Proff Soyinka Believes Internet Revolution Can Destroy Scholarship

Foremost Nigerian writer and Nobel
Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka warned
yesterday in Awka that if reasonable steps
were not taken, the current internet
revolution would destroy scholarship.
Delivering the 3rd Zik annual lecture at
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, " Soyinka said
the heavy reliance on internet for
academic activities would soon witness the
end of books as instrument for mind
development and potential building".
According to him, there has been so much
decline in writing and reading among the
younger generation and urged them not to
allow any primordial considerations to hinder
them from developing their innate potentials.
He observed that certain traditional,
religious and western teachings enslaved
Africans from exploiting their environment
and potentials, adding that the problems in
Nigeria today such as Boko Haram, which
could be attributed to poor mental
development occasioned by wrong teaching.
Speaking on the theme; "The Magic Lantern,
Excursions in the Creative Realm," Soyinka
said that the sun remained the magic lantern
of the entire universe which gave life to the
earth.
He said that such communication gadgets
like computers and IPAD were capable of
bringing an end to the culture of book
writing and reading, adding that the end
point should be how to find a way of
collaborating between book writing and use
of internet knowledge.
Their partnership, he stated, may have
witnessed a revolution in the communication
world, but regrettably has essentially
destroyed the realm of imagination in young
people.
He enjoined the young people to tap their
potentials and not allow certain primordial
factors within their environment inhibit them.
Special Adviser to President Goodluck
Jonathan on Inter Party Affairs, Senator Ben
Ndi Obi, who endowed the Zik lecture series,
said the project was started three years ago
to immortalize Nigeria's first President, Dr.
Nnamdi Azikiwe in whom the school was
named.
He described the lecture as unique and
thought provoking, saying that the theme was
one of Soyinka's enigmatic cum realistic,
adding that it was an attempt to unravel same
without him it would be like an excursion into
oblivion and confusion.
Obi said the lecture series was a turning
point in the process of actualization of his
childhood dream of immortalizing Zik,
explaining that it was for that reason that he
endowed N10 million in 2010, with an
additional N2 million over a five -year period
for research in honor of this "icon and
legend of all times".
Zik's faith in intellectual resources as a
problem-solving, he added, stood tall in all his
classical statements and actions as his Lincoln
University experience re-affirmed his belief
in education as a constructive social force
which could be harnessed for social
progress.
Chairman of the occasion, Chief Emeka
Anyaoku said the lecture was to honour Zik's
legacies and initiatives, adding that people
knew him as a great inspirer of nationalism
and Africa's fight against colonialism mainly
with his pen, first in Ghana and later, Nigeria.
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/
internet-revolution-can-destroy-scholarship-
says-soyinka/

Posted by Ogwuche Abel on Sunday, November 16, 2014 - Rating: 4.5

Title : Proff Soyinka Believes Internet Revolution Can Destroy Scholarship
Description : Foremost Nigerian writer and Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka warned yesterday in Awka that if reasonable steps were not taken, the...

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