The author of Nigeria’s national pledge, Professor Felicia Adebola Adedoyin, passed away on Saturday after a brief illness.
Born in 1938 as the second of six children, Adedoyin was a princess from the Iji ruling house of Shaki, Oyo State. Professor Adedoyin wrote the national pledge in 1976. She lectured at the University of Lagos and was a consultant with the United Nations.
The pledge was published 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.
Gen. Obasanjo modified it and introduced it to the country during the formal launch of the Universal Free Primary Education (UPE). He ended up decreeing that all school children recite the national pledge in assembly.
In 2005, Prof Adedoyin was awarded the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON). She is survived by her children.