Fashola pitches embracing the future at 27th convocation lecture of Lagos State University, Ojo
By Babatunde Fashola
Why should we be having a lecture as part of a convocation process when young graduates are focused only on one thing – collecting their certificates and going to celebrate with their colleagues, friends and families in a feast of deserved success?
Why should anybody be giving a lecture when people want to celebrate and party?
If you are thinking like that I understand and I associate with your thoughts. They were clearly my thoughts 37 years ago when I graduated in 1987. I was anxious to get out and take photographs and there were not enough photographers back then to go around thousands of graduands and the few that existed had been contracted to many of us.
Technology has changed now and I intend to say a word or two.
But who remembers what is said in graduation speeches?
I don’t remember who gave my graduation speech or what was said. The public address system on the day did not help. So, I would not be offended if you do not remember anything I say but perhaps you may remember what other people have said, and I will share some of that with you; because I have found them useful and I think you will too.
But before I do so, let me acknowledge the Visitor of the University, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Pro-Chancellor, Sir David Sunmoni,’ the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello and the entire university for having me as convocation lecturer.
I feel truly honoured by the invitation and the relatively short notice could not stand in the way of the opportunity to interact with the next generation of Nigeria’s leaders. So, I am glad to be here.
It is a privilege to live the future, feel it before it manifests by connecting with those who will shape it on you.
To the parents and guardians and families of the graduands, my very hearty felicitations. Years of investment, suspense, anxiety have come to this crescendo. May your joy in the progress of your children and wards have no end.
The village that helped to birth the success of your wards and children was populated by employees of the LASU community, in the academic and non-academic realms. I join you in thanking them for moulding the teenagers you entrusted them with a few years ago into proud young adults.
To all graduands I say, wow. What a moment. You did it. Against the odds, the long days and nights, examinations, funding challenges and everything that could stand in the way, you were not to be deterred.
You are not going to make excuses why you would not be here. You beat the odds, you met the goals, you made the cut, the school has certified that you have been found worthy in learning and in character. Congratulations!!
But then, after today’s excitement and celebrations, what next?
Where do you see yourself in the next 5,10, 15 or 20 years?
Have you thought about this. If you have, how far ahead are you thinking?
If you are stuck in celebrating one achievement, you may be creating obstacles to the next achievement. This in part is why I have chosen to speak about “Embracing the Future: Navigating the Intersection of Technology and Humanity.”
So let me go back to my promise to share with you some important things that other people said because you might not remember what I say.
Sometime in 1992, a football club manager disbanded his aging team of players and reconstituted it with very young largely, highly energetic, but inexperienced set of players.
The media was very critical and unsparing of his audacious decision. They criticised him in many reports, one of which remains evergreen today. It was titled, “you can’t win anything with kids.” Those young players went on to prove everybody except their manager wrong. They won the league that year against the odds.
The manager was to have the last say in response to the media statement that you cannot win anything with kids. He said, “You can’t win anything without them.”
That manager’s name was Sir Alex Ferguson, and his decision to trust in young talent became a cornerstone of Manchester United’s future successes, illustrating the importance of nurturing and believing in emerging talent.
Just as ‘Fergie’s Fledglings,’ as they were called, brought victory through their determination and hard work, our collective belief in new and innovative ideas will drive us towards greater success and innovation in our endeavours.
Let this serve as a reminder that fostering and investing in the potential of the next generation can lead to extraordinary achievements.
And by referring to the statement about winning with kids, I must not be mistaken to be referring to this assembly as kids and that is why I asked the question about what you plan to do in the next 5 – 20 years.
I recognise you as talented young people and the story is only relevant to portray the mistake in judgement that we sometimes make about the endless capacities of young people.
People who make these misjudgements conveniently forget that when it is time to go to war, those who leaders put in harm’s way in times of war are majorly young people.
As I told a young mentee of mine recently as we were reviewing his plans for his future and where he would like to be in a few years’ time when he is 35 and he questioned whether he would not be too young to head a government parastatal.
My response was emphatic – if you’re old enough to go to war for Nigeria and give up your life to protect her, you cannot be too young to head one of her parastatals. If you are good enough, then you are old enough. That must be the principle.
But what will make you good enough?
Partly the education you have received here will take you someway on your journey but it will not be enough.
You will require many more things, including continuing education in the formal and informal way. Life becomes meaningless the day we stop learning. But over and beyond skills and education, you will require self-discipline.
This was the subject of the induction speech on the night I was called to the Nigerian bar in 1988 and I remember it till today. I considered it a priceless ally in my journey of life and I will pass it on to you.
Let me summarise the brilliant speech as follows: It recognised that we had become young adults. It urged us to take responsibility for ourselves and for others.
It reminded us that all our lives we had been subject to discipline imposed by parents, guardians, lecturers, et al., but that from that day on, we would have to find the hardest form of discipline – the self-imposed one.
I feel duty bound to pass on that message to you today.
Self-discipline will be the element that completes all the work your parents and guardians have done and what your lecturers have done. It will concretize your character and define your reputation. It will be the compass for your integrity. It will determine whether you are worthy of trust.
As you will find out, talent and education alone will not be enough on this exciting journey of life. Many talented people have failed or have been passed by because their attitude was bad; and people who are less educated, less talented or less skilled have excelled simply because of the right attitude.
Therefore, let me advise that you should not become an educated relic.
I implore you, after all the celebrations, to reflect and remember only this part; self-discipline. It will show you the way away from drugs, crime, belief in wealth without work and search for miracles of wealth. There are none. Only hard work provides sustainable wealth; not rituals, not fake pastors or imams and not trafficking illicit drugs.
You are graduating into a world of technology at a time when Talent is being rewarded at an unprecedented level. One generation ago, there was no internet as we know it today. Google Maps today was a story I read about in Newsweek or Time magazine in my second or third year in university (1985 to 1986) about a plan to digitally map the surface of the Earth.
Today, I use the platform to find locations and it is now helping to predict travel time because something new has been added to it – artificial intelligence – based on extensive supercomputing powers.
That is the world that awaits you. A world where human beings have developed enormous machine learning capacities. Some things as you know them today will not exist in a few years’ time. Some jobs that you aspire to may be gone before you know it. Trust me, whatever the losses, the gains will surpass them.
Your world and the future it promises will be more exciting and more prosperous. The early foretaste of the impact of artificial intelligence is that it is positive for mankind. It portends for example, savings in energy consumption as a result of reduced time to get things done.
It is helping to discover new uses for existing drugs and may be the shortest route yet for us to respond to anti-microbial resistance. It is also offering increased diagnostic capacities for disease detection and may offer additional years and longevity to your generation.
Just recently new breakthroughs have been announced including the ability to move AI from the cloud and embed it inside processors installed in electronic devices.
This will vest enormous interactive powers in many electronic devices, increasing our interactions more with machines and potentially physically less with our ourselves.
But, and this is a big but, humanity and human civilisation, and intrinsic values that have kept us at the apex of all things that exist on planet Earth must be preserved in spite of technology.
Our humanity encompasses many things that separate us from animals in the wild.
It includes mutual respect for one another, our ability to socialize, our choice of language, our ability to disagree and resolve conflict without violence.
All of these must be preserved because those who decide to attack one another, will ultimately destroy themselves.
I will conclude by urging you all to step forward today, embrace the future with your skills and self-discipline, embrace a season of technological marvel with respect for your fellow being and prepare for enormous possibilities of prosperity that will elevate the human race as a whole.
Thank you for listening.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN CON
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