The Problems with Nigeria and what can be done

[caption id="attachment_58635" align="alignright" width="640"] Agbo Areo[/caption] Ogbomosho born AGBO AREO, an initiator of the popular Pacesetter series in the 1970s and early 1990s, who currently runs a publishing house (Agbo Areo Publishers, Apata) in Ibadan, Capital of Oyo State, speaks to GBENRO ADESINA about his life, Nigeria, and publishing Q: You grew up in your home town, Ogbomosho. Share the experience with us... A: I was born at home on June 18, 1940. I was born into Christianity in Ogbomosho. Majority of the Ogbomosho people are Baptist Christians who are influenced by Baptist Missionaries who have their famous hospital in Ogbomosho and a big seminary to train pastors. I attended Oke Elerin Baptist Primary School, Ogbomosho. We were the last set of standard six in 1954. The Action Group’s (Awolowo) Free primary school started in 1955. I did some odds jobs. Briefly, I was a pupil teacher, and I attended teachers’ training college, Ogbomosho. Finally, I attended Ibadan Provincial Training College, Oshogbo in 1964. Afterward, I taught in some modern schools. I did my General Certificate of Education, GCE, Ordinary Level when I was at Oshogbo undergoing teachers’ training and I passed five good subjects. I did advanced level and passed. I attended University of Ibadan, UI, where I studied English. How did your inclination towards books/Literature start? I attended training college where you do general. We only had peripheral sciences. Are you saying that there was no secondary school that you can attend as at that time? There were secondary schools. I left school in December 1954 and my father died in February 1955. I am from a polygamous home and so there was no way I could go to secondary school because there was no money. My father was a produce buyer, a trader buying cocoa, palm kernel and Shea butter. He had about seven children. The property he left behind couldn’t sustain us hence; I had to do odd jobs to survive. Life wasn’t that easy but not too difficult. I was fairly comfortable enough. Interesting, I had my GCE O/L before some of my classmates who went to secondary school had their school cert. I had my A/L before some of them went for Higher School Certificate, HSC. So, I entered the university before some of them. As a Christian, I always say it is God’s grace. Was your mother the first wife? Third and the last and I’m the first son. Are you a polygamist? No Does your monogamy have anything to do with Christian inclination? I don’t think so. I think it is more of a disciplined life. Though, marriage is never perfect, with my wife, we are at peace together. I was lucky from a peaceful polygamous home. Our house wasn’t a house of quarrels maybe because our father was a Christian and you know Baptists are conservative people. I didn’t experience the typical problems of the polygamous home. I don’t think I have ever thought of polygamy. My half siblings came from Lagos and Ogbomosho a few weeks ago for us to hold a meeting. They regard me as the father of the family. There was a great cooperation among my father’s wives. Why do you think polygamous homes are always ridden with crisis? Whether a marriage is polygamous or monogamous, each marriage is unique,. One, it depends on the husband and how he can maintain peace. Even with one wife, the woman could be wayward and troublesome. If a polygamous father is not really well to do, there will be problems: backbiting, unhealthy rivalry, envy and the rest. Of course, a monogamous family could be more tempestuous than some polygamous marriages. It is difficult to go into this because there is a lots of polygamy in the bible. So, in Nigeria, is polygamy more of culture than religion? You are delving into the history of the spread of Christianity in Nigeria. There were problems when the first Christians came. They asked their converts with more than one wife to divorce and keep only one wife. Later, the crisis was resolved and polygamy became acceptable in the church. In the Baptist Church, a polygamist cannot be a worker. However, no church has succeeded in banning polygamy but put in different measures to resist it. We know of some pastors whose situations compelled them to have more than one wife. To the best of my knowledge, no pastor can categorically condemn polygamy. I will give you example. When I was in the college, we used to have students’ pastors on Sunday coming to preach. I was talking to one student pastor one day, and he said, there are two things he wouldn’t preach against. One, polygamy: his father was a polygamist with two wives. He said his mother died young, and the other really took care of his father and himself. Secondly, he said he wouldn’t preach against drinking because his father was making and selling spirit, ‘Ogogoro’ to send him to school. I have a book written by a cardiologist and published by the British Medical Association, saying that it appears that people who drink moderately live longer than those who don’t drink at all. What I am trying to say is that discipline, and conscience is very important in whatever you do. That I am a monogamist has nothing to do with religion. Could you talk about your university days? I attended UI. There were lots of enjoyment and high level scholarly exercises. We were only paying 90 pounds for a session to cover everything: tuition, accommodation, feeding. We enjoyed university so much. The library was saturated with up to date good books. I did English. The lecturers in English and French were English and French nationals. We had only a few African lecturers in English. I did subsidiary French. In those days, you would do three subjects in your first year, and at the end of the first year, you would drop will. So you have your main subject and your subsidiary subject. I did French subsidiary for three years. I am happy I did French also because now I edit some French books. At that time, everybody who majored in French had to travel abroad for one year. Then, the cafeteria was working; students ate three times a day. In your room in the hall, the cleaner would come to clean your room every day, if your bed sheet was dirty, they would change it for you, if you wanted to go to cinema, you would go to cafeteria and tell them to reserve your food, they would put it in the oven for you and if you wanted them to bring it to your room, they would. For extra curriculum activities, we always invited ambassadors, ministers, and top government functionaries for symposia. I have three children who have graduated from UI, I do tell them that they didn’t attend university. We read books, and journals. It was even better up till 70s, and early 80s but since then, God! It is really bad. We really went through the university and the university went through us. We bought books. Our lecturers would always give us essays to write and the essays would be criticized in our tutorial groups. If you don’t have books, you would be loaned. It is sad what is happening now. I don’t know how lecturers are coping now. The students live for exam now. In our days, you would write an exam at the end of the first session and the next exam would be taken in your final year. Why were you not writing exams? That was the structure. All examinations took place inside Trenchard Hall. Students nowadays don’t know anything about Trenchard Hall. Could you tell me more about Trenchard Hall? Matriculation is done in Trenchard Hall for about 30 minutes and maximum of one hour. That is where graduation takes place. There were always symposia, seminars and lectures involving students. Students’ societies were very lively. That leads me to the Pyrate Confraternity. During our time, Pyrate was not a secret society. No contemporary of mine will agree with you that Pyrate is a secret society. We knew Pyrate and its members. They publicized their meeting which they normally held in the night at the Tower Court and they made a lot of noise during meetings. I was in Kuti Hall. When they finished early in the morning, they would go round the halls of residence in their uniforms. Then, if there was a students’ demonstration, they would lead. They would be in their uniform and hold their wooden swords. There wasn’t anything secret about them. The Buccaneer, Eiye were all known. The notice of meeting was pasted at the boards. At that time, we knew their activities to be youthful exuberant. Students’ magazine bugs and the Pyrate has its own, called Scorpion, which really sting. It stings especially female students. A lady later became a registrar and I remember Pyrate magazine really stung her. Later, when we were hearing of these terrible, veracious societies, it became very strange to us. During our time, Pyrate was not a secret society. No contemporary of mine will agree with you that Pyrate is a secret society. We knew Pyrate and its members. They publicized their meeting which they normally held in the night at the Tower Court and they made a lot of noise during meetings. I was in Kuti Hall. When they finished early in the morning, they would go round the halls of residence in their uniforms. Were you a member when you were in UI? No. I couldn’t join them. I have always been a deep member of Baptist Church. In my second year, I was the secretary of the Baptist Union. I used to attend church. They would send buses to school from the church at Oritamefa to convey us. What were your most memorable days in the university? I will say sad. The day Kunle Adepeju was killed. That was the first time a student was killed in the university campus. Professor Lambo was the Vice Chancellor then. As for the memorable day, it appears we enjoyed every day during our time. Who were your friends in the university? Amayo was my classmate, former Managing Director of Daily Times, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi. He is quite younger to me but he is a fine gentleman. He was hall chairman for Kuti. Gbolade Osinlowo was the youngest in our class. That time, there were enough jobs to go round. Before you wrote your exam, companies, states governments would come to interview you. For those that did teaching subjects like English, and Math, you probably would disappoint two or three schools because three or four schools would have offered you employments expecting you. Because it was immediately after the war, there were opportunities, many companies were developing. I joined Macmillan only six months after I left the university. I was interviewed on the campus. How did you meet your wife? Baptist Church has lots of programmes for different age groups. The choir is very important in the Baptist Church. Maybe, I can’t remember really well how I met her. She was a choir member, and very active. When you have been together for a long time before you marry, you tend to forget how you met. This formalization is recent. I proposed to my wife, it was not part of our era. At our time, some people would be writing letters. How many children do you have? Five. Three of them attended UI and my boys who were relatively lazy attended polytechnic. The girls came first: Monilola has MA in English. She is a civil servant. Bola graduated from UCH medical school, now a doctor, she is in Australia with her husband, the husband is an Ibadan man, an engineer working with an oil company. Oyin is about to finish her PhD in UI, Laoye is working with us; he holds HND in Mass Communication from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, and the last, a boy, Dele, is in Australia with his sister. He holds HND in Business Administration. He is running a course now in Australia. Is it because your sons attended polytechnic that made you say that they are lazy? No, they wasted a lot of time. The girls didn’t waste any time after their secondary schools. The first boy wrote his GCE three times before he passed, Dele wrote it twice. The girls were always reading anything. What is your view about polytechnic education? I believe strongly in polytechnic education. Many of the universities abroad were polytechnics. I also know that in some courses, the polytechnic graduates are better and more useful to the community than the university graduates. Polytechnic is better in engineering. For instance, a student of Survey in the polytechnic is far more useful to the community than that of the university. Even, Mass Communication, they do lots of practical in the name of internship. I don’t think students of Mass Communication in the university go through such intensive industrial attachment. The British system is a wonderful system. You can see a managing director of a business in UK who has equivalent of school cert. He will train degree holders on the job. In the good old days of the Daily Times of Nigeria, DTN, the Peter Pan Enaharo of this world has no degree, Olusegun Osoba, Babatunde Ajose took Times to the topmost. We have not been fair to the polytechnic graduates. The council members of the polytechnic killed polytechnic because many of them don’t understand polytechnic education so, they can’t advise the government rightly. It is sad. [caption id="attachment_58636" align="alignright" width="640"] Agbo Areo[/caption] How can you relate your view to the dichotomy between the HND and Bachelor Degree? I have seen worst of universities products. I have come across several graduates who are not worth being addressed as graduates. There was a time we advertised for editors in Macmillan. One graduate from UI, English department, applied. I and the deputy manager, publishing were disappointed because the application was poorly written and the chap is from the same department with us. A graduate of UI! In this era of CV, we demand for handwriting application with CV attached. I have read some masters and PhD thesis. I am not saying that all the polytechnic graduates are good. I think how sound a student is depends on the student. If a university student prepares himself good, he will be good and if a polytechnic graduate prepares himself very good, he will be very good. The only problem with the polytechnic is that its teachers are not challenged enough. Once they get the job, they don’t update themselves and this reflects on the students. I don’t believe that a polytechnic graduate who is better than a university graduate should be paid less because he is coming from the polytechnic; as a matter of fact, he should be paid higher and be made a boss because he is more competent. The companies that pay premium to the university graduates because of degree are not fair. It is unfortunate. It is not like that in overseas. It is your competence and capability that they look at. Overseas, someone who doesn’t have a diploma can be made the head of a department if he is competent. In the industry, people’s salaries are personal. A good company will make their staff’s salary personal and it will be based on competence and capability. You have always been in the academic, why did you not advance above bachelor’s degree? Maybe, I don’t feel that I need it. I entered into publishing in January 1972 and I have always been busy. I am well exposed academically. I have worked on many syllabuses, with authors, professors, lecturers, different kind of books on different subjects without any break. I combine this with the business aspect. I have gone for different short trainings, attended international book fairs. I am not saying it is not necessary, it is good but there is no time. I think the question should have been: With the Internet, is the Western world (Europe and America) publishing fewer books? They are still publishing more and more books and they are selling. So, we have problems here, among which I have mentioned. Some parents don’t control their children watching television and the children are not reading. Some children will wake up in the morning during the holiday, eat and get glued to the television. Hardly do they read in a day. They cannot even help their mothers to do anything because of television. Could you give insight into the emergence of Pacesetter? It was in the UK office that it started. It happened when I was an editor before I became deputy manager, publishing. I told them that Macmillan has lots of its own series like Treasure Island and Back Arrow. I felt that we should have a series that will have Nigerian flavor. I told them that we should have a series that the Nigeria readers can identify with but they didn’t agree because we were educational publishers. It took me about two years to convince them. One day, one of the senior editors, a lady said that Agbo, you have been talking of this, let us see the sample. The director invited us for a dinner in UK and the lady said to the director that people are talking about series for Africa and he said yes, he has heard of it and the lady said that we should do something. I wrote to the Director in UK and sent it to the senior editor and she liked it and she said, Chris, the director wants to see it. The director then said that we can’t publish just one novel. They have been getting manuscripts and turning them down but they retained two manuscripts: The Smugglers and The Undesirable Element and sent them to me for advice. I read The Smugglers but I didn’t like it. I read the other one, it was too long. In The Smugglers, there were a lot of American slangs and I didn’t know that the senior editor had made that comment. Anyway, we cut off all the American slangs, and substituted some with British words. For The Undesirable Element, we cut off some part and we published the three: Director! The Smuggler and The Undesirable Element in 1977. All the 5,000 copies published for each book were sold in three months. Each copy was sold at N1. To the booksellers, we gave 20 percent discount. Later, we published another three and they sold very well. That was how we continued with the series and we published 130 novels before we stopped. Despite the fact that I am a staff, Macmillan was paying between 100 and 150 pounds into my British account for every manuscript sent to me for advice. Some of the novels were selling between 60,000 and 80,000 copies. Later, they started selling in Ghana but Nigeria was the main market because of the population. In 1979/80, when Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, introduced free education, the government took up the responsibility of buying textbooks from the parents for the students, so the parents have extra money to give to their children to buy Pacesetter novels. Interestingly, they were reading Pacesetter novels in the North. For the first time, they had a popular Novelist, Muhammed Sule who wrote The Undesirable Element. It competed very well with novels like Mills and Boon. Why did you write only two of the series? I had other things that I was doing but I have written other books. I wrote six books all together. Why is it that we don’t see Pacesetter to buy again? The reason Pacesetter is not available is that it is a UK imprint which the Nigerian company can’t import again because of bad economy. I have just been licensed to publish four of the series. If I had taken more of the series, it would have been better. Pacesetter is for teenagers. There was a time some businessmen were buying copies from UK and selling but it is not sustainable. It is still available in South Africa. What is the thematic preoccupation, the message of pacesetter? That was where an academic and I got into conflict. A friend in the academic wrote a review of general reading in the first edition of the Guardian Newspaper. On Pacesetters, he said, not sufficiently committed. That was the term of Marxist who said that literature should serve a purpose. Then I took my pen and wrote a rejoinder. I said the purpose of Pacesetter is to entertain, and create room for deductive education and that we were not competing with any series. Besides, our aim is to write in the language that teenagers can understand, have characters that the teenagers can identify with and to be able to identify the setting. Afterward, when my friend, Kole Omotosho saw me, he accused me of being personal in my rejoinder. What makes the success of that book is language. Then, Nigerians could read about Ibadan, Lagos, Kano instead of London and Carter Bridge they don’t know. I am happy that God used me for humanity and I am happy that Macmillan people realized that and make me comfortable. I later went into private publishing. The reason Pacesetter is not available is that it is a UK imprint which the Nigerian company can’t import again because of bad economy. I have just been licensed to publish four of the series. If I had taken more of the series, it would have been better. Pacesetter is for teenagers. There was a time some businessmen were buying copies from UK and selling but it is not sustainable. It is still available in South Africa. How lucrative is publishing now? No business in Nigeria is lucrative except politics and church. What do you have to say about reading culture in Nigeria now? It is obvious. People no longer read for obvious reasons. If you can’t feed well, how can you read? If your parents are civil servants and they are not paid, how can you read? Again, in the 70s, we had stability in power relatively. You can read at night. We enjoyed university in those days because there was always light 24/7. Another reason is that Nigeria is a very noisy place. Noise is increasing every day. Nearby churches or mosques disturb people with their noise early in the morning. I must tell you that lack of reading culture portend decay of intellect in our society. [caption id="attachment_58635" align="alignright" width="640"] Agbo Areo[/caption] Do you agree to a school of thought that Yoruba is an endanger language because it has lost its popularity in terms of speaking and writing? I have done a translation of English books into Yoruba books. It is a genuine fear that Yoruba might go into extinction in the nearest future if some deliberate measure on its preservation is not taken. Many Yoruba books that are doing well in the 70s are out of circulation because government is no longer recommending them for reading in schools. Two, parents are not speaking Yoruba to their children. Schools want students to speak only English. Many parents feel that their language, which is the vehicle of their culture, is inferior. This is bad. If your language is going into extinction, it means that your culture is equally going into extinction. For instance, I wear native dresses most times. When I travel abroad, I wear native dresses and I am respected for this because they see me as a good ambassador of Africa. I will wear them on the streets of London, Paris, and Frankfurt. I am currently working on a manuscript on modern way to write Yoruba which came from USA. Why will such come from abroad? Some white people can speak Yoruba fluently and they have never visited Nigeria. While the white appreciate our language, we are neglecting it. I feel so angry when I watch Yoruba movie and they mix Yoruba with English. We are indeed in great trouble as far as our language and culture are concerned. We have a language policy that our schools find difficult to implement. The government policy on language says that the first three years in school must be taught in local languages and candidates must sit for at least one Nigerian language in WAEC/NECO. I wish the government can enforce it. There are many fee paying schools in Lagos State, why don’t they teach Yoruba Language? Some of them teach Arab. Some years ago, Lagos State government was saying that schools should teach Chinese Language. In the next few years, hardly will you see a child bearing Yoruba name. Many Yoruba books that are doing well in the 70s are out of circulation because government is no longer recommending them for reading in schools. Two, parents are not speaking Yoruba to their children. Schools want students to speak only English. Many parents feel that their language, which is the vehicle of their culture, is inferior. This is bad. If your language is going into extinction, it means that your culture is equally going into extinction. For instance, I wear native dresses most times. When I travel abroad, I wear native dresses and I am respected for this because they see me as a good ambassador of Africa What do you advice the government to do on this? Which government? The people in government don’t listen to anybody because they only go there to loot. What is your view on self-publishing considering the rate at which publishers turn down manuscripts as you earlier pointed out in the course of this chat? I can’t condemn self-publishing. Some books which have done very well in Europe and America were initially self-published. If you want to go into self-publishing, you need to ensure that your book will sell. There are some books which were self-published and they were later discovered by the publishers. There is a book that was severally turned down by publishers and the author was advised by his friends to go and publish it by himself and he yielded to the advice. Like a joke, it became the number one New York best sellers, over five million copies were sold within three years. If you want to embark on self-publishing, subject the manuscript to peer review. Again, try to go through an experienced publisher so that he can put professionalism into it. Has internet not affected publishing business? I think the question should have been: With the Internet, is the Western world (Europe and America) publishing fewer books? They are still publishing more and more books and they are selling. So, we have problems here, among which I have mentioned. Some parents don’t control their children watching television and the children are not reading. Some children will wake up in the morning during the holiday, eat and get glued to the television. Hardly do they read in a day. They cannot even help their mothers to do anything because of television. I will wear them on the streets of London, Paris, and Frankfurt. I am currently working on a manuscript on modern way to write Yoruba which came from USA. Why will such come from abroad? Some white people can speak Yoruba fluently and they have never visited Nigeria. While the white appreciate our language, we are neglecting it. I feel so angry when I watch Yoruba movie and they mix Yoruba with English. We are indeed in great trouble as far as our language and culture are concerned. We have a language policy that our schools find difficult to implement. Who are your favorite writers? I like some English writers like Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy. I like America writers like Mac Twain. Coming back home, there is no doubt that Achebe has influenced many of us, when you talk of poet, John Milton, Alexander Pope, and some of the renaissance poets. What is your view as regards agitation by some Nigerians calling for the nation’s break up? I read Harold Smith, How Britain rigged Nigeria’s independence. In that book, he states how British colonial civil servants were told to ensure that the North won the election towards independence. The election that led us into independence was in 1959, I was in college. I wasn’t an underage because I voted. The problem we have is military and unitary systems. Those of us in my age were adults during Obafemi Awolowo’s time. We enjoyed Nigeria. We enjoyed Western Region in the areas of free education, good roads, hospitals, employments, many more schools that was because each region was developing his own area. But when the military came and made everything unitary, people and the regions that were lackadaisical, drew us back. They kept on saying we have to wait for them. We were forced to wait for them and we were not making any progress. Within two years, I visited Yugoslavia six times, and I also visited Slovenia. When Yugoslavia broke up, I wasn’t surprised. Slovenia just walked out of the federation. If people don’t believe that we should go back to what happened in the early 60s before the coup when every region was developing according to its ability through federal system, there will continue to be problem. Again, winner take it all syndrome must stop. Some people come from certain part of the country; they say it is now our turn, all important appointments go to their people, all security appointments are to their people. With this attitude, the country can’t be together. Someone asked of my view regarding the militants in the Niger Delta. I said if a section of the country holds on to military and security power and the other chose economic power, equation is balance. Nigeria belongs to us, not a section of the country. At all time, in whatever we do, in appointments, resources sharing and others, justice must not only be done but it must be seen to have been done. Don’t you see that we are more divided than before because the people in the government are mismanaging the nation? So, the only way is to go back to the days where every state managed its resources and develop according to its ability. The British plunged Nigeria into the problem she is in since independence. Sir James Wilson Robertson, the last governor general of Nigeria actually instructed the colonial civil servants to rig the election in favour of the North. Apart from what Lord Luggard did, if you read the history of Nigeria, when people like Balewa and Saudana were going to secondary schools, they were going with servants and wives when in the west, we were selling our cloths to send our children to schools. Recently, the situation is so bad. Some people now feel Nigeria is for them. Let me tell you, I didn’t support some governors in the west; Oyo State governor is particularly bad. The man doesn’t think of heritage. Ogun state governor is trying despite the problem, Osun is trying. A friend of mine who is a Buhari addict wrote a book about Buhari which I published. In the past elections, I didn’t vote for Buhari but I voted for him in the last election. Within three months, I started seeing what he wanted to do. I told my friend I am no longer a Buhari man. Nobody is perfect. Buhari is not perfect but what he is doing to Asiwaju Amhed Tinubu is bad. This is a man that did every to get you into power. After getting you into power, you now think the only way you can pay him is to sideline him or make him irrelevant. He has sidelined him and the party. This government and its people are not fair to Tinubu. It is nice that Buhari’s wife is talking. I have always been a Nigerian but two times, I was disappointed. First, when they refused MKO Abiola from ruling the country despite the fact that he won the election. The second time is now. See the way they are treating Tinubu. My idea is that let Yoruba come together to develop Yoruba land because no one will do it for us. If not the visionary leaders in Lagos, Lagos would have been destroyed. Since they relocated Federal Government from Lagos, they have abandoned the place. We in the west must insist on democracy. We should forget factions. We must come together as one. Two party system is the answer. I read Harold Smith, How Britain rigged Nigeria’s independence. In that book, he states how British colonial civil servants were told to ensure that the North won the election towards independence. The election that led us into independence was in 1959, I was in college. I wasn’t an underage because I voted. The problem we have is military and unitary systems. Those of us in my age were adults during Obafemi Awolowo’s time. We enjoyed Nigeria. We enjoyed Western Region in the areas of free education, good roads, hospitals, employments, many more schools that was because each region was developing his own area. But when the military came and made everything unitary, people and the regions that were lackadaisical, drew us back. They kept on saying we have to wait for them. We were forced to wait for them and we were not making any progress. How do you spend your normal day? Nowadays, I wake up around 4:30am. I stay in bed listening to classical music and hymns till around 7:30am. I take light breakfast like two slices of bread with egg and tea. Twice or thrice in a week, I go to UI Staff Club to play with friends over one medium bottle of small Stout. On Sunday, I go to church. I watch CNN and Channels television a lot. I still drive myself but if I want to go outside Ibadan, I make use of a driver. I read a lot. I still read newspapers, I edit. I am not a politician and I can’t be one. I do some gardening. I have garden in my house. For lunch, I eat very little of Amala or Eba. For dinner, I can eat little rice, or rice and plantain, rice and beans. During maize seasons, I enjoy maize, It is very delicious. Who is your favorite musician in Nigeria? I like Ebenezer Obey. I later added Sunny Ade. Initially, Sunny Ade was not a mature musician but eventually he became a matured musician and that is why I added him. But truly speaking, none of the new musicians can beat the old musician like Victor Olaiya, IK Dairo, I still have their records and I still listen to them. It is not that I don’t like Fela Anikulapo Kuti but my favorite music now is hymn and classical music.