Rainbow crowd at the Eagle’s nest

A scene from A Harvest of Ants,
Professor Sam Ukala’s adaptation of
Arrow of God staged during the
colloquium.Fittingly, the golden jubilee anniversary of Things Fall Apart ended on April 26 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where Professor Chinua Achebe taught last in Nigeria. Akintayo Abodunrin reports highlights of the international colloquium which ended the celebration.

IT ended the way it started; on an intellectual note. The month long celebration of the golden jubilee of Professor Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart organized by the main writers’ body in Nigeria, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), fittingly ended at the last nest of the ‘Eagle on the Iroko’ before he flew the shores of Nigeria. The Nsukka campus of the University of Nigeria, Enugu State, was where Achebe taught last in Nigeria and it was where ANA chose to berth the ship of the celebration which sailed from Lagos on April 12 and made stops at Abuja, Ibadan, Awka and Ogidi. Deservedly, the university community appreciated ANA’s gesture as it participated fully in the international colloquium that held on the campus from April 24 to 26.

Though some of the advertised personalities like Professor Ngugi Wa Thiongo, the statesman and former President of South Africa, Dr. Nelson Mandela, and General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd) did not turn up, their absence took nothing from the event as lecturers, students and guests filled Princess Alexandria Hall, venue of the colloquium’s opening to capacity. In fact, a significant number of people had to stand on the aisles as they could not find seats. President of ANA, Dr. Wale Okediran, in an address of welcome noted how Things Fall Apart (TFA) took the literary world by storm and proceeded to become a world classic. He explained that Nsukka was chosen as the last terminus of the celebration because ANA was founded there and that in celebrating the novel’s golden jubilee, ANA was celebrating one of its own. Okediran, a medical doctor, writer and politician also stated that apart from celebrating Achebe, the celebration was also intended to discover new playwrights and artists vide the drama and poster competitions which winners got their prizes before the conclusion of the celebration. Okediran equally underscored the importance of writers and acknowledged sponsors of the celebration.

The chief host and Vice Chancellor of UNN, Professor Chinedu Nebo, in his address delivered by the deputy vice chancellor (Administration), Professor F. I. Idike, thanked ANA for organizing the event. He said the celebration would inspire and awaken Nigerians to the dreams in TFA. Nebo also stated that UNN was proud to be associated with Achebe, an emeritus professor of the institution whose achievements motivate staff and students to work harder. TFA itself, Nebo said, provides lively images of Igboland before colonialism as well as highlighting the positive and negative sides of cultural contact. The VC disclosed that to further appreciate Achebe, the university would establish a centre to promote research and creativity in line with its motto; “To restore the dignity of man”.

Also speaking at the event emceed by Professor Okey Ndibe who had earlier delivered a personal message from Professor Achebe to the gathering, Mr. Chuks Iloegbunam, the chief of staff to Governor Peter Obi of Anambara State, Achebe’s home state, said Obi and the people of the state appreciated ANA’s honour to Achebe. The representative of the governor who curiously pulled out of a collaboration with ANA to support the Awka and Nsukka legs of the celebration then disclosed that the state government was planning its own celebration at which Achebe would be physically present later in the year. He revealed that he had already been to the United States to discuss with Achebe and ascertain if he could come.

Thereafter, Professor Ernest Emenyonu, formerly of the UNN but presently with the University of Michigan-Flint, Michigan, USA delivered a stirring keynote address. Entitled “Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe’s ‘Mustard Seed’” Emenyonu, who appropriated from the Biblical parable of the Mustard Seed likened TFA to a seed yam which “ tendrils blossomed and the tuber grew to immense proportions, producing side tubers which produced other side tubers until several barns were filled with luscious yams…” The scholar highlighted the skepticism of the West to the novel and its author as well as the insults hurled at Achebe by Western scholars, critics and readers for daring to deconstruct the the Eurocentric perspective of Africa.

One of the most vocal and prejudiced critics of TFA and Achebe at the period following its publication, according to Emenyonu, was Dr. Austin J. Shelton who taught at the UNN. Shelton, Emenyonu revealed, wrote a series of articles trying to interpret the work and criticizing Achebe. But Shelton, indeed, was not dumb as Emenyonu said he had read TFA “very closely and realized that both the novel and its author were set to threaten existing European distortions of Africa in reality and in fiction…”.

Sadly, according to Emenyonu, some Africans have also chosen to follow in Shelton’s shallow understanding and appreciation of TFA even up to the present. He identified David Kaiza, a Kenyan whose article entitled “Achebe why he was no Literary Genius”published in the Nation of Kenya attempted to rubbish Achebe’s achievements. After thoroughly puncturing all of Kaiza’s uninformed postulations, Emenyonu descended on theNigerian government for its apathy to literature. He affirmed that military governments in Nigeria did nothing to enhance the growth, recognition and development of African literature. Instead, according to him, the military “did a lot relentlessly to lower, dishonour and damage the image of the writer in Nigeria in particular, and the dignity of African literature in general, in the eyes of the world”.

Emenyonu charged President Umaru Yar’Adua not to toe the steps of the military. “Perharps the Federal Government can seize this opportunity and use the yaer of the celebration of Things Fall Apart to make amends and atone for the past aversion to Nigerian writers and the abysmal neglect of African literature as an autonomous field of study in the Nigerian educational system,” he said. The eminent scholar further solicited Governor Peter Obi’s assistance in locating and retrieving the original manuscript of TFA a late Camerounian writer came to borrow from Professor Achebe in the 80s.

A riveting part of Emenyonu’s address was his attempted explanation of why despite the global appeal of TFA, Achebe has not won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Quoting Achebe in a 1985 interview granted Professor J.O.J. Nwachukwu Agbada, Emenyonu said Achebe said: “Many years ago I was in Stockhlom along with some other writers. I think it was to honour a Nobel Prize winner then, Heinrich Boll, a West German writer who died in 1984. During a discussion with an audience, one of the most powerful members of the Swedish Academy which normally picks the Nobel Prize winners said something which annoyed me and I told him off. And people came to me later on and said that man was very powerful, that he was one of those who decided on who won the prize. And I said, so what?”

But Emenyonu was not the only engaging speaker at the colloquium. Others included Professor Emmanuel Obiechina who spoke on “Things Fall Apart: The Making of a Modern Classic and the Critic’s Burden”. Professor Charles Nnolim presented a paper entitled “Chinua Achebe: A Re-assesment.” Other papers were “Things Fall Apart 50 Years After: An eco-critical reading” by Nchoujie Augustine from Cameroun; “What was Things Fall Apart?” by Professor Damian Opata; “From the Margin to the Centre:Subordinate Figures in Things Fall Apart” by Debasish Chattopadhyay from India and “Dance, Society and Change in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart: A choreagrapher’ Perspective” by Arnold Udoka.

Also, the Nsukka event which closed the TFA@50 celebrations had its share of performances. Ebika Anthony and the UNN choir performed at the opening of the colloquium while guests were treated to Professor Sam Ukala’s adaptation of Arrow of God entitled “A Harvest of Ants” later that Friday evening at the Arts Theatre of the UNN. The fanfare then finally ended with an awards night where Isaac Attah Ogezi, Kunle Okesipe and Jibrin Bala Jibrin who came first, second and third respectively in the drama competition were given their prizes. Winners of the poster competition, Atulegwu Okorie, Mrs N. Okagbue, Chima Phinihas and Bala Haruna equally got their prizes. The awards night attended by dignitaries including the VC of UNN, Professor Chinedu Nebo also witnessed the the presentation of the new Okike: Journal of New African Writing.

Books and the Nigerian economy

Gbenro AdegbolaPresident, Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA), Gbenro Adegbola, in this address delivered to mark the World Book and Copyright Day highlights the importance of books to individual and national development

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them” - Mark Twain (1835 — 1910)

Books are very important to human civilization and advancement. To underscore this fact, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has set aside the 23rd day of April, every year as the World Book and Copyright Day. It is a demonstration of UNESCO’s commitment to the promotion of reading and the protection of copyright. However, the tradition of celebrating books and reading on the 23rd of April every year is a long-standing one. In Spain, the 23rd of April commemorates the death of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote de la Mancha. In the English-speaking world, the date also coincides with the death of Williams Shakespeare on April 23, 1616.

Books serve as veritable tools for the export of ideas to different parts of the world. They are an important cultural product of any nation. The history, socio-economic and political situations of a particular region are transmitted and exported to other climes through books. This is succinctly exemplified from this extract from HeIon Habila in an article he wrote in the Guardian of August 20, 2007. “Recently, I got a mail from a woman in Yorkshire saying that my novel has helped her to understand Nigeria better. She said what she had before was an “earoplane-view of Nigeria”, but my book .has given her an “eye-level of understanding”. Helon Habila is a Nigerian writer who won the Caine Prize for Literature in 2002. In like manner, several authors have projected their countries to the world through the instrumentality of their writings. Of course, translation has also made books readily accessible to a wider audience beyond the language of the author.

Books also provide inspiration and educationally useful information. The sacred religious teachings of the world’s major religions are mostly in book forms. Aside the inspirational and educational values of books, it also serves as a useful form of entertainment and leisure for a good number of avid book readers. Books are also essential for the sustenance of any language. This is largely overlooked, but for any language to grow and develop, books must be published in that language to ensure its learning and continuous usage by the indigenous speakers and others interested in that language. It should also be noted that besides the intrinsic value of reading, the ability to read has economic consequences. It is not by accident or coincidence that the highly industrialized and developed countries of the world have the highest level of literate citizens. In contrast, the least developed parts of the world have the least reservoir of intellectual capital and literate citizens. At the personal level, it is known that literate and above average readers have the potential to earn income than the below average readers and illiterates.

However, some Nigerians do not see anything else in reading apart from certificate acquisition. It is regarded as a purely academic exercise. Often, prescribed school texts are the only books bought by some parents for their wards. A good number of Nigerians do not just buy any reading materials at all after leaving formal school. This is evidenced by the fact that general interest books usually record the least sales with most publishers and booksellers. Even newspaper readership has dropped considerably compared to what it was in the early 70s even after discounting for online virtual reading and the free readers.

The way forward
The Nigerian society must take conscious and deliberate steps to increase our knowledge base in all fields through books, because we are now in the knowledge age. A commentator has even described the 21st Century as that of the brain race. We should therefore create the enabling environment that will make our children love books, reading and elementary research by consulting reference texts. Parents should be encouraged to provide mini-libraries or book corners at home as a means of ingraining into their children’s subconscious mind that books are an important element of a home. Books should also be given to children as gifts during important celebrations. Research has shown that children tend to read story books and well illustrated books whenever they are provided at home. Parents should create time to read story books to their infants as a way of telling them that we have several treasures in books awaiting their self-discovery through reading. This early exposure to book is necessary because the interest in books that are not created when young, and the reading skills that are not developed by this time may not be easily made up for later in life.

Every school, primary and secondary must have a well-stocked school library. Newspapers, magazines and relevant journals should be made available in our school libraries for students and teachers alike. School libraries should be given adequate attention from the various tiers of government and from other stakeholders. This is because there are no magic wands to leap-frog us into the comity of developed nations except through qualitative education of which the provision of relevant books is a necessity. Every local government should also be mandated to have a public library in addition to the state libraries that are mostly located in state capitals only.

Copyright violation in Nigeria
Piracy and monumental infringement on intellectual property protected by copyright is a major problem in Nigeria. Books, films, music, software and other products of the intellectual and creative minds are reproduced without prior authorization from the right owners and sold to the public in the preferred media ­films, and music in the form of CDs, VCDs, DVDs and video and audio cassettes. Books are illegally reprinted and bound for sales. Book piracy has even assumed an international dimension with the illegal importation of pirated editions of fast moving school textbooks and reference texts from overseas, mostly Asia. The Nigeria economy, like any other competitive, free enterprise, democratic and modem economy is bound to reap bountifully, if a conducive environment for copyright protection, for all categories of creative works can be established and sustained. Our society should appropriately label piracy for what it is, which is theft. Theft is theft, whether the material involved is physical or intellectual. The pirate only benefits and does not add value to any other person or the government. The pirate can afford to sell at ridiculously low prices because he does not incur any other cost apart from the cost of illegal duplication or printing. He does not pay royalties to authors, pirates pay no editorial overhead and no origination cost is borne by pirates. Pirates do not engage in the extensive and expensive promotion of books, which is usually done by book publishers. Also pirates do not pay taxes to any tier of government and they do not offer employment to a reasonable number of Nigerians as does the genuinely registered companies. Piracy also aids and abets other economic and financial crimes.

Piracy stifles creativity and stunts intellectual productivity, which may lead to the destruction of authorship and the production of original works in all spheres of the creative enterprise in Nigeria. Skills necessary for the production of literary, artistic, fiction and non-fiction works may be eventually lost. On the long run, it may obliterate an entire industry like publishing. Therefore, all hand must be on deck in collaboration with the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to rid our shores of the menace of piracy in all ramifications. However, in the fight against piracy, there is the need to strengthen our institutional capacity to punish those who prefer to operate at the wrong side of the law. The judiciary and the law enforcement agencies should be up and doing in the discharge of their statutory responsibilities so that the often dawdle legal prosecution process in Nigeria would not be a hindrance to the effective prosecution of suspected pirates.