By Gabriel Olawale

lagos—Daughter of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, yesterday raised alarm that Nigeria is toying with fundamental issues capable of destroying a nation.

Obafemi Awolowo

She, however, stressed the need for Nigeria to re-examine its approach to nation building.

Dr. Awolowo-Dosunmu, a former Nigerian Ambassador to the Netherlands, said this yesterday in Lagos at the maiden edition of HID Awolowo Foundation annual lecture.

According to her, it has been proven that to destroy a nation, all it requires is to destroy family structure, education, lower their role models and reference points.

She said the consequences of such action was that there will be no one to teach values to young ones which leads to their inability to make informed choices.

She said: “They will also lose perception of right and wrong. I hope Nigeria is not going in that direction.”

Emphasising the need for Nigerians to focus on building a good character which remain basis for development, the former envoy said “When the ancient Chinese decided to live in peace, they built a Great Wall of China and thought no one could climb it due to its height.

“However, during its first 100 years of existence, the Chinese were invaded three times, and remarkably at every invasion, the enemy had no need of breaking or climbing the wall because each time they bribed the guards and enter through the gate.

“So the Chinese built the wall but forgot to build the characters of the guards, therefore it is time to reason that the building of human character must come before the building of anything else.”

Corroborating her view, Publisher of The Guardian newspaper, Lady Maiden Ibru said that mothers have a major role to play in building good characters even as she expressed worry that government has failed the society.

Ibru said: “Moulding of children character rests in the hands of women and that is their first responsibility. They must not shy away from it because they are busy chasing private business, political career among others. They must realise that what makes up good character are accountability, transparency, honesty, kindness, integrity among others.

Chairman of the occasion, Senator Daisy Danjuma described late Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo as an exemplary wife, mother and entrepreneur noting “she was a consummate political leader, not only by virtue of her being the spouse of the sage, Papa Obafemi Awolowo, but also in her own right.

She said: “The HID Awolowo Foundation fully intends to reflect her multidimensional life as we continue to honour her in the years to come. Today, in response to the prevailing circumstances in Nigeria, we have opted to focus on issues that can also be described as the hallmarks of the legacy jointly left behind by Mama Awolowo and, of course her husband, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who gave her every room to shine in (his own) radiance.”

In her key note address titled: ‘Ethical Politics, peace, development and security in Nigeria: the critical importance of women’s leadership’, former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, said that it’s regrettable that people in government feels that they did not owe society any form of feedback or explanation, “they just want us to trust that they are acting in our public good.