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Nigeria: N'delta Unfairly Treated, Says Soyinka
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This Day (Lagos)
11 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Omon-Julius Onabu
Warri
Nobel Laureate, Professor 'Wole Soyinka, has attributed the wave of violence and militancy in the Niger-Niger to many years of injustice perpetrated against the people of the region by successive governments in Nigeria.
He stressed that the spate of crises had been engendered through the flouting of what he called "the Law of Natural Returns" in the way and manner the valuable resources of the region have been tapped.
Delivering the maiden Annual Public Lecture organized by the chief executive of Flomat Books Limited, Dr Athony Akpokene, at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Effurun-Warri, Friday, Soyinka warned that the country would continue to drift towards "a state of anomie" if the Government failed to allow the reign of unfettered Rule-of-Law in all ramifications.
The literary laureate, who said he had planned to speak on the topic "Towards Ecumenism in the Literary Canon", however, equally delivered a lecture on "The State of the Nation: The Way Forward for Nigeria ", because advertisement on the event had indicated to his audience in Warri he would speak on the latter subject.
The law of natural returns simply requires that "we must give back" to the source of your resources in commensurate measure, but observed that the evident squalor and misery in the Niger-Delta do not suggest that enough have been done for a region that produces the bulk of the country's income.
He also queried the decision of the Federal Government to conduct the trial of one of the leaders of Niger-Delta militant groups, Mr. Henry Okah, in secrecy, saying it placed a question mark on President Umaru Yar'Adua's orchestrated respect for the rule-of-law.
Soyinka said it was particularly nauseating, uncivilized and unacceptable that Okah is not only being "kept in a horrendous condition", but he has been denied fair access to his lawyers and relatives.
"I have a full dossier on this," he revealed saying, "Even his wife was subjected to all forms of dehumanising treatment" when she went to see her husband in detention.
"For the last eight years, this nation had lived a lawless existence", he lamented, saying the Yar'Adua administration must go the full hog in its pledge to promote the rule-of-law respect court decisions and judgments.
Where the Government does not obey the laws, or when the laws and court decisions are obeyed selectively, individuals and groups are practically given licence to draw up their own set of laws in order to ensure their survival, which engenders anarchy in the nation, he said.
Soyinka also challenged the various civil groups in Nigeria to brace up to their calling by being "more active in challenging all acts of injustice and bestiality in the society", whether perpetrated by the government or political, religious or other groups.
He wondered why the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), lawmakers, women groups, religious leaders and civil right groups have said very little about the inhuman treatment and cold-blooded murder of a female teacher who tried to stop students cheating during examinations in Bauchi State .
Speaking on "Towards Ecumenism in the Literary Canon", he stressed the need for a universal approach to the consideration, study and evaluation of all literary works, irrespective of their origin and cultural influences.
He warned against the spirit of delusion, which in the light of perceived success could make the literary scholars and students believe they were self-sufficient.
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People across the globe should, irrespective of their cultural and religious backgrounds, be receptive of the literary and scriptoral reservoirs from lamds other than their own, because there would always be something to inspire by, Soyikna posited.
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