Professor Wole Soyinka has described Nigeria as a nation living
under a cloud of shame, embarrassment and feeling of dereliction.
The literary doyen observed that the Boko Haram sect was successfully taking over the country because of the incompetence of the government and lack of genuine leadership.
He spoke at the 2014 Foundation Day Anniversary and Convocation Ceremonies of the University of Ibadan, where he was honoured with Doctor of Letters honorary degree.
The Lion and the Jewel author, was honoured alongside Emeritus Professor Olufemi Ogunlesi, who became the oldest person to receive honorary award of the institution and businessman owner of Globacom Limited, Mike Adenuga.
Speaking at the event, Soyinka said it would be difficult to forget the plight of the abducted girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, seized by Boko Haram insurgents over six months ago.
He said, “This is a festive occasion but we are all sitting under a heavy cloud. We are sitting under a cloud of heavy embarrassment, shame of the feeling of dereliction, sullen responsibility towards children. We are sitting under a cloud of impotence, of a calamity that was not without notice, and whose myriad causes is quite discernible.
“We are here because of education because we will never stop learning till death. This cloud is made up of a sense of humiliation. We sent our children on an errand and they did not return. The errand is what we are celebrating today. The errand was to prepare the children for today but they never came back, that is what we cannot allow ourselves to forget.”
The literary doyen observed that the Boko Haram sect was successfully taking over the country because of the incompetence of the government and lack of genuine leadership.
He spoke at the 2014 Foundation Day Anniversary and Convocation Ceremonies of the University of Ibadan, where he was honoured with Doctor of Letters honorary degree.
The Lion and the Jewel author, was honoured alongside Emeritus Professor Olufemi Ogunlesi, who became the oldest person to receive honorary award of the institution and businessman owner of Globacom Limited, Mike Adenuga.
Speaking at the event, Soyinka said it would be difficult to forget the plight of the abducted girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, seized by Boko Haram insurgents over six months ago.
He said, “This is a festive occasion but we are all sitting under a heavy cloud. We are sitting under a cloud of heavy embarrassment, shame of the feeling of dereliction, sullen responsibility towards children. We are sitting under a cloud of impotence, of a calamity that was not without notice, and whose myriad causes is quite discernible.
“We are here because of education because we will never stop learning till death. This cloud is made up of a sense of humiliation. We sent our children on an errand and they did not return. The errand is what we are celebrating today. The errand was to prepare the children for today but they never came back, that is what we cannot allow ourselves to forget.”