Awo said: “The children of the poor you failed to train will never let your children have peace.”
That was warning in 1970s. Today is proof.
I have tinkered that warning to our WITNESS 2026 5Cs — in our own voice — for another round of judgement.
In 1971, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, as Commissioner for Finance in General Yakubu Gowon’s Federal Executive Council, proposed free and compulsory education at all levels from January 1974. He tabled figures. Nigeria was in oil boom. He had done it in Western Region in 1955 when West was poor. Now Nigeria was rich. Why not do it for whole country — North and South?
Gowon refused. In Awo’s 1985 interview: “I advocated for free education at all levels… I resigned.”
Gowon cherry-picked free education and health as 1974/75 programme, never compulsory, never for all.
Then came Decree No. 24 of 1973 — National Youth Service Corps.
Wait for poor farmer in Ekiti to sell cocoa 21 years. Wait for market woman in Ibadan to sell wrapper to pay WAEC. Wait for parents to bleed, borrow, suffer from primary to university. Then claim child: “Bring that child. Service is compulsory. He must serve Nigeria one year. If not, he will never work.”
Awolowo said: Make INPUT compulsory. Let state train child free.
Gowon said: Let parents pay input. I will make OUTPUT compulsory. I will control finished product.
That is economics of slave master. You don’t feed slave child. You wait until he is grown and strong by his mother’s sweat, then claim ownership of his labour.
We tinkered this wickedness to 5Cs:
CONSCIENCE ZERO:
You saw poor children out of school in 1971 oil boom and said no to free education. No Itu Egwu Chineke. No fear of God. No Ofo na Ogu. Conscience failed. You had oil, you had money, you had Awo’s memo with figures. You chose pocket, not Nigeria. Conscience is to think Nigeria first, place country above personal and pecuniary interests, as Maitama Sule said. You placed convenience above children.
COMPETENCE ZERO:
You had money to train all children from Sokoto to Calabar. You had 1955 Western Region proof that free education works when poor — Liberty Stadium, WNTV, Cocoa House built from poor region. Now Nigeria rich — oil boom. Yet you chose NYSC khaki instead of books and laboratories. No Igba Mbo — Hard Work — “Aka aja-aja na-ebute onu mmanu.” No Ikpachapu Aku Anya — Prudence. No competence to convert oil to schools. N4 trillion Ajaokuta today zero steel — same incompetence. Competence is to turn resources to results. You turned oil to decree.
CHARACTER ZERO:
You waited for farmer to sell cocoa 21 years, market woman to sell wrapper, parents to bleed and borrow — then claimed his child for compulsory service. Economics of slave master. Don’t feed slave child, wait till grown by mother’s sweat, then claim his labour. No Agwa Oma — Good Character. No Omoluabi — Yoruba character. No Mutunci da Gaskiya — Hausa/Fulani truth. Character is what keeps you after hard work takes you somewhere. You lacked character to keep covenant with parents. You doubled burden: Awo wanted to free parents, you made parents pay twice — first to school, then to kidnapper.
COURAGE ZERO:
Awo had courage to resign when principle failed. Sardauna had courage in 1956 to reject power four times — “I will not be fair if people mistake my turban for whole nation” — chose Bauchi minority over Prime Ministership. You had no courage to say Nigeria first, North and South first. No courage to educate Almajiri in North. No courage to say no to easy path of controlling youth instead of training youth. Courage is to choose hard right over easy wrong. You chose easy wrong.
CAPACITY ZERO:
53 years later proof. 20 million out-of-school children. Bandits who cannot read. Almajiri system unreformed. 20 children who left Ibadan last Thursday to obey your compulsory decree kidnapped in Imo State — parents who paid school fees 21 years now asked to pay N50 million each ransom. Parents pay twice — first to school, then to kidnapper. If you cannot protect those you compel, you have no capacity to compel. Capacity is to downsize behemoth, to secure lives, to deliver. My 2014 submission to National Conference: 4 regions, scrap House, trim Senate to 2 per state, 8 ministries career heads, 5 per state, 4 LGs. 12 years later, behemoth upsized, waste upsized, poverty 63% with 4.43% growth on paper.
WITNESS 2026 VERDICT:
From Awo Warning to WITNESS 2026 Verdict: When 5Cs = ZERO, Peace = ZERO — You cannot harvest peace where you planted illiteracy.
If you failed to make INPUT compulsory — free education — don’t be surprised when OUTPUT — insecurity — becomes compulsory.
Awo Legacy: Liberty Stadium, WNTV, free education that still produces professors today.
Gowon Legacy: Compulsory scheme that cannot protect those it compels.
History has judged. WITNESS 2026 confirms.
Let posterity judge the wickedness of choosing khaki and jungle boots over books and laboratories. Let posterity judge the wickedness of waiting for parents to train children with their sweat, then claiming their labour for nation without protecting them.
Don’t show us chart, show us pot. Don’t show us GDP, show us empty bowl filled. Don’t show us NYSC camp, show us classroom safe.
Arise O Compatriots — WITNESS 2026 demands POWER not POCKET.
_Richard Olanrewaju Odusanya — Ijebu Man, Born Enugu, Idoma Northern Mother — Author NIGERIA NEEDS NEW NATIONAL MODEL — Convener WITNESS 2026 — Miniature Map of Nigeria 3.0 — 5 Families — 5Cs: Conscience, Competence, Character, Courage, Capacity — Tinkered from Awolowo_
