Punchng:

Nigeria under a cloud of shame –Soyinka
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has likened the current
insurgency in the country to living under a cloud of shame,
embarrassment and feeling of dereliction.
Soyinka said insurgency was thriving in the country due to the
incompetence of the government and lack of genuine
leadership.
He spoke at the 2014 Foundation Day Anniversary and
Convocation Ceremonies of the University of Ibadan, where
he was honoured with Doctor of Letters honorary degree.
Soyinka was honoured alongside Emeritus Professor Olufemi
Ogunlesi, who became the oldest person to receive honorary
award of the institution; and businessman owner of
Globacom Limited, Mike Adenuga.
Others are Prof. Tekena Tamuno and a former President of
the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief Oluwole Olanipekun.
President Goodluck Jonathan was represented at the event by
the Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau.
Soyinka, who was described by the institution as the
courageous voice for human rights, said although the
gathering was meant to celebrate success, it would be difficult
to cast aside the plight of the abducted girls of Government
Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, seized by Boko
Haram insurgents over six months ago.
He said, “This is a festive occasion but we are all sitting under
a heavy cloud. We are sitting under a cloud of heavy
embarrassment, shame of the feeling of dereliction, sullen
responsibility towards children. We are sitting under a cloud
of impotence, of a calamity that was not without notice, and
whose myriad causes is quite discernible.
“We are here because of education because we will never
stop learning till death. 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.”
The celebrated playwright said the gradual disappearance of
the University of Maiduguri due to the activities of a set of
people who flourished on hate, intimidation and intolerance,
called for reflection.
He also said that the Nigerian government was guilty of the
failure to protect its children and build a safe nation for all.
The Nobel laureate 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 America’s 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.”
Shekarau said that the Federal Government was taking note
of the achievements of UI and its various developmental
projects, saying that the state of education determined the
future of a nation.

Swizdoe:

www.punchng.com/news/nigeria-under-a-cloud-of-shame-soyinka/

malele:

Why will wole be talking like this, did jonathan create insurgency ?
Please tell us ways to stop insurgency in the north
the president Has tried.
He declared state of emergency there and Soldiers are there fighting.
Prof pls tell us what else he should do, instead of calling him names.

malele:

Why will wole be talking like this, did jonathan create insurgency ?
Please tell us ways to stop insurgency in the north
the president Has tried.
He declared state of emergency there and Soldiers are there fighting.
Prof pls tell us what else he should do, instead of calling him names.

ruffp:


You rightly admitted insurgency started b4 he became president...Nobody forced him to lead,he claimed to have soln to Nigeria's problem. Since you now admit he is incapable of dealing with it, why wldnt he allow those that can? Leadership isn't an allcomers affair!!!!

LogicPower:

"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

I was so much touched by this powerful remark by Prof Soyinka that I had to struggle to suppress tears. It has such a poignantly piercing effect on me that it made me feel like I PERSONALLY somehow betrayed and failed these innocent girls and their helpless parents! Maybe we all betray them for just going about our normal life while they remain captives in the hands those evil monsters.

I feel even more saddened about the whole saga when I remember the reprehensible and despicable manner in which GEJ's goons were callously and viciously harassing decent and eminent Nigerians, men and women of conscience, who were so touched by the shocking incident that they spontaneously, and out of their sense of humanity and enlightened responsibility to children, felt they needed to do something to spur the government to expedite action towards rescuing the little girls before it was too late. But it is already too late for many of them perhaps.

And when the 'leader' of the government and his wife, and their clannish goons, did not even believe that the girls were kidnapped in the first place, and were even so openly intimidating anybody who believes they were, it is not even reasonable for anyone to expect such a government would have the focus, the clarity of purpose and the political will that were needed to mobilize the government machinery and resources promptly and speedily enough to stand any chance of getting the girls rescued before it was too late.

The case of the Chibok girls will surely be recorded in history as one of the spectacular cases of colossal failure, betrayal of trust and abdication of governmental responsibility. And the fact that the betrayed are youngsters, the most treasured of any society, makes it even more unpardonable.

Thank you so much Prof Soyinka, for pricking our conscience in such an effective way by bringing this issue to the fore again, and on such a significant and appropriate occasion.

kmoneyman:
it is very unfortunate! Can you imagine this useless government trying to impose austerity measures on a people who should be enjoying and feeling well. But instead the clueless dumb head of state decides to print new notes coupled with the senseless stealing of public funds by his cronies May it never be well for those trying to keep Gej in that office

it's only a blind man that would say he is not seeing how things are turning upside down in Nigeria.