ALUKO Adepoju Samuel

The Lone Ranger (Dotun Adekanmbi). At a time when the American economy is at its most robust and the term 'market economy' has become the global mantra, Professor Sam Aluko seems like a voice from the past. For him, the nation's economy - the object of his considerable mental exertions for the past 4 decades- is yet to show the indices ofa mod ern economy. "Nigeria is not a modern economy. Nigeria is a feudal economy. You go to the villages, you'll know that Nigeria is still a feudal economythe people are still tying leaves around their waists. So, those who are talking of modern economy are out ofdate. They are the oppressors. They are the people who are enjoying the suffering ofother peo ple ... I am 67, so you can't expect me to think like a21- year-old because experience isthe best teacher. Youcan't buy it" [experience]. His life has been devoted to getting economics and its complexities to serve the needs ofthe com mon man, teaching economics within and outside Nigeria, and battling an ever acquisitive local elite. Aluko hails from Ekitiland where Western educationand, indeed, the teaching profession, hold pride of place. Samuel Adepoju Aluko, was born on 18August 1929. As a young lad, Samuel was rescued from the 'hoe and cutlass' culture and the stifling grip of the extended family by a white colonial teacher who also doubledas the priest ofthe localchurch inOde-Ekiti. In the classroom, his brilliance was immediatelyevi dent, and in 1942, he made it into Christ's School, Ado-Ekiti, then, and perhaps still, a local ivy league institution. Poverty, however, continued to wage a relentless battle against him and the young man had to drop out ofschool. This time, Archdeacon Henry Dallimore, principal ofChrist's School rescued Aluko and sent him to Yaba Technical Institute between 1948 and 1949 and finally to the London School of Economics, England from 1955 to 1959. Perhaps as a pay-backto the profession that res cued him, Aluko took to teaching when he returned fromEngland; first as a school teacher inAsaba, then as fecturer at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) Ile-Ife and University of Nigeria, Nsukka between 1956 and 1966. In 1967, Aluko became professor of economics at the Uni versity of Ife. At various times between 1962 and 1974, he was a visiting scholar at the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, MIT, inthe United States; University of Birmingham, United Kingdom; and Harvard University, United States. In 1980, Sam Aluko became the economic ad viser to the Ondo State Government under Chief Adekunle Ajasin. As an ideologue, he served the then Unity Party ofNigeria (UPN), working with others to draw up an economic blueprint. Had the UPN won the 1979 or 1983 presidential elections, hewouldundoubtedlyhave hada betteropportunity to apply his peoples' economics. Wherever Aluko saw anomalies, he sent wellthought out verbal darts. Aluko has been involved in more spats, on money and its management than any other Nigerian economist. When nobody dared criticizethe elderstatesman, ChiefObafemiAwolowo,Alukotook the politician tothecleaners for spending, 5,000 British poundsto buy beer for "pot-bellied men and wig-wearing women," at the funeral of Awo's mother when thou sands ofchildren needed money for their education. Nevertheless, he stoutly defended the late politician when his helicopter campaign style raisedquestions of profligacy. Given the terrain and breadth ofthe area to be covered, Aluko simply rationalized that it was far more economical for A wo to have used a helicopter. Aluko has taken celebrated micro-economic vic tories and shown how hollow they are, revealing the cake oflies beneath the glossy finish. Formerfinance minister, Anthony Ani, and former Central Bank governor, Paul Ogwuma, were described by Aluko as stooges ofthe International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. By their policies, he said, they "completely pauperized our citizens and criminalized the mand virtually stopped any production activities". The post-Abacha revelation of how Ani participated in the looting of the economy simply bears out Aluko's rating of the two men as drain-pipes. As Chairman of the National Economic Intelli gence Committee from 1994 to 1999, he was part of the Abacha/Abubakar government and the norms of collective responsibility should have made him de fend the position of government. Aluko simply did not. When the late head of state, Sani Abacha praised the prospects of the Vision 2010 report, Aluko, his appointee, let of fan arrow from his quiver. As far as he was concerned, the prescriptions were "mere platitudes, at best, [and] are not superior to what were contained in our 1970/74-80 plans and in our 1979 constitution". In other words, Vision 2010 was a rehash of years of failed dreams. Neither did he spare a fellow Awoist, Ebenezer Babatope, who ran Abacha's Ministry of Transport. Aluko said that his books were full of holes. And when he hit at Abacha's looting nexus, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), many thought the end had come for him. He told his countrymen that the corporation has secret accounts in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, opened in the years when General Ibrahim Babangida was Ni geria's military President. Abacha said and did noth ing, and the professor got away with it. In Nigeria's pantheon of social critics, Samuel Adepoju. Aluko holds the distinction of never having been confined behind the prison walls. Aluko's economic management thesis is based on public-private collaboration rather than the domi nation of free market trade in the private sector: "an attempt to engage the market and the government in a collaborative, consistent, orderly and productive manner forms the basis of guided deregulation." In an age of American-led market economic forces, guided deregulation sounds like a Cuban con cession to the power of the inevitable. Aluko, how ever, also had his critics. The late Ken Saro-Wiwa had this to say about Aluko: "I have never respected him as an economist, mounting outdated theories on a tired nation." Aluko's reason for taking up appointment with the Abacha administration in 1994, did not impress the majority of his compatriots. Aluko said that he saw in the Abacha programme "a sincerity to bring about the end of the struggle and felt morally and professionally obliged to assist so that it can work." What seems to have redeemed Sam Aluko's im age is his lack oftemperament for political office. "I cannot tell lies. As an economist, I say what I feel. I say what is on my mind all th'e time, which the poli tician cannot do." This, perhaps, accounts for his penchant for hold ing on in the face of national euphoria. In his reck oning, thequest by President Olusegun Obasanjo to retrieve the stolen money is a wild goose chase: "We are deceiving ourselves on the loot recovery. We are making too much noise about it." Aluko supports the abolition of the death pen alty and wants the church to ordain women priests. This stance may not be too surprising, especially con sidering that he is a member ofthe World Council of Churches. Aluko, who is the founding president of Nigerian Economic Society, is also a member of the International Economic Association: Royal Eco nomic Society, London; American Economic Asso ciation and the International Association of Public Finance. Aluko is the father of five, with two children taking after him as professors, and another a sena tor. At 70, the man who believes that human beings, (the masses), not some new fangled economic jargon, should be the basis of government planning, still has his cannons firing; and it seems likely they will remain so for many years to come.