Agbo Areo

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.