- Prof. Wole Soyinka asserts Nigeria should consider dissolution if it resolves the nation’s numerous challenges
- Speaking at PUNCH Newspapers’ 50th-anniversary lecture, Soyinka advocates for Nigeria’s decentralization to enhance citizen well-being
Prof Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate, said on Thursday that Nigeria should break up if it is to solve its problems.
Soyinka spoke at the 50th anniversary lecture of PUNCH Newspapers in Lagos.
Soyinka stated in his lecture titled ‘Recovering the Narrative’ that Nigeria should be decentralised so that Nigerians can enjoy their country more.
The Nobel laureate delivered the lecture as part of a weeklong celebration of PUNCH’s 50th anniversary.
The elder statesman stated that decentralisation would bring governance closer to the people, and that leaders should stop taking Nigerians for a ride.
“I know the fear. The fear is collapse, break up. That’s been the excuse given by several regimes. But suppose the nation is breaking up informally, in other words as a fact rather than as a theory. Then, and you better address this. Come straight on and see exactly what happened. What is wrong with general representatives seeing them and saying this is the protocol of our association, Anything outside of it? Anyone who does not want to accept these protocols, abide by these protocols and manifest these protocols in the act should take a walk. I have no problem at all.
“We live in what is known as the nation, beginning as a vast football field and ending up as a ping pong table. If that is going to restore dignity to citizens. If that is going to guarantee three square meals a day then so be it. One of my favourite expressions with people is “Let nations die, that humanity may live.”
He explained that while Nigerian politicians know the importance of restructuring, they change their tune when they get to power.
He said, “What do you mean by restructuring? Well, I don’t even like the word restructuring. I use, I prefer expressions like reconfiguration and decentralisation. Everybody can grasp that, decentralisation. And those who lead, recognise the necessity of it. They recognise the importance, almost the inevitability of it until they get into power, yes, that’s the difference.
“It’s about time, I think leaders stopped taking this nation for a ride, you know, we must decentralise. Security, you know, has become a burden to bear. From all corners of the nation, that is the crime.
“Decentralised so that government can come closer to the people, and productivity can really be manifested as a product of citizens, not simply as a manna from heaven.”
PUNCH, Nigeria’s leading newspaper, turned 50 on March 18 last year, but its board of directors moved the celebration to this year because the anniversary month and year coincided with an election.
The 50th anniversary coincides with the 40th anniversary of the death of PUNCH’s founding Chairman, Chief James Olubunmi Aboderin, who died on February 28, 1984, at the age of fifty.
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