OBAFEMI AWOLOWO FOUNDATION
15 LANRE AWOLOKUN ROAD
GBAGADA PHASE II
LAGOS
E-mail: centenary@awolowofoundation.org

February 27, 2012

2012 AWO MEMORIAL LECTURE HOLDS ON MARCH 9

The 2012 Awo Memorial Lecture an annual event organized by the Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ Foundation will hold on March 9 at NECA House, Alausa, Ikeja. The guest lecturer is Prof. Toyin Falola; a distinguished Professor of African History at the University of Texas, Austin as well as the author and editor of over 100 books including; Awolọwọ: The End of an Era? The World class academic will speak on the topic; Power Politics or Welfare Politics?: Chief Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ in the History of African Nationalist Political Thought. The Chairman of the occasion is Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former governor of Kaduna state and former presidential candidate on the platform of the People’s Redemption Party. Royal Fathers and Eminent Nigerians from the nation’s geo-political zones will grace the occasion as Royal Fathers of the day and Special Guests, respectively.

The memorial has evolved and is billed as a key intellectual event in which a distinguished scholar reflects on an aspect of the legacy of the late sage with a view to providing a redemptive road map for a nation groping for direction and fresh vistas. This is in keeping with the Foundation’s mandate to generate ideas that will both jumpstart and propel national political and economic development. In this light, Prof. Falola’s examination of power politics and welfare politics is expected to yield clues for transformative initiatives for a nation bedeviled with the crisis of nationalities, the elusive arithmetic of petroleum subsidy as well as a crisis of governance. The memorial is expected to attract a wide array of eminent citizens, scholars, policy makers and politicians.

An interesting and novel aspect of this year’s memorial is the commencement and flag-off of The Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ Leadership Prize which is designed to recognize excellence in leadership and good governance and was derived from one of the major recommendations of the Foundation’s Special Dialogue entitled Transformational Leadership and Good Governance: Lessons from the Awolọwọ example which was held at Ikẹnnẹ in July 2011. The Awolọwọ Prize which will be awarded to an outstanding and exemplary leader every two years consists of a medal, a certificate and a plaque; the selection of the awardee will be made by a panel of eminent Nigerians who themselves are distinguished in character and achievements and will provide a benchmark against which genuine and earned national awards can be measured. The announcement of the awardee will be made a few months before the March 6 birthday of the late sage in any year in which an award is being announced.

The general public is hereby invited.

Dr Ọlatokunbọ Awolọwọ Dosumu
Executive Director