Has Africa Come Of Age? скачать в хорошем качестве

Has Africa Come Of Age?

KEYNOTE SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, THE IMMEDIATE PAST VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE 50TH MURTALA MUHAMMED INTERNATIONAL LECTURE AND LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON THE 12TH OF FEBRUARY, 2026 PROTOCOLS Let me begin by thanking the Murtala Muhammed Foundation for the very great honour done to me to speak today in honour of an undoubted icon and a person whose memory has served not only to propel great ideas on leadership, but also to propel integrity in leadership, General Murtala Muhammed. I remember exactly where I was when the news came that General Murtala Muhammed had been assassinated. I was 18 years old, a first-year student of the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos. I had just stepped out of a constitutional law lecture by the legendary Professor Abiola Ojo when the news struck like a thunderbolt: Murtala Muhammed had been assassinated in broad daylight on his way to work! Gathered everywhere were students listening to the rambling broadcast of the coup leader, Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka, ending with an announcement that had never been heard before in Nigeria's history of coups. A daylight curfew, and I quote him, “has been imposed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.” It was at this time, about 2.30 p.m. In just six months in power, Murtala Muhammed had captured the imagination of the nation through the sheer clarity of his reforms. He purged the civil service to confront corruption and inertia. He probed military governors from the Gowan era at the time. He seized illicitly acquired properties. He cut military privileges and signalled a return to civilian rule. Ten days before his assassination on February 3rd, 1976, he created seven new states, bringing the total number of states to 19, and he initiated the relocation of Nigeria's capital from Lagos to Abuja. Yet it was his declaration that Africa had come of age that immortalised him. The speech that he made 34 days before he was assassinated, that speech echoed through the halls of residence in our university at the time, and many could recite it by heart, especially when he said, and I quote, “Africa has come of age. It is no longer under the orbit of any extra-continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful. The fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or to mar. For too long, we have been kicked around. For too long, we have been treated like adolescents who cannot discern our interests and act accordingly. For too long, it has been presumed that the African needs outside experts to tell him who his friends are, who his enemies are. The time has come when we should make it clear that we can decide for ourselves, that we know our own interests and how to protect those interests, that we are capable of resolving African problems without presumptuous lessons and ideological dangers, which more often than not have no relevance for us, nor for the problem at hand.” When Murtala Muhammed said Africa had come of age, he, of course, wasn't speaking of chronological age. Ghana, the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence, was only 18 years old at the time as an independent nation. He himself was barely 38 years old, so he was speaking of something deeper. ************************************ The official YouTube Channel for Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo, Nigerian Lawyer and Politician who served as the Vice President of Nigeria from the 29th of May 2015 to the 29th of May 2023. Before this, he served as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State from 1999 to 2007. With a background in law and governance, he currently chairs the Climate Action Platform for Africa and serves as a Global Advisor for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. He's also the Guardian of the Timbuktoo Africa Innovation Foundation and Chair of Future Perspectives. Follow Prof. Osinbajo online: Website: www.yemiosinbajo.ng Facebook: Professor Yemi Osinbajo Twitter/X: @ProfOsinbajo Instagram: @ProfOsinbajo LinkedIn: @Prof. Yemi Osinbajo