IT was a weekend of inspiring lectures and endless networking between students and young professionals across Africa at the first annual African Students For Liberty (ASFL) conference held at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan (UI).
Witnessed by hundreds of students and professionals across different fields, the two-day event, which was held through Friday and Saturday, July 25 and 26, featured thought-provoking lectures on the ideas of a free society and the actions necessary to implement them.
Former member, House of Representatives and former National President, Association of Nigerian Authors, Dr Wale Okediran, spoke on the topic Stranger than Fiction: The Role of Literature in Sustainable Democracy and Good Governance.
Represented by his son, Mr Olumayowa Okediran, the author of Tenants of the House (a fictional account of his tenure in the National Assembly), noted that the literary medium of expression has a wider audience than politics.
“Literature allows you a wider audience than politics, provided the books are well written and read. Whereas, no amount of political statement lasts more than a week, a book can last for a lifetime,” he said.
Citing the Ogunpa flood disaster which occurred in Ibadan many years ago as an example, the writer said the scenario formed the kernel of his novel, After the Flood, while issues like smuggling and cross-border violence featured prominently in The Boys at the Border.
Emphasising the interplay between literature and politics, Okediran noted that creative writers in Africa have played very important roles over the years in the process of governance, both in Africa and globally.
The speakers through their lectures created an atmosphere for a unified and student-driven forum, which was focused on human rights, social, intellectual, individual and economic liberties.
Lawyer and author of The Wonderful Life of Senator Boniface and other Sorry Tales, amongst others, Ayo Sogunro, also spoke extensively on the topic Human Rights and the Fallacy of Democracy: An Examination of the Nigerian Anti-Gay Law.
Addressing the issue of human rights in the democratic context, Sogunro said that every man has a property in his own person, to which nobody has any right to but himself.
“The original social constitutions evolved out of the guarantee of rights through a government. Most current constitutions are arranged to guarantee the existence of governments while rights are a corollary and Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution is a type of the latter day constitutions.
“Notable that under the 1999 Constitution, rights are circumvented with an omnibus clause on public safety and order, the anti-gay law, however, is a direct breach of these rights,” he noted.
Sogunro also added that with the law, there is the misunderstanding of the nature of rights, direct violation of the constitution, democratic repression of minority rights and the legislating morals, culture and religion.
Renowned public speaker and social media activist, Japheth Omojuwa, in his lecture Information and Communications Technology & Liberty as Catalysts for Social Change and Wealth Creation, said that the government has created walls in our heads, and this has made many to have the belief that without the government, they cannot have good education, healthcare or good life.
“Our lives have been negatively conditioned by unsuccessful governments, but we don’t have to live our lives based on their conditionings,” he said.
Omojuwa described ICT as a link to the world.
“Bullets cannot kill a viral campaign; bombs cannot stop the flow of information. The Internet and social media are tools to propagate the ideas of liberty,” he said.
Reacting to the issue of poverty which seems to be bewildering the youths from progressing, he stressed that ICT can be a tool for wealth creation, and with it, poverty will lose its celebrity appeal, while the force of young people without borders will pervade the world.
“The world’s biggest market offers the biggest potential for wealth. It is a free market. Monopolies are dead and there is economic freedom. Your location is irrelevant; you are everywhere anyway.”
Laying emphasis on wealth creation for the youths, he said: “Wealth comes with new desires, new needs and new problems; wealth desires more value creation; jobs exist where value is needed. And those who supply value earn the jobs.”
Honourable Farouk Adamu Aliyu, former member, House of Representatives, also spoke on the Importance of the Rule of Law in the Development of Nigeria.
He said, “It is not only the government that is lawless in Nigeria; you and I are also lawless. For the rule of law to come to play, we must have strong institutions to ensure that.”
Kofi Bentil, Vice President and Policy Analyst, Imani Ghana, on the other hand, charged the students to see themselves as tools for liberty and good governance.
“Our generation has a task to reset the things that are wrong and in doing this, one needs to understand the principles of liberty, because the ultimate pursuit of man is liberty,” he noted.
Other speakers at the event include John Ojurabesa, CEO, Ideation Consults; Alexander McCobin, President, Students for Liberty International; Fred Roeder, Director Young Voices, Germany and Peter Goettler, former Managing Director, Barclays Capital.
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