“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.” Winston Churchill
Chief Obafemi Awolowo is widely recognized as a storehouse of wisdom. Awolowo, in my opinion is the best President Nigeria never had.
His wisdom and discernment were special gifts from God. Being an influential nationalists and a political writer whose works touched on nearly every practical area of the nation’s life, Awolowo had a very good way of putting his wisdom to use, and there are so many quotable quotes from his various speeches and public comments.
Here are 10 memorable quotes from Chief Awolowo's
On Books
“Any people that is starved with books especially the right type of books, will suffer intellectual malnutrition, stagnation and atrophy”
On Education
“Any system of education which does not help a man to have a healthy and sound body and alert brain, and balanced and disciplined instinctive urges, is both misconceived and dangerous.”
Address delivered to Ondo House of Assembly (1980)
"We have in our midst about 1,000 rich Nigerians who in the past cleverly rigged the sources of the wealth of our nation, and we are now tactically poised to oligopolise all the munificent avenues of riches that may supervene now and in the future. The rich, and the highly-placed in business, public life, and government, are running a dreadful risk in their callous neglect of the poor and down-trodden."
On Taking Risk
is, I think, enough for me to say that life itself is, from the cradle to the grave, a series of unbroken risks. I make no boast about this, but those who know me intimately will testify to the fact that I have never, at any time, shrunk from taking my full share of the risks which life, with its unending opportunities and vicissitudes, offers.”
On Leadership
"While many men in power and public office are busy carousing in the midst of women of easy virtue and men of
low morals, I, as a few others like me, am busy at my desk thinking about the problems of Nigeria and proffering solutions to them. Only the deep can call to the deep."
On The Minority Groups
"I look forward to the day - not in the far distant future - when an Ijaw would be President of ourRepublic, and a Birom his Vice or vice versa."
Address to 4th OAU Summit in Kinshasa (1967)
"Today, Africa is a continent of Competing Beggar- Nations. We vie with one another for favours from our former colonial masters; and we deliberately fall over one another to invite neo- colonialists to come over to our different territories to preside over our economic fortunes ... Unless a beggar resolutely shakes off, and irrevocably turn his back on, his begging habit, he will forever remain a beggar. For, the more he begs, the more he develops the beggar characteristics of lack of initiative, courage, drive and self-reliance."
University of Ife Convocation (1974)
"Power enslaves: absolute power enslaves absolutely. I have made a diligent search through history, and I have not come across a single instance where a regime, be it military or civilian, which has come to power at its own will, and has wielded that power for many years, has found it easy to extricate itself from the sweet uses and shackles of power, and then hand it to others outside its own hierarchy. It is possible, quite possible, that my search is not exhaustive and so, I stand to be corrected."
Address to the Congregation of the University of Ife (1970)
"If we are in the habit of practising the opposite of what we preach, our admonition will not only lose their force and cogency, but also we ourselves will forfeit every claim to credibility. An ounce of example, it has been widely said, is far better than a ton of precepts."
The Peoples' Republic, 1968.
"It is incontestable that the British not only made Nigeria, but also hand it to us whole on their surrender of power. But the Nigeria, which they handed over to us, had in it the forces of its own disintegration. It is up to contemporary Nigerian leaders to neutralize these forces, preserve the Nigerian inheritance, and make all our people free, forward- looking and prosperous. "
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