UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF OKEOGUN - PROSPECT AND WAY OUT: By Favour Adewoyin

INTRODUCTION:

Our main word in this topic is 'Underdevelopment', our case-study is Okeogun while our aim/objective is to proffer solution to the problems of underdevelopment in Okeogun region of Oyo State. 

DEFINITIONS:

First, let me announce that I'm constrained to teach, but not to preach and I will employ teaching methodology here so we can have a better understanding of what we have come to do.

So, with this in mind, I like to start with definitions because whatever you don't define you cannot find.

1. Underdevelopment:

The word 'underdevelopment' is a compound word formed from prefix 'under', root word 'develop' and suffix 'ment'. So, the main word we are going to consider is 'underdeveloped' whose antonym is 'developed'. 

In the world today, some countries are developed countries while others are underdeveloped. Following the categorisation made in the 50s by a French Economist, Frantz Fanon that grouped countries of the world based on their socio-economic status, the countries of the world were categorised as First World, Second World and Third World. 

All the countries of the Third World are underdeveloped countries. More than half of nearly eight billions people of the earth have been living in the Third World with all the countries of Africa as well as some countries in Asia are under this same category. 

But, Asian countries like India, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, etc which were, hitherto, categorised as Third World had moved up and out of the Third World bracket as they now belong to the developed countries of the world. 

In fact, a country like Singapore has crossed from the Third World to the First World under the leadership of a visionary leadership named Lee Kuan Yew. 

2. Okeogun:

The second word I like to define is 'Okeogun'. Okeogun belongs to the old Oyo North District of Oyo State with ten Local Governments with a vast land-space that is more than the eight Local Governments of Bayelsa State put together. So, the region of Okeogun is qualified to be a State in Nigeria if all things are equal. 

Okeogun is a region with common geography, common language/dialect, common historical heritage, common socio-cultural perspectives, common socio-economic experiences, common ethics and values, common orientation, common occupation, common food, common religion and politics as well as common problems. 

The towns of Okeogun don't only share common boundaries, they have also been sharing inter-community marriages which have bonded the people together so much so that the people have almost become one whole entity if not for the petty sentiments of politics and religion that have been dividing them over the years. 

NIGERIA IS NEITHER A COUNTRY OR A NATION:

Before we can address the 'underdevelopment' of Okeogun, the first reasonable thing to do is to contextualise our discussion because Okeogun does not exist in isolation, it is a region in the Oyo State of Nigeria. 

Now, on quick question to ask is: is Nigeria a country or a nation? This is an interesting question that many Nigerians have not been asking, not to talk of providing answer to it. 

Again, is Nigeria a country or a nation? If we consider the 14th century definition of 'country' that says a country is 'the territory of a nation state or formerly independent nation; a political entity asserting ultimate authority over a geographical area', Nigeria will qualify to be a country. But, if we consider the 13th century definition of 'country' that says a country is 'a set region of land having particular human occupation or agreed limits, especially inhabited by members of the same race, language speakers, etc', Nigeria does not qualify to be called a country. 

And, Nigeria is not yet a nation from all angles we can deploy to look at it. A nation is defined as 'an historical constituted, stable country of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological makeup manifested in common culture'. So far, what we have been having is a people of different nations or nationalities brought together under one forced marriage of inconvenience called Nigeria. In Nigeria, we have the Yoruba nation, the Hausa nation, the Fulani nation, the Igbo nation, the Itsekiri, Urhobo, Ijaw, Tiv, etc nations. The set-up called Nigeria is a heterogeneous setup with multi-ethnic, multi-religion, multi-lingual and multi-cultural outloook. 

NIGERIA IS UNDERDEVELOPED:

Let's even employ the 14th century definition of 'country' and say Nigeria is a country, she is still an underdeveloped country. A developed country is a 'wealthy, industrialised and technologically advanced country with sophisticated manufacturing and service industries'. This definition clearly disqualifies Nigeria from being a developed country because Nigeria is only potentially 'wealthy' with human and material(natural) resources, she is not 'industrialised', 'technologically advanced' with 'sophisticated manufacturing and service industries'. 

In other words, Nigeria is an 'underdeveloped' country because it is 'not fully grown to a full or normal extent'. She is 'without means for economic growth' and she 'lacks technology and capital to make efficient use of available resource'. 

INDICES/PRODUCTS OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT:

Nigeria is accommodating all the indices of underdevelopment like political confusion, ideological frustration, social unrest, economic uncertainty, moral bankruptcy, institutionalised corruption, disillusionment with religion. As long as all these are evident in Nigeria, she cannot be considered a 'developed' country. 

In plain language, as long as all the products of underdevelopment like low Gross Domestic Product (GDP), poor Human Development Index (HDI), poverty, lack, want, hunger/starvation, sicknesses/diseases, ghetto/slum lifestyle, lack or decay of infrastructures, insecurity, joblessness, youth restiveness/restlessness, fighting, war, homelessness, hopelessness, helplessness,  stress, migration/brain-dead, etc are all present in Nigeria, she will continue to be an underdeveloped country, no matter the efgorts. 

OKEOGUN IS A TERRIBLY SUPER UNDERDEVELOPED ENCLAVE:

If the whole Africa is underdeveloped and Nigeria, with all her potentials, still falls within the same category, Oyo State must be underdeveloped; and, if Oyo State is underdeveloped, then Okeogun which falls in the Oyo North division of Oyo State must be terribly super-underdeveloped. Our place has been marginalised and is backward in all things and, without mincing words, she is underdeveloped. 

Okeogun is the food basket of not only Oyo State, but also Ogun, Osun and Lagos States. Farming is the major occupation of our people and the main crop they plant has been edibles for over many centuries now. But, the road networks are in constant states of disrepair. Roads to many towns of Okeogun are no longer passable as some of them have long been abandoned by road users. The electricity condition of many of the towns is zero percent and the electricity authority in the area always bring cut-throat bills to the people every month.  

There is no pipe-borne water in any of the major towns in Okeogun, not to talk of the villages. The water some people drink is worst to flush the toilet in the city. No wonder many of them are vilulnerable to epidemic diseases.

Okeogun with the ten local governments has only one higher institution which was affiliated to the Polytechnic, Ibadan for many years. I don't know if it is an autonomous institution now or not. Except for private-owned hispitals, Okeogun has no functioning government hospital in the major towns, so our people have no access to medical healthcare facilities like in other regions of Oyo State.

Okeogun people are suffering with many families living in poverty and pains below breadline standard. Our youths are in constant migration to cities like Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and others seeking for any type.of jobs including menial jobs.  

Bad leadership had been identified as the major problem of Nigeria as a country. Okeogun is one of the region in Nigeri has been the one bearing the brunt of the effects of this bad leadership. In the same state, our youths are marginalised when it comes to employments opportunities and other opportunities. Today, it is becoming increasingly for an Okeogun indigene to nurse the ambition of becoming the first citizen in the state that belongs to all of us. 

INTERNAL PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS:

Most of the problems we are facing as a people in Okeogun are both externally and internally motivated. While it cannot be denied that there is a deliberate attempt by other regions to keep Okeogun region down or under, we cannot totally heap the blame of our underdevelopment on those challenges coming from outside. There has always been the internal dimension to our problems as a people. 

Looking at it closely, there are many problems we have and are still causing by our actions or inactions as a people. Quickly, let me point to some of the problems I have identified:

1. Timidity:

An average Okeogun person is an intelligent person, but also timid. Yes, we are timid people as commonly expressed by shyness, inferiority complex, low self-esteem, lack of sense of self-worth, small or average thinking, mediocrity, satisfaction with comfort zone, and fear. 

While our timidity has fetched us some good things because you can hardly find an Okeogun person in the list of criminals and our people are free from the antigraft cases, it has also robbed us many good things of life because our people have always been maintaining a culture of silence even in the face of hottest intimidation and oppression. We don't always want to rock the boat, but we always want to keep the status-quo. We don't like to speak up even when we have the answer to the problem. 

This culture of timidity always finds its place in some of our sayings like 'iya mi ni n ma jeun to le j'ogede lo' - meaning 'my mother has warned me not to get involved in any hard or difficult thing'. Or, another saying like 'eni ti o ni 'ya kii d'egbo eyin' - meaning 'it is unwise for an orphan to sustain back injury'. 

So, as a result of this, we have not had cases of rising up against the authority even when we are being oppressed. Our culture does not share in Wole Soyinka's saying that says 'the man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny'. 

I also mentioned small, average and mediocre thinking as one of the fallouts of timidity which I consider as one of the major problems of a typical Okeogun person. This was why our people have been settling for jobs like teaching and local government jobs that, according to them, will 'put food on the table' where other people in the other region of Yoruba land have been patronising entrepreneur and career works. 

I don't know what is happening now, even the courses many went to study in school in those days were intended to get salary jobs as teachers and local government workers. And, the popular schools in our areas then were Grade 11 Teacher Training colleges and NCE. Those who ventured into university went for education courses and many of them ended in the classrooms as teachers and the local government as career officers. 

Now, if we must change our environment, we must start to think and act big. From among us we can also have captains of industries and owners of businesses. We can have great investors who will command great prosperity like Saudi Adebisi Idikan or Adegboro oja-Oba in the old Ibadan region. 

Time has come to deal with our nature of timidity as a people. Time has come to deal with small, average and mediocre thinking. Time has come to believe in ourselves and develop sense of self-worth. Time has come to ask questions about what we believe is ours and fight for our right in a way that others will not only listen to us, but also respect us in the end. 

Others used to call us "ara oke" and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. It is not a bad name because we are meant to be at the top not at the valley. We should not allow others to look down on us again. So, we must raise our shoulders high and keep hope alive. We may be born in slums, but the slums were not born in us. So, we can make it. We can occupy the highest seat in the land like others. We are not inferior to any and we should not allow others to keep intimidating us. 'Ibi o ju 'bi; ba se b'eru la b'omo' - meaning 'each of us is equal as citizens of the same State'.  

2. Lack of genuine love and unity:

Another problem I have noticed is lack of genuine love. In spite of all the common things that bind us together, we still don't live in love among ourselves. And, without love, there can't be unity. Without unity, there can't be progress and development in any community. 

Politics and religion have been tearing us apart since the first republics. When it comes to politics, our people don't see eye to eye. We always engage in politics of bitterness and other regions have been taking advantage of our extremism. We are yet to know how to play politics to favour us as a people. If today the other regions concede that there should be Okeogun State and the State Capital should come to any town in Okeogun, it is then we are going to see how a people who share so many things in common would be at serious war among themselves. No town will succumb and accept that the capital should go to the other town. In fact, what will happen in the end is that many will prefer the capital be taken out of Okeogun region to another region in the State. 'Kaka k'eku ma je sese, a fi s'awadanu' - meaning 'instead that any of us should benefit from a blessing, it us preferable none of us benefits from it'. 

This is the kind of politics we have been playing among ourselves whic has not paid off in the end. Apart from politics of bitterness which thrives on unhealthy rivalry or competition among political parties, we have also experienced issues like political sabotage, compromise, sell-out, betrayal, etc from different politicians in the past which have robbed us many good things of life. We have heard of cases where certain institutions and projects that were meant for Okeogun were sold to other regions by some of our politicians in the past. There is no how we can make progress as a people of we continue with this kind of attitude. 

And, if we talk about religion, there are towns today that Muslims are suspecting Christians and Christians are suspecting Muslims. There are towns that landlords don't allow people of other religion to rent apartments in their houses and estates. That, to me, is antiprogressive. Presently, I and my family live in a house built by a Muslim woman and she has been a very good person to us since the time we started living in her house. And, the only family we have allowed to live in our house at Okeho is a Muslim family. 

So, Karl Marx was right when he said: 'religion is the opium of the oppressed'. The word 'opium' is an alkaline substance that contains stupefying elements which can numb the brain like codeine, morphine and papaverine. What this means is that religion, any religion, has the ability to put people to sleep. Religion is not the same as being spiritual. It is possible to be religious, but not be spiritual. 

So, if we want to move forward and develop into a great region, we must do all to eschew sentiments that divide us along religious and political lines. We must allow genuine love and unity become our watchwords and philosophy for growth and development. Chuba Okadigbo, one-time Senate President in Nigeria was right when he said: 'if you are emotionally attached to your tribe, religion and political leaning to the point that truth and justice become secondary consideration, your education is useless; if you cannot reason beyond petty sentiments, you are a liability to mankind'. 

3. Generational Transfer:

Another problem I have noticed as one of Okeogun problems is what I called generational transfer. One generation to another has been transferring their fears, suspicions, superstitions and negativities to another. The demons that stopped our forefathers have started to stop us. We need to get out of those ancient believes that certain terrestrial powers are responsible for our backwardness as a people. 

As I go about Okeogun towns, I see a people who live in fear of the unseen and unknown. Today, there are people who still bring out sacrifices to three-junction roads. Today, many people don't go to their hometowns because they believe certain powerful witches and wizards will kill them. Some who live in cities don't want to be known or identified with others who hail from the same area with them becaus they are afraid of being attacked through occultic means. No community or region who live their lives under such demonic control can move forward. If a people become afraid, they won't be able to think and act correctly. Success and greatness have always been the proceeds of courage, faith, persistence, fighting spirit, resilience and other relevant virtues like that. So, we must encourage ourselves to become courageous and take our lives in our hands.a d.peoppe in other regions have done and are still doing. 

Another generational transfer that has caged us down as a people is the culture of waste and misplacement of priorities. You are all aware that there is no Saturday that there won't be one party or the other in all the towns and villages in Okeogun. In spite of the biting economy, our people still know how to get money to buy cows, Aso-ebi, drinks, rent chairs, tables, canopies and other things to throw big society parties that don't bring any income except debt and financial bankruptcy. 

The bad thing is that many parents are becoming increasingly irresponsible. They don't have money to send their children to schools, but they don't mind becoming neck-dip in debts to throw big parties. What kind of priority is that? Such misplacement of priority will continue to draw us backward as a people and we must do something about it. While it is not a bad thing to throw parties for those who have the means, it is a bad thing to go into debts to do what one does not have the means to do per time. 

Like in all regions, leadership is a major problem in Okeogun. We have selfish traditional, religious and political leaders that have been on stage for many years influencing what happens or not happens in their communities. They are the ones determining the destinies of the people in their communities and no one dare challenge their authorities. And, many who did in the past have lost their lives or are living as bywords and proverbs in various communities as a result of the wickedness from those who want to maintain the status-quo at all costs. 

But, the truth of the matter still remains that good leaders always raise other leaders and set them free to lead. Leaders should not raise leaders and sit on them. That is bad leadership! Until our leaders begin to mentor other leaders from among the younger generation and allow them to lead, we are going to remain the same for centuries. 

Therefore, I advise that young people be brought into politics; or, let me put it another way, young people should start to get involved in politics with a view to providing good leadership for our people in no distant time.  

4. Loss of good values and emergence of wrong values:

Parents in the ancient days did good work of parenting. They created time to raise their children with good Moral and ethical values. 

In those days, children were not only trained by their immediate biological parents, every adult in the society was a trainer or an instructor. Teachers in schools were not seen as teachers only, they were also seen as parents whose duties were to provide good training to the younger ones. 'To omo re l'ona ti o to, to ba dagba tan ko le fun o ni 'sinmi' - meaning 'train your child in the way he would go, so when he grows up he won't depart from it'. 

Some of the values that ruled our society in the past were values of integrity, honesty, truthfulness, faithfulness, loyalty, patriotism, accountability, probity, fairness, justice, righteousness, fear of God, sincerity, etc. Every corner of Okeogun was maintained and sustained by good attitudes and sound moral values. Society, in those days, was merit-driven and corruption was acceptable to our people of old; unlike today when things have changed due to the wind of civilisation and modernity that have blown corruption and other social vices to Okeogun and our people have started to produce some of the same thing we used to accuse city people for. Young people from Okeogun have started to covet and produced the materialistic lifestyles of the city youths and, if nothing is done to curb this negative attitudes, it won't be long before things will get out of hand among our young ones. 

The modern day parents of Okeogun extraction are not familiar with parental the watchwords of the olden days like 'mo omo eni to o se' (know the child of who you are), 'eni ti o n 'ya kii d'egbo eyin' (an orphan will do everything not to sustain back injury), 'o o ri'le bo se ri' (always consider the economy you are living behind, 'iya mi ni n ma jeun to le j'ogede lo' (my mother has warned me not to get involved in difficult things) and 'omo yin o s'agbafo o n k'aso wa 'le; e r'oju ole e o mu' (your child has no particular job that gives him income, yet he's living big; then, he must be a thief). 

In the past, Okeogun parents used to deploy proverbs, parables, wise-cracks, short stories, allegories and metaphors to impart good values into their children. But, all these have been lost and the modern-day parents are no longer in control of their children like the parents of olden days. The worst is that Okeogun parents have also started to support their children to participate in examination malpractice and they have started to seek for special centres for their wards as well as secure admission into higher schools for them at all costs. However, this change in parenting is not going to help our community and we must put an end to all these by bringing back the old ethical, moral and cultural values. 

CONCLUSION:

Okeogun is a potentially great region if we can pull all our resources together to build a strong region. Our common geography, common language/dialect, common socio-cultural, historical and economic heritage, common ethics and values, common occupation and food can be deployed to solve our common problems. If we can bring back the old communal lifestyle which was powered by genuine love and unity; if we can bring back the old values; if we can re-introduce entrepreneurial spirit of our forefathers in a modern packages; if we can jettison politics of bitterness and eschew religious bickering; if we can show more patriotism and commitment to Okeogun Project, it won't be too long when we are going to take our region out of the woods. 

We must know that no nation or region can develop on its own outside the people God has given her. Okeogun cannot develop beyond the sons, dughters and residents of Okeogun. 

In 2017, the sons and daughters of Okeho sparked off a revolution by pulling their resiurces together to celebrate hundred years of their resettlement to the present location which they tagged 'Okeho Centenary'. Nothing like that ever took place in Okeho that people of diverse religion and political interests will come together to speak with one voice. The atmosphere then was an atmosphere of joy, love and unity. It was the dawn of a new season in that town and we pray such is sustained and spread across all Okeogun region. 

Finally, while it is not a bad thing to look up to government to help us build our region for us, it will be a better thing if we can look inward and mobilise ourselves to build a befitting society for ourselves as a unique region in Oyo State. In the past, many things like schools, roads and other projects were built through community efforts. We need to rekindle that fire of community development if we want to get to our promise land on time. And, with God on our side, Okeogun will soon become an enviable region to emulate by other regions before our very eyes. 

Thank you and God bless you.

*Being Copy of lecture delivered at NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF OKEOGUN STUDENTS' ANNUAL DAY HELD ON OCTOBER 8, 2019 AT THE ASSEMBLY HALL OF THE POLYTECHNIC, IBADAN