I’m inspired
by the plight of Niger Delta –Steve Aziaki
From FEMI FOLARANMI, Yenagoa
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
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•Steve
Aziaki
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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He wears no beards to demonstrate his radicalism. He is
not a fiery speaker to arouse emotions in his people while
speaking against injustice. But Steve Aziaki has chosen writing
to tell the truth about rulers and the ruled. With his books,
Inequalities in Nigerian Politics, Evil of Oil and Oil Politics
in Nigeria, Aziaki has continued to draw attention to the
plight of the people of the Niger Delta.
Foray into writing
When I was growing up I read books like Tell Freedom, Zambia
Shall be Free and others that deal with the apartheid problem
in South Africa. These books inspired me. As a student, one
of my favourite poems was Wole Soyinka’s Nightfall in
Soweto. As a young boy, the poem inspired me and when I visited
to Soweto, I saw graphically, the pictures Soyinka painted
in his poem.
My Niger Delta muse
I cannot write on issues I’m not conversant with. I
have so many reasons I should be part of the discussion on
the Niger Delta. I was born in the Niger Delta and I understand
the problems. I know that as a child, if we wanted to eat
fish pepper soup, we would just go to the river and catch
as many fish as we wanted. I also had the privilege of seeing
the good, the bad and ugly sides of the oil companies here,
compared to what they do in other places.
My background in Agriculture has compelled me to look at what
is happening today. As Jesus Christ said, remove the speck
in your eyes before you see those of others. So I believe
the Niger Delta issue is no longer a regional issue but a
national and international one. My contribution so far is
to focus on the fire burning in my backyard.
Reading Culture
Reading culture in Nigeria is poor. We don’t even have
up to ten per cent of the population who reads. In fact, an
American friend told me that if you want to hide anything
from a Nigerian, put it inside a book. If you travel to Europe
or America, immediately you enter a bus or train, you’d
see people reading.
Challenges
Inspite of the large number of writers, the problem of writing
in Nigeria is the high cost of publishing. Currently, no country
produces as many writers as South Africa. At any given time,
when you visit South Africa you would see twenty new books
on the stand.
The little book on the late Isaac Boro, The 12 Day Revolution
is a testimony of what writers can do to a nation. Their limited
financial capacity in the area of finance is also hampering
their efforts. Many people have manuscripts, which they can’t
publish due to high cost of publishing.
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