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The pros and cons
of the so-called 419 phenomenon, came under scrutiny at Adaobi Tricia
Nwaubani’s reading of her debut novel ‘I Do Not Come To You By Chance.’
Organised by her Nigerian publishers Cassava Republic, the event was
the writer’s first reading in Nigeria; and it took place before a full
house at Quintessence, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Not a chance occurrence

“Everybody tends
to say my book is a book about 419,” Nwaubani said while elaborating
that as a trained psychologist her focus was more on behaviour change
and how people change because of certain situations. “It wasn’t that I
always dreamt of writing a book about 419 or that the story was calling
my name, you know the kind of thing I hear lots of artists and writers
say. The 419 idea was just perfect when it came. I just latched on to
it and then I developed it.

“When you hang
around the western world, they seem to have this awe of 419ers like
they are some bogeyman just going to sneak out and grab everybody.
Because I grew up in eastern Nigeria, (I knew) that they weren’t like
that. I know a lot of girls whose lives changed because their brothers
went into 419, a lot of parents whose lives changed because their sons
went into 419, communities who didn’t need to depend on the government
anymore because their sons were into 419. (Providing tarred roads,
portable water), things that weren’t there.”

The author said it was only possible to look at the 419ers solely as criminals when you “interact with the West.”

Nwaubani read from
her book about the lead character Kingsley’s visit to his
fraudster-uncle, Cash Daddy. This part featured the young unemployed
graduate’s awe at the hi-tech operations centre from which Cash Daddy
ran his global scam empire.

Providing musical interludes was Lola Okusami, who performed her songs and the aptly-titled ‘Maga Don Pay’ by Kelly Hansome.

The gift of humour

The Commonwealth
Best First Book (Africa Region) winner then took questions from the
audience. She pointed at her reading list as a likely influence on her
art.

“I tend to write
the way I speak,” she said. “Usually, I speak very fast and you can
imagine that’s me just running, speeding along with my words. I read a
lot of books for young adults and I watch cartoons -the style for those
kinds of books is lighter – when I combine the style in the children’s
books with what is in my brain that’s what comes out in my style.”

Nwaubani said her
style was influenced by short stories written by her eldest brother,
his collection of comic literature and an encounter with Frank
McCourt’s ‘Angela’s Ashes.’ “I grew up on African books. You know how
most of our books are serious, deep issues about deep, sordid lives.
There was this thing somewhere that every African story had to be
serious. I wasn’t aware that I had that mentality but I thought if I
was to write, I had to write about this very serious issue in a very
serious way.”

Why much of African
writing is serious remains a mystery to the author. “I laugh a lot and
Nigerians laugh a lot but once we write ‘Gbam! Serious! It’s as if we
are afraid that somewhere when they see us laughing they won’t take us
as seriously.” She however conceded that, “Humour on its own must be a
separate gift.”

Undoubtedly a gift for the author, who had the audience laughing constantly to her comments and responses to their questions.

Starring Cash Daddy

“Cash Daddy is a
prototype 419er. Every Igbo person that knows an average 419er knows a
Cash Daddy and there’s nothing that he’s doing that is going to
surprise you,” Nwaubani said.

Her intended
message with the book might also come as no surprise. “I didn’t want to
write my book with a message. I was just telling a story. But I know
that sometimes they say your subconscious writes along with you and
there’s a message that you are passing across that you are not aware
of. I will judge a government official who steals my taxes more harshly
than I would judge a 419er who goes to steal one stranger’s money and
brings it back to develop his country. Nobody reads my book and comes
out with a negative impression, in fact the consistent things I hear,
everybody around the world falls in love with Cash Daddy and people say
they almost find themselves hoping that the scam succeeds.”

With the success
trailing the novel especially in the purported ‘mugu capital’ – the
United States – the question of when Kingsley and Cash Daddy would hit
the big screen soon came up. Nwaubani revealed that her agent is in
talks with some companies in relation to producing a film, but said
it’s not connected to the one Hollywood actor Ben Stiller is rumoured
to be producing. Stiller had himself recently fallen victim to a credit
card scam orchestrated by a young Nigerian.

Falling ‘Mugu’

During her recent
trip to India for festivities surrounding the 2010 commonwealth prizes,
Nwaubani who had not been out of the country since 2005, met many
people who seemed to know someone who had been scammed. She also met
someone who was lucky to have only fallen ‘half-mugu.’ “It made me
realize how deeply penetrating this 419 thing has grown. I was really
shocked.”

One speaker was
interested in knowing what the future holds for the reputation of
younger Nigerians at home or abroad if the arts decide to empathise
with fraudsters through songs like ‘Maga don Pay’ and Nwaubani’s novel.

“I wished my
country didn’t have these issues but it just so happens that we do and
it just so happens that people do these things because of certain
reasons and that was what I was trying to portray.” The author conceded
to having no control over the emotions her book evokes.

No easy task

Some wanted to know
what her plans were for promoting aspiring writers. “Nigerians have
never stopped writing. People have had badly-printed, self-published
books. People just have the impression that there is some way it’s done
somehow and very few people bother to investigate that process.
Everything I know about how to get published, I found out online.” Her
Nigerian publishers are the only ones she has physically met in her
global production team.

“It takes an extra
effort. The average Nigerian style is that you write your manuscript
today and then you send it to the printer tomorrow and they send it
back to you all bound and then you have a book launch over the weekend
and invite traditional rulers, uncles, aunties and then they come and
give you some millions of naira and you make so much money and after
that the book dies.”

She pointed out
that all her publishers contributed towards making a better material of
the 399-page novel that has steadily gained a global fan base.

She stressed the
role of agents and publishers as people who can shape the success of a
novel according to what the market requires. “They wouldn’t let you go
until they are satisfied,” she said, pointing out that certain books
that need such input have gone on to win indigenous prizes, but hardly
make a mark abroad.

For those who
wondered why the book was published abroad first, Nwaubani said
infrastructural problems in Nigeria meant the book could not be
released at the same time as the US and UK editions. She however
maintained description of herself as an “impostor” in the midst of more
established writers who she said come at literary texts from an
academic angle and manage to drop all those names that are unknown to
her.

Nwaubani’s dream is
to own her own publishing house and show aspiring writers how they can
easily get published at home and abroad. She however offered one lesson
in kick-starting the process. “If they don’t like the voice they won’t
publish it in the first place.”

Guests at the
reading must have liked Nwaubani’s voice as copies of ‘I Do Not Come To
You By Chance’ were soon flying off the shelves with a long line of
fans eager to get autographs.

Review of the book – page 46.

The audience at the
Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), venue of the
presentation of two poetry volumes, were not left in doubt of the
brilliance and intellectualism that exist amongst some of the nation’s
political class. The poetry collections titled ‘Mandela’s Bones’ and
‘Dear Baby Ramatu’ – published by Kraft Books and authored by Sam
Omatseye, chair of the editorial board of The Nation newspaper
editorial board – were unveiled on Wednesday, May 12, 2010. The event
was graced by top government officials who all agreed on the vital role
intellectualism has to play in redeeming society.

Intellectuals needed in Government

Representing the
former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed, as the chair of the event,
Dele Alake (a former editor of the now defunct Concord newspaper, and
former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State)
decried the low-turnout at the book presentation, stating that “events
like this give us hope in the darkness that envelopes Nigeria, which
all good men and women must embrace to move us to the light.

“Without a sound
intellectual base, a society, people is lost” Alake said, noting that
“one of the major problems of Nigeria is the lack of visionary
leaders.” He warned that “when we destroy the intellectual base of a
country, the soul of the nation is lost” while adding that
“intellectual works are very important in our national development, for
the elevation of governance from a mundane to something substantial and
concrete.”

Alake congratulated
the author for making this contribution to the Nigerian literary scene,
which he acknowledged “is struggling”, saying that intellectual works
such as Omatseye’s poetry volumes are very important for the country’s
national development.

The Poet Governor

Since the return to
democracy, some Nigerian governors have been identified by different
monikers such as ‘servant leader’, ‘comrade governor’, and ‘labour
governor’. Omatseye’s book launch revealed the ‘poet governor’ in the
person of the Bayelsa State governor, Timipreye Sylva, who was a
special guest. His speech was replete with praise for the author.

Sylva thanked
Omatseye for coming back to write poems, saying, “Thank you for coming
home to poetry, the mother of all literary genres, which is fast
declining. Thank you for bringing back the dying genre to our hearts,”
he said.

The governor also
did not hide his appreciation of the style of writing of the poems. “I
really enjoyed the racy style of the poems, moving on, oblivious of the
existence of punctuation marks.” He likened the seamless writing style
to the Nigerian political scene, which according to him, “just moves
on, without full stop and punctuation marks.” He brought a political
spin into the event in his speech, calling for the nation’s presidency
to be retained by the Niger Delta region, “as a son of the region by
Providence is now the president,” following the death of President
Yar’Adua.

Sylva highlighted
the role the region has always played in Nigerian history, from the
pre-amalgamation era to the independence struggle, and to being the
treasure basket of the nation. He emphatically urged that the region
retains the presidency in the 2010 election.

The governor, a
graduate of English Language, in concluding his speech, identified
himself as a “budding poet” saying that “when I grow up, I aspire to be
a poet.” To great applause, Sylva recited a poem offhand, which earned
him the name ‘Poet Governor’ from the moderator, Jahman Anikulapo
(editor, Sunday Guardian).

According to the
poet governor, the poem titled ‘Jubilations’ involves “playing with
sounds and alliterations, as the harmony of sounds creates a soothing
effect on me”.

Worthy contribution

Reviewing
‘Mandela’s Bones,’ Harry Olufunwa described the collection as “a
convergence of meanings into various meanings” noting that Omatseye
used a few words “to convey a great deal of meaning.” ‘Mandela Bones’,
with the notable name of a global icon in its title, had citations
named after iconic sites and cities in the world such as Tiananmen
Square, and Ibadan, amongst others.

The second book,
‘Dear Baby Ramatu’,- born out of a true life story that encapsulates
“pregnancy outside wedlock, amidst scornful lovers and the unmerciful
laws of religion” in northern Nigeria – was described as a ‘story poem’
by the reviewer, Femi Macaulay. “The poems mirror the raw stuff of
life, although it is an embellished representation. You will find the
joy of language in this work that often stretches the reach of word.”

Macaualy also
acknowledged the writer’s unique style of writing, saying that “his
lines usually run on without punctuations, even for formal questions…
even if it challenges the spirit of the grammar.” He added that the
mechanics of the poetry rests on “sheer verbal delight, it is music to
the ears .”

Both reviewers commended Omatseye for “his worthy contribution to the small cluster of Nigerian poetry.”

Performing Baby Ramatu

‘Dear Baby Ramatu’,
which the author claims he is “most emotionally attached to”, was
performed by Evelyn Osagie, a journalist and poet. Donning the facial
make-up and female attire from northern Nigeria, Osagie gave a
brilliant performance that expressed diverse emotions like expectation,
fear, confrontation, and being lost and helpless, as entailed in the
poem.

In his closing
remarks, Sam Omatseye was full of appreciation for everyone present. He
noted that the zeal to make a stride in the literary world commenced
for him at about the point in time when the nation’s polity was
dwindling towards the end of last year, and now “I have over sixty
collections” he said. One of these, he disclosed, is titled ‘Acting
President’ – a warning to Goodluck Jonathan, the nation’s president
who, as the time of writing the poem, was ruling in an acting capacity.

The poem reads: ”I
don’t wish you dead/As I wish myself health/Though am just a second
fiddle/… /Even if it is crass/I want your palate/I want your palace/I
just don’t want you dead.”

The poem was read by all present at the event.

Omatseye revealed that the poems were written across the Atlantic,
both in Nigeria and the United States, while shuttling between the two
continents. Some of them, he said, were also written on the planes, in
the bathroom, while driving, sleeping, and dreaming.

The Minister of
Tourism, Culture, and National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed,
left good tidings in his wake when he visited parastatals under his
supervision in Lagos on Thursday, May 13.

“I am happy to note
that we have scheduled June 15 for a stakeholders meeting to make new
inputs into the cultural policy, after which it will return to the
Federal Executive Council,” Mohammed said at the Centre for Black
African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) headquarters at Broad Street,
Lagos Island.

Mohammed, who had
earlier visited the National Theatre, National Troupe of Nigeria, and
the National Museum, Onikan, added that “The Federal Executive Council
made some observations on the policy and returned it to the Ministry.
This is their second time; it is only wise that we invite stakeholders
again to look at it critically so that we can take care of all other
aspects that were hitherto not taken care of.”

Players in the arts
and culture sector have been clamouring for the adoption of the policy
since the 1990s and the Minister’s disclosure was sweet music to the
ears of those gathered inside the CBAAC conference room.

The Minister
further explained that contrary to people’s thinking, the draft policy
has not been taken to the National Assembly but to the Federal
Executive Council. Mohammed said several interest groups drew his
attention to the policy when he came on board and this explains why
action is being expedited on it.

Thanks, but we want more

Earlier, Shadrach
Gollen, the agency’s director of finance and administration, who stood
in for Tunde Babawale, Chief Executive Officer of CBAAC, had intimated
Mohammed of the body’s activities. He noted that CBAAC had achieved so
much in the last four years. He listed the series of international
conferences and colloquiums the parastatal organised in Trinidad and
Tobago in 2007, Benin Republic in 2008, and Rio De Jainero in 2009 as
examples.

Gollen disclosed
that the agency is planning another international conference in Abuja
to coincide with Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary. He thanked
the ministry for its support to CBAAC, but appealed for more assistance
in overcoming some “constraints”. The director noted that CBAAC lacks
adequate office accommodation and wants support to open more outreach
centres.

Though it has
outreach centres in Abuja, the University of Ibadan, palace of the Ooni
of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, and has approval to open one each in
Lafia and Sokoto, it wants to fulfil its international scope. “We want
centres in Benin Republic and Atlanta, Georgia,” Gollen stated. He
added that CBAAC needs more funding and it will like to be upgraded
from a Grade C body to Grade A “to fulfil its mandate as an
international parastatal.”

He also expressed
hope that “CBAAC will become the cultural arm of the African Union,
like UNESCO is to the United Nations.”

Real professionals

Mohammed commended
CBAAC and noted that it has lived up to its mandate by being a
repository of knowledge for black arts and civilization in his
response. “I could see that you have put in a lot of intellectual
resource to organise the centre and clearly, it means it is manned by
people who are professionals, people who are supposed to be there. You
have done a lot, but you can do more.”

He urged CBAAC to
make sure its impact is felt outside Nigeria because it is not
established for Nigeria alone. “Your impact should go beyond Nigeria,
it should go to Africans, and Africans in Diaspora. Those who
participated in FESTAC should be able to feel your impact after 33
years and therefore, your outreach must go beyond this country alone.”

Mohammed added,
“There is a need for constant feel. The mandate of CBAAC is very lofty.
We need to promote Africa; we need to promote African culture. By that,
our identity will be upheld by people of all races. I expect that you
will develop some framework that will be able to translate this mandate
all over the world. I also expect that you collaborate with other
institutions all over the world to promote these ideals.”

The Minister said his ministry is supportive of efforts to make
CBAAC an arm of the African Union but noted “that will mean you have a
Herculean task because we will expect the activities to be dispensed
across the continent and to Africans in Diaspora. We will continue to
support you on efforts to promote the Black man, either in Africa or
elsewhere.”

Who needs
reparations? Not Africa. Many centuries from now, uncommon sense will
return to African thinkers and there will be a new dawn of fresh
thought: A deadly combination of black leadership kleptocracy and white
liberal guilt has harmed Africans more than slavery and colonialism.
Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Western Aid does nothing
but enrich African kleptocrats, Western do-gooders continue to heap
gobs of US dollars on the “dispossessed” of Africa in the hopeless hope
that the problem will go away. Haiti is a problem that was caused by
that “little” problem called slavery. Haiti-the-Problem has remained
intractable despite billions of dollars of “aid” funneled through
10,000 thieving NGOs allegedly helping the Haitians through the trauma
of their slavery, oppression, poverty, etc. Today, Haiti is still so
poor, it is a fourth world nation.

Serious attempts
to address the horrible consequences of slavery have been undermined by
the arrogance of Western liberals and some African intellectuals who
vehemently deny that Africa should be responsible for her own sins.
Dialogue is driven underground as new thought is met with unnecessary
roughness of the liberal left, led by black Africa’s self-styled uncle
– the great white liberal hope. Ask David Brooks of the New York Times.
Recently, he mused aloud about Haiti and responsibility (the personal
type). He was heckled off the square of common sense and called all
sorts of names, racist being the most benign of all of them. Brooks
will never reminisce aloud again on matters affecting black folks. Who
needs the stress? A cat that has sat on a hot stove will never sit on a
stove again, ever.

Take the
reparations movement. The only thing striking or remotely unique about
the reparations movement is its incoherence of thought and vision. What
is the problem that its founders are trying to solve? It does not help
that some of the leaders of the reparations movement in America have
been famous for shamelessly forming lucrative liaisons with some of
Africa’s deadliest buffoon-leaders starting with dead dolts like Idi
Amin and Mobutu Sese Seko. Different strokes for different folks. It is
not slavery when it is black folks doing it to poor black folks. And of
course, white liberals, ever so patronising and avuncular go tut tut
and look the other way. Where is the outrage?

The reparations
movement has attracted a self-selected group of black activists who
tend to colour their opinions to match the colour of green – money.
They are outraged by slavery and mark my words, like thieving
pedestrians who run into a bus that has just been hit from behind, they
are lining up for payback. It serves the white man right, he should
never have gone fishing for slaves in West Africa in the first place-
capitalism would have provided him all the slaves he needed at 40
percent interest per credit card.

How much are the
reparationistas looking to harvest from the offspring of our odious
slave owners? Who gets credit for the trillions of aid funneled into
Africa and promptly stolen and repatriated to Swiss Banks by thieving
African leaders? Who gets credit for the trillions in welfare programs
and affirmative action set asides, etc, that have been expended all
these years? Before you start yelling, I am a firm believer in
affirmative action. I believe also that the state has a moral, if not
legal responsibility to ensure the welfare and prosperity of the
downtrodden. So there! I am a liberal. Confused enough? Let’s continue.

Don’t get me
wrong: Africa needs help. However, thanks to the ineptitude and savage
greed of African leaders, all attempts to infuse badly needed aid into
Africa have been as useful as giving a hog in a latrine a bath. The
trillions of dollars of aid that have been given to Africa have done
nothing for anybody I know except the NGO pimps riding around Africa’s
desolation in a convoy of tinted SUVs. How about this for reparations:
Scour all of the banks in the West, find all of Africa’s stolen funds,
load them onto airplanes and drop them on the long suffering peasants
of Africa? Now, that would be reparation.

African Americans who have been wronged by African and white
kingdoms in that shame called slavery deserve to have a real
conversation about what shape, if any, reparations should take. And I
agree whole-heartedly with Professor Skip Gates: The question of
restitution should include African perpetrators. That we are destitute
should not make us any less culpable. There is a new slavery going on
today, black on black slavery. In the name of democracy and capitalism,
black leaders of all stripes are busy raping, pillaging and carting
away what is not welded to the ground. I say to the African, forget the
white man, and turn your rage on your real oppressors. They are black.
Like you. Now, if the white man is still rich and foolish enough to
offer monetary reparations, I want mine, every penny of it. In hundred
dollar bills.

Nigeria’s tourism
sector is working hard to make the country a destination for travellers
worldwide. However, a large number of its historical sites and
monuments remain in a deplorable state. To set a trend in a positive
direction, LEGACY (a historical and environmental interest group), has
unveiled its latest restored building, Jaekel House. Part of the
country’s build heritage, the Jaekel House presentation also included a
Mini Museum and the Nigeria in Transition Photographic Exhibition, all
of which opened to the general public on May 13, 2010 at the Railway
Compound in Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

Guests at the event
included the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and
Inter-Governmental Affairs, Tokunbo Afikuyomi; the British High
Commissioner to Nigeria, Bob Dewar; and the former managing director of
the Nigerian Railways, Greg Ilukwe, amongst others.

With soft Nigerian
oldies music playing at the background, the railway compound’s tranquil
and serene environment offered guests an opportunity to exchange
pleasantries. On the lawn outside the building everyone could view
exhibited sample railway tracks and maintenance trolley on display.

In his opening
remarks, Afikuyomi pledged the state government’s support and
determination to make Lagos a tourist destination. “Lagos state is
poised to preserve and restore historical buildings and sites. We have
sponsored a bill to the state House of Assembly to that effect. It has
gone through the second and third reading and will soon be signed into
law.” The commissioner also pledged a million naira to the Jaekel House
restoration project, on behalf of his ministry.

For guests who were
taken on a tour of the mini museum and exhibition by Professor of
Architecture, John Godwin, it was a nostalgic experience as they saw
glimpses of the ‘good old days’ of the Railway Corporation (as it was
then called) in archive images displayed.

As they walked down
the large verandas of the restored building viewing the artefacts, many
where held spellbound and could not help but express disappointment at
the level of decay in the railway system today. Many also praised the
efforts of LEGACY in embarking upon the restoration exercise.

A little history

Godwin shared the
story behind Jaekel house with those present. The building, formerly
known as Quarter 17, was renamed in memory of the former chief
superintendent of Railways, Patrick Jaekel, who came to Nigeria in 1938
and served in the country for 27 years.

Upon retirement,
Jaekel wrote the definitive history of the railways and is also
credited with having been a co-driver of the diesel locomotive on which
the Queen of England and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh travelled to
Ibadan in 1956. Professor Godwin said, “Jaekel was the Number Two in
the hierarchy of the colonial era; and when the governor general went
on holiday, he took over. He was that important.”

Godwin also added
that the late Jaekel, who died on March 28, 2002, was more Nigerian
than most Nigerians. On his insistence, Jaekel was buried at his
Woodhall Spa Lincolnshire home wearing a Nigerian national attire with
a Nigerian flag placed on the casket. Godwin, who taught Architecture
at the University of Lagos for 12 years and has been living in Nigeria
since 1954, was able to provide impressive testimony to a bygone era at
LEGACY’s presentation of the restored building. He informed that the
railway system in Nigeria began in Lagos before moving Abeokuta, Ibadan
and further to the North.

Why Jaekel House?

LEGACY President
Desmond Majekodunmi, said the decision to restore Jaekel House was due
to the desire to set an example about the need to embrace restoration
in the country. Historical artefacts and buildings of historical
significance should be restored to their original glary, he insisted,
indicating Jaekel House project is in a bid to show people that it can
be done. “Jaekel is a very good representation of the old structures
that existed and this building is over a hundred years old. As
environmentalists, we appreciate that this building is very
environmentally friendly, the carbon footprints of a building like this
with huge verandas and large overhangs which cools the building
naturally is far less than these other buildings which require mass air
conditioning,” he said

Majekodunmi added
that Jaekel House is not the only building being restored. “We are
working on other buildings and we are happy to say that the Lagos state
government has been in support and has passed an edict which is going
to blanket preservation over old buildings in the state,” he said.
Citing money as the biggest challenge while executing the project,
Majekodunmi said LEGACY was faced with THE task of subtle fund raising.

Saving the day

With the assistance
of British Gas (BG), the Jaekel building was restored as near as
possible to its original 1900 state. LEGACY was registered as a charity
in 1995 and some of its past projects include the restoration of
Lumpkin House, Abiku Oke Street, Lagos Island. The organization also
undertakes recording, researching as well as publishing a map of
Nigeria showing all historic sites, establishment of a database for
photographic archive, to mention a few activities.