Augustus Taiwo "Tai" Solarin (20 August 1922 – 27 June 1994)

Augustus Taiwo "Tai" Solarin (20 August 1922 – 27 June 1994) was a Nigerian educator and author. He established the famous Mayflower School, Ikenne, Ogun State in 1956. In 1952, Solarin became the principal of Molusi College, Ijebu Igbo, a post he held till 1956 when he became the proprietor and principal of Mayflower School.

Early life

Solarin's exact birth date is unknown, but it is assumed that he was born in 1922 in Ikenne, Ogun State, in Western Nigeria. He attended Wesley College in Ibadan. He served with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and remained in Britain, studying at University of Manchester, and then at the University of London. Tai Sholarin married English-born Sheila Mary Tuer in 1951.

Mayflower

The Mayflower campus, which he established, is made up of hundreds of hectares of land, based in Tai Solarin's birth Place, Ikenne, Ogun State. Approximately 8,000 students are in attendance .

The campus includes classrooms, administration buildings, small houses for many of the teachers, dormitory accommodations for about 2,000 boarders, and a farm. The school is noted for very high academic achievement.

Post independence critics

Tai Solarin is one of the post-Independence civil rights critics and activists in his native Nigeria; some others were Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (musician) Beko Ransome-Kuti, Wole Soyinka (Nobel Laureate), Ayodele Awojobi, Dele Giwa, Gani Fawehinmi (lawyer), and Ken Saro-Wiwa. For the majority of the first forty years after independence, Nigeria had no effective opposition to the mostly military government of the day.

These activists acted as an effective opposition to the ruling government. In 1975, when the General Gowon Regime delayed returning power to a civilian regime, Tai published his "The Beginning of the End" statement, which he then physically distributed on the roadside. He was subsequently imprisoned for this act. Throughout his lifetime Tai fought running battles with various governments in a bid to improve the lot of Nigerians.

Mr. Solarin was an intellectual guru for Nigeria's disenchanted and disfranchised for four decades. His writings in magazines and newspapers, highlighting what he called the hypocrisy and vulgarity of the Nigeria of his day, frequently angered people in power.

He was a vehement critic of military rule in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, and an ombudsman in three states in 1976 and 1977

As a columnist, Tai was a relentless critic of Nigerian military rule, as well as of corruption in the government and the church. He was often jailed for his public remarks.

Modesty

In a country and an age where dignitaries wore flowing Agbada to show their wealth and position, Tai was known to always wear simple khaki shorts and shirt.

Prophet of self-reliance

One of Tai Solarin's basic principles was self-reliance, a part of the curriculum at Mayflower.

The Peoples Bank

In 1989, The Peoples Bank was founded by the government, and Tai Solarin became the first chairman. The bank was created to disburse soft loans and other forms of credit to the very poor to start their own businesses.

Humanist

Tai Solarin was also a well known humanist and atheist who opposed the ownership of the schools by churches. Tai Solarin once said that "black(people) hold onto their God just as the drunken man holds on to the street lamp post—for physical support only."In 2004, the Mayflower School played host to an International Humanist Conference, commemorating the life and work of Tai Solarin. It was attended by guests from the United States, Africa and Europe.

Uncle Tai, as he was popularly known, derived immense pleasure in selflessly and fearlessly advocating for a better Nigeria, an action borne out of genuine, unfettered, earnest and heartfelt feeling about the state and future of the nation and the future generation. He was dissatisfied with the mindboggling erosion of values, the misrule and total collapse of all facets of life and sectors in the country and expressed shock at the unfathomable silence and culpability of the leadership and people.

He was never known to capitulate to ephemeral inducements, paradisal accountrements and corporeal appurtenances. Tai Solarin was unequivocal and explicit on the side of justice, truth and fairplay, was always ready to suffer for the sake of others, share in their misery and stand by the weak

Tai Solarin wrote regularly for the Daily Times, the Nigerian Tribune and The Guardian.

Tai Solarin University of education

In November 1995, the Nigerian National Universities Commission (NUC) formally recognised the "Tai Solarin University of Education" (TASUED) Ogun State, as the first specialised university of education, the 27th state university and the 76th university in Nigeria.
Some of his work includes:

Towards Nigeria's Moral Self-Government,
Thinking with You.
A Message for Young Nigerians.
To Mother With Love.
Mayflower; the story of a school.
Timeless Tai.

Sheila Solarin (née Mary Tuer) was a British woman married to the late Tai Solarin. She was named an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II on 17 October 2007 for services to education in Nigeria. She ran Mayflower School on behalf of her late husband Tai Solarin.

War service

Sheila met her husband while both were in the forces following the World War II.

Education establishments in Nigeria

In 1952 they decided to move to his native Nigeria, and both worked in Molusi College ijebu Igbo.

But they disagreed with the politics of the day and religious discrimination in schools, and decided to build their own in a town called Ikenne.

On 27 January 1956, Tai Solarin and his wife founded the first and only secular school in Nigeria, Mayflower School, Ikenne, Ogun State.

The Students' Second Home was established by Sheila and her husband in 1977, a boarding house which serves more than two thousand students of the three public high schools in Ikenne town. Also complementing the now state-owned Mayflower School, was the establishment of the privately owned Mayflower Junior School, the primary school arm of the Mayflower institution, a citadel of secular education for self-reliance and all round excellence.

Using breeze blocks made from clay they constructed two classrooms, each able to accommodate 36 pupils.The student also helped in construction of more class rooms .

"They had their bunks at the back of the class, and the desks at the front'" said Sheila who has been an English teacher for 50 years. "We didn't ask anybody what their ethnic background or religion was, we simply wanted to provide an education for all the children in the area."

The school became more popular, and Sheila and her husband were forced to extend, making it one of the biggest in the country.

They even made the furniture on site, much of it using wood from trees Sheila planted herself.

She headed the Mayflower School on behalf of her late husband Tai Solarin. Sheila officially retired at 80 and passed much of the responsibility on to her children.

Personal life

Sheila and her husband had two children Corin and Tunde Solarin. She died on 21 October 2012, at the age of 88.
Tai Solarin, Omo Yoruba atata!!!

Uncle Tai, God bless your soul.

Very impressive OP.