Adeola Ogunrinde| Dr Wale Adebanwi is a lecturer at University of California, he spoke with Adeola Ogunrinde on what he expects from Buhari’s Government.
What will the Jonathan’s Administration will be remembered for in Nigeria’s literary scene?
I am not sure if the Jonathan administration has done something remarkable , but the Bring Back the Book , it wasn’t a landmark thing. It was good something that we should praise but in the context of the larger issues, it is difficult to say many great things about this administration, let give that kudos to him for the Bring Back the Book.
Do you think the Buhari’s administration should adopt the Bring Back the Book?
Not only Bring Back the Book , he should bring back knowledge , the book is a great symbol of knowledge , we no longer have what truly gives us symbol of knowledge .Our primary and secondary schools are largely dead so we got to revive the knowledge , beyond that we can’t actually do that without reviving the country because everything is linked.
What do you think that need to do to revive our publishing industry?
All these things are linked, the publishing industry died because we no longer have a literate culture but we have a literate people, people no longer read. Daily Times use to sell half a million copies in the 1970’s and early 80’s now no newspaper sells 100,000. The country needs to be revived, the economy, the middle class returns , they are able to purchase books . We have to revive education ,many literate minds who will not able to read and write but willing to consume the product of knowledge which is books principally . In the last few years Nigeria has produced excellent writers in the international scene but they have always been there , it is just that is happening in this phenomenon we are now having recognition of younger writers. There are still many more great writers in Nigeria , we need to link the production of knowledge and consumers for that knowledge , imaginative fiction.
Should the incoming administration have an Industry for books where publishing houses can borrow money to publish books?
I don’t think they need a bank but government should have special grants to encourage people , put institutions on ground to encourage literature, individuals who can put down money .There many rich men that can put down millions of dollars to support the Art in Nigeria , in abroad many of the institutions that donate money for writers are run by individuals , the Mike Adenuga , the Otedola’s , Dangote can put down the money. Look at what NLNG has done, create reading sessions , prizes support grant and subsidy for publishing industry, subsidy books for people , we don’t need a bank for that but polices
What do you think need to be done to encourage more people to read?
There are different ways in which we can encourage people to read. We don’t have that culture reading books to children at bedtime , people living very early and coming back late don’t even have time to read., how many take their kids to reading club, do we have reading club in our communities , do we middle class , upper middle class in communities , do we have reading clubs there? Do they take their children to readings . I know many of our young generation of writers have held readings abroad more than Nigeria. Where are the bookshops , when I was much younger living in Ibadan, in my early twenties , I think there are more bookshops in Ibadan then than the whole of the country now, even the second hand books then were vibrant. It is not about giving books out but creating avenues where people can have books to read. We need a good economy where people will earn good money , have capacity to relax and read books, we need trains where people will join early morning to work and read books, you can’t read a book in a molue, you can be driving yourself to work everyday and be able to read. No country survives without the rail system , only in Nigeria , so these are the things that needs to be done among other things .
What is your take in translating many of our novels to African languages?
That is a major issue, I just read an article by a colleague to multi-lingual in African culture, there is Ngugi Wa thiongo’s position that you must first write in your mother’s tongue before translating it into English , there are other argument that it doesn’t help the mother tongue, people are only going to read your English translation, they are of the view that we should also do the reverse, take books written in English and translate to mother tongue. What we have to do is major languages which are trans-national , like the Swahili , Hausa in West Africa, Yoruba in West Africa, Igbo is a major language group. If we start with that we create greater ways for diversity which will be good for Africa.