News of the Socialist Library and Archives (SOLAR) project // Nigerian Heritage Digitisation Programme

The French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA), using The Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects (FSPI) awarded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is funding a project entitled “Protecting Political activists archives to write another history of Nigeria”. This project, which is a component of the 'Nigerian Heritage Digitisation Programme', aims at digitising important and imperilled archival holdings of Nigeria’s radical and prodemocracy activists to increase accessibility to these materials as well as to preserve them for posterity.

On the 18th of October, a team consisting of Dr. Saeed Husaini of CDD,  Mr. Sola Babalola of IFRA-Nigeria, and Mr. Joseph Ayodokun FSPI project manager visited Baba Omojola's family house to conduct an onsite assessment of the archives.

Baba Omojola was a Nigerian pro-democracy, socialist activist and intellectual who died in 2013. He was a foremost opponent of military rule and gained prominence organizing across various radical collectives to build a united front in support of the transition to democracy. He had previously also been one of the foremost organizers in support of African liberation movements and anti-apartheid struggles in Nigeria. In addition to serving as a political adviser to notable radical leaders such as Aminu Kano and Micheal Imoudu, he later became a key advocate for a new constitution for Nigeria aiming to empower Nigeria's various ethnic groups.