Welcome to the second History lesson for today.

We will be looking at one of the woman who wrote Nigeria’s National Pledge. Her name was Professor Felicia Adebola Adedoyin. She was born on the 6th of November, 1938 in Shaki, Shaki West Local Government Area of Oyo State. She was a princess and one of six children from the Iji ruling house of Shaki. 

She attended Idi-Aba Christian Baptist School, Oyo State, from 1953-1957.

Professor Felicia  Adebola Adedoyin wrote Nigeria’s National Pledge in 1976.

She was inspired 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.

Prof. Adeyoyin wrote the pledge in the Daily Times Newspaper on July 15, 1976, in an article titled ‘Loyalty to the Nation, Pledge’ which was shown to the then Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo.

 The article 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, Professor Felicia Adeyoyin was given a national award, the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in recognition of the National Pledge.

Professor Felicia Adebola Adedoyin had a PHD from the University of Lagos. She was an educationist, a lecturer with the University of Lagos, Faculty of Education from 1978-1994. She also worked with the United Nations Organization as Regional Advisor on Education from 1994-2008. In 2020, she lost her husband whom she had been married for 55 years. Felicia Adebola Adedoyin died on the 1st of May, 2021, at the age of 82. Mrs. Felicia lived a quiet life, granted few interviews and was far from public.

Shortly before she died, she was surrounded by her loved ones.