International records / OpenAlex research

Nigeria, the OAU and the Continental Interest

To understand the basic structure of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and some of its current problems, it is necessary to know how the Organization came into existence. If one may be pardoned for indulging in a semantic exercise, the name, Organization of African Unity, with its emphasis on Unity , may give us some clue as to the thinking of those African leaders who met in Addis Ababa in 1963 to inaugurate the Organization. For instance, why was it called Organization of African Unity rather than, say, Organization of African States? What is the historical significance of this? These …