By Kanmi Ademiluyi
Ogbeni Aregbesola symbolised an alternative perspective, we need a sequel
THE air is stale at the moment and it requires an extractor and fresh thinking. In the sort of logjam we are in, there is an imperative for a decisive break with what is clearly an underachieving, dismal past. Over seventy years ago, a wave of avant-garde thinking fermented in the activities of the London-based West African Students’ Union (WASU) triggered off a renaissance, which, transported back home to the colonies produced programs which reinvigorated the anti-colonial movements with beneficial effects.
In addition, the new thrust directed the thinking that went into the formulation of the manifestos of political parties such as the Action Group (AG) in Nigeria and the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) in Ghana, which when translated into practice, uplifted living standards and showed that the anti-colonialists had what it takes to create sustainable post-colonial states. In doing so, it also debunked racial myths. Overall, it was a vindication of “the powers of positive thinking”.
In his preparation for his run for the governorship of the State of Osun, the then Lagos State infrastructure czar, Rauf Aregbesola, similarly sought to break a mould of stultified framework, much of it created by a too long an incursion of military dictatorship. For this, he had to accept the moniker of the symbol of an alternative perspective when he successfully translated manifesto theory into practice on taking over the mantle of governorship. Aregbesola did not just wear a toga, he walked the talk by bringing social democracy long-stymied and made unfashionable by the structural adjustments programme back on the front burner. It is to his credit that much of the social intervention programmes which had looked impracticable at a time, are now in the mainstream and form a central plank of the present Federal Government’s social programmes. Indeed, in the course of time, a whole Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs has come into play. The Aregbesola incursion vindicates the position of the Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci that the essence of politics is to shift the territory of the debate, of thought translated into action in the direction of one’s one position. The persona, who came to symbolise a progressive alternative perspective, pulled that one-off very savvily.
A similar incursion and breath of fresh is urgently needed today in a republic riddled with dishevelment. There are, of course, several ways to skin the proverbial cat, the issue is which one to choose or to ask the important question that Vladimir Illich Lenin asked at a similar juncture, what is to be done? The question has to be resolved at a time of great uncertainty and heightened anxiety. Furthermore, the advent of the novel Coronavirus has accelerated profound changes due to innovative technologies which will have happened anyway, but has now had to be fast-tracked. A new post-COVID-19 era will harbinger great disruptions in virtually every area of endeavour, in logistics and international trade, coinciding with the take-off of the Africa Free Trade Agreement. At a critical juncture, the country needs a thoroughly-worked-out alternative perspective; since the current trend of thinking appears to be unable to untie the Gordian knot of perennial underachieving, a youthful demographic bulge amidst wide underemployment and an overall creeping pessimism.
Untying the knot and breathing a new lease of life can only come from the progressive block. They are the only people-committed and prepared to do so in what is still largely a rentier economy and a political framework propelled by prebendalism. In the anti-colonial struggle, the progressives dictated the territory of thought and eventual action; they had similar impacts in the First and Second republics and were a perennial handful for the military dictatorships. We have had some invigorating interventions, notably in Lagos, Osun, as well as fleeting moments here and there. Right now, alarmingly when it is needed, there is no coherent thrust. This is profoundly disturbing, for the present decade is make or break. The core of the progressives in this age of uncertainty and a season of discontent have to get back to the drawing board and present a clear alternative perspective to break the logjam.
