Arts/Literary
Overview Of Indigenous Literature, A Survivalist Art
Indigenous literature, as a survivalist art, means that this literature has always existed in Africa since time immemorial immemorial times and surprisingly not waning, its impact is still felt, oral transmissions of the Nigerian experience is still popular, in spite of many decades of the introduction of literacy.
Before 1914, there had flourished literature in various languages spoken in what is now called Nigeria. In the North Arabic literary scholarship was the vogue, poetry blossomed in Arabic or Ajani.
The Hausa version of the Arabic language, while in the south traditional literature held sway, described in many ways as oral literature, orature, folk literature, oral tradition etc.
As it is today, to write a piece of African literature without the injection of African traditional materials is like preparing a soup without thinking of salt. African oral materials found even in snippets confer authenticity on the modern African literary heritage. Thus, Achebe, Clark, Ike Amado, etc are today remembered, among others, for what they have made of orature, which they inherited from their different cultures.
It has been pointed out that literature in the Northern part of Nigeria is traceable to Ajani writers, who were essentially elitist and religious. More over, they largely wrote poems, while showing no real interest in novel and drama traditions. The reason was that poetry was used to convey their religious bent, while prose and drama are by their nature given to secularism and entertainment.
Christian missionaries played a role in instigating Hausa literature, however their output were focused on proselytising literature written in both Ajani and Boko scripts. Similarly, a newspaper like Gaskiya Tafi Kwabo, first printed in 1939, published in Hausa, has played stringent role in advancing literature in Northern Nigeria.
No mention of poetry writing in the North is complete without reference to Shehu Usman Danfodio, who lived in the 19th century. He is said to have composed 480 poems, some of them short, ranging from eleven lines to 450 stanzas. He also wrote books in Arabic, while his poems were written in Arabic or fulfulde and later translated in similar poetic form into Hausa. His son, brother and sister also wrote various numbers of poems.
There were also the scholars who wrote poems in Hausa in addition to their outputs in Arabic and fulfulde. As there was virtually no print media in the Hausa land of the 19th century, the scholars had their poems written on plain sheets of paper in local ink and published by being recopied by their disciples and students. Koranic blind beggers recited them after congregational prayers in mosques, market places where they found keen listeners.
The establishment of Translation Bureau later Literature Bureau in the 1930s saw to the production of the first set of Hausa novels, writers like Abubakar Imam, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Bello Kagara, Mohammadu Gwazo etc, published novels. They freely made use of the oral traditions in their native technique.
Similarly, Dr R.M. East who first headed the translation bureau, edited and published in 1930 six Hausa plays in which five of the plays were folktales made into drama and the sixth one, the dramatisation of Bayirida legend.
In 1953, the North Regional Literature Agency (NORLA) was established to augment the excertions of the literature bureau. NORLA saw to the compilation of the anthology of the poems of some important 20th century Hausa poets such as Sa’adu Zeingur, Mu’azu Hadeja, Alhaji Aliyu Namangi, etc.
After seven years period in 1959, NORLA was disbanded and its role later taken up by Gaskiya Corporation and much later by Northern Nigeria Publishing Company (NNPC) which was responsible for the flourishing of writings between 1960 and 1967. Not only did NNPC republish NORLA, titles, it published new Hausa novels like those by Umaru Dembo, A. Katsina, Garba Funtua and Abdulkadir Dan Gambo.
In 1980, NNPC ran a creative writing contest which saw to the publication of three submissions adjudged to be the best. In 1980, the Triumph Publishing Company was established by the Kano State Government which not only published two Hausa Newspapers, but brought out assorted books of various interests.
Literature in Igbo language was first encouraged by the Christian missionaries which needed a handle to spread Christianity. The church in 1840 directed Rev. J.F Schon (German) and the Yoruba Ex-slave, Samuel Ajayi Crowder, to study certain African language which could assist their evangelistic missions on the Niger. They selected Hausa and Igbo. Igbo was found by Rev. Schon to be difficult while preferring Hausa.
Schon managed to publish a Grammer of the Igbo language in 1890, but a greater work in Igbo language was done by Rev. Crowder and his fellow missionaries. The cooperative efforts of Baptist missionary named Clark and an African American called Merrick saw to the second collection in 1948. S.W. Koelle’s polygotha was published in 1854, in it , there were 300 Igbo words given in five different dialects.
Dr William Baikie published his self account of his expedition into Igbo land named the Igbo Expedition, Crowder’s Isoamaibo primer first published in 1857, later reprinted in 1927 and known today as Azundu, could be said to be the foundation of Igbo literary origins in the modern sphere.
In 1933, Pita Nwana, from Ndizogu in Imo State published the first Igbo novel entitled Omenuko which soon superseded Azundu in its educational functions as generations of school children and learners at Adult Educational Centres read it for its wit, volatile humour and its insistent in oral overtones. The sayings of Omemuko became something like the John Ploughman’s talks.
The next Igbo novel emerged thirty years later, precisely in 1963, titled “Ije Odumodu Jere” (The Trip made by Odumodu), written by Leopard Bellgam in the same year D.N Adiarh Published ‘Ala Bingo’ (Bingo land) however, none of these two novels matched Omenuko in terms of its popularity, gravity and extent of acceptability.
In the last 30 years, many Igbo plays and poems have been issued by well known publishing companies, including the Igbo plays of A.B Chukwueze and the Igbo poetry collections, edited by R.N. Ekechukwu and E.N Emenanjo in the 70s and 80s.
One writer whose Igbo novels have helped to shape Igbo literature is Tony Ubezie. His novels are memorable and touch at the base of human, social and environmental psychology. His interesting novels in Igbo largely titled in proverbs include, ‘Ukwa Ruo Oge Ya O Daa’ (When The Bread Fruit Ripens, It Falls), ‘Is I Akwu Dara n’ala’ (A palm fruit which falls on the ground), ‘Juo Obinna’ (Ask Obinna), ‘Nmiri Okueji Egbu Mbe’ (The Hot Water With Which Tortoise Is Killed), ‘Ukpaka Miiri Onye Ubiam’ (the oil bean which had fruited for the poor man). By the time the prolific writer died in 1994, he still had several unpublished Igbo titles.
However, any mention of the development of the Igbo literature without a mention of the singular efforts of the late Maazi F.C Ogbalu is faulty. He devoted over forty years of his life to the promotion of Igbo studies, using his press at Onitsha. He published his own books on the Igbo proverbs, Idioms, riddles, customs and tradition, poetry, fictions and several books for primary and secondary schools.
Literature in Yoruba follows the same pattern of development as Hausa and Igbo. If Ajayi Crowder, the Yoruba Ex-slave played such a prominent role in the founding of Igbo literature, one imagines that by the time he took on Igbo, much development has taken place in his Yoruba Language. This was largely due to the influx of the liberated slaves many of who were literates into Yoruba land a little before the middle of the 19th century.
There was also the influence of the establishment of Christian missions, Primary and secondary schools whose products soon acquired the art of reading and writing. Although the Yoruba Renaissance, which was stirred by the ex-slave started in the 1880s, the book in Yoruba history by Rev. Samuel Johnson completed in 1897 and published in 1921, could be said to be the proper take off point. Most people who claim now to be knowledgeable on Yoruba history only narrate Johnson, what is now known as Igbo culture and tradition was first mooted in that book.
It was not until 1939 that D.O Fagunwa’s “Ogboju-ode ninu Igbo Irunmale” (The Skillful Hunter in the Forest of spirits) a long prose narrative in the tradition of Yoruba folk lore was published, those who could not read Yoruba had to wait for Wole Soyinka’s translation of the story under the title, The Forest of a Thousand Daemons.
Some thirteen years later, precisely in 1952, Amos Tutuola, writing in quaint English, published the palm wine Drunkard, it was hailed in Europe and America, but distasted in his country. He wrote just as Fagunwa did, except that his medium was not Yoruba, but his tales which were linked artistically to yield the palm wine Drunkard were essentially Yoruba stories. Since Fafunwa, other writers who wrote like him in the Yoruba language include Ogundere, Omoyajowo, Fatami, etc. Others who wrote in the realistic tradition included I.O. Delano, who published his first Yoruba novel in 1955 and his second book of fiction in 1963. Since then, there have emerged the novels of J.F Odunjo, Afolabi Olabimtan, Adebayo Faleti, T.A Ladele, Ola Owolabi, Kola Akunlade, A Oyedele Yamitan Awoniji, among others.
It is therefore no gain saying that recent writers are even more aggressively adept at appropriating folk materials; Osofisan, Okri, Osundare, Erekwe, and Ohaeto, etc have in various proportions incorporated indigenous languages and folk elements in their writings such that their rootedness is not in doubt.
Nation building is a dynamic process involving all segments of the locality, including the often-overlooked and undermined youth population. Youths represent a vast and often untapped resource for immediate and long-term community development efforts. They also provide an invaluable resource for the progress of any society as well as its development. As youths are brought into and connected with national issues and programmes (they have often times been ignored/excluded), they can participate actively and contribute to decision-making at multiple levels.
As youths are engaged in more sustained positive relationships with adults, other youths and national development programmes, apart from realising that they are valued citizens of their nations, such collaborations and participation may lead to skill enhancement, empowerments and confidence-building traits, which will help prepare them for active interest and involvement in nation-building (even in future).
The total population of those between the ages of 15 and 34 was about 30 million in the 1991 census, equivalent to one of every three Nigerians. It was projected that by the year 2000, the total population of this category of young person’s would be about 38 million (National Youth Policy, 2001). In 2006, a nation-wide population and housing census was conducted to update the records. It indicated that the youth profile in the Nigerian population has tremendously improved to 53 million (NPC, 2006).
Apart from the issue of numerical strength, global trend is towards emphasising the primacy of youth in the developmental process, with deliberate efforts by national governments to create conditions that will encourage youth to utilise their energies and resourcefulness for growth and sustainable development of their nations. It was in the light of this development that the Nigerian Youth Organisations in their memorandum to the last National Political Reform Conference maintained that:
“Nigerian youth must have a voice and must be given a greater say to contribute in the way he is governed and allowed to play greater role in leadership and governance so that at all times, he is properly equipped to assume the mantle of leadership which inevitably must come someday. (National Political Reform Conference 2005:15).
However, the prevailing conditions in much of the developing nations, especially Nigeria, have seriously extenuated the potentials of the youth as agents of social change. These challenges range from the economic and social to the cultural. The treacherous triangle of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in which the bulk of Nigerian youths are currently trapped, has severally challenged their sensibility and has in the long run given rise to what sociologists term as attitudes of fatalism, resignation and acceptance of the situation (Heralambos, 2001). The persistence of these social problems has created an environment where youth are cheaply available for manipulation by self-seeking politicians. Poverty, illiteracy and unemployment are interrelated conditions that generate human needs and therefore constitute a state of deprivation.
As the youth continue to remain in this state, there is pent-up emotions and untapped energies. They provide cheap labour to execute the design of political gladiators and ethnic champions. In an apparent indictment of the Nigerian politicians, Togbolo (2006) observed, “they take advantage of the poverty-stricken nature of the country to exploit the people; politicians are fond of using the youth restive nature as a political strategy to have their way.”
According to Gribble (2010), “more than half of the world’s population under the age of 25 (between ages 15 and 24) are in greatest need of empowerment, those who are younger will quickly come of age and share these same needs. This segment of the population (15 to 24) is expected to continue growing faster than other segments for at least 20 more years” (Gribble, 2010). With the swelling wave of young people, access, empowerment and their engagement in nation-building becomes critical if they are to contribute effectively.
Uhunmwuangbo and Oghator (2013) suggested two (2) major motivations which have brought the converge of youth (young persons) into the policy agenda of national governments, thus fascinate and prioritised youth inclusion to the building process of any nation. According to them, the first is the global process of democratisation, beginning in Southern Europe, extending to Latin America, Asia and Africa, and more recently to Eastern Europe (Almond, 2004).
The second is the phenomenon of globalisation that has seriously challenged the capacity of nation-state to govern and which, according to Heady, et al, embodied a transformation of the spatial organisation of social relations and transaction (Heady, 1979). The combined effects of these global trends have confronted and dismantled authoritarian regimes in a decisive way, and at the same time rekindled the spirit of civil society in the political process (Suleiman, 2006).
The youth as an important component of the civil society is in the process of self rediscovery in an era characterised by the intense movement of the social forces of democratisation and globalisation. As they interact with other actors in the social system, the youth express their interest and needs, they relate with relevant political institutions and political processes to articulate their views and promote shared interest (Suleiman, 2006).
The role of education positioning and providing youth with access to effective engagement in national development which is a way of incorporating them in the decision-making process of the nation’s governance, nation-building activities where they are welcomed, with accurate and comprehensive information which will empower them to make healthy decisions.
There is no how the untapped capacities in youth can be tapped and utilised with an all-inclusive, participatory and synergy approach; thus, a suggestive dimension for involving the youth in nation-building. Youth participation, according to Cornwall (2010), refers to the involvement of youth in responsible, challenging action that meets genuine needs, with opportunities for planning and/or decision-making affecting others in an activity whose impact or consequence is extended to others. i.e outside or beyond the youth participants themselves. Rajani (1999) notes that, “it is only through participation that youth develop skills, build competencies, form aspirations, gain confidence and attain valuable resources.” This shows that youth participation therefore is a product and strategy of sustainable human development.
Youth comprise nearly 30 per cent of the world’s population. These large members of young people are an opportunity; an investment to their country. Youth participation in nation-building programmes/activities therefore is to: Strengthen young people’s abilities to meet their own subsistence needs; prevent and reduce vulnerabilities to economic, political and socially unstable environemnts; promote owership and sustainability of change interventions; help gain entry into target communites and build up trust and social cpaital.
Nigeria with over 140 million people and over fifty percent of youths cannot afford to lock out the youths if they must compete politically, technologically and scientifically in order to align itself with the sustainable development in Africa in particular and the developed world in general. Nigeria can build a strong and viable nation if and only if there is an existence of common values, beliefs, attitudes, effective leadership and a will to live together as a nation. Such transformations must allow every group (especially the youth population) to participate in the economic, political and the social spheres of the nation.
The following recommendations are discernibly based on the foregoing: Youth should be given the opportunity to develop their capacities thrugh balanced education and exposure. Skills acquisition and entrepreneurship will help reduce idleness among youths and keep them from being involved in crime and other activities that are counterproductive in nation-building. Youths should be made relevant and involved in leadership at different levels of government. We must moderate our demands on our youths and as well condition their behavior in line with our cultural values.
The youth of today must not fail this nation.
Concluded
Immanmuel Rohi
Rohi is a member of the Nigerian Youth Volunteers, Rivers State.
What happened to you was not fair. You were merely a collateral damage on someone else’s war path, an innocent bystander, who got wrecked out of proximity.
We are all hurt by life, some of us from egregious wrongdoings, others by unprocessed pain and sidelined emotions. No matter the source, we are all handed a play of cards, and sometimes, they are not a winning hand.
Yet what we cannot forget is that even when we are not at fault, healing in the aftermath will always fall on us and instead of being burdened by this, we can actually learn to see it as a rare gift.
Healing is our responsibility because, if it is not an unfair circumstance it becomes an unlived life.
Healing is our responsibility because unprocessed pain gets transferred to everyone around us, and we are not going to allow what someone else did to us to become what we do to those we love.
Healing is our responsibility because we have this one life, this single shot to do something important.
Healing is our responsibility because if we want our lives to be different, sitting and waiting for someone else to make them so, will not actually change them. It will only make us dependent and bitter.
Healing is our responsibility because we have the power to heal ourselves, even if we have previously been led to believe we do not.
Healing is our responsibility because we are uncomfortable, and discomfort almost always signals a place in life in which we are slated to rise up and transform.
Healing is our responsibility because every great person you deeply admire began with every odd against them, and learned their inner power which had no match for the worst of what life could offer.
Healing is our responsibility because “healing” is actually not returning to how and who we were before, it is becoming someone we have never been, someone stronger, someone wiser, someone kinder.
When we heal, we step into the people we have always wanted to be. We also are not only able to metabolise the pain, we are able to effect real change in our lives, in our families, and in our communities. We are able to pursue our dreams more freely. We are able to handle whatever life throws at us, because we are self-efficient and assured. We are more willing to dare, risk, and dream of broader horizons, ones we never thought we would reach.
The thing is that when someone else does something wrong and it affects us, we often sit around waiting for them to take the pain away, as though they could come along and undo what has been done.
We fail to realise that in that hurt, we had the most important lessons of our lives and the fertile breeding ground upon which we can start to build everything we really want.
We are not meant to get through life unscathed.
We are not meant to get to the finish line unscarred, clean and bored.
Life hurts us all in different ways, but it is how we respond and who we become that determine whether a trauma becomes a tragedy, or the beginning of the story of how the victim became the hero.
Culled from January Nelson.
With the re-occurring traits of COVID – 19 in Nigeria, it is important that parents and gurdians take extra care of their children. Reports from Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has it that,as from 16th to18th July, 2022, 478 new cases were confirmed and two deaths recorded.
A paediatrician and infectious disease expert, Dr Aaron Milstone at the Johns Hopkins Children Centre, has advised that it is important for parents and children to take every possible safety precautions and understand all risks and symptoms related to COVID – 19.
Dr Milstone talked about COVID – 19 symptoms in children, how to keep babies and children safe,the risk infected children may lose to others and an overview of Multi system Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS – C), an unknown but serious condition that may be related to the exposure of the virus.
He added that coronavirus variants, including the very contagious omicron variant has continued to spread, particularly in areas with low rates of community COVID – 19 vaccination among populations such as children under 5, who cannot yet be vaccinated.
According to him, “For children too young to be vaccinated, and adults who have not received Coronavirus vaccines,it is important to follow proven COVID -19 precautions such as mask wearing when in public,indoor places to reduce the chance of becoming infected with the coronavirus. “Indoor activities are riskier than outdoor activities, but risk can be reduced by masking, distancing, hand washing and improved ventilation. Parents and caregivers should understand that children infected with the coronavirus can develop complications requiring hospitalisation and can transmit the virus to others,” Milstone said.
He noted that, in rare cases,children infected with the coronavirus can develop a serious lung infection and become sick with COVID – 19 and deaths have occurred. That is why it is important to take precautions and prevent infection in children as well as adults.
“According to U. S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it appears that women infected with coronavirus can in rare cases pass the disease to their babies. Adding that, infants can also become infected shortly after being born,and most newsborns who test positive for the coronavirus have mild symptoms or none at all and recover, but serious cases have occured.
Pregnant women should take extra precautions,including talking to their doctors about getting a COVID – 19 vaccine to avoid the coronavirus.
Milstone also noted that,there is no evidence that the virus causing COVID – 19 is present in breastmilk but because there is a possibility of spreading COVID – 19 during breastfeeding through respiratory droplets,it is very important for pregnant women to follow safety guidelines.
“Generally, COVID – 19 symptoms in children and babies are milder than those in adults and some infected children may not have any signs of being sick at all; the symptoms include cough,shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing, muscle or body aches,sore throat, loss of smell or taste, diarrhea, headache, new fatigue, nausea or vomiting and congestion or running nose . Fever and cough are common COVID – 19 symptoms in both adults and children, shortness of breath is more likely to be seen in adults . However, serious illness in children with COVID -19 is possible and parents should stay alert if their child is diagnosed with or shows signs of the disease”, Milstone said.
By: Ibinabo Ogolo
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