“We are sitting under a cloud of heavy embarrassment, shame of the feeling of dereliction, sullen responsibility towards children. We are sitting under a cloud of impotence, of a calamity that was not without notice, and whose myriad causes is quite discernible. We are here because of education because we will never stop learning till death. This cloud is made up of a sense of humiliation. We sent our children on an errand and they did not return. The errand is what we are celebrating today. The errand was to prepare the children for today but they never came back, that is what we cannot allow ourselves to forget.” – Wole Soyinka, speaking at the 2014 Foundation Day Anniversary and Convocation Ceremonies of the University of Ibadan, where he was honoured with Doctor of Letters honourary degree.

Everywhere you turn in the country, there is that cloud that seems to block the sights and ultimately settle on the sheaf of hair that conceals the brain. Especially now that it’s harmattan season, anyone would see the fog.

As if that was not enough to prevent clear, penetrating sight that goes beyond the immediate, we all produce all manners of smoke and contribute to the heavy cloud that we sit under; smokes from assorted cigarette brands, exhausted cloudy or sometimes blackish fumes from exhaust pipes, firewood smokes and the leftover ashes and so on. Continue reading SMOKE, CLOUD, SMOKE: A BID TO BE-FOJU (NAY, BEFUDDLE) NIGERIANS by ‘Lakunle Jaiyesimi →