Prominent Nigerians have expressed sadness over the death today of renowned professor of Economics, Prof. Sam Aluko, who died in a London hospital.
So also are condolences still pouring in to the family of a former Federal Minister and a former High Commissioner of the country to the United Kingdom, Dr. Matthew Mbu.
Among those who commiserated with the families of the Alukos and Mbus today were the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan; the Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba; the Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
In his condolence message on Aluko, Jonathan said he received the news of his death with immense sadness and a feeling of great national loss.
In a statement by his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, Jonathan said: “On behalf of himself, his family, the federal government and the people of Nigeria, the President extends sincere and heartfelt condolences to Prof. Aluko’s family.
“As they mourn the late Prof. Aluko, President Jonathan urges his family, friends, associates and admirers to be comforted by the knowledge that the renowned economist lived a life full of many indelible achievements and notable contributions to national development.
“The President believes that Prof. Aluko will always be remembered as a visionary and a universally acclaimed pacesetter who delivered positive results in all the public assignments he undertook.
“Nigeria will definitely remember the late Prof. Aluko as a man who gave the nation his best years and put her on the global map with his giant strides in the academia and in governance when he served as a leading adviser to various governments at state and federal levels.
“He prays that God Almighty will comfort Prof. Aluko’s family and grant his soul eternal rest.”
Ndoma-Egba described Mbu’s death as a personal loss.
Ndoma-Egba, in a press release personally signed by him today, said that inspite of the fact that the late Mbu passed away at the ripe age of 82, “that he died at a time Nigeria is at a crossroads, when his insight, experience, political and diplomatic skills would have been most needed, is confounding and sad.”
The statement further described the late Mbu as “a remarkable man, with an unusually remarkable life, demonstrating a boundless possibilities of human spirit , if directed at a positive pursuit, from a minister at the age of 23, to being a Ph.D holder at the age of 72.”
The statement said further: “Mbu exerted himself to the limits of his endowments in the several opportunities he had for public service as parliamentarian, minister and Ambassador.
“His was a life of excellence and fulfilment. Given to sartorial and calligraphic elegance, his language was exact, and his manners, impeccable.”
Fayemi expressed shock over the death of eminent economist and illustrious son of the state, Aluko.
The governor, in a statement on Tuesday signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Olayinka Oyebode, said Aluko’s death has robbed Ekiti, Nigeria and Africa of a great scholar and elder statesman whose counsel is direly needed at the critical period.
He promised that the people of Ekiti State will continue to celebrate the ideals Aluko stood for in his lifetime, which made him to be one of the leading lights of the state.
The governor noted that Aluko was one of the eminent citizens that fought for the creation of Ekiti State, which came into fruition in 1996.
Fayemi recalled that the late Professor had written him from the United Kingdom last Wednesday to tender an apology for his inability to attend a scheduled council meeting.
He stated that the late elder statesman had, in his usual character, suggested some economic ideas that could help move the state forward in the three-page letter dated February 1, 2012.
Fayemi said Aluko’s contributions to the nation’s economic development, education, scholarship and emergence of Western Nigeria as a pacesetter to other regions of the country in the First Republic remains a source of inspiration to many.
Describing Aluko as a “selfless and altruistic servant of the people,” Fayemi noted that the late professor was a key member of the think-tank of the former Premier of the Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, that formulated policies that transformed the region radically.
He noted that Aluko’s contributions to the making of the University of Ife and the University of Nigeria, Nsuka as model universities remain indelible.
A scourge of Neo-liberal economist and the Washington consensus of Bretton-Woods Institutions, Aluko was unapologetic in his belief that Nigeria needed its own development path devoid of imposition by external forces.
The governor recalled that Aluko also served as Economic Adviser to the Government of old Ondo State under the leadership of the late Governor Michael Adekunle Ajasin between 1979 and 1983, which launched the state on the path of economic and industrial development.
He was in his position as Economic Adviser to Ajasin responsible for the establishment of Owena Bank (now part of the Keystone Bank), the Ire Brick Factory, the Confidence Insurance (now part of Sovereign Trust) and the commencement of work on the bitumen exploration, among other laudable economic achievements of the administration.
Fayemi said Aluko’s erudition, patriotism and readiness to serve his fatherland earned him the chairmanship of the National Economic Intelligence Committee under the Gen. Sani Abacha-led military administration, where he introduced the Value Added Tax and the pegging of the naira at N22 to $1 at a time of difficult economic situation.
He also recalled that Aluko chaired the Education Summit organised by his administration in May last year, which provided the needed panacea that has reinvigorated and repositioned the education sector in the state.
He said: “The death of our revered Baba Aluko at the time is painful but we are consoled by the positive ways he touched our lives and the impact he made.
“On behalf of my family, government and the good people of Ekiti State, I condole with the family of the deceased on the passage of this great legend of the field of economics, an astute administrator and a conscientious nation builder.
“Ekiti State stands ready to partner with the family in giving a befitting burial to this illustrious son of the Land of Honour.”
Oshiomhole described the passing on of Mbu as a grave loss not only to his family and Cross River State, but also to the Nigerian nation.
Also mourning the loss of Aluko, Oshiomhole said, “With his demise, Nigeria has lost a great patriot, a formidable Economist, a progressive social thinker and an illustrious public servant.”
In separate letters of condolences issued in Benin City and sent to the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, his Cross River Counterpart, Hon Larry Odeh and the Aluko family, Oshiomhole conveyed the heartfelt sympathy of the people and government of Edo State on the death of the two renowned elder statesmen.
On Mbu, who, at 26 was the youngest member of the Federal Executive Council, the governor said, “He was among the last remaining cream of nationalists and eminent First Republic functionaries, who helped to carve an early niche for the country in people-driven development and good governance.
“With a sound education, he (Mbu) was eminently prepared for several important public responsibilities, some of which he discharged diligently despite his young age.”
Continuing in his eulogy on Mbu laced with grief, the governor said that “Even in his advanced years, he continued to apply his thought and energy to seeking solutions to some of the nagging problems of the nation. His last well-known platform was the South-South People’s Assembly, which helped to bring the interests of our region to sharper focus in the context of the agitation for a more united and just Nigerian federation.”
Reminiscing on the erudite status of Professor Aluko, Oshiomhole said, “Prof Aluko cut his teeth in the Action Group in the First Republic as a development policy planner. In this period, he established a reputation for original thinking and an uncommon depth in policy articulation, especially in relation to real sector development and human welfare. Indeed, Prof Aluko was among the scholars and planners that helped to generate much of the pioneering infrastructural, industrial and human development policy outputs of the Western Region.”
Also recalling his role as one of the eminent scholars appointed by the Professor Ambrose Alli led Government of the Old Bendel State to develop a blueprint of the state university, now known as Ambrose Alli University, Oshiomhole s
aid, “Overall, in the respected professor, I found a remarkable frank and erudite scholar, a patriot that was deeply committed to the pursuit of a better Nigeria and a gentleman of uncommon simplicity, humility and decency.”