Being in my early teenage years when the newly crowned Olubadan, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja, began his tenure as governor of Oyo State in 2003, and only in my mid-teens when his tenure ended in 2007, one of the few personal memories I have of his time was his nicely tailored Ankara agbada, and sometimes buba and sokoto. But more on that later.
Of course, the common narrative that has run through Kabiyesi Ladoja’s coronation is that he is a unique monarch, not just in Ibadan itself but across Yorubaland. Perhaps other than the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Sir Adesoji Aderemi, who was governor of the Western Region at the same time he was Ooni, there hasn’t been any other monarch who has had the distinction of serving meritoriously in politics like Oba Ladoja, who was senator and then governor before he finally ascended to the exalted throne of Olubadan. It is a once-in-a-generation honour that we certainly won’t be seeing for a while yet.
It is therefore with his unique position that Kabiyesi Ladoja has the opportunity to move the needle in Ibadan politics, the way few of his predecessors ever did, and there is no other place to “show workings” than in the Ibadan tech ecosystem.
On the surface, it looks like the Ibadan monarchical system and tech have nothing in common. After all, the Ibadan monarchy is a gerontocracy, and gerontocracies are not likely to be in tune with all the buzzwords and tech jargon that techies spout nowadays. Besides, at 80, Kabiyesi Ladoja no longer has the strength with which he pursued his vigorous agenda as Senator and Governor. However, I firmly believe that his astute mind that not only allowed him to succeed as a businessman but also to serve meritoriously as a political office holder is still as keen as ever, and that is why Oba Rasheed Ladoja can make all the difference.
Tech, of course, is a huge space, and it is of course foolhardy to expect that the Ibadan traditional system, even as influential as it is, can turn the city into a tech utopia all by itself, but there are low-hanging fruits that the Ibadan traditional council can, beyond all the fashionable tech buzzwords, actually make a sizeable impact on. One of these areas is in the creative industries. Whether in music, fashion or film, Ibadan arguably has the largest thriving local creative industry ecosystem in Nigeria. As Professor Toyin Falola, who delivered the Coronation lecture notes, Ibadan is not just the birthplace of many of Nigeria’s local music genres; it is where they have survived and are thriving. It would therefore be a huge comparative advantage that Ibadan can gain if the traditional ruling council can find a way to leverage tech to further empower the Ibadan music ecosystems. Companies like Ckrowd, an Ibadan-based talent outsourcing agency inspired by Andela and Deel, are already creating opportunities for music industry professionals to showcase their skills to a worldwide audience and earn an income, and the Ibadan ruling council can do well to not just support companies like Ckrowd; they can actually create a fund for tech startups who wish to explore the creative industry so far those startups can create a plan as to how they can create jobs for Ibadan’s teeming young population.
It is worthy of note that music is only one part of the $58.4 billion USD African creative economy that tech can have a positive impact on; there is also film and fashion, areas where Africans have barely begun to scratch the surface. This brings me back to the story I started the piece with. It is difficult to find any prominent Oyo State politician/political office holder who has done more than Kabiyesi Ladoja to promote Ankara in modern times. Of course, Ibadan people have always worn Ankara, but the status of Ankara as Ibadan’s “unofficial uniform” is largely due to the colourful, well-tailored outfits that the new Kabiyesi used to wear during and after his tenure as governor. Needless to say, being such a fashion trendsetter, Oba Ladoja knows a thing or two about how fashion can not only create identity but also be the bedrock of a foreign exchange-earning creative economy. Thus, he can create a tech agenda for the Ibadan fashion ecosystem by supporting local startups exploring tech in the areas of fashion design and production, customer experience, sustainability, innovative products, etc.
I should add that Oba Ladoja is not just a fashion trendsetter; he is also a lover of the arts, especially the film industry, where he is a strong supporter of Yoruba movies. Many of Tunde Kelani’s Mainframe Production movies, which have gone on to become classics, were funded by Kabiyesi Ladoja before, during and after his time as a political officeholder. Again, among political office holders, not just in Oyo State but in Nigeria, Oba Ladoja stands out in that aspect. However, beyond just pumping money into movies (which is good), it is time for him to actually start finding a way to use tech to create a film industry tech ecosystem where the teeming youth of Ibadan can turn their creative energies into sustainable income.
The good news is that finding founders who are interested in these areas need not be a difficult task. There are already local tech ecosystem tech events such as Ibadan Tech Expo and Ibadan Startups Fest, where ecosystem leaders come to share the work they are doing to grow the tech ecosystem. While the Oyo State Government has been supporting these events as state projects, it is time for the Ibadan Traditional Council itself to play a more active role in not just supporting these events financially but actually curating an agenda that will make them less “ivory tower” and more impactful to local communities.
What makes me happy, of course, as someone who has been in the Ibadan tech scene for a while,is that there is no better person who understands politics and can create and execute this kind of agenda better than HIM, Kabiyesi Ladoja, because he not only has the experience of what needs to be done in the Ibadan tech ecosystem, but he also has the goodwill, the influence and the respect of the stakeholders who can get it done.
And that is why once again I join my fellow people of Ibadan to felicitate with Kabiyesi Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja, Arusa 1. Kabiyesi o! May your reign be long, and may your period be the start of a new age in the Ibadan tech ecosystem.
