21 years after, Awo’s philosophy still beckons

Chief Obafemi AwolowoYemi Davies writes on the philosophy of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for Nigeria’s prosperity and the failure of the nation to imbibe it 21 years after his death.

Today, family, top government officials and political associates of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (fondly called Awo), would converge on Ikenne, Ogun State, for the 21st anniversary of the demise of the sage. Earlier in the year, family, government functionaries and political associates had also converged on Ikenne for the 99th post humous birthday of Chief Awolowo. Of the truth, we cannot over-celebrate the life and times of Awolowo. He was simply a rare breed.

Awo was of many parts. But in this discourse, his socio-political philosophy is our concern. It must, however, be said that writing on the socio-political philosophy of Awolowo is by no means an easy task. Awo’s socio-political philosophy is – to my mind – complex and deep-rooted and I am sure many, who have had the opportunity to read his works, would also attest to the richness of Awo’s thoughts.

The central question in socio-political philosophy as an area of study is: How should the ideal human society be organised? Throughout the recorded history of man, efforts have always been made in the pursuit of social philosophy, which we can simply define as the principle by which society is ordered. The fundamental reason here being, man is essentially a social being. Man, in his long and tedious history, a la Awolowo, has always lived in a group with others where interactions and relations take place for progress, development and the benefit of all (ideally). Man did not at any time live a solitary life.

Men, recognising their social nature, therefore, have always sought for the ideal social philosophy that will guarantee ideal human societies. In this wise, philosophers, throughout the epochs of philosophy – Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Dewey, Sartre, Marcuse, Rawls, Nozick etc. – have all been involved in the attempt to determine the most appropriate social philosophy for human societies. Within the context of African socio-political thinking too, we can mention Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo, who is our focus here.

Awolowo’s philosophical thoughts have a universal appeal but one can still contend that Awo’s philosophy was mainly for his immediate environment, the Nigerian society. After all, it is generally agreed that no philosopher operates in a vaccum; prior thoughts and situations around a philosopher inform his or her philosophical reflections. This was also the case with Awo.

The underlying question of Awolowo’s socio-political philosophy was: What is the most appropriate social philosophy for Nigeria? He answered the questions by postulating the theory of Democratic Socialism. Democratic socialism, as postulated by Awolowo, incorporates the political ideal of democracy and the economic ideal of socialism in societal organisation. Awolowo opined that in the pursuit of an ideal society, we must address two fundamental issues: “(1) the manner in which the totality of the wealth of a state is produced, exchanged, and distributed and (2) the form of government under which the citizens are administered.” To the first issue, Awolowo posited socialism and to the second, democracy. This is why his postulation is called Democratic Socialism.

The import of this is that Awolowo recognised that both the political and economic objectives of a society must be put into consideration in suggesting an appropriate social philosophy for it. On the one hand, democracy is satisfying the political objectives: The politial authority should evolve from the democratic principle of power belonging to the people, even when they periodically elect representatives to see to the actual day-to-day running of the society. On the other hand, socialism is satisfying the economic objectives of the society: Natural resources and other means of economic production activities should belong to all the people, not to some individuals. They should also be controlled by the people’s reprensentatives for the general well-being of all.

It is, however, sad that 21 years after his demise, we are yet to achieve the Nigeria of Awolowo’s dreams and the simple reason for this is that we have failed to decipher the most appropriate social philosophy for Nigeria. I chose the phrase, most appropriate, because no social philosophy is perfect, it can only be very appropriate. Even Awolowo said that no social philosophy was a “perfect mix or blessing.”

Nigeria has failed to achieve development of both the individual and the society at large. And one can rightly contend that this is because of the dearth of an appropriate social philosophy. There have been different postulations and suggestions by politicians, scholars, social critics and commentators, but none appears viable for this country as Awolowo’s Democratic Socialism. And that is why 21 years after his demise, his socio-political philosophy still beckons on the Nigerian society.

Indeed, after the glorious years of practical manifestations of Awo’s philosophy, as the then Premier of the Western Region of Nigeria and the period his Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) controlled the South West states between 1979 and 1983, we have not had any other ideology with any positive effect on the country. All other ideologies from subsequent administrations since then have failed to transform this country for the better. For one thing, all these other ideologies have criminally neglected the Nigerian. But not a few would agree that the practical manifestations of Awolowo’s ideology touched the life of the individual directly and positively.

Indeed, welfarism was the highpoint of Awolowo’s social philosophy. The well-being of the individual was central to Awo’s ideology. That is what any appropriate social philosophy or system of societal organisation must focus on. This is what all subsequent administrations in Nigeria have failed to address. Politically-organised human societies would forever remain imperative because of the essential social nature of the human person.

Plato put it more succintly when he opined that a state comes into existence because no individual is self-sufficing; we all have needs. Our many needs require many skills and no one possesses all the skills needed to produce food, shelter and clothing. But beyond the fact that politically-organised human societies are an imperative, it is equally important to note that we all came together to form politically-organised human societies in order to ensure our general well-being. This is, therefore, what the state should ensure through the government, which is the most essential feature of a politically-organised society.

It is this all-important fact that formed the basis of Awolowo’s socio-political philosophy and which equally made Awolowo adopt the socialist ideology. This is why Awolowo wrote on page 192 of The People’s Republic (1968) that: “We declare that the aims of socialism are social justice and equality and a state of affairs in which, the resources provided by nature belong to all the citizens equally, and the products of the union of land and labour are appropriated to labour of all gradations and skills through the media of good wages, respectable standard of living, abolition of unemployment, free provision of social amenities such as education, health etc.” Just imagine what a man with such an ideology would have done for this country if he had ever been president. Other administrations failed to realise that Nigerians were the purpose of Nigeria. Awolowo did!

Awolowo may have died 21 years ago, but his philosophy lives. Awo’s philosophy lives in his many works, which, for the sake of time and space, we cannot start to mention here. It would, therefore, do us a great deal of good to dip into the wealth of knowledge of this sage to fashion out an appropriate system of societal organisation for the Nigerian society. We do not need to hold on to ideologies that have failed us.

Bade Onimode wrote in one of his articles published as far back as 1985 that: “The basic problem [with Nigeria] is simply that the bourgeois theory which has been designed to rationalise the irrationality and injustice of the capitalist system cannot explain the persistent improverishment of the mass-majority, the deepening crisis of inequalities....” Onimode’s words here aptly capture the Nigerian predicament.

Awolowo’s ideology appears the most viable panacea for the Nigerian predicament. For one thing, we have seen its practical manifestations before and how it impacted positively on Nigerians who were lucky to experience it. For another, it is one social philosophy that is informed by the underlying factor of politically-organised human societies, which, in Julius Nyerere’s words, is: “man is the purpose of all social activity. The survival of man, the furtherance of his human development, is in fact the purpose of society itself. There is no purpose above this....” This is where Awo’s philosophy scores the point. And, this philosophy still beckons on Nigeria.