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Former Governor of Osun State and elder statesman, Chief Bisi Akande, CFR, has called for far-reaching structural reforms and visionary governance to reposition Nigeria’s economic landscape in the 21st century.
Speaking as guest lecturer at the Joel Babatola Annual Lecture, organised by the Ekiti Council of Elders in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, Akande said Nigeria’s governance structure must be “scrupulously studied and carefully redesigned” to reflect its diversity and economic aspirations.
The lecture, with the theme “Governance, Structural Reforms, and the Economic Landscape of Nigeria in the Present 21st Century,” traced the historical evolution of Nigeria’s political economy and explored pathways for economic renewal under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Chief Akande began by commending the Ekiti Council of Elders for honouring the late Chief Joel Babatola, describing him as “a great son of Ekitiland and one of the champions of the Action Group’s vision for a prosperous Nigeria.”
Setting the historical background, he recalled that the geographical and political foundations of present-day Nigeria predated the 1914 amalgamation engineered by the British colonial empire. “Even though Babatola was born in one of the Ekiti kingdoms as a Nigerian,” Akande noted, “Ekiti kingdoms must have been much older than Nigeria itself.”
He reminded the audience that the people of West Africa, including those within present-day Nigeria, suffered centuries of slave raids, exploitation, and internal wars, which shaped the region’s complex political landscape long before colonial rule.
According to him, “For 500 years before Nigeria, the West African peoples were hunted like animals, captured, and sold into slavery. Kingdoms fought one another for expansion and dominance, laying early foundations for disunity and exploitation.”
He added that Nigeria’s formation in the early 20th century was part of a transition “from anarchy to colonial authoritarianism,” which later evolved into the search for self-rule and democracy.
Delving into the core of his lecture, Akande defined governance as “the action and manner of ruling an organisation, a society, or any community of people — from families to nations.”
He explained that Nigeria’s size, ethnic diversity, and religious multiplicity make its governance uniquely complex. “Our search for suitable government structures must therefore be scrupulously studied and carefully designed,” he said.
Tracing Nigeria’s political development, Akande noted that the European expeditions to West Africa, led by explorers like Mungo Park and the Lander Brothers, were primarily economic ventures. “Nigeria, as a British colony, was designed for exploitative extraction of labour and resources,” he emphasised.
The colonial administration, he said, was never focused on building a sustainable political system but rather on ensuring “cheap labour, tax collection, and the funding of European administrative staff.”
He recalled that by the 1920s, nationalist consciousness began to grow, leading to conversations among early political elites that would later shape Nigeria’s independence struggle. The Macpherson Constitution of 1950, Akande said, gave Nigerians their first real opportunity to participate in governance.
Akande situated the late Chief Joel Babatola within this historical struggle for self-rule, noting that he represented the generation that embraced education, health, and prosperity as the foundation for freedom.
“Under colonial rule, Nigeria was riddled with ignorance, diseases, and poverty,” Akande said. “The Action Group’s argument was that the fight for independence must be the fight for freedom from ignorance, disease, and poverty.”
He described Babatola as a selfless leader who worked tirelessly to promote free education, public health, and social welfare. “He was a man who joined the struggle for the prosperity of workers and farmers of his age,” Akande stated.
Through his political journey — from councilor to legislator and later a regional minister — Babatola helped formulate principles that guided Nigeria’s first experiments in democratic governance and structural reform.
“Thanks to leaders like Babatola,” Akande said, “Nigeria eventually won freedom from British colonial rule.”
However, Chief Akande lamented that Nigeria’s hard-earned freedom was soon “arrested by the shackles of dictatorship.”
“The military, in most civilizations, is trained to kill, destroy, and conquer the enemy — not to govern civil societies,” he said pointedly. “Their incursion into politics led to thrones of impunity and self-aggrandizement at the expense of citizens.”
He coined the phrase “Army Robbery” to describe how successive military governments eroded fiscal discipline and national ethics. “From this legacy of vandalism and impunity,” he argued, “recurrent expenditure swallowed capital projects, while the notion of ‘free money’ became the new Nigerian culture.”
According to him, this mindset has also crept into religious spaces, “infusing miracle wealth into our supplications and pushing the nation into chronic international debts.”
Akande stressed that these distortions have deepened public poverty and moral decay, undermining productivity and patriotism.
The elder statesman drew parallels between past reforms in Western Nigeria and the current “Renewed Hope Agenda” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which he described as a framework for building a new economic landscape in the 21st century.
He recalled how, under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Western Region implemented a welfarist economy that inspired youth patriotism and fostered regional growth.
“It can be done again for the entire Nigeria,” Akande said confidently. “The PBAT Renewed Hope Agenda has outlined clear policies to navigate the economic challenges of our time and open opportunities for Nigerians to become captains, not just players, in the global economic chessboard.”
He outlined four major priorities of the Renewed Hope economic framework:
1. Self-sufficiency in food production through local cultivation, preservation, and packaging to ensure food security and promote export opportunities.
2. Rapid infrastructure development in transportation and electricity, driven by public-private collaboration, to boost agriculture, manufacturing, and trade.
3. Human capital development in science and technology to empower youth for the emerging job market.
4. National unity and economic sovereignty, achieved by resisting internal saboteurs and external exploitation of Nigeria’s natural resources.
“These measures,” Akande said, “will strengthen our nation and help us reclaim our rightful place in global economic affairs.”
Closing his lecture, Chief Akande called on Nigerians to reflect on the values of honesty, service, and patriotism embodied by Chief Joel Babatola and his contemporaries.
He urged today’s leaders to embrace discipline, selflessness, and visionary planning in shaping Nigeria’s economic and governance future. “Nigeria’s unity and progress must remain sacred,” he declared.
“Blessed be the memory of our Joel Babatola. Blessed be the unity and progress of Nigeria,” Akande concluded to loud applause from the audience, which included traditional rulers, academics, and senior government officials.
The lecture, rich in history and political insight, reaffirmed Akande’s reputation as one of Nigeria’s foremost voices on governance, federalism, and economic reform. His message was clear — for Nigeria to thrive in the 21st century, it must return to disciplined governance, strategic reform, and renewed national purpose.
