By Anote Ajeluorou
ON December 20, 2010, President
Goodluck Jonathan launched a book project designed to stimulate a near-comatose
book industry, with the attendant poor reading culture that has been at the
centre of Nigeria’s backward profile in almost all areas of development.
Many hailed it as a big deal and argued that the president,
being an academic, could not have conceived a better idea for the country.
But there were cynics also;
who described it as an electioneering ploy merely designed to win votes. But
many voices shouted them down and they adopted the sit-down-look posture,
confident that time would prove them right. Indeed, that seems to be the case.
After taking the book campaign
train from Lagos to Benin City, Abuja and Bayelsa, the essential template that
should drive the book culture to the doorsteps of Nigerians seems to be lacking.
In fact, Mr. Jonathan’s book campaign has gone so quiet as if it never happened.
It was Nigeria’s distinguished
Professor of English, New Orleans University, Niyi Osundare, who perhaps
reframed the operational framework for Mr. President’s pet project, when he
said, “Eleven days to the end of 2010, Nigeria performed a strange but highly
significant operation; we celebrated the absence of an important entity by
wishing its restoration and presence.
“Tagged Bring Back
the Book, this is a slogan that has a lot to offer
than it seductively alliterates to. And this offer is predicated on a number of
intriguing assumptions; first is that the book once lived and
probably thrived in Nigeria.
“Second, the book left
perhaps without a forwarding address. We were never told the manner and
tradition of its departure, whether it was sacked, excommunicated, set ablaze
or whether the poor thing just walked away on its own having found the Nigerian
environment hostile and life threatening, especially in those dark and dreary
days of military dictatorship.
“Are
we to assume further that having felt the impact of the book’s
departure, Nigeria is now ready, even eager, for its restoration and re-entry
complete with all citizen rights and obligation thereof and grant it full
liberty in pursuant of its duties as a vital national commodity?
“I can
hear the book saying in justifiable anger, ‘who drove me away in the
first place and why all this high-powered fuzz about my return at this time of
all times?’’
In launching the book
campaign, the drivers of the project, among others thing, had said, “Bring Back the Book initiative is a brainchild of President Goodluck Jonathan established
with a view to develop a book reading culture in Nigeria, especially amongst
the youth who have lost value for reading either for educational purposes or
entertainment.
“The
initiative seeks to empower the youth for the future by preparing them for the
opportunities and challenges faced by us as a people by engaging in series of
activities designed to encourage the culture of reading amongst the youth.
“The president believes the secrets of
governance, amazing discoveries, development, progressive management principles
and every other desire of any nation are hidden in books, books written over
generations and that only through reading can the leaders of tomorrow nurture
dreams and values that can change society”
The
objectives of the initiative, the organizers said, would include ‘revitalising
the reading culture, with knowledge serving as a tool for development and
projecting the nation’s culture, for survival, sustenance and protection.
Activities intended to drive the
project also included ‘organising book readings in educational institutions at
all levels across the country; establishment of Bring Back the Book Clubs in educational institutions to serve as hubs for development of
intellectual capacity of the youth; support for literary events and projects;
creation of platform for national discussion on ways to develop the educational
system cum reading culture and conducting research and supporting organisations
carrying out related activities.
Others are support for the production of books locally by encouraging
publishers via buying of books for distribution to libraries nationwide;
construction, refurbishment and stocking of libraries across the country and
organising national competitions aimed at driving the culture of book reading
in the country. They also envision that “Bring Back the Book will help transform Nigeria by empowering more
people to dare to be the change-agents needed to make Nigeria a better place
having discovered the strength that lies in reading books.
An
insider source in the book campaign initiative, who preferred anonymity,
expressed the view that although the project had until now been silent, it was
to complete the process of institutionalising and making project
independent. He assured that Bring Back the Book would soon hit the road with vigour, noting that Bring Back the
Book was about the only trans-governmental,
trans-political and trans-generational project that would outlive the Jonathan
administration and so its promoters would not allow it to die. He said efforts
were already in place to rev it up.
HOWEVER, some players in the book
industry, who expressed their views on the matter, are pained that such a
laudable project has been hit by perennial government inertia. Although former
member, House of Representatives and former president, Association of Nigerian
Authors (ANA) who is also promoter of the only residency programme for writer
in the country, Ebedi International Writers Residency Programme, Dr. Wale
Okediran praised the project, he is concerned at its current inertia and
suggests ways to move it forward.
In Okediran’s view, “The
President's BBtB project was a laudable programme. At its inauguration about
two years ago, it created a large measure of public awareness, especially among
policymakers. The programme also gave some of the stakeholders in the book
industry such as the writers, publishers and booksellers some modicum of
exposure and respect.
“During the recent visit of
the Trustees of the Rainbow Book Club to President Jonathan, the leader of the
delegation, Mrs. Koko Kalango, attributed the UNESCO's recognition of Port
Harcourt as the World's Book Capital in 2014 to the President's BBtB project.
However, like many government programmes, the initiative suffered some degree
of neglect, which gradually pushed the project to the background.
“In order to redress this
problem, every effort should be made by government to re-invigorate the project
through a more active arm of government than where it was previously domiciled.
On the other hand, the programme could be handed over to a very active book
organisation such as the Association of Nigerian Authors, Rainbow Book Club,
Lagos Book and Art Fair (LABAF) or Ebedi International Writers Residency among
others for proper and effective execution”.
But current President of
ANA, Prof. Remi Raji-Oyelade said he didn’t know enough about the project to
make informed comment, saying, “I can’t comment on a project I really do not
have a brief on, either as individual author or as President of ANA. Simply, we
do not lack the capacity to think out good projects as the BBtB, and I am sure
the government meant well. Whatever has happened to that dream, its actualisation
and management, I do not know.”
Managing Director of Ibadan-based University Press Plc
and chairman, Nigeria Book Fair Trust (organisers of the yearly Nigeria
International Book Fair), Mr. Samuel Kolawole submitted, “Well, I was
disappointed. I think it was a great idea, but as human beings, it may not have
been carried through properly. One of the things that we always complained
about in this country is that stakeholders in the book industry are not always
carried along. If you’re going to do a programme that has to do with books, the
involvement of printers, publishers and booksellers has to be sought. It’s not
about the fantastic cameras and big event. When people talk about publishers,
what comes to their mind is that he’s a businessman and he doesn’t need to be
consulted when policy issues are to be discussed. If you do anything in the
educational sector, you need books. Who produces the books? It’s the publisher!
So, you need to bring him in, to say, ‘what direction should we follow?’
“These are some of the implementation challenges that have
not allowed the project to realise its intention. But I think its intention was
good. Practically, what should we do? It’s not about holding fantastic
seminars. It’s not a political issue; it’s a policy issue and in policy issues,
you need to involve every stakeholder at every level. That’s very important for
you to be able to achieve your objectives. It’s a laudable initiative. I don’t
think the idea should be allowed to die, but everybody must be involved to help
realise its potentials.
“You can talk from now till forever, but what is the
implementation level? I think implementation is the challenge that the Bring
Back the Book programme is facing. They should involve stakeholders in the book
industry for it to work”.
However, President, PEN
Nigeria Centre, Ibadan-based poet and lawyer, Mr. Tade Ipadeola is not happy
that Jonathan has played politics with his own laudable project.
According to him, “The buck for Bring Back the Book stops at
President Goodluck Jonathan's table and he has failed miserably at realising a
potential for Nigeria there. I was one of those who received that initiative
with enthusiasm. Today, the whole exercise appears gimmicky and wasted. It was
clearly not thought-through despite the willingness of writers to get this one
initiative going.
“I think this failure lost
Mr. President a lot of those who believed in him and is fast making outright
enemies for the man. How do you bring in Wole Soyinka into a scheme and then
mess things up so thoroughly? The National Library has been on strike for a
long time now; state libraries are comatose and local government libraries are
non-existent. This is inexcusable in a country that claims to fight Boko
Haram. Indeed, failure of this magnitude gave impetus to Boko
Haram.”
Secretary
of PEN, Mr. Oluwafiropo Ewenla, is not as charitable at the failure of the
project, as he has harsh words for its organisers, saying, “That is what our oga at the
top wants. But we inquired then if the book went anywhere. Those
who acclaimed the project then have now been shown as lacking a depth of
understanding of the plight of books in our country. Where did the book ever go
warranting anyone bringing it back?
“You cannot end a journey
you never started. It was not meant to be anything but a jamboree. I am yet to
come across a writer, publisher, librarian who has benefited from it and is
willing to openly campaign for it. If it is anything, it is a sham. I do not
know what its aim is. So, I cannot talk about whether it achieved its aim or
not when I find the aim questionable from the beginning. It is more than
certain writers and the book industry have been taken for a ride.
“Those who have benefited
in any small way have unconsciously endorsed the scam that it is. I bet you
need to see what would have appeared on paper as money spent on bringing back
the book project. I strongly feel that our body of writers should call for an
audit.”
AUTHOR of Eno’s Story, Ayodele
Olofintuade views the project purely from a political prism, noting, “As far as
I am concerned, Bring Back the Book has achieved its aim of getting
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan his desperately needed votes. The first sign of how the
initiative would end was there at the beginning when the President launched his
badly edited book My Friends and I on the same day the initiative
was launched.
“I know a few PDP states
have tried to bring books to their cities but these are half -hearted attempts
whereby a few hundred pupils ended up with books they probably won't read
because there are no back up programmes to encourage the love of reading in
them. Bring Back the Book is just another white elephant
political vehicle, all noise and no substance. I have absolutely no faith in
the programme presently.
“Frankly, bring back the
book was a perfect example of the profligacy, corruption and waste that are now
the hallmark of GEJ's presidency. I can bet you that they cannot produce one
single receipt on how the millions of naira were spent. Nigerian publishing
houses are in trouble because of a government that doesn't care about its
citizenry. Publishing houses like Cassava Republic, Farafina, Parresia that are
headed by young, vibrant Nigerians are going under due to the fact that
government has failed to invest in them and give them grants so that the books
that are supposedly being brought back will become cheap enough for the people
to access”.
ANA PR, North and author of
City of Memories, Mr. Richard Ali sees the project in a similar vein, saying,
“"I'm afraid I now think it was an act of gimmickry and it is clear that
Nigerian writers and publishers were taken for a ride. You would admit that
educated consumers of culture largely supported the President in his succession
travails and presidential campaigns, he being a Ph.D holder and all made us
sympathetic. His Bring Back the Book campaign was seen as a further nod
to the president's intention in terms of culture and intellectual pursuit. But
the silence since then shows that we were sadly deceived.
“President Jonathan, in his
preference for the kleighlights of Nollywood over
other organs of culture such as the Association of Nigerian Authors, has shown
that the Bring Back the Book initiative was done solely in the
heat of campaigning. He recently gave Nollywood another
N3 billion. How much has he given ANA and Nigerian publishers? There isn't a
lot we can do except continue to speak the truth to power. President Jonathan
is making his administration into a philistine one as far as books and
publishing are concerned and this is sad in capital letters, sad in any sort of
emphasis you can imagine".
Prof. J.O.J. Nwachukwu-Agbada of Abia State University,
Uturu sees the project as “A ploy. I feared it would not last. Anybody who read
my reaction to Mr. President's gesture in 2011 would know that I took it with a
grain of salt. Ordinarily, I think he may have meant well but his advisers may
have turned his face away since it was not a vote-catching antic. They'd have
reminded him that it was not 'it'; they'd have told him to go to road workers
unions, butchers' guild, actors' associations, musicians, stand-up comedians
etc. I heard he doled out a huge sum to one of them, a gesture that immediately
made the stakes higher in the said organization!
“Yet the call for the revival of the book culture, an
idea which the President seemed to have bought just before his election in
2011, is one whose time has come. Could it be that the President tried to woo
the youth with his gesture, and noticing that they were not keen, took on other
matters? If it had been about the social media or pornography, he would've got
their ears and eyes too. Well, the campaign for the return of the reading
culture needs to last a little longer, in fact longer than the years the
disinterest in books have taken. A campaign such as returning people's interest
in books shouldn't have been a one-off offer, which, when it does not catch
fire immediately can be jettisoned offhandedly.
“What are writers to do? They are not supposed to do
anything except to continue writing. One can't be a writer and also a promoter
of what one writes. It's difficult to combine the two. Except a few people who
have that kind of ability. They could organize publishers' parleys where the
necessity for book promotion will have to be re-iterated.
“Why disinterest in books should continue to be a social
headache is baffling. How can we step surefooted into the present century
de-emphasizing reading? Or do we want to remain in the 19th century? What
humbug of education are we propagating?”
HOWEVER, publisher, renowned
author of such novels as Nigger at Eton, Revenge of the Medicine Man, Juju and
recently, God, Sex and the Englishman and organiser of Enugu-based Coal
City Book Convention, Mr. Dillibe Onyeama commends the book initiative as
providing impetus for stimulating book culture in the country, adding,
“President Goodluck Jonathan's Bring Back the Book campaign
made a huge psychological impact when seen in the light of coming from no less
an authority than the Number 1 helmsman in the corridors of power. True enough,
Nigeria's reading culture was in a comatose state. His call was the greatest
news for stakeholders in the book industry since Nigeria's independence in
1960, for no central government other than passing support voiced by former
Vice-President Dr. Alex Ekwueme during the Second Republic had shown any
interest to promote the intellectual dividends offered by the book.
“Our 'brain drain' crisis
caused the decline of literature in Nigeria because with the largest population
of Western-trained manpower in black Africa, such as Nigeria boasted, we also
boasted a vibrant reading culture which kept many publishers off-shore afloat,
resulting in many job losses off-shore when interest in books dwindled with the
entry of the military in Nigeria's affairs of state. Mediocrity was
consequently enthroned, and has in the main remained enthroned till this day -
resulting in a depressed economy for stakeholders in the book publishing
industry.
“Not long thereafter the
NLNG-sponsored award, The Nigerian Prize for Literature upped its annual prize
incentive from - I think it was $50,000 - to a mind-boggling $100,000
every year. As if like a wave of a magic wand, the great literary boom years of
the 1970s and early 1980s - when the Obi Egbunas, Chukwuemeka Ikes, Buchi
Emechetas, Amos Tutuolas, Nkem Nwankwos, Gabriel Okaras and the Ben Okris, etc,
were selling 40,000 copies a year of their novels - have returned, bringing us
the Chimamandas and Chinwe Unigwes and several other exceptional literary
talents.
“I am sure that
President Jonathan would still have won the last election with a landslide if
no writer voted. As it is, he is to be saluted for the significant upsurge in
the output of literary efforts since his campaign”.