Everyone should speak up against tyranny and injustice– Chimamanda Adichie advises Nigerians at NBA conference

Award-winning author Chimamanda Adichie has claimed that the existing system does not provide Nigerians with enough role models.

Adiche made this declaration on Monday at the Eko Hotel during her keynote speech at the Nigerian Bar Association's ongoing annual general meeting.

The "BOLD Transitions" conference will take place from August 19 to August 26, 2022.

Adiche claimed during her address that young people were having trouble finding mentors.

We lack heroes, she remarked. No longer do our youth have role models to look up to.

Everyone, the speaker argued, should speak up against tyranny and injustice, even if doing so may earn them the label of 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 its 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 judges is tyranny. The use of the law by some people to oppress the poor people is tyranny.”

Before peace can flourish, according to Adiche, Nigerians must be fair in their criticisms. Before holding the leaders accountable, she advised them to take responsibility for themselves.

"Peace cannot flourish as long as we refuse to unravel the web of injustice," she declared. If we don't discuss it, we fail to hold leaders responsible and transform what ought to be open processes into obnoxious, secretive cults.

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 a 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.”

She argued for an impartial justice system in her concluding remarks and urged the NBA to use technology to improve the nation's legal system and administration of justice.

According to her, Nigerians are disappointed because they are aware of the loss of professionalism in several legal profession segments.

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