Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has said for the sake of sanity, one must imagine that the administration of President, Muhammadu Buhari, does not exist.
He said this in a recent interview with Kaftan TV onboard Lagos-Ibadan train service.
“I don’t want to talk about Muhammadu Buhari’s administration,” Mr Soyinka, a professor of literature said when asked if the train is a plus to Buhari’s administration, in the video posted on the TV’s site Monday.
“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 added that, “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,” he said
The Nobel laureate said the train would boost commerce and transform people’s mentality.
Mr Soyinka recalled how as a young boy he rode on trains to school from Abeokuta-Lagos-Ibadan, adding that the traffic congestion had now deteriorated in recent times.
“I have spent hours on the road between Lagos and Abeokuta. A few weeks ago at the launching of my novel in Abeokuta, I left Lagos…. The journey took about seven hours,” he 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.” Mr Soyinka said.
