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73-616: In the 1930s, the Colonial Service administration became unified and controlled from London , rendering it the image of a unified empire . A consequence of the unified system was the recruitment and placement of officers into the Nigeria service was processed through the London office while little deliberation was considered for suitable Africans. In Nigeria, the structure of the colonial machine placed emphasis on indirect rule and

146-545: A few of the colonies themselves, such as Southern Rhodesia, Malta, Cyprus, and some in the Caribbean. The officers were members of the civil service of the particular territory in which they served, as well as belonging to the relevant sub-service of the Colonial Service. Finally, in 1954, they were all combined under the title of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS). That continued until 1 July 1997, when

219-537: A hope that the new overseas governments would continue to award increases as had been the practice before independence. This objective was achieved by the passing in December 1962 of the Pensions (Increase) Act which covered HMOCS pensioners like the others. Then about a year later, in 1963/64, two newly independent countries, Somalia (incorporating the former British Somaliland Protectorate ) and Zanzibar (after

292-657: A new body which could represent all existing and future pensioners of Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS). The initial purpose was quite narrow, namely to persuade the British Government to provide annual pension increases for HMOCS pensioners to match those given to other civil servants in the Home Civil Service and the Foreign Service in Britain. This would be preferable to relying on

365-537: A revolution overthrowing the Sultan 's rule), refused to continue pension payments to the former overseas officers, contrary to the agreements that had been reached with the governments at the time of independence. So OSPA had a new reason to negotiate with the British Government, and this time it took almost ten years of persistence by OSPA until the government passed the Overseas Pensions Act 1973 . That

438-608: A scholarship board provided grants to almost all Northerners with qualifications to enter universities. In 1957, administration courses were taught at the Institute of Administration in Zaria . Apart from trying to fill positions in the civil service with Northerners, political leaders in the zone also made it a priority to secure Northern representation in senior positions of the Federal service. To prevent loss of career opportunities,

511-830: A special commemorative service held in Westminster Abbey on 25 May 1999, attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh . The physical memorial "To all who served the Crown in the Colonial Territories" is displayed in the South Cloister of Westminster Abbey, unveiled by H.M. The Queen in March 1966. During the 1930s the following sixteen sub-services were brought into the unified Colonial Service: During

584-593: A statement policy on Nigerianisation. The council proposed that a new position, the Office of the Nigerianisation Officer be created and increased level of post-secondary school training of Nigerians so as to meet the needs of the public service. To ensure the success of the proposals three training programmes were to be instituted. Senior Training, Intermediate Training and Preliminary Training. Three major governmental bodies were charged with implementing

657-488: Is also credited with naming the new national currency , the NIGERIAN NAIRA introduced under his leadership. Regarding the blockade of Biafra during which more than 1 million Igbo children died of starvation, Awolowo was quoted as saying, "All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat, only to fight us harder." In 1979 and 1983, he contested under

730-589: Is keen to receive original records or memoirs, and also photographs and films. He allows the use of illustrations or maps in his possession in others' work. For a record of published memoirs and related studies there is the very extensive “Administering Empire” annotated bibliographic Check List compiled by Terry Barringer of Wolfson College, Cambridge, published by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Awolowo Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo ( // Yoruba : Ọbáfẹ́mi Oyèéníyì Awólọ́wọ̀ ; 6 May 1909 – 9 May 1987)

803-755: The Nigerian Times . Following his education at Wesley College, Ibadan , in 1927, he enrolled at the University of London as an External Student and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.). He went to the UK in 1944 to study law at the University of London and was called to the Bar by the Honorable Society of the Inner Temple on 19 November 1946. In 1949, Awolowo founded

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876-639: The Nigerian Tribune , a private Nigerian newspaper, which he used to spread nationalist consciousness among Nigerians. In 1945, he attended the fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester as a representative of the Nigerian Youth Movement along with H. O. Davies . Also attending was an illustrious list of participants which included Kwame Nkrumah , Hastings Banda , Jomo Kenyatta and Jaja Wachuku , among others. Awolowo

949-690: The Commonwealth Office . In 1968 that Office was merged with the Foreign Office, renamed as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which maintained ultimate oversight of the dwindling residual HMOCS personnel until 1997. The historical record of the Colonial Service begins with the publication on 30 March 1837, in the reign of King William IV, of the first set of what became known as Colonial Regulations, relating to "His Majesty's Colonial Service". It can therefore be said to have been

1022-635: The Dominion of Ceylon in February 1948, the relatively few Colonial Service staff were smoothly replaced by local counterparts, and their retirement pensions continued to be paid as normal. The end of British rule in Palestine in that same year was quite different, with no ordered succession to the colonial officers. By 1960, in the African territories, special compensation schemes were introduced whereby

1095-507: The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) under Akintola's leadership. Having previously suspended the elected Western Regional Assembly, the federal government then reconstituted the body after manoeuvres that brought Akintola's NNDP into power without an election. Shortly afterwards Awolowo and several disciples were arrested, charged, convicted (of treason), and jailed under Balewa for conspiring with

1168-464: The Nigerian Youth Movement in which he rose to become Western Provincial Secretary . Awolowo was responsible for much of the progressive social legislation that has made Nigeria a modern nation. In 1963, he was tried and jailed for 10 years on charges of sedition. He was pardoned by the government until 1966, after which he appointed the Minister of Finance. In recognition of all of this, Awolowo

1241-464: The 'African posts' was referred to as junior posts but had little benefits. Since the 1930s, the number of Nigerians of Southern origin who were mission school graduates was increasing. The educated Africans including some on the civil service and the nationalists began to clamor for increased involvement of Nigerians in the senior positions of administration. Nigerianisation was shaped as a fight against discrimination and colonialism . Prior to 1948,

1314-475: The 1920s there were progressive moves towards the unification of the varied types of service that developed across the widely differing territories. In 1931 a unified Colonial Service was created, initially with sixteen sub-services, with four more added after the Second World War . Recruitment included candidates from the four self-governing Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and

1387-402: The 1940s four more were added, bringing the total to twenty: The Colonial Administrative Service represented the authority of the colonial government in all respects. It was an elite of generalists, people mostly with University or other higher education qualifications, and appointments were made after selection interviews intended to assess candidates’ personality, character and motivation. From

1460-631: The 20th century. In 1900 there were only about 1,000 overseas posts. There was an expansion after the First World War , then a slow-down during the 1930s, with an estimated number of about 8,000 in 1938. Numbers boomed after the Second World War, rising to just over 11,000 posts in 1947, and a peak of about 18,000 in 1954. Thereafter the size of the Service shrank rapidly as most territories attained independence, until its formal end with

1533-526: The British Colonial Office which then appointed them to serve in a particular territory, they were not employed by the British Government. They were employed and paid by the territorial government which was also responsible for their eventual retirement pension arrangements. As expatriate officers they were entitled to take "long leave" every few years (varying between territories) outside their territory of service. This distinguished them from

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1606-419: The British Government agreed to finance payments through the territorial governments to HMOCS officers whose career employment would be ended prematurely. In some cases an "Inducement Allowance" was also paid to encourage officers to stay on. The normal budgetary system in most territories was that every few years there would be a salaries review, which would include pensions, when increases would be made. There

1679-496: The Ghanaian authorities to overthrow the federal government. As Minister of Finance, he helped negotiate the joint venture rights of Nigeria in its new oil find, ushering in a decade of oil boom and providing the bulwark of national wealth. He also helped developed the system of national revenue sharing and fiscal allocation (FAAC), which enabled newly created states that boosted minority rights to thrive and survive to this day. He

1752-784: The Obafemi Awolowo Foundation was founded as an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organisation committed to furthering the symbiotic interaction of public policy and relevant scholarship with a view to promoting the overall development of the Nigerian nation. The Foundation was launched by the President of Nigeria at that time, General Ibrahim Babangida , at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. However, his most important bequests (styled Awoism) are his exemplary integrity, his welfarism, his contributions to hastening

1825-556: The South. Due to political considerations, leaders in the region limited the recruitment of Southerners into the Northern regional service and found ways to push up the ranks of northerners in junior and senior positions. The leaders retained the services of expatriates, because Northerners regarded expatriates as transients but feared southern domination of the regional civil service. Measures were put in place to train northerners; in 1949,

1898-626: The State and the Crown very considerable, very special service, – and I salute you for it." The National Archives and the British Library , both in London, hold extensive records about all aspects of the British Empire, including the Colonial Service and HMOCS. There are particular collections in other centres, the chief ones being at: Another source is the independent website www.britishempire.co.uk created by Stephen Luscombe. He

1971-505: The Unity Party's platform as a presidential candidate, but lost to the northern-based National Party of Shehu Shagari. In 1979, he contested his loss in court, making a case for electoral college decision because the winning candidate couldn't have said to have won having not fulfilled the majority in 2/3 of states (then 19) which led to the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1979 with Chief Justice Fatai Williams presiding . In 1992,

2044-784: The Western Region Premier. Disagreements between Awolowo and Akintola on how to run the Western region led the latter to an alliance with the Tafawa Balewa-led NPC federal government. A constitutional crisis led to the declaration of a state of emergency in the Western Region, eventually resulting in a widespread breakdown of law and order. Excluded from national government, Awolowo and his party faced an increasingly precarious position. Akintola's followers, angered at their exclusion from power, formed

2117-569: The Western Region delegation led by him. He was also a keen advocate of minority rights and the relocation of the Federal Capital away from Lagos, advocating for Lagos rights to be governed by the Western region of largely Yoruba stock. As premier, he proved to be and was viewed as a man of vision and a dynamic administrator. Awolowo was also the country's leading social democratic politician. He supported limited public ownership and limited central planning in government. He believed that

2190-751: The agreement were later made in 1959. Colonial Service The Colonial Service , also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service ( HMOCS ), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions , under the authority of the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Colonial Office in London. It did not operate in British India , where

2263-410: The civil service cadre will lead to marginalization of Northerners. In early 1952, a new Council of Ministers was inaugurated, the first in the country to be dominated by Nigerians. The ministers chose Nigerianisation as a key policy to pursue. In March 1952, the council appointed a commission jointly led by Simeon Adebo and Sydney Phillipson to review the process of the recruiting more Nigerians into

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2336-417: The civil service was publicly used in the country. Among the recommendations of the commission include: advertisement of vacancies to Nigerians abroad, promotion based on merit but excluding non-Nigerians on secondment, that non-Nigerians should not be recommended to fill newly created posts or posts in new departments, that contract terms should be the first option in recruiting non-Nigerians. However, just like

2409-493: The civil service. In the commission's report released a year later, it noted that between 1948 and 1953, the number of Africans in senior positions increased from 245 to 685 but also the number of expatriates increased from 2,296 to 2,984. In conclusion, the commission gave far reaching recommendations. The report's title was "The Nigerianisation of the Civil Service", this was the first time the expression, Nigeriansation of

2482-532: The commission published its report, the regional political leadership in Southern Nigeria were not convinced that enough qualified Nigerians were being recruited into the civil service. This sentiment varied in the predominantly Islamic North where indirect rule was a tool of governance, Western education was limited and thus the number of qualified Northerners were few. The Northern regional government feared that progressive recruitment of Nigerians into

2555-507: The creation of a Public Service Board to work in conjunction with the Civil Service Commission to implement its proposals. During the same year, a revamped constitution established regionalized government in Nigeria limiting the implementation of Foot's proposals. The new system also increased the level of participation in political development by educated Nigerians who opted not to join the civil service. A few years after

2628-507: The expatriate led Civil Service Organization demanded compensation from the government. In 1958, the colonial office agreed to a compensation plan prior to discussions with the Federal Government. The Nigerian government thus created a lump sum settlement for expatriate officers who wish to leave prior to the granting of independence in 1960 and also promised to fairly treat expatriates who remain after independence. Modifications to

2701-539: The federal parliament to the Balewa government from 1959–1963. As a young man he was an active journalist , editing publications such as the Nigerian Worker , on top of others as well. He later became founder & publisher of Nigerian Tribune of African Newspapers of Nigeria Ltd. After receiving his bachelors of commerce degree in Nigeria, he traveled to London to pursue his degree in law. Obafemi Awolowo

2774-587: The figure had increased to 3,030 out of a total of 5,133. By 1965, the process of Nigerianisation had virtually been completed in the Federal Service and at the regional levels. The training of diplomats to man overseas mission was contained in Sessional Paper No 11 of 1956. A selected number of administrative officers were sent abroad for training in preparation of Nigerians independence and establishing Nigerian overseas embassies. As part of

2847-414: The first two years of probation; then District Officer (in some territories termed Assistant District Commissioner); rising to District Commissioner when given such charge, and Provincial Commissioner above that. Colonial Governors were normally selected from appropriately senior officers. Exceptions were Gibraltar, Malta and Bermuda, formerly classified as "fortress" colonies, where until the post-war years

2920-536: The god of smallpox, Obaluaye . His father ultimately died on April 8, 1920, of smallpox when Obafemi was about eleven years old. He attended various schools, including Baptist Boys' High School (BBHS), Abeokuta ; and then became a teacher in Abeokuta , after which he qualified as a shorthand typist . Subsequently, he served as a clerk at the Wesley College Ibadan , as well as a correspondent for

2993-401: The governing functions were done by residents in the provinces. By the beginning of World War II, Nigeria had a large bureaucratic service manned by expatriates. But the quality of service provided by the expatriates began to dwindle, a situation aggravated by among other things low pay, restriction of expatriate participation in the war effort, constant transfers, separation from families and

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3066-546: The governors were normally military or naval officers, and thereafter were usually political appointees. A few territories recruited female administrative officers, designated as Women Administrative Assistants. They filled supporting roles either in provincial headquarters or in the central Secretariat. The first responsibility of the Colonial Administrative Service on was the maintenance of law and order. However, contrary to popular belief, this

3139-452: The hand-over of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997. A number of HMOCS Police officers and others stayed on to serve the SAR government . The approach of independence in each territory had fundamental effects on HMOCS personnel there, depending on the outlook of the emerging local rulers and the stage of general social and economic development. In the case of Ceylon , which became independent as

3212-438: The increasing complexity of governance not matched by the qualifications. After the war, a salary commission was instituted to consider the welfare of civil servants. The commission encouraged the use of the word ‘Senior Posts’ for administrative positions in the secretariat and provinces which were dominated by Europeans and formerly known as 'European posts'. The new designation also came with expatriation pay and allowances while

3285-464: The largest remaining colony, Hong Kong, was handed over to the People’s Republic of China, designated as a Special Administrative Region . Thereafter the relatively few posts in the small remaining colonies (now British Overseas Territories ) were filled by ad hoc British government appointments and overseen by two Ministers of the British government. The formal end of HMOCS in 1997 was marked by

3358-499: The locally-engaged personnel in government service who were on local leave terms. The normal retirement age was 55, set originally to allow for the adverse effect the tropical climate had on their health. In some cases an officer could be transferred from one territory to another, by arrangement with the Colonial Office and the two colonial governments concerned. The overall size of the Colonial Service changed greatly through

3431-425: The major and captain ranks. From 1956 to 1961 British non-commissioned officers were gradually decreased and at which point the remaining officers were those with technical skills. Cadetship was established in select secondary schools to discover potential recruits who could qualify for officer positions. About seventeen yearly cadets were recruited yearly and sent to train abroad as potential officers. Nigerianisation

3504-482: The mid-1920s, they attended a year’s training course at London, Oxford or Cambridge Universities. Administrative Officers were responsible for effecting government policy in the districts and provinces of each territory, as well as serving in the central Secretariat in the capital. First appointment was normally in the Provincial Administration. The starting rank was District Officer (cadet), during

3577-559: The oldest of all the overseas services, predating the formation of the Indian Civil Service in 1858 and the Sudan Political Service in 1899, and in the course of its existence controlled 42 territories . Initially there was no actual corps of officers employed in the colonies and "plantations", but that changed as the colonial empire grew during the rest of that century and into the 20th century. During

3650-539: The pensioners by working for satisfactory outcomes. OSPA's journal, The Overseas Pensioner , was published bi-annually from 1960 until OSPA's closure in October 2017. It included articles and book reviews about all aspects of the Colonial Empire and the related experiences of colonial officers and their families. OSPA's closure was marked by a farewell event held in London on 8 June 2017. The guest of honour

3723-474: The placement of expatriate Residents , Divisional Officers and administrators to the provinces where they were in direct contact with citizens. The unified system also created a bureaucratic secretariat with expatriate secretaries responsible for communications with London. Though both offices were inundated with constant transfer of personnel and lack of funds, many of the positions in the secretariat were filled with expatriates from other colonies while most of

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3796-563: The previous commission new political developments impacted the full implementation of the proposals. In 1954, the Lyttleton Constitution displaced the Macpherson Constitution of 1951. The new constitution changed the civil service from a unified structure into a regionalized one. As a result, the two Southern regional governments, led by Awolowo ’s Action Group and Azikiwe ’s NCNC aggressively promoted

3869-546: The process of decolonisation and his consistent and reasoned advocacy of federalism-based on ethno-linguistic self-determination and uniting politically strong states-as the best basis for Nigerian unity. Awolowo died peacefully at his Ikenne home, the Efunyela Hall (so named after his mother), on 9 May 1987, at the age of 78 and was laid to rest in Ikenne, amid tributes across political and ethno-religious divides. He

3942-486: The process: the Public Service Commission, Scholarship Board and the establishment office. Each ministry was mandated to keep tabs on departmental needs and Nigerians in training who could fit the staff needs. The process also involved recruitment of Nigerian students in U.K. for administrative positions at home. While the number of Nigerians in senior positions was 786 out of a total of 5,125, in 1961

4015-587: The recruitment of pensionable expatriates while newly trained Nigerians from colleges overseas were appointed into senior positions. At the Federal level, progress began later. In August 1955, the House of Representatives called on the Council of Ministers to present proposals towards the Nigerianisation of the civil service. In March 1956, the council presented before the House, Sessional Paper No.4 of 1956,

4088-517: The remainder expatriates. To include more Africans in public service, the first step usually began with commission of enquiries into the nature and requirement of public service. The first commission was the Foot Commission of Enquiry, saddled with the task of finding ways to recruit suitable and qualified Nigerians to work in public service . The report of the commission provided progressive recommendations. Hugh Foot's commission recommended

4161-651: The same function was delivered by the Indian Civil Service (ICS), nor in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan , which was administered by the Sudan Political Service (SPS), nor in the internally self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia , which had its own civil service. The British Government's overall responsibility for the management of the territories overseas in the early 19th century lay with successive departments dealing with

4234-407: The senior positions were dominated by expatriates though a few Africans managed to be promoted. Colonial officials in London and in Nigeria had limited the advancement and recruitment of educated Africans into senior positions with the exception of a few such as Henry Rawlingson Carr and Joseph McEwen. In the middle of 1948, out of a total of 3,786 senior positions, 245 were Africans, 1,245 vacant and

4307-408: The state should channel Nigeria's resources into education and state-led infrastructural development. Controversially, and at considerable expense, he introduced free primary education for all and free health care for children in the Western Region, established the first television service in Africa in 1959, and the Oduduwa Group, all of which were financed from the highly lucrative cocoa industry which

4380-427: The training and recruitment of Nigerians into the regional civil service. Many Africans in the Federal service were heavily sought after by the regional governments. This led to progressive Nigerianisation within the regional governments of the South but a depletion of Africans in the Federal service. The regional governments in the south hastened the process of Nigerianisation, in 1955, the Western government reduced

4453-527: The transition towards independence, the control of the armed forces was transferred from the army council to the office of the Governor-General. Expatriate military officers were now placed under the control of Nigerians and given a maximum period of 3 years of secondment before returning home. In 1959, there were 297 officers in the military with 37 of them Nigerians. The Nigerian cadre in 1959, were 3 majors, 6 captains and 28 subalterns. By 1960, more officers were planned to be commissioned and others promoted into

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4526-434: The various colonies and "plantations", until in 1854 a separate Colonial Office was created headed by a Secretary of State for the Colonies . That office was not responsible for the territories of the Indian Empire, including Burma, nor for Sudan which was linked to Egypt, nor for Southern Rhodesia which came under the Dominions Office. In 1966 the Colonial Office was merged with the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO) to form

4599-456: Was The Prince of Wales , who gave a speech expressing the thanks of The Queen and of himself for "the extraordinarily valuable contribution, let alone the personal sacrifices, made by members of the Overseas Civil Service (and its previous manifestations) during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries". The guest speaker, introduced by OSPA's president Lord Goodlad , was the historian Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield . He concluded by saying, "You did

4672-401: Was Nigeria's foremost federalist. In his Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947), the first systematic federalist manifesto by a Nigerian politician, he advocated federalism as the only basis for equitable national integration and, as head of the Action Group, he led demands for a federal constitution, which was introduced in the 1954 Lyttleton Constitution , following primarily the model proposed by

4745-423: Was a Nigerian nationalist and politician who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement (1957–1960). Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe Omo Oduduwa , and was the first Leader of Government Business and Minister of Local Government and Finance, and first Premier of the Western Region under Nigeria's parliamentary system , from 1952 to 1959. He was the official opposition leader in

4818-571: Was born to a high chief and member of the Iwarefa, the leading faction of the traditional Osugbo group that ruled Ikenne. In 1896, Awolowo's father became one of the first Ikenne natives to convert to Christianity . Awolowo's paternal grandmother, Adefule Awolowo, whom Awolowo adored, was a devout worshipper of the Ifá . Adefule, Awolowo's grandmother, believed that Obafemi was a reincarnation of her father (his great-grandfather). Awolowo's father's conversion to Christianity often went at odds with his family's beliefs. He often challenged worshippers of

4891-498: Was consequently concern about whether the new independent governments would be willing to continue to pay the pension entitlements of their former "colonial masters", and at what exchange rates when there was no certainty about the long-term soundness of their financial and economic policies. In response to these concerns, the four existing pensioner associations of retired officers who had served in Ceylon , Malaya , West Africa and East and Central Africa joined together in 1960 to form

4964-406: Was followed by several more years of negotiations with the various overseas governments concerned to complete the process. The outcome was that the British Government accepted responsibility for all HMOCS pension payments, and that system operates until now. Over the next 40 years there was a succession of diverse pension problems relating to the Overseas Civil Service, so OSPA continued to represent

5037-883: Was largely implemented through the agency of indigenous police forces, local courts, district councils and local chiefs although there were variations between the different territories. In practice, Administrative Officers spent much of their time, especially after World War Two, in supervising and coordinating development of all kinds in their districts including medical services, schools, infrastructure, water supply, and provision of agricultural and veterinary services. The other services all had their own specialist professional qualifications or relevant experience. There were regular training courses for agriculture (in Trinidad), forestry, veterinary, medical, education, and police. For other professions such as audit, surveys, or fisheries, for example, there were ad hoc training arrangements. Although Colonial Service/HMOCS officers were recruited by

5110-422: Was slow to materialize in the Northern region due to a limited number of qualified graduates from the region. Administration in the North was through indirect rule and Western education was not considered very important in many divisions. After the regionalization of the public service, political leaders in the region felt that the number of Northerners in the service was minimal in comparison to their counterparts in

5183-466: Was the first individual in the modern era to be named as the leader of the Yorubas ( Yoruba : Asíwájú Àwọn Yorùbá or Asíwájú Ọmọ Oòduà ). Obafemi Awolowo, SAN, GCFR was born Jeremiah Obafemi Oyeniyi Awolowo on 6 March 1909 in the Remo town of Ikenne (present-day Ogun State of Nigeria). He was the only son of David Shopolu Awolowo, a farmer and sawyer, and Mary Efunyela Awolowo. He had two sisters and one maternal half-sister. Awolowo's father

5256-604: Was the first premier of the Western Region and later federal commissioner for finance, and vice chairman of the Federal Executive Council during the Nigerian Civil War . He was thrice a major contender for the country's highest office. A native of Ikenne in Ogun State of south-western Nigeria, Awolowo started his career, like some of his well-known contemporaries, as a nationalist in

5329-658: Was the mainstay of the regional economy. His Valedictory Speech on 3 November 1959 to the Western Region House of Assembly recounting his achievements in office between 1952 and 1959, provides context to his work ethic and achievements as an administrator. From the eve of independence, he led the Action Group as the Leader of the Opposition in the federal parliament, leaving Samuel Ladoke Akintola as

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