Soyinka Calls For Devolution Of Power

The Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Shoyinka has advocated for regional cooperation and devolution of power from the centre in the country.

Soyinka made the call yesterday during a lecture and interactive session with students and stakeholders of Akwa Ibom State at the Government House Banquet Hall, Uyo.

In his lecture titled: “Celebration of Good Governance,” Prof. Soyinka lauded Governor Godswill? Akpabio’s? leadership style describing it as “a quantum leap in development” of the state he last visited 12 years ago.

He said that there was nothing wrong with the idea of community policing which he noted was the surest way of curbing crime at the local level.

The Nobel Laureate however disagreed with the condemnation that has trailed the appointment of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, as a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Government, arguing that, “after all? the lady in question is not constitutionally disqualified from the office.”

Prof. Soyinka condemned the Boko Haram insurgency, describing it as “a manifestation of a virulent religious backwardness “and called for the streamlining of education in Nigeria especially at the tertiary level.