It has been said of Obafemi Awolowo, Western Nigeria’s first premier,
that like Roman Empire’s first emperor, Augustus Caesar, he was ‘’an efficient
organizer’’ and a ‘’great builder’’ who struck several feats that have remained
unmatched in Nigeria’s record books several decades after his rule. In his
severally referenced book, An Outline History of the World, H.
A. Davies notes that Augustus appeared to have fulfilled his boast that ‘’he
had found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble.’’ He transformed
Rome from a small republic not only into an empire, but also into a
civilization that has influenced world history over the ages.
 |
| *Awolowo Obafemi |
With Awolowo, there are also parallels that are engraved on marble. As
premier from 1954 to 1959, when Nigeria was yet a dependent colonial outpost of
Britain, he ran a government that has since been rated the golden era of the
southwest, the outer region of the area stretching eastwards to the banks of
the Niger also being beneficiaries.
Awolowo introduced free education, the first in our clime. He then embarked
upon a voyage of social reforms that heavily subsidized health to announce to
the world the arrival of a socialist, even if of the centrist hue.
