Past confabs deceitful, Nigeria must decentralise – Soyinka

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Thursday, said previous national conferences organised to address the challenges facing Nigeria were deceitful, saying the exercises were merely held to pacify aggrieved Nigerians.

Soyinka said this while delivering a public lecture in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Punch Nigeria Limited.

The public lecture, held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, had attendees from all walks of life such as government officials, military top brass, media chiefs, captains of industry, and members of the civil society, among others.

Founded in March 1973, The Punch, clocked 50 on March 18 last year, but its board of directors moved the 50th-anniversary celebration to this year because the anniversary month fell within an election month and year.

In the public lecture titled, ‘Recovering the Narrative’, Soyinka said decentralisation was key for the country to be self-sufficient in food production.

The Nobel laureate noted that past national conferences about the decentralisation of Nigeria were mere distractions and charades, saying they came with the organisers having different agendas in mind.

In 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan organised a national conference that brought together individuals from across the nation, regardless of political affiliations. The conference discussed restructuring and made various recommendations, which have not been implemented since it was held a decade ago.

Similarly, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, during his tenure, also organised a national conference in 2005 aimed at restructuring the country. Still, the report was not implemented because of the ex-president’s third-term agenda.

Soyinka noted that the word ‘restructuring’ refused to disappear, despite evasion by one elected leader after another, even as it meant different things for different people.

However, he said some politicians were afraid of restructuring as they interpreted it to mean the dissolution of the country.

As a result, Soyinka said he preferred to use expressions like reconfiguration and decentralisation instead of restructuring.

“When the word restructuring is booted around, we often have the challenge, what do you mean by restructuring? Well, I don’t even like the word restructuring, I prefer the expressions like reconfiguration, decentralisation. And those who lead us, they recognise the necessity of it, they recognise the importance and almost the inevitability of decentralisation until they get in power.

“Reconstruction, reconfiguration, decentralisation, all this is necessary to maximise development,” he said.

Speaking about food insecurity, Soyinka maintained that decentralisation would be essential to address hunger and lack of productivity among the citizenry.

“We speak about food hunger because it is real. But palliatives are temporary stop-gap policies. They do not reach the heart of the problem. This is why we need to decentralise development as massively as possible.

“To anticipate accustomed banal responses, let me state quite clearly that no one has ever claimed that decentralisation – a precise word I personally prefer – will end hunger in the land or terminate religious conflicts and other forms of national malaise, no. We simply insist that this is central to the incomplete mission of – nation-being. It is essential to activities of basic existence such as food production, and access to such products.

“Palliatives remain crude, short-term, stop-gap measures only. As a veteran of food security working conferences from Uganda to India, from Paris to Sochi, I insist that, for a nation to be food self-sufficient, and sustainably, decentralisation is the key, not collectivisation”.

The playwright emphasised, “Reconstruction, decentralisation is not a slogan, and it is time we stop the pretence. Decentralisation conferences have been proved to be mere distractions, especially by those who have a different agenda in mind, such as third term agenda.’’

He minced no words when he stressed that the time had come for decentralisation, saying, “It’s about time leaders stopped taking this nation for a ride. You know we must decentralise. Security has become a bugbear, from all corners of the nation, that has been the cry. Decentralise simply so that government can come closer to the people and productivity can really be manifested as a product of citizens, not as manna from heaven. That is the attitude obtained at the moment.

“Those who come in power have indulged in pretend exercises, engaging the populace in totally phony exercises – obviously just to “pacify the natives”. It is surely time this demand be taken seriously and addressed head-on.

“There is no shortage of reasoned and implementable propositions in past conference papers, including even sham, money-guzzling initiatives, summoned to distract attention from conspiracies for self-perpetuation in power. It is high time we stopped the cyclic distraction of re-inventing the wheel. The spokes are in place, the rims intact. Only the will, not the wheel, is missing in action.”

However, he remarked that ‘it does not mean that nothing of value has come out of some of the conferences we’ve had in the past. No! So, the tones are there. People have worked out proposals, in spite of even knowing that they have been brought together for a charade.’

Speaking about one of the past national conferences, he said, “One of our obas in Ogun State came to me to say, ‘it going to happen, and we have nominated you to go and represent us’. I said, ‘well, he’s going nowhere’. He came back later to say, ‘You were right. It was proper wayo (deceit), they wasted our time. He said they fed us well o, They gave us allowances, but it’s all a waste of time.”

He also demanded justice for the late editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa, who was assassinated 37 years ago, and Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, who was stoned to death by her mates in 2022 for alleged blasphemy.

He said people’s representatives must come together to discuss the basis for Nigeria’s unity, adding that any part not satisfied should be free to “take a walk.”

Soyinka stated “I know that the fear here is one of collapse, breakup; that has been the excuse being given by several regimes. But suppose the nation is breaking up informally, in other words, as a fact, rather than as theory, aren’t you better just address this, come straight on, and see exactly what happened? What is wrong with general representatives sitting down and saying, this should be the protocols of association? Anything outside of this, anyone who does not want to accept these protocols, abide by these protocols, and manifest these protocols in the act, should take a walk.

“I have no problem at all, with even what is known as a nation beginning as a vast football field and ending up as a ping-pong table. If that is going to restore dignity to citizens, if that is going to guarantee three square meals a day, then so be it.

“Permit me to end with one of my extreme convictions – I call it extreme, but it is nonetheless a product of history – including contemporary actualities – if you don’t believe me, just cast your gaze in the direction of Ukraine, of Gaza, or the Horn of Africa. That conviction has weathered time and localities, and declares, quite simply: Let nations die, that humanity may live!”

Harping on restructuring, he said, “The present contraption is not working – neither economically, developmentally, or even as a material expression of any functional social philosophy.”

He called on the press to play its role, stating. “The press, needless to urge has a crucial role to play in this! However, be it noted that the press is only one of the enabling estates – all arms of governance, most pertinently, at the state level, have a propulsive, even commanding role to play in the effort.

“Repeatedly, backed by constitutional authorities, both publicly and privately, we have pointed out to them that there is sufficient constitutional leeway in the present protocols of association – if I may quote myself unapologetically – to “push the envelope as far as it can go without actually bursting” – if the centre continues to shirk away from this now strident imperative. I repeat that wearisome call yet again. There can be no further evasion”.

The literary icon also warned against military coups in Africa, especially as being witnessed in Niger and other francophone countries.