Whither Freedom, Whither Development
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book and said ―Harmattan Haze on an African Spring‖ provided a glimpse into the choices, especially economic individuals that have been made and how those choices have impacted on the collective on the continent. She said while the book looks at why Africa still remained undeveloped, the question that had to be asked is, ―What is the essence of the human being? Is there a process of development for Africa that we missed as originally conceived? Who determines the success or successionisaton of their views of development to be so difficult? And who is that person that defines the context for that development?‖ She stated that Soyinka‘s book is such that will force readers to re-examine the continent‘s developmental issues again, whether the lack of development is as a result of alienation of the individual from his African roots. While comparing Singapore with Africa,she cited the Singapore example as a people who had a certain mindset at independence to prove to the ‗whiteman‘ that there was no reason for the whiteman to have governed them in the first place since they were capable of doing it themselves. And so they worked at it and today, Singapore is a model country for development. She concluded, ―A single description of Africa is intellectual slothfulness‖ the West has perpetuated against the continent, a proposition Soyinka disproves in his book. Director, Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi, opined that, while Nigeria‘s problems are traceable to leadership, there are other indicators to watch out for as impediments to growth namely, value problem, collapse of culture and institutions. He said there is nothing Singapore did that Nigeria hasn‘t done, yet the gap between the two is still wide because the discipline to ensure values, culture and institutions work has been lacking. said although Africa‘s spirituality is dynamic, it is easy to link the colonial experience and how things were done in Nigeria. He said Nigeria‘s woes stemmed from inability to deal with the consequences of individual actions, saying, ―The problem of living in Nigeria is that of living with bad consequences.‖ He argued that while Africa‘s young population has deep technology penetration, the problem is how to harness that penetration to give momentum for real development. He noted that 2012 has been a bit of a paradox, and added that his ―fears had been how to pluck failure from the jaws of progress. We are still managing ourselves poorly and we may not be able to derive much from the Africa Rising momentum that is gathering.‖ Art collector Yemisi Shyllon argued that until African societies go back to their traditional cultures to rediscover themselves and what is innate to them, the continent would not experience growth. Odia Ofeimun, poet and social critic,point out ominously that Africa is exactly where it was when the slavers from Arab and Europe came calling from the north and south centuries ago, with several acrimonies and internal wrangling going on all over the continent. He said the implication is that Africa will not be able to defend itself again a second time and fall prey to the superior powers of others who are more organised and developed. He said the continent is still plagued with distrust.He lamented, ―Today, we are not building factories and farms for the people to work on. Our problem is about not building factories. We should begin to demand from those asking for our votes, which imported goods they will stop when they get to office so that our factories can begin to work again for the people to be engaged and idle hands put to proper use and not otherwise‖. Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi was of the view that Soyinka was a fine satirist who was known for his many plays and poems and why he had suddenly turned essayist. He wondered whether fiction didn‘t quite solve the problems his society posed and whether it was a submission that fiction — the arts — has failed him as a tool to confront society. Soyinka responded that art has not failed the society, rather it has helped to continually propel the society towards self-examination and the quest for renewal and revalidation. Prof. Aboyade advised that Africans, even as they embraced foreign religions, must indeed go back and recover some of the positive values of their culture and deploy such to help in their march to greatness, especially in the context of globalisation. Astutee banker Elumelu said that Nigeria is full of critics, who ceaselessly bash the country senseless without lifting a hand to help. He urged Nigerians to begin cultivating the healing habit of saying good things about their country.