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Author of Nigeria’s National Pledge, Prof. Felicia Adedoyin dies at 83

The author of Nigeria’s National Pledge, Professor Felicia Adebola Adedoyin, has died after a brief illness.

She died on Saturday, 1st of May, 2021, according to Inside Oyo.

Prof. Adedoyin wrote the National Pledge in 1976 when she lectured at the University of Lagos and was a consultant with the United Nations.

She was inspired to write the pledge following questions by her children who had been used to reciting the Oath of Allegiance while in school in New York, and the State Pledge in Achimota School, Ghana.

Prof. Adedoyin published the Pledge in the Daily Times in July 15, 1976, in an article titled “Loyalty to the Nation, Pledge’”.

It was shown to the then Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who modified it and introduced it to the country during the formal launch of the Universal Free Primary Education (UPE) and decreed that all school children recite the National Pledge during assembly.

In 2005, Prof Adedoyin was given a national award, the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).

She was in the care of her children when she passed away, and surrounded by loved ones.

Former Vice Chairman Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Otunba Eddie Aderinokun is dead.

Former Vice Chairman Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Otunba Eddie Aderinokun is dead.He passed on January 3 at 80, following a brief illness.

A statement by his brother Chief Kayode Aderinokun reads:”With great sadness, but with submission to the will of God, we announce the passing on to glory of our beloved Father, Grandfather, Husband, Brother, Otunba Eddie, Olayiwola Aderinokun on the 3rd of January 2021, following a brief illness.

Funeral arrangements will be announced by the Family.”

Until his death, the late Aderinokun, a journalist and sports enthusiast was a major benefactor of ANA Lagos chapter.

He founded The Clusters, a pop group in Lagos in the late sixties and featured great talents such as Berkeley Jones (guitarist), Tony Amadi, Linus Okechi and Jibade Thomas. Aderinokun was an enigmatic and resourceful patron of the Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA) and its projects.