Achebe’s Rejection Of National Honour: Food For Thought

Seven years after he rejected the conferment of the national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic, CFR, on hin by the Obasanjo administration, literary icon and author of the popular classic, Things Fall Apart, Professor Chinua Achebe, has once again turned down the same award from the Jonathan Goodluck administration.

In rejecting the honour, the Nigerian literary giant, based in the United States of America, said the issues which made him to reject the same award seven years ago still remain unresolved.

According to Achebe, “The reasons for rejecting the offer when it was first made have not been addressed, let alone solved. It is inappropriate to offer it again to me. I must therefore regretfully decline the offer again.”

Achebe was not the first nominee to turn down his award this year. The first was the minority leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who queried the criteria used in nominating persons for the awards.

Gbajabiamila, in his letter to President Goodluck Jonathan rejecting the award of the Order of the Federation conferred on him submitted that national awards should be conferred on those who have made concrete contributions to the development of the country, unlike now when it is being indiscriminately doled out as presidential favours.

In all sincerity, this is food for thought for President Jonathan as he presents national honours to 361 recipients in different categories today in Abuja.

If President Jonathan actually means well for this country, he must try to understand the reasons posited by these patriotic Nigerians for rejecting the national honours.

If, as Reuben Abati, the president’s spokesman, stated in his response to Achebe’s decision that the President continues to hold Achebe in very high esteem, even after rejecting the offer, then it beholds on the President to do those things agitating the mind of the literary giant.

And what are these? They include respect for the right of Nigerians to democratically elect their leaders, provision of dividends of democracy in the form of infrastructure renewal, provision of electricity and improvement in the standard of education in the country.

We take exception to Abati’s description of Achebe as an ignorant scholar who has lost touch with the current situation in the country.

As a newspaper based in Nigeria, and in the know of what is happening in the country, we make haste to align with Professor Achebe’s viewpoint. Like the erudite novelist stated, nothing much has changed in the country since 2004. In fact, things are getting worse. Electricity is still as epileptic as it was in 2004; our roads have gone from worse to worst and standard of education has fallen drastically.

President Jonathan should listen to the voice of reason and tackle those problems highlighted by his critics as militating against the development of the country.

Professor Achebe should not be made to feel as if he doesn’t know what he is saying. What is expected of the President is to listen to what Achebe has said and make amends.