Middle East Approach to the Ibadan Question

Have you ever passed through Ibadan and wonder how old and inglorious it is; dusty brown roofs and rusting ceilings, traditional people with strong accent and a whole lot of face hiding memes on the internet. For starters am not from Ibadan, so this is not a deliberate attempt to defend the city or its decaying state.
I read from history that those dusty brown roofs once housed the intellectual powers of Nigeria (Soyinka,JP Clark, D.O Fagunwa, Amos Tutola, Achebe, Irele), it had TV station before Paris, first skyscraper in tropical Africa, first housing estate in Nigeria (Bodija Housing Estate),first university in Nigeria, first set of research centers in Nigeria, industries owned by Nigerians( Standard breweries and Dr Pepper Soft drink by Chief Bode Akindele in Alomaja in Ibadan, Exide Batteries ,Layland Autos), companies and business gurus lived and thrived there to mention a few: Nathaniel Idowu, Amos Adegoke, Lekan Salami, Alao Arisekola, Adeola Odutola, Jimoh Odutola, Chief Theophilus Adediran Oni. Without a doubt Ibadan was the great capital of the Yoruba nation with many firsts, it is on good record that in 1956 the Queen of England formally commissioned the first double gauge road in Nigeria (Mokola to Agodi road in Ibadan), Ibadan was a well planned urban city. But like the changing of the day, the whole city looks like an artifact in a big museum called Nigeria. Its people no longer pride herself with giant leaps and breakthroughs, like I wrote in Ode to my glorious days “it’s all gone”. It was the bedrock of western civilization in Nigeria, the political theatre of the old western region; as a matter of fact it was the heart beat of the great Western Region days!
The Ibadan question has been on my mind ever since I heard my roommate Otuyemi Adetayo amd Ogunaike Mayowa argue about the uncivilized state of the capital, although I didn't contribute to the daily argument but I took a lot of mental notes. The Ibadan question has long caused me sleepless nights, what happened? Why is the giant still asleep”, where are the pacesetting ideology that glorified the motherland? JP Clark's answer of mismanagement to the Ibadan question was a guiding light to search further.
We need not search further! The story of Ibadan is not different from that of the Islamic Arab civilization which pioneered many fields of human endeavor for 1,000 years only to lose the pioneering spirit and ideology which according to Rashid All Maktoum (Ruler of Dubai) was the essence of their entire civilization. Ibadan lost its place among the great cities because it betrayed its motto of 'pacesetting', is there any notable pacesetting event or agenda like the days of old? The death of the pacesetting ideology of Ibadan has made its people a tag along, the Yoruba hinterland suffers as a result of Ibadan following and not setting the pace for development and the greatness of the Yoruba ideology and communalism.
The leadership plague that has bedeviled the ancient city is one of sharp contrast to the caliber of men at the forefront of its development in time past, there's need for a new generation of leaders who understand the strategic and historical importance of Ibadan to the Western Nigeria, all Constituted Authorities should take the hard road as opined by Awolowo to reach and keep our place at the top. It’s time to dream big and mobilize our resources to achieve our pacesetting ideology, I dream of a time when it shall be said that if it is not the first then it is not Ibadan! But dream is cheap; I believe that the surest and effective way to the great future we earnestly desire lies in our creative and pacesetting approach, Ibadan was a pacesetting city and will become so once again provided we regain the core element we have lost - the pacesetting Spirit.
Our history is our pride and a clue to where our destiny lays-“PACESETTING

https://allthingsokunrinmeta.

awon omo Ibadan kin ni so

OKURINMETA:
Middle East Approach to the Ibadan Question



it had TV station before Paris


https://allthingsokunrinmeta.

Cool. But Paris had a TV station by 1935. Ibadan's own came in 1959.