Sowing Seeds Of A Literary Harvest

 The Chinese proverb which admonishes people to teach children how to fish rather than give them fish may have become something of a cliché.

However, the aptness of this old time wit has not eroded. The Nigerian Academy of Letters, NAL, demonstrated this, from January16-21, 2011. After placing adverts in some national dailies and receiving applications from well over two hundred and forty budding writers across the country, the apex literary organisation in Nigeria sieved out 30 entries that showed promise and invited the writers to the prestigious University of Ibadan for a week- long rigorous study of the rudiments of creative writing.

Tthis strategy is perhaps, another way of re-awaking the seemingly comatose literary culture that came with the prolonged military interregnum and the subsequent migration of teachers of literature from our ivory towers to other climes.

Of course it was not the humanities that lost ground. The entire educational sector, research shows, has been brought to its knees. Thus NAL‘s initiative provided a new crop of writers the privilege of learning the fundamentals.

The programme, as all properly planned ones are wont to, began with an elaborate opening ceremony which was graced by the matriarch Mrs. Mabel Segun, who was Special Guest of Honour as well as keynote speaker.

Her speech became an instant reference point for the younger lecturers throughout the exercise. The pre-conference which held at the conference room of the University of Ibadan Hotel was attended by Prof. Ogundeji, Dean, Faculty of Arts of the same school, Dr.Wale Okediran, former president Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA. All workshop facilitators were present and so were officials of NAL. Apart from the speeches and the guidelines made known to the participants, there were performances to entertain guests.

Talk-shop over, we headed to the Institute African Studies, the conclave, where the moulding process held.

As a partaker in this noble exercise, I was impressed by the excellent organisation of the programme. The three genres of literature were clearly delineated and handled expertly by known men and woman of letters.

All of them award-winning writers themselves. These egg-heads included Profs. Akachi-Ezeigbo, who led the prose group, Hyginus Ekwuazi, facilitated the poetry class and Ahmed Yerimah’s educational drama skills came to bear on the impact he made on the participants in the drama class.

Besides, there were experts on hand to guide the upstarts against what has become the bane of Nigeria literature – language. In this regard, Prof Munzali Jibril led us to identify and to extricate the virus (poor English, Nigerian English (whether it is Yorubanglish, Igbolish or Hausenglish etc,) distorting the effective communication of any creative endeavour.

Pro Festus Adesonye combined very profoundly, the intricacies of publishing and language, in the Publishing section of his discussions with all the participants. Mal. Denja Abdullahi, former General Secretary, Association of Nigerian Authors who represented the association’s President, Dr. Jerry Agada, spoke on The Writer in the Society: Influences, Associations and Affiliations.

The beauty of this arrangement lies in the fact that participants at different classes for each genre had space and time to interact closely with the various teachers.

During the general lectures, that is, Language and Publishing, we exchanged ideas as a group. The cross-pollination of sexed-up ideas between facilitators and participants was backed up with volumes of reading materials made available by the workshop organisers at no expense to the seminarians.

I must confess that I returned home with a stack of books also given to us free of charge by Prof. Ekwuazi, who taught my group poetry and has continued to mentor me whenever I seek his advice. The fact that this chosen breed of young writers were housed together, each person was accommodated in a room at the Pastoral Institute, Bodija made readily available, an opportunity for establishing lasting literary relationships by the participants.

We had breakfast, lunch and supper of our choices, as a group at all times. This nourished the camaraderie that we enjoy collectively even after the workshop. Then there was a per diem that was crowned with a transport allowance from NAL.

Three categories of organisations deserve accolades for thinking out of the box in choosing, planning and executing this investment option.

The Nigerian Academy of Letters led by Prof. Ben Elugbe must be applauded for aiming to revamp Nigerian literature by investing in a generation that was already fast buying into mediocrity.

Indeed, that academy has done its best to catch, as they say, them young, for the literary world. The Ibadan Working Group which can be described as the brain-box of the academy was on and behind the scene to ensure that the objectives of the workshop were met.

On this score the presence of the enigmatic icons, emeritus professors Ayo Bamigbose, Ayo Banjo, and the still serving Prof. Femi Osofisan perfectly fitted the bill as models for the young men and women at both the opening and closing ceremonies.

The speeches they made were not only inspiring, they set a creative direction for me and my colleagues who told me so. Others who deserve accolades include Prof. Dan Izevbaye, whose organisational acumen, proved that a critic can also handle the compass efficiently. His contribution made the workshop a huge success.

Prof Adesonye functioned in multiple capacities: as teacher, chair of the interactive session before the closing ceremony and behind the scene as a member of the planning committee.

Prof Dele Layiwola was also a member of the planning committee but we remember him more for helping to make available for our use the Institute of African Studies block under whose roof we sipped the milk of literary creativity from our teachers.

Of course the Nigerian Academy of Letters did not have the war chest to prosecute the seminar. The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited footed the bills. We were told that the academy relied on the NLNG Ltd’s undying love for Nigerian literature and the firm’s quest to see it regain its lost glory. And the company showed why sponsoring the Nigerian Prize for Literature and Science has been a source of pride to every one.

The presence of the General Manager, External Relations, Ms. Siene Allwell Brown and her team at the opening ceremony and her charge to us bore eloquent testimony to this. We do hope that we will turn out enough promise to encourage the organisation and others to do more to help guide the steps of the many young Achebes, Soyinkas, Clarks, Nwapas, Amadis, Okaras, Alukos, Seguns, Imokhuedes in Nigeria today, through literary events such as we partook of.

On our part we have been united into one by technology, despite the distance that separates us. We have a facebook club, the pi writers club, named after that religious edifice that allowed us its serene ambience to discuss the things of the mind.

Those of us residing in Lagos are taking the challenge of attending ANA readings and other culture-centred events so as to keep growing. We have a point man who coordinates these activities. There are glaring prospects that there will be a harvest of letters soon.

Having given an overview of what transpired during our week long sojourn in Ibadan, I must squeal that we spent the evening of January 21, scurrying from one bookshop to another in groups of friends.

We were equally at the Kenneth Dike Library where the Chief Librarian received and handed us over to a senior official who conducted us round some sections in the edifice before her boss returned later after a brief spell of bureaucratic engagements to show us through the digital section.

From the library we were chauffeured as it was the case anywhere we went, to the University of Ibadan zoo. We did not only savour being close to nature here but indeed fancied the balmy weather at the wild animals’ enclave.

This was where our activities in the premier university were brought to a never-wish-it-will-end close.

If we agree as it has been said many times that no country that is genuinely interested in attaining enviable heights in all facets of development can allow her culture to lag behind, then kudos must be given to the Nigerian Academy of Letters and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited for their thoughtfulness and enduring love for the younger generation of writers.

Again, there are promises that we will reward their unquantifiable efforts by what we turn out, maybe in a few months or years time. If other lovers of literature key into this, we can only end up multiplying this harvest which promises to be rich and bountiful.

This report was written shortly after the workshop, though was never published. The need to encourage other well-meaning individuals and organisations to contribute to the reawakening of our literature and culture has necessitated this.

—Bankong-Obi