Soyinka, Role Model for Youth - Obasanjo
Kanu speaks on recipe for united Nigeria
From Josephine Lohor in Abuja, Olawale Olaleye and Olabisi Lawal in Lagos
President Olusegun Oba-sanjo yesterday congratulated Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka on his 70th birthday, saying his achievements have made him "a worthy role model for millions of youth in Nigeria and other parts of the world."
Also, in Lagos former military governor of Lagos State, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, while delivering a lecture in commemoration of Soyinka's birthday, predicated Nigeria's unity on the return to true federalism where federating units would be relevant in the scheme of things.
Obasanjo in a congratulatory message on behalf of the Federal Government and people of Nigeria noted that Soyinka's "immense achievements in the academic and literary world, which were crowned with the Nobel Prize for Literature, have brought great honour and glory to you and to your fatherland." He also prayed that God grants Soyinka "many more years of service to our country and humankind as you grow old, grey distinguishingly and distinctively."
The letter addressed to Soyinka's Abeokuta address, stated in part:
"Having striven over many years of your life, in your own very special and unique ways to contribute to the realisation of your vision of a greater Nigeria, it is very fitting, indeed, that Nigerians from all walks of life and all parts of the country should celebrate with you and share the special joy of the occasion with you and your family.
"For those who are fortunate enough to attain it, the age of 70 years is a very good time indeed, to take stock of what one has done with the time God has granted him or her in this world of ours.
"If perhaps your mind turns to such introspection in the midst of the many events lined up to celebrate your 70th birthday, I believe that you can be reasonably satisfied that you have done your best with the great talents God blessed you with at birth and which you had opportunity to develop and utilise for humankind in general."
Obasanjo, while praying that "the Almighty God will in His infinite mercies grant you many more years of service to our country and humankind" noted that "your attainment of the grand age of three score years and ten, which the Holy Book tells us is the God-given time in this world that a man may reasonably expect to use, pain and trouble-free, is a most remarkable milestone in your illustrious and achievement-filled life."
But Kanu while delivering a 16-page lecture entitled "Nigeria: The Unfinished Business" as part of activities to mark the 70th birthday anniversary of Soyinka in Lagos yesterday, likened Nigeria to a vehicle. He added that "in not moving the Nigerian vehicle along routes that could ensure the amity of its different peoples, we have made avoidable mistakes that are at the roots of the country's lingering problems."
"We must bear in mind that, unless the noble objectives of a journey, any journey, are achieved, all the labour deployed into such a journey are, at any stage, simply hanging in the balance, if not altogether lost," Kanu said. He added that such groups as the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) of which he was a member played key roles for Nigerians to have pride in the entity.
He explained that "only someone foolish will fail to realise that, no matter the time spent on traveling on a wrong road and the distance covered on this wrong road, the only remedy is to turn away from the wrong road. Otherwise, the intended destination will never be attained".
Kanu who intermittently emphasised that the much canvassed National Conference was inevitable in the quest for one indivisible Nigeria said "it is obvious that all of Nigeria's problems stem from our non-return to the right road. These problems have led to the erosion of patriotism and includes corruption (whose greatest impetus are unitarism and resource accumulation at the centre)".
He also identified other problem areas to include "energy dissipation of executive-legislative contention, economic rigmarole, policy instability, real-terms retrogression, societal hopelessness, violence in varying degrees, crime multiplication, insecurity, general lawlessness and infrastructural degradation".
He therefore said unless Nigeria returns to true federalism, it may continue to battle with its many crisis without any solution in sight.
"I reiterate that the basic thing required is a change of our political structure. We should return to federalism. It is nothing new; we had it before. All we need all these years was to have allowed it to mature on a natural course from a federation of regions to a federation of nationalities, big and small".
Commenting on the lecture, the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who constantly attracted standing ovation at every turn of his speech, criticised a number of government's policies.
He wondered the kind of system operated in the country where government at the centre could withhold state's allocation with scant regard for the laws of the land.
Besides, he contended that the issue of corruption has deteriorated so much that it has assumed what he called the federal character status since any person from any ethnic group in the country if appointed or elected into government, would want to steal.
According to him, "there are Yoruba who are thieves, there are Hausa who are barawos (thieves) and Igbo who are equally thieves, even the minority steals in government".
Oshiomhole who also condemned some state governors for illegally withholding allocation belonging to some local government councils in their states cited the case of the Imo State governor whom he said had carried on like the president. "We have oppressors everywhere. We so manage to forget the injustices in our immediate environment", he added.
Soyinka however disappointed his colleagues in the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) by staying away from the lecture organised in his honour.
The lecture was attended by eminent Nigerians including Chief Hope Harriman, Chief Bisi Akande, Engr. Funsho Williams, Professors Ayo Ibidapo-Obe and Ayo Banjo, Mrs. Ayo Obe, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, Dr. Frederick Fasheun, Chief Ayo Opadokun and Chief Dele Ajomale among others.
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