Africa's beloved Nobel Laureate on rebranding Nigeria and ending corruption

Born on July 13, 1934, Wole Soyinka is 82 today!

Raised in the city of Abeokuta, Soyinka is among the exceptional class of writers that have made an overwhelming impact in the development of African literature.

Awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognized as a man “who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence”, he became the first African in Africa and in Diaspora to be so honoured.

Wole Soyinka in an interview with Adenike Fagade, Onyeka Nwelue and Ayodele Arigbabu in 2010 speaks on rebranding Nigeria and ending corruption.

Having written brilliant books on governance in Nigeria, Soyinka offers an apt metaphor for the essence of rebranding Nigeria:

"The reputation, the re-branding of the Nigerian nation must begin within Nigeria itself. It’s not going to take place with junkets across the continents of the world, it’s not going to take place by taking – as they say – an entourage… attending conferences all over the place."

He adds:

"It’s not re-branding, it’s a fundamental internal change within the country itself. It’s a kind of internal transformation which puts an end to glaring open corruption, a loss of confidence in the electoral system parading itself as democracy instead of putting an end to the prosecution of those who are already regarded as attempting to change the corrupt image of Nigeria."

In a sentiment that calls to mind Chinua Achebe’s timeless clarion call for punishing corrupt officials, Soyinka adds:

"It’s got to go towards ending the culture of celebrating those who are known felons, known criminals, known corrupt agents of society in Nigeria, who however are celebrated and paraded as true representatives of Nigeria. It starts instinctively, not carrying caravans, milking the nation of estacodes- exorbitant daily allowances; that’s not what’s going to do it, that’s not transformation."

In a separate interview conducted by Punch, Soyinka concludes by calling on President Buhari to consider the report of the 2014 National Conference convened during the tenure of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, lamenting that the country had been moving round in circles without direction:

“We have a habit of consigning files to the dust shelves and then we start all over again. The (confab) report that came under Jonathan is even more superior to the one that I participated in as a member of PRONACO and I think that should be addressed seriously.

“The recommendations strike me as workable, practical, and in fact, as answering some of the anxieties of this nation. This is something I think that Buhari should tackle seriously,”

Read the interview in its entirety here.

Complement this with more life-earned wisdom from Muritala Muhammed and Dora Akunyili .

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