Usman’s panacea for reviving endangered minority languages

By Anote Ajeluorou

In spite of the strong emphasis linguists, oral folklorists, writers and experts place on the need for parents to transmit their mother tongues to their children through active usage at home, many people across the world are yet to heed this call. In nowhere else is this negligent attitude more glaring than in parts of Africa, especially among small ethnic groups with minority languages. These minority languages are battling the onslaught of majority languages fostered on them by a multitude of factors not least is rampaging globalization that is fast assimilating and annihilating secure traditional lifestyles and modes of living.

  Therefore, the need to preserve minority languages from disappearing altogether is the concern of a well-researched new book by author and folklorist Dr. Bukar Usman Language Disappearance and Cultural Diversity in Biu Emirate (Klamidas Communications Ltd, Abuja; 2014).

  Usman is rightly alarmed by the trend whereby his own language, Babur/Bura, among the several spoken in Biu Emirate, a minority language in North-Eastern Nigeria, faces the danger of disappearing and not being spoken at all in years to come. As a folklorist who has collected several folktales and is interested in developing and entrenching the oral tradition of storytelling on which he grew up listening to the old folks, the loss of his mother tongue and those of others in his immediate Biu locale and elsewhere, would signal an irreplaceable loss to the pool of human heritage and knowledge systems. For him and many others in the race to rescue endangered languages across the world, the mother tongue is such a crucial element of development for which concerted efforts must be made to save and preserve them wherever they face possible extinction.

  The folklorist has drawn largely on the example of his local Babur/Bura language of Biu Emirate while also paying attention to situations elsewhere to amplify a global concern. According to both the United Nations and UNESCO the rate at which languages are disappearing across the globe is alarming, and unless the trend is reversed, the world will be the worst for it in the core human values that would be lost as a result.

  According to the author, a number of reasons account for the loss or disappearance of a language. As he put it, “The most important reasons are the official policies and practices of imperial powers and the subjugation, consciously or unconsciously, of languages of smaller groups by those of larger or more powerful (populous) entities. The most critical casualty in any clash of culture is the language of the overwhelmed or overpowered culture. This is because language is the greatest embodiment of any culture”.

  British, colonial rule in most parts of Africa engendered this subjugation on host community/Africa’s languages. And as a potent carrier of culture, colonial culture has remained entrenched in Africa even though colonial stranglehold ended some 50 years ago or more.

  Military conquest and consequent imposition of the conquering forces is another reason why language might disappear; so, too, are demographic forces, especially when people are forced to move en mass from one place to another. “Historically, imperial powers were mostly colonial in nature, which meant that they imposed themselves and their cultural values on other people’s territories,” he states. But there are local domineering forces as well, especially when a local language with a looming population dominates smaller language groups, as Hausa has done in the author’s Biu Emirate council.

  Usman states, “Both the colonial and local peddlers of cultural influence assert their imperial, political, or economic weight on minority languages, promoting their own languages at the expense of these, thereby paving the way for language displacement”. The administrative, socio-economic and educational policies that tend to promote the language with the larger population help seal the fate of smaller ones, as the language with the larger population becomes the language of prestige and minority speakers readily migrate away from their smaller ones.

  The author further asserts, “It may be argued that some of the linguistically weaker groups, in their sheer need to communicate effectively with the larger population sojourning among them, may unconsciously find themselves using or preferring the dominant language over their own”. This shows the plight of minority language speakers who are confronted with a dilemma of choice. Usman also argues that while the UN is making efforts to encourage minority language groups not to give up on their own languages, the world body is guilty of entrenching certain major languages over others in its official policy, whereby only six out of the over 7,000 languages in the world are in use at its sessions.

  So, he argues, “As globalization permeates many countries, communities and clans, there’s a growing trend whereby many speakers of indigenous languages are abandoning them for more prestigious and economically useful majority languages. The implication is that in the foreseeable future many languages spoken by linguistic minorities could become extinct unless adequate measures are taken to curtail the trend”.

  The author asserts that the importance of cultural diversity embodied in a language cannot be over-emphasized. A UNESCO report he quotes amply emphasizes this fact: “Every language reflects a unique world-view with its own value systems, philosophy and particular cultural features. The extinction of a language results in the irrecoverable loss of unique cultural knowledge embodied in it for centuries, including historical, spiritual and ecological knowledge that may be essential for the survival of not only its speakers, but also countless others. For speaker communities, languages are the creations and the vectors of tradition. They support cultural identity and are an essential part of a community’s heritage”.

  On the other hand, the author states that language is the instrumentality through which we “approach, investigate, note and categorise human nature and the natural environment itself… The essence of language goes beyond mere communication”. Some of the unique qualities a language displays include, as he puts it, are “richly showcasing… unique cultures, philosophies of life, literature (oral and written), idioms, proverbs, rituals, ceremonies, dance, architecture, medicine, religion, social skills, conservation methods and agriculture, among several others”.

  Six ways in which a language helps humanity’s survival is encapsulated in its role to advance ethnic or group identity, its diverse cultural and literary heritage, transfer of traditional knowledge, source of historical information, advancement of linguistic knowledge and knowledge about human nature. 

  Narrowing his research on his Biu Emirate, Usman identifies three factors that endanger Biu languages. First is the influence of Kanuri, followed by Hausa and thirdly, English languages, which he says exert have caused the decline of the six languages in Biu Emirate – Bura/Babur, Tera, Narghi, Hinna, Kanakuru and Fulfulde. Usman concludes with a gloomy outlook, “These three powerful languages – Kanuri, Hausa and English – have, in different degrees, affected the stability of the minority languages of Biu Emirate. Today, the situation looks gloomy as no language can survive for long in an economically and socially subordinate position. Language death seems almost inevitable as the speakers of the minority languages switch their allegiance to the socially dominant languages”.

  However, all is not hopeless yet if only communities badly affected like Biu Emirate and other minority language groups could take appropriate measures to reverse the ugly trend. UNESCO has pointed out certain steps that can be taken to avoid language extinction. They include “preparatory work in form of socio-linguistic surveys defining the current situation of the language to be studied and determining the safeguarding measures to be adopted, data collection to study the phonology, morphology and syntax of the language and thirdly preparing language materials (orthography guides, reading and writing manuals, teacher guides, word lists, small dictionaries, grammars)”.

  For an endangered language to be effectively preserved, certain individuals in a community must be co-opted to play a role. These include the family through which intergenerational transmission of a language is possible from parents to children in the home. The role of parents is crucial in transmitting mother tongue to children who in turn pass it onto their children. Many scholars and experts have canvased this important factor over and over again. The roles of the community and language experts as well as the role of public policymakers in ensuring that a language enjoys maximum prestige to endear it to its native speakers, usually the young people whose duty it is to also pass it to their own children for its perpetuity, are key.

  Therefore, the author concludes, “…It is clear that no matter the degree of endangerment of any indigenous language, its speakers, if determined at family and communal levels, can stop the disappearance of its linguistic heritage largely by ensuring that intergenerational transmission of their mother tongue is implemented in every household. This is the bottom line. It is the most basic and effective measure… intergenerational transmission should be considered the bloodline of language preservation. It is what the nomadic Fulani have used to preserve Fulfulde for several generations…”

  Usman’s Language Disappearance and Cultural Diversity is a valuable contribution in the fight for survival of minority languages threatened by extinction in the face of more dominant, globalised languages. Parents that snob their own mother tongues will do well to read this book. So, too, with communities facing similar threats; the book will enhance their understanding in preservation of their languages. This book is an important research material that will serve Bui Emirate people greatly as well as others in similar position.

How museums, artistic districts, registration council can drive tourism growth

By Anote Ajeluorou

FOR Nigeria’s art scene to be robust, vibrant and effectively provide employment for millions of youth, educate and permeate society as a healing therapy, there’s need for government to play a major role. Such role, it has been canvased, should include creating Artistic Hubs or Districts for artists to work and market their products and enacting a piece federal legislation to establish Artist Registration Council for the regulation of art practice.

  These were some of the views a major visual artist, Mr. Olu Ajayi offered last week at his new studio on Military Street, Onikan, Lagos Island. Ajayi was expecting Prof. Wole Soyinka to pay him a studio visit, but the octogenarian poet and dramatist was unable to make the visit; no reason was given either. Nevertheless, Ajayi took the opportunity to address some salient issues regarding art practice in the country. He particularly tasked the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to give the entire arts and culture sector a pride of place for the sheer socio-economic roles it plays, as the largest informal sector that actively provides employment for Nigeria’s teeming youth among others.

  Ajayi, also the originator of Living Legends, an artistic project that documents the lives of Nigeria’s men and women of integrity and honour who have contributed significantly to society, argued that it was in bad taste for government to continue relegating arts to the margins. Or for that matter, promote or give priority only to the film sector of the arts (also known as Nollywood), as the out-going administration of President Goodluck Jonathan did rather than patronise the entire sector which includes the visual arts, literature (books), film (Nollywood), theatre and culture festivals of all descriptions.

  The artist with some 30 years experience in studio practice said in spite of the myriads of sectors like power and the economy crying for attention, which government always focused on, the arts was no less deserving a look in, as the sector’s record in engaging Nigerian youth since the inception of this democratic dispensation has been immense and so could no longer be ignored. On this score, Ajayi said the tourism sector, which government pays lip-service could only be bolstered by the amount of quality artistic and cultural products the country could offer visitors. This, he argued, made it imperative for serious attention to be given to the country’s arts and culture as catalyst for tourism and economic revival.

  Even the Geneva Convention stipulates that museums should not be targeted for bombing during wars, a stipulation he said underlay the importance of art to society. He urged government to see the need to patronise the arts sector for its inherent socio-economic benefits.

  According to Ajayi, “We’re looking at how we can keep the art community vibrant. What does political players have for the arts sector? Nollywood isn’t the only cultural sector. The incoming government should address us. For instance, Nigeria does not have a proper museum for modern art. And when we talk about tourism you talk about culture. Modern museums will create proper outlets for the works of artists, create employment, children get educated and it serves as tourism destination.

  “Also, artists need seed money as grants to set up art studios. Artists’ hubs or districts should be set up for artists to practice their trade and market their products. We need Artist Registration Council; we already approached the National Assembly to set it up, but they are either naïve or didn’t know the role of arts in society. They didn’t see the need, which was sad”.

  Ajayi also debunked the often-held notion that art is elitist rather than popular culture that should be consumed by all segments of society. According to him, “Art has therapeutic value for everyone in society”.

  He, however, said the persistence of that notion was because of a strangulating economy that has consigned a large segment of society to eek out a living, which leaves many with nothing extra to enjoy the simple pleasures that life and art offer. “So, it becomes a problem as people find it hard to go out and see exhibitions that are not frequent, anyway,” he surmised. “Nigerians don’t travel because there’s no extra cash that can be set aside for the purpose”.

  On the Living Legends project, which he said Prof. Soyinka was first to sit for painting, Ajayi stated that the project’s merits rested in providing role models for young people through the exemplary lives such subjects have lived to inspire time honoured values of integrity, honesty and significant contribution to society. Such subjects must be in their 70s and their contributions must span 40 years of consistent service. At the moment, Ajayi said they were sourcing for the next candidate, which was proving difficult to find.

  So far six such Nigerians have been captured in painting and sculpture. The last subject was Gen. Yakubu Gowon. Others are Oba of Benin, Omo N’oba Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa, Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yusuf Grillo, Prof. JP Clark and Prof. Soyinka. Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, Pastor Enoch Adeboye and Chief Emeka Anyaoku are in the organisers’ radar for imortalising in painting and sculptural works, as many artists working in the two media work to capture a particular subject at the same time.

  However, Ajayi said the perennial problem of lack of financial support for artists of various shades working in the country was a major headache for him and his group in the Living Legends Project. So far, he noted, the only support they have had was during the session with Gowon. He, therefore, solicited for support from corporate bodies as well as public-spirited individuals with love for the arts. He also stated that the project would soon publish a book compendium of all drawings and scholarly materials that interact with all the subjects so far captured in the Living Legends project.

Then Spoke the Thunder… Savourng the epic narrative of a master prose-stylist

By Anote Ajeluorou

As often said journalists write history in a hurry. Even in the newsroom frenzy that every journalist is accustomed to, history unfolds in breathless speed and the journalist is not just a witness to it, but its faithful chronicler. Fast-forward many years later when he is in retirement and sits down and is in reflexive, ruminative mood, with the support of ‘an enlightened banking institution’ like Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, and decides to piece together many of the momentous events that shaped his long career that literally spanned the entire world, what you get is as good, as expressive as it ever comes.

  This is the enchanting story of octogenarian Mr. Peter Enahoro, the famous Peter Pan of the Daily Times fame. At 23 he became the youngest editor of Sunday Times and from then onward, the world was at his young feet to claim. And he jolly went ahead to claim it, and he has laid it bare for all to see and be enchanted as well. Enahoro lived the charmed journalistic life as he records it in his autobiography Then Spoke the Thunder (Mosuro Publishers, Ibadan; 2014), a massive 730 page-turner that would keep any reader enthralled in the fluidity of his unparalleled prose style for which he is a master, his early years with a father whose word was law, the perils that are constantly a companion of a journalist’s life, the many turns and twists that governed his career, the many hard choices he’d had to make, why he went on exile, his return to his native country, his efforts to revive Daily Times and the failure he recorded in this regard.

  Enahoro is not a romantic and so does not spare even himself in this epic narrative, which he starts by tracing his family history, a history that is synonymous with Uromi royal dynasty. His maternal lineage are the Enigie of Uromi, with his grandfather suffering exile alongside Oba Ovoranwen of Benin Kingdom, but was later freed and exiled again to Ibadan before finally returning to his ancestral throne. Here, we see the history of Uromi melding and clashing with that of ancient Benin and culminates in the Onogie of Uromi killing Oba Ozolua of Benin in an internecine war.

  Thus part one is a historical excursion into his roots and affords young Uromi and Esan people full appreciation of their illustrious origin. Then comes The Innocent Years section in which we see the Enahoro’s family up-close in their growing up years, with a father who was always on the move as a schools’ inspector from Akure to Warri to Ede. It was a home in which stern discipline ruled even though Enahoro senior was often away on field trips supervising his educational districts. By the time the family party arrived Warri, young Peter was ready for secondary school and the newly opened Government College, Ughelli became the preferred option. It was here he met some of his lifelong mates – Sam Amuka, JP Clark and many others.

  Then he arrived Lagos a starry-eyed local from Warri and fell in love with his brother’s gang and soon plunged full into the seamy life of the city. As he testifies, “I arrived Lagos and straight away fell in with Ben’s crowd. He was always the sibling with the largest circle of friends. His Lagos crowd was a mixed bag of friends, with cranky aliases for names… I was an eighteen-year-old rustic reared in provincial towns but going fourteen in urban streetwise terms. Until Lagos I’d thought I was an urban sophisticate. I soon realized that geography lessons at school did not equip me to have a working vision of world distances and travel… Everything Ben’s crowd did fascinated me…”

  He soon joined the Information Department as Information Officer, but a combination of incidents soon leaves him dejected. That was when Abiodun Aloba, editor of Sunday Times, approached him to join journalism proper. He jumped at the offer, and became curb sub-editor. As he memorably records it, “The Daily Times set standards in Nigerian journalism and that gave me pride. There was a bonus in the fact that working for the newspaper I quickly learned that I’d signed up to an enjoyable way of life. Journalism is not a job; it’s a modu vivendi in which the editorial staff constitute a proud fraternity. The opening hours were flexible, but the obligation to join the after-hours joie de vivre was mandatory… We enjoyed ourselves, sometimes recklessly, but behind the laddishness was serious professional pride; a sense that, working for the Daily Times, we were special”.

  But trouble soon started when he and a group of journalists started the idea of a union and petitioned the visiting London owners. This didn’t go down well with the Lagos executives, as he writes, “and the local management had eggs on their faces. Percy Roberts (MD) was understandably furious. The senior editors were spitting mad. It was a vote of no confidence in them, our people, said Aloba (editor). It told the White people that they, our people, were out of touch with us, their people. We had disgraced the entire African world before the White man. Shame on us!”

  There were dismissals as a result and it had a damning effect on morals among the staff. Enahoro couldn’t believe that their group of protesters couldn’t stand up to management decision to sack some of them. As he put it, “I couldn’t believe it. All the fight had suddenly gone out of activists? This was crazy. Had we come that far only to submit timidly to a clear case of tyranny? These scapegoats had been singled out by the editors’ hastily concocted, face-saving reaction designed to impress Percy Roberts, and all we would do about it was disperse meekly?”

  His sense of justice revolted against the behaviour of his senior editors. What was worse, rumour was rife that he wasn’t sacked because of his elder brother Anthony Enahoro’s political clout in Action Group (AD). This infuriated him deeply. He made up his mind to resign and did so. He was to take up a job in Ibadan. But he was always in Lagos at month end to fete his friends at Kakawa Street. He was to get his job back on one of such visits, and by which time Alhaji Babatunde Jose had become editor in a radical reshuffle following from the previous failed protest. After he returned, a combination of events in quick succession soon landed him from Features Editor to editorship of Sunday Times.

  According to him, “It had been an eventful on year and nine months. I’d gone from a prodigal editorial subaltern of sub-Sahara Africa’s largest circulation newspaper at a gallop. I was still only twenty-three. There had to be a catch in it somewhere. I found it in the obsession with hard work that drove me. Anxious to prove myself and justify the bosses’ trust in me I devised a punishing work schedule… The Peter Pan Column that would one day save my career from extinction in the Daily Times was born in those circumstances”.

  The Peter Pan Column years are very momentous for the author besides his editorship of the Sunday paper. It set him on a world travel that included places like the crisis in the Congo and several other hot spots around the world. Eminently, it was also the years that his column would bring him in direct contact and even conflict with the authorities, especially following the coup of January and the counter-coup of July all of 1966. Enahoro was considered to be close to Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi through some of his pieces that were merely agenda-setting for the new men in power, who he felt had begun to behave like the ousted politicians, but which were unfortunately misread. He was a marked man.

  The title Then Spoke the Thunder in chapter 13 is a chronicle of the two coups in 1966 and makes for interesting reading, as it lays bare some of the facts surrounding actions of the principal actors, how he became a target with soldiers knocking on his door and his decision to flee his homeland into the safety of exile. Sam Amuka and one Bryan were his accomplices in the escape from the forces that were after him. They slipped him through the border and into Dahomey, now Benin Republic en route Ghana where he left for London and exile. He was strongly opposed to the Nigerian Civil War, noting, “The slaughters of a Civil War that should never have started, the deplorable use of starvation as a weapon of war, ands the ugliness of kwashiorkor would follow, and more people who were transparently honest in their intentions for their country would bleed for the father-land. All this would come to pass, as I once put it, in front of my back”.

  Needless to say that he vehemently opposed the war and campaigned against it and was in the opposite camp as were his brothers who supported Nigerian side of the war as they tramp the world asking for support in Western countries.

  London didn’t quite work out and so to Germany he went and got into radio. But that didn’t stick for too long as the lure of writing became too powerful for him to resist. He soon teamed up with Ralph Uweche for his Africa magazine, but they soon fell out and he eventually set up his own AfricaNow magazine. This enabled Enahoro to traverse all over the continent and met with all the leaders. He describes his meetings with such heads of state as Libya’s Ghadafi, The Gambia’s Sir Dawda Jawara, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Togo’s Gnassingbe Eyadema, Liberia’s Samuel Doe in a chapter he calls ‘A Parade of Lions’. But it is Doe he gives a full chapter. In this is a study of the character of the beloved African dictator who might have turned good, but didn’t.

  In Eyadema’s bloody coup Enahoro saw African leaders’ missing an opportunity to deal decisively with such future attempts; with the blood of his predecessor still in his hands, they let Eyadema join them in an OAU meeting. Perhaps by hindsight, Enahoro sees it as a moment they should have turned him back and so reverse a dangerous trend that would blight a continent as a den of coup-maker dictators for decades to come.

  Next is his return to Nigeria and his chairmanship of Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and eventually his arduous assignment to revive his beloved Daily Times that had fallen into hard times following its take-over by the military government of Gen. Murtala Mohammed, as head of state. Indeed, it had fallen into the usual civil service routine and a culture of waste and mismanagement had set in. He gets this picture too late and vainly moves against the tide. Too many powerful persons, including Minister of Information and Culture, Sir Walter Ofonagoro, stand strongly in the way, determined to rubbish Enahoro’s efforts. Even Gen. Sanni Abacha who asked him to take up the job showed a remarkable reluctance to lift a hand to help…

  Enahoro’s Then Spoke the Thunder is an amazing book for its faithful historical account of some of the events that shaped the political landscape in the 1960s whose ripples still reverberate till today. His efforts at saving Daily Times in the 1990s and the obstacles he faced should be instructive in view of problems still bedeviling efforts to revive some vital national assets like the power, refineries and other national investments.

  One more thing that Enahoro and his publishers owe his readers and followership is a compilation and publication of the Peter Pan Column in a book form, if he can still find them. Snippets of it that are already in Then Spoke the Thunder provide titillating insights into the period, as they give a glimpse of the historical and political tempers of the 1960s, his stance on some crucial national issues and how his writings swayed public opinions in certain direction.

  Then Spoke the Thunder is an important national book as it fills many voids only a journalist like Mr. Enahoro can fill. This also helped by his humourous style that lightens the somber mood of some of the events. This is a book that shouldn’t be missing out on anyone’s shelves.

At NAL lecture, Ukala sues for Afrocentric theories of writing, criticism derived from oral traditions

By Anote Ajeluorou



One nagging problem of scholarship in Africa is its continued slavish dependency on theories and philosophic postulations from America and the west generally many years after decolonisation. There has been a clear inability or reluctance of African scholars to formulate theories and philosophies based on African experiences and worldviews, and derived from Africa’s abundant age-old oral traditions. This has been identified as a major impediment to effective theorising in the discourse of African, nay Nigerian literature and other intellectual endeavours. Also of note is the inter-generational war between older literary critics and younger ones in explicating the works of younger writers for the purposes of validation and endearing them to the reading public.
  These were the issues in focus when professor of drama at Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Sam Ukala, delivered the Nigerian Academy of Letters’ (NAL) 2015 yearly lecture titled ‘Is the Nigerian Critic still ‘Timid’?’, hosted in Abraka last Tuesday. The top hierarchy of NAL, including its president, Prof. Benjamin Oloruntimehin, secretary, Prof. Olutayo Adesina, emeritus professors, Ayo Banjo, Ayo Bamgbose, Dan Izevbaye, Ben Elugbe, Prof. Dele Layiwola among others were present. DELSU’s Deputy Vice Chancellors for Academics and Administration, Profs, Austin Anigala and Rose Aziza, led other academics in hosting their colleagues from other universities.
  Ukala posits that Prof. Charles Nnolim represents older generation of critics who accuse younger critics of doing little to spotlight younger writers and their works. But he says Prof. Tony Afejuku provides the counterpoint to Nnolim’s criticism of timidity among Nigerian writers, who he accused of not being adventurous enough in exploring such frontiers as science fiction and other big issues. Afejuku thinks otherwise and argues that older critics haven’t done enough. It is this back and forth accusations and counter-accusations that Ukala calls age-grade generational system of classification of writers and critics. He also queries Nnolim for leaving the role of critiquing younger writers only to younger critics.
  According to him, “It is apparent that most Nigerian critics, perhaps due to the force of tradition, they speak of the first, second, third and fourth generations. Some think the fifth generation has begun to emerge. Yet, in view of the collaborative and communal modus operandi of the Nigerian age-grade system, is it right for the older generation to expect the younger generation, alone, to write about itself, that is, criticise, alone, the creative works of members of its generation? Does not the younger generation of critics, willingly or compulsorily, devote much of its time to researching and writing about the older generation of creative writers… In return, has the older generation of critics paid commensurate critical attention to the creative works of members of the younger generation?”
  In any case, both critics and writers of older and younger generations agree on the poor style of younger writers in terms of “poor language, craft and lack of aesthetic direction”. According to Ukala, Olu Obafemi considers the style as having “no fundamental, well-structured thought in the dimension of creating a new vision… But I think there is this scattered experimentation with the artistic form. And when the writers of this generation are angry, they pour it out in that ‘unstructured’ manner”. Afejuku agrees too with Nnolim and Obafemi when he says, “creative writing in present-day Nigeria is rudderless… in terms of technique, style and craft”.

SO, how does the evolution of an indigenous theory of writing help the writer and the critic of Nigerian literature move forward? How have the writers and the critics fared in the evolution of the theory of criticism as guide for the future like their European counterparts have done for their literature? Where should such theorists look for the evolution of such homegrown theories as guide for Nigerian writers? In effect, how do critics overcome their ‘timidity’ and theorise on a body of rules that should guide African and Nigerian writing and stop the aping of foreign theories that are alien to the African experience?
  On theory, Ukala posits that “theory is the stipulation of underlying principles – rules or conventions – by which literature is evaluated and explained. But it goes beyond being a tool for criticism; it is also a model for the creative writer, who wishes to replicate its principles, and a guide, in the form of a point of departure, for the creative writer who wishes to revolt against those principles. Therefore, it is theory that should provide the rudder that would launch the Nigerian creative writer and the critic onto one cooperative trajectory for the achievement of Nigeria’s literary objectives”,
  In this vein, Ukala posits that Nnolim, Obafemi, Niyi Osundare, Dan Izevbaye, Emmanuel Obiechina, Gordini Darah, Chidi Maduka, Tanure Ojaide, Ossie Enekwe are all in agreement on the need to formulate an indigenous theory to guide African literature against the background of ethno-linguistic groupings and based on the various oral traditions prevalent in Africa. He argues that “elements of theory richly abound in Nigerian indigenous literature” and that what is required is for “established Nigerian critics (to) research and exploit them for the purpose of, not only competently evaluating and interpreting modern Nigeria literature rooted in them, but also theorising them for the guidance of young creative writers and critics”. He, however, says there is “regrettable lack of interest among the critics”.
  Such Afrocentric theories based on indigenous oral traditions that are already developed and in use, Ukala argues, include folkism by Ukala, which forms the performance style of his award-winning play, Iredi War. According to him, folkism “is the dramatic recreation or adaptation of a story is faithful to the original, not slavishly, but enough for the owners of the story to recognise it and identify with the recreation or adaptation; the plot is simple; the language is simple but imagistic; the story is run-on like the folktale, not structured in Acts and Scenes, and with no stoppages for scene-changing; staging is, therefore, simultaneous; the performance structure allows for robust audience participation and extempore response of the narrator and performs to relevant unscripted lines from the public audience, sometimes formally represented by the MOA (Member(s) of the Audience). Finally, in Folkism, moral instruction comes with entertainment”.
  Prof. Sunny Ododo’s Facekuerade is another such indigenous theory of theatre derived from among the Ebira mask-less masquerade in which “the core aesthetic elements are the playing space, music and song, dance, play-within-the-play and role playing and aesthetic supernumeraries…”

AMONG Ukala’s recommendations include two radical charges that NAL liaises with “the National Library to produce a bibliography of Nigerian literature or a directory of creative writers…, set up a Nigerian Literature Library… and to stock the library, ask each of the writers listed to contribute copies of their works which can be made available to writers and critics on agreed terms”. Just as NAL organised a workshop for young writers some years back, Ukala said it should organise the same workshop for young Nigerian critics and “offer residencies to established critics to do on Nigerian literature what Aristotle did for Greek literature in the 5th Century”. He also argues that “the study of Nigerian oral literature should not be left to the creative writer alone, the critic should do same…”

EARLIER in his welcome address, Vice Chancellor of Delta State University, Prof. Victor Peretomode, who was represented by Aziza, stated, “I must concede that NAL as expected of its manifest trail-blazing destiny has been in the vanguard of charting a cause and course of our beloved nation and ensuring that Nigeria takes her rightful place in the comity of nations. A critical look at the contributions of scholars to the evolutions of Nigeria will portray how members of NAL and scholars of the humanities have helped in advancing the development frontiers of Nigeria, Africa and the world. The monumental achievements of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, JP Clark, Ayo Bamgbose, Ayo Banjo, Munzali Jubril, Romanus Egudu, Dan Izevbaye, Isidore Okpewho (an Abraka indigene), Solomon Wangboje, Ben Enwonwo, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Obaro Ikime, Peter Bodurin, Godwin Sogolo, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare and others too numerous to mention have helped in making the world a
better place.
  Much earlier when members of the academy paid him a courtesy visit in his office, Peretomode, after treating the academics to an enthralling Delta traditional hospitality of cola nuts and drinks, said, “Your coming reminded me of Plato, Aristotle and those great sages of old. It’s a great honour to host and support you in our university. My Deputy Vice Chancellors happen to be in the humanities. I think the humanities is a great field, a great discipline of study” to which NAL president Oloruntimehin expressed his academy’s gratitude for the support in hosting them, adding, “We hope more and more of Abraka academics will work to enrich our academy”.
  Ukala’s lecture didn’t start until guests had been entertained to cultural music, dance and performance by students of Music and Theatre Arts departments. Excerpts from Ukala’ Iredi War were performed to a full house; although poor acoustics in the vast lecture hall nearly marred audibility. After the lecture guests were treated to lunch at the Senate Chamber, with Nelson Edewor’s ‘Last Super’, a sculptural piece overlooking them. But the location of the piece showed apparent lack of thematic taste of the commissioned work. Why ‘Last Super’ piece in a university senate chamber, not a church, where elders in a village council palaver session or academics debating trenchant issues would have been more appropriate?
  On the whole, Ukala’s lecture was adjudged excellent and praised for its lucidity, erudition and scholarship.

Delta State govt boosts human capital development with N500 million scholarships award

By Anote Ajeluorou



At a time when Nigeria is desperately in need of skilled human resources to resolve many protracted problems on the economic, science and technology and engineering fronts, Delta State government has blazed a shinning trail by awarding scholarships worth N5 million each to 100 graduates of the state extraction who made first class in its 2013 set. The awardees are expected to study for their master degrees, preferably in universities outside the country. The awards were handed out to the graduates by the state’s chief executive Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan in a colourful ceremony held on Monday at Government House, Asaba, the state capital.
  In handing out the awards, Uduaghan said because of the intangible nature of the scholarship programmes, it was hard to see their benefits at a glance unlike construction of roads, building of schools and other physical projects. But he assured of their multiplier effects in the long run, saying, “You might not be able to measure the benefits of this programme. The benefits of this intangible programme might not be seen at a glance but the multiplier effect is more than the roads constructed and other physical programmes of government. The IQ of a first class graduate is huge and society should not put impediment on that child in terms of finance. Out of thousands of graduates, only a few make first class. They can’t be in cults. First class requires a lot of discipline and hard work to be able to attain the zenith of their potentials”.
  Managed by Delta State Bursary and Scholarship Board, the first class graduate scheme, among other scholarship schemes of government, was introduced in 2010 by the present administration and had 26 beneficiaries in as first set. In 2011 and 2012, 47 and 49 graduates respectively benefitted. 2013 has the highest number of graduate applicants so far. The first set of 2010 has completed their master degrees with some already in their Ph.D programmes.
  A proud Uduaghan said, “The first sets have made us proud. We’re happy the programme is on; we’re happy our children have been benefitting. So far we have awarded scholarships to 233 first class graduates of Delta State origin. Scholarships cost a lot and there’s a lot of pressure on us to meet these aspirations. We will definitely meet up”.
  Although Uduaghan will leave office in May, Delta State students hopeful of first class results have something to cheer about. Uduaghan said continuity of the scheme will take priority in his handover notes to his successor, who he hoped would be a PDP governor, noting that PDP was noted for giving scholarships even at the national level, where President Goodluck Jonathan also recently in Lagos awarded some 24 young Nigerians with first class results scholarships.
  To the awardees Uduaghan advised, “Students, you’re not just getting this scholarship for yourselves. But you’re getting it also on behalf of Delta State and your parents. We allow young people to make their own choices; we don’t box them into a corner. We try not to force young people into specific areas but we encourage you to be good ambassadors of the state and your parents”.
  To parents who came with their children for the ceremony, Udaghan also had these kind words. “I thank parents very sincerely. For a child to be first class starts from home; I congratulate the parents for bringing up such children. Your children are your pensions who will always take care of you at your old age. I urge every parent to build up a good society by properly bringing up their children. Those children who are kidnappers, armed robbers and pipeline vandals had a challenge in their upbringing. Parents should endeavour to know the schools of their children. Fathers should do more than pay school fees; they should know their children’s classrooms, their mates in school and check their results. Insecurity starts from the home. Parents have a responsibility to take care of their children”.
  Earlier Commissioner for Higher Education, Mr. Charles Emetulu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Eric Osharieode, thanked governor Uduaghan for the scholarship initiative, saying the gesture was a clear demonstration of the state’s human capital development initiative and an improvement of intellectual development of citizens of the state. He noted, “This kind gesture has helped in improving intellectual development in the state. Those who didn’t have the opportunity now do so. Reports indicate that the first and second sets are doing well and graduating as the best in their different programmes. We will continue to fund education heavily. Our beneficiaries, go and do us exploits but within the ambit of the law!”
  The commissioner urged the governor to make funds available for the remaining 2014 batch and other scholarship schemes being funded by the state so as to put smiles of those faces as well.
  While responding on behalf of the other beneficiaries Ms Oke Dietake expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Uduaghan, saying, “This is really humbling to be here today. In a society denied the dividends of democracy or good governance, this is something really great. This is an opportunity to pursue to one’s heart’s desire. We owe this to our governor and government. I’m glad that this scholarship would continue after now. I don’t want to tell my children that there used to be a scheme like this. On our part we will come up with an online community as a way for us to give back to Delta a measure of what we have been given here today”.

Etisalat Prize for Literature… Again, Nigeria’s young writers fail to impress

By Anote Ajeluorou




For the second year in a row since telecommunication company Etisalat Nigeria instituted the pan-African Etisalat Prize for Literature, Nigeria’s young fiction writers have been only come second and third and left out on the big ticket. East and South African writers have held the aces, as South Africa’s Songeziwe Mahlangu, author of Penumbra smiled away with the 15,000 pound sterling prize money for the 2014 edition. Another South African, Nadia Davids, author of An Imperfect Blessing and U.S.-based Nigerian, Chinelo Okparanta, author of Happiness, Like Water, a collection of short stories, trailed behind Mahlangu. 
  It was the same story last year when the 2013 edition was held. South Africa-based Nigerian, Yewande Omotoso, author of Bom Boy and another South African,?????, auth or of Soutbank, trailed U.S.-based Zimbabwean writer, NoViolet Bulawayo, who won with her critically acclaimed first novel, We Need New Names. She was gracious enough to gift her creative writing mentorship scholarship at University of East Anglia, U.K. to Omotoso.
  However on Sunday night, Etisalat outdid itself to give its select guests a memorable evening. Etisalat CEO, Mr. Matthew Willsher made a poetic marketing presentation about his company and its journey in fellowship with writers and their unique art of storytelling. Although he said his company does not tell stories, as its mandate, it however provides the platform for stories to be told in the daily lives of users of its products and that it was for this that the company excels as carrier of other people’s stories.
  “We’re here to celebrate literature,” Willsher said. “We’re here to celebrate books. We’re here to celebrate stories. But how long does it take to tell a story? Our expertise is not to tell stories but to carry them. We really care about stories. We help so many people tell their stories every day. We congratulate the writers for their beautiful stories. Today, one of you will walk away with the prize although all of you are winners in a sense.”
  Willsher used the occasion to wish chairman, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Hakeem Bello-Osagie a happy 60th birthday.
  First to be awarded was the Flash Fiction prize, which had Tolu Ogunlesi, as chair of jury. The prize went to Neema Komba. She beat two others, Justin Irabor Okhide and Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto to win the 1,000 pound sterling prize money. The others got 500 pound each as consolation prizes.
  As usual, a documentary on Africa’s eminent men and women of letters was shown as inspiration to younger writers. First was Prof. Wole Soyinka and it intended to make up for the lapse last year when he was omitted. Next was Kenyan writer, Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ghanaian writer, Ama Ata Aidoo. Next, Etisalat prize trustee member, Prof. Kole Omotoso performed the poetic ordering of the world in the mould of words as gift to man from higher powers in a true Ifa divination ritual with a talking drummer and a shekere player as accompaniment. It was the perennial superiority of the writer’s word against the inanities of politicians with salt as symbol of the flavour the word gives the world.
  A short film clip on how the power of words can change lives was shown. A schoolboy writes a note asking his female classmate if she liked him and makes two boxes with a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ options. In-between the options the girl writes back ‘maybe’, which would later inspire the boy to excel in his class essay; the said girl is first to celebrate his success!
  Another innovation introduced into the prize menu was a dramatization of aspects of the three shortlisted works. The idea was to bring home to the audience, which had largely not read the works, so they have insight what the works are about. First on the bill was a performance of the story ‘Fairness’ from Okparanta’s collection, Happiness, Like Water. Nollywood’s acts, Bimbo Akintola and Bimbo Manuel were the star attraction. But the performance failed to reach its climax; it was just a few paces away when the bleeching accident happens, before the performance unceremoniously ended.
  It beats reasoning how a collection of short stories could actually compete against finished novels, as Okparanta’s Happiness, Like Water. Was it some kind of consolatory consideration by the judges? Whatever the case, it came a distant third although there are some really nice stories in the collection.
  Omono Shomolu’s one-man act of an excerpt from Davids’ An Imperfect Blessing was exquisitely impressive. She wooed the audience with the giddiness of her breathless performance. Also, O.C. Ukeji’s performance of an excerpt from Mahlangu’s winning novel, Penumbra was stunning. Shomolu and Ukeji’s daring and near-perfect speech simulation of South Africa’s speech patterns couldn’t be rivaled. Theirs were showpiece performances, but the audience rooted more for Ukeji, especially when he was later introduced. But Ukeji’s performance almost got into anti-climax, as the producer/director seemed at a loss where to end it. It rather dragged on forever whereas when the protagonist was asked to quit the apartment he shared with his lady friend would have been perfect ending for the performance. Or was that a give-away that it was the winning work?
  In announcing Penumbra as the winning work, chair of judges, Prof. Manyika Ladipo, who teaches literature at University of Los Angeles at Berkley, said she believes Etisalat Prize for Literature is “the most innovative, the most exciting prize, not just in Africa but the whole world”. The winner, Mahlangu said crisply that he was “honoured and thankful for this prize; I’m greatly honoured for the prize”.
  Then began the musical feast for the night. First was Nigeria Idol 2014 winner, Evelle, who pelted the audience with her soulful music. Then came the irrepressible Angelique Kidjo, who was electrifying in her performance and got a sizeable audience members dancing along.

REGRETTABLY, in the two successive years no young, homegrown Nigerian writer has even featured in the shortlist of three. The first Nigerian Omotoso is South Africa-based while Okparanta is U.S.-based. What does this portend for the local Nigerian writer? Should this be a source of worry for Nigerian writers? Indeed, is it indicative of any perceived lapses in Nigeria’s literary horizon? What exactly is wrong with the local writer that they have failed to impress in two successive years by not making the shortlist at least?
  Poet and essayist, Odia Ofeimun rather asked, “Why do you want all prize-winners to be Nigerians? Where are the book buyers to give writers motivating challenge? At any rate, it is not a competition among nations. Or, is it?”
  President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Prof. Remi Raji-Oyelade was at the event on Sunday in Lagos. He was quick to submit, “Don’t forget that other nationals are not sleeping! It is good for Africa that not only a section of its geography has all its writers”.
  Also at the event was Toni Kan, said he isn’t worried as such about the development. But Toni Kan has strong words of advice for Nigerian young writers, who he accused of living their lives on social media, which he said robs them of the rigour fiction writing requires.
  “Of course not,” he said, “Chinelo Okparanta is Nigerian, so it’s a reflection of the current quality of writing on the continent. But for me it is a pointer to the fact that our young writers in Nigeria need to buckle up, and I will explain. The Etisalat prize is for debut works of fiction and clearly, our young writers are stuck on Twitter and Facebook. A novel demands discipline and consumes time, something many of these Twitter warriors cannot afford. So, I think it’s time for them to start getting off on silly 140 character quips and do some work that demands rigour.”
  Vice President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Mr. Abdullahi Denja, agrees somewhat with Toni Kan. He said, “I do not think so. We cannot expect to be dominating the literary prize landscape as we had done fro some two decades or so since the 1990s. There was a time we were very dominant in The Caine Prize. We should acknowledge that writers from other parts of Africa also have their own stories to tell, which in many ways are similar to ours.
  “I do not believe there are lapses in our literary horizon; our writers are as vibrant as ever. We only need to be more adventurous and experimental. Our writers should begin to go beyond the usual fare, tell the untold stories or tell the usual in unusual ways”.
  Toni Kan does not think publishing infrastructure deficit is a problem, but blames it on lack good manuscripts from writers. According to him, “Cassava Republic Press just published six romance writers; all new. It was tough getting entries. They (writers) will say, ‘oh, romance is beneath me’, but truth is they can’t write; they can’t put in the effort.  There are publishers but no quality manuscripts”.
  Abdullahi doesn’t think publishing is the issue any more, noting, “Publishing is no longer the problem for quality works. Some emergent publishing outfits have come up willing to take a chance on quality manuscripts. What is missing rather is the aspects of literary agency that will devote time to sourcing for good manuscripts, redirecting the labour of good writers towards profound subjects and linking to opportunities that will bolster their writings”.
  However, professor of literature, Tony Afejuku sings a different tune about prizes altogether. In his trenchant way, he said, “All I must say is that literary prizes worth and mean nothing to great literary minds! Robert Frost, the preeminent American poet that will always remain preeminent in American Literature and Letters, never entered for any literary prize – although he won the Pulitzer Prize more than any literary figure and persona – I think he won six times or more than anyone, dead or alive. But others entered competitions on his behalf and against his wish.
  “Let our writers just write so long we love writing. I have no dot of respect for anyone who writes just to win prizes. Such a one will not last in the turf of literature”.