Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has alerted the people of Nigeria of the worsened level of insecurity “she is in a war zone that people now sleep with one eye open”.
He said Nigeria “is not only at war but also is in a war zone”. He cautioned that Nigerian leaders must allow decentralization of governance and accepted that they had failed.
Soyinka was speaking at the launching of his new novel titled, ‘Chronicles Of The Happiest People On Earth’ held at Terra Kulture Arena, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Soyinka declared “except our leaders allow a decentralization of governance and accept that they have failed, we might have a new set of conflagration along different lines unlike before.
“I think we are not merely at war, we are in a war zone,” he maintained.
“The term, one eye open and one eye close has become a common parlance everywhere” he said.
On whether things have changed since independence, Soyinka said nothing had not really changed, adding that the more things seemed to be changing, the more they remained the same.
He condemned the dependence of Nigerians on religion, adding that it reduced our humanity. ” it is only when Nigerians learn to reduce their total dependence on religion, that is the only way they can habit with it.”
