By: Femi-Adenyi Joshua

Uyi and Rachel Lawani Foundation on Thursday, 21st August 2024, held its second annual lecture series at the University of Ibadan.

The lecture which held at the Lady Bank Anthony Hall, Institute of African Studies, commenced with a film screening about the visionary African leader, Thomas Sankara.

The documentary explored life, personality, political ideology, entry into leadership and eventual assassination of the former Burkina Faso leader.

The keynote Speaker, Dr. Malcolm Fabiyi, noted that sustainable movements do not exist in Nigeria.

“We need to understand the how and why movements are sustainable,” Dr. Fabiyi said.

Dr. Fabiyi stated that the reason why sustainable movements did not exist in Nigeria was because the ideology in Nigeria lacked originality.

He blamed what he termed ‘xenocentricism and cultural assonance’ as reasons for the lack of originality.

Contrasting Nigerian campus confraternities against Black American sororities, Dr. Fabiyi explained that movements in Nigeria had neo-colonialist mindsets and were disconnected from the society where they are based.

Dr. Fabiyi went ahead to enumerate factors that could make a movement successful. He stated that for movements to be successful and sustainable, the movements must essentially; have strategic planning, have clear goals and be non-violent.

He furthermore stated that movements must also take into account the social context of where they are based and must be organic, while using the performance of Labor party in Nigeria’s last general elections as a specimen following a case study.