From a welcome address presented by Leo Igwe, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement at the 1st African Humanist Conference, October 8-10, 2001 at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria:.

"Fellow Humanists, Ladies and Gentlemen. I feel honored to welcome you all to this conference on behalf of the Nigerian Humanist Movement and other humanist and free thought societies in Nigeria. This conference is of enormous historical significance. For this is the first major humanist event to take place in sub-Saharan Africa. And more especially, this is the first international celebration of humanism right here at the home of Homo sapiens. For so many years now, like a bird outside its nest, humanism has been wandering and hovering in other lands. But today, with this conference, the humanist bird has come to perch and perch forever in Africa. Humanism is back to its nest. Humanism is back to its home. Humanism is back to its root. So, it is most fitting and proper that such an historic event is taking place in Nigeria, a nation and a people that mirrors the travails and triumphs, the prospects and possibilities of the black continent early in this 21st Century. Africa has a long history of humanity but a short history of modern humanism. And by participating in this conference, we are partaking in that history, we are rewriting that history, we are enriching that history."