-BY: Yemi Alesh
It was at the first Awo Legacy Lecture that Bashorun Dayo told Nigerian youths to be ready to take positions of power and change the course of events in their generation.
The Awo Legacy Lecture which held on Tuesday, April 15th, at Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan was organized by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, with a view to celebrate the late political icon, Obafemi Awolowo and train youths for leadership. The event, which was chaired by Professor Adamolekun, witnessed the presence of the Executive Director of The Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, Dr. Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu and the Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan, ably represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Professor Adeyinka Aderinto.
Dr. Dosumu gave a wonderful address on the life and legacy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, particularly how the young man from Remo attained his heights in politics in Lagos, opposed colonialism and developed the old Western Region with his free basic education programme. The Executive Director of the Awolowo Foundation encourage the youths in attendance to emulate the courage and confidence of such a man and rise to occasion wherever it is required.
The first legacy lecture titled: “Repositioning the Youth for Leadership in Nigeria” was delivered by Professor Ayandiji Aina, the Vice Chancellor of Caleb University, Nigeria. In his lecture, he addressed the problems associated with the youths in Nigeria in attaining leadership. According to him, “Nigerian Youth is a misunderstood category just like women and the physically challenged”. He asserted that it was the misunderstanding meted out to the younger generation that create the main obstacle to youthful leaderships.
Bashorum Dayo Israel, an aspirant in forthcoming elections and consultant to the British Council and UNICEF neglected his prepared lecture to motivate the youths in attendance with his mind-blowing speech. He narrated his own experience and equally borrowed a leaf from Awolowo’s book to show the place of education in reshaping youths for leadership. The audience became more agitated when he began to mount pressure on youths to step into action. According to him, ” the generation behind us are furious, they don’t care. If we are not careful, they will push us out of the way and leave us behind. So, we also have to push those ahead of us out of the way if we need to”.
Based on the questions they asked and their comments, it was obvious the Nigerian youths at the event were displeased at the various ways the older generation take advantage of them and continue to dominate the country’s political sphere.
