Tai Solarin

This book is about the life and times of a Nigerian



education icon, Tai Solarin, written from the



perspective of a very close student who was trained by



him. Tai was unusual and deserves to be celebrated



because he dedicated his entire life to the service of



humanity, starting by building a unique Nigerian



secondary school from scratch with his British wife



without any significant financial investment but robust



physical energy, Spartan self-discipline, and a meteoric



vision. This was in 1956. This school allowed religious



freedom and full development of the human spirit;



motivated the students to become the best they could



be and taught physical and vocational education. The



students worked with the non-teaching staff to build



classrooms, cook, and process food; grow and harvest



crops; manage 24-hr water and electricity supply; bake



bread, raise pigs, poultry and goats for domestic



consumption.



Tai still found time to write pungent newspaper articles



criticizing the government to improve social and



educational services for the underprivileged citizens



and to stop the shameful plunder of public funds for



self-aggrandizement. He was jailed several times for his



efforts. He picked corpses from the roads (innocent



victims of hit-and-run drivers and the destitute) for



proper burial; dressed and lived simply to afford the



funds to educate indigent but otherwise highly cerebral



students.