THE Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Comrade Issa Aremu, has called for a national posthumous award in honour of renowned political economist and pioneer Dean of School of Social Sciences of the University of Port Harcourt (Uniport), the late Professor Claude Ake.
The late Prof Ake was one of the 144 passengers killed when the ill-fated ADC Airlines Flight 86 crashed between Port Harcourt and Lagos on 7th November, 1997. Prof Ake was also the founder of Centre for Advanced Social Science (CASS) in Port Harcourt.
Comrade Aremu made the call weekend at the 2021 Annual Professor Claude Ake Lecture/ Award Night and unveiling of the Alumni magazine organised by University of Port Harcourt Alumni Association, Rivers State Chapter.
Comrade Aremu, an alumnus of the university, who was also the Guest Speaker at the event, said the late scholar dedicated his scholarship and research to Africa’s growth and development through “time-tested policy recommendations to stimulate productivity and guarantee equitable distribution of resources to the majority poor Africans.”
According to him, “long before the Arab spring of 2010, Prof Ake had warned of the danger of mass poverty and youth unemployment on stability of the continent in his celebrated book; Revolutionary Pressures in Africa.”
He therefore advised policy advisers in Africa to revisit “Claude Ake’s original conclusions” instead of what he called “the current fad of down-loading received policy prescriptions from IMF and the World Bank which in turn further under-develop Africa, fuel inequality, wars and violence.”
Comrade Aremu said “political economy as a tool for explaining socio-economic dynamics of Africa almost ‘died’ with the death of the political economist, Claude Ake”. He said a posthumous award for the late scholar would motivate young African social scientists to initiate same thoughts that would uplift Africa from underdevelopment to prosperity, adding that Prof Ake was an African optimist who never despaired as it is now fashionable among the continent’s intellectuals.
The Director General also praised Chibuike Rotimi Amechi, the Minister of Transportation, and Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike of River State for their contributions to national development.
“Regardless of their acrimonious politics, both Minister Rotimi Amechi and Governor Wike are worthy ambassadors of the University of Port Harcourt, whose motto is “For Enlightenment and Self-Reliance’. One is passionately reinventing railway nationwide, the other is called ‘Mr Projects,” building roads and projects. The two alumni are united more by development than politics which turns them apart,” Aremu said.
