Mahama to attend Awolowo posthumous birthday lecture March 6

As part of activities lined up to mark the 30th anniversary of its establishment, the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, will hold a public lecture on Sunday, March 6 to celebrate the Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s posthumous birthday.

The lecture, which will appraise the key values needed for the advancement of the African continent, will be chaired by former President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, with former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.) as Special Guest of Honour.

According to the Executive Director of the Foundation, Ambassador (Dr.) Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, in a statement on Saturday, the posthumous lecture, entitled, ‘Values for Africa’s Development’, will be delivered by Rt. Reverend (Professor) Adedapo Aoaju, scholar and former Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University.

The event which will be conducted virtually via Zoom (Meeting: ID 851 0178 9100; Passcode: 942711) at 6.00pm, will be anchored by Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Professorial Fellow, United Nations University.

Dr. Awolowo Dosumu explained that while several activities have been planned to celebrate the momentous occasion, the “…aim is to use these events to review our journey so far, in terms of faithfulness to our mission and desired impact, and to reflect on our present realities in order to appropriately prepare for the journey ahead.”

Explaining further on how the foundation has successfully carried on the promoting the legacy of the Sage, the former ambassador to The Netherlands revealed that, “the Foundation has, over the years, guarded its independence, non-partisanship and commitment to the promotion of a socially-edifying interaction between policy and scholarship, most jealously. We are convinced that Chief Awolowo translated from a partisan politician to a universal ideal the moment he departed from this mortal realm.

“The Foundation has sought to actualise its mission-mandate through various outreach programmes including, but not limited to Lectures, Dialogues, Executive Leadership Seminars, Symposia and, more recently, Awo Conversations, designed to provide suitable fora for rational discussion of the ‘great issues of the day’, in order to continue to build upon the ideals that inspired the public and patriotic activities of Chief Awolowo.

Source: This Day