Author of Nigeria’s National Pledge, Prof. Adedoyin, passes on at 83

Prof. Felicia Adebola Adedoyin, the author of Nigeria’s national pledge, passed away on Saturday after a brief illness, Inside Oyo is reporting.

Prof. Adedoyin, who lectured at the University of Lagos and was a consultant with the United Nations, wrote the national pledge in 1976. She was propelled 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.

The pledge was written in the Daily Times on July 15, in an article titled ‘Loyalty to the Nation, Pledge’ which 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 in 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.