Lola Fabowale is a versatile Nigerian-Canadian intellectual and professional known for her diverse contributions to the fields of social policy analysis, critical essays on political economy and other issues.

An alumnus of the prestigious, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, she has gained recognition for her exceptional research in managerial and administrative sciences, with notable works, including, “An Empirical Analysis of Credit Terms to Entrepreneurs,” “Towards a Multivariate Model of Credit Terms to Female Entrepreneurs,” and “Voluntary Codes: A Viable Alternative To Government Legislation?” Her collaborative efforts, mostly focused on women’s economic empowerment, have also resulted in co-authored papers like “On Loan Turndowns: the Role of Gender” and “Between Women and Canadian Financial Institutions: The Effect of Gender.”

Her dedication to academic excellence earned her the Best Paper Award at the 36th International Conference of Small Business in Vienna, Austria and a nomination for the Best Paper Award at the 37th International Conference of Small Business in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada.

Now, the research analyst and former Programme Development Officer for Southern Africa at Oxfam-Canada seems to have shifted her passion from scholarly to full-blown creative writing career after taking an early retirement from working for the Canadian government.

‘Nostalgia and Tears F’Orile’, her poetry collection, has just been published by Kraftbooks Ltd, Nigeria. The work is the first of a huge volume of poems, short stories and a novel she has been writing with tentative confidence but which has grown over the years.

It shows Fabowale, who, besides her academic writings, regularly contributes articles to newspapers in Nigeria and Canada, as a literary, creative genius.

This is more so, considering that she studied pure and natural sciences at her ordinary school certificate level before travelling to Canada where she pursued management studies in two of the country’s foremost universities all on full scholarships!

She was first at the United World College, Lester B. Pearson in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada where she obtained a Baccalaureate Diploma; and then Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada for a Bachelor’s degree in Administrative and Policy Studies; capping her educational career with an MBA from Carleton University, Ottawa.

The first sign of her literary talent emerged in 1986, when two works she wrote – “Notes to Night” (a poem) and “A Woman Wronged?” (a short story) were published in Shanti — the Trent International Program Newsletter. From then on, there has been no looking back.

Hitherto, however, Fabowale had kept much of the works in her portfolio in the closet, until positive comments and encouragement from friends with whom she had shared them, inspired her to bring them out and publish.

A multilingual writer, proficient in English, French, Spanish and her native Yoruba, which, in fact, provides much of the cultural resource that inspires her, Fabowale’s writings underscore a passion to see her country of birth overcome many of its crippling flaws and weaknesses and climb to be a major player on the world stage which she believes is her destiny.

With her exposure to efficient governance and systems in North America, she is dismayed that Nigeria still crawled in development, despite its enormous human and natural resources.

She is, thus, unsparing of the country’s poor leadership, official corruption among other dysfunctions that have held the country down for so long. But, so does she reminisce and celebrate the richness and beautiful sides of its culture, in particular, Yoruba with memories of her growing up, occasional visits and news she follows about home.

For her, her literary enterprise is more or less an equivalent, an extension and amplification of her erstwhile scholarly and professional concerns.
Nigeria’s progress in all spheres of human endeavour has always been my “fire in the belly”. I am very passionate about the development of my native land-economically, politically, socially as well as spiritually. It pains me to see Nigeria limping rather than flying. And virtually all my writing interventions—creative and non-creative are meant to halt this glaring aberration.

Even so, she still rues about how Nigeria could be helped, if not directly through officialdom, then indirectly via private initiative.

“I would have loved to come home to participate in politics in order to empower women, children and youths. My career choices in Canada especially with Oxfam Canada betray that bent. But then, insecurity in Nigeria has been a put-off, not only for me but for countless Nigerians voting with their feet everyday! So also is the brand of violent politics practised here,” she says.

The government, Fabowale says, must live up to its responsibility under the social contract by not only providing social and physical infrastructure, but also upholding the rule of law and protecting the citizens.

She is optimistic that if these are in place, the people, with their creative talents and boundless energy will thrive with multiplier effect on the national and economic development.

Her words: “Nigerians have always been entrepreneurs —both in social and business enterprises. Those with the right education, skills and tools cannot but thrive. However given the poor investments in the education and health sectors, we are basically shooting ourselves in the foot and wiping out the middle class. The solution is to reverse the current trend. You know Canada and the rest of the West feel no qualms about going into serious debt to prioritize their health and education sectors with a strong sense that a healthy and educated workforce can more than pay back national debts several times over. What is pitiful is that successive Nigerian administrations with few if any exceptions furrow the backs of the masses while officials enjoy state-funded largesse.

“My own approach is to, no matter how small scale, work with like-minded groups and individuals to support initiatives that will empower women and youths to develop artisanal skills that boost employability. We have to stop churning out graduates who are looking for jobs; we need to create a new breed of people who would not only be self-employed but be in a position to employ others. One of my poems in NTF Anni horibbiles vel fertilises (III) notes that Chinese children master impressive manufacturing and designing skills as early as age six. Yet in Nigeria, an engineering graduate may not be privy to such skills until he has first had the fortune of someone hiring him, which, in the current economic climate the country is in, may well be never! We have to shift our focus and start doing things differently, submitted Fabowale.

Writing to Fabowale is healing in a bidirectional form. As self-therapy, it, she says, helps purge the mind of dross of negative thoughts and emotions such as anger, disillusionment and distress one may feel at at happenings and the abject sociopolitical environment.

At the same time, according to her, the process of creativity itself inspires in one a transcendental ecstasy when connected to and drawing from the Muse while seeing her imagination, thoughts and words become reality releases a thrilling effect of satisfaction in the writer.

“But by far is the sense of fulfillment that one is permitted to contribute meaningfully to the improvement of one’s society with the didactic prescriptions one tries to make in telling a story or penning a poem. It will be even better if those responsible for it read, listen and make use of the message,” the budding writer remarks.

Though new on the turf, Fabowale dreams of a fulfilling and long-lasting romance with her writing career. She is inspired by the feats and recognition older, established writers of Nigerian origin such as multiple award-winning poet and Director of Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies, Dr. Nduka Otiono; winner of the 2021 Governor-General’s Award and the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize, Tolu Oloruntoba; novelists – Onyemelukwe-Onubia; and Franscesca Ekwuyasi have gained and continued to attract with their works not only on the Canadian literary scene but also globally.

As a Nigerian, she shares collegiate pride in the accomplishments of these compatriots especially Otiono, who she sees as a mentor alongside George Elliott Clarke, Canada’s 7th Poet Laureate and professor at the Department of English at the University of Toronto. She participates in the East West Learning Network, a platform facilitated by Clarke and that encourages exchanges between Asians and Westerners.

In 2019, Fabowale had had the privilege of leading a nascent African/Blacks/Canadian Writers/Authors Incorporated, an initiative founded by Jose Aggrey and Claudette Russell

Due to increasing family demand and pressure, however, she had, had to relinquish the responsibility. Fabowale says she’s open to having her manuscripts published by interested publishers in Nigeria or overseas that may find them worthy, but preferred publishing in Nigeria due to cultural factor.

“Publishing abroad and at home are more or less the same: high costs of production and dwindling state support for the cultural industries are alarming but global realities. Consequently, many publishers are turning into printing houses that cost-share with authors. So, finding a publisher who will pay you royalties is a dream except for the most established writers. For me, however, the benefits of publishing at home are far greater. Culturally domestic publishers are more accessible. It is more arduous to get overseas publishers to publish your work especially if it is edgy that is perceived as overly critical. However I would not knock the international exposure that publishing abroad brings either.”