By Henry Akubuiro
The Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) inducted new fellows at 26th convocation held at the University of Lagos recently, including 29 members into the academy, while former permanent secretary in the presidency, Dr. Bukar, was admitted as an honorary fellow. The honorary Fellowship is the highest honor that the Academy bestows on on deserving non members who have made significant contributions to the development of arts and humanities generally in the country.
The investiture ceremony predicated on Demagoguery and Democracy, was entitled, “The Challenge of Nigerian Democracy: Problem of the System or Its Managers”. The lecture was presented by Prof. Alkasum Abba.
The fellows include Overseas, Honourary and Awards of Excellence of Humanistic Practice: Profs. Tony Asabe Usman, Tony Afejuku, Florence Orabueze, Olukoya Ogen, Olatunji Oyeshile, Olusanjo Daramola, Emmanuel Emasealu, Cecilia Eme, Lendzemo Yuka, Abiodun Salawu, Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka, Hakeem Tijani, Drs. Buka Usman, Wale Okediran, Zeb Ejiro and Prof. Afis Oladuso.
In his address of welcome, the President of NAL, Prof. Sola Akinrinade, said the Academy exists to assist in driving the agenda in certain critical sectors of national life, adding, “Our interventions during the year have revolved around the theme of democratic development in the country and the role of the Humanities in the process. A principal question we have asked ourselves is this: ‘Has democracy, as practiced in this country during the past 25 years, benefited the lives of Nigerians’?”
He said, among others, “If we look around us carefully, we will admit that demagoguery has established a foothold in the Nigerian political space all the years of its post-independence existence, including even under military rule. Nigeria has had a chequered history with democratic practice. The Fourth Republic has witnessed 25 years of continuous experience with civilian governance. However, it is difficult to assert that the nation has succeeded in building democratic resilience given the constant manifestation of anti-democratic practices and lack of respect for the rule of law by various administrations since 1999.”
The guest lecturer, Prof. Abba, said it was high time Nigerians began to demand accountability from their leaders, lamenting over the monumental thefts that have been going on in the country since 1999. He noted: “Government after government organised cover-ups for their predecessors. Now, we have reached a dead end; no fuel, no power, no jobs, no security, no food etc. everyone is desperate.
“What we need to focus on is the dismal failures of the people we elected to run our governments. We need to demand for accountability from them and stop diverting our attention on this crucial issue; people who have denied our country electricity, good roads, vibrant economy, which are the essential ingredients for economic development by betraying our trust. They must be made to refund all monies stolen over the past 23 years.”
Speaking to Daily Sun, Dr. Bukar Usman, who addressed the gathering on behalf of all the award recipients, said, “I emphasised that, if you do good, good will speak for you. The other point I said is that everybody has the gene of writing. If you drop seed in the desert, if you water it, it will germinate. So don’t say nothing grows on a dessert.
“In terms of writing, I said whether it was the Academy of Letters or Science, they were all dealing with letters. The common thing was the academy. I mean, there is no way you can produce anything without reducing it to letters.
“I appreciate the honor given to us. There was a time I said there was no need for more honors and recognitions. But some people said the honors were not for me and for me to decide whether to accept it or not. On the face of it, I accepted this.
You have heard of how stringent they are to select the fellows. We thank them for the decision making process.”
The prolific author disclosed that he had more books on the way: “We hope to produce more books. “For so long people appreciate what I am doing and for so long as God gives me the opportunity, the strength and health to exercise my mind or my knowledge, I will still try to do it, and with your encouragement, too, because the media has not left me behind.”
“As you heard from the forum, people are appealing that Nigeria deserves better governance and for those of us who are from public service backgrounds, we feel concerned that some of these issues keep repeating. You can see we have done our best. Like Shakespeare said, we do our best and leave the stage for others. We keep doing our best. If the current generation doesn’t appreciate it, the future will find something useful.
“Shakespeare died centuries ago, but we are still reading him because of the ideas we have found in his books. So we try to publish good books. We have done a lot of research in folktales, about 4,000, some which are still awaiting publication.”
On what kept him going when he hardly sold his books, Usman said, “When we went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2016 where they honoured me for leadership qualities, I said to them: ‘do good; the good will speak for you, because I never went to Nsukka before, but my writings made me to reach there before my physical presence. For so long as people keep appreciating that what I am doing is good, that’s a great motivation. God has given me the wherewithal to fund my publication.
“I established the Bukar Usman Foundation primarily to help the underprivileged. We found that in the area of education, there is a gap to fill in terms of government failures. Why do you publish something and make it expensive for people to buy?
My involvement in publication is not to make money. I set out to share ideas and advance whatever opportunity about government policies, of which you know, I spent a better part of my life, and have some ideas to share; and I will continue to share it freely as much God gives me the wherewithal.”
Professor Tony Afejuku, speaking on the fellowship award, said: “The honor is certainly a very worthy acknowledgement of my literary and scholastic endeavors over my boisterous and fabulous career, which began right from ABU, Zaria in the tempestuous 1970s. Of course, my career terminated itself officially and mandatorily at UNIBEN not long ago.
“The honor is a testament to hard work and honest and genuine academic and literary industry. As a scholar and poet, I am thankful to NAL, arguably the biggest, largest, leading and best scholastic Academy in Humanistic Studies, at least, in sub-Saharan Africa, for the recognition and honor.”
Photo 1: Bukar Usman
Photo 2: LR: