YOU might be wondering why the media is awash with tributes to a great scholar, Professor Toyin Falola. This is not unexpected considering the status of Toyin Falola in academia and, particularly, in the humanities worldwide. A summarized summary of his biography will be: Toyin Falola, a native of Ibadan, is a professor of African studies. He is a distinguished teaching professor and the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin. Toyin Falola is the author/editor of over two hundred books and recipient of over 20 honorary doctorate awards. He has received over 30 lifetime achievement awards and has served as editor for several reputable journals, including the Oxford Research Encyclopedia in African History. 

On this occasion of Professor Toyin Falola’s 72nd birthday, I dedicate this piece to reflect on his scholarship and humanitarianism. One of his characteristics that stands out for me is academic excellence. No one can challenge the fact that Professor Falola is brilliant and successful at what he does. Aside from his numerous publications and awards, Falola has delivered several convocation lectures at home and abroad. It takes a great deal for an academic to have delivered more than 10 Convocation lectures within two years!  He achieves this feat through determination and discipline. Moreover, Professor Toyin Falola authors, at least, three books a year. One will be surprised to know that this act—of publishing three to four books in a year—is a routine as far as Toyin Falola is concerned. He has consistently done so in the past few years. 

Therefore, we can only second Professor Amidu Sanni in imagining if Falola spends the same 24 hours as the other scholars. Unable to rationalize what elements typify Toyin Falola, Professor Serges Kamga, of the University of South Africa designated him as Orisa! I address Falola as Encyclopedia of African History. Professor Bolaji Akinyemi once called him “the doyen of African history.” The reality is that Professor Toyin Falola is a rare bird that appears once in a lifetime. In a country like Nigeria where the history discipline is underrated, Professor Falola serves as an encouragement and a beacon of hope for the history students. Falola is a testament to the fact that it is not about what one studies or what society conceives of it, but how one distinguishes themselves in their respective fields against all odds.

Against the wrong perception that one has to degrade others to prove that they are better, Professor Toyin Falola is popular for acknowledging and celebrating other people’s success. He has consistently praised his successful colleagues with numerous articles while acknowledging others in his presentations. Falola has dedicated several books to exceptional Nigerians, including those in the diaspora. Notwithstanding his several articles on conventional media, Falola’s Citizenship and the Diaspora in the Digital Age: Farooq Kperogi and the Virtual Community and, African Memoirs, and Cultural Representations: Narrating Traditions, are enough for evidence. This partly amounts to the numerous books and articles by scholars in honour of Professor Toyin Falola.

Additionally, Professor Falola embodies the essence of humility and generosity. My humble self can attest to Falola’s humbleness. I have witnessed his presentation twice at Lagos State University and heard pretty much about him. Professor Falola mentors and accommodates young scholars who try to associate themselves with him. Several scholars have benefitted from his mentorship and collaborations. This is a challenge for selfish scholars who find difficulty helping others to grow; especially those who conceive mentoring as an avenue to exploit budding scholars. Falola is a typical example of a well-rounded scholar. An astute historian, Toyin Falola is also a literati, political scientist, and philosopher. If you call Falola a traditionalist, I can serve you with proof. His critical submissions on national TV are unique in their historical approach. My interest in journalism was influenced by inspiration from Toyin Falola. If Falola could successfully contribute to every aspect of the humanities field, studying History should not be a limitation for me. Toyin Falola is a scholar in numerous fields and an interdisciplinary course himself. 

Another intriguing attribute of Professor Toyin Falola is resilience. I studied him for this. Many followers of Toyin Falola would have noticed that HeartofArts, the Professor’s website, and his WhatsApp Community have ceased functioning for a while. That must have been consequential of a technical glitch. Rather than allowing this problem to outweigh him, Professor Falola quickly secured an alternative with his new website, the Toyin Falola Network. Resilience is the most intriguing thing about Toyin Falola. He lives above criticisms and moves against all odds.  As the debated saying by Nelson Mandela goes: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Let me seize this medium to ask the Professor to recreate the WhatsApp platform as we are missing out on his conventional outputs and important updates. The effectiveness of emails is limited.  

If leadership is by example, Falola should be considered a great leader. As I confessed last year, “Falola is so African than the home-based.” He unapologetically displays the beauty of African aso ofi. His outfits, like his works, testify to the talents embedded in Africa. With several years of service in pushing for Africa’s Identity and decolonization, Professor Toyin Falola is an avid advocate for African-ness. Baba Falola talks authoritatively during convocation lectures. He confidently submits his ideas and thoughts which, oftentimes, spur intellectual uproars. Meanwhile, his staccato laughs are strategic in capturing the audience’s attention.

Finally, Professor Falola made me realize the power of status in the academic space. If you have professional footballers advocating for brands, or media entertainers influencing organizations, Toyin Falola is an intellectual influencer for Africa and his colleagues. Without prejudice, I became a fan of some scholars through Professor Falola. My last tribute to the Professor spurred several emails from scholars who never expected an undergraduate student to be so conversant with a scholar as that. 

In sum, Professor Toyin Falola is a Nigerian jewel of international repute. He embodies a lot of reputable characters that qualify for vivid studying. Falola’s tenaciousness and humbleness are worthy of emulation. I wish Professor Toyin Falola more blessed years!

Abdulkabir Muhammed writes from Lagos State University. He can be contacted via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Anyone who pays attention to what is happening on social media knows there is a high demand for Nigerian men by women from other countries. In the past, the assumption was that most of the marriages between Nigerian men and women from other countries were mainly to acquire official papers that would guarantee the Nigerian man the visa or citizenship of the country. A young Nigerian man in his 20s or 30s would snap a picture of his registry marriage with a White woman in her 50s, 60s, or 70s. People would share such photos and make jokes about it.

But in recent years, there has been a spike in young Nigerian men marrying young foreign women. Interestingly, many of the young men are professionals who are financially stable and have permanent residency or citizenship status. Many of them get married overseas and return to Nigeria to perform a symbolic “traditional” marriage ceremony. Videos of such marriages usually show the joy of their non-Nigerian wives in their beautiful Nigerian attire, performing the marriage rites and dancing excitedly, most times offbeat, to Nigerian music.

And any time such women make a post about their amazing experience with their Nigerian boyfriend or husband, one can see the high number of Americans, Canadians, Britons, Jamaicans, etc., expressing interest in having a Nigerian man. Expectedly, many men flock to such posts dropping their numbers or messages, declaring their availability.

This high interest in Nigerian men has created an online market for matchmakers. There are now many online live events where people explain how to ensure that a foreigner is not talking to a romance scammer. These romance scammers have been exploiting the naïveté and desperation of women in search of love. Their actions have been bringing a bad name to Nigerians for some years.

What caused this recent uptick in the quest of foreign women for Nigerian men? There could be many reasons but the first is Afrobeats music. Nigerian music has been attracting global attention in recent years. Young people from different countries love Nigerian songs and musicians. This has made them take more interest in the country from where this music is coming. It is similar to what happened with reggae music from the 1970s. It made Jamaica a household name across the world.

In the past, before the popularity of Afrobeats, people from other countries only focused on the bad story of online scams in Nigeria. All the achievements of Nigerians in technology, business, literature, sports, international peace-keeping missions and independence of other countries, etc., were never remembered. Once the name Nigeria came up in North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and even some parts of Africa, people zeroed in on scams and kept their distance from Nigerians. Many scammers from other countries even identified as Nigerians, thereby worsening the image of Nigeria. The corruption in governance did not help the Nigerian case. Once you mentioned the name Nigeria while discussing a business venture online with someone in another continent, the person would abruptly end the communication.

Many Nigerians abroad confessed that some 30 or 20 years ago when they landed to study or work, most times they would not identify as Nigerians, because it caused them problems. Interestingly, this was the era Nigerian government was spending a lot of money telling the world that Nigeria was “the heart of Africa” as well as “Good people, great nation”. That advertising message did not have any effect on foreigners. But eventually, Afrobeats became globally popular and did a better image-laundry job for Nigeria. Now, people from other countries who watch Nigerian musical videos want to know more about Nigeria. They search online for information about Nigeria. By so doing, they see the other sides of the country.

Nigerians did not just become amazing recently. They have always been like this but the bad press did not allow the world to get close to Nigeria and know any positive thing about the country. Those who take the bold step of visiting Nigeria usually leave with mind-blowing stories about Nigerians’ hospitality.

It is the same case with marriage to Nigerian men. Women from other countries love Nigerian men. It is not because Nigerian men have any extraordinary genes. It is because of what the Nigerian environment has instilled in men from birth. It is hammered into their ears and psyche that, to prove that they are responsible and manly, they must bear the full burden of providing for all the women around them: wife, mother, sisters, nieces, cousins, grandmothers, friends and colleagues. These include paying school fees, buying clothes, bags, shoes, jewellery, food, and cars and giving regular pocket money, etc.

When a Nigerian boy goes on a date with a girl, even though they are both students (who yet don’t earn any money), the boy is expected to pay for all they eat. The girl may even bring along one or two of her friends, and the poor boy is expected to foot their bill, including the bill for the items they will take away, and even give her and her friends “money for transport”. He will constantly buy gifts and send money to her. If he cannot dole out financial favours to his girlfriend, he is ridiculed as a “Ju man” or “chewing gum boy”.

The more men give, the more they are expected to give. They are regularly compared to other men who are doing more for their women to show them that they are not doing enough like “real men”. Many men who can’t take the ridicule end up in crime to prove to their women that they are real men.

When Nigerian men meet women from other countries (who don’t have this type of orientation) and do just 30 per cent of what they are expected to do to Nigerian women, the foreign women are wowed because they have never seen anything like that. They can’t stop talking about Nigerian men because they don’t live in a society where a man is expected to take care of his needs and the entire needs of his woman. Love is expressed in many countries with flowers, but not in Nigeria.

Because the women from other countries did not grow up believing that the man has to take care of their needs, they are less demanding of things to be done for them. And whatever the Nigerian men do for them, they are very appreciative. Consequently, they treat their Nigerian men with more dignity. The men talk about having more peace and happiness.

Ironically, it is the same level of care Nigerian men give to Nigerian women but is not appreciated (because it is seen as their duty or nothing special) that they give to these non-Nigerian women, and the women find it exceptional. The result is that the internet has made the news of the “special loving nature of Nigerian men” spread faster from different countries, making more women aware of it and more receptive to Nigerian men.

The pressure the Nigerian society puts on the male child is unnatural and unhealthy. The rich and the poor, educated and uneducated, influential and non-influential, young and old as well as male and female, take it as the normal way of life. Most people who have lived in Nigeria, and only go to other nations on holidays, may not understand that there is something wrong with it, because that is the only way of life they have known.

There should be a conscious reorientation in Nigeria, especially led by successful and influential women, that the girl child is not created to look forward to marrying a rich and influential man but to be a rich and influential person herself. The Nigerian girl child should be groomed to believe that the way to know a man who cares and loves her is not through the amount of money and gifts such a person showers on her. Churches, mosques, schools, universities and town unions should also join the campaign and see if the perception of the next generation can be changed about this critical issue.

Only three Nigerian leaders have been invited by the British Monarch for state visits to Buckingham Palace. They are General Yakubu Gowon GCFR (90) and his wife Victoria Gowon (78) (12–15 June 1973), President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari GCFR (25 February 1925 – 28 December 2018) (17–20 March 1981) and General Ibrahim Babangida GCFR (83) and his wife, Maryam (9–12 May 1989).

In fact, Nigeria is more favoured than most African countries that have been invited for state visits to Buckingham Palace.

On the other hand, the British Monarch had visited Nigeria twice. Queen Elizabeth II (21 April 1926- 8 September 2022) first visited Nigeria between January 28 to February 16, 1956. She was accompanied by her husband, the then Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Phillip (10 June 1921- 9 April 2021). She visited Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Lagos.

While in Nigeria, she worshipped at the Cathedral Church of Christ in Marina, Lagos, an Anglican church founded by Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther (1809 – 31 December 1891) and which the Queen’s visit was under the Provost, Reverend A.W. Howells (17 September 1905- 7 March 1963). During her visit, the Queen donated a chair to the cathedral. The chair is still being preserved in the cathedral till today.

The Queen also commissioned the Nigerian painter and sculptor, Ben Enwonwu to make a bronze sculptor of herself. The next year, she posed in London as Enwonwu banged metal against his imagination in order to bring an outsized version of the Queen to life. The sculpture was completed in 1957, and in November of the same year was presented at the Royal Society of British Artists exhibition in London.

The Monarch was also in Nigeria between 3 to 6 December 2003 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOG) meeting in Abuja. She was received by President Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR. The Queen also visited Nasarawa state.

General Gowon was actively preparing for a state visit by the British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II before he was overthrown in a military coup by General Murtala Mohammed while in Kampala, Uganda, for the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit in July 1975.

The present British Monarch, King Charles III (76) is a regular visitor to Nigeria.

Charles, Prince of Wales, now King of England has visited Nigeria four times, in 1990, 1999, 2006, and 2018.
For his first visit, he and his now late wife, Diana, Princess of Wales (1 July 1961- 31 August 1997) arrived in Nigeria on March 15th, 1990. They left Gatwick Airport and were met at the Murtala Muhammed

Airport, Lagos by the then Chief of General Staff, Admiral Augustus Akhabue Aikhomu (20 October 1939 – 17 August 2011) and Mrs. Rebecca Aikhomu. Nigeria was under military rule at the time with General Ibrahim Babangida serving as the military president.

The Prince and Princess were taken to State House Marina where General Babangida and his wife, Maryam Babangida (1 November 1948 – 27 December 2009) received them. That night, they were hosted at a state banquet after which they retired to the Royal Yacht. The Royal Yacht was docked next to the Marina in Lagos.

In 1999, the prince returned for the inauguration ceremony of President Olusegun Obasanjo (87) GCFR, late South African president, Nelson Mandela was also in attendance.

In 2006, The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to begin a 3-day state visit. At the time, the trip was seen as a boost to the democratization of Nigerian polity. While he was around, he also visited Kaduna and Kano.

2018 saw Prince Charles (now King Charles III) (76) return, but this time with a new wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. They were received by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. While he was in Abuja, he met with some traditional rulers at the residence of the British High Commissioner, Paul Arkwright.

Some of the monarchs present include the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (the Ọjájá II) CFR (50) , Sultan of Sokoto, His Majesty Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III (68) CFR, Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II (63), Obi of Onitsha, Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe (83), Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar (72) CFR, Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo Oba Ewuare II (71) and Shehu of Borno, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garba Al Amin El-Kanemi (67).

During the three-day visit, the couple also met with and talked to some Nigerian youths, the Armed forces, and people in the creative sectors, specifically in arts and fashion.

Only six British Prime Ministers have visited Nigeria. They are Harold Wilson, Alec Douglas-Home, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, David Cameron and Theresa May. Mr. Harold Wilson was in Nigeria for the Commonwealth Conference on Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, held at the Federal Palace, Hotel, Lagos, between 12 January and 14 January, 1966. Nigeria’s Prime Minister then, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) hosted the Conference. Other world leaders that attended the conference were Lester Pearson of Canada, Sir Dauda Jawara of The Gambia, Dr. Hastings Banda of Malawi, Dr. Borg Olivier of Malta, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, Sir Albert Margai of Sierra Leone and Dr. Milton Obote of Uganda. Others at the meeting were President Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus, acting Prime Minister of Jamaica at that time, Donald Sangster, vice-President of Zambia, Mr. Kamanga and Ceylon’s Minister of Justice, India’s Minister of law and social security, Kenya’s Minister of Finance, Malaysia’s deputy Prime Minister, New Zealand’s High Commissioner in London, Pakistan’s High Commissioner in Lagos and Trinidad and Tobago’s deputy Prime Minister. Twenty-four hours after the conference ended, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa was assassinated in Lagos.

Speaking in British Parliament on January 25, 1966, Mr. Harold Wilson said, “The whole house, especially those who in any capacity had dealings in the past with Sir Abubakar, will deeply regret the tragedy which occurred in Nigeria a few days ago. I should like to add—I am sure that I speak for all Commonwealth Prime Ministers—a tribute to his splendid chairmanship of what could have been a very difficult Commonwealth Conference. He as much as anybody was, I believe, responsible for the satisfactory outcome of it”.

Although Tony Blair (71) in his 718-page book titled “A JOURNEY”, after numerous visits to Nigeria, did not make any reference to Nigeria, but the alliance between Nigeria and Britain is still strong. There are over 3million Nigerians living in the United Kingdom now. This number is expected to double in the next few years. Over 2,500 Nigerians fly in and out of the United Kingdom daily.

In some parts of London like Old Kent Road, Camberwell, Thamesmead, Islington, Barking, Abbey Wood, Woolwich, Deptford and of course Peckham, if you visit those areas, it is as if you are in any part of Nigeria. In fact, the Suya spot at Camberwell, apology to Egbon Tunji Oyelana is better than the Suya spot at Obalende in Lagos. It is common knowledge now that suya spots at Peckham in London are better organized and well managed than the suya spots in Lagos.

The UK deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Jonny Baxter, announced two years ago that ten percent of all visas granted by the British government, were to Nigerians. We are discussing Nigerian/Britain relationship on the sideline of current romance between Elysee Palace and Abuja specifically between President Bola Tinubu GCFR and Emmanuel Macron of France. Our President and our Foreign Minister, Alhaji Yusuf Tuggar, know that going by past records, France has not been Nigeria’s friend.

On 13 February 1960, France conducted its first nuclear test at Reggane, an oasis town in southern Algeria. The war for the North African country’s independence had been ongoing since 1954 and French President Charles de Gaulle was keen to show the world that France belonged at the top table of military powers.

To that end, the first French atomic bomb, named Gerboise Bleue after the blue of the tricolour flag and a small desert animal in the Sahara, was detonated in the Algerian desert. It released over four times the amount of energy as that of the US bomb dropped on Hiroshima. A few months later, as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was in France for an official visit, a second French bomb was detonated in the Sahara.

Between 1960 and 1966, four years after Algeria gained its independence, France detonated 17 bombs in the Sahara, including four in the atmosphere near Reggane. Witnesses to the tests described them as the most brutal thing they’d ever seen in their lives. Four underground explosions in the Algerian Sahara “were not totally contained or confined”, according to a French parliamentary report.

Most famous of these was the Beryl incident, during which nine soldiers and a number of local Tuareg villagers were heavily contaminated by radioactivity. The impact of France’s nuclear testing programme in Algeria was immediate and has been ongoing. Following the first explosion in 1960, radioactive fallout landed in newly independent Ghana and in Nigeria.

The Nigeria Government had earlier warned France not to conduct those tests but France refused. The test affected a lot people in Kano and its surroundings. After the test, Nigeria was made to break diplomatic relations with France.

Writing on the then situation in his book titled “A RIGHT HONOURABLE GENTLEMAN—The life and times of Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa by Mr. Trevor Clark, he wrote on page 495 “As to relations with General de Gaulle (who had been assured in the Algerian cease-fire agreement that Sahara tests might continue for some years, and had just received massive support from the French people in his referendum on self-determination for Algeria, despite the abstention of 40% of resident Algerian voters), Abubakar personally followed up Dr. Esins’s demarche. At half past seven in the morning, after returning from Bauchi, he ordered the withdrawal of the French ambassador, Mr Raymond Offroy and his embassy staff from Lagos; he barred all French aircraft and ships; and he denied them all rights of transit.

The Frenchmen found their telephones disconnected the next day, and left by unescorted cars for Dahomey within the 48 hours set in the ultimatum. On unforeseen consequences was a dearth of liquid petroleum gas for Ghanaian lamps and stoves, since LPG was carried up the coast in French cargo vessels. The people who were to be hurt most were the citizens of Nigeria’s francophone neighbours in Niger, Dahomey and elsewhere. A more hypothetical result was to be suggested seven year later, M. Offroy was to be a prominent leader of the anti-federal government, pro-Biafran, lobby in Paris, and President De Gaulle to incline to favour Igbo secession.

At the time the Nigerian press and politicians were ecstatic, although their colleagues in Dahomey, Niger and Tchad were distressed. No other country broke off diplomatic relations with France over Saharan nuclear testing, resting content with shouting slogans”.

During the civil war, we all knew where France stood and this led to anti-French demonstrations by over 3,000 Nigerian students at the French embassy in Lagos on September 14, 1968.

A breakthrough in Nigeria/France relationship came on February 4, 1987, when the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida flew to Paris in France for medical treatment. He was in France for four weeks until he came back on March 4, 1987. No Nigeria Leader ever visited France again until March 8, 1999, when the President elect, Olusegun Obasanjo visited Paris. He was received by the then French President, Jacques René Chirac (29 November 1932-26 September 2019) even though he had not been sworn in. On February 4, 2000, President Obasanjo GCFR was in France for three days. All in all, President Olusegun Obasanjo visited France six times during his eight-year tenure as the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria. The last was on May 16, 2006, the day the Senate rejected the third term bill.

On June 10, 2008, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua GCFR (16 August 1951-5 May 2010) visited France and was received by President Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (70) at the Elysee Palace where they had lunch together. After the visit, President Yar’Adua announced a 5-billion-dollar deal with France.

On November 24, 2011, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR GCON (67) was in France for a meeting to attract foreign investments to Nigeria. He led an economic delegation.

President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR (82) was in France for a state visit between September 14 and 16, 2015. He was also in France between February 2 and February 4, 2016. Between November 10 and 16, 2018, President Buhari was in Paris for a peace forum. Between November 10 and 13, 2021, President Buhari was also in Paris for a working visit.

We have to close the book of prejudice on France so as to move forward. We are presently in bad shape and we shall welcome any help from friends or foes who will rescue us from our present economic dilemma. The recent state visit by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR to Elysee Palace in Paris is most welcome. We need friends not foes any longer or else the world will continue to move without us. We need to sustain our traditional ties with London too, while at the same time pursuing our adventure with Paris. Rigidity wont solve our problems in Foreign Affairs, so far as our national interests are recognized and protected.

France at present is the third biggest economy in Europe after Germany and the United Kingdom, so we cant shut down the opportunities France has to offer. I am aware of top French companies operating in Nigeria. They include Air Liquide, specializing in gases, technologies, and services for industry and health, Air Liquide operates in Nigeria to supply industrial gases and related services. The company’s offerings support sectors such as oil and gas, manufacturing, and healthcare, Bolloré Transport & Logistics, a major player in logistics and transportation, Bolloré has been active in Nigeria, providing services that facilitate trade and commerce. The company has shown interest in investing and exploring opportunities within Nigeria’s economy, Maurel & Prom–has operations in Nigeria through its significant stake in SEPLAT, one of the country’s leading indigenous operators. The company engages in exploration and production activities, contributing to Nigeria’s energy sector.

Ponticelli Frères is another French company that provides services including assembly, boilermaking, and maintenance, supporting various industrial projects in Nigeria, Alstom has been involved in Nigeria’s rail transport projects. The company contributes to the development and maintenance of railway systems, supporting the country’s efforts to improve its transportation network, Sodexo, operating in Nigeria, Sodexo provides quality-of-life services, including facilities management, catering, and employee benefits. The company serves various sectors, such as corporate, healthcare, and education, enhancing operational efficiency and employee well-being, Danone, through its subsidiary Fan Milk, Danone has a presence in Nigeria’s dairy and frozen dairy products market. Fan Milk is known for its range of frozen yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products popular among Nigerian consumers.

Schneider Electric specializes in digital automation and energy management. Schneider Electric drives digital transformation in Nigeria by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, an endpoint to cloud connecting products, controls, software, and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure, and industries, AXA Mansard Insurance plc was incorporated in 1989 as a private limited liability company registered with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

The company was listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange in November 2009 and currently boasts the highest market capitalization in the Insurance sector of the Exchange. The company’s health insurance service has been greatly awarded in Nigeria in recent years.

Swiss Pharma Nigeria Limited (Swipha) company engages in the production and distribution of Anti-malaria, anti-infectives, anti-diabetes, CNS, and cardiovascular drugs with over thirty brands to its credit.

In 2008, Swipha became the first pharmaceutical company in Nigeria to obtain ISO 9001 certification and in 2014 again became the first company in West Africa to obtain WHO GMP certification. Examples of Swipha’s products include drugs like Arenax Plus Forte and Arenax Plus, Lafarge Africa, a subsidiary of the Holcim Group, Lafarge Africa is a leading player in Nigeria’s building materials industry. The company manufactures and distributes cement, aggregates, and ready-mix concrete, serving construction needs across the country.

Total Energies is another French company in Nigeria that majors in the petroleum industry. The company began operations in Nigeria in 1956 rapidly becoming a major player in Nigeria’s onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration, production, natural gas liquefaction, and marketing of petroleum products.

Total Energies currently operates about 570 service stations in Nigeria for the retail of petroleum products. This service station is to help the government meet the mandate of getting petroleum products across to as many members of the population as possible.

In December 2023, TotalEnergies announced plans to invest $6 billion over several years in Nigeria’s oil and energy sector, focusing on gas and offshore projects. The company also currently employs more than 1800 members of staff nationwide. Over the past years, the company has invested in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector through projects like the Ubeta gas development project to supply Nigeria’s LNG liquefaction plant to aid gas supply across Nigeria.

In foreign affairs there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies only permanent interests.

People’s journey in life differs for fundamental reasons. First, every individual has specific God-given responsibilities to fulfill in the land of the living, and for that reason, they are imbued with fitting characteristics with which they would navigate the jungle of life where they exist. Second, humans have a body of history of which they are usually unaware but become players in the sustenance or resistance of the same history. For illustration, people come to life from a family with a special history, and ahead of them is a permanent mandate to make their mark in building or destroying such history so that people who would come from them would not face unwarranted complications that can endanger them.

Such is the complexity of the human world in which everyone would shape their own life. Professor Badejo falls within the category of individuals who boldly face the reality of their world and decide henceforth that rather than be mere observers in the unraveling of their existence, and they would become an active determinant that shapes, write, and inscribe their names on the sand of time. The activity of struggling to acquire education during the youthful time is mostly undertaken by courageous individuals, not because it was actually a hard thing to enroll for academic work but because on the shoulders of every schoolgoer is the responsibility to channel their energies to change the tides of their people and become a compass of their collective aspirations. In essence, it was not enough to attend school as everyone would want; you needed to make something critical out of it.

Badejo’s acquisition of political and legal education was the foundation of his intellectual evolution, becoming the basis of his cognitive development while simultaneously exposing him to the rubrics and universal ideals of the human world. The sage became conscious of his responsibility to operationalize his initiatives that would transform society, and that was the turning point of his sagacious disposition to everything.

The first indicator of his awareness lies in his decision to become a teacher. It is not an exaggeration to argue that teachers are the shapers of human society, literally because they are given the responsibility to develop the collective cognition of their environment to trigger the minds of their students to become useful and helpful. This professor became a teacher, and his quality intellect during that exercise can be measured by the number of people he has nurtured. Many people today are a testament to his exemplary teaching qualities and how his skillful delivery of educational insights has become a constant source of energy renewal. But this does not tell the whole of his story.

Unbeknownst to many, Badejo started his early work as a productive researcher. He has been able to gather important data that are used in a number of educational departments, and I cannot emphasize enough how this has inspired some level of changes in the human world. No wonder that his intellectual significance stretches further to the conflict management arena. It was during his time as a learner of law that he added this feather to his cap.

When you examine the aggressiveness of his intellectual production, especially one that can be accessed in his writing and publications, one cannot but concede that he remains an outstanding individual in whatever he does. I have the honor to inform the public that no one can overemphasize Badejo’s contributions to decoloniality and decolonization. I need to remind you that this intellectual engagement is a dedication to the course of cognitive remodeling and freedom away from the shackles of ideological contraption that Africans have found themselves in for ages.

Badejo thus understands that the first duty towards the reclamation of lost African values is to re-engineer their cognition, which has become a trans-generational victim of self-defeatist teachings that have altogether weakened their ability to progress in whatever form. In one beautiful piece of work, this talented professor emphasizes how deeply ingrained the contamination of African knowledge content has spread across different domains of their existence. For example, political ideologies that are projected in Africa have no particular co-referentiality with their social and cultural systems, and it is important that when such contradictions occur, it would be very difficult for the attainment of progress. Therefore, it is just a logical decision that such irreconcilable political ideologies be dumped entirely, and where that is impossible, perhaps because people are deeply immersed in it, it should be radically recalibrated to accommodate the things that are peculiar to the people. This is a testament to his extraordinary intelligence.

No wonder, in his work, “Situating Democracy…,” Badejo explains the rubrics of the term, revealing that democracy is only “beautiful” when it reflects the nuances of a people. He insists that democratic governments could be dangerous to themselves and the people over which they govern on the occasion that they do not contain and internalize ideals in the local community. If a people collectively decide that this is the form of democratic policy and governance that they wanted, it would be an affront to their human rights to negate their position if they are not self-destructive or immolative. After all, the fundamental definition of democracy is that it comes from the people, and it is meant for them, too. In that case, one cannot but situate democracy within the context of a society so that they can achieve greatness and accomplish their desires as and when due. Although such debates and topics are controversial, one cannot accept that the message in them is golden. I can confidently say this because I am aware that this intellectual has used every available opportunity he grabs to educate people about the affairs of their society and how they can become models and an icon of transformation that the world would look up to. Of course, he has always acknowledged that people’s desire for change and progress is universal, and for that reason, there should be some universal traits to a democratic system. The fact remains, however, that he prioritizes the safety of the people over whom democracy would be used, and this remains a valid argument.

Meanwhile, Badejo has never compromised his callings, serving as the conscience and the consciousness of the masses, for he understands the basic reasons for the perpetual decline of Nigeria’s political and economic value. Badejo has never failed to educate anyone who cares to listen that Nigeria’s democracy’s inability to challenge its contemporaries across the globe is that its custodians are enmeshed in corruption controversies that ordinarily make things difficult to improve in their ordinary national life.

Badejo has educated everyone that corruption thrives in Nigeria because there is a deliberate incarceration of the legal frameworks that would have been the right checks and balances to the system available. He laments the pervasiveness of corruption and how it continually threatens the possibility of genuine transformation in the country.

When Badejo preaches through his work, one cannot particularly conclude who his intended audience is, even when he spells it out. The reason for this is that it is always common that he uses his message in ways that would reveal ideas in his determination to capture everything or everyone that is found wanting in a particular allegation. Africa, for example, has been consistently described in very negative terms, especially in relation to its courtship with corruption, and it is no surprise that Badejo addresses the issue in his works.

Despite his dedication to his professional responsibilities to social and political affairs, Professor Badejo has never failed to contribute to human and community development. He has become so instrumental to the growth of the human world that he is recognized for being relentless in helping people regardless of personal cost. In his capacity as a lawyer, he has offered his skills to save people who are wrongly persecuted and used his capacity to bring light to their world. It is particularly enticing that he has offered many of these services pro bono. Apart from offering professional advice and services to people, Badejo has also been very effective in helping to shed light on international issues for people who cannot afford his services and need them.

There is hardly any aspect of life to which he has not had his tentacle of influence spread. As a matter of fact, he has seen the avoidance of conflicts in many African countries by being a mediator, using his experience and expertise to convince parties of the need to embrace dialogue and inclusivity. His ideas have been able to foster peace in many places where he gets to. A man of peace deserves peace.

PS: This is a preliminary piece to celebrate Badejo’s forthcoming 70^th birthday in March 2025.