 Let me join the Chairman of the Interministerial Committee and SGN in thanking and commanding our guest lecturer, Professor Holadakwa Folavi, who, as we've seen, is not just a leading light in biochemistry, but also a leading public intellectual and one who has spent a great deal of time reflecting on issues of governance and national development. It's very evident from his lecture that he has spent a great deal of time thinking about these issues and not just thinking about it, but putting his thoughts into writing. And when a subject like this is discussed, of course, it often raises a fair amount of emotion. But I'm happy that he has done, delivered this with so much wit, so much humor, and so much experience that we've all enjoyed the presentation very much, and I believe we've all learned a great deal. And there are quite a few issues which he has raised, and I think that just as been said, we will all, I hope, get copies of this lecture and I'm sure that we can all get emails of it, even if you don't get hard copies, we can get electronic versions of this. I think that a lot of what he has said is very important, and we ought to have an opportunity, especially those of us who are seated in this room. Everyone of us clearly qualifies to be described as the elite in the Nigerian society, without a doubt, including the press who are here. Everyone qualifies to be described as that elite. And from his definition, we certainly qualify. There are a few issues which he's mentioned, which I think I would like to adjust, elaborate on just slightly. For instance, the question of national unity, the unity of diverse tribes, faiths, and classes in society. And I think it makes a very excellent point that we're not the only country that is diverse in tribe or faiths or in classes. So this is not a peculiar problem. We're not the only country that has these sorts of problems. In fact, the latest explosion on account of diversity of that sort was Rwanda, where over a million people were slaughtered. And of course, we know the experience thereafter and what has happened since. So this is not peculiar to us. And I think that has made the point very well that the way by which a country then becomes united is that it is only possible if there is a deliberate effort by law, by policies, by conventions, to create the basis for that unity. There must be a deliberate effort to create the basis for the unity. The components of that basis include equity, justice, rule of law, accountability. And I like the description that he uses. Enforcement of consequences for bad behavior, which is how he describes it. There must be enforcement of consequences for bad behavior, equal access to opportunity, a fair basis for government appointments, intentional programs for the poor, the weak, the vulnerable, and those who cannot work. So the social investment programs and those sorts of things, the welfare programs for those who cannot work. I think that just the first few statements that Professor Avalabi made, the problematic of a lack of ideological framework for our political parties, which the SGF also very ably put some down to say that, well, sometimes it looks like there isn't much of a difference between the two. But I think that something that is clear is that there is a deep tension that exists between not just between tribes, faiths, and all of that. But between those who have and those who do not have, the gap between the elite and those who are not. And that gap is one that we have to look at very, very carefully. Because, yes, we sometimes want to cover it up in tribe or religion and all of that. But there is a real tension between those who have and those who do not have. So the poor in Jibya, in Katsina, or in Bingi, or Bodhinga, in Sokoto, or Zumi, Maradun, somewhere, Zamfra, or Anyochan North or South in Delta are the same. They have the same needs. They want food, shelter, and clothing. So the real question that the elite have to answer is how do we ensure that there is equity? How do we ensure that there are equal opportunities? How do we ensure that we, that these tensions do not blow over, just as SGF has said? That there is a problem. There's a real problem there. And I think elitism, as Professor Afalabi points out, confers privilege. The rights that no one else has. Privilege ordinarily comes with responsibility, and I think he made that point eloquently, that privilege comes with responsibility. We who are the elite are a privileged class. But privilege comes with the responsibility. It's the French who describe it in the words no bless or bleach, the responsibility of privilege. There is a privilege that comes with who we are as the elite. The first responsibility, and I want to suggest that the first responsibility of the elite is sacrifice. Sacrifice, the ability to make sacrifices on behalf of the communities that they represent. As Prof described it, from the etymology of leadership, he says it means go forth to die. Go forth to die, that that is the original etymology of leadership. People who are prepared to make sacrifice, even if it's not the ultimate sacrifice, people who are prepared to sacrifice on behalf of their communities, that readiness to sacrifice is so important. Now the temptation for the elite is to seek benefit only, and not to sacrifice the temptation that we have as the elite, whether we're a political elite, religious elite, or the intellectual elite. The point is that the temptation always is to seek benefit for ourselves. I'll take an example. Let's just say a national program for young people. We have a national program for young people called NPA, job opportunities for 500,000 or 1 million young men and women. Now there are two options. We either allow the program to run fairly unjustly, to apply so that young people can apply from wherever they are in this country, and they have a fair chance of being selected for that program. That's a possibility. The second possibility, the alternative, is for the elite in government, either in the executive, the legislature, or perhaps even the judiciary, to say let us give ourselves slots. Let's give ourselves slots. So you in the national assembly take 500. We in the executive take a number of people. When we give ourselves slots, it is because we are not prepared to make the sacrifice that would enable these young people to say, I belong to a country where there's equal opportunities. But we want to make, but we want them, but we want these young people to believe in the country. We want them to believe that they belong to a country. We want a united country, but we're not prepared to make the sacrifice that is required. So the moment I become a minister, or palmset, or director, or the moment I become a member of the House of Representatives, or a senator, I believe that I have certain rights and privileges, and I must maximize them. In maximizing them, I jeopardize the basis for national unity, equal opportunities for the president. The president, when we started the empire program, one day the president called me, that president Muhammad Ibaria, president called me, and said something happened this morning. He said I was listening to the Hausa BBC service, and two young men called from Bauti state. They said we applied for the empire program, and we didn't know anybody, and we were taken. They are just accepted, and we have started receiving our salaries. Thank you, Baba Buhari. He told me this to himself. This was in 2017 or 2018, I can't remember. And he said, look, if this is possible, if this is possible, then all these young people, all these young people can truly begin to believe in this country that there was a time when you would apply for things, and you would get them. So the truth of the matter is that these things are possible, but they are only possible if the elite is prepared to make the sacrifice. The story of successful societies is really quite simple. It's usually how the story of the society is elite. It's best educated. It's political class. It's religious class. Influence and direct and lead their societies to progress. Put differently, every successful society is the product of a conscious elite consensus. The implicit and explicit agreements of the elite to change their societies for good, but the elite must be prepared to make the sacrifices for the benefit of everyone. When we look at the great charters of society, the great charters of human rights, the Magna Carta many, many centuries ago, the American Declaration of Independence, the enthronement of the rule of law, justice according to law, the introduction of welfare programs, free education, progressive taxation, these were products of an elite consensus in those nations. But the consensus is not always out of altruism. And I'm saying that the elite does not have to be sent. It's not just out of because we are good people. No, it is also out of self-preservation. The elite must recognize that the reason why we even make some of these sacrifices not because we are necessarily good people. No, all of those who drafted the American Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, et cetera, were not the best people. No, some of them were criminals, some of them were corrupt, some of them were cheats, they were doing all those, but they realized that for society to remain together, for society to work, if they would not be completely destroyed, they had to make the sacrifices that were important. Most of the political and bureaucratic prayers were people from the best schools, but in those societies, there was corruption also, there was abuse of office, violation of the rights of others, but the elite kept their focus on the core values of society. Look at taxation, for example, progressive taxation. The elite could say that we will not pay taxes, only the poor would pay taxes, but they realized that in order to keep society together, the richer you are, the more tax you'd have to pay in absolute terms. So they created a progressive taxation system, not because they were, not because they are nice people, generous people, they realized that if you don't create a system where everybody contributes, one day there'll be nothing to contribute, everything will be destroyed by the same people who you are oppressing. Making sure that misconduct is punishable is so important, wrongful conduct will not become the norm. In many of the society, look at the rule of law, the questions of the rule of law, how do they come about the rule of law, how do we all agree that we will allow a certain set of people to be called judges and they can send us to jail or even say that we should be executed and killed. And the elite have to say all of us will be subject to the law, all no exceptions. How do they come about that? They could have said only some will be tried before the courts. We who are the elite will not subject ourselves to the courts. It will never have worked. So every step of the way in human civilization and the bringing together of societies has been by the sacrifice that the elite have made. They have sacrificed their privileges and because they've sacrificed their privileges, their societies have moved forward. Where the elite fails in the responsibility, the society itself eventually fails. I'll leave you with a story. In 1994, I served as a United Nations Justice Sector Expert in Mogadishu in Somalia. I was working at the time for the United Nations. The country had virtually failed then. After several years of misrule, corruption, neglect of social justice, and disregard for the rule of law, the nation was now effectively managed by warlords. Area boys, whoever you call them, they were the ones who managed that entire society. Every part of the city and country had its own reigning warlord. This was a society that had everything. It had a system of justice, proper system of justice. There were judges. There were all sorts of people. Everything, the elite was there, but eventually it failed because the elite had not responded to the needs of their society. At that time, there was hardly any food. There was chaos everywhere in Mogadishu, where we lived in the UN. In one of the camps, in one of the camps where hungry men and women queued up for food, in a long line with bowls in their hands, on the line, on that line were former university professors, and with all due respect to the professor Phalabi and myself, former in the same line, holding their bowls of food, waiting online to receive food for United Nations, former senior public servants, former Supreme Court justices, former journalists, all hungry, waiting in the line with their little bowls for food from the World Food Program. In 1981, when I started teaching, my first conference, the very first conference I attended, there were three justices who came from Somalia, three justices. There were Supreme Court justices at the time. I met one of them again on that line, on that line waiting for food. As soon as he saw me, he recognized me immediately. In fact, I was shocked that he could recognize me immediately, and I explained, told me who he was. I asked for the other two. One of them was sitting somewhere else, you know, couldn't even get up. One of them had died, but they were all in that line. That is the lot of the elite. When the elite fails to make the sacrifices that a nation requires to stay united and to believe in their nation enough not to destroy it. So it's our responsibility. It's our responsibility as the elite, not because we are nice people, not because we are men and women of great faith. No, but because in order to preserve even our own privileges, to preserve this society, to preserve this nation, we must make those sacrifices. So once more, let me thank Proph for such an inspiring, you know, such an inspiring lecture. And to wish, and I pray, and I wish that our elite will respond positively to everything that we have said. Thank you very much. God bless you.