Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo

Winner of the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership Award 2014, former president of South Africa, Mr Thabo Mbeki, on Friday, said the African continent needs game-changers like the sage in their millions, to achieve greatness.

In his award lecture at the event in Lagos, he noted that “Awo is a role model for a progressive change in Africa. The progressive change we need requires a change-agent. We need Awolowo of our time.”

Describing Awolowo as a leading light in the continent’s liberation struggles, the awardee stressed the need for Africans to again nurture the kind of leadership that would inspire billions of Africans to act in unity and engage in the fundamental process of enhancing their dignity.

 According to him, Chief Awolowo and other nationalists served as role models for generations, because they remained principled fighters for genuine independence of Africa.

He, however, noted that one of the ways the sage’s legacy could be sustained would be to compile  profiles of  African leaders and make them available in the universities to enable future African leaders learn from the attributes of those leaders.

‘History will determine whether we truly honour the legacy of Awo by assessing those programmes he made to nurture new generations of Awo,” he said.

President Goodluck Jonathan, at the event, said Awo remained an eternal leadership icon, just as he praised Mbeki as a worthy awardee.

Represented by his Chief of Staff, Brigadier-General Jones Arogbofa (rtd), the special guest of honour asked politicians to emulate the iconic Awo.

“Awo was many things, a lawyer, teacher, author and philosopher. But it was as an astute politician that he made his name. Politics was where his recognition came from. On Awo’s foresight in infrastructure development, today’s practitioners must ask questions on how Awo developed uncanny ability to build so much with so little,” he noted.

Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, also described Chief Awolowo as a man of great ideas and landmark achievements, saying that the first Premier of the old Western Region possessed capabilities to implement his visions and ideas, which quality leadership was all about.

Abubakar was the chairman of the second Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership Award 2014.

According to the former Head of State, it was of a great delight that the award instituted in honour by the sage by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation was won by the former South African president, Mr Mbeki, whom he described as no less a man of recognition.

“As we are aware, the award is won by a man of recognition. Mbeki ably stepped into the shoes of the former South African president, Nelson Mandela, the African iconic leader,” he said. 

Also speaking at the event, the former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku said that the selection committee was unanimous on the choice of the awardee, Mr Mbeki.

According to him, the awardee had demonstrated quality leadership that equally attracted both local and international attention while also deploying such to the benefit of his people like the sage, Chief Awolowo did.

He said that such leadership quality included consistency, personal discipline, respect for the rule of law as well as respect for the people and their cultural differences, among others.

Anyaoku, who said leadership was about proficient management, visions and ideas, declared that, “we identified Mbeki as a worthy beneficiary and recipient of the award.”

The Executive Director of Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, Dr Awolowo Dosumu, at the event, noted that the recipient truly earned the Foundation’s Prize for Leadership Award 2014 which was bestowed on him.

Awolowo Dosumu said Mbeki earned the award for several reasons as laid down by the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in whose honour the award was instituted and also according to guidelines set by the organisers.

“He was born into a family that not only believed in great ideals but was also willing to make huge personal sacrifices in defence of those ideals. Not content with merely being an heir of such a ‘goodly’ heritage, he displayed rare commitment by becoming actively involved in anti- apartheid struggle from the age of 14. He subsequently played the role of catalyst in globalising the message until victory was won,” she said.