‘I Won’t Receive Any Honorary Awards Again From Anywhere’ – Wole Soyinka

The Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, yesterday, said he was done with the conferment of honorary degrees on him.

He said this, while receiving the Doctor of Letters honours, at the convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

“This is an institution, where in the same town and state, is where I took my first steps to learning. So it is symmetrical, it is a closure. I said this is symbolical way to end my teaching career. But there is one thing which I thought, that, suppose this is the last honorary degree, I receive from anywhere, what a beautiful closure it is.

“The reason I am announcing it now is because I can always use you, this institution, this town, all the royalties present, the students, as witnesses to this day, that the next time I am invited to accept any honorary degree, I will politely decline.