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 peopl ...

. 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. The scheme was partly initiated to arrest a tide in the movement of young men and women to the

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

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 ...

, Nigeria by an Idanre parent. He attended St Peters,

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

, 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 Yaba Higher College was founded in 1932 in Yaba, now a suburb of Lagos in Nigeria to provide tertiary education to Africans, mostly in vocational subjects and teaching. The college staff were transferred to start the University of Ibadan in 1948 ...

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 Ros de Lanerolle (22 January 1932 – 23 September 1993),Haward, Pat, "Jennifer Rosalynde de Lanerolle 1932–1993" (obituary), ''History Workshop Journal'' (1994), 37 (1):261–266, Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/hwj/37.1.261. also known ...

, 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 19 ...

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