Gabriel Akinola Deko (30 October 1913 – 5 November 1987) was a
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
building contractor and former regional Minister for Agriculture in the
Western region of Nigeria, he was also a personal friend of
Awolowo
Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (; 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Yoruba nationalist and Nigerian statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement (1957-1960). Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe O ...
. As minister, he was involved in the promotion of an agriculture settlement scheme that would employ and pay an initial amount of capital to new graduates from an established agriculture training college. The graduates would engage in
farming
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
. This settlement scheme was borrowed from an
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i agriculture development scheme,
Moshav
A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...
. The scheme was partly initiated to arrest a tide in the movement of young men and women to the
urban areas where farming is hardly a career choice.
Life
Akin Deko was born in
Igbotu,
Ondo State
Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State to t ...
, Nigeria by an Idanre parent. He attended St Peters,
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...
, for primary education and for secondary education, he went to Government College
Ibadan
Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...
(GCI), he completed his studies in Nigeria at the
Yaba Higher College in Lagos where he obtained a teaching certificate. He started work as a teacher at the Government College, in Ibadan, teaching mechanics and applied mathematics.
In a few years, he developed an interest in building and in 1947 went to the Brixton School of Building in London. He later started his own building contracting firm. However, in the 1950s, he was persuaded by his friend, Obafemi Awolowo to join politics and in 1956, he heeded Awolowo's advice and contested and won a seat to the regional House of Assembly, from where he was made regional Minister for Agriculture.
[ Rosalynde Ainslie, Catherine Hoskyns, Ronald Segal. ''Political Africa: A Who's Who of Personalities and Parties'', Frederick A. Praeger, 1961. pp. 71-72.]
Later in his career, he was the African regional representative at the
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
and he was also the pioneer Pro-chancellor of the
Federal University of Technology, Akure
The Federal University of Technology Akure (informally FUT Akure or simply FUTA) is a federal government-owned university located in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. It was founded in 1981 under a drive by the government of Nigeria to create univers ...
. He also served as the Pro Chancellor of
University of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 196 ...
and the
University of Benin.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deko, Akintola
1913 births
1987 deaths
Yoruba politicians
People from Ondo State
Government ministers of Nigeria
Action Group (Nigeria) politicians
National Party of Nigeria politicians
University of Ibadan people
University of Benin (Nigeria) people
Government College, Ibadan alumni