It’s madness to think Nigeria will work – Soyinka


Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Saturday, restated his position on restructuring Nigeria, stating that the country cannot work under the current system of government.

The Nigerian author made the assertion at the 2021 Obafemi Awolowo Lecture titled, ‘Whither Nigeria?’ which was organised by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation.

Soyinka, who emphasised decentralisation of power and governance, cited the current security challenges as one of the reasons Nigeria needed to be restructured.

“There is a consensus that this country whether in terms of governance, economic relations, security, educational policy, cultural policy, etc, requires restructuring. Even the word ‘restructuring’ has been restructured in many directions, in cogent expression which will mean the same thing for everybody.

“For me, for instance, I emphasised decentralisation, reconfiguration…We all know what we have now is not working, it’s obvious and we can’t continue along the same line and say that it will work, it is sign of madness,” he said.

Recall that the elder statesman had in January 2021, urged the National Assembly to listen to calls for the restructuring of Nigeria, while lamenting the state of corruption in the country.

According to him, the lawmakers had the powers and moral authority to respond to the calls if the Presidency is not doing so.