Nigeria Is Living Under Cloud Of Shame, Dereliction - Soyinka

Prof. Wole soyinka

Professor Wole Soyinka yesterday lamented the insecurity in Nigeria adding that Nigeria as a nation is living under a cloud of shame, embarrassment and feeling of dereliction.

The Nobel Laureate said this on Monday while reflecting on the plight of the Chibok girls held captive by the Boko Haram insurgents.

According to Soyinka, Boko Haram insurgency was allowed to thrive because of the incompetence of the federal government and lack of genuine leadership.

The Nobel Laureate who spoke on behalf of other recipients of the University of Ibadan (UI) honourary doctorate degree during the institution's 2014 Foundation Day Anniversary and Convocation, said "we are all sitting under a cloud of heavy embarrassment, shame of the feeling of dereliction, and sullen responsibility towards children."

While noting that the president had spent so much on sports, he suggested that more money be allocated to education and enlightenment.

“Something happened. It is what we are doing today. Yes, it is a festive occasion. But, we are here and we know we are sitting under a cloud, it’s heavy cloud; it’s cloud of embarrassment of shame, a feeling of dereliction or solemn irresponsibility towards the children.

“We are sitting here under a cloud of impotence of a calamity that was not without notice and whose myriad causes are quite disenable. We are here because of education, because we will never stop learning till death. This cloud is made up of a sense of humiliation.

“You all know why we are all here, it is in the course of learning and till death, we will not stop learning. It is all about learning and that is what life is all about. We never stop learning,”

According to him, this cloud is made up of a sense of humiliation.

"We sent our children on an errand and they did not return, the errand is what we are celebrating today. The errand was to prepare the children for today but they never came back, that is what we cannot allow ourselves to forget."

Soyinka specifically asked the representative of President Goodluck Jonathan at the award ceremony, the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau to deliver his message and cautioned the president on the huge amount of money being spent on sports.

Described by the institution as the courageous voice for human rights, Soyinka said, the gradual disappearance of the University of Maiduguri because of the activities of a set of people who flourished on hate, intimidation and intolerance called for reflection.

Lamenting that the Nigerian government was guilty of the failure to protect its children and build a safe nation for all, he said, “We are familiar with what is going on, so I have decided that there is nothing new in what I am going to say.

“In Port Harcourt where I made a speech at the University of Science and Technology three years ago, I asked deliberately, ‘where is the University of Maiduguri today?’ In the US back in 1957 at the time of racism, the president of that nation federalised the National Guard and ordered it to protect a young girl."

“Do we send children to school to have their hands tied and their throat slit? Yet, we have leadership that is asking the terrorist to come to the table and negotiate with it while children were being killed and taken away in Chibok. What crime did they commit?”

“This is not what our children deserve. It begins with the failure to respond as the US President did to protect the little girl. What is the difference between Nigeria’s Boko Haram and American night and day riders of hate and destruction?” 

“Both thrive on hate, intimidation and inculcation of fear, intolerance and terror. This is what is happening to our institutions especially in the northern part of our country,” the celebrated playwright added.”

Education Minister and the representative of President Jonathan, Shekarau, in his address said that federal government was taking note of the achievement of UI and its various developmental projects with a promise that they would be completed in a year.

He added that, “The state of education determines the future of a nation. The government recognises that Nigeria cannot strive for accelerated development without huge investment in education and that is why government has, since inception of this administration, given increased budgetary allocation to education.”

“But education cannot be left to government alone, the private sector must be actively involved in the task of providing quality education. Universities must define their roles and carve out a niche by designing programmes that will progressively assist government in poverty reduction, health promotion, application of new technologies in the advancement of knowledge, advancing the quality, protecting the environment, promoting sustainable human development as well as sustaining democracy and good governance,” he added.

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