By Anote Ajeluorou and Greg Austin Nwakunor
Although there’s an explosion of wealth in the
country, Nigerians are yet to feel its real impact in their lives, as those
managing it fritter it away on frivolous things. Also, Nigeria’s dream of
becoming a great nation was aborted at independence when it was handed over to
those who were unwilling for that historic event.
These were the submissions of elder
statesman, poet and playwright, Prof. JP Clark in Port Harcourt two days ago at
the weeklong events heralding that city’s hosting of UNESCO World Book Capital
2014 at Hotel Presidential. It was at the ‘Meet the Author’ event, with Clark
on the hot seat to respond to issues of literary and national significance.
The first African to be appointed to a
chair in English in a university again noted that the on-going National
Conference might yield little or no result because most of the delegates in
attendance understood very little or nothing of English, Nigeria’s official
language communication and business. “Many of those at the National Conference
don’t know the English language, our language of official business,” he stated.
Clark, who was already writing serious
poetry as an undergraduate in the days leading up to independence, said rather
grimly, “The departing British didn’t hand over to those Nigerians who really
wanted independence. Nigerian wasn’t handed over to those who fought for
independence like Herbert Macuallay, Nnamdi Azikiwe or Obafemi Awolowo. Only a
hollow crown was given to Zik. If political power was handed over to those who
left University College, Ibadan (UCI), I wonder what would have happened to
Nigeria by now; things would have been different. These were mostly Government
College graduates, who competed in games and understood the spirit of
competition. Nigerians’ gaining power wouldn’t have been a ‘do or die’ affair.
“But those of us graduates from UCI were
lured into the public service. The British handed over power in the darkness to
the unwilling and we now see the result of that”.
Clark robustly defended the charge of
theirs being a ‘wasted generation’, as was previously asserted by his friend,
literary colleague and Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, saying that on the
contrary, theirs wasn’t a wasted one because of what they have achieved in
their different fields. He stated, “We were a distinguished class; we weren’t
wasted; we achieved a lot. How could ours be a wasted generation when we
produced the greatest literature (of this country and continent)? There’s a
dysfunctionality in the polity. Soyinka said ours was a great waste of assets
(because we didn’t direct our energy to the political field)”.
He condemned the kind politics being
played in the country, saying it negates all commonsense and efforts at genuine
development, adding,. “Today, politics is all about contesting elections even
four years ahead. You win a seat today but instead of sitting down and
providing service like giving better education to pupils and so on, the
politicians spend their time thinking of the next election.
“In our time, we had scholarship provided
for us by the state. I got scholarship to study at Government College, Ughelli
and at UCI. We were provided free meals; our beds were made up for us. There’s
an explosion of wealth these days, but we don’t spend it on things that matter.
What we need is good use of the wealth. Our wealth is in the wrong hands and not
being managed properly.”
He, therefore, sued for the participation
of the entire citizenry in the democratic process so as to achieve a critical
mass that would help entrench a process that would ensure the best people get
into public office.
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