The sage, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, has remained a major influence in the political economy of Africa. As a founding father of Nigeria, Chief Awolowo, with other nationalists, fought tenaciously for the country’s independence from colonial rule and relentlessly toiled afterwards to excogitate ideas that would promote nationhood. Even several decades after his death, his profound thoughts on governance and/or political administration, especially how Nigeria and other developing nations of the world should be administered to engender socio-political and economic harmony as well as prosperity for their people (which he meticulously documented in his books) have become famous and copiously quoted by political stakeholders. Awoism encapsulates the political and socio-economic philosophy of the sage.
But what is Awoism? At a lecture organised by Think Yoruba First, a group of young Nigerians committed to the promotion of the ideals of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, on April 5, 2025, to mark the 116th posthumous birthday of the avatar, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Professor Segun Gbadegesin, who was the guest lecturer, offered profound insights into Awoism, its true meaning and what it encapsulates.

Between Philosophy and Ideology

In their writings, politicians typically try to justify specific structures. An ideology is a belief system constructed for the justification of a particular social, economic, and political order.

A common example of political ideology is liberalism or conservatism.

Philosophy, on the other hand, is the pursuit, as well as the outcome, of critical inquiry into the nature of reality, including material, economic, moral, and political realities.

The philosopher is also self-consciously critical, constantly revising the assumptions behind his or her position to reach the truth.

Philosophy v. Ideology

From the foregoing, it is not too difficult to see how the two—ideology and philosophy—can intersect.

A critical inquiry—philosophy—can be the basis of an ideology—a belief system. John Stuart Mill’s liberalism is based on his critical inquiry into the nature of freedom and human nature, and he is better known as a philosopher than an ideologue.

If we read carefully all of Chief Awolowo’s writings, from Path to Nigerian Freedom to People’s Republic both of which form the foundation of his philosophy of governance, we would discover that his later writings build on the philosophical foundation of these texts.

For AWO, therefore, philosophy grounds ideology and ideology is built on the foundation of philosophy.

Three Existential Questions facing Nationalists Struggling for National Independence

01: How do we carve a national identity out of a motley crowd? This is the question of political structure and constitutional arrangements.

02: How do we equip everyone with the necessary skills to make them useful members of society? This is the question of education and human development.

03: How do we organize the social means of production for the benefit of all? This is the question of political economy, production, and equitable distribution of resources.

Progressivism in Politics

Progressives in politics subscribe to and invest heavily in the progressive agenda.

The progressive agenda makes the people the centerpiece of its policies and programs and conforms to their aspirations.

It is not tradition, or culture, or the nation as an abstract entity that looms large in a progressive agenda. Every such abstraction that is identified is spelled out and cashed out in terms that make sense to the welfare of the people.

The Action Group and Progressive Politics

The people of Western Region embraced the agenda of the Action Group government in 1952 when Chief Obafemi Awolowo became the Leader of Government Business because it was crystal clear to them that the agenda of the government was theirs and it spoke to their needs and interests.

The progressive agenda championed by Chief Awolowo and the Action Group was Welfare Liberalism, encapsulated in the slogan, “Freedom for all, life more abundant.”

To fix it in the psyche of the people, it was translated into Yoruba as AFENIFERE.

AWOISM as a Philosophy of Governance

Here is the logical reasoning of Chief Obafemi Awolowo on the three existential issues.

It is this reasoning that is at the core of Awoism as a philosophy of governance.

ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND CONSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

There is a scientific and objective formula that determines the best political and constitutional arrangement for different states or nations.

The best political and constitutional arrangement for a multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic state is a true federal system.

Therefore, Nigeria requires a true federal system.

On education

Human beings are the sole dynamic agents of development.

Education is fundamentally important for human beings as individuals, family, and society.

Despite its importance, the majority of citizens are too poor to finance their own education or the education of their children.

Therefore, The state has an obligation to provide free education for all citizens.

On the economy

The welfare of citizens is the most fundamental concern of the government.

The economy is the most fundamental social-political arrangement that impacts the welfare of citizens.

A good economic outcome requires adequate planning.

Therefore, A progressive government must have a sound economic plan including diversification of the resources of the nation.

On Politics and Political Arrangements

Awo’s Articles of faith on representative democracy:

Competitive elections

Separation of powers

Rule of law

Ideological direction:

Welfare of the people as ultimate purpose

Therefore,

Freedom for All, Life More Abundant.

Action Group and its Pace-setting Achievements

Voting by symbols in 1953

Use of steel boxes and security-printed ballot papers in 1956

Motion for the creation of a state from the region

Election of leader of opposition as Deputy Speaker of the Western House of Assembly

Restriction of membership of Tenders Board to officials rather than politicians

Establishment of agricultural settlements

Introduction and payment of minimum wage

Establishment of first industrial estate and housing estate

First television service in Africa

Olympic size stadium

Award of 200 scholarships to Nigerian students

Free universal primary education

Free health services for children up to the age of 18

On Political Structure

Two principles of territorial divisions are available for the consideration of political leaders:

Individualism which would divide territories into political nations based on individual interests.

Ethnicism or nationalism which would divide territories according to ethnic affiliations.

Each has its own challenges:

The first is problematic because individual interests are too unstable to serve as the basis of political boundaries.

The second is problematic because there is no pure homogenous ethnic group in contemporary times, especially after imperialist contraptions.

Federalism as Solution

Solution: A political structure that respects the right of each culture or nationality to a public sphere that it can call its own.

This is what is referred to as cultural democracy. Its political expression is true federalism.

This is what Chief Obafemi Awolowo had in mind when he suggested the principle of federalism as the most viable basis for the governance of a multi-ethnic state such as Nigeria.

This is based on his four principles of constitution-making

Four Principles of Constitution-Making

If a country is uni-lingual and uni-national, the constitution must be Unitary.

If a country is uni-lingual or bi-lingual or multi-lingual, and also consists of communities, which, though belonging to the same nation, have, over a period of years, developed some important cultural divergences as well as autonomous geographical separateness; the constitution must be Federal, and the constituent states must be organized on the dual basis of language and geographical separateness.

If a country is bi-lingual or multi-lingual, the constitution must be Federal, and the constituent states must be organized on a linguistic basis.

Any experiment with a Unitary constitution in a bi-lingual or multi-lingual or multi-national country must fail, in the long run.

Between Unitarism and Federalism

For the unitarist, a nation must be known and related to as a united and indivisible entity.

To be such, no room must be given to any centrifugal tendencies.

On its part, federalism respects the component units in a multi-national or multi-ethnic union.

For the unitarist, the many nationalities must be melted into one.

The Absurdity of the Melting Pot Analogy

An ethnic nationality is not a pot and cannot be melted like a wax.

Language is not a bar of butter that can be melted by heat.

The failure of melting pot ideas and practices reflects the absurdity of their assumptions.

We should stop pretending that we can forget our heritage and remain ourselves.

We should each embrace them and bring out their virtues to bear on the future that we covet.

AWO on Education

AWO’s defense of the right to education (PNG, 164-172) is based on a philosophy of family relations between the paterfamilias and materfamilias and the children.

We bring children into the world.

That act comes with a heavy dose of responsibility which was not lost on our ancestors even without the benefit of formal education themselves.

They knew well that they had to train their children so they could assume their role as grownups.

Contemporary parents have the same instinctive urge to educate their children.

AWO’s Arguments for Free Education

Ontological Argument:

A human being is a living soul which must be nurtured through sound education so that the man/woman retains that quality of being above other animals. Since many cannot do this by themselves, the duty falls on the state.

Ideological Argument:

The Nigerian state, to which citizens have voluntarily submitted, has a duty to educate children from the various ethnic backgrounds.

Political-Economic Argument:

Rapid political economic development of Nigeria by Nigerians for Nigerians requires the full development and full employment of all Nigerians. To be fully developed is to be fully educated and this is the responsibility of the state.

Moral Argument:

The state is an institution with objectives to, among others, protect citizens and promote their welfare and guarantee the exercise of their rights. It is immoral and unethical for the state to discharge its responsibilities to a small section of “haves” while a vast majority of “have-nots” are neglected. 

AWO on The Economy

In Path to Nigerian Greatness, Chief Awolowo identified the characteristics of an underdeveloped economy deriving from three kinds of underdevelopment.

Underdevelopment of the mind, arising from ignorance, illiteracy, deficiency in technology and in technical and managerial know-how.

Underdevelopment of the body, arising from disease, bad and inadequate food, bad water, bad housing, meagre clothing, and filthy environment;

Underdevelopment of agriculture, and excessive and widespread underdevelopment of the rural population arising from underdevelopment of the mind and body, and from lack of savings and capital formation. (PNG, p.154)

An Economic Argument for the “Full Development of Man”

All men have innate talents or ability and must be given equal opportunity to develop.

When all talents have been developed fully, each must be given equal opportunity to contribute to socio-economic development: (why? Because the share of the total development for each person depends on his contribution)

The society (not just individuals) suffers when all talents in society are not fully developed.

Therefore, the solution to the problem of our country’s economic underdevelopment lies in the “full development and full employment of every Nigerian-man or woman, child or adolescent.” (emphasis in original): “no economic revolution has ever succeeded or will ever succeed, whether green or otherwise, which does not give the prime of place to the full development of man.” p.155

Philosophical Reasoning Followed by Action

The reasoning leads to the four cardinal programs of UPN, namely:

Free education at all levels

Integrated rural development

Free health care

Full employment

From the foregoing, it follows that the “full development and full employment of every Nigerian citizen” should be the primary national objective of the nation because:

 A GOOD NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY AND PROGRAM IS INDISPENSABLE TO A GOOD NATIONAL ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT.

Political Action Follows Philosophical Reasoning

In the economic sphere of development, Awolowo’s government promoted the growth of secondary industries pari passu with agricultural development as a means of realizing the goal of a “never-ceasing expansion in the economy and wealth of the Region” which he believed that government must ensure.

To that end of a “never-ceasing expansion in the economy and wealth of the Region”, the government facilitated the growth of private enterprise, removed infrastructural obstacles, and provided basic services including the development of industrial estates.

In addition, government established agencies that participated in industries—Western Nigeria Development Corporation (WNDC) and Western Nigeria Finance Corporation (WNFC). The latter was designed to make loans available to entrepreneurs from the Region.

AWO’s Recommendation to the Federal Government

In April 1960, Chief Awolowo recommended to the new Federal Government, the paths to economic development which the Western Region had taken:

First, ascertain the problems which required a solution.

Second, formulate the principles which were to guide the government in solving those problems.

Third, work out the concrete plans and programs to resolve the problems.

Ascertaining and resolving the Problems

The problems facing the country were identified as

the paradox of wealth and poverty living side by side in the country,

miserable rural conditions,

rural-urban migration, and

urban unemployment.

The principles identified for resolving the problems were:

government must find means to promote the maximum exploitation of natural resources,

accelerate the development of manpower and

ensure the equitable distribution of the resultant wealth.

Agriculture and Education as Bedrocks of Economic Policy

The concrete plans and programs for resolving the problems focused on the development of agriculture and allied industries

the promotion of education and health as pillars of economic development.

Meeting the Challenges of Agriculture

The challenges:

Inefficient methods of cultivation and production made the productivity of the farmers abysmally low and discouraging.

The inadequacy of resources made it impossible for him to improve his methods.

The solution:

Education of and financial assistance for farmers

Promotion of wealth for farmers

To promote the growth of wealth for farmers,

extension services were created.

extension workers were trained to intensify research into new varieties of seedlings.

Training was given to farmers on the prevention of diseases that affected cocoa production.

Western Region Finance Corporation started a loan scheme to help farmers with the purchase of pest-control measures.

subsidies were given to farmers through the Marketing Board to purchase chemicals to combat pests and diseases.

These services provided invaluable help on all aspects of the cultivation of cocoa and oil palm, leading to a boom in agricultural wealth.

Cooperative Farm Settlements

To train young graduates of modern school in the “science and technique of modern farming”, the government of Western Region established

13 Cooperative Farm Settlements and

3 Farm Institutes

The idea was to enable the trainees to acquire their own plot and stand on their own as productive members of society.

A philosophy of self-determination

AWOISM is a philosophy of self-determination and self-sufficiency.

When the government of Western Region determined that it was in its interest to pursue its economic policies by rejecting funds from the Federal Government, it did not hesitate to do so.

Thus, when the Federal Government suggested the termination of the 1955/60 regional plans, Western Region refused because the region was “already self-governing”, and while the North had received £3 3/4million and the East £2 3/4million as allocations from the Federal Government, the West had received only £1/2 million.

Therefore, the West opted to pursue its own Five-Year Plan, “Western Regional Development Plan 1960/65” because, as Chief Awolowo put it, “we had enough funds of our own to execute our plans.”

A Legacy of Deep Thinking, Hard Work, and Fearless Action

“I have never regarded myself as having a monopoly of wisdom. The trouble is that when most people in life and in the position of leadership and rulership are spending whole days and nights carousing in clubs or in the company of men of shady character and women of easy virtue, I, like a few others, am always at my post working hard at the country’s problems and trying to find solutions for them. With them the slogan always is; Drinking and Dancing Till Day Break; but with those of my breed, it is: Hard Work Till Midnight or the Early Hours of the Morning. Now, when out of the inflated emptiness of their minds they speak, they are naturally superficial. Only the deep can call to the deep. When, on the other hand, others of my ilk speak out of the fullness of their minds, what they say more often than not command attention and sometimes appeals to the majority of the people. This is the difference.”

Professor Gbadegesin presented this paper on April 5, 2025 at a lecture organised by Think Yoruba First to mark the 116th posthumous birthday of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.