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Remi Babalola: One of Nigeria’s Most Principled Finance Ministers with the Rare Courage to Resign When It Matters
In the Southwest, we have a proverb that says “Ìwà rere lẹ̀ṣọ́ ènìyàn” — good character is a person’s jewel; it is what truly adorns a man. We say it so often it has become almost decorative. But every generation or so, a man comes along and actually wears it — out loud, at cost, without apology. Remi Babalola was born in this same Southwest soil many of us call home. He walked the same kind of streets, sat in the same kind of classrooms, and carried the same kind of ambition.
Then he became a minister — and resigned when they silenced him. As our people say, “Moja mosa la fi n mo akinkanju loju ogun” (true bravery is known by the wisdom in knowing when to retreat from the war front and when to intensify the battle). He became chairman of First Bank — and resigned when corruption blocked him. He built a hospital for the poor and quietly tried to remove his own name from it.
What he did with the life this soil gave him is why his story is not just inspiring but a masterclass in something Nigeria desperately needs more of: a man who wore his jewel (Ìwà rere) and refused to trade it for anything.
Read more about him here: bit.ly/Remibabalola
