Soft power has since the past 36 years been an important concept in intellectual, political and even business circles in the West and Asia, but for some reason it has yet to capture the imagination of the Nigerian elite. On the few occasions it has been mentioned in the media, some readers responded to the idea negatively in the belief that it compels the people to become docile or subservient to authority. Though often associated with foreign policy, soft power is needed in heterogeneous societies like ours where centrifugal forces are often at play in the public space, constraining national integration and rapid national economic progress. Threatening personalities or organizations are a turn off. People rather want those with whom they can do business.
Soft power can be described simply as the attractiveness of a country, organization or a people to others in such a powerful way that it causes them to try to imitate the latter without the promise of payment or a threat of punishment. It refers to strong, irresistible charm offensive. Sustained charm offensive is required to create trust and deepen understanding in all human transactions and relations. It promotes the common good.
It is, therefore, heartwarming that the 16-year-old Afe Babalola University in Ado Ekiti, on March 21, 2026, awarded the chairman of the United Nigeria Airlines, Obiora Okonkwo, an honorary doctoral degree at a colorful ceremony to mark its 2026 annual graduation. The day earlier, Okonkwo who trained in economics in Russia where he was an outstanding student up to the doctoral programme and later became a professor at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Anambra State, delivered the 14th convocation lecture in the school premises. All this is, as the university founder put it, “for believing in me, for your love, and respect for me, and, above all, for the extant partnership between your organization, United Nigeria Airline Company Ltd and our 16-year-old wave-making university, ABUA”.
The honour came as the January 2027 general vote, which some barren politicians are framing as a fight to a finish among Nigeria’s three major ethnicities, is fast drawing nearer. It is also significant that on November 7 Okonkwo will receive another doctorate, this time from Veritas University in Abuja for “outstanding contributions to education, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and development of Nigerian society”. Though not confirmed, there are strong indications that John Cardinal Onayikan, former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja and arguably the most influential Catholic prelate in the country, facilitated the honour.
While Nigerian politicians appear not to mind a divided country where each section will be considered a war booty, the Nigerian people seem to strive for a more united nation where things work for the good of all. The motto of Okonkwo’s United Nigeria Airlines is revealing enough: “flying to unite”. Like Air Pace which is West Africa’s largest carrier, United Airlines has played a vital role in the development of Nigeria’s airports and air routes since it commenced operations on February 12, 2021. It is the only carrier that flies into Ado Ekiti airport. The fact that United Airlines flies to Ekiti would seem to point to the state’s economic viability, contrary to the popular notion that the state is viable only in education where it excels in producing professors, many trained at Christ High School.
Much of the credit for Ekiti State’s changing economic fortune goes to Chief Afe Babalola, founder of Afe Babalola University which has been enjoying attention from Times Higher Education (THE) of London, one of the two leading higher education ranking bodies in the world, the other being Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), also of the UK. The university’s medical school meets international standards and serves many Nigerians. Its massive and state-of-the-art farm is rarely comparable to that of any Nigerian university. The university produces most things consumed in the university, including table water, though they are expensive. In other words, ABUAD provides and stimulates employment and business opportunities in Ekiti State. ABUAD’s transformative role should inspire and challenge other successful Nigerians. A country grows fast when its successful citizens and organizations seek to leave a worthy legacy.
At the 2021 graduation of the university where I represented the Anambra State government and my daughter earned a first-class honours degree in electrical and electronics engineering, I was impressed when Chief Babalola turned to me and declared that his goal is to turn his institution into another Stanford University, itself founded by a couple inspired by Harvard’s roaring success. Though Stanford and Harvard have been in fierce competition for the first position in America’s higher education, most Nigerians aren’t aware of Stanford’s robust competitiveness; like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or California Institute of Technology, it is not among the eight Ivy League universities. Many around the world think each Ivy League school is better than others.
To hear Babalola declare Stanford, rather than Yale, Princeton or Columbia, his ideal tertiary institution was a breath of fresh air. Stanford has been leading the University of California at Berkley, Caltech, and the University of Southern California in the ongoing Silicon Valley revolution. With technology investors and professionals leading the new global economy, Stanford can only grow in leaps and bounds.
By delivering the 14th graduation lecture at Afe Babalola University, Obiora Okonkwo has joined such eminent Nigerians as Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese, Dr Akin Adesina who until recently was the chief executive of the African Development Bank, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former military leader Yakubu Gowon, erstwhile Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku and Channels TV founder John Momoh who have given such lectures and were subsequently awarded honorary doctorates. This is a deviation from the current practice in most Nigerian universities which, as Dr Pius Okigbo noted in his famous 1992 graduation lecture at the University of Lagos entitled “Crisis in the Temple”, have been giving such honours to only men and women of power and money rather than people known for intellect and values.
Regarding Okonkwo’s honour by Veritas University, the only Catholic higher institution owned by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, very little need be said except here except to reiterate that Catholic education throughout the world is synonymous with high academic and moral standards. This is consistent with the tradition of the church that pioneered university education in the West, starting with the University of Bologna in Italy in 1088, followed by the University of Paris around 1150, the University of Oxford in 1096 and the University of Montpellier in 1050.
Okonkwo, Afe Babalola University and Veritas University represent soft power. Harvard University political science professor Joseph Nye, who developed the soft power theory, eloquently argued that it was soft power, rather than hard power like military might or force, that enabled the United States to triumph over the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Nye noted that the world admires American universities, politics, America’s commitment to human rights and international peace, America’s sports, music and culture generally, as the world imitates aspects of American life. He later published a book showing how soft facilitates the growth of American businesses like Coca Cola and the CNN and, by extension, the American economy and America’s tremendous power across the globe.
Kudos to Okonkwo, Afe Babalola University, Veritas University for practicing soft power for the benefit of the Nigerian people.
