In a speech entitled, ‘Faith, Science and Imagination in the Temple of Knowledge,” he gave as a guest lecturer at the third convocation of the Kwara State University, Malete, Kwara State on Saturday, Soyinka lamented that the girls would have been dehumanised and brutalised.
He said the situation was more worrisome as nobody could say what had become of them.
Soyinka said: “It is disheartening that the abducted girls have not been rescued about 60 weeks after their kidnap.”
“The kidnapped pupils were potential doctors when we sent them to take their first qualifying examination; up till today we cannot say whether they are alive, whether they are in slavery or had been sold off.
“All we know is that they have been dehumanised, brutalised and their childhood taken away from them.
“Sometime I wonder whether we are speaking of a remote, newly discovered planet or we are speaking of this very planet on which you and I are standing today.”
“The question is, where is our sister University of Maiduguri today? Its disappearance from the nation’s knowledge landscape: who bears the ultimate responsibility?
“The temple of learning must be patented. There is no other option for the ultimate triumph of humanity over bigotry and hate than the solid foundation of the edifice that must house community of learning.
“And that learning applies to all, irrespective of belonging and gender. I saw a heart-warming poster left over from the election campaigns as I was driven into the street of Ilorin yesterday and it said ‘no woman no nation.’”
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