A professor emeritus, Biodun Jeyifo, has said decolonisation in Nigeria and other postcolonial societies cannot be achieved through administrative reforms alone, arguing that meaningful change must involve the redistribution of resources alongside development.
Mr Jeyifo made the remarks on Monday while speaking at a symposium held in his honour to mark his 80th birthday by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) in Lagos. Scholars, activists and former students reflected on his intellectual and political legacy at the event.
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The literary scholar criticised what he described as the tendency to equate decolonisation with institutional “restructuring,” noting that such approaches often sidestep deeper questions of economic inequality.
“Restructuring without redistribution changes nothing,” he said, arguing that administrative reorganisation, without addressing how wealth and resources are shared, merely reproduces colonial-era injustices under new political arrangements.
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Drawing on his personal and political history, Mr Jeyifo said postcolonial societies had largely failed to fulfil early promises of social transformation.
He noted that many developing countries recorded only marginal improvements in living standards decades after independence, despite political reforms.
Placing the issue in a personal context, he recalled growing up as one of seven siblings, only two of whom survived into adulthood, saying such experiences showed how abstract development statistics often conceal real human suffering.
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“These are not abstract statistics,” he said. “This is lived reality.”
Mr Jeyifo recalled his involvement in Nigeria’s anti-poverty and redistribution debates in the 1970s, stressing that the idea of pursuing development without redistribution had long been contested by scholars and activists.
He referenced the 1979 Constitution, particularly its Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, which he said envisaged Nigeria as a social democratic state rather than a fully capitalist or neoliberal one.
According to him, the constitutional framework rejected the notion of developing first and redistributing later, insisting that both processes should proceed simultaneously.
He said subsequent governments weakened this vision by sidelining those principles.
Mr Jeyifo also reflected on the role of the university in shaping political consciousness, recalling debates over the removal of history from school curricula and the marginalisation of critical and Marxist scholarship.
He said decolonisation must involve sustained struggles over knowledge production, public policy and social justice, warning that abandoning these struggles risks entrenching inequality under new political arrangements.
The scholar expressed gratitude to former students and colleagues for their tributes, describing teaching as both a political and moral responsibility.
He urged younger generations to continue what he described as the unfinished work of decolonisation.
Decolonisation remains unfinished
Delivering the keynote address at the symposium, Priyamvada Gopal, a professor of Postcolonial Studies at the University of Cambridge, called for a renewed and expansive understanding of decolonisation.
She argued that the project remains unfinished decades after political independence across Africa and Asia.
Ms Gopal said decolonisation should not be reduced to the attainment of national sovereignty but understood as a broader struggle involving economic justice, social transformation and resistance to new forms of domination.
Drawing on the legacy of 1955
Bandung Conference and the 1956 Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris, she said early anti-colonial thinkers such as Frantz Fanon and Aimé Césaire viewed independence as a beginning rather than an endpoint.
According to her, the failure to dismantle inherited colonial economic and political structures has led to what she described as an “arrested decolonisation” in many postcolonial societies.
She argued that post-independence elites in several former colonies preserved colonial institutions, including security and legal systems, often deploying them in authoritarian ways under the banner of nationalism.
Ms Gopal warned that nationalism, while central to anti-colonial struggles, has in some contexts facilitated ethnic and religious majoritarianism rather than genuine liberation.
She also criticised what she described as the dilution of decolonisation in contemporary academic and policy debates, cautioning against its use as a rhetorical slogan divorced from material realities such as inequality, dispossession and environmental degradation.
Addressing global politics, Ms Gopal said the situation in Palestine showed that colonial practices persist in the modern world, describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as settler-colonial violence reaching what she called “a genocidal juncture.”
She questioned the limited response of countries in the Global South, including emerging economic blocs such as BRICS, to what she described as ongoing colonial violence.
Panel reflections on Jeyifo’s legacy
Following Ms Gopal’s lecture, a panel session was held in response to her address, moderated by Ropo Sekoni, a professor.
Panellists included three other professors, namely Jibrin Ibrahim, Akin Adesokan, and Femi Folorunsho, some of whom joined virtually.
In his opening remarks, Mr Sekoni said decolonisation must be “qualitatively different from colonialism,” warning that it could not simply involve replacing colonial rulers while retaining the same extractive structures.
Referencing the work of Aimé Césaire, he described decolonisation as a project of imagination, asking what kind of world is being prepared for future generations.
He said literature and culture remain critical spaces for articulating alternative futures beyond colonial and postcolonial orthodoxies.
Other panellists linked Mr Jeyifo’s scholarship to ongoing debates on nationalism, capitalism and international solidarity, arguing that many postcolonial states inherited colonial political structures that later became instruments of repression.
They said economic dependence, elite capture of state power and global capitalism had undermined early postcolonial aspirations, calling for a renewal of decolonisation as a political and moral project.
Former students reflect on Jeyifo’s legacy
Former students of Mr Jeyifo also spoke during a second panel at the event, describing his teaching as intellectually demanding and personally transformative.
Panellists included journalist Sam Omatseye, school proprietress Bisi Anyadike, lawyer and poet Ogaga Ifowodo, journalist Kunle Ajibade, and Ms Gopal.
They said Mr Jeyifo’s emphasis on close reading, critical thinking and the relationship between literature and social reality left a lasting impact on their academic and personal lives.
Mr Ifowodo said the scholar’s mentorship extended beyond the classroom, recalling how he supported his academic journey, including writing letters of recommendation for further studies.
Mrs Anyadike said Mr Jeyifo’s lectures shaped her understanding of African literature and history and influenced her decision to remain in Nigeria, pursue teaching and later establish a school.
Ms Gopal recalled discussions with Mr Jeyifo on democracy in India, Pakistan and Nigeria, stressing his insistence on reading political texts within their social and historical contexts.
Early life and intellectual formation
In his opening remarks, publisher and cultural activist Yemi Ogunbiyi traced Mr Jeyifo’s early life and intellectual formation, saying they first met in 1961 and bonded over a shared love for reading.
Mr Ogunbiyi described Mr Jeyifo as intellectually rebellious, noting that his formative years were shaped by personal loss, including the death of a brother due to a genetic condition, and his own survival of a rare blood disorder.
The chairman of Tanus Books said the scholar’s influence extended beyond his generation, inspiring many to pursue academic careers.
He also highlighted Mr Jeyifo’s role in advancing university autonomy in Nigeria.
During his remarks, Mr Ogunbiyi read excerpts from a personal letter Mr Jeyifo wrote to him in 1969 from London, reflecting on race relations, employment and the challenges faced by Nigerians in the United Kingdom.
Falana pays tribute
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, also paid tribute to Mr Jeyifo during a goodwill message, describing him as a formative influence whose academic activism shaped generations of radical scholars, lawyers and social advocates.
Mr Falana recalled his years as an undergraduate, saying lecturers associated with Nigeria’s radical intellectual tradition protected students who were frequently targeted by university authorities.
He said Mr Jeyifo, during his tenure as president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), ensured the reinstatement of radical and Marxist lecturers dismissed by the military government in the late 1970s and intervened on behalf of expelled students across the country.
Mr Falana also spoke on constitutional reforms, noting that progress had been made in enforcing aspects of Chapter Two of the 1999 Constitution, which outlines the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy.
According to him, several laws now give legal force to provisions previously considered non-justiciable, including legislation on free basic education, disability rights and access to healthcare for vulnerable groups.
He said his organisation intends to challenge the federal government in court over what he described as weak implementation of these laws.
“Nigerians must be encouraged to enforce these rights,” he said, adding that litigation remains a key tool for compelling government compliance.
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