IF YU HIE SE A DE PRIZIN (antoloji of puem-dem fo Naija langwej)

This anthology is a collection of 93 poems by 32 poets and edited by Eriata Oribhabor - himself, a poet, who has been a frontline campaigner for an integrated Nigerian lingua-franca.

To the best of my knowledge, the poems in this collection are fresh and original. The language, like the styles of presentation, are light, conversational and unconventional, all of which give the poems deceptive simplicity.

The subjects range from the engagement with Nigeria as motherland, her past history to representational or fictive version of current occurrences in the country; to reminiscence of childhood memories; of love; longing; students life and urban life  to the portrayal of underprivileged Nigerians’ existentialist struggles – interpreted as allegories of struggles against domineering ruling class, the oil companies, the  government and its unfavorable policies etc - just about all, often culminating in hints of optimism about the chances for salvation.

Some of the poems seem a little too trivial; for example, in the poems Swit drim; Na so laif bi; Toilet bulet dem; Jolifikeshon etc, although the poems attempted to show moments of existentialist perception, clarity and lucidity to sudden realization and revelry, they struggled to establish these themes. But then with others, where and when the themes were well-built, like in; Dis rof rod; Monki de wok; babun de chop; Talat;Wetin de hapun; etc, the poems were more successful at showing the way in which bad policies have broken and ruined lives – succeeded in portraying some of these lives, not only as victims of these policies, but as well, showing however that their predicaments would in no way, if they choose to go dishonest, protect them from their own wicked or self-seeking behavior. And then, there are the exquisitely crafted love poems like lov wantintin and others showing relationships mashed as source of euphoria, misery and fear – with pot-puree of dilemmas, inconveniences, joys and uncontrolled desire and the longing for gratifications.

Much more, and perhaps one of the finest and meaningful poems in the collection is If a go kom dis world egen which, through the use of redemptive metaphor of rebirth encourages reformation and hopefulness. The poem’s repetitive use of same image actively helps to encourage concerns about the possibilities of future reversal in the present day lacks. In the poem, the impulse for people to change their mind-set is voiced through the rhetorical image of, if born again, “a go laik.”

Most of the poets use very little rhyme and few traditional stanzas, but then, it is very pleasing to see so many of them work hard to actively engage in the creation of meanings.

In terms of the preferred language; the Naija langwej, I sense an attempt to engage with the social order in an alternative discourse. That is, in presenting its subject matter which is - Nigeria, its people and their unifying language - within a Naija and, or, English as a state language space. What favours the principal position of the preferred language used for this collection is that English language is not the number one habitual language in majority of Nigerian homes and not the dominant medium of communication in the everyday play ground or trade but the Naija langwej named variously as ‘pidgin’ is. And so, in the struggle to contest the privileging discourse of making English the official institutional language, there is need to go beyond the simple counteridentification of encouraging the use of the three main Nigerian regional languages to an alternate discourse that can effectively argue directly for a construct of a Nigeria language.

So, has this book set the standard for the Naija langwej? My answer would be, ‘I doubt it.’ Doubtful because ‘standard’ cannot be set as would, for instance, a ‘metric system’. And as the anthology clearly reveals, through few disharmonious, disorderly and inconsistent use and spelling of words, there is still a long way to go. But since linguistic words evolve, these hurdles, I’m confident, would be worked on along the way.

So then bottom line, this anthology is well worth the effort. It is a positive benchmark, to be read, kept and consulted as revered and treasured part foundation for Naija langwej lexicon.