The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Soyinka

  • Boko Haram members need to be re-educated, says Soyinka

    Boko Haram members need to be re-educated, says Soyinka

    •Amaechi: education reforms not yet effective •13,000 teachers to be employed

    Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has an answer to Boko Haram– re-education of its members.

    Soyinka spoke in Port Harcourt yesterday at the opening of a two-day Education Summit organised by the Rivers State Government.

    He said it was regrettable that Boko Haram members do not have sufficient knowledge of Islam, which they profess.

    The Nobel laureate was the chairman of the summit, with the theme “Enhancing Sustainable Development in Education”.

    He said: “These killers roaming around, saying that they hate western education, they are uneducated because they have been taught on a one-track lane.”

    Lamenting the rot in the nation’s education sector, Soyinka said the fraternity he formed to checkmate the injustice being done to university students has now been turned to a secret cult.

    The Nobel laureate said the decay in tertiary education was succinctly captured in Prof Rogers Makanjuola’s book, “Water must flow Uphill”, an account of his stewardship as the Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

    “The book is the account of the stewardship of Roger Makanjuola as VC.

    “When things reached a stage where a vice-chancellor is dragged down, beaten up, kidnapped in a bus, things have reached a serious situation.

    “I was not embarassed at all when I said we should close down all tertiary institutions for two-three years and go back and start again. Things have improved slightly.

    “But why should a vice-chancellor be treated in such a manner? Each page I turned I found myself resenting the society that produced the students.

    “That is why I am here to support any effort to revamp education. The rot in universities is trickling down to secondary schools.”

    Governor Rotimi Amaechi said after five years of massive reforms in the education sector ,not much has been achieved.

    Amaechi said an impact assessment report on education service delivery was appalling.

    The governor said the state has scored only 50 percent in respect of teachers’ attendance in schools.

    He directed the Ministry of Education to issue employment letters to the 13,000 teachers, who had been interviewed earlier.

    Amaechi also spoke of impromptu visits to schools, which revealed management gaps.

    “If you ask me, not much has happened since the retreat in Calabar. If you see the impact assessment report, it is a bit appalling.

    “We shouldn’t be deceived by the facade of infrastructural development.

    “We should not politicise education at all to get votes. You go to our primary schools, they look beautiful outside. When you visit they put on the generator for you, when you leave they put it off.

    “The head teacher will tell you there is no diesel. This is no longer government because we have provided funds but a management problem.”

    Apart from challenges with the maintenance of facilities, the governor said he discovered sharp practices by head teachers.

    “I went to a school and met a man who said he came to pay school fees.

    “The head teacher denied, but after pressure said it was exam levy, which even the government has paid for.

    “ I entered into a classroom and all the children were sitting on the floor.

    “I asked them how many had not paid exam levy and they started crying because they said their parents could not pay.

    “I called the commissioner to suspend the head teacher immediately and I told him he would have to refund the money he collected.

    “Since I started visiting schools, teachers now stay in the schools because they don’t know when I will visit.”

    In his keynote address, Prof Ayo Banjo pointed out the need to revamp teacher training education, because of the lack of depth of trained teachers in their subjects.

    “If the standard of secondary schools are to be raised, teachers should be graduates in their teaching subjects before they train as teachers as was done before,” he said.

     

  • Holloway, Soyinka unfold plans for Black Heritage Festival

    Holloway, Soyinka unfold plans for Black Heritage Festival

    The Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Disun Holloway, and Prof. Wole Soyinka have unfolded plans for the hosting of this year’s Black Heritage Festival in Lagos.

    Holloway, at a press conference in Lagos, said the festival would be of immense economic benefit to Lagosians and provide a source of relaxation for residents of the state and foreigners alike.

    Holloway added that the annual event, which has come to stay, would further empower the youths, pointing out that materials for the week-long festival were being sourced locally.

    The commissioner, who is also the Chairman of the Carnival Committee, maintained that the Black Heritage Festival would also provide an avenue for people of different strata to meet and relax. He reiterated the present administration’s resolve to make Lagos State the preferred destination of business and tourism, noting, however, that government could not do it alone.

    Holloway, therefore, called on sponsors from the organized private sector to invest in the event as part of their social responsibilities to the state and its people.

    Also speaking,Professor Soyinka, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the festival, said all logistics had been put in place for a hitch-free event.

    Disclosing that the hosting of the event was part of government’s determination to preserve the cultural heritage of Lagosians, Soyinka added that people from all parts of the world are expected in Lagos to experience the excitement of the festival.

    Events marking the Water Regatta will include engine power boat racing, swimming, search and rescue demonstration and the traditional boat regatta tagged “The Black in the Mediterranean Blue and the African Colours of Brazil”.

    Other events lined up are drama, dance, exhibitions, symposium, music and street carnival.

    The week-long festival is to commence on Saturday, March 23 and climax on Easter Monday, April 1″.

  • Naija 7wonders commends Wole Soyinka for Benin Moat visit

    The Seven wonders of Nigeria project Director, Mr. Ikechi Uko has commended Prof Wole Soyinka for visiting one of the least known of the 7 wonders of Nigeria site, the Benin Moat.

    The Moat is one of the seven wonders of Nigeria and last week, the Nobel Laureate paid a visit to the Moat on behalf of UNESCO.

    According to Mr. UKo of all the seven wonders sites in Nigeri, the Benin Moat has received the least attention from government and the people of Edo State as a tourist attraction. Uko believes that the visit to the moat by someone as important and prominent as Prof. Soyinka draws attention to the Moat.

    He said the Naija 7 wonders team has had problems organizing an expedition to Benin to study and draw global attention to one of the greatest works of man in Nigeria and is thrilled that the Prof has helped the cause with his visit.

    The expedition to the moat is expected to happen this year if all the necessary logistics are in place.

    In another development, Uko is proposing to build an Aviation Musuem for Nigeria using the abandoned aircraft as exhibits.

    In a proposal he developed for the aviation managers, he suggested that Naija 7wonders be allowed to develop an Aviation Musuem in Nigeria that will warehouse some of the disused aircraft.

    Nigeria needs an Aviation Musuem with a hall of fame that will inform, preserve and promote Aviation history of Nigeria, the players and the incidents that have shaped the industry over the years. This Musuem will fit properly with the transformation agenda of the government of leaving lasting legacies. It is part of the ideals set out by the seven wonders of Nigeria project which is to present Nigeria in a new light to grow national pride and generate tourism income.

    An Aviation museum, the first of it’s kind in this region will attract tourism traffic and will educate and empower a new generation of aviators. Instead of destroying the aircrafts, they can be put to beneficial use in educating the youths and drawing tourism income. Some of the aircraft are out of production and can be treated as vintage crafts if well packaged.

    Naija7wonders is proposing to work with the authorities to make this project a success in the shortest possible time using time tested methods.

    As a travel promoter I do know that with the cooperation of stakeholders the Musuem will be up and running within a calendar year.

    Naija 7 wonders is the search for the unique wonders of Nigeria, a project started with over 50 judges including journalists, tour operators and other professionals. After 24 months, seven unique sites were chosen as the seven wonders of Nigeria. These sites are , Obudu mountain resort, Sukur landscape in Adamawa, Oke Idanre in Ondo State, Benin moat, Kano walls, Osun groove and National war Musuem Umuahia.

    The second phase of the project is the differentiation and promotion of the sites and an Aviation Musuem sits properly on that list, considering the impact Aviation has had on Nigerias history.

  • Immortalise Dele Giwa, says Soyinka

    The Africa Today Group publisher, Mr Kayode Soyinka, a very close associate of Dele Giwa, who was with the late journalist when the letter bomb exploded, said justice eluded the mother as the killers were never found or brought to book in her life. He also called for Giwa’s immortalisation.

    He said: “We saw her last on the day Dele was buried at his village near Auchi in Edo State. She was a very strong mother whose pain was the most harrowing, especially being alive not just to witness the death of her son, but seeing the most heartless way in which he was killed. And she lived through the almost 27 years after Dele’s letter bomb assassination in hope of getting justice for the killing of her son. But justice eluded her.

    “When we marked the 25th Anniversary of Dele’s death, I wrote a personal letter to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, appealing to him to do something in Lagos to immortalise Dele Giwa – just like Beko Ransome-Kuti, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, to mention but a few. Dele deserves it.

    “But my letter to the governor was not even dignified with a response and that pained me. I want to believe that the governor did not receive it. Mind you, I deliberately made it private then and did not give it to the press.

    “Now that mama has now gone to join her iconic son, I appeal to all Nigerians to join me in begging our amiable Lagos State Governor to erect a statue in an appropriate garden in Lagos State, may be near where he was assassinated, in memory of Nigeria’s Prince of Press Freedom – Dele Giwa. May mama’s soul rest in peace. God Bless her soul.”

     

  • ‘Eso was a man among men’

    ‘Eso was a man among men’

    • Soyinka, CJN, others extol jurist

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called for the amendment of the Federal Character provision that a married woman must continue to be regarded as being from her state of origin in national appointments.

    NBA President Okey Wali (SAN) made the call during a special court session in honour of the late Kayode Eso by the Supreme Court. “The NBA calls on the National Assembly to as a matter of urgent National importance effect amendment of Paragraph 2 of Part II of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, e.t.c.) Act Subsidiary Legislation,” Wali said.

    The paragraph states: “A married woman shall continue to lay claim to her state of origin for the purpose of implementation of the Federal Character Formulae at the national level’’.

    Wali said the provision is against equity, good conscience and natural justice to expect a woman who has been married for decades to get national appointment from her state of birth, called her state of origin, by this Act.

    He faulted the National Assembly for asking Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Maryam Mukhtar to swear in Justice Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo.

    She was not sworn in because her place of origin (Anambra) is different from her husband’s state (Abia) where she had been serving as a judge.

    Wali said the lawmakers’ “directive” to the CJN was a “mis-step” which would be forgiven for its good intentions though ill-informed.

    According to him, the CJN acted in accordance with the law when she did not swear in Jombo-Ofo.

    Wali said: “Rather than, the last mis-step in issuing directives to the judiciary, which we excuse, as we believe that they were motivated by the best of intentions, but apparently without information, we urge the National Assembly to amend the law.

    “It would be most sacrilegious to expect the Chief justice of Nigeria, to act in breach of the law, against her oath of office to uphold the constitution and laws of the land.”

    Wali described Eso as an apostle of true federalism, regretting that Nigeria was still far from getting it right.

    “Nigerian federalism has been diluted to the point of being unrecognisable as a federal system.

    “Following the unified command structure of the military, military regimes in Nigeria, while retaining the names Federal Republic of Nigeria and Federal Government of Nigeria frankly ran Nigeria as a unitary state.

    “Yet, even under those coercive and dictatorial regimes, Kayode Eso was able to insist that ‘the bedrock of federalism lies in each tier of government being a master in it’s domain’

    “Under the freshly installed civilian Shagari Administration, Kayode Eso wrote in Attorney General of Ogun State v Attorney-General of the Federation: ‘Each of the States Legislative Assemblies and the National Assembly is sovereign in its House.’”

    Wali re-iterated his stance that one area which has witnessed serial violations of the rights of the Nigerian people is in the area of internal security.

    He said: “Thousands of persons have lost their lives on account of bombings and destruction associated with the current insurgency in Nigeria.

    “Thousands of persons have been displaced and properties worth billions of naira destroyed.

    “We now have more orphans and widows who cannot explain the offence their loved ones committed that led to their death.

    “Insurgents with no clearly defined mission and ideology have unleashed mindless destruction of innocent lives and property and the situation does not seem to be abating.

    “We call on all individuals and organisations with any form of grievance to table those grievances for public discussion.

    “Targeting innocent persons and their properties in a mindless orgy of violence can only create a lawless society and can never lead to political and economic progress.

    “On the other hand, hundreds of insurgents have been extra judicially executed.

    “Hundreds of insurgents have been detained for over one year in various detention centres operated by the Military, the State Security Service and other military and paramilitary formations with no prospect of a trial.

    “It seems therefore that while the insurgents are violating the rights of the Nigerian people through extra-judicial executions and mindless bombings, the security agencies have also been engaged in extra judicial executions and unlawful and unconstitutional detention of insurgents.”

    Wali said even the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke (SAN) had expressed his anxieties about extra-judicial killings and flagrant violation of rights of citizens.

    The NBA President said: “The NBA hereby calls on the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, to please take the next necessary step of ensuring the investigation of all allegations of extra-judicial executions and torture levelled against the various branches of the security agencies, and ensure prosecution of culprits.

    “Our country must at all times be a country built on Rule of Law and due process.

    “We assure the AGF of the co-operation of the NBA in this exercise.

    “The NBA also calls on the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of pending criminal justice bills at the National Assembly, particularly the amendment to the Terrorism Act.

    “It must be hands on for all concerned. As our contribution to finding solution to the problems of insecurity in our country, the NBA Summit on peace and security is slated for the 30th and 31st of January, 2013.”

    Wali said the association is in support of Justice Mukhtar with regards to her abiding by the law as regards the swearing in of Justice Jombo-Ofo.

    “The NBA congratulates, commends and stands in support of His Lordship the CJN for upholding the laws of the land.

    “May that day never come, when we will be at liberty to pick between good and bad laws to be obeyed or flouted.

    “All laws of the land are to be obeyed, unless and until amended or repealed.”

    The association condolled with the Eso family.

    Wali said: “I titled my speech ‘Kayode Eso- Nothing to Add’ because the jurist we celebrate today never needed prefixes or suffixes to his name to underline his importance. His name was always enough.

    “He was Honourable Justice Kayode Eso JSC, but if you called his name without the prefix and suffix, you did him no harm.

    “He was Kayode Eso LLD, but

    just say the name without those honorary letters.

    “He was Dr Kayode Eso, but he never used that prefix. His name was always enough.

    “His name alone evoked honour and learning. His name drew standing ovations wherever he went.

    “I give the condolences of the NBA, to his widow, his immediate and extended families.

    “The NBA mourned Kayode Eso with these words, ‘‘He would be remembered as the man who not only brought courage, judicial activism and fearlessness upon his job as Judicial Officer, but also as the man who placed the legal profession on a pedestal of integrity and dignity.

    “This is indeed a great loss, to the legal profession and the country, but we must thank God for his gift, and worthy life.

    “The challenge is for us to sustain his legacy.

    “Wole Soyinka, another Nigerian whose name is enough, mourned Kayode Eso with these words: ‘At the feast of afterlife . . . Kayode Eso will be seated, in a place of high honour.’

    “Wole Soyinka and Kayode Eso were related, in the Emersonian sense.

    “Like Denning, Soyinka met Eso in court. Unlike Denning, Soyinka did not sit with Eso as a brother judge. Soyinka stood upright in the dock.

    “Eso sat upright on the bench. Eso looked into Soyinka’s soul. Soyinka stared at the bench, taking the measure of the jurist.

    “The mystery gunman and the mystery lawman gazed at each other. Neither blinked. They were related- they were fearless souls.

    “Soyinka was the mystery gunman defendant in a criminal trial over which Eso presided.

    “They recognised in each other an

    indefatigable compatriot determined to advance their nation’s march to civilisation.

    “Soyinka saw in Eso an incorruptible judge, an upright judge who rejected compromise and pursued justice.

    “Wole Soyinka’s intellectual forerunner, William Shakespeare, /prefigured Kayode Eso when he wrote: ‘His life was gentle; and the elements So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, THIS WAS A MAN!

     

  • Soyinka: corruption is Nigeria’s unifying factor

    Soyinka: corruption is Nigeria’s unifying factor

    Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka yesterday lamented that corruption has become so endemic in the country that it now serves as a unifying factor and a national lexicon understood by everyone in the country.

    Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu called for a total war against it.

    Speaking at the Second Annual Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu National Literary Colloquium in Minna, the literary giant said: “Corruption unites us, very few things unites us in Nigeria as corruption does.”

    He regretted that corruption “is being played up to our national lifestyle instead of treating the cankerworm with total disgust.”

    Said he: “Corruption is now a status symbol in the country that has eaten deep into our national fabric and has dampened the development of the country.”

    According to him, “corruption does not have tribal, ethnic or religious differences. It is a language understood by everyone in Nigeria today.”

    The Nobel laureate also condemned the spate of bombings and kidnappings in several parts of the country. He said the reasons advanced by perpetrators of the various criminal activities in the country are not justifiable and tenable in any responsible society.

    He faulted a claim that bombings in the North were as a result of the neglect of the region, just as he argued that kidnappers should not hinged their nefarious activities on unemployment, but because of greed and criminal tendency to deprive others of their legitimate freedom.

    Hitting hard on the spate of bombings and killings of innocent people in the North, Soyinka said: “We must be able to distinguish between taking up arms against the government and declaring war on the nation and its people.”

    He described the late novelist Cyprian Ekwensi as a “great thinker” whose works preached messages of unity and harmony among Nigerians.

    Soyinka praised the acclaimed author, who was born in Niger State. He spoke at the inauguration of an e-library in Ekwensi’s honour in Minna, as part of the Second Annual Muazu Babangida Aliyu (MBA) National Literary Colloquium. He urged young writers to take a cue from Ekwensi’s example.

    The poet-dramatist said: “The works of Cyprian Ekwensi cut across ethnic divides and promoted national unity. What we are celebrating today is an evocation that breaks petty dividing lines. Cyprian Ekwensi’s work was a revelation to many of us. He introduced this part of the world to many of us in the South.”

    He noted that the move by the Niger State Government to immortalise the late writer would re-establish the values of national unity and empathy in Nigerians, adding that it would also promote education and literary works, especially in the North.

    Aliyu said the fight against corruption should be total, adding that the battle should be accorded the same seriousness used in fighting terrorism in other nations.

     

  • LBHF: Soyinka denies marginalising Badagry

    LBHF: Soyinka denies marginalising Badagry

    Allegations of marginalisation trailed this year’s edition of the yearly Lagos Black Heritage Festival (LBHF). Some critics in Badagry accused the organisers of poor representation. But Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka dismissed such claims as unfounded, reports ASSISTANT EDITOR ARTS OZOLUA UHAKHEME.

    Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has denied that Badagry was left out in the planning of the yearly Lagos Black Heritage Festival (LBHF). The people of Badagry, he said, had always been involved in the festival each year since inception. Soyinka also dismissed claims that the festival is skewed towards intellectual discussions at the expense of promoting tourism.

    “We involved Badagry people from the beginning. We visited them and spoke to the community leaders and we involved them in the entire process of the festival. Unfortunately, the next thing we get was blackmail by some people. Some even accused us of not encouraging tourism. That is not true,” he said.

    Soyinka, who spoke in Lagos on the theme of next year’s edition of the festival, however, cautioned Badagry people to stop creating problems for the organisers of the festival. He stressed that every participant must follow the culture of the festival.

    “If I take on any assignment and even if I am to remove it from a difficult place and stage the festival in my house in Abeokuta, it will still be called Lagos Black Heritage Festival,” he added.

    He said Brazil would be the focus for next year’s festival, which would feature exhibition of arts and crafts, souvenirs and mementoes from Brazilians. He said the festival would examine how Nigeria and Brazil influence each other while ‘reminding ourselves of our extension and inviting our kinsmen home.’

    “Our target this year is Brazil, especially when its black culture is a lived reality. It is a spiritual thing which I rarely encounter in the Diaspora. In fact, Brazilians are so emotional about black culture. It is a restoration, analysis and celebration event.

    “We are trying to remind ourselves of our extensions and to invite our people from Diaspora to come here and recover in a very direct and possible way, an enriching way what they have left behind. We want to understand the reason why the closeness we have been developing between Nigeria and Brazil suddenly broke or disappeared. We are planning a big reunion,” he said. According to him, the festival would focus on Cuba in 2014 and Colombia in 2015. Soyinka explained that combination of many factors such as the festival is an opportunity for the youths or Nigerians in Diaspora to learn about their heritage.

    The festival ambassador, Erelu Abiola Dosumu recalled that when she was first contacted to be part of the festival, she was confused adding that with time, the festival became very exciting. She described the festival as a true representation of what we have as a people adding that it is all about tourism, re-union and celebration.

  • How Africa’s economy can grow, by Fashola, Soyinka, others

    How Africa’s economy can grow, by Fashola, Soyinka, others

    Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka and Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) have said Africa can develop through more functional cooperation.

    Soyinka said if China could develop the way it has in the last 10 years, then the rest of Africa, including Nigeria, could also grow.

    Fashola believes Africa holds the key to its development, and must use it to unlock doors of opportunity.

    They spoke at this year’s Kuramo Conference in Lagos, convened by Fashola, which had the theme: The Global Commonwealth.

    Highpoint of the conference was the launch of the Lagos Court of Arbitration, an international alternative dispute resolution platform.

    Soyinka, who chaired the event, said there can be no development without quality education for the citizenry. He said million have been subjected to a very narrow definition of education.

    According to him, application of technology will reduce what he described as “single-source thinking.”

    He said the internet, which lies at the heart of the knowledge economy, with its infinite capacity to aggregate data, connect people, mediate access and support transactionary exchanges, is a perfect tool to drive growth.

    “A lot of the solutions to the problems Africa faces will lie in the realms of technological innovation,” he said.

    Soyinka agreed that corruption works against development, saying it may require “shock treatment” to end it. He said it manifests itself in many aspects, such as in what he called “unconstitutional appendages of elected people.”

    He cited Rwanda as an instance, where government officials were barred from using official vehicles and not allowed to go abroad for medical treatment.

    Soyinka said corruption is so commonplace that the wife a local government chairman drives around in an official vehicle.

    He hailed the conference organisers, saying: “We might come out of this with the first Kuramo Socialist Manifesto.” Fashola urged African leaders to take their destiny in their hands.

    He said: “We hold the key, and we must use it to unlock the door that leads us to the vast promise of our endowed continent.

    “We must no longer hand over the key to others to unlock the door for us. The reason is simple. They will go through the doorway before we do.

    “This time it is incumbent upon us to walk through those doors ahead of our partners or at least side by side.

    “We must draw on the lessons of our past and build on the successes of the present.

    “We must not continue to wait for the West and the East to come to us; we must export Africa to the world.

    “We must ensure that we use this window of opportunity to secure the future of the generation of young Africans who look to us for leadership so that the problems of hunger, famine, poverty and under-development on our continent are overcome now and not in any distant future. This is what Kuramo is all about.”

    Keynote speeches were delivered by Director, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University, Prof Paul Collier and international economist Dr Dambisa Moyo.

    The conference drew experts from various public and private sectors including law, business, finance, media and entertainment, energy and the environment with the aim of covering emerging issues tailored to address advocacy and policy required to shape global decision-making.

    Other notable issues to be discussed include the role of the creative industries in supporting local economies, the recovery of stolen oil wealth from public coffers, solutions to addressing contentious energy solutions, conflict resolution in Africa, as well as consumer rights in developing economies.

    Former Lagos Attorney-General and Chairman, Kuramo Conference Committee, Mr Olasupo Shasore (SAN) said the essence of the conference was to present “a policy crossroads.”

    “We believe that policy is an all-important tool for development. Policy must be brought from the richness of dialogue, consultation, interaction and innovation.

    “There has been a yawning gap in international for a for private and public sector interaction on policy matters. We have lacked that platform to exchange African ideas and African answers to global challenges.

    “Kuramo was conceived to drive an issue-based development agenda. These conferences are designed to set that agenda from the deliberations of delegates and the network of professionals that attend.”

    Shasore also spoke on what has been achieved from the last Kuramo conference. “We have directly produced a model draft bill for the recovery of proceeds of crime by forfeiture. We have noticed a percentage increase in educational budgeting (even though the issues exceed more budget allocation).

    “We have encouraged non-governmental action in the area of access to knowledge; the future of has also been addressed by the launch of the Lagos Court of Arbitration and finally, a true consolidated title to property bill in the municipal Lagos is now imminent.”

    Collier said Nigeria’s government has the challenge of oil management. Three factors are crucial in getting, he said. They include rules, institutions and a credible mass of informed citizens.

    He said the country’s education system is failing, describing many of the teachers as “functionally illiterate”, a failure management of schools. Collier suggested experimenting with “something different,” such as such as state-financed, but not state-managed schools.

    He cited Ghana as an example of a country providing a legal environment that makes it possible to run universities well, which he said explains why students and teachers from across the world go to Ghana.

    “Without reforming your schools, you really have no future. You best brains will get on the plane and leave your country. The aim should be to get them back,” Collier said.

    Collier praised Fashola’s development efforts, saying: “Fashola inherited decades of missed opportunities which he is now putting right.”

    He identified areas needing more as housing, as “most people in Lagos are badly housed” and “slums are dysfunctional for the economy as well.”

    Collier said Nigeria should learn from its history of missed opportunities. “You have been through an oil boom in the 70s and nothing was achieved with it. Now, you’re going through another boom. You need to learn from history, not repeat it.”

    Moyo says the problem with Africa lies in poor execution of policies. “We’re doing a very bad job of execution. We have to figure out the best way to execute,” she said, adding that corruption, cronyism, opaque processes and subsidies remains banes of development.

    According to her, some public officials feel that public coffers are private coffers; therefore punishment for corruption must be made more stringent.

    Moyo said many African leaders lack self-respect, which is why some of them have no shame “in going around begging for money when they preside over enormous resources.”

    She added: “If you’re using public funds to send your children abroad to school, then there’s something inherently wrong with that.”

    Fashola also spoke on the essence of Kuramo. “It is about knowledge, improvement and influence. Kuramo is also a confluence of ideas to tackle and consider from a unique African perspective, the issues that challenge us globally.

    “Kuramo will continue to provide a platform for public and private sector collaboration to drive international development in Africa and secure a better economic future for ourselves.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

    But Kuramo is so much more than that.

    “Kuramo is about alternative thinking, because we take the view that alternative, innovative ideas are the key to the future. We must turn normalcy around; we must stand things on their heads; we must push back the frontiers; we must literally rattle the cage to stimulate innovation and pursue creative solutions to global problems.

    “Recently all 47 members of the United Nations Human Rights Council declared that access to the internet and online freedom of expression is a basic human right. But internet access in Africa is limited by a far lower penetration rate than the rest of the world.

    “How we can help to shape policy that can bridge this and other gaps are one of the issues that concerns Kuramo.”

  • Boko Haram must be fought, says Soyinka

    Boko Haram must be fought, says Soyinka

    Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka is against dialogue between the Federal Government and the fundamentalist sect Boko Haram.

    “This is a violent organization. What do you do with them? I’m sorry but you must fight them,” Soyinka said.

    The 1986 Nobel Prize winner in Literature spoke to IPS during a visit to the United Nations on the International Day of Peace.

    The International Day of Peace was celebrated on September 21with a debate about how to build a global culture of tolerance. Among the participants were superstar actor Forest Whitaker, economist Jeffrey Sachs and Soyinka.

    After his speech, Soyinka spoke to IPS about the situation Nigeria, where Boko Haram has been responsible for thousands of deaths and the bombings of many churches, the Police Headquarters and the UN office in Abuja.

    Boko Haram (western education is a sin) is seeking to establish sharia law in the country.

    “We have an organisation which closes down schools, shoots faculty teachers, knocks out children and turns most of the north into an educational wasteland. How can we reach the children there? We must first get rid of Boko Haram,” Soyinka said.

    “We have a contradiction,” he acknowledged. “How do we get rid of Boko Haram? Violence must become involved. That is a dilemma.”

    Calling for armed intervention on Peace Day may certainly seem like a paradox. But Soyinka’s call for attacking Boko Haram to stop the group’s attacks on schools made more sense after the debate, where speaker after speaker highlighted the importance of education to enable a global culture of peace to grow.

     

    As stipulated in the 1999 Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, the United Nations’ primary goal is to “create and maintain world peace” through economic, social and political agreements, and in the worst cases through military intervention.

    For such a framework to succeed, a foundation of peace and a culture of tolerance must to be built. A cornerstone in building this culture is inculcating respect for others in children.

    “The real weapon of mass destruction is ignorance,” said British-Iranian philanthropist Nasser David Khalili, one of the speakers during the event to emphasise the importance of schooling, building a culture of peace. “The solution must be education.”

    Sachs, a professor of sustainable development at Columbia University, said: “As an economist it strikes me… how hunger and poverty are incendiary parts of war.”

    He added: In the Sahel region of Mali this summer, for example, a famine sparked conflict between nomads and farmers over access to water.”

    Sachs drew attention to the fact that critical issues, such as these, receive too little attention, describing the great frustration he felt as he failed to raise money from the World Bank on behalf of Mali. “Shout Al-Qaeda, and you get millions for missiles. But try to do something preventive, and you do not get anything.”

    He urged global leaders to invest in “development rather than military”. Globally, “we are spending more than 10 times more on the military than we do on development,” Sachs said. “In the U.S., the rate is 30 to one.”

     

  • Soyinka on Bakassi: people must decide where to belong

    Soyinka on Bakassi: people must decide where to belong

    •79th birthday lecture for Braithwaite holds in Lagos

    Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka yesterday flayed the Federal Government for trading off the disputed Bakassi Peninsula without regard for the wishes and interests of the people.

    He said the controversy has not ended because the inhabitants, who were not consulted, were seriously injured, pointing out that the United Nations has respect for the people’s dignity and  feelings.

    Soyinka also spoke on the evils of capitalism, berating the state, which he described as an entrepreneurial arm of the society, for creating inequitable relationship between workers and employers of labour.

    The eminent scholar delivered a lecture in Lagos titled: “Corporate gains and human deficits”. The public lecture organised by a non-governmental organisation, ‘Women Arise’, was part of activities marking the 79th birthday of the revolutionary lawyer, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite. The event, which held at the Oranmiyan Hall, Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja and chaired by Prof Akin Oyebode, was witnessed by former Kaduna State Governor Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) President Mrs. Priscilla Kuye, National Chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Mr. Yinusa Tanko, rights activists Debo Adeniran, Mallam Shetima Yerima, Mr. Kunle Ajibade, Mr. Femi Kuti and Yeni Kuti.

    Braithwaite, who was accompanied by his medical doctor -wife, Simisola, cut his birthday cake, amid cheers by well-wishers.

    Former University of Ado-Ekiti Vice Chancellor Prof. Oyebode hailed the decision of the group, led by Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, to honour Braithwaite, stressing that it is better to celebrate heroes when they are still alive. Paying tribute to the celebrator, the legal scholar observed that, despite his noble birth, he joined the struggle for the liberation of the masses.

    Dr. Okei-Odumakin described the celebrator as a great activist, legal surgeon, role model and lifewire of the rights movement, adding that he is a man of constant conscience.

    Soyinka revisited the Bakassi Peninsula controversy, saying that it is a testing ground for corporate integrity. He lamented that the disputed settlement in Cross River State was traded off between Nigeria and Cameroun.

    The retired university don doubted if the wishes, feelings and interests of the people were considered by the International Court of Justice sitting in The Hague, Netherlands. He said the attachment to the land by the displaced people superseded the government’s desire to trade off the settlement.

    Soyinka rejected the argument of stakeholders that military action could resolve the hurdle, warning that it could herald protracted litigations.

    He said: “There must be a plebiscite to decide where the people want to be. What the people of Bakassi want for themselves. Do they want to be Nigerians or Cameroonians. The people must be given a voice to express themselves”.

    The Nobel Laureate spoke on the evil of capitalism, which, he said, is characterised by the deadness of human feelings, adding that since it cannot put on a human face, its practice had led to upheavals and rupturing of the society.

    Alluding to the scenario in Pakistan where 200 workers who were locked up in a workplace to prevent work shift evasion died in a fire, he decried the societal laxity and penchant for accumulation which  made the system to thrive.

    Soyinka lamented the killing of the cottage industry in the North by smuggling, recalling that since the garment industry was shut down, unemployment had soared in the region.

    He said  unemployed youths have become willing recruits into armed robbery and extreme religious indoctrination.

    Soyinka juxtaposed the class division in capitalism with the apartheid experience in South Africa, noting that citizens whose psyche has been affected have never shown positive attitude to many who aided the historic liberation struggle.

    He said during these harsh times, the lowering of the unemployment ration, in Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia and other poor countries could boost security.

    The literary icon warned that danger would continue to loom as kidnapping has become a lucrative business undertaken by members of movements claiming to be fighting for genuine causes.

    Soyinka said it was also worrisome that sects indulge in using the name of God to inflict pains, agony and sorrow on fellow citizens, warning that Nigeria may be on the verge of disintegration.

    He berated the acts of “corporate terror”, which has manifested in increased activities of “the destroyers of Northern Nigeria”.

    Stressing that havoc had been wreaked on the country since the outcome of the last presidential election, Soyinka added: “Boko Haram targets the masses, okada men and children. Complacency is no more an acceptable virtue. Armed robbers stopped a moving bus and raped passangers, including children. NYSC members are killed by animals.

    “Boko Haram has not really waged war against the state, but against the populace. The sect is wasting human asset as it has manifested in attacks on universities.”

    Soyinka paid tributes to Braithwaite, saying that he is a stubborn, principled and great man.

    Oyebode, who spoke before the Nobel Laureate, said: “If Soyinka belongs to a wasted generation, then, I may belong to a lost generation because my generation came after his generation.”

    He hailed Braithwaite’s consistency, doggedness and commitment to a better Nigeria. He said his  notable and enviable contributions as a lawyer and radical politician who intended to exterminate rats and mosquitoes from the country since the Second Republic were worthy of recognition.

    Oyebode stresed: “He had a mission to exterminate rats and mosquitoes from Nigeria. What he meant by that were the ‘10 percenters’, and exploiters who had let Nigeria down. Although, the Nigeria Advanced Party (NAP) did not fulfill its mission, he made his impact. But rats and mosquitoes have continued to fester. Corruption is on the increase.

    “Common thieves found their ways into the corridors of power. Ibori could not be convicted in Nigeria. He escaped Nigerian justice, but he could not escape British justice.”