Soyinka urges youths to participate in politics

The Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has advised the nation’s youths to be more serious about having representatives at the seat of power in the next political dispensation by participating in the election and ensuring that the youths are well represented in the government.

Soyinka said the ruling old politicians had failed the country as they had no answer to the disaster currently hitting the country.

The don stated this while speaking with journalists after the second convocation lecture he delivered at the Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Ondo State on Thursday evening.

He said, “All I can just tell you (youths) is this, don’t make the mistake of following those who failed you before; those who are pretending that they have nothing to do with the disaster that has overtaken Nigeria.

“ They are very quick to smell failure, they are very quick to shout it; but then, they exculpate themselves, whereas they are the founding malfeasance of the Nigerian condition. That is what I am warning youths against. Mobilise  and get your representatives and stop bothering geriatrics like myself. “

At the lecture titled, ‘Tending the tree of commencement,’ the renowned novelist and playwright frowned on the scrapping of History in the secondary school curriculum, saying as a result of the development, many people had forgotten their historical backgrounds.

The Chairman of the lecture and a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Ayo Banjo, said there was a need for the country to pay attention to the training of teachers.

He said teaching would be difficult if the teachers were not well paid, adding that there could not be good service without money.

Banjo noted that education would improve if there was an improvement in the environment and teaching quality.

“If you want education to be improved in Nigeria, there should be more funding, more money to provide conducive environment; more money for training of teachers. For instance, you cannot be in the army without having frequent training. Army do not joke with training; every three or four years, they go for update of their training.

“ There is need for more money to train teachers and for them to remain in the service,” Banjo stated.