• writers speak

The Heinemann African Writers Series placed Nigerian literature on the map of world literature, producing a generation of writers whose works were to become page-turner and classics. Till date, the works of the leading lights of that generation, including Professors Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, JP Clark, Chris Okigbo, to mention a few, are still gaining currency on the reading lists of readers and schools the world over.
But Nigerian literature did not begin and end with them. Different generations have emerged since, some of whose works have straddled cultures and etched their sublimity on the hearts of many globally, even winning more acclaims that their predecessors.
But compared to other artists in the creative industry, like musicians, filmmakers and comedians, the average Nigerian writer is worse in terms of public appreciation of his works and rewards. Does it mean Nigerian literature is no longer vibrant? HENRY AKUBUIRO sought the views of some Nigerian writers to find out what has gone amiss.

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Odia Ofeimun, poet, playwright, publishers
Nigerian literature is as vibrant as literature in any other country in the world; unfortunately, we don’t have a central means of either determining the quality as you would have in a journal or the environment to celebrate those who are truly good. The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) used to serve that purpose. But, frankly, we became less and less central to the determination of quality. Other organisations that are not necessarily writers’ organisation have moved in with bigger prizes. Again, even having those multiple means of determining quality actually proves the vibrancy of the literature.
You will be amazed, when you come to every ANA conference, to always see a long list of new works that are as good as you will find anywhere else. It is true we don’t have many great bookshops around us, but whenever you encounter them, you are enabled to see something radically different from the way it used to be in the past when, for instance, you had the Heinemann African Writers’ Series. A great series alright, but it was a series that could not accommodate the very high volume of creativity across Nigeria.
With self publishing, there is a sense in which you will not be too certain about the quality. Oh my God, the imaginative works coming out of this country are out of the ordinary! And the fact that they manage to win prizes outside Nigeria shows that it is not only our standard that are determining what goes on.
Economically, the comedians, musicians, actors and others in the creative industry are making more fame and money than the writers. They will always do better. I think it is wrong for writers to compare themselves with filmmakers and comedians; there is no way you are going to beat them at that game. If you are watching a film, you are not just an active participant –you are just there. But, in a book, you must pay attention. We live in a culture where paying attention is difficult. It is difficult for a writer to compete, because to read is a decision you must take. In television, you don’t even decide: you are just in front of a television screen, and you see and hear what is there. But, in reading, you must pay attention –that’s why the competition is uneven.
Writers, frankly, should not attempt to compete with filmmakers; we are in different worlds. A writer, who is afraid to be less buoyant financially, will never be a writer. Why should you even compete with them? People who have a readymade audience! For a writer, no matter how good you are as a writer of humour, you require people to pay attention. That means the volitional act itself is expensive. You will see they are putting so much of themselves into it before they pay you. The other people are likely going to make more money.
It’s possible for writers to live on their works
Many Nigerian writers do live on their works. It depends on how you push the work you have. If you look at some of them who are winning prizes, they live on the book prizes and, in another two or three years, they push in another work, which may not necessarily win a prize, but could advance the kind of invitations they get and lectures they deliver elsewhere. Since 1978, I haven’t worked for anybody other than writing poetry and drama –that has made a lot of differences.
However, it is risky to be a writer in Nigeria. It is not just being a writer that is risky –the civil service has the same problem. It used to be so secure, but, suddenly, salaries are not being paid. That’s risky. In every occupation, there are hazards. For me, writing is like a priestly job where you have made your commitments and you don’t want to be pushed out of it. Nigerian writers may not know how they are changing things, but they have been powerfully changing things.

The vibrancy of Nigerian literature is something relative, because, if you are within the corridors of literature and seeing the way things are going, you will attest to the vibrancy of Nigerian literature as a stakeholder. Outside of literature, you discover that nothing is happening. It boils down to people’s inability to appreciate the impact or effect of literature in the society. Again, you will join it to the issue of poor reading habit, because, when you talk of literature, you are talking of written texts which people ought to read before they feel the impact, but how many people are reading?
They think it is a waste of their time, and there is nothing to gain from it. Therefore, to engage somebody to read takes a lot of time, unlike in the film industry where people watch the movies and get immediate impact. In literature, unless somebody is interested, and is self disciplined to read the text, he won’t appreciate what writers are doing.
If there is a show here, for instance, and a comedian is on stage, people will turn up enmasse, and he will make everybody laugh. At the end of the show, organisers will say, “Let’s institutionalise this thing so that the comedian will be coming regularly.” But, in the case, it takes time for you to convince people to read books, unless you are among the stakeholders involved in the book chain.
Likewise, if you go to every household in Nigeria, you will see people watching Nigerian films. But, can you write a book and take it to the village for the village women to read? They won’t read it, so they will not get involved. But, because of the immediacy of the films, music and comedy shows, everybody identifies with them.
There is popular joke that, if you want to hide something from a Nigerian, you have to put it inside a book, because he won’t read it. But, what of a situation where everybody will read it so that, if you hide something from a Nigerian and put it in a book, a Nigerian will go and find it, because you have become re-oriented towards reading? That’s what we want to do. That was why I floated a national READ campaign when I was the Minister of State for Education in May 2008, with the former Nigerian president, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), read as a Guest Reader.
The average Nigerian sees reading only as something you do to pass exams, but reading goes beyond the classroom; we are talking about reading for pleasure and self actually, so that, if you are travelling, for instance, in a train, from, say, Kaduna to Lagos, you should have something like a novel, which, by the time you get to your destination, you must have read a considerable number of pages. It can also be a newspaper or a magazine. That’s the kind of habit we want to inculcate into Nigerians.
That’s why I carry advocacies here and there. I have an NGO, a foundation involved in doing reading and writing. We are saying everybody should pick up, so that, at the end of the day, it will become overwhelming in such a way that.
It’s not risky to be a writer in Nigeria
I won’t say it is risky to be a writer in Nigeria, in the sense that there is much freedom now because of the democracy we are having now. Of course, I am not saying, because you are a writer or journalist and you must be criticising government; but you can criticise constructively so that through that criticism a lesson can be learnt. So, it is not the case of saying writing is risky in Nigeria. We have to do more so that, at the end of the day, everybody, including the government has a place in the society that you can’t do without.
What keeps me going as a writer is just the interest; it is the passion. As a writer, you feel fulfilled. As a writer, you have integrity. If you have integrity, you may not have the money or power, but you have yourself, all the virtues around you, and you feel fulfilled. It is what keeps me going as a writer, because I see myself as somebody who will always contribute my quota.

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Dr. Wale Okediran, novelist, juvenilia author, former ANA president
I think we are not doing too badly when you look against all the challenges we are experiencing now, both political and economical. For example, you are aware that, because of the prevailing economy, people don’t buy books as usual; they prefer to do photocopies. Even in the universities, the culture of handbill is still there and, beyond all these, our writers are getting published and, particularly, those of them abroad are winning international awards.
Again, what I believe is also affecting the book generally is the poor reading culture, which has been worsened by the coming of the social media –Facebook, Whatsapp, Twiter and the internet. But, beyond that, I think our literature is vibrant. We even have more prizes now for writers to compete and we have more supportive writers’ association and organisations. In Abuja, we have about four of them. In Lagos, we have them, and there are residency programmes coming up. We even have more prizes now
Internationally, there is more money in entertainment than the book, that’s why the actors and musicians make more money than us. So, I don’t think it is peculiar to Nigeria. The other thing now is that, in Nigeria, there seems to be more corporate attention to the film industry and the music industry.
Government should revamp moribund paper industries
One of the ways out is having the Endowment for Writing when there will be a law mandating government to support writers rather than giving allowances and stipends to them. The government should also to resuscitate our moribund paper industries. Hitherto, we had about three paper industries in Nigeria: one in Akwa Ibom State, Ogun and Kwara. They were vibrant; but, suddenly, they went down. Now, many of our publishers depend on importing papers to publish books and papers, which has increased the cost of their production and the prices of books, too. If government can revamp them and have local production of books and the taxes on books are abolished, it will make books available to many people.
I won’t say exactly it is risky to be a writer in Nigeria. But I will say it is still not conducive enough to make a living on books alone, even all over the world. For every big writer you hear [abroad], there are about tens of them who are just there on the fringe of survival. But, again, by the time we do further collaboration between the film industry and the writers, more money will soon come to the writers.

Chiedu Ezeanah, poet, journalist, publisher
Looking at Nigerian literature in isolation will be wrong for anybody analysing the political, economic situation in Nigeria. So, I will say many things are happening now which are not particularly helping towards the flourishing of the economy. So, you can now extend it to book publishing and any other professions that have a connection to the knowledge industry, including newspapers, which are struggling with other technologies taking over the communication industry.
But, for books, we have always had a problem. Many things went down during the Babangida military regime when SAP was introduced, like closures of universities in Nigeria. They were very towards the nurturing of the mind. So, the little knowledge that was being created in terms of publishing books was not being read by people, because many of them may be substandard. In addition, the existential reason was also there, surviving a terrible economy. Now, it is worsening, and all of these are contributing to the relegation of the book to the background. Instead of caring what books to read, people are interested in how to survive and, maybe, send their children to school, pay their bills, and not to nurture the mind. Tomorrow
Emphasis should be paid on marketing and promoting writers
Those in the entertainment industry are flourishing, because they are giving many Nigerian more reliefs rather than engaging their minds on more serious issues. Maybe, that’s the edge they have over the book. It is very easy to pick up a CD containing a comedy that has all sorts of issues aimed at making you laugh. But I must say that we must not disrespect the works these people have been doing; they are actually working hard and promoting their works to the extent that the audience they are engaging keeps widening. Maybe the literary scene will borrow one or two things from what have been making them more successful.
However, I think there is a way out, because the book is like any other product at a certain point and level. What writers have to do is to do what others are doing: market, promote the book and the author and have reading tours. All of these are part of the things that will create a bigger awareness and also make people more interested, even though it is not going to be as popular as the Nigerian Idol. But, if a lot of works is done in promoting and marketing the book, I think we will have a bigger likelihood of the book gaining more audience, with the authors also better appreciated.
Be that as it may, I think it is risky to be a fulltime author in Nigeria. It is dangerous to one’s health and survival. So, anybody who is going to be a writer should have other job doing. To depend sorely on books in Nigeria, I am not going to advise that. Even though I am trying to do that, it has not been favourable (laughs).

Ernest Onuoha, novelist, former chairman, ANA, Abia
We have made some progress. We have been able to make some progress, producing both locally and internal writers. We have won international prizes, apart from the locally endowed prizes. Despite the downturn in the economy, which affects everybody; despite the non-provision of an Endowment for Literature, Nigerian writers have not lost hope –they have been writing
Literature is a kind of strong wine for the mind; it enriches the mind; it is philosophers’ food. Those in the entertainment industry are just creating entertainment, but not only do we entertain; we try to educate and reform through our works. If you look at those in the entertainment industry, most of their works don’t last more than a year before fizzling out. But a writer’s work endures more years. In fact, the more years it stays, the better it becomes.
We don’t play to the gallery; we are x-raying the complicities of our society; we bring out true fictional creativity –a kind of progressive direction to our society at the same time entertaining them; we are reformers; we carry the burden of the society; we look for ways to make things work. If we were money-conscious, we would have been close to the government; but writers are the most critical elements in the society. So, we are not too friendly with government, and government is not too friendly with us, because we act as a check to any government in power. So, we are not actually there to make the money but work to sustain our works. We need the patronage to sustain our works.
The publishing sector should be liberalised
Things will surely get better. Good a thing, there is now a proposal by Senator Shehu Sanni to push up a bill at the National Assembly aimed at creating an Endowment for Literature so that, like what is done in Norway, government is made to buy some amount of what is published for the first time and distribute to libraries. Senator Sani has told us that the National Library at Kaduna received book last in 1997.
These are the areas we need to partner with government. Government should partner with us by buying our books and sending them to school libraries and other libraries. If you go to the British Council, you will see various books by British authors. The government should prioritise it, because we are there to help the government. That’s we have people like Prof Wole Soyinka constantly pillorying the government, just as late Chinua Achebe rejected a national honour, because their discontents with various governments. But that should not create a dichotomy between us and the government.
Because of the developmental stage of our society, it is risky to be a writer in Nigeria. I remember when I published my work, Biafra: the Victims, some people refused to distribute it, saying that they might be taken away by the SSS. You can see the phobia –people can’t freely distribute their works without fear of arrest. Two, the publishing industry needs to be encouraged. We have to liberalise that sector so that the publishing industry can be vibrant. With that, they will be able to make it easier.
If Nigerian writers were not determined to contribute to the society, they would have been discouraged long time ago. But we are happy we are determined; we are not ready to take no; we are not ready to be taken aback because of the situation we have found ourselves. That is why our writers outside the country are ready to make hay ways. Writers are optimistic. If they are not optimistic, they won’t put their lives on the line for the change of the society. We mirror the society; we are the town criers of the society; and we will continue to be the town criers at the same time entertaining, educating and reforming, through our creative works, be it drama, poetry or prose.