Thirty years after Awo’s death, youths from different groups and movements across the country, have advocated the establishment of Obafemi Awolowo School of leadership to reinvent Awo’s values and ideals.
They averred that the challenge of quality leadership had been a major setback to the wheel of progress of the country.
The youths stated this on Thursday at the maiden edition of “Awo Conversation”, as part of activities marking the 30th years of the demise of the former Premier of the Western Region, held at the Efunyela Hall, Obafemi Awolowo residence, Ikenne.
This event was organised by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation to expand the horizon of the younger generation on the ideals and virtues of Awolowo for their individual development in the interest of the nation.
Welcoming the participants, the Executive Director of the Foundation, Dr. Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, said the discourse became imperative so that the nation youths must imbibe and embrace the virtues and ideals of Awolowo.
She explained that the idea was conceived based on the feedback the Foundation had been receiving from members of public after the 2017 Obafemi Awolowo Foundation lecture, held in March, as the way out of the challenge.
He stressed the need for youths to do things differently and appreciate the landmarks already established by her late father.
Awolowo Dosumu said the forum would afford the youths opportunities to ask questions about Papa Awolowo.
She said: “We want the legacies that he left behind, that belongs to all of us be imbibed. We are not doing it just to call attention to him. I do believe that if we do not keep talking of the legacies they might fade away.
The call for the establishment of Awo School of Leadership is a brilliant idea. There are so many ways by which that kind of concept could be moved forward. We have been thinking about it at the Foundation at the Centre for Leadership Studies. We have a programme in place and this one is vital and very important. It is the maiden edition and we are going to have it more regularly”
Representatives of different youth groups such as the Arewa Youths Forum; Ohaneze; Students leadership of the University of Ibadan; Yoruba Youth Council of Nigeria; Yoruba Youth Worldwide; Ikenne Youth Council of Nigeria were those in attendance at the meeting.
The lead discussant, eminent Professor of History, Banji Akintoye, provided an insight into the personality of the Sage and those things he was able to achieve as a young man.
Akintoye said Awolowo lived in “flesh and blood” by dispelling the notion that he occupied a mythical, inaccessible space.
He noted that the country is being confronted with mirage of challenges because the people have rejected the wisdom of Awo.
The don advised the youths to think big things and do big things in their youthful age.
“Awolowo loved his people. He lived for his people. He was a human being. He did a lot of great things for our people.
“Why can’t you begin to do big things now that you are in your 30s? You can achieve as well because he had showed you how to do it,” Professor Akintoye noted.
On Nigeria, Akintoye submitted that the country could break up if not restructured saying “Nigeria should not have come to this position where ethnic groups lord it over others.
“We are not a conquered people. We say this now because we have ignored what Awo saw clearly at 39 in the year 1947. The Federal Government is meant to be a coordinator, not a controller. A controlling Federal Government is a recipe for danger.”
In his own account on the man, Awo, renowned poet, Odia Ofeimun, described Awolowo as a man of ideas, one who was an advocate of true federalism.
He said that Awolowo believed in changing the society without minding the societal structure.
Ofeimun was of the opinion that the country would not split despite agitations from a section of the country, maintaining that the people of Nigeria share a strong bond and affinity.
He said further: “If Nigerians could honestly find out about their history, they would discover the bond of unity and similarity among them and none would sincerely wish for a break.”
One of the disciples of the Sage, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, in his contribution, told the youths that all the programmes of Awolowo were backed with philosophies.
Adebanjo said: “The free education programme of Awolowo was to ensure a free and egalitarian society, where everybody is equal. It was in this line that free healthcare policy and rural integration were conceived to ensure the people were developed.”
The Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Michael Adeyemo, who was represented by Hon. Joseph Oyebanji, called for the establishment of Awo Radio Station, where all that he stood for in his lifetime would be continued to be propagated, especially to the youths.
Personalities at the event include Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe, Senator Anthony Adefuye, among others.
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