Soyinka decries continued captivity of Chibok girls

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has decried the continued keeping in captivity of the students of the Government Girls Secondary School,Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram insurgents. He stated that the girls had been dehumanised and brutalised, adding that the situation was more worrisome as nobody could say what had become of them. Soyinka spoke as a guest lecturer during the third convocation of the Kwara State University, Malete, Kwara State on Saturday. The lecture was titled, ‘Faith, science and imagination in the temple of knowledge.’ No fewer than 853 graduands were conferred with various Bachelor’s degrees from the institution’s five colleges. Soyinka added that it was disheartening that the abducted girls had not been rescued about 60 weeks after their kidnap. Soyinka also described as sad the continued closure of the University of Maiduguri as a result of Boko Haram onslaught. The Nobel Laureate cautioned against the use of knowledge to inflict sufferings on or destroy humanity, adding that everybody must continue to contribute to societal security and welfare of the people. Soyinka said, “I will like to suggest that both nationally and internationally, the iconic image and symbol of the struggle we are still undergoing today remains the image of numbers of young school pupils whom we handed over to the enemies of education. All of them are still missing; I will like to suggest that the iconic image of that struggle is the photographs of those young pupils in the open air taken by the brutal captors and broadcast all over the newspapers, international media, YouTube, internet etc. “That image which was published so widely and was taken by their enemies in a gloating manner was meant to strike at our self-consciousness as human beings, as parents and as citizens. I don’t know about other people but that image hurts me even up till today, even when I am not looking at it.” He added, “It is an irony in these days and age especially if one considers another image. Today is known as the age of internet when information flies across space without physical intervention, where reality has taken over the age of fantasy; that it is the same age where self-appointed, sanctimonious interpreters of the will of God in countries like Somalia decree that human beings engaging in handshake with the opposite sex must have their hands amputated. “The kidnapped pupils were potential doctors when we sent them to take their first qualifying examination; up till today we cannot say whether they are alive, whether they are in slavery or had been sold off. All we know is that they have been dehumanised, brutalised and their childhood taken away from them. Sometime I wonder whether we are speaking of a remote, newly discovered planet or we are speaking of this very planet on which you and I are standing today. Soyinka said further, “Their captors are not without knowledge; they have learnt how to make bombs. They pride themselves in killing and maiming in absolute fidelity to corrupted ideology. They may have acquired even the most rudimentary knowledge of how humanity makes those weapons of destruction but they have failed to acquire how humanity sticks together as beings of the same species; they exist on fragmented zones devoid of any holistic crack of the human phenomenon in its entirety.” He added, “The question is, where is our sister University of Maiduguri today? Its disappearance from the nation’s knowledge landscape: who bears the ultimate responsibility? “The temple of learning must be patented. There is no other option for the ultimate triumph of humanity over bigotry and hate than the solid foundation of the edifice that must house community of learning. And that learning applies to all, irrespective of belonging and gender. I saw a heart-warming poster left over from the election campaigns as I was driven into the street of Ilorin yesterday and it said ‘no woman no nation.’” KWASU’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah said the university received a high impact grant of N3bn from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund adding that it was the highest ever gotten by the institution.