Response Upon Receiving the Honorary Doctorate of Social Work

Your Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; His Excellency, Ifeanyi Ossai, Deputy Governor of Enugu State; Ambassador Abubakar Jidda, Consul General in New York City, USA; Distinguished Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simon Uchenna Ortuanya; esteemed members of the Governing Council and Senate; honored faculty; members of the diplomatic community; distinguished guests; and, most importantly, the graduating class of this great institution:

I stand before you today with profound gratitude, deep humility, and overwhelming joy. To receive this Honorary Doctorate of Social Work from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka—Nigeria’s first indigenous university, founded in the noble year of 1960—is an honor beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I accept this degree with sincere appreciation, not simply as a personal recognition of my own life’s work, but as a sacred acknowledgment of the generations of ancestors whose sacrifices, prayers, and enduring faith made this very moment possible.

I thank the leadership of this esteemed university for this extraordinary honor, and I thank the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for your remarkable and unmatched hospitality. Today is far more than an academic ceremony. For me, this moment feels deeply spiritual. It feels deeply personal. It feels like a homecoming.

Although I was born thousands of miles from this beautiful nation, across a vast and unforgiving ocean, I have never believed that the story of African Americans began in America. Our story began here. Long before there was a Black Church in the United States, before there were Historically Black Colleges and Universities, before the Civil Rights Movement, before the spirituals and the soaring melodies of gospel music, there was Africa. There were great civilizations, immense kingdoms, profound scholars, and an unbreakable sense of community. Everything we became, everything we fought for, and everything we achieved began right here on this continent.

History tells us that Nigerians, and indeed all West Africans, have influenced the development of virtually every part of the world, particularly in the Americas, where the descendants of this region mingled their resilient traditions to create unique, enduring new cultures (Falola & Heaton, 2008). When our ancestors were taken from these shores during the horrors of the Middle Passage, they were stripped of their liberty. They were stripped of their names. They were stripped of their homeland. But I am here to declare to you today that they were never stripped of their identity.

In my book, Never Lost, I describe the Black Church as God’s Ark of the Covenant for our people (Richardson, 2026). In the biblical tradition, the Ark of the Covenant was a sacred vessel, crafted with divine instruction, that symbolized the unbreakable covenant between God and His people. Carried through the wilderness, the Ark contained three sacred items: the stone tablets of the Law, Aaron’s budding staff, and a jar of manna. These items represented God’s moral authority, His chosen leadership, and His miraculous provision.

When African people were brought to the Americas in chains, the Black Church became our Ark. It was an “invisible institution” born in the crucible of slavery that served as a refuge and a stronghold for our heritage. Like the tablets of the law, the Church provided a moral compass in a society that had lost its own, demanding justice and ethical treatment. Like Aaron’s rod, the Church cultivated transformational leadership, raising up prophetic voices like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who led with faith and courage. And like the jar of manna, the Church provided spiritual and physical nourishment, sustaining a marginalized people through the wilderness of segregation, discrimination, and systemic exclusion.

It became a school when our children were denied an education. It became a bank when financial institutions excluded us. It became a courtroom where justice was preached long before it was ever practiced in the American legal system.

But today, standing on African soil, looking out at the brilliant faces of Nigeria’s future, I want to declare a broader truth: The Black Church did not just preserve something that originated in America. It preserved something that originated in Africa. It preserved a people, a faith, a communal worldview, and a cultural resilience until the day we could reconnect with the continent that gave us birth. We were separated by oceans and centuries, but in spirit, in culture, and in divine purpose, we were never lost. This is not just an American story. This is a global African story.

I am particularly moved that this esteemed university has chosen to confer upon me a Doctorate of Social Work, as my fifty years serving as Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Church have been wholly dedicated to making the church an engine for community development. The Black Church has always been an institution of social work, operating as a shelter for the spiritually and socially oppressed, and ensuring that God’s promise of liberation is felt in the practical realities of daily life.

To the graduating class of the University of Nigeria: You are the inheritors of this profound resilience. You are stepping into the world at a time of rapid global transformation, but also a time of significant challenge. Nigeria is a magnificent, pluralistic nation, boasting over 250 ethnic groups and a vast tapestry of languages, customs, and cultures (Shaibu & Ogbobe, 2025). Your diversity is a wellspring of incredible strength, making this nation a vibrant microcosm of the African continent. Yet, as scholars of your own history have noted, this diversity also brings the challenge of constructive management and the need for deep, enduring national integration (Shaibu & Ogbobe, 2025). We know that true development is not just about economic metrics or gross domestic product. Development is the constant, relentless attempt by human beings to emancipate themselves from natural and man-made obstacles in order to achieve a more fulfilling life (Kilani & Iheanacho, 2016).

It requires the integration of your rich cultural heritage with the demands of modern science, technology, and governance. Culture and development are deeply intertwined; neither can be fully understood or realized without the other (Kilani & Iheanacho, 2016). When a nation honors its cultural identity while simultaneously embracing innovation, it builds a foundation that cannot be shaken.

As graduates of the University of Nigeria, you are uniquely equipped for this task. Your university’s noble mission is “to restore dignity through excellence in scholarship, innovation, and service.” Today, as you receive your degrees, that mission becomes your personal mandate. You are called to be the architects of a new African reality.

You are entering a society that needs your intellect, but even more, it needs your character. It needs your commitment to social justice, your dedication to ethical leadership, and your refusal to accept poverty, unemployment, and division as permanent realities. Degrees will open doors for you, but it is your character, your moral compass, and your commitment to your community that will determine what you build once you walk through those doors. I urge you to be leaders who bridge divides. Be the generation that fully realizes the dream of a united, prosperous, and peaceful Nigeria.

Furthermore, I challenge you to look beyond the borders of this nation. The future belongs to those who build bridges. We are living in an era where technology has eliminated the physical distances that once separated our continents. Ideas travel instantly. Relationships can be forged across oceans in real-time.

It is my earnest hope and my strategic vision that this visit today is not the culmination of a gracious invitation, but the dawn of a new, dynamic era of partnership between Africa and the African Diaspora. In fact, the bridge between this great institution and the African Diaspora was built by your very own founding father.

Long before he became the first indigenous Governor-General, the first President of this great nation, and the visionary force behind the University of Nigeria, the great Nnamdi Azikiwe crossed the ocean to the United States to pursue his education (Falola & Heaton, 2008; The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, n.d.). Historical records note that he began his American academic journey at Storer College in West Virginia—a historic institution that later merged with, and became a foundational pillar of, Virginia Union University (Hylton, n.d.).

Therefore, Dr. Azikiwe is a distinguished part of our Virginia Union University family tree (Hylton, n.d.)! The very leader who helped lay the foundation for the University of Nigeria is intimately tied to the university where I now have the honor of serving as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

As the Chairman of Virginia Union University, a historically Black university in the United States built on the dreams of emancipated slaves, I envision a future where our institutions continue the profound legacy started by Dr. Azikiwe. I envision a future where Virginia Union University and the Nigerian universities forge deep academic and cultural partnerships. I want to see our scholars lecturing in your halls, and your brilliant minds teaching in ours. I want our students to learn together, our researchers to solve global problems together, and our leaders to build a shared future together.

For too long, the narrative of the African Diaspora and the narrative of the African continent have been written in isolation. But we share the same roots, we share the same resilience, and as Dr. Azikiwe’s life proved, we share the same institutions. To that end, I have been authorized by the Board of Trustees of Virginia Union University, in my capacity as Chairman, alongside our President, Dr. Hakim J. Lucas, to present the Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa, to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe posthumously, in profound recognition of his extraordinary life and legacy. Because this great visionary has joined our ancestors, I humbly ask that the University of Nigeria accept this honorary doctorate on his behalf, securing it as a permanent symbol of our shared history and enduring partnership. When we unite our intellectual resources, our spiritual heritage, and our cultural strength, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome.

As I look out at you today, I am filled with an unshakeable hope. The Ark of the Covenant in the ancient scriptures was never important because of the acacia wood from which it was built, or the gold that lined its edges. It was important because of what it carried. Likewise, the true greatness of the University of Nigeria is not found in its brick-and-mortar buildings, its administrative offices, or its historic grounds. The greatness of this university is found in you, the brilliant, capable, and resilient leaders it is sending into the world today. You are the contents of the Ark. You carry the laws of justice in your hearts. You carry the rod of leadership in your hands. You carry the manna of innovation and service that will nourish this nation for generations to come.

Do not shrink back from the challenges of your time. Step into your purpose with the full weight of your history behind you and the bright promise of your future ahead of you. Remember that you are the descendants of kings and queens, of scholars and survivors, of a people who faced the darkest nights of human history and still found a way to sing, to build, and to triumph.

Thank you, University of Nigeria, for this profound honor. I will carry this Doctorate of Social Work with immense pride, wearing it as a symbol of the unbreakable bond between my community in America and my ancestral home here in Africa.

May you carry the legacy of Africa forward with courage, integrity, and unyielding faith.

May God bless the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And may God continue to bless Africa and her children, wherever they may be found throughout the world.

Thank you, and congratulations to the Class of 2026!

Falola, T., & Heaton, M. M. (2008). A history of Nigeria. Cambridge University Press.
Hylton, R. (n.d.). The history of Virginia Union University. Virginia Union University.
             https://www.vuu.edu/about-union/history
Kilani, A. O., & Iheanacho, N. N. (Eds.). (2016). Culture, development and religious change:
             The Nigerian perspective. M & J Grand Orbit Communications.
Richardson, W. F. (2026). Never lost: The Black church as God’s ark of the covenant.
             Wharton Curtis Press.
Shaibu, M. A., & Ogbobe, J. O. (2025). Political leadership, religion and national security in
             Nigeria: Examining ethno-religious conflicts. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. (n.d.). Azikiwe, Nnamdi.
             Stanford University. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/azikiwe-nnamdi