Okike, Ahiajoku Lecture And Nigeria’s Fading Platforms for Intellectual Conversations

If you are looking for a book or journal to help you write better, check Okike, which was edited by Chinua Achebe. While we know him for his novels under African Writers Series, one of the biggest contributions by Achebe was editing and mentoring young writers through Okike.

As an undergraduate engineering student in FUTO, I read all editions of Okike. Typically, before any Ahiajoku lecture, Achebe would lay a framework in Okibe and when they descend in Owerri for the event, it would be an intellectual conversation.

Prof FC Ogbalu – arguably the father of modern Igbo writing -would come. One of the finest Igbo writers (he died really young), Tony Ubesie, was also there. Ubesie wrote “Isi akwu dara nala” and “Ukwa ruo oge ya” which are considered some of the finest novels in Igbo.  His chronicles of the Biafra war via Ada and Chike, connecting to “osisi na-ami ego” post-war were a masterpiece.

Of course, modern politicians defunded Ahiajoku lecture and many other things in the name of “advancement”.  But we are happy to visit PEN, the Cannes Festival, etc even as we allow our intellectual festivals to fade. Nigeria needs to bring back platforms for intellectual conversations because knowledge liberates.

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Comment1: Perhaps we can also begin to talk about why the journal isn’t considered to be of high quality because it isn’t indexed in Scopus, etc.

Why are our local journals not considered much when contributors’ works in them are put forth?

I will appreciate it if anyone can share anything about Okike’s status as per indexing.

I believe it’s a great journal that showcases our beautiful cultural heritage.

My Response: Scopus is a baby in the world of Okike. I understand that it is Western product, so it should be assumed to be useful. Achebe stopped editing Okike before Scopus was born! Do not be distracted by indexing or ranking of Western journals. If your life is focused on being accepted by the Western publishers, it may not be fair to Africa. Most books we celebrate today under African Writers Series were rejected by most of those Western publishers. Okike is not for the west but for the Nigerian Nation and Africa at large. Only us can index it and discuss the value, and not Elsevier.

Comment R1: Ndubuisi Ekekwe thanks for sharing this insight. To my mind, this discussion needs to keep happening until we Africans begin to realize the treasure we have and believe in our knowledge production systems.

But where publishing in Scopus indexed journals is a prerequisite for high ranking of publications by some of our local institutions, isn’t it obvious that we are wittingly helping to demote ourselves?

My Response: Sure, we need to have confidence in Africa to advance. Yet, we need to understand that some of the finest ideas in the world are never published. Google just banned its engineers from publishing new things on AI after its publication on transformer was used by OpenAI to create ChatGPT which is giving Google problems. So, if those engineers play along, only boring things will be in those journals.

Comment 2: We are deep into comedy and hasty entertainment, many people here find intellectual discourse boring and irritating, and when you connect the dots, you can understand why things are the way they are.

Why does going to school feel like a scam to many? Because the intent has never been to acquire knowledge and liberate the mind, rather a sort of misguided notion about escape from poverty, so when you are unable to secure paid employment after schooling, it automatically implies that you wasted money going to school.

How many platforms and spaces do you see conversations and discourses that enlighten and edify? The soul is starved of quality diets, while everyone is immersed in pursuit of fame and more money, at the end of the day – chaos and miseries are what you get.

Comment 3: Intellectual platforms celebrate literary prowess. Literary prowess is the driver of Soft Power. Soft power is like the OUD of a civilization that will definitely (have got) get their engineering, politics, and military right. It can only be expressed by the arts/literary prowess. If you love the whiff of a civilization’s theatre/literary prowess. You will soon come to fear/respect their technology/military/trade/diplomacy.

For context, check Chinese theatre, American theatre, and way before then British theatre, further down. the Roman Amphitheater…

My Response: Largely, our Nollywood will not evolve without some of these components. The whole construct of Hollywood is the marketing of America and it has served the nation greatly. Lecture series like Ahiajoku certainly should return.

Comment 4: “Of course, modern politicians defunded Ahiajoku lecture and many other things in the name of “advancement”.  But we are happy to visit PEN, the Cannes Festival, etc even as we allow our intellectual festivals to fade.”

Question is, Do we need politicians to help us advance our culture? I don’t really think so. I think what needs to happen is for individuals, businesses (entertainment, hospitality and tourism) and cultural agencies to come up with a game plan that incentivizes our key cultural events such as ifejioku, ichi ozo etc.

My Response: Unfortunately, the Nigerian tax system does not offer for companies to do many things in this land. If you donate to a museum, art theater, etc in America, it is tax deductible. With that, you have more incentives to give. It is the same thing while US schools will always get grants. In Nigeria, we handle those as pure business expense. That said, most of the cultural festivals in US and Europe are partly funded by governments or their agencies. But they cover from economic activities those even trigger.

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