This year’s Obafemi Awolowo Memorial Lecture will take place this Friday in Ikenne, Ogun State. The theme of this year’s lecture is “Politics as Future-Making: Awolowo and Leadership as Theory of Action.”

According to the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Executive Director, Dr. Olatokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, this year’s theme is particularly significant in light of the pressing need for visionary and ethical leadership across Africa.

The lecture seeks to interrogate and illuminate the enduring relevance of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s political philosophy, particularly his conception of leadership as purposeful, disciplined, and anchored in social transformation. The event will be chaired by elder statesman Chief Emeka Anyaoku, whose lifelong commitment to principled public service mirrors the values the Foundation upholds.

The guest lecturer is distinguished scholar and public intellectual, Wale Adebanwi, Presidential Penn Compact Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, United States. Adebanwi is widely respected for his penetrating scholarship on African politics, governance, and leadership, and is expected to deliver a thought-provoking address that situates Awolowo’s ideas within contemporary debates about statecraft, democratic responsibility, and national development.

The Obafemi Awolowo Memorial Lecture is an annual flagship programme of the Foundation, established to sustain rigorous engagement with the ideas, values, and public policy legacy of the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Over the years, the lecture series has attracted eminent scholars, statesmen, professionals, and members of the public, across the world who are committed to the advancement of democratic governance, social justice, and human development in Nigeria and beyond.