Ibadan 4.0: Blueprint from the Past, Invitation to Show Up

 By Tunji Oladejo_ 

 *The 2026 Ibadan Conference carries a long theme on purpose, "Ibadan: Remembering Our Past, Understanding Our Present, Designing Our Future—Towards Ibadan 4.0", in honour of His Imperial Majesty, Oba Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, Arusa I, the 44th Olubadan. This proposal is not merely superficial. Mogaji Professor Abiodun Musa Aibinu—engineer, "AcadoPreneur" and Vice-Chancellor of Summit University, Offa—will give the lead lecture and what he argues is simple and galvanising: Ibadan’s future lies in aligning its old systems with new realities.* 

Historically, Ibadan worked as a coordinated system: Agbo-Ile (compounds), Mogaji and Baale leadership, merit-based governance and city-building from within. Today, the city strains under rapid, uncoordinated growth and unequal development, which has led to challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, increased traffic congestion, and disparities in access to essential services. Professor Aibinu’s Ibadan Integrated Development System (Ibadan 4.0, or "Greater Ibadan") proposes a scaffold for economic transformation, urban renewal, and institutional coordination—tying grassroots structures, CCII’s central coordination, the Olubadans’ cultural legitimacy, and higher institutions as engines of knowledge and innovation into one actionable sequence. He is candid; those institutions cluster too tightly, so the plan is phased, scalable and explicit about spreading benefits across all areas.

Why must you attend? Because this isn’t abstract history; it’s a practical plan grounded in how Ibadan was actually built, pitched by someone who lives between classrooms, boardrooms (10+ companies and organisations), grants and strategy. Come and hear the architect of Ibadan 4.0 makes the case, take on the other speakers, and test the ideas against the Ibadan you know. The city lacks neither people, institutions, nor history. It lacks alignment. This Conference is where that alignment begins—out loud, in the room, with you in it.

Monday, 23 March, 2026

Venue: Bode Amao Hall, Ibadan House, One Aremo, Ibadan

Time: 3.00 pm