BY now it is clear to all that Dr. Wale Okediran is a plier of many trades, and has become master of them all. He is a physician, politician, novelist of deep insight and of course a biographer. In all these, he has shown the path of diligent pursuit and attainment of dreams. Many people know him as a son of Ebedi in his display of mutual social responsibility to his constituency of writers by the location of the Ebedi Writers Resort funded by him in Ebedi/Iseyin his town of birth. In Tales of a Troubadour, the author refers to himself as ‘a recorder of men and events’ and the reader encounters him as such due to the travelogue’s presentation of certain iconic ideas, people, especially writers and politicians, memorable places as well as their historicity. I noted a few concepts surrounding them like travel as a means of education, history and culture, travel as a facilitator of knowledge about people and places, as a reflection of personal and national politics and observing people and their roles in, and contributions to society. Furthermore, the book marks out effect of travel on family and friendship, how travels affirm the self, and the travelogue as a showcase of national literature, and the possibilities of travel as pain.
The memoirs of travel as a means of education. It is often said that travel is the best form of education. Okediran helps the reader to form ideas on local and global issues and shape the opinion of the reader by teaching him about the lands of voyage in the stories of his sojourn across sundry lands. He encountered and described people in a manner that they could as well be characters in any fiction, even as Tales of a Troubadour is non-fiction. The local name for items of people’s material culture could be learnt from the book, even mores and norms concerning marriage, and cross cultural appreciation of culinary expertise, nuptial rites, and agitation for states creation, ethnic bias, and the Nigerian National Anthem, among others. The author says: “For someone visiting Ibibio land for the first time, this kind of sharp ethnic polarity in tastes and customs was a good education for me” (11). The travelogue encapsulates history and culture: the ways of life of people, be they nationals and non nationals are freely reflected in Tales, especially local politics, food, diplomatic and intercultural relations. Other examples are allusion to python worship, the Chinese fortune cookie, history of lands, history of lands, and World War I and II all aptly referenced in his book.
Furthermore, we realise that a travel journal becomes compiled tales that emanate into a travelogue which further facilitates knowledge about people and places. Apart from places visited in Nigeria, the reader travels with the author to Liberia, Zimbabwe, where one learned about racial segregation and press censorship, (Pp. 19-26), The Gambia, Russia, United States of America, Tanzania, especially Dar es Salam, and semi-autonomous Zanzibar are compared with Nigeria A comparison of the local and international travel experiences prove Nigeria to be a slow starter in providing destination satisfaction to travellers. Why is this so? The sights that people may travel to see from within and outside Nigeria and thereby generate, increase and multiply income there from remain under-tapped. The tales may prod Nigeria Ministries of Interior and Culture to take proactive and not reactive action in this regard. More importantly the prospects of the military and civilian citizens of Nigeria in active service should be profiled for assessment. Why were our soldiers not catered for in Liberia? Why were their infractions not dealt with? How can Nigeria repair the huge infrastructure deficit it currently faces? Is it possible for Nigeria to speed up development and bridge its development gap in Africa and beyond?
* The reflection of personal and national politics as a means of judging today for a better tomorrow comes out clearly in the book. The tales manifest the politics in places visited more than two decades ago and disclose the mutations that they underwent or are currently undergoing. Some of the experiences can never be the same again as the countries have since undergone political, social, economic and other forms of change. Russia and Tanzania are certainly good examples of such change. Here, the economic hegemony of the whites over the indigenous Zimbabweans (p. 18) is a case in point. Again, his two visits to Liberia evince political leadership after recovery from internecine war and the ravages of Ebola. The political and economic turn-around of Tanzania under President Magufuli, is used to propagate accountability sanitation, and health in African politics. The questions from readers after every reading from Tenants of the House by the author especially in America, are pointers to the international interest in Nigeria’s local politics. For example, when he is asked “Can Corruption be tamed in Nigeria?” What is the government doing about the ‘Boko Haram’ problem? (p. 125), he only offers meek responses perhaps because he is no longer in active governance. The political slant of the travelogue is depicted in the author’s assessment of world politics and governance, the functional institutions in UK, USA, Russia, vis-a-vis his analysis of the two visits to Aso Rock as a legislator to further screen leadership in Nigeria tells us that the governance deficit in the country is one that needs to be rejigged and reworked for the future of the country called Nigeria. The twenty eight chapters of the book relive the writer’s visits to eight countries in Africa, Europe and America, and his passage to Nigerian cities like Yenagoa, Yola, Sokoto, Abeokuta, Kano, Uyo, Akwanga, and Kaduna. For a young writer, or anyone with the intention to venture into writing, the book creates the need to observe people and their roles or contributions to society.
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