Ime Akpan
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has said that insecurity occasioned by incessant herdsmen killings in the country and failure by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve it has diminished whatever the administration might have achieved.
Soyinka stated this in his Ijegba country home, in Abeokuta, Ogun State where he hosted 85 pupils drawn from the six-geopolitical zones of the country to mark his 85th birthday.
Interacting with the pupils in his private amphitheatre, Soyinka said the federal government’s failure to tackle herdsmen’s atrocious acts had resulted in the death of hundreds of Nigerians.
“Look at what is happening today; how is it possible for me to say, for instance, that I am pro of this government; it is being negligent. Look at what is happening with the cattle all over the place. That is a security issue which should never have reached this level.
“I am sure that carelessness and single act which has resulted in hundreds of people killed in massacre, in their farms and their farms taken over; it has wiped away a lot of the positive achievements of the government.
“It is an issue that is so serious and which concerns the welfare of you and me that any carelessness or any failure there is totally unforgivable and unpardonable,” he said.
The Nobel Laureate also said Buhari had been overwhelmed by the problems in the country adding that the challenges cannot be solved by his administration.
He therefore advised the president to convoke a national dialogue among all the people across party lines so as to engage in governance that would benefit the generality of Nigerians.
“It is not that one likes to criticise for the sake of criticising; No. It is just that we believe that there is a minimal level, which any government which has been elected to power must achieve to be considered a true representative of the people.
“If you agree first of all that the problems of this nation are completely beyond it, that is the first admission. And we should start thinking in terms of bipartisan government, it is going to form in my view, a government called across political parties and need to forget their allegiances and really comfort this nation as a habitation of human beings for very serious issues like economic, health, security, etc.
“They need to confront this nation as a habitation of human beings where very serious issues like economy, security, health, even threats of secession come up every day; convoke at the same time, a national conference, what I call an Indaba, across all sections, which we will all meet and debate everything, including the economy of this nation. I believe very frankly that the problems of this nation are beyond the solution that can be offered by this government.”
“Politicians that money has gone into their heads misdirect themselves in terms of priority; they neglect some sections. Some of them are nepotistic and some of them alienated themselves from the public, which is the people they are supposed to serve and govern, and they think they are still colonial masters, especially, when we went through the military period,” he said.
On the whole, he scored all the past administrations below average in governance saying no government has done well for the people for.
“They have failed because they misdirect, neglect the people and they are nepotic. They are also alienated from the general public. Some even think they are still colonial masters,” he said.
However, he admitted that governance is not a simple task because of many complex issues.
“Governance is a very difficult occupation; Nigeria is a very complex nation for lot of reasons; its history, the background, the formation of it, the complexity, the culture, balancing here and there and then, you have several complications like fuel, among others.
“Governance is a very difficult assignment because of balancing of interests, access to free wealth and other complexities of governance,” he said.
To get the country out of the woods, Soyinka declared: “This administration must first admit that these problems are beyond it and tackle them by involving all irrespective of political party affiliation.”
