NOBEL Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Sunday, said he graduated
with Second Class Upper Division and not Third Class Honour from the
University College, Ibadan, as widely believed.
He said this while fielding questions from 79 secondary school
students drawn from different parts of the country, in Abeokuta, the
Ogun State capital, as part of 2013 Open Door Series project, “Memoirs
of Our Future,” an international cultural exchange programme organised
to mark his 79th birthday.
The programme was organised by a Lagos-based multi-media company, Zmirage, in collaboration with the Ogun State government.
Soyinka told the students that he decided to open up on the matter as
a mark of respect for them, while urging the students, especially those
living in violence-prone areas of the North, not to be discouraged by
the activities of Boko Haram.
He admonished the students not to be satisfied with failure, but to
strive to be the best in all their undertakings, while tasking President
Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government and state governors to
eliminate barriers and create conducive environment for Nigerians to
access qualitative education.
The literary icon enjoined the students not to be discouraged by
certain negative events, but should rather draw inspiration from the
life of a 16-year-old Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in
the head on October 9, 2012 by Taliban fighters over her campaign for
girl-child education in Pakistan.
He told the students that Malala, on Friday, addressed the maiden
United Nations Youth Assembly, where she called on world leaders to
provide free education to all children and further vowed not to relent
in her campaign.
Professor Soyinka asked the federal and state governments to obtain
the speech of Malala and make it available to all libraries, schools and
archives, to serve as reference point for upcoming generations.
“It looks very negative and hopeless. We must not allow ourselves to
be discouraged. And the fact that people are still going to schools in
those areas (violence-prone areas of northern Nigeria) shows that we
should not be discouraged. You are not a complete human being if you are
not educated, schooled or cultured.
“No matter what goes around you, you (students) must insist on your
education. I am demanding from governors and the Federal Government to
obtain the speech of that young girl (Malala), burn it into CDs (compact
discs) and make it available to all libraries, schools and archives,”
he said.
Soyinka said he would have loved to become an architect or a trained
musician, and described his first teacher (one Mr Olagbaju) as his role
model.
“I would have loved to be an architect or a musician, not an amateur
but a trained one, and if I have the opportunity to sit behind a pilot
in the plane, I would have loved to be an airplane pilot. When I left
school, I wanted to be a journalist. I actually sat for an exam to be
absolved in Daily Times…but after the exam, I was told that I wrote a
short story and not a news story. So, I was not taken. Thank goodness, I
did not become a journalist,” he added.
The Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, had earlier urged the students not to relent in their educational pursuits.
He described Soyinka as “a world citizen,” while he also advised the
participants in the essay competition to emulate the life of the Nobel
Laureate.
Amosun later presented prizes to five winners of the essay competition.
The first prize went to Motolani Akinpelu of Oladipo Alayande School
of Science, Oke Bola, Ibadan, while the second prize went to Andrew
Adedero of Mount Saint Gabriel Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue State.
Tomisin Adebisi and Chukwu Winke of Lead City High School, Ibadan,
Oyo State and Dority International School, Aba, Abia State, jointly
emerged third, while Odiakosa Alfred of St. Charles Secondary School,
Onitsha, Enugu State, came fifth.
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It's a rumour, I didn’t graduate with third class - Soyinka
It's a rumour, I didn’t graduate with third class - Soyinka
CuteNaija
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Monday, July 15, 2013
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Soyinka, you have to be careful, you don't need to answer anything you hear as a great man you are, even if you graduated with pass, you have prove whom you are to the world and not the certificat you have, dont be like those that graduated with fist class, but they are educated illitrates, dont put yourself into stupid politics learn from late chinua Achebe.
ReplyDelete@ anonymous 6:28pm. He did not graduate with a 3rd Class. He needs to continually clarify that because of people like you. You seem to be one of many people spreading the unfounded thesis to justify their failure in school. You have to accept it now. Once again, Wole Soyinka did not graduate with a 3rd Class.
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