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What He Told City People About His Life
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Oba (Prof.) SAKA ADELOLA MATEMILOLA Reveals
HRM, Oba (Prof.) Saka Adelola Matemilola is the 14th Olowu of Owu Kingdom, in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Few days ago, the very cerebral Monarch celebrated his first year coronation anniversary amidst pomp and pageantry. And some days after the event, the intellectual Royal Father played host to City People Magazine crew, led by the Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE together with SAHEED OJUBANIRE and SUNDAY ADIGUN, during which he spoke extensively about sundry issues around the kingdom, his giant strides since ascending the throne, and some other issues around royalty and governance in Nigeria. It is a very interesting interview. Read on please:
Congratulations on your one year coronation anniversary celebration. How did you feel at that period when all eyes were on you and Owu Kingdom?
I was quite elated all through the event. It was a feeling of Triumph. It was a feeling of Accomplishment. It was a feeling of gratitude as well. Triumph in the sense that I have been able to do a number of things that we thought were very difficult to achieve over a short period. And we were able to do a lot of them. So, we felt triumphant that we were able to do all those things despite the odds. Appreciation based on the fact that, we had so much support from all around; Owu and non Owu indegens as it were; Yorubas and non Yorubas, people from home and abroad; it was an overwhelming feeling of acceptance. A feeling that, yes, people could connect with our vision. People see through our plans, they see that it is not about Yoruba Land. It is not about Ogun State; it is not about Owu, it is about Nigeria. And they all connected to it in different ways with enthusiasm. So, that made me feel, yes, a feeling of appreciation to all of those people who were there to support us. And to also support the entire celebration that we had. So, I feel very good about it.
As you start the second stanza of your coronation, what is the focus for this new phase?
It has not changed, by the way. What we did in the last one year is to kind of set up a structure, a frame work on some of the things we are trying to execute. And they are very simple, really. It is about ensuring there is unity because if we don’t have unity amongst ourselves, there is nothing that we can do. It starts from there; connecting, identifying with each other and ensuring that everything that we do has that sense of common purpose. That is number one.
Also with our neighbours as well. It is not just within Owu but also with our neighbours because we live in a society that is vast, we have those that we need to relate with in our development. We cannot isolate ourselves from others. And that is the first part of it. The second part is the capacity building for our people. It has been ongoing, and I mean, for a lot of us who have been monitoring the history of Owu, there are a lot of Owu sons and daughters who are very successful all over the world. Not just in Ogun State, not just in Nigeria, but all over the world. Very successful.
But then, we need to translate that to a communal development, communal success. You know, something not just for individuals but for a collective success of all. So, that is very important. And that is why that unity of purpose is very important. And to ensure that for our sons and daughter, we would help them to grow with empowerment for the youths, and for the women in particular. Generally, it is also about ensuring education, it is a very major focus—education. That is our focus so far. It is not just about becoming a Professor by the way, but education in all ramifications.
It is also about ensuring that we bring investments to our community. Encouraging people, not just Owu sons and daughters, you know, Nigerians and non Nigerians, to come and invest in our communities. Because, with that, our people and our community could then grow and then, develop properly. So, it is all about that. Essentially, those are the key things that we are about. It is also about ensuring that we internationalize our culture, our tradition. Let’s exhibit all the good and rich things that we have internationally. So, people could see the best of Owu. You know, archaeological items that we have in history and the things we met from our forefather, mothers and the rest. Let’s show the world.
So, we are also trying to do that as a major part because that is what would then fill our sons and daughters with sense of pride. A sense of belonging. They are going to connect because those who may, perharps, have heard their parents say, we are from Owu, and when they see those rich culture, it becomes easier for them to have that sense of pride to say, oh yeah, I want to go back home. I want to go see where my grandfather grew up in the village and then, hopefully, they become part of our development. So, that also is part of what we are trying to do.
So, in the last one year, we have built a frame work for this. Very clearly. And then, we are building on this to really ensure that we imbibe it.
Kabiyesi, how do you spend your typical day? I know that, since you became Kabiyesi, your life style, work and schedule must have changed. So how did you adjust to it?
Well, adjusting wasn’t so seamless. That is the truth. But then, knowing that it is a difficult role which requires that I recondition my life style, and the priority is that we need to deliver on the things we want to use to sell ourselves. So, it made it easier for me to kind of adjust. And not just myself, but also my family and my friends as well. Because, everyone who wants to connect with that and be part of this journey and the history, needs to connect. And then, there have been a lot of constraints. I mean, ordinarily, up until August 2022, every morning I normally take a one hour walk, I don’t have that luxury any more. I go to swim, I don’t have that luxury any more. And I do a few other things that kind of, even in the office, I normally take like half an hour walk in the office hours to kind of unwind and then, come back and research, I don’t have that luxury any more. What I now do is to reconnect to Golf. That is one of the few things. And the other thing I do regularly is Yoga. And that keeps me going.
Apart from that, it is essentially, just trying to see that once the administrative structure is properly embedded; I think we have done that lightly now. And it is becoming easier for me to be able to move around and engage our sons and daughters here in Abeokuta, essentially, in Lagos and Abuja, because that is also part of what we need to do, to visit physically. To go meet them around their environment and then, have discussions with them around things that we need to do together. So, those are the kinds of things that I’m engaging myself in these days, which of course are different things from what I used to do in my past life, I must say. It is a new life now, essentially.
Kabiyesi, do you think traditional rulers have been accorded their rightful place in the society?
No. I feel not. One thing is for sure though, the society and our communities really appreciate the role of traditional rulers. They recognise the role, the importance in the fact that, when there are issues, they know they can always go to traditional rulers. Especially, in this part of the world, in this part of Nigeria in Yoruba Land. They would always go to the palace, even those who have issues based on school fees, when there are issues and disputes, they come to the palace regularly. But, however, the government has not appreciated our role well enough. And that is because the constitution has not given us a formal role and I think that really is where the key is. But, then, when there are issues that the politicians see that, oh, we need the traditional rulers to fix this, of course, they always come to the traditional rulers to do that.
But, then, providing a formal role constitutionally would enable us to do these things effectively, and it is a very important thing we need to do. Of course, we have democracy which is great. You know, from the central govenment to the state government, to the local government, it’s great. But, then, there are a number of things that traditional rulers regularly do that require formalizing those roles constitutionally. And to also empower them and embolden them to do these things more effectively. And contribute to our development and our growth in our societies. That needs to be done if we have to develop as a society.
I’ll give you a few examples. Since when we came on board we have been trying a number of ways to see how we can attract investments and I mentioned that earlier on. And, of course, the government has been very cooperative because each time we see an opportunity, we see a potential investor, we kind of connect them to the government. Where they have issues in terms of setting up or some of them could be naive, they go about some of these processes the wrong way which could cost them, you know, in terms of time and resources. But then, we connect them to the appropriate arm of government to help them set up and reset their processes, so that they can do what they are supposed to do. The Ogun State government has been very supportive in that role. They recognise those efforts and they see the benefit that it is complementary to what they are doing.
We also, recently, have been trying to support the primary healthcare in particular. When we came in here, the health centre down the Olowu palace road was in a very bad state of disrepair. It was actually not being patronised by patients. People hardly go there. When we came on board and I visited the place, I saw the place and I felt this should not be the way things currently are. So we supported by trying to revamp the place. If you pass through the place now, the health centre at the end of the road, you would see that there is construction work going on there. We facilitated that with the support of the local goverment, of course. And when we approached the Local Government Chairman that look, see this health centre as being in a state of disrepair, disused, and we want to do it. And he said, by all means, go ahead. So, we got the support and we are trying to revamp the place now.
Of course, ordinarily we provided matreses, we provided basic items to make the place a bit more functional. Now, people go there regularly for immunization and for health talk and the rest. And we are trying to expand the place and make the place a bit more functional. This is part of the things we are doing. There is also another one, I think they call it, Totoro Ward 4, which is around Ita-Eko/Akin Olugbade area, which we are also trying to do something similar for. Right now, they are having to use a rented premises because we had to pay some money to defray the debt they had incured on that property. And that would help them to see if the government or US can partner together to help them get a place they can have as their primary health centre in that part of town.
And we are also trying to encourage women to bring their kids for immunization regularly, which is very important. There is polio, measles and all sort of things that require immunization. We are also partnering with a number of Nigerians, not necessarily Owu people, the Nigerians In Diaspora Organization, NIDO, who when we visited the US earlier in the year, had expressed interest to partner with us, to provide us with medical support. Even, equipments. They have said they would ship some of the equipments to wherever we find health facilities that are willing and ready to accept those, and would be able to maintain and use those facilities. So, we are also trying to do that with them and see if we can get some of those to our healthcare centres.
Again, during the visit we made to the US in May, this year, we also tried to connect a consortium of universities here in Nigeria with the consortium of universities in the US. And we decided that we want to start small by identifying a few universities mainly in Ogun State apart from UI, which I brought in. Of course, that is my alma mater, being very clearly so, University of Ibadan, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta here, Olabisi Onabanjo University, we also have the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Gateway Polytechnic, Saapade. We have Bells University and Crescent University, all part of the consortium here in Abeokuta. So, they have come together to have an M.O.U. whereby the schools would support each other.
We also have a consortium in the US made up of Prinston University, Rodgers, Penstate University, University of Maryland and there is another body called The Highest Abroad. It is a study centre, if you like, it is a body, an NGO, if you like, made up of about 170 universities in the US for their study abroad programme. So, we are partnering with them and trying to see how we can connect these 2 consortia so that we can have exchange programmes, curriculum exchange, student exchange, co-teaching, proposals, we can do research together and a number of other things. And the primary thing is really, how can we support our universities in Nigeria for them to be able to internationalize, if you like. We know of constraints they have these days, hopefully they could come up with proposals that would enable them have access to educational materials out there, technology out there, advanced knowledge out there and help them operate as well. And hopefully, have funds to do a few other things.
So, again, part of the things we are trying to do is to see how we can set up programmes within that frame that would create employment for our youths, using Agric as a base. Right now, we have agreed that the consortium of universities here in Nigeria, in fact, we had a meeting last week Wednesday where we agreed that they would come up with the proposal, a template for that, that would be an employment generation opportunity that would be based on Agriculture. And Agric is a very, very important part we need to focus on. So, that is part of what we are doing. I have mentioned lots of other things we are doing, but those are just a few. I mean, we are also looking at how we can set up a very big fish farm that would be a kind of protein basket for the whole of West Africa, if you like, that would also be a source of foreign exchange earner for us as well. And that we are trying to do in partnership with Association of Fish Farmers of Ogun State. And also, there is another big private farm enterprise we are working with, to build that somewhere in Ogun Central here as well. So, those are few of the things we are trying to do in terms of supporting things on ground.
When you were very young sir, did it ever occur to you that you would some day ascend this throne?
Even though, it was something I was aware of as young as 8, 9 year old, it was something I was never interested in. Because the notion we had of becoming a traditional ruler in Yoruba land was that you have to do certain things, fetish things. So, to that extent, I was never interested. As I grew up, my family, not my parents, my family began to suggest it to me that when ever the role of Olowu becomes open, that I should represent the family. But, it was something I always thought was a joke. And I just wasn’t interested in it until January, 2022, when the family called me, that was after the passing away of the 13th Olowu, and they had a very serious discussion with me. And I said, oh yea, sure, I have to do this. It looks like a responsibility and the family had just said, you are the one, we would do all the ground work, but you go there and represent us. Because we are doing this together. It is not about you, it is about us, and you are representing us. And I said, okay, that is fine. And here we are.
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