How despairing times made me a writer – Chigozie Chukwu

Bookshelf: Congratulations on the launch of your books, ‘The Polished Vessel’ and ‘Econometrics Amplified’. What actually inspired these works? Chigozie Chukwu: Thank you. Both books were born out of the desire to add value to the lives of the younger generation. Prior to now, I had to write WAEC nine times and JAMB seven times. […]

Bookshelf: Congratulations on the launch of your books, ‘The Polished Vessel’ and ‘Econometrics Amplified’. What actually inspired these works?

Chigozie Chukwu: Thank you. Both books were born out of the desire to add value to the lives of the younger generation. Prior to now, I had to write WAEC nine times and JAMB seven times. People gave up on me, family and friends rejected me. I was ostracized. I ended up doing menial jobs on the streets of Lagos just to make ends meet. Having been through this road and getting to where I am today, I felt it will be nice to put down my experience in the last 18 years to inspire young and make them realize that no matter what they are going through, everything has a time they and must never give up on themselves.

Bookshelf: How challenging was it writing two books at the same time?

Chukwu: I didn’t wake up overnight to write those books. ‘Econometrics Amplified’ is a book I have been writing for over four years now and ‘The Polished Vessel’ happens to be my life history. So, at every point in my life, I was documenting my experiences. Sometime last year, I decided to put everything together and that was how both books came about.

Bookshelf: ‘The Polished Vessel’ foresees “change” for Nigerian youths. Change in what sense?

Chukwu: It is change in ideology. Growing up I had the mentality that after my university education, government must provide me with a job and other necessities of life. But ‘The Polished Vessel’ is aimed at bringing a paradigm shift in the lives of Nigerian youths, showing that you don’t have to wait for government to get your hands busy, you can create a job for yourself. Yes, the job may come but before it comes, what are you doing? It’s to change the mind set of Nigerian youth that regardless of the situation or challenges, they must never give up. It may take years but perseverance pays.

Bookshelf: You wrote WAEC and JAMB several times. How did this affect your self-esteem and what kept your hope afloat?

Chukwu: The negative comments and insults I was getting from family members and friends affected my self-esteem and self-worth. I couldn’t stand to discuss with my peers, I felt I was worthless and useless. The thing that kept me going was the dream I had of going to the university. Despite the menial jobs I was doing back then, I had it at the back of my mind that whatever I did was just a means to an end. So even when the JAMB and WAEC results came out negative, I never lost hope.

Bookshelf: You recounted your attempt at embarking on a journey to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. What stopped you?

Chukwu: At that time I felt leaving the country was a means to solving my problems. In 2003, without telling anybody and after studying Nigeria’s map for over eight months, I ran away from home and came to Abuja for the first time. I stayed with my cousin who was oblivious of my plans. The morning I was to leave for Borno State, I got to the motor park and discovered I had missed my bus by just three minutes. I didn’t give up. I came back two days later and I still missed the bus, even though I got there before 6:30am. The third time, I actually boarded the bus, eagerly waiting for the departure time and a man walked up to me and told me, “young man, what are you doing here? If you embark on this trip you are going to die.” That was how, moved by his words, I alighted from the bus and watched it leave with tears rolling down my cheeks. I see it as divine intervention. I’m sure if I had embarked on that journey, maybe I would have lost my life.

Bookshelf: How did writing begin for you?

Chukwu: I have never seen myself as a writer. Circumstances necessitated it. I finished from University of Abuja and while in 200 Level, I discovered that my senior colleagues were finding it difficult passing a core course, Econometrics. Graduates of economics know that if you don’t pass econometrics, you cannot be an economist. I got to 300 Level and saw a lot of people having carry-overs in the course. So, after the first and second semester, I started teaching my course mates. I joined the departmental tutorial team and taught the subject.  I discovered that whenever I taught the course, students understood it easily and effortlessly. I started thinking about writing a textbook. The textbooks we had in school then were voluminous, quite difficult for an average student of economics to understand. This discovery made me set out to write a very simplified form so an average student to understand. 

Bookshelf: What is your writing routine like?

Chukwu: I do most of my writing in the night because I like working in a conducive and quiet atmosphere.

Bookshelf: What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Chukwu: Upcoming writers should think out of the box, be creative, imaginative and put the reader first while writing. 

Bookshelf: How do you think Nigeria’s reading culture can be revived?

Chukwu: I have always been an advocate of catch them young. You must go back to the grassroots; from nursery class to primary schools. It’s pathetic that not all schools in the country have reading clubs. We have to go back to secondary schools and introduce reading clubs. I am of the opinion that reading should be a core subject in our schools. I believe if policy makers can look into this, it will go a long way in affecting the future of the country.

Bookshelf: What are you working on at the moment?

Chukwu: Right now I’m focusing on adding value to myself.  We must add value to ourselves. In my book, I talked briefly about the eagle species and one of the attributes of the eagle is that they go on retreat. They go back and reinvent themselves, add value to themselves and come out better. I’m adding value to myself by going back to school for my PhD and at the same time I have a book I intend to start writing before the end of this month that still focuses on youths.