WEALTH OF THE YORUBA PEOPLE - Part one
By
Kayode J. Fakinlede
A book, written by me about fifteen years ago, came back from the literary grave recently. Named WEALTH OF THE YORUBA PEOPLE, it was a book that was written to highlight the problems that were pervasive among us Yorubas early in the century, with suggestions on how to go about solving them and thereby, live happily thereafter.
The launching of the book was done with much fanfare, at the National Theatre, Lagos and was attended by the bigwigs in Yoruba politics and some from academia, including almost all the governors from the South West or their representatives. It was hoped that with the tremendous reception that the book had at the launching, the political juggernauts of the day would implement some of the recommendations in the book. Little did I know that it would suffer the fate of all other recommendations that barely saw the light of day, immediately after they were given.
A niece of mine had found a copy of this book and wondered why it seemed that none of those issues had been addressed to any appreciable measure of satisfaction. This means that the issues still remain with us till this day and there does not seem to be a way for us to address them.
It behooves me to paraphrase some of these issues and again, hoping that in our addressing them now, we will live happily hereafter.
The part of the book that was most meaningful to my niece is in Chapter one – STATEMENTS OF BELIEF. That part states thus:
"I believe in the spirit of one Nigeria. I believe that the brotherhood created from the mutual unification of ethnic nations and tongues comprising of a diverse and gorgeous mosaic that stems from the African grander tradition, has the potential to become the envy of the world. I believe that within this diversity lies a tremendous opportunity for growth and unrivalled economic well being. However, for this to happen, the brotherhood will cultivate a process which, through freedom, each unit will strive for the utmost. It will also abandon those pernicious, self deprecating ways of old that pitted brother against brother, and one ethnic-nation against another…."
Of course, this goes on and on to address issues of capacity building based on individual strengths and why freedom of each part to pursue life as it sees free means greater freedom for all.
The primary objective of this chapter is to emphasize the importance of ethnic-nation freedom in making Nigeria great.
Chapter two of the book, titled ISSUES goes on to address the critical issues of the day, which, ironically are still pertinent today. I will try as much as possible to highlight a few sentences from each paragraph and hope that we, Yorubas, can start thinking about these in light of our present ethnic-national malaise:
Wealth: We Yoruba people want to use our human and natural resources to create wealth for the betterment of ourselves and to the glory of our country and African people everywhere….
Freedom: We, the Yoruba people want to be free from political and economic domination from within Nigeria and without. For this reason, we will identify those forces that perennially make us feel un-liberated and expunge them….
Peace: We want to find avenues to live in peace with ourselves and with other peoples that constitute the great country of ours, and with the outside world….
Community Development: We want to be able to develop our communities, improve the welfare and the self reliance in our towns, villages and rural areas….
Education: We want to provide opportunities for education for all from cradle to grave….
Social Equity and Justice: We want to project to all our neighbors that we are genuinely interested in true social, economic, and political development….
Political Plurality: We want to be able to tolerate diverse points of vies and break down political barriers....
Energy: We want to be self sufficient in the generation of electricity, petroleum, water, and all those amenities that make life livable. Because we know that these factors are extremely important for economic development of any nation and are aware of the tremendous amount of revenue we lose due to unreliable supply…we are determined to see that in matters relating to energy, our destiny will be in our hands and not in the controls of powers out of reach….
Work: We recognize the pernicious effect of idleness and lack of employment on the body and spirit…there can be no lack of work to do in any economic system but a lack of coordination….
Technology: We want to be involved in the world's technological and industrialization processes that lead to greater efficiency…
Research and Development: We recognize our complete and total marginalization….
Agriculture: We want to become a strong agricultural power again. We are aware that we have lost our leadership in this area….
All in all, eighteen issues were identified as crucial to our well being then. The next part will highlight those constraints that hold us back with the hope that a part three will deal with the way those problems can be solved
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