Celebrating a scholar and statesman: Babafemi Badejo at 70, By Abraham Ameh

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As the intellectual community and policy stakeholders converge to honour Professor Babafemi Badejo, his legacy as a scholar, diplomat, and advocate for Nigeria’s strategic positioning in global affairs continues to resonate. Professor Badejo, on the eve of clocking 70, has been preoccupied with fine-tuning his ideas and thoughts around the UN ECA led discussion on Quadruple Nexus of Peace/Security, Development, Human Rights, and Humanitarianism on efforts to move Africa forward.

Teaching is a noble profession, whose true rewards and deepest satisfactions extend far beyond immediate gratifications and material benefits. This belief is echoed in the popular local saying that a teacher’s rewards are in heaven.

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Professor Babafemi Badejo, a staunch advocate of Utmost Freedom — an idealistic state where the quality of life and access to the best living conditions create a semblance of heaven on earth — may already be enjoying some of his well-deserved heavenly rewards here on earth. His former students from the University of Lagos, where he progressed from a University Council-appointed Graduate Assistant to a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, have come together to organise a symposium that will bring together academia, policymakers and other members of the society to honour a remarkable intellect and statesman, whose beyond the classroom knowledge and legacies have continued to impact their lives.

The symposium in honour of Professor Babafemi A. Badejo at 70 promises to be a landmark event, bringing together distinguished scholars, policymakers, and thought leaders. The symposium, themed, Politics is Interests: Interrogating the Role of Special Interests in Nigeria’s Development, will make for a robust reflection on the Nigeria’s development trajectory, its foreign policy strategies, and the broader implications of national interest.

The event, structured into an opening session and a panel discussion, will be chaired by some eminent personalities in governance and international diplomacy. HE José Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace laureate and president of Timor-Leste, will preside over the opening session, setting the stage for a series of thought-provoking discussions. The keynote address, to be delivered by the celebrant’s teacher, the thorough academic and political theorist, Professor Adele Jinadu, titled, “Politics is Interests: Interrogating the Role of Special Interests in Nigeria’s Development,” will be bringing a critical theoretical base.

A diplomat and accomplished scholar of international repute, Professor Bola Akinterinwa, the president/director-general of the Bolytag Center for International Diplomacy and Strategic Studies (BOCIDASS), and former director-general of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, will delve into “Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and National Interests: The Challenges of Strategic Autonomy,” while Mr Kayode Samuel will explore the intersection of civil society and national interests. Dr Florence Falaye will highlight the legal dimensions in her discourse on “Law and National Interest.”

The panel session, schaired by former Nigerian Foreign Minister, HE Major-General Ike Nwachukwu, will bring to the fore diverse perspectives on Nigeria’s national interests in the global arena. Dr Nicholas Erameh will examine Nigeria’s positioning on the world stage, while Prof. Tunde Babawale will discuss Culture and the Politics of Interests in Nigeria’s National Development. Contributions from Dr. Imam Nojeem Jimoh on Subnational and National Interests: The British-Afghanistan Conundrum and Lessons for Nigeria and Dr. Mike Egboh on the role of civil society will add to the richness of the discussions.

Further discussions will probe the intersections of the private sector, media, and gender issues in national interests, with insights from Ayodele Aderinwale, the executive director of the Africa Leadership Forum (ALF) and chairman of Just Rite Stores. Dr Festus Adedayo, and Dr Adeola Adebajo respectively. Beyond celebrating Professor Badejo’s contributions to academia, diplomacy, and governance, the symposium will also serve as a platform for robust policy engagements on Nigeria’s evolving interests in a dynamic global landscape, especially with a recourse to challenges in West Africa and the ongoing changes led by the change of administration in the United States of America.

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As the intellectual community and policy stakeholders converge to honour Professor Babafemi Badejo, his legacy as a scholar, diplomat, and advocate for Nigeria’s strategic positioning in global affairs continues to resonate. Professor Badejo, on the eve of clocking 70, has been preoccupied with fine-tuning his ideas and thoughts around the UN ECA led discussion on Quadruple Nexus of Peace/Security, Development, Human Rights, and Humanitarianism on efforts to move Africa forward. Badejo has championed the inadequacy of this orientation by pointing out the situational foundation of governance, external dynamics, institutions, and resources, to arrive at the need for the focus to be encompassing by adding these situational foundation concerns to arrive at the Situational Quadruple Nexus (SQN) Analysis.

He has continued to remain vocal on the need to reduce corruption and the theft of national patrimony as part of the larger problem of leadership deficit. The symposium is set to inspire a deeper understanding of national interests and the pathways to a more strategic and autonomous Nigeria in the global order.

May this milestone be filled with continued fulfillments, cherished moments, and the joy of seeing the fruits of a lifetime of dedication, in continued good health, and boundless joy. Happy 70th birthday, Professor!

Abraham Ameh is a special adviser at Yintab Strategy Consults.