Communiqué issued at the end of the special Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Dialogue in celebration of the Obafemi Awolowo centennial organised in collaboration with Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, held between 21st and 22nd JULY, 2009 at Oduduwa Hall.
At the end of the Dialogue, the participants submitted as follows:
- Chief Obafemi Awolowo is indisputably one of the greatest leaders that ever lived.
- His legacies remain unparalleled in the fields of education, health, agriculture, infrastructural development and virtually all other spheres of human development.
- Chief Awolowo’s diagnoses of Nigeria’s problems remain very germane to solving the multifarious and critical problems plaguing the Nigerian state.
- Given Nigeria’s immense human and natural resources, if we are ready to move Nigeria forward positively, we have all it takes to do so, including free education as established by Chief Awolowo.
- The youth have a pivotal and strategic role to play if Nigeria is to make meaningful progress. In this regard, the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Centre for Leadership is enjoined to design a programme to enhance the leadership capabilities of the youth.
- The conduct of free and fair elections and the display of absolute integrity by Nigerian leaders are prerequisites for sustainable democracy and national development.
- The principles and practice of true federalism must be strictly adhered to by the Nigerian state if the country is to remain as one indivisible entity.
- All Nigerians should go back and recapture the essence of the visions and legacies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. With respect to the youth, Nigerian schools should mount general studies courses which elucidate the philosophy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation should undertake a mass sensitisation of the youth to the spirit and fundamental ideals of Awo.
- Finally, the youth should dedicate themselves to the salvation of the country by adopting self-discipline and an attitude that accepts and affirms that they can and will carry out the necessary transformation.
Professor Yisa K. Yusuf
Dean, Faculty of Arts, O.A.U., &
Co-Chair, Awolowo Centennial Dialogue Committee
22nd July, 2009
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