By: Tunde Olofintila
History teaches us that that there were Philosopher-Kings in Ancient Greece. Coming nearer home, here in Nigeria, there are Justice-Kings in the mould of the His Royal Majesty, the 85-year-old Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, who bowed out as the Presiding Justice of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal to ascend the throne of his forefathers on August 18, 1995.
Mention must also be made of His Royal Majesty, the Emir of Lafia, Hon. Justice Sidi Bage Muhammed I, who also bowed out of the Supreme Court to ascend the throne of his forefathers on December 5, 2019.Because that ends there, there must be the beginning of a new chapter.
And so, if there are Philosopher-kings and Justice-kings, there must be Philosopher-lawyers in the mould of the Founder & Chancellor of the increasingly famous Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, the many-sided Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, LL. D (London) and Fellow, King’s College, London, among several other feathers on his well-adorned cap of national and international honours.
Perhaps because of his country-side upbringing in Alayegbe in Ado-Ekiti, South-West Nigeria, Babalola, who has since carved out a niche for himself in personal discipline, industry, character, provision of quality and functional education, farming, provision of quality healthcare, philanthropy and community development among others, is well-known respecter of time.
Because of this, he often feeds his audience with the following time-tested sayings about time and the need to use one’s time judiciously and optimally: “A man’s life ticks away with the hand of the clock every second, yet not many people appreciate that every minute that is gone is irretrievable.” “Time is life; Life is time; Time is the greatest enemy of man; Time does not wait for anyone; Lost time is irretrievable; Use most of your time gainfully; Devil finds work for idle hand;”“
It is not an offence under our laws for one to bury his talent through sheer inaction. But it is a sin to bury one’s talent through indolence.”Babalola’s penchant for time, timing and timeliness came to the fore again yesterday when Mr. Kayode Omotayo Fasae, the Ekiti State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, led a seven-man delegation on a guided tour of ABUAD’s serene campus, its aesthetic structures, its Enterprise Farms, its Independent Power Plant, IPP, its bourgeoning 124-unit Small, Medium and Large-scale Industrial Park, its Herbarium and its ultra-modern 400-bed Multi- System Hospital which has been endorsed by leading Healthcare Stakeholders as “the most well-equipped Hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
Addressing the seven-man team in his office, Babalola said that there is no earthly reason why anybody should be poor if he/she uses his/her time and the resources at his/her disposal optimally.
His words: “Time is the greatest enemy of man. Many of us human beings don’t use the bulk of the 24 hours in each day. We prefer to spend our time on unprofitable things. We often forget that any time lost is irretrievable”.He added:
“At my age, I still work 18 hours a day. I am out of my house as early as 7.30 a.m. to go to my farm and see what is going on at the various construction sites. I remain in the office till 3 p.m. when I go for lunch and my daily siesta.
By 8 p.m., I am back at my desk in the office, and I will remain there till about midnight. For instance, if you call me by 11 p.m., you will be surprised that I will pick your call.“I do this every day, 364 days a year, except on Christmas day.
Why do I work this way? I work this way, because a man is the only person who can drive his own dream. And I thank God that I have benefitted tremendously from the way I spend my time right from the time I was young. There was no time for frivolities”
.Delving into wealth creation and adducing reasons why no Nigerian should be poor in the midst of the avalanche of God-given natural resources, including eight months of rain and good vegetation available in the country, the former Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, said:
“When I was growing up, everybody, no matter his business or vocation, had a small garden at the back of his house. This made it possible for everybody to have ready and easy access to food stuffs. Then, people were not only able to feed themselves, but they also were able to give freely to others as a result of which no one was hungry then. That time could be reinvented”.
He added: “The country should borrow a leaf from former President Olusegun Obasanjo who introduced Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) during his first coming as a Military Head of State between February 13, 1976, and October 1, 1979.“Afterall, before the advent of oil in the 1960’s, Agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy like in the United States of America, Canada, Argentina and Australia.
This was the time when Western Nigeria was well known for the production of Cocoa, the Mid-West for the production of Rubber, the East for Timber and Palm Oil while the North was known for Groundnut and Cotton. But the equation changed soon after oil was discovered in Oloibiri.
The people simply turned their back on Agriculture, an otherwise very lucrative business.“We must go back to Agriculture and reinvent the glorious days when Nigeria could fend for itself in all ramifications. Everywhere in the world throughout the ages, the place and import of agriculture have always been on the front burner of national priority.
And this is not for nothing as Agriculture does not only provide food, employment, and security, it reduces the prevalence of poverty, promotes self-sufficiency and reduction in crime rate.“It is axiomatic that a man who has nothing to eat or feed his family with may not find it difficult to lapse into petty larceny to make ends meet. After all, a hungry man is an angry man. Apart from affording man the opportunity to eat fresh food, agriculture allows man to stay close to nature”.
Babalola therefore called on governments at all levels to go back to the practice of old when Local Governments used to assemble farm equipment such as Ploughs, Harrows, Ridgers and Harvesters among others in each Local Government for farmers to hire. This is the more important because today, no father wants to send his child to school only to graduate and return to the farm to use cutlasses and hoes. A firm believer in the power of Cooperative Societies, Babalola suggested that farmers should organize themselves into Cooperative Societies.
This would enable them to buy farm implements either with their own money contributed by members or borrow from the Bank of Industry or Bank of Agriculture at low rates.
This was perhaps why the elder statesman donated N200 million to incorporate two Cooperative Societies, one for men and one for women, during the maiden Afe Babalola Day on October 18, 2024, with each of the two Cooperative Societies given N100 million to enable registered members to apply for loans to start their own business.
According to him, this sum of N200 million will provide loans for 2000 members at the minimum rate of 5% interest to the cooperative society as against 20% charged by Commercial Banks.Earlier, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, welcomed and thanked Fasae for leading his team to visit ABUAD, to discuss the critically important areas of Labour Market Information System (LMIS), Employment Trust Fund, Wema Bank Training, Project TIDE/NASENI, the Electric Tricycle Initiative and Agency Banking system with an eye on partnership with the university.
Olofintila is ABUAD’s Director, Corporate Affairs.