization or shoppingmalization' of the landscape and aggressive advertising with the result that more and more are made to buy things that  that are not that necessary. There is also the exposure of the general public to the opulence of the entertainment industry and  influence  of social media such   that people begin to feel dissatisfied with  goods  they have already acquired.

Some of these unnecessary  purchases are due to what Professor Trentcmann refers to as the 'symbiosis  between religion and riches' on page  615  of Empire of things, Professor Trentmann quotes Pastor Enoch Adeboye then General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Adeboye is reputed to have said, 'God is the God of the rich he wanted people to prosper and have cars. a house, clothes, land anything money can buy'. What you now have some saying is, 'Christ is not enough.  I want Christ  and money.' You can use the Bible to justify things seen as good  as well as bad.

For instance, in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, Israel’s  richest King, of his worldly acquisitions said  'I denied myself nothing my eyes desired'. At the end of his life Solomon  stated 'when I surveyed all my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve everything was meaningless- a chasing after wind'.

And talking about storing possessions, Jesus  in Matthews’ Gospel said 'do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths, and  vermin  destroy and where thieves break in and steal but store up for your selves treasures in heaven where  moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal'.

The Author

Augustine Adebayo Togonu- Bickersteth is a mentor,leader, public affairs analyst and minimalist. He lives in London.

 

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Chief ( Mrs.) Teresa Laduntan Oyekanmi with Biola Layonu