Arts/Literary
Odum Egege: Allegory Of N’Delta Question (I)
Being a paper presented by Adagogo Brown of the Humanties Department Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt at a seminar organised by the department, recently.
Literature, in the main, is fictive and includes poems, narratives and dramas. These forms are imitations or fictive representations of some types of “natural discourse”. This explains why literature is seen as a reflection of society. It is from this point that Miesoinuma Minima’s Odum Egege can be appreciated as a work of art that tries to capture political, social and economic activities and relationship between the Azumini (Ndoki) and the Opobo (Ibani) peoples of the Oil Rivers in the 19th century. Conflict eventually arose from the relationship when the economic survival of the trading nations was threatened. Minima puts it clearly:
King Jaja has persuaded his alapu (chiefs) that military actions against rebellious countries and the condemnation of Odum Egege to death were informed by a sense of duty and the desire to check the menace of the white man and make the state survive.
Odum Egege and his people, it must be noted, also asked for survival by trying to assert and protect what they felt was their inalienable rights. Survival, a fundamental human issue, is often the raison d’etre for various human actions even though there can be no unanimity of opinion as to the extent, in given situations, to which those actions are just and justifiable or morally acceptable.
Ordinarily, one would not have bothered to go beyond.
Miesoinuma Minima’s play in the search. However, this has to be done in order to show the importance of the question of the vulgar Marxist: Does it or doesn’t it contribute to the reality and the cause· of the present social truth among contemporary Africans by insisting (vulgar Marxit style) that literature, as part of ideological superstructure, must divorce itself from the luxury of art for art’s sake and ally itself with the Marxist dictum that art, as an instrument in the class struggle, must be a reflection of the basic economic struggle?
In order to reflect this basic economic struggle by the Niger Delta people in contemporary Nigeria, Miesoinuma Minima carefully explores the literary technique of allegory, ‘An allegory’ according to M. H. Abrams, “is a narrative in which the agents and actions, and sometimes the settings as well, are contrived both to make coherent sense on the ‘literal’, or primary level of signification, and also to signify a second, correlated order of agents, concepts and events.”
To achieve this meaning, Miesoinuma Minima selects agents, actions and settings that are able to convey and make both literal and figurative senses. Beyond this, Odum Egege is also an historical and political allegory, “in which the characters and actions that are signified literally, in turn signify, or “allegorise” historical personages and events. These historical events revolve around King Jaja of Opobo and Odum Egege of Azumini. In all of these, most important, is my perception and summary of Odum Egege as an allegory of ideas, in which the literal characters represent abstract concepts and the plot serves to communicate a doctrine or thesis. These literary concepts and plot are seen in the events surrounding the relationship between the contemporary people of the Niger Delta and the Nigerian State. From all perspectives of allegory, Odum Egege is a statement on the political, economic and social relationship between the people of Niger Delta and the Nigerian State. It is a statement which has economy, derivation, resource control and survival as themes. For me, Odum Egege is all about, struggle for survival which is also a reflection of the Niger Delta question.
From the Marxist stand point, Odum Egege can be seen as a work that does not only advance some social revolution in Nigeria but also reflects the reality and present social truth of the Nigerian State, What Odum Egege tries to do, as can be seen from the point of view of Terry Eagleton, … is to deliver the story of the struggles of men nd woomen to the free themselves from certain forms of exploitation and oppression.
The play opens with a protest scene in front of Nna Odum Egege’s house. The people of Azumini, whose livelihood is dependent on farming, complain of how they are exploited in produce trade by the Opobo people. The awareness and agony of deprivation is felt in the voice of Chijioke:
Imagine! Today my household went to the market with loads of goods: pots and pots of oil; baskets of kernel; eggs; two fat rams; ten cock; five hens; heaps of plantain and bananas. (Demonstrating) only these panga full of oporo, these akasa sunju, some quantity of salt, two packets of biscuit that I received in exchange …. (pi).
The complaint of Chijioke is only one out of several others including an old woman who receives unfair and raw deal in the hands of Opobo traders. This unfair deal is an understatement of exploitation and disposession of the Azumini people by Opobo people.
To be continued.
Adagogo Brown
It is the idea of God that family should exit. Children form part of the family. God loves family so much that Jesus was born into the family of Joseph.
Everyone’s family is good and important. Children should not look down on their family whether they are rich or poor.
Children should respect and honour their family and foster love among their siblings. They should work together and make peace in the family. They should always stand in the gap. It is good for family members to carry all along since everyone may not be doing well.
The Christianity that children learn is practised in family. Faith-based organisations do a great job in moulding children’s character. Those are the behaviours that children exhibit towards siblings in family.
Every child born in a family is there for a purpose. A baby born into a family is supplying something. It may be joy, wealth and so on. Everyone is important in a family.
Adolescents who have graduated from school but may not be contributing financially can do one or two things at home. You can engage in preparing meals at home while parents are away for a job or business. Contributing in house chores will go a long way to relieve parents of stress after a day’s job.
What do you contribute to your family, especially during holidays both in nuclear and extended family?
The family you were born is constant but friends are temporary. You can decide not to continue in friendship but you cannot cut off your family. No matter how bad you think your family is and you decide to leave home, you must surely return. Your friends can harbour you for a while.
The child’s first identity comes from the family. What the child learns first comes from the family.
Family is the centre of love and care. People have started playing down on marriage because of neglect on basics of family. Marriage starts today and and the next few months, it is threatened. Respect for family plays a crucial role in marriage.
No child grows without parental control and influence. If a child refuses to grow without taking instructions from parents, he may grow up being wild. There are consequences when children do not obey their parents. There are those who want to be rebellious against their parents. They should know that their length of days are tied to their parents.
Your bioligical parents know you more than every other person. There is the wisdom and knowledge your parents have that you do not so it is proper to listen to them before choosing carriers both in academics and job. A young man or woman can choose who to get married to, but a greater role in the choice of who to marry and the marriage proper comes from the parents.
They know what is best for you. No matter how modern trends will influence you and prove it wrong, parent is the key. No one can love you more than your parents because they are your blood.
A lot of parents have been traumatised due to the fact that children they nurtured and trained turned their back on them at older age. Children should not abandon their parents for any reason.
As you grow up, situations may arise in marriage when you decide it is over with your spouse, but no matter the level of provocation with your parents, they will not despise you. Parents will also play a role in that regard. Problem arises in every family but how it is handled matters a lot.
Some children honour their mentors more than their parents. Although there are parents who shy away from their responsibilities. It is important that parents take full responsibility of their children. You cannot bring a child to the planet earth and refuse to perform roles as a parent. But parents may not quantify what they spent from childhood to adolescence. That is a blessing children cannot get from another person.
There are people who have attributed their failure in life to the fact that their parents, especially mothers are witchcraft. It is wrong to feel that your mother is instrumental to your failure in life. The only way to success is hardwork.
Let money not determine the level of love for your parents. Wherever a child goes, family is constant.
Eunice Choko-Kayode
Naturally, when a child is born, it is the role of the father and mother to decide a suitable name for the child. The husband and wife normally discuss and suggest the English or vernacular name of the baby.
But sometimes, when a baby comes into a family, grandparents hearts are usually filled with joy to the extent that they want to answer present, by giving their own names not minding the fact that the biological parents have given theirs.
This happens mostly when the marriage is an inter-tribal one. It also happens even in intra-tribal marriage. Grandparents want equal representation as far as naming a child is concerned. They also have special names as a result of circumstances surrounding the birth of the child.
This is still happening till date.
A lot of people have viewed this in different ways but there is nothing wrong about it. The most important thing is that the child bears as many names as he or she can. But one thing is certain, the child must bear one name in school.
Should circumstance determine a child’s name?
Women who are more emotional are always eager to name their children considering the circumstances surrounding the child’s conception and arrival.
The issue of grandparents naming a child comes up mostly when it is the first of the family.
In naming children by some parents in the olden days, they named their children according to the days in the week in which they were born, like Sunday, Monday, Friday and so on.
You may be shocked to hear that whether a child is given 10 names by parents or grandparents, when he or she grows up, will decide to change. There are several cases where some persons decided to change especially when they feel that the names given by their parents and grandparents do not give them joy. If they are not doing well in life, they may claim that their misfortune is caused by the name their parents.
Competition among children in schools be it primary, (kindergarten) and secondary come in different forms. It can be Mathematics , debate, quiz, spelling bee,competition, from organisations like Cowbell, multi-national companies, faith-based organisations among others.
They are organised mostly for selected intelligent ones, the best among their peers to represent a class, school or group. Prizes are normally set aside for the best as well as consolation prizes for runners-up at the end of each session.
The question is, are children willing to accept defeat when they fail? As parents, guardians, can you encourage your children or wards to accept defeat instead of shouting and comparing them with others who may be performing better either in schools or outside.
Some parents may be blaming their children for not doing well in competitions. They will like to tell their children if others who may perform better have ten heads. Those group of parents blame their children for every failure.
For your children to do better in competition, the parents too must have emotional intelligence. When you continue to blame your children for failure, how intelligent are you?
Some parents always want their children to be in the 1st position and unhappy whenever they secure 2nd position. There were instances where children smashed their trophies because they never got the position they wanted to get and their parents supported them.
Children should be able to accept it whether they win or not. They should be encouraged for every performance. Discourage the issue of “shame, shame, shame, shame”.
A parent says she always tells her children to win even if they will fail. Always give them the mentality that they can win. Children should be given the impression that they can win prizes and laurels in every competition.
Parents should not isolate their children from others in the neighbourhood. Allow them to play with others. Don’t threaten your children that you may not pay their schools fees if they fail. Comparing them with others may encourage or discourage them.
Coming first or getting award as a first class student from the university sometimes does not mean that the person is the best. And if the child does not merit any award in the lower classes, does not mean that he can not merit first class also.
It should be noted that coming first in academic competition may not really mean that the competitor will be the best at work place or business.
Accepting defeat is a way to move higher. Even if a child who competed with others did not come first, there are consolation prizes for runners-up. When you advise the child to accept defeat, you are encouraging her to win in next competition.
Remember all children cannot be on the same knowledge level Their learning abilities defer.
Eunice Choko-Kayode