Inaugural Lecture Series
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- ItemOpen AccessARMAGEDDON?(University of Lagos Press and Bookshop Ltd, 2025-02-05) Odukoya, A.O.ARMAGEDDON? “The more you know, the more you need to know” - Aristotle “Do not confuse the reality you live with the idea you have in your head”- Amilcar Cabral “Our reality is a part of other realities” – Amilcar Cabral “Reality is full of contradictions, and we cannot grasp it unless we learn to think dialectically” –Claude Ake Introduction Madam Vice Chancellor, a decree is an order that demands conformity. A decree exemplifies power through which the seemingly impossible can become possible based on the change in the probability of outcomes. The divine decree, which by biblical account preceded the creation of the world and humankind, “Let there be light,” with all its seeming simplicity, exemplifies the primacy of power and politics as the 2 binary fundamentals of the world. Suffice it to say that politics is power and power is politics. Onuoha (2021, 4) is right when he notes that “In fact, 'power' is the subject matter of political science.” In political science, we define politics as the “authoritative allocation of values” (David Easton), and more specifically, as “who gets what, when and how of society’s limited resources” (Lasswell, 1936). Power is conceptualised by Weber (1954, 323) as “the possibility of imposing one’s will upon the behaviour of other persons”. Power carries with it the weight of sanction for disobedience thus constraining the agency of the person or people over which it is applied. At the time of creation, not only was resource authoritatively allocated but there was an unmistakable intentionality in the convocation of a programmatic end/outcome: our world and mankind. As we shall see later, power is both overt and covert. It is germane to note that value, as described by David Easton, denotes anything and everything. However, value allocation cannot occur in a vacuum; it relies on previously accumulated resources. This necessity birthed the third fundamental of the tripod: accumulation. These three fundamentals—power, politics, and accumulation—are interconnected, resonating with the declaration by V. I. Lenin that “Politics is concentrated economics”. My academic trajectory has revolved around these three interconnected issues, particularly in the context of the African state and, more specifically, the Nigerian state. Underpinning these concerns are history, structure, interests, incentives and outcomes, which form the foundation upon which the issues discussed in this inaugural lecture are analysed. In his inaugural lecture at the London School of Economics, titled “Running while others walk: Knowledge and the Challenge of Africa’s Development”, Thandika Mkandiwire, (n.d), called attention to the common danger of generalisation in respect to "Africa," “a continent with 57 sovereign nations, seven time zones, thousands of languages and at least seven climates, with about a billion inhabitants and to my utter astonishment, 14 million not mutually consistent proverbs”. However, the divergences within the geographical configuration and 3 conglomerate called Africa are matched with much more convergence such that one can take up Africa as a unit of analysis without disservice to academic rigour. This approach is valid, as Africans largely identify themselves as a collective group.
- ItemOpen AccessMan's Reproductive System: its Manufacturing Errors, Equipment Failure and Failed Deliveries(University of Lagos Press & Bookshop Limited, 2024) TijaniFull texts attached
- ItemOpen AccessThe Healthy Mouth: A Collaborative Framework Of Personal And Public Respomsibilities: The Essence Of Dental Public Health(University of Lagos Press & Bookshop, 2024) Sofola, O. O.Full texts attached
- ItemOpen AccessFood-feed Struggle, The Nutritionist As An Umpire(University of Lagos Press and Bookshop Limited, 2024) Aderolu, A.Z.Full texts attached
- ItemOpen AccessGuard Your Mouth And Keep Yourself From Calamity: The Role Of The Oral and Maxillofacial Pathologist(University of Lagos Press and Bookshop Limited, 2024) AjayiFull texts attached