I feel sad each time I think of what Nigeria has become —Professor Bolaji Akinyemi

Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, a professor of Political Science, a former Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and an elder statesman, in this interview by SAM NWAOKO, speaks on a number of issues including the state of the nation.

We understand that you desire that Ayo Olopon should be integrated into global sports as we have other sports that are common in global sporting events. Where did this idea come from or what is the philosophy behind it sir?

There are other sports that are not indigenous to us but which are finding their way into the Olympics basket of sports. You have for example figure skating, skate-boarding and so on. Even swimming is not indigenous to us. Ayo is something that is indigenous to us in Africa and we have exported it to everywhere where the black man is. That is really wide, and at least we will be able to win more gold medals than the rest of the world who have their own special sports.

You are saying that since judo is indigenous to the Japanese, karate is indigenous to the Chinese and taekwondo is indigenous to Korea, we should have Ayo Olopon in the same class? What about Dambe that is played in northern Nigeria?

Ayo Olopon is the one I have been fascinated by since my youth. There is also Durbar that is indigenous to the North and polo too. So, I am speaking about the one that I am very familiar with.

Do you play Ayo Olopon?

I used to, although I am not very good at it. I can never win a game against someone who is first class in the game.

You must have been hearing the things being said about the structure of the government of President Bola Tinubu. Opinions about the government contend that it is ‘a Yoruba government’ and that Tinubu’s government has been Yorubanised. What is your take on this issue sir?

The issue was addressed by a popular columnist last Monday. He did that through statistics and showed the distribution of President Tinubu’s government in terms of balancing. He came to the conclusion that so far, it is a balanced government.

Do you agree with the conclusion of the column?

I do. You see, when you have about 48 ministers, by the time you mention about six to eight as coming from a particular area, you forget because you are coming with a fixed perception. You ignore others who may have just two per zone and you expect those people to be screaming but they are not screaming.

Your generation has seen the best of Nigeria. Would you describe what we are going through now as a country as the worst of times when compared to where we are coming from?

There are people who will say that the civil war period, starting from the coups in 1966 to 1970, was the worst period. They would say that that was the worst period in terms of the killings, the suffering, kwashiorkor which was the condition of the children and so on and so forth. Some people might say that was the worst period. For people like me who have known what it is for Nigeria to be a nation of surplus; a nation where there were progressive measures put in place to draw the poor upwards rather than pull the rich downwards; there was an explosion of children in school rather than what we have now — an explosion of children out of school, one cannot but feel bad. This is because, in terms of development, a country is supposed to make progress. It is not supposed to digress. Each time I think of what might have been in this country, I feel bad.

The latest in the thread of many developments in the country is the Japa syndrome. We are losing a lot of young people to greener pasture. What are your views about this sir?

This is not new. During the first coming of Buhari in 1983 to 1985, we had the same thing although that time it was called “Andrew checking out”. Again, it was the best brains leaving the country and in most cases, they never really came back. Nigeria is not a banana republic, the more you squeeze, the more the country produces, but we are using our own money to produce doctors, nurses, engineers who then go to further develop developed countries. We need these young people to build this country. We need them as the building blocks. The figures from the United Nations for sectoral development are so bad for Nigeria. Can you imagine if all those doctors we have lost had stayed behind, and all those nurses we have lost to the western countries had stayed behind? If they had stayed behind, the ratio of doctor to children would be far better. But I am not blaming those who are japaing. I am not blaming them because maybe if I were their age, I also would leave because there is a limit to which you can ask young people to make sacrifices.

What the government can do is to make sure measures are put in place that the new crop of doctors, new crop of nurses don’t japa as well but will stay behind. But, you have to address their conditions of service because there was a time when, before a medical doctor graduated, there would be a house waiting for him. They would give him a loan to buy a car. They would make his environment so comfortable that he doesn’t need to japa. But here where you produce doctors who, at times, may not find jobs? Can you imagine doctors not finding jobs? It is something I don’t understand. When they find job, the pay is so poor, it is like a pittance compared to what they would earn in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, even in England, Canada and the United States. So, you cannot ask them not to go. I am therefore saying that it is not just a question of salary, when government is evaluating policies designed to reverse the outflow of eminently qualified Nigerians, it is the totality of the package that should be looked at.

Could that have been part of the things that informed the strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC)? Do you see their strike resulting in anything meaningful for the country?

I think we just have to wait and see. I think it is unfortunate that the strike is targeting a government that is just over 100 days old in governance. It is like punishing the wrong person for an offence committed over a period of eight years. The timing of the strike is arguable. So we just have to wait and see.

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