This year, I read opinion
pieces and articles on Nigeria's newspapers and blogs than I had read in years.
From Elnathan John's weekly humorous, but reflective satirical pieces to Tolu
Ogunlesi's deep, and debate provoking articles. I read pieces from Nigerians
who learned to write, effectively, out of strong interior need to say something
relevant. These articles flooded the newspapers- hard and soft copies- and
while some of the writers were angry, others guided their humane, not losing
their sense of humor in the process of reflecting on the conditions of the
country. Regardless, however, they all have proven that Nigerians are conscious
of their challenges, and are ready to keep strewing words together until we get
it straight in the country.
If words were swords, we
would have had a war sprung out of our writers' opinions this year. While some
discerning citizens could sense the senseless directions of our situation- from
bad governance to deep-rooted corruption- others, whose purpose it is to defend
a system that they know is sick, and is dying from terminal diseases, are
willing to keep defending the rot because of the benefits they are anticipating
in the disjointed polity and system; or have apparently lost their faculties hence,
will defend any rash thoughts from our decision makers. Replies to letters,
articles countering articles, and opinionated essays all stretched the writing
process.
In the end, the best writers,
for me, were those who didn't have to benefit or stand the chance of benefiting from any side, who didn't have to be paid or contracted to write
before they wrote. They were those whose gift of the art assured me that though
we all may sleep in the same bed, we all can't lie in the same direction. To
me, they have best governed Nigeria than any government may have attempted in
the country this year. It terrifies me to imagine this, but picture a Nigeria
without writers. Can you? What do you see?
These writers wrote when the
country re-based and millions of Nigerians had no idea what re-basing meant; and
provided clear writings when we devalued our Naira, and Nigerians weren't sure
if it was a destructive or a constructive decision to devalue. Since millions
of Nigerians are deprived of the skills of reading, these writers were hopeful
that the population that could read would read these articles and disseminate
the ideas to those who couldn't read; therefore, spread the word.
The enlightenment kept coming
because the one-hour or half-hour news on TV and radio, they writers were sure,
may not be seen or heard by everyone, because everyone, it seemed, was tired of
the filtered news, the produced news castings. No wonder we have the most
heated and healthy debates at the newspaper stands. With online writings, also,
people could talk back at the comment sections. Nothing liberates the human
minds like having an outlet to drop their opinions following other opinions.
They hate to be spoon-fed.
We had a turbulent 2014, and
were sometimes relieved of this tide with comic-reliefs from our politicians
and their cohorts. And so the two instances mostly weaved, produced reliefs
that made us remember that we, too, can still laugh, that we haven't been
overwhelmed by tragedy. And that has consistently been done by writers. Writers
who stayed up nights to sink deep thoughts into ideas that invoked emotions
that sometimes provoked reactions. Writers who made us remember our girls in
captivity. They constantly reminded us that people in the north east are Nigerians
who die everyday. Writers who crafted unbiased reasons regarding our country's
need for a change of leadership, and desperately so, with accurate analogies. Writers
who dared to challenge, whose words were often published the way they were
submitted. Writers whose writings didn't put food on their tables, yet they
wrote.
Towards the end of every
year, series of awards – from music to movies – are often organized to
appreciate the efforts of people who distinguished themselves in various activities
in these fields. While I am not concerned about an award like this for our writers,
I do hope that someone, even their publishers, would give them some appraisals
at the end of every year. This may not be necessary, you might think, but these
efforts keep everything- from politics to entertainment, sports to academics-
going. They stir-up the human consciousness, making the dailies one of the
first things we want to see when we rise up every morning.
I grew up reading books that nursed
my desire for writing. Then when I started weaving words that appeared to me
like magic, I was sometimes confused with where to channel them. The validation
came when I began reading newspapers and online contributors. From them, I
subconsciously learned the bitter truth that the chief aim of the writer, amongst
other things, is to instruct and excite. It is, above all, to speak the truth
without any hope of retribution, without any fear of being reprimanded.
@olaomojarabi
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