The Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Dr Nnimmo Bassey, has said the life and times of late Guyanese historian and political activist, Walter Rodney, has inspired the Foundation.
HOMEF is an environmental rights focused civil society group that advocates preservation and protection of the biodiversity in Nigeria.
Bassey, who holds a national honours of Member of the Order of Federal Republic (MFR) for Environmental Activism, said this at a virtual event in memory of Rodney who was assassinated on June 13, 1980.
The Tide source reports that the event, which has its title as: ‘Conversation with Walter Rodney’, was facilitated and anchored by Ken Henshaw, a Civil Society activist, and Bassey.
The event drew participants from different parts of the country.
Bassey said that Rodney, author of the book: ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’, provided academic insights that helped African Nationalists to confront imperialism and colonialism.
He regretted that young Africans had lost a sense of patriotism and hence the need for the forum to get young people to appreciate and drew knowledge from heroes like Rodney.
The Lead Discussant, Prof Horace Campbell, an International Scholar in African American Affairs, regretted the lack of emphasis on the positive sides of Africa and the strides made by African patriots.
He said that there was a deliberate effort by imperialists who colonised Africa to create the impression that there was nothing good in Africa whilst they exploited its resources for raw materials for their industrial revolutions.
Campbell recalled that although Rodney was assassinated on June 13, 1980, the ideals and concepts he worked to propagate, still resonates, adding that capitalism exploited resources to the detriment of the people.
He noted that it was regrettable that current challenges facing the African continent had kept the people from dealing with its potentials.