It is a shame that most of the netters on this network are disconnected from the reality of Nigerian power problems. I have been to Nigerian the last ninety days. I was in Nigeria this time last month it
On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 8:38 AM, Otieno Janet A. <kikijanty@gmail.com> wrote:
As a literary artist,this is outrageuos.Dons should be well read
people and this man is a disgrace to not only Nigeria but African
professors. It is a clear evidence that he does not read.He should
either resign or adopt the reading culture.
On Apr 5, 12:11 pm, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.op...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ikhide,
> As my friends at Arugo motor park Owerri would say, "abeg make we
> leave matter".
> I was at the Portharcourt literary feastival where I met one of our
> renowned Professors of Literature and literary critics, I was shocked
> to learn from him that he owned no internet facility, nor does he
> think he needed one.
>
> I also met a former President of Association of Nigerian Authors(ANA)
> at the same festival, when he was told that I publish mainly on the
> Internet, he retorted, " I do not visit Internet sites". Ikhide, you
> will also be surprised to hear the views of some ANA Executives on
> this issue. This is however, one of the problems.
>
> The other major problem is "the hegemonization of Nigerian literature"
> which is still going on depite the advent of the Internet age.
>
> Chidi Anthony Opara
> Publisher/Editor-In-Chief
> chidi opara reportswww.chidioparareports.blogspot.com
>
> Member: (1) Association of Nigerian Authors(ANA)
> (2) World Poets' Society(WPS)
>
> On Apr 5, 4:48 pm, Ikhide <xoki...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Professor Ifeanyichukwu Ndubuisi Chikezie Aniebo's recent interview in the Guardian should alarm lovers of Nigeria.
> > http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/arts/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=040...
> >
> > I was personally distraught to read the thoughts of an apparently highly respected Nigerian academic on the state of creative writing in our Nigerian universities. His is a sad, sad, commentary on the criminal state of education in our country. Something needs to be done. Fast.
> > After reading Professor Aniebo's interview, one got the distinct impression of a man who has not read a single word of anything contemporary in the past twenty years; a man devoted to the arduous act of survival by merely selling handouts to hapless university students. He is asked if he has read new writings by Nigerians in recent years and he replies that he has not because, get this, he does not know where to go get them. That from a respected professor of literature is downright alarming and disgraceful. I am sorry people, but this man is really annoying me this morning!
> >
> > Worse, he would not accept responsibility for his own apathy or laziness. He says his voluntary immersion in literary darkness "says terrible things about the state of publishing in the country right now." It says terrible things about Professor Aniebo and the state of the students that pass through his pretend-classroom. That man ought to do the right thing and retire.
> >
> > Lord have mercy, is this man living in the same space as Obododimma Oha, Tolu Ogunlesi, Kaine Agary, Toni Kan Onwordi, Sefi Atta, Akachi Ezeigbo, Promise Okeke, Jude Dibia, etc, etc? If I can get up at dawn in America and without the help of my lantern find these warriors of letters, why O why is he looking for new writing in the dusty bookshelves of the bookstores of yesterday? This my people rises to the level of a major scandal. Where for God's sake is Shehu Usman? Where is Ahmed Maiwada? Those two writers are hereby tasked to go find that man and re-introduce him to Nigerian literature. Our writers are rocking! And why this fixation on Nigerians who just happen to still live in Nigeria? By his own admission, he has not read Helon Habila, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chris Abani, Obi Nwakanma, Ogaga Ifowodo, Chika Unigwe, Unoma Azuah, Lola Shoneyin, Sarah Manyika, Obiwu, Niyi Bandele, Nduka Otiono, etc, etc. It appears that not only does he not read
> > anything outside of books, he does not read, period.
> >
> > I am afraid to ask him if he has ever logged on to the Internet (I know, Nigeria hard, garri expensive, gen too make noise, armed robber, blah! blah! blah! Whine! Whine! Whine!). I definitely am not going to ask him if he knows what a blog is. Has he heard of Molara Wood, Afam Akeh, Sola Osofisan, Chuma Nwokolo, Nnorom Azuonye, Amatoritsero Ede and their brilliant (yes, brilliant) pioneering work with the digital medium (blogs, websites, etc, etc)? I am so irritated, I could spit! Lord have mercy, the educational system in Nigeria is in worse shape than I thought. I mean, people, I wake up in the morning praying that folks like Obododimma Oha and Tolu Ogunlesi and Jeremy Weate (yes, Jeremy is a Nigerian, sue me) have written something, anything to make my day and they never disappoint. What is this man talking about? He asks aloud where to find Uwem Akpan's new book! Hello! Somebody, hold me! This man is a professor of something teaching other
> > people's children in Nigeria. That is child abuse ;-))))) In what century is this man living? Thank God that man is nowhere near my children! Gulp!
> >
> > It is true that the publishing industry in Nigeria is challenged but Professor Aniebo's statements on the subject are indicative of a man totally oblivious of the renaissance going on today thanks to the efforts of brave people like Bibi Bakare-Weate, Jeremy Weate, and Mukhtar Bakare. These folks are doing some pretty amazing work despite the daunting odds over there.
> >
> > Abeg people, let me yab this man. Hear him talk about Adichie:
> >
> > "If Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (author of Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun) had been writing in Nigeria, who would have heard about her? But because she is writing from America and the Americans are giving her awards, now every lecturer in Nigeria wants to write about her, whether they are saying something revealing or not. Is that helping Chimamanda? No!"
> >
> > Are we talking about the same Adichie? Na wa O! My response is an apoplectic !!!!!!!!!!! This man should retire abeg! Oga Professor Aniebo, Happy Birthday sha!
> >
> > - Ikhide
> >
> > ps
> > Below are some excerpts of the offensive interview that irritated me. And y'all know, I am not easily irritated! Ai! Ai! Ai! Dis man really really vex me today! Let us start a petition demanding his retirement ;-)))))
> > ==================================================================
> > Have you read new writings by Nigerians in recent years? What is your view about them?
> >
> > I have not because I don't know where to get them. This says terrible things about the state of publishing in the country right now.
> >
> > Sir, are you saying that you're not conversant with new writers like Sefi Atta, Niyi Bandele, Helon Habila as a teacher of creative writing? Are you only fixated in writers of the 60s, 70s and 80s?
> >
> > The problem is actually that the type of publishing here in Nigeria is so bad that you rarely get the opportunity to see new works being written. The publishers will not send you copies to buy. The lecturer is so poorly paid that by the time he finishes taking care of his family needs and others, he find it difficult to find enough money to go in search of new works. I'm still driving a 1984 car; it's always at the mechanic's workshop. Any book you lay your hands on is N1000, N800, N900 or more. And if after you've bought it and you find you are very unhappy with the content. So, why buy it? The young ones don't seem to know about these books either. If they did, they will suggest it to you.
> >
> > What do you see as the problem confronting literature today in Nigeria?
> >
> > The problem lies with the educational system as a result of past activities by Nigerians who continually changed our educational system. As a result, we keep creating people who cannot and do not want to read. I have a Boys Quarter in my house. The way I know that electricity has arrived is when I hear their radio or music blaring. And I say to myself, these are undergraduates, when will they read? We're creating students who don't like to read. Within our own university system, if you recommend a book, students don't buy it. It's such that students brag that they went through university without buying a book; they brag about it. For them to buy a book, you have to set examination on it.
> >
> > Then there's the usual complaint that students are forced to buy hand out. Of course, it's because they will not buy the books you recommend for them. They would rather have the hand out than to buy a book. Why don't I make some money out of the hand out, which students prefer for me to survive?
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