₦airaland Forum

youneedjesus:
The man is very sincere. I admire his sincerity. Are there sincere politicians in Nigeria today.

TheMensch:
Though the letter looks somehow Ai generated, Awolowo was way too honest. The world does not reward honesty. Does it?

happney65:
Tinubu should come and tell us his background make wè see.

Yet he and his gang of closest tribalists will want to claim being Awoists when they dont share anything at all with the late SAGE.

happney65:
Tinubu should come and tell us his background make wè see.

Yet he and his gang of closest tribalists will want to claim being Awoists when they dont share anything at all with the late SAGE.

thumbsme:
Bro, though we are in a Gen Z age, not everything is done for content, No generation has ever been this lazy. In their days, it is excellence or nothing.
I have come across this letter for the longest time, it's real

manmade:
president tinubu is giving education loan to the university Under graduates on platter of gold and no need for them to write any letters to the Dangotes or otedolas

Britishpea:
Not just task lazy but intellectually lazy....how can anyone read that letter and not shiver but see some peoples comments...Someone there was even talking about Tinubu under this post Now how can such a person become great in life? People like that are chaffs

Svoboda:
Yes. He is giving them loans because he first enslaved their hardworking parents in grinding poverty.


Most parents didn't need loans to offset their children's school fees until the master tragedist emerged with his bunkum economics.

HisaacPlus:
When I am ready to sail, you will advance me £100 to cover passage, provision for my family, and incidentals. _Note: If I am torpedoed en route, you would lose this £100, but you will recover the £208-13s-3d._

manmade:
are you saying that before president tinubu came to power in 2023 , there were no undergrads that dropped out of school because their parents couldn't afford the school fees?

Svoboda:
You think Tinubu introduced the students loan and gloats about it because he cares about dropouts, or he did it for political expediency? Students were recieving bursary of up to almost more than double of their entire full circle school fees under previous govts. Bursary, not loan, in fed schools! State govts were doing theirs too. Those govts didn't gloat about it. Now, the boasting seems like the loans are gifts and not repayable. Under Ibb, we had the federal students loans board. Then, they were still dropouts. My point is, govt shouldn't impoverish Nigerians and then turn around to offer loans as if they were free gifts.

manmade:
federal bursary in Nigeria university , perhaps you graduated from university since 1980s , nothing like federal bursary old man, even the so called federal scholarships were being given to very few people.

TheMensch:
Though the letter looks somehow Ai generated, Awolowo was way too honest. The world does not reward honesty. Does it?

Britishpea:
Not just task lazy but intellectually lazy....how can anyone read that letter and not shiver but see some peoples comments...Someone there was even talking about Tinubu under this post Now how can such a person become great in life? People like that are chaffs

Svoboda:
No point arguing with you.

manmade:
I love people that accept defeat without putting up a fight, there is no need to flog such people

PulaPower:
Amazingly, by 1954 — one year before his promised repayment date to Chief Odutola — Chief Obafemi Awolowo was already Premier of the Western Region. By then, he was awarding scholarships to over 200 undergraduates — the first scheme of its kind in Africa.

HisaacPlus:
AWOLOWO’S LETTER TO THE RICHEST IJEBU MAN IN 1943, SEEKING AN EDUCATIONAL LOAN.
...On Ambition, Integrity, and the Audacity to Ask for the Impossible!

AWOLOWO SPEAKS:

Please read the letter below, written by Chief Obafemi Awolowo to Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola on March 25, 1943 — then the richest Ijebu man — requesting an education loan of £1,400, to be repaid by 1955. It is audacious, meticulous, and deeply revealing of the man who would later shape a nation.

---

THE REMARKABLE LETTER.

March 25, 1943

Dear Mr. Odutola,

I think it will save time, and be more businesslike, if I dispense with pleasantries and go straight to the purpose of this letter: I am writing to ask you to lend me the sum of £1,400 — One thousand and four hundred pounds — free of interest, for twelve years.

It is a staggering sum. More staggering still when you realize that I, who ask for this loan, have nothing in all the world to offer as security except my good faith and my brains — which are of value only so long as I continue to breathe the breath of life.

Nevertheless, I proceed to state, briefly, why I seek this great loan from you. I ask that you spare some time to read what follows, even if, in the end, you find yourself unable to grant me this grand favour.

Since boyhood, one great ambition has possessed me: to be a lawyer, a politician, and a journalist, rolled into one. I cherish politics and journalism as a calling; I desire advocacy as a means of livelihood. For, you will agree, a politician or journalist without the means to support himself and his family comfortably is like a blade with no razor.

There was a time I stood on the verge of earning enough to proceed to England to pursue this ambition. But fortune twisted, and I crashed. Since then, I have labored without success to recover lost ground financially. Spiritually and intellectually, however, I have made appreciable advance, despite towering difficulties — all of which have now been surmounted.

As you know, I have just passed the Intermediate Bachelor of Commerce Examination. Next year, I shall sit for the final http://B.Com. But a degree is not my goal. I detest the thought of being a government or mercantile employee. Opportunities exist for me to secure a suitable, well-paid post under government or a mercantile house. Yet, once I become such an employee, my career as a politician and journalist ends. I have resolved that, under no circumstances, will I take up such employment.

I am now thirty-four. After careful thought, I have concluded that if I could raise a loan, free of interest, sufficient to cover expenses, I should go to England this year. Within three years, I should qualify as a Barrister-at-Law and also obtain, with Honours, the LL.B Degree of the University of London. These degrees, apart from giving me standing as a solicitor and advocate, will fortify me immensely as a politician and journalist.

But where on earth could I get the money? Who in Nigeria today could give £1,400 free of interest to help a fellow man? J. Henry Doherty, Esq., of illustrious memory — who did the like for many successful Nigerians — is no more. But after meticulous searching and weighing, I settled upon you.

I have no doubt that, out of the bounty with which Providence has blessed your grit and enterprise as a businessman, you can well afford to advance such a sum. Nor do I doubt that, as a young and progressive man, you would be happy to fund a project so aligned with national uplift.

But then — could you take this risk?

That is the question. As I have said, I have no security for this loan. Moreover, I ask it free of interest. You stand to gain absolutely nothing in the whole transaction, except the satisfaction that by helping me achieve my ambition, you are indirectly — or even directly — helping Nigeria, or Africa itself.

The risk grows greater when one considers that I might die during my studies or immediately after. Having no security or surety, you stand to lose not only the money but also the satisfaction of having contributed to Africa’s uplift. It is indeed a great risk — perhaps the greatest any man ever embarks upon.

But — and this is a mighty _but_ — if I live, as I have no doubt I shall, you will not only recover your money in full, but you will, to the end of your days, have cause to rejoice that you performed one of the most outstanding and philanthropic acts any human being ever did.

Among other things, I shall make excellent use of the money in England by breaking records in my examinations. On my return to Nigeria, I shall strive to be one of the foremost advocates, politicians, and writers in West Africa. And while I do all this, I shall make it a point not only to repay your money in full, but also to repay your kindness and generosity in every way I can.

All the same, it is a big risk. So, Sir, I ask you to think seriously about it, and see if you can take it in the interest of a young man who has brain, industry, and determination to back his ambition, but lacks the money. I know we have never been close friends, but I have a shrewd idea that you may take the risk and help me.

On this assumption, I proceed to the final stage of this letter.

I shall not require the whole £1,400 in a lump sum. To start, you will help me pay £208-13s-3d to the Inner Temple. I have received the application form; the sum covers all costs of training as a barrister, examination fees excluded.

When I am ready to sail, you will advance me £100 to cover passage, provision for my family, and incidentals. _Note: If I am torpedoed en route, you would lose this £100, but you will recover the £208-13s-3d._

At the same time, you will remit £491-6s-9d to a London Bank. From this, I shall pay university fees for the LL.B course and special courses in political science and journalism upon landing in England. Thus, the initial advance totals £800.

At the end of the first year, provided I make satisfactory progress, you will instruct the bank to honour all my cheques drawn on this account. An agreement to that effect will be signed by me on my return.

On my return, I shall require _two years_ to establish a solid practice and build a reputation. After those two years, I shall commence repayment of at least £200 per annum — monthly, quarterly, or annually. In seven years thereafter, I shall repay the full £1,400. That will be _twelve years_ from April 1943. If you help me by April 1943, I shall be due to repay the full sum by April 1955.

This, you will see, is the farthest limit within which I can pay. It may be possible to pay within three to five years of my return. Indeed, the sooner I pay, the better. But it is wiser to be safe than sorry. It is no use making promises now that will be hard to keep later. Better to name twelve years and pay in six or eight, than to name five and fail in ten. Personally, I would rather fail to secure the loan under these unattractive but sure conditions, than succeed under attractive but precarious ones.

This is all I have to say. My request, and my reasons, lie before you. It is for you to decide whether it is worthwhile to take the risk of helping me as outlined.

If you do me this great favour, not only I and all that are mine, but also God and Africa, will be grateful. If you refuse — and you are perfectly entitled to — I shall have no cause to grumble or to blame you. *FOR THE RISK IS GREAT.

Since this is a very selfish request, I enclose herewith a self-addressed stamped envelope, to be returned under registered post.

Yours faithfully,

Obafemi Awolowo.

Merciful God!______________________________

EPILOGUE: THE REST IS HISTORY.

Chief Odutola declined the loan. Awolowo could not travel that year.

He buckled up, and by August 14, 1944 — one year later — he sailed to England. He became a Barrister-at-Law and was called to the Bar in November 1946.

Amazingly, by 1954 — one year before his promised repayment date to Chief Odutola — Chief Obafemi Awolowo was already Premier of the Western Region. By then, he was awarding scholarships to over 200 undergraduates — the first scheme of its kind in Africa.

He never got the loan. He got something greater: proof that destiny does not depend on one man’s ‘yes’.

Napoleon Hill WWE: “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”

Proverbs 16:9: “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.”

Awolowo asked for £1,400. History gave him a Region.

---

WHY THIS LETTER STILL MATTERS: A BRIEF MEDITATION

1. The Audacity of Vision: Awolowo did not ask for a job. He asked for capital to become Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” He was prepared. He manufactured his own opportunity.

2. Radical Transparency as Strategy: He named every risk — death, failure, loss. Brené Brown: “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” He made Odutola a partner in risk, not a victim of deceit.

3. The Mathematics of Integrity: 12-year repayment plan. £200 per annum. No interest. Luke 16:10: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” He was already governing his future self.

4. When Men Say No, Destiny Says Go: Odutola’s ‘no’ was not rejection. It was redirection. Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

5. The Yoruba Principle of 'Af’owó f’ara': “Use your hand to help yourself.” Awolowo embodied it. Chinua Achebe: “When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound.” Awolowo stopped waiting for another man’s moon.

Final Law: Ecclesiastes 9:11: “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong… but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

Awolowo made his own time. He created his own chance.

And that is why, 80 years later, we still read his letter.

— Copied, studied, and shared for the next generation of the audacious by:

✍️ Segun Fadipe (SF Cicero) ✡️

#Awolowo #ogun #yoruba

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1APUXDK2Mb/