Professor Ibrahim is, no doubt, a native of the tribe of Nigeria's finest and most profound interpreters, who do not stop only at the interpretative enterprise but also assume the mandate of healers by proffering astute solutions to the national malaise.
These two volumes of the Deepening Democracy series being presented today show up the notion of how nations are closely aligned to narrations, as it is in these acts that some of the truest forms of engagement are distilled, to unfold how nations can be continuously constituted and reconstituted to enhance the human purpose, which is at their essence.
It is with great pleasure that I am making these short remarks on behalf of the Premium Times Group, which is a family that the celebrant, our very own Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, is a highly distinguished and treasured member of - both as intellectual fount and Chairman of our Editorial Board in the past decade. Hence, honouring him also becomes a ritual of honouring oneself, as he is a vital part of whatever manner of successes we have managed to attain so far.
Even then, this is a relationship whose roots run deeper than the formal manifestations of collaborative service within institutions, whether as Premium Times or NEXT or others before it, but goes back to the days of the radical students' movement and sundry organising towards the goal of a better society.
As such, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim has not only been to some of us - and generations of others - a teacher, mentor and comrade, but a lodestar through who we have sought direction, and a boundless wellspring of knowledge and critical guidance, at whose feet we have and we keep drawing inspiration for sustenance.
Therefore, it has been a great honour for us at Premium Times Books to be co-publisher of the two magisterial volumes of critical thought on nation and becoming by Professor Ibrahim that are presently before us - Deepening Democracy: Politics and Governance and Deepening Democracy: Political Economy and Plural Society - alongside the much-respected Centre for Democracy and Development, of which many of us equally have an history of association with.
If anything, these two volumes, which are curated compendiums of Professor Jibrin Ibrahim's newspaper columns published over the past 15 years - from NEXT to Daily Trust and Premium Times - show him up as one of the Nigeria's most cerebral and consequential public intellectuals, whose think-pieces put together here have not only analysed and defined the national condition, but equally sought to create pathways around alternative thinking on resolving the issues subjected to methodical scrutiny.
Considered together as an oeuvre of the intellectual's conversations with his country and fellow citizens on how the State can be constantly reinforced and a more perfect union formed for its people - to adopt from the register of American political thought, the essence of it all is never lost all through, as the abiding necessity of deepening this construct that we are all working with - democracy, which remains one of the most durable forms of social organisation and community building till date - warts and all!
Professor Ibrahim is, no doubt, a native of the tribe of Nigeria's finest and most profound interpreters, who do not stop only at the interpretative enterprise but also assume the mandate of healers by proffering astute solutions to the national malaise.
These two volumes of the Deepening Democracy series being presented today show up the notion of how nations are closely aligned to narrations, as it is in these acts that some of the truest forms of engagement are distilled, to unfold how nations can be continuously constituted and reconstituted to enhance the human purpose, which is at their essence.
Considered together as an oeuvre of the intellectual's conversations with his country and fellow citizens on how the State can be constantly reinforced and a more perfect union formed for its people - to adopt from the register of American political thought, the essence of it all is never lost all through, as the abiding necessity of deepening this construct that we are all working with - democracy, which remains one of the most durable forms of social organisation and community building till date - warts and all!
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Our dear Professor Jibo, as you attain this landmark age of 70, when rust is full ripeness, I and the generations of all those who keep looking up to you, wish you more fruitful years in the service of man and nation, and in the very best of health and circumstances. May we continue to drink from your founts of wisdom and knowledge for many more years to come, as we persevere on this journey of perfecting our nation and communities. So help us God!
Dapo Olorunyomi is the Publisher/CEO of the Premium Times Group.
This is the text of the Publisher's Remarks at the symposium in honour of Professor Jibrin Ibrahim's 70th Birthday at the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Centre, Abuja on the 2nd of December 2024.
