Wednesday, March 16, 2010
By Japheth J Omojuwa
I do not know the main purpose behind the organization of A.L.O’s essay competitions, but I must say it helped me to know a lot within a short time. I was amongst the prize winners but my consolation arose more from the fact that I had learnt a lot within such a short time – enough to stand mentioned in the same breath with established post graduate International African students and working professionals.
Identifying Liberty:
The journey of life takes us through many phases and several paths, but there are points you arrive at that signal a level of significant fulfillment – fulfillment does not only come at the completion of an assignment, it also comes as you find your means through the end. Julian Simon rightly said that the more we use, the better off we become – and there’s no practical limit to improving our lot forever[1]. Fulfillment comes with use and fulfillment. You cannot use except you are at liberty to. You cannot be at liberty except you know.
At every point in time you get conscious about the reality of your essence on this planet, fulfillment is set in order. Discovering my path to Liberty through Libertarian principles gave me that eureka feeling. I discovered the whole essence of my being in that very word. It was not an immediate thing and it did not just happen, it took time. A discovery is not to see what never was, it is a realization of what had always been but had not been appreciated. Appreciation comes with realization but realization comes with identification. Identification cannot be without consciousness.
Adedayo Thomas: Persistence through Belief
Adedayo Thomas had been on my case long before he had anything to do with African Liberty.org. He tried without success to get me involved with a lot of programs and ideas but I was committed to one thing only and that was Junior Chamber International (JCI). I rose to become a chapter president of that organization but I discovered there was more within me to be used which JCI did not seem to provide a platform for. While it has in its creed that Economic Justice can best be won by Free Men through free enterprise, it did not look like the members understood the purport of that statement. I did understand it but I only appreciated after I heard Adedayo present his Libertarian case. He had tried to make me start a chapter of the organization in my school, The University of Agriculture Abeokuta (UNAAB) which I was not keen on doing. He was persistent but he assumed too much. He assumed I understood what his organization stood for. I didn’t! Despite my relative ignorance, I made passive moves to get things started but those were not enough to move even a pebble. On the D-day, he was invited by AIESEC to come speak at their Developing Leaders Day. He spoke with vigor and passion but more importantly he spoke with an understanding of the fact that the members of his audience were lay men in terms of his subject – Liberty. I learnt a lot that day and made up my mind. Three weeks later I had finished volumes of libertarian materials on the internet – with Johan Norberg’s In Defense of Global Capitalism my first conventional book on the ideals of globalization. I ensured we registered with the school before my final exams. African Liberty Students’ Organization was birth – Nigeria’s first. I chose the word organization because I saw a future where student Libertarians will run under one universal umbrella. That will better function as an organization rather than a weak sounding word like Association. Adedayo Thomas wanted me to be the president but I declined. I was satisfied with getting Nigeria’s first ALSO started and therefore scouted for the right presiding officer. ALSO UNAAB became the first organization on the university’s campus to be completely approved by management. The credit for all these has to go to Adedayo Thomas for his persistence, resilience and belief in my own ability to get things done.
THE ESSAY COMPETITION: AN EFFECTIVE ALO STRATEGY:
I do not know the main purpose behind the organization of A.L.O’s essay competitions, but I must say it helped me to know a lot within a short time. I was amongst the prize winners but my consolation arose more from the fact that I had learnt a lot within such a short time – enough to stand mentioned in the same breath with established post graduate International African students and working professionals.
If there’s any strategy in the organization I know works without a question, it must be the essay competition. There are ways of expanding it and the organization should pursue ways and strategies on its expansion to cater for more young Africans. Besides the competition, I had the privilege of travelling with Adedayo for Paper presentations in Nigerian universities and that helped to add to my knowledge base. I got to know a few things about Libertarian gurus like Franklin Cudjoe and Tom Palmer which prompted even more Google searches. Today I am friends with these gentlemen on Facebook. Contributing Libertarian articles online has also meant that I get heart warming friend requests from fellow Libertarians which I am all too willing to accept.
TODAY, TOMORROW, TOGETHER
Today Africa faces crucial challenges but none more crucial than leadership and the economy. Foreign aid remains the prostitute African leaders are always willing to go to bed with. That unwholesome union has failed Africa for half a century, it is only reasonable to accept and indeed pursue a new order – the path of free trade for growth and development rather than aid. This is a quest we must continually pursue and I have decided this to be a quest I will fight and defend with my entire God given abilities. Foreign aid is demonstrably neither necessary nor sufficient to promote economic progress in the so called Third world …because the inflow of foreign aid sets up major adverse effects on the factors behind economic progress[2]. This reality along with the prosperity that comes with Liberty forms the quest of My Libertarian Reality – For Africa’s development.