A conversation with Jos literary activist Onotu David Onimisi (I)

My name is Onotu David Onimisi. I grew up in Jos and studied Theatre and Communications Arts at the University of Jos. I am currently a part-time teacher at Mashiah Foundations Academy, where I teach secondary school literature and history. I do not believe you must be a lecturer or professor to see teaching as […]

My name is Onotu David Onimisi. I grew up in Jos and studied Theatre and Communications Arts at the University of Jos. I am currently a part-time teacher at Mashiah Foundations Academy, where I teach secondary school literature and history. I do not believe you must be a lecturer or professor to see teaching as important. Sometimes it is even more important to teach the little ones than the older ones.
I am also the secretary of the state chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors in Plateau State. I coordinate the activities of ANA on the state level, alongside the chairperson, Mr. Matthew Mzega, and the assistant secretary Joseph Liman. The motto of ANA is promoting creativity through literature. So we put on programmes to promote creativity. We have a monthly poetry slam at the American Corner, called White Dreams Poetry club. This is a platform where young people come to talk about social issues.
We realize that there are a lot of people waiting to get admission into universities to further their education. But the universities can’t contain all of the young people, so there is an army of people who are out of school. Those who are finishing secondary school are joining those outside, so the numbers are building. We at Jos-ANA ask where are all these people, and what are they doing with their time and energy? 18-21 years, that is military age, that is the age when young people are really vibrant and interested in artistic activity, from drama, dancing, music, and spoken word poetry. That’s why we formed the poetry club. We bring them together to talk about social issues like education, culture, politics, and health. Some of our young friends from Jos just got invited to the International Students Festival in Trondheim, Norway.
ANA also has a school literacy programme, to create awareness on literary issues amongst young people. I must commend the ANA national excos for getting the Yusuf Ali grant to create educational awareness.  It happened in 14 states nationwide, simultaneously. In Plateau State, about 14-15 schools were involved. The programme was in two phases. The first was the donation phase where we purchased books worth over N80,000 from bookshops in Jos and ANA members who are published authors, and we donated them to schools. We donated Nigerian, African literature and non-African literature.  The books cut across the three genres of literature: poetry, prose, and plays.  The second part of it was when the students came back from their different schools to present and compete. We had a competition reading, competition quiz, presentations from different schools.
We didn’t know young people would be so interested in this. But the feedback we got was overwhelming. In the competition, they were asked questions about the books they have studied. Some of them actually recited as many as two to three pages from the books. We didn’t expect that enthusiasm or that much response, but we got it. So it goes to show that there are others out there that if given similar opportunities will do just as well or even better.
We are presently working on a library project, which is a personal initiative of the Jos chapter of ANA. The way it came about was that we had a reading programme during World Literacy Day in 2012. Afterwards a lot of people were interested in what we were doing so we got talking. Bitrus Jeffrey Nyam, a lawyer and an ANA member, was particularly interested. He has a huge personal library. He said his mother taught him to read when he was little. So it goes to show that our mothers can actually teach children to read even without having the finance to send them to school. It touched him so much that he wanted to do the same for young people. So that’s how we came about the library project.
 We want to have libraries in mostly rural areas, so that young people can access books and educational materials. Presently there is an ongoing trend. Young people are stuck to their TVs. They want to watch movies and MTV all day long. But when you read, you boost your mental power. You’re the screenwriter, you’re the director. You’re everything when you read. In Nigeria today there is a poor reading culture. We are trying to get back on track by bringing people back to books. The president has a “Bring back the book” project. I believe we are contributing our own little quota.
The prospective locations are at Utan Village, off Rukuba road, and also Zarazong, Jos East local government.  Right now we are temporarily using the American Corner library located along Murtala Muhammad way behind the University of Jos consultancy, pending when we have sufficient resources to put up our own structure. The American Corner has its own library but they have provided us with a temporary space.  As long as we want to use it, we can be in partnership. But we would really like to have our own place pretty soon so we can make our own progress.
So far, we have about 120 books, all of which are donated. Professor Kanchana Ugbabe is one of our patrons at the Association. She has been very supportive and encouraging. Also Mrs. Mary Beth Oyebade of Foundations Academy has also donated a lot of books, and Ann Abts has just donated about 54. We have also gotten some from individual authors: Miss Nenpam Monday Zaka, author of Like the Wind, and the chairman of the Association in Jos, Mr. Matthew Mzega,  author of River Run Dry. We are also working with the programmes officer at American Corner, Mrs. Saratu Ukeje. She’s trying to get a books donation from the McGraw –Hill foundation. They donate the most books to African countries. If we can get that going, it will be a good start off project. We can build on this and expand it. We would really welcome those who would like to sponsor the library project or donate more books to it. They can contact us at the American Corner.
You don’t need to be an official member of the American Corner to access the library. It is a normal library. You go in and register with the reading club. Or if you don’t want to register, you can still access the books even though you can’t borrow them. The library is divided into two separate sections. There is a section where you can access the books and resources and magazines, do the research, but you can’t take the books out. You have to use them in the library. In the other section, there are books you can take out, on the condition that you are a member of the reading club. To be a member, it doesn’t cost you financially. You just have to fill the form, provide a passport photo, and accurate details of where you reside, and you will be ok to borrow books from the library, with a time limit of 2 weeks.
The library is intended for everyone, for the entire community. Anyone willing to study or research can have access to these books, but basically we are more interested in trying to get younger people interested in books, in reading, in information, so that they are better informed on global issues.
 [To be concluded]