Renowned Nigerian poet and intellectual, Odia Ofeimun, has said that if President Bola Tinubu, fails to deliver on the promise of his office by doing right by Nigerians, then the people will turn against him.
Speaking at the January Reading and Writers Dialogue put together by the Abuja Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Ofeimun asserted that there are several forces especially from the West, that are militating against the president’s drive to do that which is right for his people.
He, however, stressed that if out of fear for threats posed by these foreign forces, the president fails to put things in order within the country, then it will be the turn of Nigerians to fight him.
“If today, Tinubu tries to do it right, they will fight him, but if because they will fight him, he refuses to do it right; it is our turn to fight him,” Ofeimun declared.
Harping specifically on education which he argues must be made free in Nigeria, Mr Ofeimun said every president should subscribe to the free education idea for the benefit of the Nigerian Child.
“Because in my study of human development, whether in economy or political science classes, I had come to agree that the societies who give free education are more likely to be developed society than others.
“The Chinese today are outstripping the Americans because America is making it difficult; you need to be dripping blood from your body in order to get something good, even in education.
“But you see what Chinese have done is that by keeping the ground level, every child is in a position to contribute to what can wipe out whatever difficulties in the society. They do not have to be supported by state in order to think. As long as they can think, they can outstrip whatever any state affair might put in their way.
“If you are giving a society of 400 farmers and you turn all of them into educated people and you have a sense of technology that can enable every member of that society to contribute to it, they dominate any society. What our leaders are doing by not giving education the kind of outstanding responsibilities that we should do in our society is that they are impoverishing every one of us.
“If you produce two bars of clothes every day and you train one person to do what 200 can do, you do not need to go to the society and worry because you already know the society is already in front and it will remain in front; which is why the Chinese are building roads over water everywhere.
“Think of the population of 250 million people, each of them is producing as they should, Nigeria will take care of the whole of Africa,” Ofeimun stated.
Speaking on the role of the poet as the conscience of society, Ofeimun stressed that activism is an integral part of the poet’s calling.
While noting that it is heartwarming to see young poets – especially those inclined to spokenword, carry on with activist-poetry, Ofeimun however, said that most of these young poets think they do not need a script for their pieces, but they couldn’t be more wrong.
“The poets who speak on stage who enjoy not having a script are actually showing that the activist spirit is not to be dampened in human society.
“The only problem I have with them is that they seem to think that they don’t need a script, every poet needs a script and human memory unless prolonged and defended never really sustains itself,” the polemicist stressed.
Known for his outspokenness on socio-political issues, the renowned poet also weighed in on the issue of Artificial Intelligence and the fear that AI might superintend over human imagination.
“No! AI will not destroy us,” Ofeimun proclaimed, even as he noted that many innovations of this nature which initially were feared, have turned out to be an extension of human memory.
He argued that it is not possible that AI will dictate our future without first becoming an instrument of human imagination.
Addressing again certain negative foreign influences on Nigeria’s politics, Ofeimun advised Nigerians to support each other and not allow sentiments divide them.
“If your brother is doing it, don’t turn your back; you must have a basis for interacting with that brother such that if tomorrow those who colonized us return again, the means with which they conquered us, whether it is knowledge, guns, or whatever, will be something that we can share.
“After we have finished fighting with ourselves, we turn our guns on those who came after, if we don’t learn to do, we will not have a country,” Ofeimun admonished.