Nigerian Nobel-winning author Wole Soyinka has hope in young

Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel-winning author, sees his country’s many problems — misgoverning politicians, systemic corruption, violent extremists, and kidnapping bandits — yet he does not despair

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Wole Soyinka, Nigeria's Nobel-winning author, sees his country's many problems — misgoverning politicians, systemic corruption, violent extremists, and kidnapping bandits — yet he does not despair.

At 87, he says Nigeria's youth may have the energy and the know-how to get the troubled country back on track.

It is up to the new generation “to decide whether they want to keep going along the same chugging one-track train,” or chart a new course, Soyinka told The Associated Press.

Soyinka credits young Nigerians — about 64 million between 15 and 35 years of the country’s more than 200 million people — for trying to fundamentally reform the country. He cites the Oct. 2020 #EndSARS protests against police brutality, comparing it to the “positive watersheds of resistance” during the years of military rule Nigeria endured for nearly 30 years.