The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Literature

  • Children’s literature effective for nation building, says writer

    Renowned writer, Mrs Mabel Segun, has urged the government and stakeholders in education to take children’s literature seriously as it can be effective means of encouraging cultural diversity early in life.

    Mrs Segun made this appeal at the 2016 First Award Winners Lecture of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) held at the Main auditorium of the University of Lagos, Akoka.

    Though present, the 86-year-old did not read the lecture because of her age.  She was assisted by her daughter, Miss Omowunmi Segun.

    Speaking on the topic: “Towards nation building: The importance of children’s literature”, Mrs Segun, said children’s literature books helps to train and sustain cultural values in the children which is key to nation building.

    “It will show them the importance of having a cultural identity as a form of reference. Nation Building has many facets which includes building institutions, creating a common sense of purpose as well as building values to sustain the collective community”, Mrs Segun said.

    She argued that the study of historical children literature can help to teach children about their roots, heritage as well as imbibe in them values so that they can learn to appreciate their backgrounds.

    She said: “The study of these books provide an avenue for giving young people a panoramic view of all that happened to mankind in the past.”

    She, however, pleaded with authorities concerned to make these books accessible and affordable, explaining that it was the only way they could be effective for nation building.

    “Governments should invest in school libraries, Public libraries, local government libraries and club libraries. They should not be placed in no go areas like the principal’s residence; they should be placed in accessible locations,” she said.

  • We must invest in books for Nigeria to develop, says don

    We must invest in books for Nigeria to develop, says don

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    • Soyinka, others honour The Nation man Jeyifo at 70

    A revered don, Prof Dan Izevbaye, has said for Nigeria to develop as a nation, scholars and stakeholders must invest more in books.

    He spoke yesterday at a gathering of literary giants in Ibadan to honour one of their own, Prof Biodun Jeyifo, who celebrated his 70th birthday.

    Prof Jeyifo, a columnist with The Nation, teaches abroad.

    Many in the audience described the celebrant as a renowned scholar, teacher and a great writer.

    The event served as an opportunity for the audience to discuss the state of the literary world.

    According to him, the advent of Internet has caused a lot of damage to education, adding that it has gradually displaced the ‘pen and paper’, especially by the electronic media.

    Saying that social change is the most important thing happening in Africa in recent times, Izevbaye explained that modernisation does not happen by itself but imposed.

    He said “Formal education was introduced by the West and so its product, assumption and idea are not neutral. They have connection with colonial society and age. One of the problems of education is identity. We are forced into finding our identity as Africans.

    “I spent the last 10 years teaching undergraduates most of who are from middle class homes. These are the future leaders of Nigeria. I have one of the things I have concluded is the problem of identity. Where does it come from? Parents who don’t speak Nigerian language even though they are skilled in it. That is the impression I have about the class I taught.

    “The proverbial ‘black is beautiful’ is dead as women now wear wigs while their male counterparts wear shirts and trousers. Though there is no problem with it but it is one of the things I called problem of identity. They are children of globalisation.

    “Internet contains viruses; not the virus associated with computer. It is American and when it was given to the rest of the world, it is a Greek gift,” he noted.

    The don decried the stoppage of teaching of history in schools, defining Boko Haram insurgency as “the confrontation between the West and the Middle East but it is being fought on Nigeria soil. Africa doesn’t feature.”

    He continued: “When colonialism failed, the country had an opportunity to re-invent itself, the universities took over the assumption and ideas of colonial universities.

    “There are fine bookshops but where are people to buy the books? Are there not scholars? Are there not people who want to buy? Are they not people who want to buy and present books as gift?

    “Scholars and stakeholders, library, publishers and others should give grants to the researchers of literature. The media also has an educative influence of modernising people.”

    In his remarks, Dr Lekan Are said parents must ensure that the next generation learns to speak their native languages, “if our language dies, we are gone. Let’s teach our children how to speak our language.

    He said that contrary to misconception about Prof Wole Soyinka’s confraternity,

    “Soyinka did not start cultism. Let us maintain our culture.”

    The high point of the event was when Prof Soyinka stood up to speak. To the surprise of those who had sat quietly to listen to the Nobel laureate, he brought out a bag containing what people thought to be books.

    He brought out a bottle of white wine, saying he had been looking for an occasion to present it to someone special.

    Soyinka later brought out a jar of imported coffee and a compact disc- a recording of poems titled Mandeland.

    The celebrant was happy.

    Soyinka said:  “How BJ has done it without being jailed, I don’t know it. Anybody who still sees pirates as cultists should go have his head examined by real cultists.

    Speaking after, the elated celebrant said the last he travelled was a month ago.

    “For the first time in my life, I became superstitious. I did not want to travel. I said I don’t want to travel before I make it to 70. I have celebrated just two birthdays in my life; my 60th and this one.

    “I write the column to simplify the complexities. It has been a struggle for me to combine simplicity with profundity. Achebe was simple. It is a rare gift. The demand for social justice for our people is urgent. There is a very alarming dimension to the present dispensation in the country.

    “Change will come to our country, poverty will be substantially reduced but only if we pay attention to the demands of complexities.

    The chairman of The Nation’s editorial board, Sam Omatseye, noted that the celebrant has been the voice of the masses.

    “He has been able to de-eliticised his written works both in prose and the arts. Interestingly his language is elitist from the point of view of content but he has helped to de-elititicise his works,” he said.

    At the event were Emeriti Profs JP Clark, Ayo Banjo and Ayo Bamgbose, Prof Femi Osofisan, Prof Adebayo Williams, Prof Ropo Sekoni, Prof Molara Ogundipe, UI Vice-Chancellor, Prof Idowu Olayinka and others.

     

  • Dealing with literature of June 12

    Dealing with literature of June 12

    A book titled June 12 Election, Campaign for Democracy And The Implosion of The Nigerian Left written by Onyeisi Chiemeke, one of the frontline participants in the events of 1993 was presented to the public in Lagos last weekend. Edozie Udeze was there

     

    The Nigerian left, members of the Human Rights community and those who have over the years stood solidly behind the people, agitating and advocating for good governance in Nigeria, regrouped last weekend in Lagos to honour one of their own.  From the gathering, it was clear that the group has not given up or lost hope that Nigeria will ever get better.  In his book titled June 12 Election, Campaign for Democracy and The Implosion of The Nigerian Left, Onyeisi Chiemeke a lawyer and human rights campaigner went deep into the events and circumstances that led to the 1993 annulment of the presidential election won by the Late business mogul, Chief MKO Abiola.

    The public presentation of the book which took place in Lagos saw some members of the Nigerian Left, those of them who still believe in the ideals and philosophies of the idea to make Nigeria an egalitarian society where the equal distribution of wealth is guaranteed and where poverty is reduced to the barest minimum, lampooning the leadership and those in authority who have consistently refused to do things right.

    In his own remarks, John Oda, a former Secretary General of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) praised the author, Chiemeke, for his resilience and boldness and courage in going back into time to unearth all those important issues that made the Nigerian left a force to reckon with in the years of yore.  “For the role we played and the road we chose to thread, democracy is a reality today.  Chiemeke is like one of the chroniclers of the salient elements that propelled the 1917 Russian Revolution,” he said.

    Those events finally signposted the revolution.  In this carefully written historical documentation, Chiemeke gave the day-to-day details that led not only to the formation of the Nigerian Left, but the hub of the 1993 presidential election.  The place of Abiola in this matter is made clear and unambiguous by the author.  Today, no history of the salient issues of 1993 can be recounted without a direct reference to this book.  This was why Oda gave double kudos to him, asking his other members to come out of their cocoons because it is time once more to go to town for the benefit of the masses.  “The struggle is not over yet,” he said.

    The book is not just an indepth excursion into time, it is also a bundle of revelations, assertions and insights into an era; an era that is too difficult to wish away in the annals of Nigeria.  This was why in an interview, Chiemeke took his time to explain the reasons for his mission, the task of putting the work together and the core essence of the Nigerian left.  “Yes, I was active in the process, the principal organization that stood against the annulment of that June 12, 1993 presidential election.  This was done through The Campaign for Democracy.  We were very active and I was one of the group of people, young Nigerians who were fresh out of tertiary institutions, bubbling with energy, but refused to allow bad leaders to continue to hold us hostage.  We were street workers for June 12 then, under the auspices of Campaign for Democracy.

    “So, after whatever that had transpired in those days, I personally came to a conclusion that some stories, most times, are terribly misrepresented.  This is so because these stories are not being told by participants in the events.  So, I was active, hence this book.  It is a story I can conveniently tell with all the facts and figures in place.

    “My own contention in this book is that part of the problems of the Nigerian left was also attached to how they approached the issue of June 12.  It became like a slaughter house for the Nigerian left.  In the middle of that fight there was a disagreement; this fundamentally affected everybody.

    This also further created more divisions which led to the birth of other groups.  It wasn’t that there were no disagreements before now.  But this particular one bordered on deep bitterness and by 1998 – 1999, the problem had not been solved.  Based on that, the transition created its own problems,” he said.

    Chiemeke also believes that the sort of leadership we have today and the sort of purposelessness that accompanies it, is essentially due to the lack or absence of a formidable left.  “Yes, I should think so.  If you look at how it had always been prior to that time, before the advent of democracy, we were up and doing to checkmate leaders, even the military.  The Nigerian left had been in opposition in the society.  We tackled fundamental issues, not from the middle of the road.  Go back to how we tackled the issue of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), of the era of Ibrahim Babangida.  There was a clear-cut idea of what we wanted the government to do.  That, we have lost now, in my own view.”

    The author berated his members whom he said have scattered here and there, thus giving government and leadership enough space to toy with the lives of Nigerians.  “They are in different political parties.  I can even also accuse myself as one of those who now see in Buhari as the salvation general.  But if we are to view it from its proper context, that is from ideological politics; we still have a lot of way to go.  So, with a book like this, with the regrouping of some of us here today, we can begin to be where we should be.  Yes, some people may think you have attacked them but the book will generate other debates within us.  It is this debate and more that will make us to move forward.”

    It is time also to begin the re-engineering of the left and for more members to write more expose on June 12 and what it means to democracy in Nigeria.  With this sort of situation, the society can make more progress.  Even those who many people thought before belonged to the left tradition, were not really in that class.  “In this book, I made a clear distinction between human rights politics and left politics.  The two are not the same in my own contention.  There is a clear division between human rights activism and left wing activism.  In the core tradition of left politics, you can always see the difference,” he said.

    “Ours is not about articulating a position and letting the government know.  It is about letting the people know that there is an alternative to what we have in place today.  That is the fundamental issue and that it is wrong to see the world from this narrow world-view.  The world can be seen from a more fundamental and qualitative way.  In it, I don’t really want the government to feel my impact.  We are not advocating for reform.  No, that is not what we stand for.

    “What we advocate is a fundamental change in the way and manner the Nigerian system is being run.  This fundamental change must address the question of income distribution, and production process.  Who gets what and how does the person get what he gets?  This is the only way the change we need can come into fruition.”

    There are fundamental issues, according to Chiemeke, that the government lacks the capacity to tackle.  But even if the present government wishes to address these issues, it cannot address them because this government is viewing the world from the context of foreign investments.  “Foreigners do not develop any country.  That is my view and that is a historical fact.  The history of the world is that societies are developed by the owners of the land, by the indigenes of that society.  Ours therefore cannot be different.”

    He equally lambasted the Labour Party which could not  fulfill the mandate of the masses but to join in the foray of free for all political jamboree in the society.  “The type of Labour Party we expected is not this type we have whereby if you are tired, you join PDP or APC.  Segun Mimiko is an example.  That is not the kind of Labour Party we are talking about.  Even Adams Oshiomhole did not join the Labour Party even when the party has its office right there in the NLC secretariat in Abuja.  What does that tell you?  It tells you that something somewhere is wrong.  Nigeria is already a one party state whether it is PDP or APC.  Because what are they saying?  Are they saying what is different from each other?  It is just that, to me, the ruling class needed some stability and Buhari who had that good man image would provide it.  Therefore it is for the government to function and keep going.  It is not that the government will do better.  But at least it is to give it confidence so that you and I can say, it is working.”

    He had a word or two to splash on Jonathan.  “Oh, yes the way he was going, even members of his party would have said, oh, this is not what we bargained for.  We want peace.  I have a small analogy to give to you.  You see, the mosquito would prefer that you go to sleep before it decides to bite you.  Because if it bites you while you are awake you will disturb it.  And if it becomes mannerless it will not be able to bite you.  Jonathan was heading in that direction and they needed somebody who had this image that we can make a fortune.  To me, that is what we have now,” he said.

    The book goes deeper than that, however, to dissect many problem areas of the nation.  Chiemeke did all these in 14 Chapters with profound historical accounts which dwell on different dimensions of the series of struggles that gave vent to June 12, 1993.  And it is clear that the history of the struggle whether of the left or of the fight to entrench democracy cannot be complete without this June 12, 1993.

    In his own remarks, Frank Oshanugor, who handled the publication of the book from its infancy to fruition, highlighted the need for people like Chiemeke to regale Nigerians with books like this.  “When I saw the first draft, I knew that this is a great book of history.  Today, what we have is a book on the history of June 12 and the genesis of the struggle.  It is a great work that deserves the attention of all.”

    The presentation witnessed people from all walks of life; people also came to savour the meaning of the Nigerian left and what the author had to offer.  Like Oda remarked, “we will endeavour to re-present this book later in Abuja.”

  • Literature has deepened my knowledge

    Literature has deepened my knowledge

    Chijioke Uwasomba, a senior lecturer in the Department of English Literature at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, is a literary guru in his field. In this interview with Edozie Udeze he talks about his love for Literature and how it has taken him to the highest height in his career.

    What have been the most striking moments in your career as a Literature teacher?

    The most striking moments in my career as a teacher of literature have been occasions when my students scored highly taken into consideration that many students who come to study literature do not have the capacity to cope with the course especially those who are not specializing in literature. But it is important to state that over the years, many part one Law students have demonstrated competence and have made me proud in their performance in the two literature courses compulsorily taken by them in their first year.

    What books are you reading at the present time?

    I am reading Adebayo Williams’ Bulletin From the Land of the Living Ghosts: Romance in the   Reign of King Cobra,Helon Habila’s Oil on Water and Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist

    Who are your favorite novelists of all time?

    Fyodor Dostoeyvsky, Thomas Hardy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Sembene Ousmane,

    To you, who is the most outstanding Literature giant of all season and why?

    Dostoyevsky. This is because of the issues his works raise about the human condition and his capacity to deploy the use of interior monologue to the best and further aligns his characters with the reader in such a manner the latter is made to identify with the former at deeper levels,

    Back home in Nigeria, which books or novels motivated you to take to Literature as a career?

    Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Soyinka’s The Interpreters

    Of all the books you’ve read which characters have struck you the most?

    Oliver Twist in Dickens’ Oliver Twist

    What genres do you love and stick to in and out of season?

     I like the three genres of literature and as a professional critic any critical work is a must read to sharpen my skills even if I disagree with the writer

    If you have a task to convince a person to love Literature, which ten books will you recommend for him/her?

    First of all I will introduce the person to religious tracts especially Awake from the stable of the Jehovah Witnesses not because of their religious content but for the insights and interest they generate in the reader. Ngugi’s Devil on the Cross and I will Marry When I Want, Eagleton’s Saints and Scholars, Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, George Eliot’s Silas Manner, Cyprian Ekwensi’s Drummer Boy, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Beckett’s Wating for Godot and End Game and Niyi Osundare’s Village Voices

    What books are more noticeable in your private library?

     I have books in my discipline and books and other materials on politics and political economy

    Has teaching Literature lifted your status the way you expected, and how and why?

    Reading and teaching Literature have given me all I wanted in life. Literature has the capacity to imbue one with great knowledge and satisfaction.

    In fact, my involvement in the world of words [belle letting] has opened my eyes to the world in every material particular. It has given me the opportunity to engage other disciplines especially the Social Sciences. I have drunk from the spring and enjoyed the deep for the deep calls the deep. To paraphrase Shelly, one other redoubtable Romantic writer, the literati constitutes the legislators of the world and by extension the prophets for they see the now and the present. Being a functional member of this rare collective is indeed humbling and exciting.

    Are you a re-reader – how often?

    Yes I am a re-reader. The profession of literature survives on the plank of re-reading texts. It gives the scholar the advantage of arriving at new meanings. Meanings are dynamic and therefore require serious intellectual negotiations. By re-reading texts new realities and meanings are arrived at and this re-invigorates the discipline and places it at the fore front of other disciplines and engagements. Re-reading for me in a quotidian exercise.

  • Taking literature to the grassroots

    Taking literature to the grassroots

    Book reading has become part of the promotion of the reading culture.  Edozie Udeze writes on a book reading that took place last weekend in Lagos and how it was used to dissect the literary firmament.

    The steaming argument that often attends the gathering of the literati in Nigeria of whether literature is thriving does not seem to end soon.  In addition to this argument also is whether the reading culture among the teeming Nigerian youths is ebbing or growing.  All these debates and discussions and positions are indeed good for the development and expansion of literature, the reading culture and even writing in the society.  Above all, it is good that those who feel up to it, now put series of programmes in place to entice literary enthusiasts and also ensure that the sector is never bereft of ideas and the cross-fertilization of ideas.

    But can literature really die in the form we know it today even if the internet has come to stand as a wedge between it and the so-called age of technology?  These and more were some of the knotty and burning issues raised last weekend in Lagos when the literati gathered for a book reading orchestrated by Victor Ehikhamenor and Toni Kan.  The venue was the Gele Art Gallery, Onikan, Lagos and the crowd was really impressive and responsive.  The duo of Victor and Kan who have been churning out series of fictional and non-fictional works in the past years read from their latest works.

    While Victor read from his book, Excuse me, Toni pelted the crowd with stimulating lines from his collection called Night of the Creaking Bed.  They were all stories that related to the people, cutting across age, generation and class.  As Victor read excerpts from his short story entitled, My Mother, Information Management Czar, the crowd cheered and jeered and applauded.  He said: “when I was growing up, my mother took me up on public behaviour, and information management.  I wonder if the KGB, DSS, SSS, CIA, can go through the kind of drilling we got from mum.  She truly designed all that for me.  Growing up in the village there were unwritten manuals by mum on how to grow up and survive the rough terrain.

    “My mother started early on me because I appeared too free and went round freely, too trusting.  She knew she needed a strong hand to manage me, and told me too to cut or control my enthusiasm whenever visitors were around.  This was so because many people came to my father to resolve their differences.  At that young age I would hear all sorts of things and arguments from adults…  Each time I defaulted, my mother was ever ready to scold me silly.  If I thought I could run to evade her, her legs were always faster than mine to catch me and discipline me in return.  At Christmas I would be so carried away by the excitement in the air that I would be walking around knocking down China bowels and breaking tumblers forgetting the information management my mother gave to me.  Whenever my excesses became too much, she would excuse herself from the visitors and took me away to discipline me…”

    Also reading excerpts from a short story entitled Love Letters, Victor took the audience back and forth into the throes of love and romance; into the memories of how teenagers used smooth words and soothing lines in those days to catch the women they fancied.  But more than that, he chronicled how the letter writing issues soon became part of his past time as a village champion; an expert in crafting wonderful letters for village women who sought for his services.

    One day, however, one of the love letters he wrote to a lover landed him in the principal’s office because the go-between for the delivery of the offending letter did not like the writer.  Then instead of giving it to the owner, she sent it straight to the principal’s office just to create trouble for him.  “A good love letter made things easier for a boy who was interested in a particular girl,” Victor informed.  “We had no money to give.  We only had sweet things to write to entice our women.  Then part of the letter would read, you are the flowers I see every morning, the soothing stars I gaze at in the skies.  You are the reason I am alive, the flower of my life.  My life can never have meaning if you do not love me in return.

    “But when was the last time you wrote a love letter?  Victor asked the chagrined audience.  Of course, no one present could remember or even knew what a love letter sounds like these days.  Yet the story took people into the lovely past when romance was at its peak; when lovers were genuine and true to each other.  Interestingly, most of the lines drew laughter from the audience since it zeroed down into the fabric of the nuances of love.

    Reading from the Night of the Creaking Bed, Toni Kan told of the engaging encounter between an average citizen and the police every day in Nigeria.  What is the role or place of the police in Nigeria?  Are they to correct erring offenders or help them to compound their situations when they are in trouble?  Series of such encounters have so far jeopardised most situations for people who otherwise would have been cautioned and left off the hook.  But making some of these happenings into a story helps to enlighten the public and probably dissuade the police from being too harsh and binding on the people.

    In an interview, Kan reiterated that people who still show interest in literature are ever eager to have new works of literature to make their day.  “Oh, yes, people are reading,” he enthused.  “See, when you are inside a bus or driving through the Third Mainland Bridge, you’d see young people sitting in their cars reading books.  The essence of what we are doing is to continue to do our bit as writers and reporters.  Most of the books people read are all second-hard foreign books.  So why wouldn’t we write to suit their tastes?  To give them what they desire to read?  Whether it is motivational book or not, but they are reading.  May be we are not writing what inspires people.  This is what we need to look into.  Now my last book has sold ten thousand copies.  Who read it?  Why is Chimamanda Adichie selling?  We need to know as writers to be able to know how to navigate our works to capture the people.

    “Yes, now, I think we need to begin to change what we write.  I think that’s the problem we have.  Why not write stories that sound like Nollywood?  Why couldn’t we think in that direction since that is what propels people on?  No, we don’t have to write like Soyinka or Achebe to get it right.  We need to write for our own purposes, for the reason we are who we are at the present moment.  What I mean is that we should write what people will find accessible and also relate with.  Okay, where are the books now, the thrillers, the bestsellers, the type we get from other writers?  Where are they, for our people to read?  We need to begin to do that now,” Kan, a seasoned journalist, novelist and poet, asserted.

    He stressed that in truth people do not find what they really want to read in Nigerian book stores.  “You could see the crowd and the sort of reactions they gave to the stories read out to them.  It was quite encouraging and that shows that people really need to be ignited somewhat towards literature and writing.  When books are read out like this often, why wouldn’t people show good reactions?  We always shy away from saying that we are making money as writers.  As a writer shouldn’t I make money for God’s sake?  Where else do you want us to make money from?  Are they not our works; our creative talent?”

    As Kan raised these fundamental issues, the point most people noted was how to stop the internet from bastardising the standard of the English Language.  A lot of younger ones do not want to make out time to read to master the language very well.  Everybody goes into the net with all sorts of rubbish in the name of literature or short stories.  This, most of the people that responded said is not good enough to promote literary issues in the society.

    In his own reaction, Olayinka Oyegbile, a Lagos journalist, berated the over-reliance on the new technology of internet as the hub of the problem.  “In those days, if you wrote a letter to the editor and once the editor opened it and noticed that the first two sentences were correct, he would use it.  And once he used it, you also were a champion.  But what do we get these days?  It is so disheartening,” he offered.

    Oyegbile was not alone in this contention.  Most people who spoke argued that even though technology has helped the expansion of knowledge, it has its own limitations.  Text messages done in short hand and more confusing sentences have influenced the way some people reason, write the English language and even react to serious and committed issues.  Wana Udubong who anchored the programme was of the opinion, however, that hard core literature cannot fizzle out.  Internet, to her, is just a phase that can only aid and not totally obliterate the core values of literature.  How do you undo hard copies of books or bookshops or even publishing houses in a society?

    Internet has been on for decades in developed worlds, yet hard copies of books have not died.  So it is only the problem of control and teaching children to read to know English better, both in terms of speech and writing that can help to prosper literature.

  • 109 authors for NLNG Literature Prize

    109 authors for NLNG Literature Prize

    No fewer than 109 writers from Nigeria and other countries have sentered for this year’s Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited. The focus is on Children’s Literature.

    Considered Africa’s most prestigious literary award because of its uncompromising insistence on excellence and the US$100,000 cash prize, the NLNG sponsored initiative rotates yearly among four literary categories of prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature.

    Contestants  send in their works, which are assessed by a panel of judges, comprising eminent literary scholars. The judges’ decisions and reviews are overseen by an advisory committee of equally distinguished academics and literalists.

    On the panel for this year’s edition  are Prof Uwemedimo Enobong Iwoketok of the University of Jos, the chairperson, Prof Charles Bodunde of the University of Ilorin, and the University of Maiduguri’s Dr. Razinat Mohammed.

    Members of the Advisory Board for the Prize are Emeritus  Prof Ayo Banjo, Prof  Ben Elugbe and Prof Jerry Agada.

    Kimberly Reynolds, a Professor of Children’s Literature at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom  and  past President of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature,  is this year’s International Consultant to the Advisory Board.

    Submissions are examined and shortlisted based on a number of considerations including editorial excellence, creativity and story plot with the aim of selecting a final winner who will then be publicly announced in October each year, to coincide with the date NLNG shipped its first liquefied natural gas cargo.

    “We have received a hundred and nine books as submissions by Nigerian authors to compete for this year’s prize in children’s literature. I can only wish all the authors vying for the honour, every success and the best outcome possible in the exercise,” said Kudo Eresia-Eke, NLNG’s General Manager External Relations.

    The last winner of the literature prize in the children’s literature category was Adeleke Adeyemi in 2011, for The Missing Clock,while Mabel Segun and Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo were joint winners for the Reader’s Theatre and My Cousin Sammyin 2007.

    This year’s award for children’s literature will run concurrently with the prize for literary criticism, also sponsored by NLNG, and for which only one entry was received. Introduced in 2012, the literary criticism category is a yearly award and carries a monetary value of N1million.

    Elsewhere in education, Nigeria LNG in March 2014 publicly announced a N2 billion University Support Programme (USP). Under the corporate social responsibility initiative, Nigeria LNG is currently sponsoring the building and equipment of engineering laboratories in six universities across Nigeria’s geo political zones as part of its support to teaching, research and capacity building.

  • ‘Prizes are no determinants of great literature’

    United States-based Nigerian scholar and columnist Okey Ndibe has urged young  writers to write books if there are stories they believe must be told instead of writing to win prizes. He said prizes are important impetus to writers as part of literary competitions, but are not determinants of great literature.

    “Prizes are part of literary competitions, prizes are important and they have their place but prizes are not determinants of great literature. It is a big mistake for someone to write because you want to win the Etisalat Prize or the Caine Prize, you should write because there is a story you believe must be told  and this story will not forgive you if you don’t write it and when you write it, that is its own reward,” he added.

    Ndibe, who spoke at the last Ake Arts and Book Festival in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said Nigeria should support the young writers because they have great stories to tell. He said there is a lot of information for the young writers to work with and be part of the conversation on the nation.

    But he identified passion and commitment as major ingredients that make a writer adding that good structure of editing and enterprising publishers would help bring the works of younger writers to a wider audience.

    “Thematically, in all the genres, there are great opportunities and great stories to tell. What we need in Nigeria now is good structure of editing. So, we need more editors to help young writers shape their work. We also need more enterprising publishers to bring the work of these younger writers to a wide audience. What it takes to be a writer is passion and commitment. I tell young writers not to fall into the trap of wanting to write to make money, wanting to write to win prizes because sometimes prizes come from your writing. But you must write because you are committed to the craft,” he said.

    On Nigeria’s democratic journey, the author of Foreign Gods said politicians have been reckless in the practice of democracy, saying most of the leaders are after their pockets. “We have been reckless. I mean our politicians have been reckless in their so called practice of democracy that the majority of those who presume to be leaders are there for their pocket. So, they are almost bandits who set out to seize the resources of the public. There is no ideological content to what they do and one finds it really disturbing that too much of our country’s vast resources are wasted in payment to so-called democratic structures, which are not productive. They take too much of our country’s resources both as remuneration as well as money that they steal.  So, I doubt if this can be sustained. It is either Nigerians rise up and sanitise the system or the politicians should exercise self-restraint in the way they squander the resources of this country,” Ndibe said.

    A year ago, Ndibe published his latest book, Foreign Gods, a story of Ike who decides to steal the deity in his hometown to sell to a gallery in New York, US and his simple motivation is money. He wants lot of money from selling a deity to enable him have a different life.

    Asked the challenges facing book publishing in US, he said rather than look  at the challenges, he looked at the prospects.

    Continuing, he said: “When I finished the novel the major challenge was finding an agent. I had an agent when I was writing the novel but when I finished it, she read it and said that she had decided not to sell fiction anymore but to sell non-fiction. So, she asked me to look for another agent. For a few months, I wrote to about 10 agents, about half of them ignored me and the other half wrote, praised the novel and recognised its power. But they were not interested because some had enough writers on their list while the others gave other reasons.

    “But in the end, I was lucky to find a publisher Soho Press in New York, who buys manuscripts directly from writers. So, they bought the manuscript from me and they published it and it became their big book of the year. I am very pleased that my book is the biggest book they have published this year.”

  • Group holds creative writing workshop

    Group holds creative writing workshop

    NIGERIA has abundant young writers, says the President of Women Writers of Nigeria, Mrs Mobolaji Adenubi. The writers, she said, should be mentored to make them win awards.

    She spoke at a Creative Writing Workshop aimed at inspiring and nurturing young talented writers.

    Mrs Adenubi founded a creative non-profit organisation, Splendid Literature and Culture Foundation (SLCF).

    Thirty budding writers between ages 11 and 21 attended event at the King’s College, Lagos, to hone their writing skills.

    Mrs Adenubi led five other facilitators to teach the Mechanics of Writing. She taught participants literary terms, such as “plotting”, “character development”, “description” and “points of view”, among others. Other facilitators were co-founder of WriteHouse,”Femi Morgan; full-time writer and editor with years of experience in print and online media and publishing,Adebola Rayo; poet, short story writer and occasional essayist, Dami Ajayi; self-published author of children’s stories, Ndidi Chiazor-Enenmor;award-winning essayist, freelance writer and editor,Temitayo Olofinlua Amogunla and Oyindamola Olofinlua.

    “We encourage young people to think imaginatively, and help them develop how to think, not what to think. Older writers have more opportunities to sharpen their writing craft; hence this writing workshop is primarily for younger writers,” Mrs Adenubi said.

    Author ofHustlerpreneur,Morgan is optimistic over the growth of creative writing in the continent, saying: “My experience shows that there is hope for the new narratives from Africa. The foundation [not only] waters the creative imagination of potential writers and artists but [also] accompanies it with a realistic bluntness about the creative industry”.

    Mrs Amogunla facilitated a session on Online Writing and the Business of Writing. According to her, “Creative people usually have the failing of not being good at transacting business. Writing can and should indeed be big business!” She focused extensively on the opportunities online, how writing and indeed writers can be a “thriving business”.

    Rayo shared with participants how to become better writers: how to know whether their manuscripts is indeed ready, while highlighting what to do when one is done writing a manuscript, which she entitled My Manuscript and I, and how to get their works out.

    Ajayi and Chiazor-Enenmor shared their publishing stories to inspire. According to Ajayi, he has secured a deal and his soon-to-be published collection of poetry was shortlisted for the prestigious Melita Hume Poetry Prize.

    Oyindamola taught Copyediting 101 with focus on how writers can first edit their own writing.

    Elated Jamiu Basit,a participant, said: “SLCF Creative Writing Workshop has given me everything, including the sparkling tools to win a Man Booker.”

  • NLNG Literature prize finalists named

    NLNG Literature prize finalists named

    The final shortlist of three writers has been approved by the Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited.

    The three shortlisted writers are Friday John Abba (Alekwu Night Dance), Jude Idada (Oduduwa, King of the Edos) and Sam Ukala (Iredi War).

    An initial shortlist of eleven was released in July.

    According to the Chairman of the Advisory Board, Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo, the eventual winner of the competition will be announced at a press conference on 9th October, 2014.

    Friday John Abba, a playwright was Chairman of Kaduna Writers’ League and former Vice Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

    Playwright, theatre director, film producer and an academic, Sam Ukala was the Chairman, Delta State Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

    Ukala’s other published plays include The Slave Wife, The Log in Your Eye, Akpakaland and Break a Boil.

    Jude Idada, a screen writer, filmmaker and dramatist, has published works in the three genres of literature.

    He is the author of Flood, Brixton Stories and Lost. He is also the winner of the 2013 Association of Nigerian Authors’ Prize for Drama with his book, Oduduwa: King of the Edos. Idada, who currently lives in Canada, is a graduate of Theatre Arts, from the University of Ibadan.

  • Forces against writing

    Forces against writing

    All is set for this year’s edition of the NLNG Prize for Literature. Eleven Nigerian authors are gunning for the $100,000 prize money. The literati and book lovers met with the shortlisted authors in Lagos at the CORA Book Party. It was a dramatic feast of sorts, reports Evelyn Osagie.

    Writers have been urged to revisit the works of their old and established counterparts to get inspiration in addressing the country’s socio-cultural and political problems.

    Citing religious and ethnic upheavals, ace actress, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett advised writers to address themes that highlight contemporary issues, particularly peace and love, in their works.

    Writers, she said, should tackle the “issue of love” from political, religious, socio-cultural angles, saying it would curb violence.

    “There is nothing utopian about love. In fact, the fundamental thing wrong in our society is that we do not love one another. It is the intellectuals that galvanise our people, working on their collective consciousness. Writers should think about,” she said.

    Hers was one of the submissions at CORA’s book party held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos in honour of the initial shortlisted authors of the Nigeria Literature Prize sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited. It drew the literati, publishers, booksellers and booklovers from within and outside Lagos.

    The playwrights and their works that were on the spotlight at CORA’s book fiesta include: John Friday Abba – Alekwu Night Dance; Patrick Ogbe Adaofuyi – Canterkerous Passengers; Soji Cole – Maybe Tomorrow; Paul Edema – A Plague of Gadflies; Jude Idada – Oduduwa, King of the Edos; Onshore Ruth Momodu – No Fault of Mine; Attah Isaac Ogezi – Under a Darkling Sky; Julie Okoh – Our Wife Forever; Ade Solanke – Pandora’s Box; Arnold Udoka – Akon and Sam Ukala – Iredi War.

    After two months of intensive scrutiny, the list of 11 playwrights was drawn from a total of 124 entries by the panel of judges, including Professor of Theatre and Drama and Vice-Chancellor, Benue State University, Prof Charity Angya; a past laureate of the prize and Professor of Theatre Arts, Prof Ahmed Yerima and Professor of Performing Arts, Akanji Nasiru.

    They are contesting keenly for the $100, 000 prize. The yearly prize rotates among four literary genres – prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. This year’s focus is drama; and the sponsor’s say the final shortlist of three playwrights will be announced in September, and the winner of the $100,000 prize in October.

    Its previous winners include Prof Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (2007) for children’s literature; Chika Unigwe (2012) for prose fiction and Tade Ipadeola (2013) for poetry.

    For CORA, the authors whose works make the prize’s initial shortlist are winners in their own rights. And the yearly book party, which offered guests the opportunity to interact with the celebrators, was a way of honouring them.

    The event was incisive, educative and fun-filled, blending of book readings discussions, poetry and musical performances with assorted food and drinks.

    This year’s had an added spice – the audience were able to interact with nominees based abroad via online conferencing.

    According to CORA Secretary-General, Toyin Akinosho, the feast is part of the foundation’s intervention in spreading the word about The Nigerian Book. He said “It’s one of our several outreach programmes for the book (including Book Trek in Secondary Schools and Publishers Forum).”

    In fact, on the part of CORA’s Programme Chair, Jahman Anikulapo, it is out to enlarge Nigerian reading population. “We find ourselves in the vanguard of expanding the membership of the community of booklovers. This party is one of the several events we organise to make books look cool,” he said.

    Indeed the “Word” took centre stage and was served fresh and raw to the audience as the shortlisted playwrights and Nollywood celebrities celebrities read from their works and interacted with booklovers.

    There were several poetic and dramatic performances as well as music.

    And as charging the celebrators to honour their “covenants as writers”, poet and journalist Akeem Lasisi’s poetic renditions: “…You kept your words like the delicate egg…you have honoured your covenant with the musing drive…” reaffirmed the importance of the “Word” and the writer’s role as a conscience of society.

    Celebrated scholar Dr Esohe Molokwu re-echoed Ajai-Lycett and Akeem’s words, urging the celebrators, thus: “Use your work to change society; dramatists have the power to change society”.

    According to NLNG General Manager, External Affairs, Mr Kudo Eresia-Eke, the prize was established by his company as part of its corporate citizenship programme and commitment to the development of Nigerian society, adding that there has been progressive improvement in the quality of works entered and the competition is getting “sweeter and stiffer”.

    He said: “We have seen continuous improvement in the quality of works, whether you call it poetry, drama, prose or children literature. The quality of works that come in every sense, the creativity of the stories, the manner in which they are expressed – the expressionism that we see, we can really say that people are gearing up even more to do better works. And African Literature is the greater beneficiary.”

    On the part of shortlisted writers, it was a privilege to be on the initial shortlist, and the event, a welcomed initiative. However, for most of them, writing is beyond winning a prize but more of “affecting lives”. They decried their plights of creative writers, calling for better support and infrastructure to encourage budding ones.

    “Many things militate against the health of writing in the country. How healthy is our society? These rub off on writers. What kind of encouragement do we have as writers?” Prof Ukala said. While making a case for playwrights, he said: a teacher of drama, saying: “Why not drama? As a professor who teaches drama, if I don’t write plays upon what basis would I be teaching?”

    The hilarious twist of the evening came towards the end when the moderator, Mr Deji Toye threw questions to the authors. “Do you think you stand a chance of winning the prize?” he asked.

    “If I am given the prize, the critics would not be disappointed,” Ogezi said, drawing laughter from the audience; while on Abba’s part, “It is not a fair question”. “I have stood on the shoulders of many great shoulders; whether I have seen far enough, standing on those shoulders, is left to the judges to decide. Am I going to win, I don’t know,” he said.