Alex Enumah in Abuja
The embassies of the Russian Federation, Cuba and Venezuela wednesday celebrated the 100 anniversary of the Russian revolution with a lecture at the University of Abuja.
Heads of Missions of the three embassies in Abuja described the events of the 1917 revolution otherwise known as the ‘Great October’ as a defining moment for the citizens of their countries as well as the entire world, adding that the revolution has succeeded in setting up standards for a new way of living and thinking.
According to them, 100 years after, the events of the 1917 in Russia have continued to have a profound and lasting impact on global politics, ideology and economic debates.
Speaking on the theme: ‘The Role of the Great October Revolution in Global Developments’, Deputy Head of Mission of Russian in Nigeria, Valery Shaposhnikov, noted that the revolution launched a new model of state based on Socialism that within a short period of time, transformed the country.
While Shaposhnikov stated that the revolution’s five-year plan aimed at improving the living conditions of the people, he added that, “social goals that are common place today, include women’s right, social equity, democracy, equal electoral rights of citizens, were planks of the Russian Communist Party platforms long before mainstream western parties took them seriously,†adding that the revolution also equaled social division between the poor and the rich.
The envoy disclosed that Russia as a result of the revolution became a force to be reckoned with globally, just because some people took the risk when they took their destiny in their hands by revolting against the imperialist government of their time.
He told the students that it is possible to achieve any of their dreams and aspirations once they have the courage and pursue them with the required zest.
On their parts, Deputy Head of Cuban Mission in Nigeria, Leydis Bernal Suarez, and her Venezuelan counterpart, Maria Luna Itriago, both stated that real development did not come into their countries until leaders like the late Fidel Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela embraced the philosophy of Lenin.
Similarly, Executive Coordinator of the Association of the Soviet/Russian Universities Alumni in Nigeria ‘Soyuznik’, Jerome Okolo, advised Nigerian leaders to note the creation of pre-revolutionary conditions in the country and respond accordingly to ensure a credible and predictable condition for the sustained rise of living standards the majority of its working people.
“It is with this concern in mind, perhaps, that the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 contains two innovations in our political life-the ‘Fundamental Objectives’ and ‘Directive Principles’. Fundamental objectives are ideals towards which the nation is expected to strive, while Directive Principles express the policies which are expected to be pursued in the efforts of the nation to realise our national ideals,†he said.
