Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka said 2020 was the most “pessimistic year” he had known in the history of Nigeria, even as he returned a damming verdict that nobody seemed to be in charge of the country.
Soyinka spoke at the Booksellers, venue of the presentation of his new book, “Chronicles of the Happiest People on Earth”, a book with over 500 pages which took him about 40 years to write.
The professor of literature said “the uncertainty about who runs the country makes such times even more troubling than the coronavirus pandemic.”
“With the turbulence that characterises year 2020, and as activities wind down, the mood has been repugnant and very negative.
“I don’t want to sound pessimistic but this is one of the most pessimistic years I have known in this nation and it wasn’t just because of COVID-19, no. Natural disasters had happened elsewhere but how have they managed to take such in their strides?” Soyinka asked.
He continued: “Was calamity as a result of human negligence or as a result of malignant activities when people find themselves under the control of other beings which I am afraid what most Nigerians find themselves in? It is like you don’t know from where the blow would descend. That is not the way a nation should be and that is not the way the citizens should exist.
“Situation has reached a point where you are not very sure of where you are going and where you will end it. As I had said before, you don’t believe, in many instances, that anybody is in charge. That, really, it is a parlous condition for any nation. So, I am afraid it has not been a very good year for me generally.”
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