All is set for the hosting of the first edition of the Dipo Famakinwa Colloquium being organized by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, in conjunction with the Yoruba Academy and Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) on Friday, April 20, 2018.
Famakinwa, the pioneer Director General of DAWN Commission, died last year at the age of 49 after serving the commission for four years.
Friday’s colloquium, aimed at up-scaling the call for restructuring of Nigeria, will hold at the House of Chiefs building, Oyo State secretariat, Ibadan at 10am.
Themed: “Restructuring: ending the talk and starting the walk,” the biennial event serves to immortalise the memory, vision and ideals of Mr. Famakinwa.
A statement signed by the Executive Director, Yoruba Academy, Dr. Ade Adeagbo, on behalf of the institutions organising the event, said the event will highlight the values and ideals which Famakinwa lived and died for and nudge Nigerians to seek local solutions to national challenges.
It said: “It is important we immortalise him through his ideals targeted at developing our people and space, because Dipo was successful in his private enterprise and he could have stayed privately to enjoy his labour. But he literally abandoned his business and threw himself into a cause to engender good governance in Nigeria.
“This is the lesson we are hoping people learn from Mr. Famakinwa’s lifetime. Nobody will develop our country for us if we don’t. We must be active participants in the development processes.”
Adeagbo said the restructuring aims at making the restructuring agenda an engaging and ongoing conversation owned by the masses, since the political elites are only interested in making political gains out of it.
Credit: newspeakonline.com
