Tekena Tamuno wa  na tombo

"To give others (the) power and authority to control a resource which constantly threatens one's life and deprives one of livelihood, is to submit oneself to involuntary slavery" remarked Tekena Tamuno , Emeritus professor of history and former vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan, yesterday in Lagos.

He was speaking at the third convocation and investiture ceremony of the Nigerian Academic of Letters where the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Umar Ndayako, the former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and the former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Professor Munzali Jibril, were conferred with honourary fellowships.

In a direct reference to the preceived injustice suffered by the people of the Niger Delta, Tamuno in his paper titled "Fighting for the Soul of Nigeria: Its Cultural, Theological, Ethical and Historical Dimensions," stated that to call a system which allows the kind of servitude and deprivation as (is being witnessed in Niger Delta) a federalism (as in the case of Nigeria)" is a lie ~n direct before God and man, (and) a return of colonialism through one's back door."

Speaking before a keenly attentive large audience, Tamuno also averred that the on-going proceedings at the Oputa panel may fail to bring about the much desired reconciliation because of what he described as "the culture of lying" which had been with the country since its creation.

He declared that the so-called democratic dividends may not make much political sense to the groups of disaffected Nigerians unless the crust of military implants is excavated from the country's body of laws by the relevant authorities, acting in concert with the consent of the people.

According to him, every state of the federation has some major natural resources which, if carefully explored and exploited, will strengthen the country's revenue base.

But it is the minority point of view, he argued, "that none of these resources constitutes as much hazard to human health as oil and gas. It is, therefore, morally wrong and unfair to emphasise compensation as against prevention of long term and short-term pollution-driven murder."

Tamuno insisted that to leave the various other alternative sources of wealth untapped, while policy makers at the federal and state levels search for easy and quick money from oil and gas, "demonstrates not only poverty of vision and mission, but also portrays needless restlessness when sufficient information on the life-threatening aspects of their exploration and exploitation is exposed (both) in Nigeria and in the home countries of one-eyed polluters international."

The eminent professor further affirmed that the dependence on oil and gas has fuelled a bad habit, which he described as "that of reluctance among millions of Nigerians, to work hard, contrary to sound advice."

He described Nigeria's political culture as "pathological fear of disintegration."