• Friday, March 29, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Immortalising black achievements will boost leadership skills – US consulate

Immortalising black achievements will boost leadership skills – US consulate
Russell Brooks, Public Affairs Officer, United States Consulate-General, Lagos, on Tuesday said that sensitising the public on the past achievements of black people would encourage youths to become better leaders.
Brooks made the assertion at the second series of the Black History Month at the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos.
The event which began on Tuesday will end on March 7.
He said there was the need to make people to be aware of the many contributions that people of African descent had made to humanity.
“Some people are not aware, while some tend to diminish these facts.
Therefore, Black History Month is an opportunity to highlight these things and sensitise people to what has actually taken place.
“I suspect that if I go into some schools in Nigeria, I will find some students that are not aware of some of the great African civilisations that existed before the colonial era.
“Therefore, celebrating the black month is an opportunity to highlight these things and encourage the future generation,’’ he said.
Brooks urged Nigerian schools to begin to celebrate black history, have books about black history as well as acquaint teachers with the knowledge of black history.
“All these things are necessary to pass along our accurate story to our young people. This will give them a sense of pride on what has been accomplished before, and they will be inspired to accomplish even greater things in the future,’’ Brooks said.
Folashade Ogunshola, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development Services, University of Lagos, said that celebrating the achievements of black people will give the younger generation black role models to emulate.
“Talking about black achievement is important so that when the stories are written, young people will have role models from any part of the world.
“We must look back at what we have done and talk about them because if we do not learn to tell our own stories, someone else will do it to their own advantage.
“We must recognise that we have done a lot, and look back because if we do not know where we are coming from, how would we know where we are going,’’ she said.
Ogunshola said that slaves during the slave trade era were still able to achieve much in spite of the unfavourable conditions of the environment they were exposed to.
“We really do not have any excuse not to make as much impact because the situation is not as bad for us as it was for them. There is no situation in which we cannot excel; that is one of the messages in celebrating the black month,’’ she said.
Obi Iwuagwu, deputy director, IADS, University of Lagos, said immortalising black heroes would help to sharpen the path of the future generation.
“The young generation should know about the sacrifices of the older generation so that they will be encouraged and know what is required of them.
“People like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello among others, all sacrificed for the development of this country.
“It is, therefore, expedient for the youths to learn about the sacrifices of the giants of the past so that they will be encouraged to do more for themselves,’’ Iwuagwu said.