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L-R: Book
Presenter/Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State, Lateef
Ibirogba; Speaker, Governor Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola; Governor Babatunde Raji
Fashola; Commissioner for Information, Oyo State, Prince Gbade Lana and
Chairman of the event/Chairman, MTN, Chief Pascal Dozie, at the public
presentation of a book title: GIANTS OF HISTORY (The Making of our World), at
the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos…yesterday. Photo: Padonu Segun
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Lagos State Commissioner for Information
and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, on Tuesday, April 22,
2014, presented his book to the public at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island,
Lagos.
Titled:
“Giants of History –The Making of Our World,” it is a non-fiction book for readers, writers, journalists,
students, and other research or history-oriented readers. Published by Sage
Publishers in Lagos, it features a profile of 150 “giants” so-called because of
their role in shaping the world mostly for the better, and being pioneers that
left the world way different than they met it.
Daily Newswatch gathered that a few of the giants
profiled are Aristotle, Plato, Marie Curie, The Wright Brothers, Steve Jobs,
Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Nelson Mandela, Babatunde Jose, Madam Tinubu,
Johannes Gutenburg, Usman Danfodio, Deborah Sampson, Mary Seacole, Funmilayo
Ransome Kuti, among many other known and unknown innovative figures of history.
The Lagos State Governor and the Guest of Honour of
the event, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), hinted that there is a leadership
vacuum in the country.
Fashola also added that, “At the heart of this book
presentation lies the leadership question in this country. We must know where
we came from to look whether the pain is severe. If you think there is
leadership question, yes.”
Citing Aregbesola’s comment on leadership, Fashola
noted that, “We wear the shoes whether as governors or not.”
He thanked Ibirogba for taking time to write the book
and adds, “I don’t know how he found time because I am busy with a couple of
publication. I have challenged all the people in the government that they must
enrich the public with their public lives. In a sense, I have stirred the
hornet’s nest. Lateef has joined the club of prolific writers. By the time you
finished reading his work, you will be inspired to do something about the
situation you don’t like. I told my team that this is the right time to be a
leader. Lead, we must whether it is a good time or not.”
In
his keynote address, Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, began
his speech by saying that people should stop calling those in authority “Your Excellency,”
and noted that it is only in Nigeria that people attach importance to that
title.
He
jokingly said that his own heroes were not identified in the book, adding that
“probably, when I sponsor my own book like this, my own heroes would be
unveiled.”
Identifying
the qualities of a giant, he stressed that “great people do not tell the tale
of their greatness” and further said that people who turned out to be great may
not necessarily set out to be great. Very often, they are people who see
challenges in life and rise up to it.”
He
quoted many quotes by William Shakespeare, Martin Luther King Jnr and Charles
de Gaulle, who states that, “Nothing great will be achieved without great men.”
The Osun State helmsman also cited Albert Einstein as
one of the great men who failed several times before they became successful and
recommended the book to the youths because he said it would influence their
lives.
The
author, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba urged everyone to think and create something like
the late Obafemi Awolowo did.
“I have always loved knowing who made what,
who said what, and who first discovered what. I love reading about great
people, and learning how they were able to achieve what they did. What
motivated them, what kept them going against all odds as well as what made them
see light at the end of each tunnel. It was one of those curious moments that I
was inspired to write a book about men and women who have made remarkable
contributions to the emergence of the interesting world we now live in, to
provide an easy reference for anyone with a similar curious spirit,” he said.
Special
guests at the book presentation among others were: Chairman MTN Nigeria
Communications Limited and former Chairman Diamond Bank plc, Mr. Paschal Dozie,
Prof Ralph Akinfeleye of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos,
Managing Director of Sun Newspapers and president of the Nigerian Guild of
Editors, Femi Adeshina and the acting National Legal Adviser of All Progressive
Congress (APC) and former Honourable Commissioner for Environment of Lagos
State Muiz Banire Ph.D.
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