Issues of freedom and sustainable development in select works of Femi Osofisan

Literature of freedom - a genre to which Femi Osofisan shows total commitment - is replete with issues of varied levels of deprivation arising from either a conscious or an unconscious subservience to some inimical phenomena or order. Naturally, man is born free, and is supposed to enjoy his freedom without any tint of constraints. However, this view of the human condition is utopian. Therefore, realistically, man?s rights or freedom is, unavoidably, within the confines of humane laws as dictated by nature, the political order of the day and other tolerable social conditions. However, in spite of these reasonable restrictions to total freedom, most African nations provide a milieu where political, religious, economic, and socio-cultural freedoms are thrown to the winds, thereby posing a threat to national development. Thus, man's daily struggles in an environment such as this, instead of being directed towards national development, are geared towards self-emancipation from the status quo.