Tai Solarin

<p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>This book is about the life and times of a Nigerian </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>education icon Tai Solarin written from the </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>perspective of a very close student who was trained by </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>him. Tai was unusual and deserves to be celebrated </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>because he dedicated his entire life to the service of </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>humanity starting by building a unique Nigerian </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>secondary school from scratch with his British wife </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>without any significant financial investment but robust </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>physical energy Spartan self-discipline and a meteoric </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>vision. This was in 1956. This school allowed religious </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>freedom and full development of the human spirit; </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>motivated the students to become the best they could </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>be and taught physical and vocational education. The </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>students worked with the non-teaching staff to build </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>classrooms cook and process food; grow and harvest </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>crops; manage 24-hr water and electricity supply; bake </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>bread raise pigs poultry and goats for domestic </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>consumption.</p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>Tai still found time to write pungent newspaper articles </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>criticizing the government to improve social and </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>educational services for the underprivileged citizens </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>and to stop the shameful plunder of public funds for </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>self-aggrandizement. He was jailed several times for his</p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>efforts. He picked corpses from the roads (innocent </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>victims of hit-and-run drivers and the destitute) for </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>proper burial; dressed and lived simply to afford the </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>funds to educate indigent but otherwise highly cerebral</p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p>students. </p>