HISTORY: AN ICON IN ONDO STATE, TRIBUTE TO LATE CHIEF RICHARD JOLOWO
– AN IJAW STATESMAN..READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶▶▶
Death manifested its characteristic nullifying power leaving irreplaceable vacuum behind when it expropriated the life of a noble son of the Ijaw ethnic nationality, the Arogbo/Apoi people in Ese-Odo Local government of Ondo State. An easy-going, soft-spoken, amiable, peace-loving statesman, a fecund mind, an apotheosis of forthrightness, Chief Richard Jolowo’s life brought so much meaning to the over 1 million people of Arogbo, Ukparamo and Apoi Kingdoms than any other before or after him, that he will be missed for a long time to come.…CONTINUE.YOUR.READING
Chief Richard Jolowo who had his LL.B and LL.M degrees from the University of Lagos was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1972. For the 32 years he practised Law, he excellently combined it with unalloyed commitment and service to his community. In times of crisis, his was the voice of the people, in the news media and in courts of law. This voice, now muffled by the shrouds of death, gentle as it was, it was eloquent.
He was elected to the Ondo State House of Assembly in the Second Republic (1979) and was further elected Speaker by his colleagues, a position he held till 1983. In this role, his constituency experienced for the first time the meaning of governance and the dividends that come with it. Unlike many other politicians of the time, he was able to bring to his constituency one important institution they lacked – Education. With an area enough to be 4 local governments in other parts of Ondo State and Nigeria, but compressed into one local government, there were only two secondary schools: the ‘Ijaw National High School’ in Arogbo and ‘Ukparamo Grammar School’ in Bolowou (about 5000 kilometers apart) and nothing higher. This made it impossible for most qualified and willing candidates to go beyond primary school education because of the associated cost of relocating to the nearest other secondary school very far away.
This was to change by the end of 1980 when Jolowo helped in bringing this to the attention of the government of Ondo State and 5 more secondary schools were approved for the region. Among the five were “Community Grammar Schools in Biagbine, Amapere, Ajakpa.” Till date, there has not been any addition despite the growth in population and the emergence of many more people from the region in government at Akure either as commissioners, special advisers to goverment, permanent secretaries or legislators.
His constituency which is in the coastal part of the state was not linked to the rest of the state by road. He was also able to start a road project to link the rest of the state to Agadagba-Obon before the end of his time in government. Thanks to the present Agagu-Administration, this road project was just recently completed. The importance of this point of a major group of people not connected to the rest of the state by road until recently should be properly underscored and hopefully will expose to us, whose Nigeria we live in. May be, just may be, if he had more time in government, the only non-yoruba speaking region of the state would have been connected to the national grid as well. I implore the Agagu-Administration to take this challenge and TURN ON the lights in Arogbo and Ukparamo Kingdoms of the state.
Despite his limited powers as a non-executive officer of the state, he did more for his people than stated in the foregoing. Before him, majority of the people of Ondo State did not know or pretend not to know that there were a distinct non-Yoruba speaking people in the state. This was apparent in the casting of news only in Yoruba-dialects in state-owned media. His champion of the need to include the Ijaw Language to represent this distinct group of people led to the cast of news in Ijaw (the popular ‘Egberi’) in Ondo State.
I am motivated by these and other numerous reasons to pay this tribute to the late Chief Richard Jolowo who died on June 2004 of complications that arose from a road accident on his way to Akure from Port Harcourt. While most of his contemporaries were fighting over personal aggrandisement and other spoils of office, he saw the big picture and believed in the precept of “teaching people how to fish rather than giving them fish”. Today, his constituency is better for it.
Death was unfair to his people by taking him away at a time his wisdom and experience was needed most. He will be greatly missed and I hope that those who have (and will) come after him will take time to study and emulate how he was able to achieve so much for the community with limited political power and resources..…CONTINUE.YOUR.READING
May his soul rest in peace and May God grant his family the fortitude to bear the loss.
