Saint Joseph’s College @ 70 and Building on a Glorious Heritage: Nobilitas, Integritas, and Intellection
Bola A. Akinterinwa
“Building on a Glorious Heritage and Inspiring Generations at 70: the Challenge of Nobilitas and Integritas” was the title of a lecture delivered by Professor Bola A. Akinterinwa of the Achievers University, Owo, on Saturday, 21st March, 2026 at the Saint Joseph’s College (SJC), Ondo City. The lecture was delivered as part of activities organised by the Saint Joseph’s College Old Boys Association (SJCOBA) to mark the 70th Anniversary of the SJC. The 70th Anniversary is particularly of interest nationally and internationally for various reasons.
First, it was more of an anniversary of a ‘reality of life’ in terms of intelligere or being able to understand, discern and chossing between. According to Brother Alvaro Rodriguez Echeverria, s Superior General, the educational philosophy of the SJC was largely predicated on the Lasallian history according to which ‘the first condition for being innovative is to know and to love the reality in which we live with its lights and shadows, its pluses, and minuses. This contact with reality should then lead us to pass on a kind of knowledge that is satisfied with content alone, but which gives priority to the ability to search for meaning.’ More importantly, Brother Echeverria said that ‘we are aware that it is more important to help young people find meaning in their lives than only to fill their heads with ideas. It is more important to have the ability to continue learning than it is only to know a lot of information.’
This philosophy is another way of explaining education as defined by physicist and philosopher Albert Einstein. He said education is not about the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think. This is precisely what education at the SJC was all about in the beginning. If we are to build on any glorious heritage, it is this challenge of how to appreciate reality, develop the ability to search for meaning, and how to have the ability to continue learning that should be addressed.
Secondly, as noted by Prince Henry Akinyele, the Publicity Secretary of the SJCOBA, ‘ the SJC is not just a school, it is a community that moulds young minds into men of integrity, excellence, and service.’ The National President of the SJCOBA, Dr Olusola Akinniyi, corroborated Prince Akinyele’s observation by noting that, ‘seventy years ago, the foundation of SJC was laid with a vision – to nurture and mould character. Over the decades, the institution has remained an exceptional citadel of learning, laying a solid foundation on which great men of national and international repute have been built.’
SJC @ 70 and its Inclement Environment
More importantly, Dr. Akinniyi added that ‘all over the world, these Nobilitas (the name we call ourselves) have been outstanding across generations and continue to contribute meaningfully to society both locally and internationally.’ Dr Akinniyi was quite correct as the six-day anniversary celebrations lent much credence to his submission. First, the various sets were apparently in competition in the determination to assist their alma mater. From the records of contributions to the making of the 70th Anniversary and the refurbishing of the college, the 1965-1969 set of Nobilitas, to which I belong, had the highest contribution. Several individuals in other sets made more impacting financial contributions as well. The 1965-1969 set was represented by Nobilitas Dr. Oladiran Ayodeji, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Nobilitas Chief Folagesin Akinnawo, the CEO of Greenwood Investments Co. Ltd and Proprietor of the Lagos Cambridge School at the Annual General Meeting.
Secondly, and without whiff of doubt, the six-day celebrations were colourful. The first day, Tuesday, March 17, was an opportunity for old boys reunion and to witness an inter-house sports competition, as well as to participate in an ‘asun feast’ in the mania of Ondo people. A platinum jubilee walk, inter-school debate and quiz competition, and an inter-school football match between the SJC and Methodist High School, Okitipupa, took place on the second day. Thursday, March 19 was SJC Day, the day for launching of endowment funds and commissioning of projects. Nobilitas Dr Olusegun Mimiko, former Executive Governor of Ondo State, was there along with some current State Government officials. Friday, March 20, was for medical care: medical outreach team deployment, social evening, free networking, and bonfire. The medical outreach took place at the palace of His Imperial Majesty Oba Kiladejo, Jilo III.
More importantly, Saturday, the 21st March, was the crescendo of all activities. It was the day reserved for the Anniversary Lecture by Nobilitas Bola A. Akinterinwa, Annual General Meeting, and for General Election. Professor Femi Mimiko, a renowned political scientist and former Vice Chancellor, was elected the new SJCOBA President. Nobilitas Akinterinwa’s lecture generated much interest because of its intellection and environmental conditionings which he said were not conducive to the building of SJC heritage.
First, in terms of its intellection, it raises many fundamental questions of heritage that is glorious. What really is this heritage and what makes it glorious? Secondly, how do we sustain the glorious heritage? If we can build on the heritage, can it be done gloriously? Is it really possible to build on SJC’s glorious heritage in contemporary Nigeria? Thirdly, what is an anniversary? An anniversary is one year. A decade anniversary is ten years. A silver jubilee refers to 25 years, while forty years are a ruby jubilee. Golden jubilee is fifty years of age. Sixty years of age is diamond jubilee. 70 and 75 years are referred to as platinum jubilee. The crescendo of these jubilees is centenary.
There is no more jubilee to celebrate in between 70 and 100 years of age, which is the centenary jubilee. Thus, SJC at 70 is a major watershed, particularly in terms of biblical injunction. Platinum jubilee is an end to the first period of human life and the completion and the beginning of a new era. Biblical mathematics has it that ‘7’ symbolises perfection. ‘7’ times 10 symbolises completeness and is equal to fullness of a determined season. In other words, age 70 is the foundation of a new beginning for building a new understanding, a new foundation for building nobility and integrity, and a new time not only for facing new challenges, but also in building a glorious heritage.
As regards the national environmental conditionings of building a glorious heritage, they are very inclement. The polity is fraught with corruption at the level of leadership and followership. Followership is even more problematic than leadership. So is the notion of Gen-Z. How do we inspire a generation that is called Gen-Z? Does Gen-Z mean the last generation because ‘Z’ is the last alphabet? How do we inspire the modern-day generation in a world of changing technology? These questions are raised because the national environmental conditioning in Nigeria is, at best, very inclement, thus making the building of a glorious heritage difficult. It is particularly difficult because there is no apparent governmental preparedness to meaningfully contain societal indiscipline, especially in stamping out corruption.
Today, Nigeria is playing host to certificate craziness. Employers now value certificates more than competence, hence, students seek certificates by hook or crook. Sex for marks has become another issue in many tertiary institutions. Many universities have also bastardised the award of honorary degrees and academic titles. In the past, only people identified as men and women of nobility and integrity were honoured with traditional chieftaincy titles. They were not necessarily rich but they were people well known to have contributed to community development. The story has changed today.
In the pre-independence era, 1960s, and 1970s, university degrees in Nigeria were universally recognised and valued. This implied that people went to universities and the universities also went through their minds. What is the value of university education today in Nigeria bearing in mind that nobility and integrity is now defined by financial wealth rather than by knowledge acquisition? Nigeria has become an arena for title competition, a country where self-given titles and honorary titles are promoted selfishly and with reckless abandon. Honorary doctoral degree holders quarrel when they are not addressed as doctors. Political ambassadors want to be called ambassadors after leaving office, whereas international tradition reserves the usage for career ambassadors even after their retirement.
A fortnight ago, the BOSAN (Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria) ‘issued a stern warning to its members against the growing practice of appropriating undeserved academic titles, describing the trend as an unbridled and burning desire that could attract disciplinary sanctions’ (vide Unini Chioma, “They Are Not Permitted to Use ‘Dr.’ It Is reserved for Holders of Earned Degrees. BOSAN Warns Senior Advocates Against Parading Undeserved Titles,” The Nigeria Lawyer).
As noted in a letter dated March 10, 2026 sent to BOSAN members, Mr Olumide Sofowora, the Secretary to the BOSAN, ‘the secretariat has been inundated with complaints about members prefixing ‘Doctor’ to their names in court and other professional settings after being conferred with honorary doctorate degrees.’ More important, Mr Sofowora drew attention to the guidelines of the National Universities Commission under Item 13 on ‘usage according to which ‘recipients of honorary doctorates are at liberty to use approved nomenclature such as Doctor of Law (honoris Causa), LL.D (h.c.) or D. Litt (h. c.) after their names, but are not permitted to use the title ‘Dr’ before their names, as that prefix is reserved exclusively for holders of earned degrees and medical professionals.’
Government’s Lack of Nobilitas and Integritas
The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing placed an advert in early 1994 asking the public to apply for various categories of low and medium houses. I am one of the applicants for a 3-bedroom detached bungalow to be built in FESTAC. I and my wife took a UTB loan to pay for the required deposit. The houses which were to be built in various parts of Nigeria, were to be allocated in December 1994. In between 1994 and 2026, no house has been built. No refund of deposit has been made. No information is given. Governments that succeeded Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande did not appear to have inherited such housing liability. This is more than 419 robbery or pen robbery. The Government of Nigeria, by conscious collection of deposits from thousands of Nigerians to build houses that it never intended to construct, and caring less about the need to explain why, and why there has not been any refund is an unpardonable crime against the people of Nigeria. It is fraudulent and wicked. It is a manifestation of political chicanery. Government cannot be preaching the sermon of patriotism and nation-building while promoting societal indiscipline. This is one major challenge that cannot but militate against the building on the glorious heritage of the SJC.
It is probably only in Nigeria that the enemies of Government are not only well known but also where the executive arm of government is afraid to deal with them. President Goodluck Jonathan told all Nigerians publicly that there were elements of Boko Haram in his government. Even the Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, has also revealed that ‘the Federal Government knows terrorists’ hideout and that he goes ‘with security operators to negotiate with them’ (theconclave.com) Some countries have also forwarded the names of those funding boko haramism in Nigeria. What is it that the Government has done about the list of funders?
And perhaps most disturbingly, what heritage can there be when the Government is itself an agent of societal indiscipline? What future is there when the Government is not prepared to address societal indiscipline? It is useful to recall the lecture delivered by Chief Olu Falae at the Obafemi Awolowo University in 2012. In the lecture, Chief Falae recalled his letter to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, congratulating him for promulgating the anti-corruption law in 2002, but having reservations on the likelihood of any good future about seriously fighting corruption. The reason is not far-fetched: ‘because the political office holders who were engaged in competitive thievery of public fund in the Government were his own supporters and party men.’ Consequently, in the eyes of Chief Falae, Chief Obasanjo ‘did not have the courage to deal with them and damn the consequences’(Chief Olu Falae, “Nigeria and the Contemporary Challenges of Nation Building,” Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University Guest Lecture Series 2012, p. 3 et s.).
Chief Falae justified his observation thus: the huge difference between the ways corrupt people are treated abroad and our own utter incompetence and tolerance of corruption is brought out in bold relief in the celebrated Ibori case. While the Nigerian judiciary was unable to find Ibori guilty of any of the several charges brought against him, a London Court presented with the same evidence found both him and his collaborators guilty as charged and sentenced them to several years’ imprisonment’ (idem)
What can anyone do if there is no genuine governmental interest in combatting corruption? Chief Falae said that ‘the situation now (in 2012) is that, not only are we unwilling and unable to deal with the monster of corruption but also, that each passing week, we witness new revelations of monumental fraud and stealing of public funds. Corruption is not just monstrous, it is now growing and spreading, and one wonders whether government and the law enforcement agencies can ever develop the commitment and capacity to deal with it.’ Nobility and integrity cannot thrive with Nigeria’s deliberate policy of corruption. However, intellection cannot but thrive regardless of the situation. This is why Chief Olu Falae’s observation should be more thought-provoking.
Societal indiscipline and corruption began in 1967, as revealed in the Political Bureau’s Report in 1987. Until 2012, the societal bane still remained. Since 2012, there has not been any solution. Rather than having a solution, national peace and security is increasingly threatened. Should we build an SJC heritage on this type of societal values? Can the SJC heritage thrive in a fantastically corrupt Nigeria? Whatever is the case, nothing prevents making the SJC completely free from political chicanery and societal indiscipline. On leaving school, students can become agents or ambassadors of SJC in spreading the sermon of goodness worldwide, particularly the sermons of nobility, integrity, intelligere, and dint of hard work which are the pillars on which educational training is given in SJC. This is also why it is still good and ideal to begin to inspire SJC generations at 70.
Nobilitas means nobility and integritas means integrity. Nobility is like an essential commodity but which is not displayed on the book or supermarket shelves for sale. It is a conditionality for national and international recognition and qualification for awards. It is earned. It is a resultant from dint of hard work and perseverance. It is only noble people with integrity that are normally eligible for the award of traditional chieftaincy titles. Traditional chieftaincy titles are not meant for every Dick and Harry. Consequently, to have a jot of nobility and integrity, it requires a lot of self-training, self-discipline, good upbringing, character moulding. It is about good name. It is about life that is completely free from political chicanery, a life of humility, a life of service to one’s community. It is about being educated.
An educated man is not the one with many professorial titles. For me, it is not even about the definition of education as postulated by Albert Einstein, who said that education is not about learning the facts but about training the mind to think. Put differently, an educator or educationist has the responsibility of engaging in more critical thinking to be able to make others to think deeply. I personally love the definition of Archdeacon Yemi Adewakun who posited that an educated man is someone who is able to use his acquired education to promote his community development. Education for development cannot but be the watchword of any educated man.
Without any shadow of gainsaying, SJC provides ‘education for community development.’ SJC is a school that preaches nobility and integrity as an objective to be pursued by every pupil of the school beyond 70 years of existence. Apart from this, 70 years of any human creature is a special landmark. Biblically, it is described as three scores plus ten. It is presented as new beginning which is required to be taken seriously in terms of need for good care for survival. And true enough, Saint Joseph’s College (SJC) at 70 is a major source of sweet inspirations. The sweet inspirations are what should be sustained for the current and yet-to-be-born generations. The tripod on which the inspirations have been built are nobility, integrity, and dint of intellectual hard work. It is on this tripod, we strongly believe, that we can build on a glorious heritage, as well as seek to inspire generations upon generations, but subject to making the environmental conditionings conducive in Nigeria. This is because the glorious heritage of the SJC to be built upon is a constituent of the corrupt environment. It is therefore not surprising that a former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, described Nigeria in 2016 as ‘fantastically corrupt.’ Corruption is particularly eating deep at the level of the academic community.
Nigeria’s new foreign policy direction can be useful in containing corruption because it is about building capacity for self-reliance at all levels of human life: self-reliance at the nuclear family level, immediate community level, Local Government level, State Government level, and Federal Government level. At every tier of government, capacity building for self-reliance can be built socio-culturally, industrialo-militarily, and economico-technologically. Consequently, at the level of the SJC at 70 generation, it means everyone has a role to play beginning at the nuclear family level.
For example, what prevents every nuclear family from engaging in farming activities aimed at self-food sufficiency? Why should Ondo people not be able to have a sector of food productivity for which it will be nationally well known and for which the people can be an exporter? What prevents the Ondo people from acquiring modern technology for the purposes of mechanised farming? What prevents making Ondo State the best educationist centre in Nigeria?
Nothing can prevent it if the challenges of nobility, integrity and intellection are promptly and meaningfully addressed. Many Nigerians truly aspire to be noble and have integrity. However, the challenges of systemic corruption, leadership failures, as well as economic pressures often militate against such aspirations. In Nigeria of today, giving bribe to have a favour has become the normal way of carrying out lawful business which should not be. Inconsistent sanctions against corrupt practices, even when such practices are exposed, necessarily create a new culture of impunity and making it a new normal.
Without any jot of doubt, integrity is now seen as a disadvantage rather than as a virtue to be pursued. It is only in Nigeria that a snake can swallow billions of stolen naira and the snake cannot be made to vomit the ill-gotten money and the snake will just disappear without killing it. When public money is stolen, and a panel of inquiry is set up, it is always the Department of Finance, where the documents to be examined will be gutted by fire. All these cases are not helpful to the making of nobility and integrity for obvious reasons: nobility is decency, honesty, purposefulness, kindness, altruism, and passion.
In general, a man of nobility and integrity cannot but have empathy for people using a
Role playing model to help people understand that whatever they do necessarily impacts on others, and, therefore, they must not engage in actions that have negative effects. Another trait of any noble man of integrity is resilience in making people to always accept any challenge as another opportunity to make progress rather than taking the challenge as an obstacle. For a man of nobility and integrity, there is nothing like failure in his or her own dictionary. It is for him or her permanently a struggle for sustainable advancement. A third trait is self-discipline and self-reliance in doing what is always right over what is easy to do.
And true enough, people prefer to choose what is easy to do than accepting the challenge to do what is right, regardless of opposition. For example, in 1955, Chief Obafemi Awolowo came up with the idea of a free primary education for all in the Western region of Nigeria but there was a stiff opposition, a severe financial constraint, there were teacher shortages, as well as inadequate infrastructure. Chief Awolowo noted all the challenges and considered that the challenges had only a transitory character and therefore forged ahead with his free primary education policy. Today, the Yoruba people of the Southwest Nigeria owe their early exposure to western education partly to this policy.
As a matter of fact, the Bible has it that if you know that something is good to be done, and you refuse to do it, it is an offence (Vide James 4:17). A man of nobility and integrity must therefore seek to do what is right at all times. However, seeking to do what is right always is not as easy as we say. It first requires having the capacity to differentiate between what is good from what is bad. At times, one may unconsciously engage in what is bad. The Bible also told us in the book of Psalms 19: 12 how King David asked ‘who can understand his error?’ King David did not know that one can still understand his or her error. That is why, in the subsequent verses from verse 13, he turned unto the Lord for assistance by singing ‘let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my hearts be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord.’
The implication of this is that, a noble man of integrity must also be religious and have the fear of God in order to be able to mentor others. The fear of God is not only the beginning of wisdom, but particularly also a major dynamic of how to become a man of God, a man of nobility, and a man of integrity.
Nobility and integrity is thrown into the dustbin of history by legislating against allegations of certificate forgery to invalidate the election of politicians. Many struggling men want to be noble but nobility must be earned. Integrity is about determination and self-discipline. It is about moral re-orientation and cultivating good manners. It is not only about self-guidance but about guiding one’s family and the entire community. It is essentially about promoting positive role models and being a source of inspirations. Consequently, in building nobility and integrity, one must learn how to be consistent in thought and action, ensuring that one’s actions are always consistent with what one believes in and preaching. Honesty of purpose must remain the watchword. Self-arrogance must be jettisoned. Decision to be noble in life and be a man of integrity must be taken before working towards it. The glorious heritage of SJC, nobility, integrity, and appreciating reality of life can thrive and be sustainable if the environment is made conducive. In fact, the environment of learning must be free from chicanery and mental enslavement. Indiscipline and institutional corruption must be fought tooth and nail and brought to its knees. Teachers and lecturers with forged certificates must be identified and done away with. The spirit of strategic autonomy should be imbibed by everyone as self-reliance has become the new governance direction of the Government of Nigeria.
