Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka yesterday,
Monday, November 23, showed his dissatisfaction over pupils who wear
school uniforms that depict their religion in Nigeria.
Talking at the inauguration of a N750m school named after
him which was built by the Osun State Government in Ejigbo,
Soyinka warned against dividing the pupils along religious lines by
allowing them wear uniforms that typified their religious affiliations.
He went further to point out that the feeling of holier than thou was
one of the factors that brought about the abduction of the Chibok girls
by Boko Haram insurgents.
Soyinka also lambasted the federal government for not being able to
rescue the kidnapped Chibok girls since they were abducted by Boko
Haram. He described it as a “shame” on the federal government.
He said:
“One of the ways we can reduce this fatalistic sense of
holiness is to reduce the element of difference. I wish to implore that
we do not distinguish our children by their religions. In schools, we
need not distinguish our children, the fatalistic religious holiness and
the holier-than-thou attitude must be reduced among our pupils. It is a
shame that the nation cannot account for over 200 girls in Chibok.
I sympathize with the religious policy of governments in school;
children must not be brought up feeling that religion inhibits
knowledge.”
Meanwhile Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state has asked Nigerians to plead with Soyinka not to resign as the chairman of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU).
The governor said Soyinka’s position as chairman would help in the
establishment of a bigger project of the building of the Yoruba world
heritage centre in Ile Ife.
