2022 NBA-AGC: “Nigeria Starved Of Heroes Who Youths Can Look Up To For Mentorship” — Chimamanda Adichie

*Expresses Dissatisfaction Over The Gap In Prizes For The Male And Female Football Teams
*Sparks Raise In Female Team Prize To 3.2Million Naira

Nigeria writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said that Nigeria is currently in disarray and requires heroes who can take bold decisions to save the country.

Adiche made this statement during her keynote address at the ongoing Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association at the Eko Hotel on Monday.

The conference, themed “BOLD Transitions” is scheduled to hold between August 19 to 26, 2022.

Adiche, during her speech, said young citizens were finding it difficult to have heroes for mentorship.

She said, “We are starved of heroes. Our young people do not find people to look up to anymore.”

The speaker said it was important for everyone to speak out against injustice and tyranny even if they were called troublemakers.

She said, a bold transition must embrace audacity and innovation. They have called me troublesome. Although, it is never enjoyable to be called troublesome. I never set out to provoke for it’s sake. But I refuse to silence myself for the fear of what I might inadvertently provoke. It has always been important to me to say what I believe, to call out injustice.

“Federal and state security dragging journalists to prison is tyranny. A journalist ill-treating his domestic staff is tyranny. The rape of young boys and girls is also tyranny. It is tyranny when state governments do not pay pensioners until they slump and die as broken people. The physical harassment of lawyers and some some judges is tyranny. The use of the law by some people to oppress the poor people is tyranny.”

Adiche said Nigerians must be fair in their criticisms before peace can thrive. She said they should become responsible before holding the leaders responsible.

She said, “As long as we refuse to untangle the knot of injustice, peace cannot thrive. If we don’t talk about it, we fail to hold leaders accountable and we turn what should be transparent systems into ugly opaque cults.

“My experience made me think there’s something dead in us, in our society; a death of self-awareness and ability for self-criticism.

There’s need for resurrection. We cannot avoid self-criticism but criticise the government. We cannot hide our own institutional failure while demanding transparency from the government.”

In her closing remarks, she advocated for an uncorrupted judicial system and called on the NBA to leverage technology in judicial process and the administration of justice in the country.

She said, “Nigerians are disillusioned because they know of the decline of professionalism in some sections of the legal profession. As the NBA continues to fight the abuse of power, it must also look inward not to be corrupted.

“One way is to simplify legal procedure simpler. We deny justice when we delay justice. Technology should also be used. It is time for the full use of technology in the administration of justice.”

Few minutes after her speech, the prize sum of N200,000 tagged for the Female football was instantly raised to N3.2 million by voluntary donors

Chimamanda had expressed reservations as to the gap in the prize for the male and female team

The male football team had a winning prize of N500,000 against that presented to the men.

Shortly after her observations willing donors on the floor immediately kicked off donations

1. YC MAIKYAUS GROUP N 500,000
2. BABATUNDE FASHOLA N500,000
3. SIMON LALONG N1MILLION
4. Anonymous N500,000
5. Barrister Paul Edeh N500,000

This thus brought the total to N3.2 million