Nigerian Academy of Letters inducts new fellows

“If we undertake a historico–socio-political analysis of the Nigerian society and ongoing events and in­tegrate this with a prosopograhi­cal study of the dramatis personae in the Nigerian theatre project, it is quite pos­sible to metaphorically, symbolically and dramaturgically interpret the crisis as an interplay between the old and new national anthems,” said Prof. Francis Egbokhare of the Department of Linguistics and Af­rican Languages, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, during the 16^th convocation and investiture of new fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), which held at Main Auditorium, University of Lagos, re­...
cently.
In his lecture entitled “The Second Pledge: Differential and Variegated Citizenship and the Challenges of Nation Building,” Egbokhare observed that the national anthem at independence typified hope and aspiration. The energy that preceded and followed the independence, he said, was upbeat. He lamented, however, that the “new anthem is simply bathos energized in painful realities,” stressing that the two anthems typify two generations and two classes.
Egbokhare affirmed that citizenship provides the bedrock for national loyalty and patriotism and fosters a sense of group solidarity and mentorship, based on moral and spiritual worth and possibilities of man. “This, in turn, forms the basis of fraternity and relationship between man and man and man and state, while the worth of the individual underlies ethical citizenship,” he said.
The scholar remarked further that the highest duty of a state was a ethical one, while the greatest burden on its agents was moral. The state, he said, must model the highest level of standards in enforcing rights and the strictest application of laws and regulations to its agents, whole its agent should model the best possible moral agents as far as they constitute the greatest soft national assets or liability.
“The state must create an enabling environment for citizens to perform their obligations. The purpose or vision of a state is written down in its constitution or sung in Anthem and in the letters of the pledge. In human systems, unfortunately, people do not follow the letters of a document or find inspiration and their examples from the constitution or laws. They follow people, are inspired by people and get their definition of standards from people,” he said.
While noting that the worth of citizenship was connected to the value placed on human life by the state, the academic stated that obligations of the citizen were to legitimize the state. He added: “It follows that the onus is on the state through its agents to set standards and define the parameters that will form the basis for the performance of the obligations. The citizens take their cue from the state and may carry out obligations for which the state provides a frame of reference.”
Cognizant of the fact that state formation is not a natural process, he stressed the need for Nigeria to have highly skilled leaders with the normal and ethical standing, competence, as well as clarity of purpose to engineer the emergence of a nation. “Unfortunately, a proso-pographical examination of main actors in the Nigerian project to date show a debilitating ethnical shortcoming,” he said.
Emphasizing the need to restructure Nigeria, he said the country’s resort to Federal Character, zoning, federal revenue, etc, had been counter-productive. He called on Nigerians to address religious crisis in the country urgently, for “Boko Haram is a flame looking for fuel that will turn it into a conflagration”.
The newly inducted members of the academy included Profs. Olatunji Oloruntimehin (President), Olu Obafemi (Vice-President), Olutayo Charles Adesina (Secretary), Maduabuchi Dukor (Assistant Secretary), Francis Egbokhare (Treasurer), and Moses Makinde (General Editor). Profs. Emeritus Ayo Bamgbose (Foundation President) and Prof. Munzali Jibril (immediate past president) will serve as exco. Ex-officio members elected were Profs. Tekena Tamuno, Dan Izevbaye, Umar Ahmed and Ben Elugbe