For the Black World’s First Nobel Prize Winner in Literature, Prof Wole Soyinka, the jury is in on the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari as the Nobel laureate has submitted that Buhari has failed Nigerians on his handling of the country’s insecurity challenges.
Soyinka spoke on Sunday at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State while hosting 85 pupils drawn from all the six geopolitical zones of the country as part of activities to mark his 85th birthday.
Assessing Buhari’s government, Soyinka said Nigeria’s problems had overwhelmed the President, calling for a national dialogue among all the people across party and ethnic lines.
On his opinion about governance in Nigeria, Soyinka said: “Governance is a very difficult occupation; Nigeria is a very complex nation for a 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.
“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 alienate 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.
“The major problem that we have is successive governments; it is easier, on the state level, to say that this particular state is doing better than this state, but the central government, I am afraid, has failed and that is my view in the main to really serve the people intelligently, creatively and be even handed in their apportionment of facilities to various areas of the nation.
“Look at what is happening today, how is it possible for me to say for instance that I am pro 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 being massacred 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. 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. So, I am afraid I am waiting for you to grow up and become president.”
Soyinka was born on July 13, 1934.
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