The Lecture commenced with the attendees singing the Nigerian Anthem,the ABUAD Anthem and United States Anthem. The Welcome address was by Prof Ajisafe, The Vice Chancellor, ABUAD.
Quick facts about ABUAD -All 37 courses offered in ABUAD are accredited, ABUAD has the best law program in West Africa, Forty percent of the equipment ABUAD Engineering College are not available in any other university
PROF CYNTHIA JACKSON-HAMMOND is the President CSU, Ohio USA. CSU is 127 year old est 1887. She is the first female president(which is the equivalent of Vice Chancellor, a title they adopted in 1947). In July 2012 she competed with fifty candidates to emerge the President,CSU.
Her speech
During her lecture titled “The Spirit of One”. She called Aare Afe Babalola “Amazing” and addressed him as “Your Majesty”. She called him her hero. She stated that she is taking notes of what she has to do at Central State University,Ohio. She believes that she and The Founder share similar visions. At CSU Prof Cynthia Jackson-Hammond is the mother in charge, a personal parental role that she has taken up. She was accompanied to ABUAD by Dr Abraham, Dr Stephanie Crow,Dr James Hammond (Her husband). She said during her lecture that doing the right thing at the right time gets you the right result. She believes that to attain the spirit of One” we all need an inner moral compass,civility, Respect for the community at large, knowledge that everybody has a responsibility of paying respect, from birth to when we return to the earth to everyone. When she arrived at ABUAD She felt unconditional acceptance, safety,she felt and believed in the spirit of one. Technology distances us, we text rather than talk,smiley face rather than to smile,hate rather than to love,bully rather than protect, rebel than to find solutions, we are stronger when we see the humanity in others. The spirit of one is in the philosophy that we are more alike than we are different, deep down in our core we are brothers and sisters. She ended her lecture with a quote from Wole Soyinka “There is only one home to the life of a river-mussel; there is only one home to the life of a tortoise; there is only one shell to the soul of man: there is only one world to the spirit of our race. If that world leaves its course and smashes on boulders of the great void, whose world will give us shelter?”
At the end of the lecture A Stole given to only Esteemed presidents of Central State University,Ohio was given to Aare Afe Babalola, and he is now an honorary member of CSU .This stole represents the spirit of one, recognizing the unity between ABUAD and CSU.
