a government

driver on his
retirement
 2

Sss2 diamond: group a

GROUP MEMBERS
1.Ademola-Oyerinde Temiloluwa(group leader)
2.Abduljalal Lawal
3.Abdulahi Nejiru
4.Adunola Awwal
5.Ataka Sunday
6.Amadi David
7.
8.Abdulahi Maryam
9.Adejoh gift
10.Adeyekun Waliyat
11.Afolabi Ifeoluwa
12.Aileru Halimat
13.Akataka divine
14. Adeleye Olaoluwa
15.
16.
 3

LITERATURE
PROJECT
A Government Driver On
his retirement
By chibuike onu
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1.
the poem and
analysis
 5

✖ Many years on wheels

✖ In faithful service to his fatherland
✖ Today he retires he home
✖ And a celebration he holds
 6

subject matter

Lines 1-4: these lines clearly introduce the poetic

persona as a driver who devoted a lot of years to the
service of his fatherland, and now holds a celebration
as he retires this very day.
 7

Many years on wheels

In faithful service to his fatherland
Today he retires he home
And a celebration he holds
vMany years on wheels
In faithful service to his fatherland
Today Many years he
he retires hashome
he pummeled his boozy throat
And a celebration
In obediencehetoholds
duty rules and regulations
Today, he’ll go home a freeman
Eligible for his country’s services
 8

Subject matter
Lines 5-8 Today is, however going to be
In this stanza, the narrator different because he is now a
explains throughout the free man.
persona’s service to his nation
he has restrained himself from
drinking in obedience to the
rules and regulations of the
service.
 9

“come friends, rejoice with me

I shall booze and zoom myself home
away from duty rules
come celebrate my freedom”
“early to duty tomorrow hold not,
thirty-five years of faithful services
I’ll booze to sleep away my sufferings
today I've long waited for”

more joy to send him home

a brand new car in his name
an appreciative symbol
for undented thirty years of services to fatherland

“come friends and rejoice more,

Joy till no more joy
Today frees and makes me a king
My patience rewarded”

Lines 9-16
The persona calls on his
friends and associates to
come and celebrate with him,
as today marks his freedom.
He doesn’t need to wake up
very early again to go to
work, after 35 years of
faithful service. He declares
that he will drink enough so
that he will sleep and forget
his suffering. Today, is
indeed, a day that he has
long awaited.
Subject matter
Lines 17-20
The persona is also given a
brand new car as a way of
appreciating his dutiful and
unblemished years of
service.
10
Lines 21-24
In those lines, the poetic
persona beckons on friends
and well-wishers to rejoice
with him as today marks his
day of reward and freedom
because he is now a king in
his private kingdom.
 11

And so, he boozed and boozed

celebrating the celebration of his retirement
from faithful service to his fatherland
he battled with his bottle booze
on his way home on wheels,
booze boozed his vision and clear judgement
he boomed his brand new car
and it sent him home
home to rest in peace
 12

Subject matter

Lines 25-33
The persona now begins to drink
in celebration of his long years
in service
As the persona drives home in
his brand new car on the very
day of his retirement already
drunk, he cannot see very
clearly. As a result of his poor
vision, he crashes his new car
and dies instantly.
 13

2.
Background of the
poem
the civil service. Many Africans were employed as drivers and clerks for the white man.
14
even after independence, this situation continued. The excitement with which many
people rushed to civil service jobs is greeted with a lot of disappointment as it was
discovered that the jobs were not as lucrative as they assumed to be. The general
servitude usually associated with the life of civil service, especially as it concerns the low
ranking officers like drivers and cooks ACCOUNTS FOR A DIFFERENT
PERCEPTIONSOME HOLD ABOUT SUCH JOBS. THE HIGHLY REGULATED
LIFE OF PEOPLE IN THE CIVIL SERVICE IS ONE OF THE MAJOR REASONS
MANY EMPLOYEES LOOK FORWARD TO THEIR RETITREMENT WITH SOME
SENSE OF EXCITEMENT. Owu kingsley Chibuike’s poem is a commentary on the
drudgery of the everyday life of the average Nigerian civil servant. While some civil
servants in Nigeria may be accused of forgery of birth certificate to extend their stay in
the office, the poetic persona in this particular poem welcomes his retirement from the
civil service with celebrations, a mark of freedom from the daily …… of duty. The poet
appears to take a different perception of the civil service from an organization that is
filled with many redundant staff members to a place of true service and faithfulness to
the nation. The poetic persona is said to have rendered many years of meritorious
services to his fatherland. The other important aspect that forms the background to this
poem is the drink-and-drive attitude of many Nigerian road users. While one can easily
identify with this celebration, the disastrous end of the poetic persona highlights a
major cause of road crashes, not only in Nigeria where the writer is from but, also, in
many parts of the world. Onu, therefore, gives this poem a universal appeal by using
these seemingly unrelated circumstances to beam a light on the narrow gap between
celebration and …………...
 15

3.
themes
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THEMES
The joy of retirement
The poem emphasizes the joy and sense of fulfillment that comes with retirement
from active service. The structure of the civil service gives the government driver
a feeling of servitude, which makes the retirement day seem like a day of
liberation. “Today, he’ll go home a freeman”(line 7). He has endured the regulated
life in the civil service for a long time and now it’s time to go home and celebrate
his freedom. He will no longer be subjected to very strict rules once he retires. He
does not need to wake up very early to work and will have time for himself. It is
as a result of this excitement to celebrate his liberation that he invites his friends
and well-wishers to come and celebrate with him.
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THEMES
The danger of drunk driving
This is a significant theme in the poem. It expresses the universal rule that drivers
should not drive when drunk as it makes the driver susceptible to auto crashes. In
the case of our newly retired government driver it pushed him to his early grave.
His drunkenness, “sent him home to rest in peace”. The poem exposes o us the
dangers of driving when drunk.
 18

THEMES
Uncontrolled Joy
The poet’s persona is obviously overjoyed about his retirement which is
why he organizes a party to mark his retirement. However, his joy leads
him to drink to stupor and lands him in his grave. This emphasizes that
there is need to do everything in moderation. If he had been moderate and
complied to driving code, he would have enjoyed his retirement in peace.
the poetic persona as a government driver of so
19
many years who is set to celebrate his
retirement. The second stanza gives the
background of the persona as someone who
keeps the rules and regulations of the
establishment where he works. The third
stanza gradually introduces us to significance
of and the high expectation for the celebration
of his retirement. This is sustained in stanzas
four and five. The last two stanzas give account
of the catastrophic turn of events as the
persona dies in a fatal automobile accident due
to his drunkenness.
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Thanks!
Any questions?
Group A- SSS2 DIAMOND