Literature is more than just entertainment

NNW: Tell us about yourself.
Saka Aliyu: I grew in Ilorin and Sokoto. A historian by training and I am trying to be a writer. I sometimes write with the pen name Sakky jojo, a name I started using from my campus journalism days.
When and how did you start writing?
My first memorable composition is a song I wrote for a sister of a friend in primary school. After that it was in junior secondary school when I decided to write my autobiography, I soon abandoned it thinking I am too inexperienced to start writing about my life. Then when I lost my elder brother in 1990, I decided to honour him by writing a book and that was how my first novel, Thorny Rose, was written. That was in 1993, it is still unpublished. What prepared me for writing was that I grew up a lonely teenager and books became my best companion. Reading became a passion. I read so many books that I began to feel I could write too. I read too much and it spilled into writing.
What inspired you into writing?
My inspiration is that writing is soul uplifting and a good write-up, even if it is a fiction, can change one?s life. The belief that I can write and touch the life of others. Altruism is a factor.
What literary works have you produced so far and what are the main themes?
So far I have published a novel and the first one I mentioned that is still in manuscript. I also have written two plays and I have over a hundred poems written in the last fifteen years. The themes of my novels are always about societal problems and are didactic. Altine is about the problems of almajiris, while Thorny Rose is about youth sexuality and teenage pregnancy. My plays have corruption as their themes, which is also societal. The themes of the poems, however, are varied. I also have a number of unfinished works in prose and drama with different themes. I also have some short stories and even folk tales for kids.
Why the choice of such themes?
The themes for the prose derive largely from the belief that literature is more than just entertainment and that it should be a mirror of the society. Since literature is often foregrounded in denunciation of society, it is part of the larger project of furthering society?s progress through this medium. I feel writing about the problems of the society is part of the solution. I agreed with Aminata Sow Fall on this.
What were your experiences in writing and publishing the books?
Writing has been fun and serious. Writing is getting more difficult now because of the pressure of work and time. Prose is the area I love the most, but since I published Altine, I have not been able to finish any other one. I wrote more when I was in secondary school. While in the university I wrote mainly poems and my personal dairy- I have about five volumes of that to date. After graduation, unemployment reared its ugly head and I promised myself that I would have something to show for the unemployed years and that was how Altine was finished and I was most lucky to get a grant, not only to publish but to do something about what I had written. That is why Altine would remain indelible in my life as a writer. The grant provided for my feeding, clothing, toiletries, study materials, apprenticeship for five almajirai and other things like a workshop and jingles for a year. And for all my effort, I got the novel published. You can see what I mean by a work of art not just being entertainment but also being part of the solution. Publishing almost does not exist in Nigeria again. You pay for printing and it is called publishing. I was not happy about the quality of the publishing of Altine but I have learnt my lesson. Moreover, self-publishing is now easier with computer technology.
You write all the genres of literature; drama, poetry and prose. Which is your favourite among them and why?
Prose definitely is my favourite followed by drama, which is the last discovered talent. I think poetry is easier especially the free verse, no sacrilege or is it muselege meant. Prose is something else, it is something almost every one enjoys, unlike poetry that can bore some people, and some people don?t fancy drama except on stage. Prose is like story telling which is an intrinsic African instinct and culture and almost everyone loves story. There is room for maneuvers that the other genres do not give room for, they are very technical. You just have to have a flair for them. Their audience is not as much as that of prose. Lately I have worked more on drama. Now I have this feeling that I have written all that there is to write in poetry! Love, life death, the good, the bad and the ugly and what not, and I do joke that I have come to the end of poetry!
Which of the genres is more effective in terms of communication and literary aesthetics?
Like I said, it is prose, followed by drama. Poetry is too up in the cloud for most people to comprehend, but prose and drama, you can bring them down to familiar terra firma much more than poetry.
Who are your favourite writers and why?
Let me think. In Nigeria, I think Cyprian Ekwensi is my number one and you know my pen name came from one of his novels, Jagua Nana?s Daughter. There is a character there Saka Jojo and my friends changed the Saka to Sakky. Like he is called, the chronicler of Nigerian city life, he mirrors society in his work very well. Then there is Achebe whose simplicity I like and he too tells the story of the people. Dan Fulani for his spy novels, Kola Onadipe too. In drama, Soyinka and Ola Rotimi are my inspirations, though I have not read most of their works. Of the dramatists whose plays I have seen on stage, Dr Sunday Ododo have impressed me and Dr Ahmed Yerima. Outside Nigeria, Ngugi Ferdinand Oyono, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison and Charles Dickens - though it?s been long since I read them.
What would you say are the challenges of Nigerian writers and what is the way out?
The greatest challenge is publishing and readership. I think both are integral. The two are the essence of fulfillment for a writer. Publishing, because after endless hours of writing, rewriting and editing, your best reward is getting it published. But after publication you need readers and that is where readership is a great problem. Reading culture is poor in Nigeria. That is very much linked with the problem of our educational system and economic situation. People do read in Nigeria; but what? How to become a millionaire over night. The problem of publishing is also linked with the economy. Publishers don?t promote again, you pay them and they print for you. That is why everyone is doing self publishing. Economically it is not profitable to publish unless you can guarantee readership through the work being used in schools. Winning awards, especially foreign awards, boosts sales but how many writers will ever get awards. I gave over one thousand copies of my book free. I was able to do that because I didn?t use my money to publish it. Until last year when it was used in a school and sold over three hundred copies, the best sales before then in over five years was not up to thirty copies. It is hardly encouraging, it stunts literary growth.
The way out is linked with other developments in the society. Writers cannot develop in isolation. Improve the education and the economy and it will tell on literature. Artistes must love what they are doing and keep doing it against all odds.
Most Nigerian writings are on corruption and other societal ills. Some are saying the theme is overflogged. What?s your view?
My take on it is that it is not overflogged, if writing is about mirroring the society. What will a mirror of our society show? Corruption and the other ills you talked about. Yes it is exasperating, but as long as the problem is still around, it is not over flogged, for talking about it is part of the solution, in the hope that some day some people will really get tired and begin to do something about it. You know fiction are not lies but coloured truth. The colours are the turf of the writers.
How was your experience as the secretary of ANA in Kaduna?
It was challenging and rewarding. I contested because I felt I could contribute something to the writers? guild. My greatest regret was not being able to contribute much financial assistance to the house. For that I made up with dedication. I am happy that I was able to get some books at the Owerri convention in conjunction with Mathew Taiwo for the chapter to have its own library for I believe Nigerian writers are not very immune from the poor reading culture. I also tried to keep records of all our activities, we don?t have record keeping culture in this country. The house reading is very helpful to honing one?s craft. The Talkshop is also very enriching. The experience was most rewarding.

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