The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis (The W.E.B. Dubois Institute Series)

This is a short book, but very difficult to read. This is surprising since the author has a Nobel prize for literature. It is also rather dated. The author writes about his feelings after the military dictator Abacha annulled the election of June, 1993. Several months later, Abacha hanged another noted author. Soyinka writes about the wasted life of Nigeria under the various military dictators. He predicts that if the military dictatorships continue, Nigeria will break up into pieces, and there will be nothing left to argue over. He also details the military and political kleptocracy that has taken over Nigeria since independence. Things have gone to the worst state imaginable, and only democracy will cure this.
I found myself laughing at some points in this book because the author has a way of detailing how he feels about the military dictators who have run his country. He makes them out as idiots.
The author uses complex language and assumes the reader has some knowledge of Nigerian politics. Therefore this book is not for the lay reader. A difficult read.

I read the book with the goal of learning more about Nigeria and its people. Obviously this book is from a very biased source, however, in reading of the horrors in his native land his bias is understandble and only logical. There is a lot of pathos, intense emotions in his description of the crisis in Nigeria. As a scholar/journalist I like to hear all sides of a complex issue so I feel like I've heard one perspective from a first-hand witness after having read this book.

As some of the other reviewers have pointed out, unless one is familiar with the key players in Nigerian politics it is difficult to grasp totally what is being discussed. Also, since the book is composed of various presentations given elsewhere it lacks a certain amount of cohesion.

With that aside, I feel like I know a little more about the country after having read it. The book isn't long. As I read more I hope to understand more of what is taking place in that country. I want to be part of an informed public that can help do something about the plight of victims of dictators.

Soyinka wastes no words. In this book, based on a series of lectures, he argues that the ruthlessness of the military dictatorships that have ruled Nigeria for the past twenty years have deprived her of her very nationhood. At the very beginning, Soyinka asks the key question: "When is a nation?" He argues that Nigeria may be "a nation on the verge of extinction" - or rather a nation that was serverly stabbed with the annulment of the June 12 presidential elections, and is now slowly bleeding to death. This annulment by Babangida, dictator from 1985 - 1993, is the focal point for Soyinka's rage. Soyinka is a very strong proponent of democracy in Africa - especially in Nigeria, which he still believes could be a leader of the continent - and he views this annulment as a profound betrayal of national trust and of Nigeria's future. However, despite his anger and his bitterness at the injustices that have been Nigeria's fate since independence, Soyinka retains hope and faith in the people of Nigeria. He believes that repression and corruption cannot last forever - democracy and true nationhood, while difficult to attain, have not been forever lost to history.

While I found this book excellent, I would not recommend it to someone who was not already somewhat familiar with Nigerian political and cultural history over the last thirty years. Also, it is helpful if the reader is familiar either with Soyinka's work or with somewhat convoluted writing. Soyinka's ideas are well worth reading and stem from remarkable personal experiences, but, from point A to point B - he will not usually choose to draw a straight line. Reflective of Nigerian politics, and Nigeria as a whole, nothing is simple!

I hope other readers will learn as much from this book as I have. It has opened my eyes to what the newspaper articles simply leave out and has given me both more to be concerned and more to be hopeful about Nigeria.

Wole Soyinka is one of the foremost African literary giant of modern times. He has an intellectual stature that seems to diminish his critiques. To Wole's credit this book ranks among one of his best work- this is simply because it is readable. The reduction of noisy elements by its simplicity of expression makes it one of his finest piece to date, at least I was spared the pain of reading the Kongi King without a dictionary by my side. The book- understandably like his later work to date- The Burden of Memory, The Muse of Forgiveness- is the prooduct of lectures put together, hence one can forgive its lack of structural cohesion. Nonetheless, Soyinka brings to the fore the African crises of leadership and the dearth of critical appraisal of existential situation by African leaders. In as much as the text depicts examples it preoccupied itself with the Nigerian situation. Unfortunately, therefore, Soyinka risks tying the African destiny with the Nigerian fate- the totality of the African situation is much more multilateral than the unilateral reference to a singular polity Nigeria. As if this is a a new pattern for the Kongi King he keeps limiting himself to the extent that even the Nigerian situation was tied to the fate of his Yoruba nationality- ethnic group. This is not surprising since the Kongi Warrior has been sliding narrower from that of being an international figure to one preoccupied with being a national hero( a national road safety marshall) and now a nationality figurine. Our marshall therefore has taken a course that simplistically narrows the whole issues that affects Africa to particular issues that affects him. Unfortunately, the Kongi hero is still speaking and relating factual mattter, and so should not be taken lightly. The problem with Africa is one of political and economic leadership-a bedevilled breed of satanic monster that do not want to see smiles on the face of the citizenry. It is in this domain that the Kongi Chief should be better understood. Yes! His limitation of African issues to Nigerian examples and ordered toward his Yoruba nationality cause is also theatrical. As a dramaturgist he understands that the whole world can be a theatre but that an effective drama has to be limited to a spatial confine to produce impact. It is on such note that the Kongi chief points to the negative imagery of defective political machinery in Africa as gross and in critical need of resolution. It is this fact that makes this work- The Open Sore of a Continent- very fascinating for herein Soyinka combines facts with his dramatic humour for the sake of effect. While one may not totally agree with some of Soyinka's reasoning or conclusions one cannot but wave his thoughts aside.His vision is deep and profound. This work is a must for all who want to understand the critical dearth of development- political, economic and social- that affects and afflicts the soul of most- if not all- African nations today. It is a must to read this book, yet the judgement remains with the reader. But we must see how much we can pull out from the mustache of this singular revolutionary- the Poetic and dramatic democratic soldier. Happy Reading!

WS partisan whipping of the Northern Hegemony provides the outside world with an eloquent morsel of that which has become a tiresome bleating of a fraught people with no real notion of being. Interogating nationhood using Nigeria's artificiality seems the obvious approach However one must also realise that governance in all it's disguises reflects a mutuality however perverse. Nigeria's insanity cannot be a consequence of a 'sinister self perpetuating hegemony', but of a collective effort by rulers and ruled to bankrupt their existence. It points to an incoherence which reaches beyond the presented structures and nestles within a muddled culture construct in search of a direction.

One must thank WS for presenting what must be consumed as 'faction' for in its whole, it is illuminating. However it cannot be termed as objective, as WS seems to represents interests whose agenda conflicts with the established order or does he? Does he really mean what he says? The collective of Nigeria must experience natural flux however extreme and painful, we shall not implode or explode . Been there, Done that, Still here!