Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Monday, noted that he does not want to talk about President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for the sake of his sanity.
He, however, described the Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan railway as a long-overdue project. The playwright stated this during an interview with Kaftan TV.
Soyinka when asked if the railway project is a plus to the current government, he said, “I don’t want to talk about Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. I think it is best for my sanity just to avoid that overall question. I can take bits and pieces of Nigeria’s present predicament but I think for one’s sense of balance, one must forget the existence of the Buhari administration.”
He said he has seen roads in Nigeria for years as a death trap while rail transport had been neglected. He said on two occasions he had spent over six hours on the road from Lagos to Abeokuta.
Wole Soyinka while speaking on the train project said, “It is a work in progress but it is a very impressive work in progress considering the difficulty of really executing anything in this country… I think we are looking at a virtual transport revolution which is long overdue.”
“I have spent, on the road between Lagos and Abeokuta six hours. A few weeks ago at the launching of my novel in Abeokuta, I left Lagos…. The journey took about seven hours,” Soyinka said.
Soyinka added, “I had an engagement in Lagos which I nearly postponed because of the road but for some time I have been saying wait a minute, this thing (train) is supposed to be running and I checked the timetables and I said if I catch the train in Abeokuta I would be in Lagos in an hour and a half, I would be picked up, run around quickly, do my business and here I am.”
“I left Abeokuta this morning, I am going back to Abeokuta to eat my Ilafun (yam/cassava flour) and I am going to sleep in my bed this evening. It is marvellous. That is what one has been doing in Europe. Why has it taken so long for that to happen here? It is sad but at the same time, let’s be glad it is happening.”
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