NIGERIA’S POLITICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES IN SELECTED SATIRICAL POEMS OF NIYI OSUNDARE

Abstract

Nigeria has continued to witness diverse political and socio-economic problems which have hampered the development of the nation, thereby creating untold hardship on its citizenry. Some of these challenges include corruption, poor governance, unemployment, poor economic policies and non-diversification of the economy. Government has not been able to adequately tackle the problems confronting the country and to harness its rich potentials to address its quest for growth and development. This has induced myriad of problems, even as the gap between the rich and the poor continue to widen. Niyi Osundare, one of the country’s finest and committed poets has purposefully used his (satirical) poetry over the years to engage; and to constantly lampoon the political and socio- economic challenges of the nation. Adopting the Sociological Theoretical Framework, the paper discussed some selected satirical poems of Niyi Osundare. The findings revealed how the poet has continued to use poetry to interrogate the challenges of political and economic development of the nation and to advocate for the plight of the oppressed majority in the society, thus establishing the role of literature in nation-building.