Your Excellencies, ladies, and gentlemen. My darling wife, Grace (Yemisi) and I are simply overwhelmed with emotion, overjoyed, and filled with very deep and sincere appreciation, for your being here on this occasion, and for all your heartfelt well wishes.

I am greatly honoured and humbled by the very large and significant presence of leaders from my home country Nigeria, from Africa, and other parts of the world.

I wish to recognise H.E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ably represented by H.E. Kashim Shettima, GCON, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; H.E. General Gowon, GCFR, former Head of State; H.E. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR; H.E. former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, my boss and H.E. former Vice President Namadi Sambo, GCON.

I am enormously honoured and humbled that Excellencies Presidents and Heads of State of African countries have travelled to be here, specially, for this occasion.

I would like to specially appreciate and thank H.E. Samia Suluhu-Hassan, the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, and my dear sister and friend, who gladly agreed to be the Chairperson of this occasion.

I would like to immensely thank H.E. Azali Assoumani, President of the Republic of the Union of Comoros and former Chairperson of the African Union, my dear brother and friend; and H.E. Sahle-Work Zewde, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, my dear big sister and friend; H.E. Faure Gnassingbe, President of the Republic of Togo, my dear brother and friend, represented by the Prime Minister H.E. Victoire Dogbe; and former President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. John Dramami Mahama; for your taking time to all be here today.

What a great honour for Nigeria and Africa. I am also greatly honoured to have here at this event, your Excellencies, the President of the Senate of Nigeria, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Executive Governors, distinguished Senators, members of the House of Representatives, as well as Honourable Ministers from Nigeria and other African countries.

My special thanks go to H.E. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State, for your extraordinary hospitality in welcoming all of us to Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital and the centre of excellence. Thank you very much.

I wish to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation for selecting me to receive this distinguished award.

My special thanks go to Ambassador Dosumu-Awolowo, Executive Director, Obafemi Awolowo Foundation; the Chair of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, former Head of State General H.E. Yakubu Gowon, as well as the Chairman of the Selection Committee, Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership, and H.E. Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, and members of the Technical Committee for the Prize.

My immense gratitude goes to H.E. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who nominated me for the Prize. He was my boss as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and it was my greatest honour to serve Nigeria under him as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

My immense appreciation also goes to several global leaders who supported my nomination, including the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon; Rt. Honourable Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, former United States Ambassador to Vietnam and President Emeritus of the World Food Prize Foundation; Professor Soji Adelaja, Distinguished Professor of Land Policy, Michigan State University, USA; and Professor Patrick Verkooijen, Chief Executive Officer, Global Center on Adaptation.

The conferment of this award today, March 6, 2024, coincides with what would have marked Chief Awolowo’s 115th birthday, and 37 years since his passing.

May Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s soul continue to rest in peace, even as we draw inspiring lessons from his life, policies and philosophy.

I have received several global awards, for which I am very grateful. Receiving the Awolowo Prize for Leadership is particularly very special.

That’s because it brings back so many personal memories.

Growing up in the old Western Region of Nigeria in the 1960s, only one name was synonymous with people-centred development: Awolowo. We lived in the same community as the sage, in Okebola, Ibadan. As a young child, passing by the frontage of his house was a favourite pastime. I remember peering over its low walls, to see if I could just catch a glimpse of the man who transformed the lives of millions in the then Western region. My father was enamoured by Chief Awolowo: he devoured his books, writings and articles. The name ‘Awolowo’ was a constant guidepost for every discussion in our home.

So much was the admiration that when I was 19 years old and Chief Awolowo ran for President under the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in 1979, myself and a close friend desperately wanted to simply catch a glimpse of him. When we arrived at Tafawa Balewa in Lagos, the stands and the grounds were packed to capacity. The gates were locked. But we were absolutely undeterred. We had travelled all the way from Ife and would not be denied. So, we climbed the tall steel gates of the Square. An unbelievable height when I look at it today.

Once we scaled through, we ran up close to the stage where he was speaking from and proudly stood just one arm’s length from him and his dear wife, Mama Hannah Dideolu Awolowo. Just a glimpse was enough. We listened with rapt attention to the exposition of his plans for Nigeria. We were mesmerised.

Like a fragrance his words took our breath away: we could smell hope in the air. Hope that Nigeria will be great. Hope that education will be free at all levels. Hope that there will be health for all. Hope that the remarkable transformation witnessed in the Western region of Nigeria, in education, agriculture, health, and infrastructure, undergirded by a highly professional and disciplined civil service, will soon take hold in Nigeria.

Like the refrains of an orchestra, the sounds of Awo, Awo, filled the air, as our hopes were raised. We could see a new Nigeria. Alas, this was not to be. Nigeria missed its best opportunity to be great under a ‘President’ Awolowo. Chief Emeka Ojukwu, said of him “the best President that Nigeria never had.”

Let me say clearly: Chief Awolowo was bigger than Nigeria. He was the pacesetter and forerunner for development in Africa. His intellectual capacity, vision, and pragmatic social welfarism, helped him accomplish what was seemingly unimaginable at the time.

He built the first skyscraper in Africa – the Cocoa House. He built the first television station in Africa, WNTV. He built the Liberty Stadium, the first of its kind in Africa. He implemented a blueprint for development that focused on building human capacity through massive programmes to educate the people, develop skills, lift people out of poverty, provide massive rural infrastructure, and develop institutions that turned farmers into wealthy entrepreneurs.

I dare say that Chief Awolowo implemented the sustainable development goals decades long before the phrase was coined. He was an inspiration for Africa, far beyond the shores of Nigeria. His philosophy “Awoism” was studied globally and helped shape programmes and policies in other countries.

Today, my lecture is titled: Making a New Nigeria: Welfarist Policies and People-Centered Development.

From my early days, I was influenced by the same drive as Chief Awolowo. I promised myself then that if I ever got into any public position, I would run welfarist and people-centric policies.

My heartbeat has always been about people. Nothing more. Nothing less. My life is only as useful to the extent that it is used of God to do my utmost to transform the lives of people.

Awo inspired me. Decades ago, the perfume of building hope rubbed off on me. It’s a fragrance that still lingers today. So, as I stand before you to receive the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership, I am humbled, inspired and motivated.

I feel a new sense of responsibility. I am reminded today of the words of Martin Luther King Jnr, “History has thrust upon me a responsibility from which I cannot turn away.”
Yes, I have a dream of a better and prosperous Nigeria.
Yes, I have a dream of a globally respected Africa.
Yes, I have a dream that Africa will not be condemned to the bottom rungs of the global economic ladder.

I refuse to accept poverty’s imprint on Africa.
I still believe that Nigeria will rise again.
I still believe that Africa will shine and fulfill destiny.
I still believe that we shall be who we are meant to be.
Today, I accept this Prize as a trustee of hope for millions of our people. You bestow upon me this honour at a momentous period of great global challenges, from rising debt, climate change, fragilities and vulnerabilities.

Your honour is a call to do more amid these challenges. So, I celebrate with measure, as I know with all humility the work of making Nigeria great, and by implication making Africa great, is still in progress. It is my lifelong mission to do all I can to improve the lives of all Africans. The wind of challenges may sometimes shift us away from our destined path, albeit momentarily, but we shall overcome our challenges.

Nigeria must dream. Africa must dream. Yes, we may have challenges, yet all I see tells me we will get there. We must start by unleashing our full potential, while managing our challenges. We must make poverty history in Nigeria. We must make poverty history in Africa.

We must deliver a better Nigeria, and a better Africa, for this generation and generations to come.

Given the high level of poverty in Africa, and Nigeria, what is needed are welfarist policies that exponentially expand opportunities for all, reduce inequalities, and improve the quality of life of people. These must be anchored on public-centric policies and private-sector wealth creation for all.

I would like to focus on five areas. First, rural economic transformation and food security. Second, health care security for all. Third, education for all. Fourth, access to affordable housing for all.

Fifth, government accountability and fiscal decentralisation for a true federalism.

First, Nigeria must completely transform its rural economies to ensure food security for all.

A better Africa must start with the transformation of rural economies. That is because some 70 per cent of the population live there. Rural poverty is extremely high. At the heart of transforming rural economies is agriculture, the main source of livelihoods.

When agriculture moves away from being a way of life to a business, everything changes. Higher incomes and wages from agribusinesses will support education and health, and spur even greater job creation for millions of youths.

To be continued.

Dr Adesina is the President of the African Development Bank Group. Being the speech he delivered as the recipient of the Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership Award 2023, recently.