Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has said there is need for Igbo to interrogate their claims of marginalization, to know whether the clamour for secession is right or wrong.
Soludo made the remark on Tuesday while delivering the 6th Biennial Adada Lecture organised by the Association of Nsukka Professors at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
It was surprising, he said, that the ivory tower no longer interrogates issues in the way it used to; universities, he insisted, have generally lowered the bar of critical thinking.
“The declaration of the Nigeria-Biafra war was made from this hall (UNN) and the justification or otherwise of that declaration should have been interrogated by the university community.
“We are producing thousands of papers that never leave the shelves, while the country is struggling for real solutions.
“Nigeria is drowning in more noise, less light. We should denounce the widening divide between what is discussed in the classroom and what is done by the government. Knowledge that does not feed into policy is as good as no knowledge.
“The future of the Igbo is in a united Nigeria. The debate should be led by Igbo intellectuals, not street rhetoric.
“Don’t stand with hands on hips while the nation drifts, the silence from the intellectual class could cost Africa dearly. Talent is not enough, if you don’t act, you are part of the problem,” said the governor.
Soludo reminded the scholars that history favours doers, not writers, citing global icons like Isaac Newton, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kwame Nkrumah.
Soludo challenged the lecturers to look inward and said intellectualism without action is sterile.
