From Julius Alabi and Niyi Bello, Akure

NIGERIA'S loot recovery efforts should be boosted with a formal probe into and retrieval of a $5 million sum allegedly given to the Ghanaian President, Jerry John Rawlings by the late Gen. Sani Abacha's administration for image laundering, according to Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.

Accusing the former military ruler of gross mismanagement of the economy, he said the move would give vent to the Olusegun Obasanjo administration's avowed commitment to ridding Nigeria of corruption.

Speaking at the second anniversary lecture in memory of the late nationalist, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin in Akure, Ondo State, at the weekend, Soyinka said: "I challenge President Olusegun Obasanjo to use his anti-corruption crusade in repatriating our monies looted by the military regimes and the money given to President Rawlings who joined hands with General Abacha in embracing the culture of corruption which has tainted Nigeria as a nation."

According to him, Nigeria's corruption portfolio swelled under the late Abacha coursing through the public service "right from the top to the bottom, the entire nation eventually becoming a household word for corruption and credit card frauds" and stressed the need to bring the culprits to book.

He urged the government to intensify efforts to retrieve Nigeria's wealth stashed away in overseas banks by past public office holders.

He said only a round-table conference by Nigerians would end the current spate of violent clashes between ethnic groups in the country and upbraided the government for issuing a shoot-on-sight order.

According to him, what the nation needs is a perfect constitution, such as that of 1979, which would remedy problems. Soyinka also canvassed a true cultural re-orientation.

He said the 1999 Constitution gives the impression that Nigerians are not united.

Urging the government to uphold the rule of law, the Nobel Laureate also called a virile, independent and intelligent press to act as a check on probable abuse of power.

He expressed fear that if President Obasanjo refuses to convene the conference, the country's continued existence might be jeopardised.

He recalled that military regimes ran Nigeria in the last 16 years without acceding to the citizen's requests, adding that this was what led the country to its current sorry state.

He said: "The military during their 16 years in power ran the country as a unitary government instead of federalism as provided for in the constitution. If they had operated a true federal system of government, we would not have been faced with our present problems since these difficulties are not inherrent in federalism."

He added: "We have learnt the right lesson on what has happened to us in this country for many years. We will never allow our society to go down the drain as it has been the case or recent unfortunate experience we encounter during the military regime.

"The bulk of the citizenry must be sufficiently educated as to understand the process of governance, at least in general, and make useful contributions."

He also urged African governments to ensure that every citizen has the right to free education from the cradle till a minimum age of 18.

He deplored the raging dispute over the joint ownership of Ondo State University, Ado Ekiti by both Ondo and Ekiti states, describing it as disgraceful and embarrassing.

He criticised the decision by the Ondo State Government to relocate the university to the governor's hometown. He said: "Well, let both parties give it a thought, give it very serious thought before proceeding any further with this crude division of spoils which has deservedly earned one side the charge of self-serving, considering the decision to relocate one rump of the institution in the hometown of one of the leading contenders for these partisan stakes."

He queried: "Is this really how we plan to proceed responsibly in the midst of some truly devastating national urgencies? I hope I shall have no cause to say more to have on that subject as an we watch this unbecoming drama unfold."

He described the adoption of Sharia in Zamfara State, as unconstitutional act which has "cracked the thin crust of the rose-tinted prism through which some have tended to view the future."

According to him, "a number of other states are already lining up, charging to go the way of Zamfara" and queried: "But - is the way of Zamfara the way of Nigeria? Can Zamfara justly expect that thenation will keep silent over its challenge to its cohesive existence?"

The position of those opposed to the action of Zamfara should therefore not be misrepresented or distorted. No one opposes the practice of Sharia among consenting adults. It is the right of willing moslems to submit themselves to the provision of Sharia if they so choose and the state has a responsibility to provide both structures and access to such laws, wherever practical, not only in Zamfara, but throughout the nation," said Soyinka.

He lamented the low depth to which university education had sunk in the country and reiterated his call for their compulsory closure to allow for a thorough cleansing and reorganisation.

He also described the spate of cultism in the higher institutions as unfortunate, saying the Pyrates Confraternity he founded at the University of Ibadan was noble. According to him, notable world leaders like Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford belong to one fraternity or the other.

"We started the culture of fraternity in the University of Ibadan that time because it was being done everywhere in the world," he added, urging Nigerians to look at the positive side of the movement