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Presentation by Nnimmo Bassey at HOMEF’s maiden Book Day held on Friday, January 31, 2025, in Benin City, Nigeria
“…all classical traditions of world literature are fostered by environments where there are intensive struggles against great evils for the restoration of human dignity.” – G. G. Darah, “Revolutionary Pressures in the Literature of the Niger Delta”
The Community and Culture Programme of Health of Mother Earth Foundation seeks to underscore the foundational role that literature plays in our culture. Our stories, poems, theatre, songs and dance often aim to educate, correct through the sharing of information and through naming and shaming. These cultural practices conducted in the public, are for public consumption and demand action. The overall aims include keeping a record of happenings, envisioning what should happen and providing keys towards attaining preferred ends.
Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria’s hero of the environment, was many things in his lifetime. He was a socioecological activist, a politician, educator, businessman, playwright, novelist and poet. He used his resources and talents in the service of the Ogonis and by extension his nation. While he laced his writing with humour, he was dead serious about the rejection of marginalisation, ecocide, exploitation and oppression. He fought for socio-ecological justice.
It can be argued that through his artistic production he woke the consciousness of his people and used the cultural tools at his disposal to ingrain in them a sense of commitment to the Ogoni cause and along with that a determination to fight for justice. It can also be argued that without his prodigious cultural and literary outputs the Ogoni struggle would have burned out by this time.
Books are the vehicles for building sustainable struggles and retaining a heightened sense of humour while doing so. Literature can and should be an ideological and confrontational tool to reclaim the social mandate of the oppressed.
While books meet the aesthetic needs of the people, they also shape their imaginations. Undoubtedly, we are shaped by our imaginaries. Writers like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ngugi Wa’Thiongo, Niyi Osundare, Odia Ofeimun, Tanure Ojaide, Christopher Okigbo, Helon Habila, Chimamamda Ngozi Adichie, Nduka Otiono, Chigozie Obioma and a host of others challenge oppressive systems and the imaginaries that acquiesce to such situations.
Our community and culture programme aims to use the tools offered by authors, poets, playwrights, storytellers and singers to build environmental consciousness, offer pictures of alternative futures and promote resistance to the horrendous environmental exploitation and damage happening around our nation and continent.
Today is the first in our series of Book Days. As we get ready to digest portions from the book “A Walk in the Curfew”, there is another book we should peep into.
This other book is “The Great Ponds” by Elechi Amadi. It is a book that pictures the disruptions of society through fights over natural resources and mirrors the destructive extractive activities that has numbed our sense of the fact that the environment is our life.
Two key characters in the book are Olumba of Chiolu and Wago of Aliakoro. These two communities engage in protracted wars over fishing rights to WagabaPond. In the tale we see Chiolu warriors defeating those of Aliakoro, and thereafter members of Chiolu claimed Wagaba Pond and fished in it without hindrance. Aliakoro villagers, however, began to poach in the pond, and Chiolu sent a war party to catch the poachers. We note that these two communities were from the same clan. They were family torn apart by a natural resource.
Over time the two communities were plagued with wars, kidnappings, and an epidemic akin to COVID-19 which is the pivot around which the stories in “A Walk in the Curfew” are spurn.
Wago was emblematic of Aliakoro’s superiority over the other villages. His power got magnified in stature by those most troublesome desires of humans: honour and praises. Yet being a proud man Wago decided to blow out his own candle, to commit suicide in the contentious pond. The elders in Aliakoro knew suicide to be a great sin but they also knew that for Wago to choose to do so in the pond was a tactical and overly insensitive gesture. Personal interest had disregarded the communal good.
The Great Ponds is a testament to the power of literature to reflect, shape, and challenge societal norms. Amadi’s work continues to resonate with readers, offering valuable insights into the complexities of human nature, community, and tradition. It also offers a cautionary tale that we should not allow natural or other resources to divide us and lead to needles destruction and deprivations.
Now, let’s turn to the writers of “A walk in the Curfew and other pandemic tales”, some of whom are here with us today. By writing the stories in the time of the pandemic, the writers show that emergencies are excellent moments for reflection on life. They also hold up the light on how to build resilience and overcome the most dire situations.
The stories remind us of the power of human connection, solidarity, and creativity in the face of adversity. The writings not only capture the complexities and challenges of the pandemic but also offer hope, insights, and inspiration for a more just, equitable, and sustainable future.
The authors’ contributions to this collection are a gift to humanity, and there is no doubt that these offerings will resonate with readers worldwide.
Congratulations Onome Etisioro, Mfoniso Antia (Xael) and Kome Odhomor. Thank you for offering your creativity and for opening this journey on our Community and Culture highway.
