Uchechukwu Nnaike
As part of efforts to boost teaching, learning and community service and leave a legacy behind, the former head of the Philosophy Department, University of Lagos, Prof Douglas Anele, inaugurated three legacy projects last week.
According to Anele, the refurnishing of the departmental seminar room was facilitated by the Institute for African and Diaspora Studies, UNILAG, through the Director, Prof Olu Falaiye, a colleague in the department.
He said the Olori Francis Meshioye (OFM) Foundation undertook a complete refurnishing of the postgraduate lecture room, while the refurnishing of the head of the department’s office was achieved with the little resources of the department and his funds.
With the renovation, he stated that the department can now boast the best postgraduate lecture room among public universities in the country.
Anele said though his tenure as HOD (August 1, 2019, to July 31, 2022) was marred by COVID-19, a series of strikes and ill-health, he still managed to execute some legacy projects that would serve as a template for his successors to try their best to make sure they leave a legacy project behind.
He expressed satisfaction with the quality of the job done, saying that the furniture could last for over a decade because he ensured that the best was used in line with the tradition of the university.
In his remarks, the foundation’s founder, Olori Francis Meshioye, said the gesture was part of its mission to foster African culture.
He described culture as the only weapon potent enough to guide the younger generation and the country to its much-anticipated greatness.
Meshioye, who expressed concern that the African culture is fast eroding, urged parents to first discover who they are, learn to be hard working and realise that they are responsible for so many things, including imbibing knowledge of their culture, early enough in their children.
“You don’t scold your children because they speak your native language because, it is this local language that gives them the sense of integration and makes them unique,” he explained. “There are things one cannot change through translation but when it is said in the local language, the children would have deep understanding of it.”
He added that sustaining culture as a people would facilitate development and promote unity and inspire inclusiveness.
