GUARDIAN LECTURE 

LITERARY icon, Professor Chinua Achebe, relived, yesterday, his journey to Nigerian citizenship, saying Nigeria for now remained “a child who is intelligent, endowed, gifted but wayward.”

The occasion was The Guardian lecture in Lagos where the Prime Minister of Kenya, Mr. Raila Odinga

LITERARY icon, Professor Chinua Achebe

He spoke on “Democracy and the Challenge of Civil Governance in Africa,” and said democracy was the same everywhere whether in Africa, Europe or America.

Professor Achebe who spoke to the audience through teleconference on “What Nigeria means to me,”confessed that becoming “Nigerian” was quite an experience. His first International Passport identified him as a British Protected Person, which to him was to owe allegiance to the British Empire. Growing up in his native Ogidi town and as an Igbo, allegiance to the community was  priority.

In his own rating, the Igbo were difficult to rule by the British because of their disdain for central government structure. This led to the dislike of the Igbo by the British, who thought the ethnic group wanted a break-away from Nigeria. This eventually became the paradox of the Biafran saga.

For 30 months, Professor Achebe said he was a non-Nigerian, describing that period as a time when his allegiance was to the Biafran state. Before the civil war, many Igbo were in jail for sedition charges and had participated in UN Peace Keeping efforts in the Congo. This situation was at variance with the notion that Igbo wanted to leave Nigeria.

During the second coup in Nigeria, he said he was almost killed as soldiers were sent to pick him up from his office at Radio Nigeria, where he was the Director of External Broadcasting. His crime was that he wrote a satire about an African nation that was corrupt when military coups were a common place. The idea behind the writing of the book was to scare the polity from getting involved in such corrupt attitudes.

To save his life, he was forced to leave the country. This was the first time that his country was going after his life.

Professor Achebe blamed the Federal Government for the wanton murder of Igbo prior to the civil war. He said he experienced a profound feeling of disappointment in the country at that time. He, however, has forgiven Nigeria.

In redefining his relationship with Nigeria, he will not reject her, but it will not be business as usual.

According to him, the first anthem that was created by a British house wife referred to the country as a “Mother” while the second one written by a Nigerian, which to him is no better than the first, referred to the country as a “father.”

“Nigeria is neither my father nor my mother, but a child, who is intelligent, endowed, gifted but wayward,” Professor Achebe said.

He said as a child, Nigeria needs help and has not got the generation that would refer to it as a father or mother. He asked all Nigerians to help the country grow by contributing to her development.

Earlier in a  keynote address to the gathering, President Umaru Yar’Adua called on Nigerians to underscore the need for peace as a major contribution to national development.

In his speech read by Mr. John Odey, Minister of Information and Communication, the President cited the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) framework document adopted by the African Union in July 2001 which advocated peace as one of the necessary pillars for the development of the continent.

This, according to him, is very important and key to the achievement of the goals set out in the 7-point agenda of his administration.   

Mr. Odinga in his lecture said various definations refering to  “African, Chinese or Polish Democracies” were all fallacies, stressing that democracy is the same everywhere, as long as the basic tenets are applied.

“The problem in Africa is that we are not applying or adapting aspects of our culture to governance,” Odinga stated. He said it was perplexing to note that the African continent was so rich but its citizens were the poorest in the world.

Quoting former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who said the exploitation of the African continent is like a scar on the conscience of the West, Odinga said the so-called investors in Africa were only interested in profits which would translate to shares dividends for investors.

“Only Africans can develop Africa, but because of the lack of inspirational leadership after independence, the continent is still in shackles of poverty. Having rejected multiparty systems in preference to single party, the opposition in most African countries have become extinct.

For these leaders, the West Minister style of governance was too cumbersome and thus single party structures became the order of the day. Which is no surprise that the continent produced the likes of Idi Amin, Omar Bongo, Emperor Bokassa, Marcias Ungwema Mbasogo, Robert Mugabe,” he said.

On aid to African, Odinga believed the African continent did not need aid from the West but more trade and investments opportunities. He advised that Africans should stop belly-aching about their colonial history and move ahead.

He cited the example of South Korea and Kenya who were at par some years ago, but today, Kenya is still where it was, while South Korea is miles ahead developmentally. However, Odinga said he was an Afro-optimist, who believes in the ability of Africans making Africa great.

Present on the occasion were Geneneral Yakubu Gowon, who was the chairman of the occasion;
Ghali Na’Abba, former Speaker of the House of Representatives; Mrs. Betty Oyo Odinga, with of the Kenyan Prime Minister; former Governors Segun Osoba and Donald Duke; Chief  JK Randle; Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, Publisher of ThisDay Newspaper; Chief Ajibola Ogunsola; Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi; Chief Hope Harriman and Ambassador Dele Cole among others.

He also criticised the AU leaders’ failure to stand against the actions of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, accusing many of theleaders of not being transparent in the moves to entrench democracy and democratic ideals in Africa.

“Even as Mugabe rigged himself into power, the AU failed to condemn his stance. This is because many of them had skeletons in their cupboards,” he said.

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