Unity among the people is the No 1 goal of the newly crowned Olowu of Owu Abeokuta, Oba (Dr) Saka Adelola Matemilola Otileta VII, who was crowned six days ago, and presented with the staff of office on Saturday by Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun at an impressively colourful ceremony in the state capital.
The second objective of the brand new Olowu’s reign is capacity development, which he described as “very vital”, explaining that to develop a people, capacity development must come first.
While the Balogun of Owu, former President Olusegun Obasanjo could not attend the grand finale of the week-long coronation ceremonies, the other personalities in attendance included the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II; and former governors of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Chief Olusegun Osoba.
Oba Matemilola told select journalists in the Olowu palace that he had prepared himself for the eventuality of mounting the throne, even while he was in the academics in the United Kingdom.
What was your immediate reaction when you heard of your election by the kingmakers as the 14th Olowu?
When the announcement was made, I was excited. I expected it anyway, because I knew I had worked towards getting to that position. It seemed to me that it was kind of natural, and by that, I mean it is something that I have been trained for in the family for quite a while. And it is a thing that my friends and associates have said, that ‘Saka, we want you to become the next Olowu of Owu Kingdom so that you can represent us and be a great Olowu for us.’ So, somehow, my mind has been prepared for it for quite a while. So, it was quite exciting, and finally here we are.
What qualities do you think actually prepared you for the throne?
There are a number of things really, and one of them is public service, which I have been involved in from when I was very young; doing things for people; doing things because you want to see smiles on people’s faces; because you believe this is the right thing to do. And I have done this a lot, both in private and organisational levels and beyond the call of duty. So that is one of them really.
The other is the fact that when I was leaving Nigeria, I was very young. And one of the things that made me return to Nigeria in 1996 was because I believe that no amount of public service I offered in the United Kingdom would touch my people.
I was not focused on being the Olowu at a time. Rather, I was focused on my people. So, that was why I left where I was in the university in the UK. And since then, I have been engaged in public service, including lecturing pro bono at universities, supporting education and health. The key thing I have focused on was public service.
What striking message do you think your coronation will bring to Owu Kingdom and Yoruba land in general?
I think service goes beyond the Yoruba race, especially for those who have things to offer. One significant thing I want to say is that when you are in public service, you need to focus on your people. You can do a lot for the whole world, which is great and fantastic. But when you do it closer home, you make much more impact. In my case, I thought I have done quite a bit, and rightly so. And I thought I had retired just cruising along in terms of public service. But when I took on this role, it made me feel that I have not done enough, maybe because my people have not been touched sufficiently the way I would have loved them to be.
So, for me, it seems I am just beginning my public service. My message generally is that people who have that public service mindset need to start from home. That is when it will make the most significant impact.
What area of public service do you intend to go into during your reign?
Before now, I focused my attention on education and health. But now it is about unity, because there is nothing you can achieve in this kind of role without unity. Hence, the number one thing is to ensure unity among the people. It is only when you have a united people that you can have unity of purpose. You can then co-own whatever you intend to deliver, because when your followers identify with this cause, it becomes easier for them to work with you to deliver on those goals.
Capacity development is very vital. So, when you want to develop a people, capacity-building comes first. When the people are developed, those people will support in developing the economy, infrastructure and the rest. So, the first thing is to develop capacity, and you may say due to my background, because if you don’t develop the people, you just build roads and rail, which is fantastic. But without the awareness, knowledge, the extent to which you can touch people’s lives will be limited.
So, it is the people first, after that you have unity of purpose and ensure the people have the right education, including market women, whom you are expected to develop their businesses and by so doing the economy and other things in the city. And I am not talking about Abeokuta by the way, but the whole of Owuland- which is far beyond Ogun State and, as a matter of fact, beyond Nigeria. You may not know, there is Owu in Benin Republic and other parts of the sub-region. It is about coming together to ensure we co-develop ourselves, the economy and the rest.
A lot of people would wonder that somebody who is highly educated and exposed to Western world is still in tune with the traditions of his people. What message do you have for those who might think that what you are doing now is outdated?
If you don’t know yourself, where you are coming from, then what is your identity? When you say you are someone from somewhere, that somewhere has a history and culture that makes your people what they are and that is your pride. For me as an Owu man, it is about how Owu evolved its history and heritage. That is my pride. That is what I identify with.
And it will be surprising to me for people to say knowing and identifying with one’s background is not something to be proud of. So, it is very important to understand where you are coming from. That is the only way you can identify with your people and that will be a motivation to actually help to do things in your community. If you don’t have that at the background, then where is the pride?
For instance, look at the people who want to leave or cut off their roots from Nigeria. Most of the time, it is because they do not know who they are; they don’t know their origin or their heritage. That is why they want to leave and become slaves to other people. Where you are going to was developed by some people. Some people made you want to go there. What are you doing to ensure that where you came from is also developed to that level so that people can also come to the place?
Given that the major role of traditional rulers is preservation of culture and tradition, how do intend to tackle the issue of cultural imperialism during your reign?
It is all about mindset really. You see, when you get to that, from time immemorial, human beings, right from time, like to dominate. And when people are conquered, the conquered people always look up to those who conquered them. It is a natural thing for a lot of people. But for people who actually appreciate their culture and heritage, it is always the other way round. And I think it is one of the reasons why some people would say I want to be like the Europeans, because they don’t appreciate where they came from. People should be proud of their own heritage.
What we are going to do, which is what we are doing already, is to go back into our history; this is what we are, and these are our cultures, and make them available to the whole world. For example, when Oodua was actually sending out his grandchild, Ajibosun, he said each of those people have good governance and administration. The instruction was ‘go and establish a kingdom for me’’ And each of those people, in addition to certain individuals who accompanied them, played different roles.
So, even till we came to this area and the Egba were here with us, we were working together until the Europeans came and did all they did at that time. And again, it goes to the mindset I mentioned earlier where the conqueror imposed their culture on the conquered. That was the only way they could dominate. They make you feel that they are much better than you or superior to you. It is up to you to say, no, you are not. We just have to keep our heads up, develop ourselves and make sure that we do not allow those imperialists to destroy our culture.
By God’s grace, and all my people are behind me on this, we intend to bring back the beauty of our culture and heritage to make our children proud of who they are. We are already doing it by the way.
How do you intend to transit from scholarship to monarchy?
I don’t see it as a transition in that sense. It is about the mindset. When I was in the academia, by the way, I straddled both the academia and the industrial sector. Where I was then, I was a captain of industry, and when you occupied that role, it was about how you utilise it to deliver on your mandate. Long before thinking about ascending the throne of Olowu, I was already thinking about how the administration would be. What does this role involve? What do I need to do to deliver? So, since that race started in January, I had already prepared my mind. In fact, my agenda was already drawn.
The day I actually indicated interest; I already had a programme. I have a profile which contains the details of what I intend to do. Those are the key things – not too many of them – just about five points. So, the mindset is what is the role about? What do I need to deliver to ensure that people feel the impact of my reign as soon as possible? And we are doing that already.
Interview credit: The Nation
