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WELCOME ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DR O. AWOLOWO DOSUMU, AT THE 2014 OBAFEMI AWOLOWO MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM HELD ON TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2014 AT NECA HOUSE, ALAUSA, IKEJA

PROTOCOLS

The topic of today’s symposium was partly taken from the famous poem by Robert Frost titled, ‘The Road Not Taken’. Permit me, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, to pause for a moment to quote a portion of this poem.

‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.’

For the literary gurus in our midst,ironic as this poem is, it is also a poem infused with the anticipation of remorse. Even as he makes a choice the speaker knows that he will second-guess himself somewhere down the line (just as we appear to be doing today in Nigeria)—or at the very least he will wonder at what is irrevocably lost: the impossible, unknowable Other Path.

Chief ỌbafẹmiAwolọwọ, we all agree, devoted his entire life to working for the best interests of Nigeria and Nigerians. He applied all his time and considerable talents to thinking through how tomanage our diversity even as we worked towards our desired goal of development.

He committed to writing his thoughts on how best to administer this country, to ensure justice and equity between her various peoples and among individual Nigerians, regardless of means or status.

Contrary to the opinion of his opponents, he remained a firm believer in one united, indivisible Nigeria. For him, our strength lies in our size and we would forget that fact at our own peril.However, he was also convinced that recognition and due regard for one another’s rights and dignity would ultimately be the bedrock of our stability.

Unfortunately, however, Awo’s prescriptions in this regard have been largely set aside, conceivably for political reasons. The result is decades of mutual irritation and mistrust which have today reached an all-time high.

The question now is, can wecontinue on the same path and expect to arrive at a different destination? No doubt about it, this is decision time. And to those that deny the need for dialogue in search of the way forward let me say, ‘in any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing’.

Fortunately, Nigeria is being offered another opportunity, through the national conference being proposed by the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, to fashiona more stable polity and an enduring future for her peoples. We at the Foundation believe that there is no better time than now to revisit Chief Awolọwọ’s thoughts on several constitutional issues including, and especially, federalism and resource control.

The ỌbafẹmiAwolọwọ Foundation has decided to host this symposium to offer all Nigerians an opportunity to reconsider ‘the Awo road not taken’, to find a way to review previous decisions, and ameliorate their consequences thereby.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, let us ‘listen’ to Chief Awolowo as I quote, yet again, from the foreword to his book, ‘Thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution’, written in 1966: ‘I have written this book for two reasons. Firstly, I am not sure if I shall be in a position to participate in the deliberations of the proposed constituent assembly, or to address public gatherings with a view to educating our people on the issues involved, before a referendum is conducted on a new constitution. Having played a leading role in the work of constitution-making in Nigeria since 1949, I feel strongly that I owe it as a duty to our people to avail them of the benefit of my views. Secondly, …..a comprehensive restatement of the case for and against federalism or unitarism, appears to me to be called for.

…I sincerely hope that those who read the views and proposals expressed and made in this book will consider and assess them with the same constructive objectivity as I have tried to adopt in presenting them.’

There is no denying the fact that on our road to nationhood, challengesare inevitable. But we must also remember that being defeated by those challenges is optional.

Let us not be like Alice in the following quote from the famous book, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll: “Alice came to a fork in the road.‘Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat. 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.”

As the nation stands at another threshold of history, may our choices reflect our hopes, not our fears.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I wish all of us fruitful deliberations and I thank you for your attention.

Dr O. Awolọwọ Dosumu

March 4, 2014