Although he is not a usual feature in recent years, Alkasim Abdulkadir was one of the rising stars in the Nigerian literati in the 1990s and early 2000s. AWAAL GATA caught up with the Communications Specialist recently, and he told him what he has been up to and what should be done to make writing a bustling art in Nigeria.
Why have you been absent from the literati?
You may not find me writing poems, short stories, but I still write and still speak at events. It may not be the mainstream literary pieces, but there are still some elements of literature in them. If you read the articles I wrote about vulnerable people, on living conditions of people in Nigeria, which have been my focus in the last five to seven years in the humanitarian sector, you will see that there are a lot of influences of literature in the way I write, in the way I describe people and sceneries. You will discover that there is something poetic about the way I write. That means that I am not far removed from my literary influence. Yes, I have not published a book, no new literary book is released in Nigeria without me knowing or buying a copy. I still read book reviews and participate in literary forums online. I think I am still part and parcel of the literary establishment in Nigeria.
How did your romance with literature begin? Did it influence what you do professionally today?
I love to tell this story: when I was about five or six, my father gave me a gift of Mamman Vatsa’s books, saying that they were written by someone from our area. I found it really fascinating that an author could come from our place. This was the beginning of my fascination with the written word and literature in general. Thereafter, I would read books, I would doodle, I would write… they were nothing serious. When my father realised that I loved to read, he bought me plenty books and I voraciously read them. This was later helped by the fact that Minna, where I come from, is a very literary city; it is one of the most advanced literary cities in Nigeria. Every corner you go, there are writers and poets, dramatists, etc.
When I was 12, I starred in a television production called Telefast. It was a kind of National Festival of Drama on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). I acted in one which nearly won a national competition in 1992. In primary school, I acted in stage plays. In the secondary school, my teachers recognised that I had a flair for writing and the arts generally, and took over the role of mentorship. Most famous among them was B.M. Dzukogi. In those days, we would talk about writing styles, we would watch what our teachers wrote, read and sometimes wrote rejoinders. From mentorship, we went into peer mentorship.
One very significant thing happened in 1998: our school, Hilltop Model School, decided to come together to publish an anthology of poetry. My poems were featured in that anthology. That began my career, so to say, as a writer. I subsequently started to send works to magazines, anthologies, and started attending writing festivals.
Whatever I have become, I owe it to the gift of literature and writing. Two weeks after I graduated from the university, I started working in a radio station. One of the edges I had in the radio station was that I could write. So from writing literary pieces, I learnt how to write news pieces and features. From there, I learnt how to produce and cast news. Writing enabled me to build myself to become the Communication Specialist that I am today. So I owe everything to my formative years of reading and writing.
Would you consider coming back to the literati fully someday?
I have a lot of non-fictions in the works. They are my cumulative experiences in the last 10 years. For example, one of them is “Reporters Under Fire: Lives of Journalists Under Boko Haram.” There is “A Brief History Of Kannywood”. It traces the evolution of Kannywood to where it is today. I am also working on a collection of short stories about my frontline experiences of the insurgency in the North-eastern Nigeria. In the next five years, I will try and get them to the public.
Are you satisfied with the outputs of Nigerian writers?
It is far below expectation. Sometimes it is not the fault of the writers; it is the fault of the way publishing is structured in Nigeria. In other countries, publishing is a well-structured business. They call for manuscripts, the ones that are suitable they publish based on the projections and viability, but things are different in Nigeria. Publishers have not figured the ways of making money out of publishing in Nigeria. It could be because of an assumption that Nigerians don’t read. A lot of Nigerians are writing, but getting published is a very herculean task. However, in other parts of the world, their governments support them. This lack of support has made writing difficult for writers in Nigeria.
How could the situation be salvaged?
The situation could be salvaged by individuals and literary enthusiasts if they come to the aid of the writers.
Shouldn’t the support come from the government?
If you look at the history of arts and literature all over the world, it was not government that made it to prosper; families were patrons of artists. For example, many paintings that came out of Europe in the past were commissioned by the Medici Family. Individuals could set up foundations to support arts; that has been the norm in other climes. Wale Okediran has set an example with the Ebedi Literary Residency. More of its type need to sprout. Every Nigerian knows that Nigerian government is over stretched; it is dealing with removing 100 million people out of poverty. Whatt the Nigerian government can do is to create an enabling environment.
Is the Nigerian media getting things right in the way Boko Haram insurgency is being reported?
Because of the way Nigerian journalism is structured, reporters are passing over a lot of stories. For example, Nigerian reporters do not have the right equipment nor do they have life insurance. Working in the field is very tortuous and dangerous, so a life insurance is needed. To be able to work. Because Nigerian journalists don’t have these things, they stay back and report from the fringes, or report the surface of what is happening. If you read some of the pieces I have written, at some points, I had to interview Boko Haram commanders. Not every journalist is willing to take this risk. So, Nigerian journalists are trying but I would say the reportage is on the surface. In-depth analysis are very few and mostly come from those who work with foreign media organisations or from foreign media organisations that come to Nigeria.
