“THE FUTURE OF SAKILAND: THE TASK AND THE BEARER” DELIVERED BY AFEEZ KILANI-OLARINRE

BEING THE COPY OF THE LECTURE TITLED “THE FUTURE OF SAKILAND: THE TASK AND THE BEARER” DELIVERED BY BAR AFEEZ KILANI-OLARINRE AT THE OCCASION OF SAKI DAY HELD BY NATIONAL UNION OF SAKI STUDENTS, THE POLYTECHNIC OF IBADAN CHAPTER, ON 15^TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 2016.

PROTOCOL.

I feel honored and privileged to be invited to deliver a lecture on this event tagged ‘Saki Day.’ Coming up with this name (Saki Day) for this kind of students gathering is a lofty idea. This is because the first and only event tagged Saki Day proper that we have had as a communal entity organized by Chief Tunji Adurogbangba-led planning committee was held far back 10 years ago, 11^th day of March, 2000. Since then, we have not been able to have an event of this name for our communal entity. So, the organizers of this program deserve applause.

Saki is one of the most ancient towns in Yoruba land, and from where we converge today, Ibadan, Saki is situated in the northern part. It is about 60 km from the Benin Republic. Like some other Yoruba towns, the actual date of Saki evolution is somehow obscured for lack of written records. However, Samuel Ojo Bada in his famous book, ‘Iwe Itan Saki,’ which has assumed the status of being the most authoritative and most referenced historical text on Saki, made it clear that Bussa, Nikki and Illo which are major towns of Borgu Emirate in Niger state were founded the same time with Saki. Meanwhile, Lafia Hussaini in his book titled “The Baatombu and their Culture” published in 2004 stated that Bussa was founded in the 10th century. With this, Saki could possibly have been founded sometime 10^th century or thereabout, and as at the last headcount of 2006, the population of Saki stood at 388,225.

No doubt, Saki has a very promising future but there are definitely tasks on ground. According to Cambridge Dictionary, task can be defined as “a piece of work to be done, especially one done regularly, unwillingly, or with difficulty.” Macmillan Dictionary defines task as “something that you have to do, often something that is difficult or unpleasant.” I will make do with these two definitions so as not to take too much of our time. We can however deduce from these few definitions that “task” is something that is somewhat “difficult.” Something that is not pleasant to be done, but it has to be done. Let’s now look at the tasks before Saki as a town and the respective bearers.

However, since Saki is a social community, in looking at these tasks, our focus will be on our social institutions because each society has its own social institutions and Saki is not an exception. These social institutions are like the pillars of every society, any deficiency in any of these institutions will surely affect the well being of the society because a society is like an organism. Let’s now start with the first institution in the society, family institution.

FAMILY INSTITUTION

Family is a foundation of every society. It is a universal institution.  In the context of human society, a family is a group of people affiliated either by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence, or combination of these. The defining characteristics of a family in a classical perspective are the fact that its members are living together. They undertake various joint activities. The perspective on the word family has suffered substantial changes in the second half of the twentieth century. However, despite these changes, the social function of family still remains unaltered. In the societies, the family is the principal institution for the socialization of the children. This is simply because family is the first point of call and that is the etymology of the saying “Charity begins at home.” So, since family is the basic unity of the society, it is simply the society building blocks and so whatever the society wants to achieve/build, it must start with family, and nobody bears this task more than we the youths who have just or about to have our own family. The value orientation, the new perspective and the redirection that we want to nurture for Saki for the purpose of our future needs to be used to train our children from their early life. Let them go out with the agenda of Saki in mind.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

Going by the structure of our society, the second point of call of a child after the family is educational institution. Education in a broad sense is a process by which an individual acquires many physical and social capabilities to benefit his or her society.
In ancient Greece which is the cradle of Western scholarship, education was a highly functional search-light beamed on society, it transcended reading and writing. The essence of education, whether formal or informal, is to produce a person who will be a useful member of a society. So, educational standard is supposed to be designed to suit the requirement of a society. To secure Saki future, our education must be for our Sustainable Development. What is sustainable development? World Commission on Environment and Development defines sustainable development as:

“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the abilities of the future generations to meet their own needs.”

It is an act of including key sustainable development issues like climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption into teaching and learning (education). For instance, in the area of climate education, education has been the essential element of the global response to climate change. It helps young people understand and address the impact of global warming, encourages changes in their attitudes and behaviour and helps them adapt to climate change-related trends.  A ready example where the need for education for sustainable development cannot be overlooked in Saki is the recent occurrence of earth tremor in our metropolis.

This recent calculated disaster has shown us the need to use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilence in Saki. We the youths are the bearer of this task. The past happenings, present occurrence and future calculation should propel us to have a education beneficial to our community. That is how our educational pursuit can be for Saki sustainable development.

POLITICAL INSTITUTION

In discussing our political institution, we need to address the basic purpose of political institution in every society which most of our political actors in Saki have put to the rare. This is called “common good”. The term “common good” is a recurring theme in political philosophy. Aristotle used the idea of "the common interest as the basis of his distinction between "right" constitutions, which are in the common interest, and "wrong" constitutions, which are in the interest of rulers. John Locke declared that "the peace, safety, and public good of the people" are the ends of political society, and further argued that "the well being of the people shall be the supreme law.” Though these thinkers differed significantly in their views of what the common good consists as well as over what the society should do to promote it, they nonetheless agreed that the common good is the end of every society, and that no government or political party should become the "perverted servant of special interests."

Having said this, our political actors should consider their political participation as a means to Saki township general interest. Regardless of their party affiliation, their political participation should be for our township common good. Common goods include accessible and affordable public health care system, effective system of public safety and security, quality education system and effective economic system because all these have such a powerful impact on the well-being of members of the community.  It is no surprise that virtually every social problem in one way or another is linked to how well these systems and institutions are functioning. It is high time they stopped politics of bitterness and start putting Saki common good at fore for the sake of our future.

RELIGION INSTITUTION

In discussing our religion institution, it is necessary we address the problem that we face as a society in this institution. This is nothing than the fact that multi-religion in our society is threatening our unity. I however consider this “unity threatened’ as somewhat needless or unnecessary. Saki is a town of more than one religion so it is unarguable that religion could be our ground of diversity. However, we can still have unity despite our diversity. “Unity in diversity” is a socio-ecological philosophy that describes a sense of oneness despite physical or psychological barriers. It is a concept of unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation that shifts focus from unity based on a mere tolerance of physical, cultural, linguistic, social, religious, political, ideological and/or psychological differences towards a more complex unity based on an understanding that difference enriches human interactions.

Michael Novak, an American philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat, author of more than twenty-five books on the philosophy and theology of culture, wrote:

		“Unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilization, a testimony to the most noble possibilities of the human race. This attainment is made possible through passionate concern for choice, in an atmosphere of social trust.”
	Let’s look at some scriptural grounds why unity should be the watchword of the practitioners of our religions, and let’s start from the angle of Christianity. Bible in Psalm 133:1 reads thus: “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”Also,God commands us in Ephesian 4:3 to work towards ensuring unity among ourselves  thus:“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”Also in Colossians 3:11God says that: “In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” Away from Christianity and now to Islam, the most important building block of Islam, the Quran, has some parts indicating Allah recognition of the religious pluralism. For example, Surah Al-Ma'idah verse 48: “And we have sent down to you(O Muhammed))the book (this Quran) in truth, confirming the scriptures (Book) that came before it and Muhaiminan (trustworthy in highness  and a witness) over them(old scriptures). So judge among them what Allah has revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging away from the truth that has come to you. To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way. If Allah had willed He would have made you one nation but that (He) may test you in what He has given you; so compete in good deed. The return of you (all) is to Allah; then He will inform you about that in which you used to differ.” The verse quoted above shows nothing than the fact that Allah envisaged what people will be calling their religion to be more than one though He has promised to put everyone to the one it pleases Him.Meanwhile, none of our traditional religions encourages disunity. In fact, one important Ifa verse hammers on unity thus: “Bi mose ri ni mofe ki ore mi o ri, kajo lowo, kajo bimo, kajo reru were sinu oko,      kasi jo se ese esin kutakuta loju ona, adifa fun eetu adufoke, eetu nlowo, oke nloro, e je se aye di ajumojoje. (Eji Ogbe)” However, from the time immemorial, Saki has been a family of many religions with unity, so we the youths should not be the agent of the disunity. It is now our responsibility to be tolerant to one another for the sake of our unity realizing that development is threatened where ever the unity is threatened. Our role in shaping Saki harmony is now more indispensible than ever. Religion should not separate us from each other; religion should be a collective strength that can benefit Saki metropolis. Meanwhile, we need to look into area of our town hall meeting as a town. Town hall meeting is Eurocentric by history. It can be traced back to 17th century in America. Town hall meeting is a form of direct democracy where every members of a community takes part in the decision making. The occasion of town hall meeting is used to trash knotty issues in the community. It is now used as a feedback medium between the electorates and the elected political officeholders. Town hall meeting can be Open, Representative, Annual, Special or Regional. Our Saki Parapo deserves much kudos in this area of town hall meeting by always finding time annually to organize annual town hall meeting. However, this meeting is not democratic enough, much need to be done on it. Saki Parapo as an association needs holistic restructuring. In fact, Saki Parapo was started as AJO SAKI PARAPO by a group of youths at Tamale in Ghana on 31st day of August, 1947. These founders include Salawu Kunama who is credited with the vision of the formation; Tafa Adetoro (The pioneer president); Gbadamosi Big man(Pioneer secretary); Yesufu Oladokun who came from Yendi; Yesufu Olatubosn from Boliga; Sulaiman Olowolagba from Lamonkara; James Orimadegun from ile Solo,Ajegunle; Gbadamosi Alabi from Malaville; Lasisi Towobola from Dougou. So, Saki Parapo was formed by youths.  Unfortunately nowadays in Saki, many of us the youths don’t even know what this important association stands for, not to talk of us knowing what is happening there. This is not how a town association should be run. A town association should give room for joint participation of both the young and the old. If Saki Parapo association wants its recorded achievement to enjoy continuity, its membership should not be for exclusive preserve of the elders alone, we youths need to be carried along, “Orisa ti a nse ti anle omo seyin nidie,orisa naa yio parun.”So, I implore our fathers to find a means of making Saki Parapo more democratic than it is now, and we youths should find interest in participating in is activities.    In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, having briefly perused the basic institutional tasks that can influence the future of our dear town Saki, and thereafter realized that the youths are the key bearers herein, we can safely conclude that the tasks are on the laps of every one of us. While I am a bearer, you are also a bearer.  Thank you all for listening.