LATEEF JAKANDE: DID YOU ATTEND A JAKANDE SCHOOL?

Loud Whispers

This is the question I am asking everybody around me. Did you attend a Jakande school? I keep asking and most people are answering in the affirmative. The reason is simple. My new production – Babakekere depicts the life and times of this great Nigerian leader.

On the back of the super successful AWO that we did, which attracted Prof Yemi Osinbajo, our Vice President, we felt it was well opportune to drop Lateef Jakande’s story as a continuation in our series on emulative leadership as we push towards 2023

But as we research the story, we begin to see the impact his democratisation of education has made and is still making in the system. He was the one that established schools on almost every street corner and those schools still stand to a large extent today providing a befitting super structure to build upon.

I attended one of these schools – Angus Memorial High School, Yaba formerly Igbobi College 2 and was the best for it.

Even though critics had talked about the value of education received at those schools, its reach and engagement of all strata of the population negates this.
It was all encompassing, thorough and sincere in its execution and that is why I want to tell this story on stage.

The thought processes, the vision, the execution, its impact and its enduring legacy in a befitting one-year celebration of the passing of the great leader.

Can leaders like this reincarnate in some of these modern-day leaders? As we move towards 2023, is it possible for us to look for virtues as enshrined by people like Jakande as we choose leaders? For how long will we be inspired by ‘Agege bread’ to vote?