God bless the late poet and writer John Pepper Clark for giving Ibadan what has, by far, remained its best description in a literary work.
As a student of my Alma Mater, the University of Ibadan (the first and still the best), Clark gave a graphic description of West Africa’s biggest city, Ibadan, the centre of academic excellence and a carving ground for many great minds. ‘Ibadan, a running splash of rust and gold—flung and scattered among seven hills like broken china in the sun,’ JP Clark wrote.
Over the decades, students of UI and, indeed, Nigerians from virtually all the states of the federation, found a home, a place of refuge, and an uncommon city of abode in Ibadan. With its ancient but alluring features, Ibadan was deemed beautiful in an indescribable kind of way. That was the import of Clark’s poetry; Ibadan was in a world of its own. It was pure joy to live in the bubbling city with its rural trappings.
As a student of UI in the late early 90s, I was a champion in Zaria and Kaduna whenever I went back home during breaks. It was a glorious thing to have come back from Lagos or Ibadan back then. The North saw the two cities as examples of excellence. Never did I allow myself to lose the discourse on the supremacy of UI and the glory of Ibadan to friends from ABU.
Recte Sapere Fons; it is heartwarming that the fountain of knowledge in UI has not dried. My recent visit to the campus, which I last stepped feet on about 26 years ago, brought nostalgic feelings. Though Nigeria has happened to UI like it has happened to all segments of the country’s life, I was still glad that the peacock has not lost its kingly allure. What was, however, more heartwarming was the changing face of Ibadan, my adopted city. I experienced a sort of positive shock when I saw different improvements and changes that one would never have thought possible.
Right from the Ife-Ibadan Road, where a sprawling interchange has changed the landscape, to the ever-rowdy Iwo Road, where I saw orderliness and two mighty ongoing buildings [which I learnt are bus terminals being constructed by the state government] and then to Idi Ape-Gate axes, where I could not recognise the popular Gate Area, I confirmed that something big has, indeed, been going on in Ibadan.
It’s not that I have lost touch with the ancient city completely; I was always abreast of news and developments about Oyo State, from where I married my beautiful wife, Taye. However, knowing how the media has become a part of Nigeria’s problems, I often do not allow myself to be programmed to accept that a politician is doing wonders or building heaven on earth, as the media often paints.
In Oyo State’s case, I have read and watched news about how the current governor, Seyi Makinde, has been rebuilding infrastructure and all that. I saw the launch of the Ibadan Circular Road, and I read about the reconstructions of roads linking other parts of the state. But I took all the news with a pinch of salt. Why? I had also read the great achievements said to have been recorded by his predecessor, the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, only to be disappointed when Engr. Makinde came and the music changed and the same media outlets began to claim that the predecessor did not do much.
So, I had conditioned my mind to not believe the claims about Makinde’s massive infrastructure development programmes. As the Hausa do say, ‘Gani ya kori.’ Seeing is believing. As fate would have it, I was able to see and to believe in the third week of November.
I had decided months earlier that I would attend the 2024 UI Convocation event in honour of my friend and brother, Ayuba Danladi, Ph.D. And so, here I was in Ibadan, seeing live and direct the evidence of news reports and claims I had vowed not to believe willy-nilly. Within the few days I spent in my ‘city,’ I could not but rain prayers on Governor Makinde and the Federal Government too. A trip on the Lagos-Ibadan motorway gave me reassurance that Nigeria can work if we all put our minds to it. I saw a new Lagos-Ibadan motorway.
The bulk of my prayers and commendations were reserved for the Oyo State governor, whom I learnt always has the love and prayers of residents for all the good works being done. I nearly could not believe my eyes when I took on a tour of the city. I found it hard to believe that Challenge could change that drastically. I was bewildered to see a sort of order one would have thought impossible on Beere-Molete Road. When I got to Bodija, I nearly could not recognise Ola Mummy Food Canteen and Amala Skye Bank.
I was equally surprised when I saw the works on Bodija-Sango-UI Junction, which used to be problematic over the years. Thanks to Dr. Danladi, who chose to take me around town, I was able to see the volume of work being done on roads within the city. I was most gladdened by the smoothness of Dugbe-Mokola Road and the Barracks-Sabo Road. But I urge the governor to also rehabilitate the road that goes through Sabo from the flyover. [Doing so will show him as a detribalised leader, and it will count for something in his rumoured presidential ambition.].
This governor first won my heart sometimes last year, when I saw the commissioning of a mosque building he built. That event was attended by the Sultan. I felt at that time that Makinde, a Christian, probably undertook the rebuilding of that mosque without any knowledge of the words in Suratul al-Bukhaari 450 that whoever builds a mosque for Allah, He would build something for him in Paradise. But having come to Ibadan and seen the other things the governor has been building, I can say that he is a great builder. We probably need someone like him to rebuild our country.
Indeed, gani ya kori, I have come; I have seen Ibadan and the masterful rebuilding and rebranding efforts being done by Makinde to make the historic city continue to remain relevant, and I have believed. Now, I can believe the stories I have read about Ibadan’s rating as one of the top states with the best startup ecosystem in Nigeria and Africa. For anyone who loved Ibadan, there has always been the feeling about when the city would evolve and shed its ancient toga. Yes, planners of the city have done a yeoman’s job; you have the urbane and octane as well as the rural Ibadan. But then, there has always been that yearning for an administrator that will renew Ibadan and bring it to date with the technologies and trappings of modern cities. In Makinde, Ibadan now has a leader who is dragging the ancient city to its next level of glory by rebuilding infrastructure built scores of years ago by the Obafemi Awolowos, Adebayo Adeyinkas, David Jemibewon, and other past administrators of the city. I saw that Oyo State now has a governor who has ideas and has been executing them with precision, reshaping Ibadan, the city of splashing rust and gold and the intellectual capital of Nigeria, without losing its history. Of this noble act, we Ibadan indigenes, by association, are grateful to Mr. Governor.