Globacom Chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr.,
has recommended the inculcation of the noble values of honesty, hard work,
integrity, probity and good character enshrined in the “Omoluabi
paradigm” for the entrenchment of good governance in the country.
“Omoluabi” is a cultural concept of the Yoruba people used to
describe a person of diligence and integrity.
He stated this in a goodwill message read on his behalf at the 3rd Annual Oba Adetona Professorial Chair Lecture of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye. The lecture was held in Ijebu Ode on Friday, May 10th, 2019 to commemorate the 85th birthday of the Paramount Ruler of Ijebu land, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona.
Dr. Adenuga described the theme of the Lecture “Grassroots Governance, the soft underbelly of Nigeria’s political architecture”, as apt, positing that “if we get it right at the local government level, we will get it right at the top as all politics is local”.
He commended Oba Adetona for donating the Professorial Chair at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, a gesture, he said, had been generating seminal ideas for the enthronement of good governance in the country. He prayed for more successes during the reign of the monarch who is marking 59 years as king.
In a keynote remark, Oba Adetona who expressed happiness to be alive to witness the occasion thanked God, the people of Ijebuland and Globacom for the huge support that has birthed great development and progress in his domain.
He prayed especially for long life, good health and continuous progress for Globacom Chairman, Dr. Adenuga.
The current occupier of the Chair who also delivered the lecture, Professor Ayo Olukotun, submitted that local governments in the country had failed and should be replaced because of the manifest development gaps in the country. He challenged Nigerians to provide redemptive alternatives to what is currently extant.
In his remarks, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Professorial Chair, Mr. Olatunji Ayanlaja, recalled that the first lecture delivered by Professor Akin Mabogunje in 2016 x-rayed the role of money in politics, while the second lecture presented by Professor Ayo Olukotun looked at the role of civil societies in the entrenchment of good governance in the country.
The BOT Chairman announced that Oba Adetona had created a N1 Billion Trust Fund of his personal money for the maintenance of the Awujale’s Palace in perpetuity. He added that the official residence and the office of the Chair of Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Professorial Chair on Good Governance at the Olabisi Onabanjo University would be ready for commissioning in three months.