Nigeria News
I Will Pay My Debt To Achebe
By Isaac Umunna
I have a confession to make: I am owing Chinua Achebe. That I did not pay this debt until the great man breathed his last on Thursday night, March 22, in far away Boston, Massachusetts, USA, is one of the regrets I’ll have to live with.
Early in January 2006, I had come up with the idea of translating Achebe’s classical novel Things Fall Apart into Igbo Language. I had felt ashamed that this world-celebrated work was yet to be translated into the mother-language whereas it had been translated into about 50 other languages from various parts of the world.
I quickly sounded out my friend and literary consultant, Richard Mammah, a book activist and publisher, who exclaimed, saying it was a great idea. “This project will give you a new name,” predicted Richard, devout Pentecostal, in a prophetic-like manner. He added that whereas I had made a name as an international award-winning journalist, I would soon become known as the translator of Things Fall Apart. I sounded out a few other bookish friends who also sounded ecstatic about the project.
It was in this mood that I happily e-mailed Prof. Achebe through his e-mail address [email protected] on December 23, 2005, informing him of my desire and requesting his approval for the translation. In the letter dated December 21, 2005, I wrote: Dear Prof.,
REQUEST FOR PERMISSION TO TRANSLATE THINGS FALL APART INTO IGBO LANGUAGE
It gives me great pleasure to request your approval for a project very dear to my heart: Translating of your all-time classic, THINGS FALL APART, into our language, Igbo. I have been considering doing this for quite sometime and I believe that the best time to start is now.
It is indeed a big embarrassment to all of us your literary children of Igbo extraction that this great work which has been translated into many other world languages, has yet to be translated into Igbo. As a huge fan of yours and especially of THINGS FALL APART, I would be grateful if you do me the honour of permitting me to translate the book into our mother tongue.
May I say, Sir, with a deep sense of humility, that I am well qualified to undertake this great task. A full-blooded Igboman from Abia State, I speak and write both Igbo and English languages. I believe that translating THINGS FALL APART into Igbo will not only give many more of our people access to it, but would also serve to rekindle interest in the book, your distinguished self and our dear language.
To give the translation the best attention, I intend to either proceed on a sabbatical or negotiate a freelance arrangement with my employers, the London-based Africa Today magazine, where I am General Editor but operating from Lagos.
Attaching my outlined schedule for the project and offering my best wishes on his attainment, the previous month, of the age of 75, I prayed for God’s continued blessings on him.
The great man wrote back through his secretary on January 27, 2006, saying:
Thank you for your email to Prof Achebe and congratulations on your planned translation of Things Fall Apart into Igbo.
Please send all enquiries to Prof Achebe’s literary agent, Emma Sweeney, at the following address:
The Emma Sweeney Agency
245 East 80th Street
New York, NY 10021
I immediately e-mailed Emma Sweeney, who replied almost immediately, explaining that “all translations for THINGS FALL APART are handled through the UK publisher, Heinemann, and I don’t have their contact information. If you have a copy of the UK edition of the book you will see the contact information on the copyright page.”
Burning with zeal for the project, I fed back Prof Achebe on May 29, saying I would be most grateful if he could connect me with Heinemann UK. For effect, I thanked him for his cooperation and signed off as “Your literary son.”
The renowned wordsmith’s reply indicated that in referring me to Emma Sweeney he only wanted to see how serious I with the translation project.
“Dear Isaac Umunna,” began his reply dated April 2, 2006, “I have been asked by Prof Achebe to tell you that you may translate his novel Things Fall Apart into Igbo. When the time for publication comes your publisher will need to obtain permission to publish.
“Prof Achebe also has asked me to inform you that a number of efforts are currently underway or are planned for the translation of Things Fall Apart into Igbo. He wishes you good luck in your own endeavours and hopes this response satisfactorily answers your enquiry.
“Best wishes.
“Secretary to Prof Achebe.”
Bubbling with joy but determined to carry the great man along at every stage of the project, I drafted a press statement to announce the approval and e-mailed to him. To my surprise, late that night I got a call from Achebe’s son, who conveyed to me his father’s objection to the press statement. He said his father preferred that I should work quietly rather than embark on a publicity blitz which might give the impression that I was the only one doing a translation of the book, thus putting others who had embarked on the project at a disadvantage. I argued persuasively on why a press statement was necessary, saying: “As a senior media man, it is not possible for me to undertake a project of this nature without my colleagues reporting it. The best approach, therefore, is for me to issue a statement to the media which states the true position of things so as to prevent a situation where people would write half-truths about the project.”
In the end, we agreed that I should amend the press statement and clearly indicate that I was not the only one with approval to do the translation.
The next day (April 19) I did as agreed and sent the amended statement for approval. “It is indeed a big embarrassment to all of us who consider ourselves Achebe’s literary children of Igbo extraction, that this great work which has been translated into many other world languages, has yet to be translated into Igbo,” I said in the statement.
Describing myself as “a huge fan of Achebe and especially of Things Fall Apart,” I expressed the hope that “translating Things Fall Apart into Igbo will not only give many more of our people access to it, but would also serve to rekindle interest in the book, Achebe’s distinguished self and our dear language, Igbo, which is presently facing the threat of extinction.”
The statement issued in Lagos on my behalf Richard Mammah, disclosed that “Achebe has been informed of the translation project and has given it the blessing which he usually gives to all those desiring to translate his works.”
Offering Umunna his “best wishes,” Prof. Achebe however, informed him that a number of efforts are currently underway or are planned for the translation of Things Fall Apart into Igbo,” the statement said.
That same day I received the following reply:
Dear Isaac Umunna
Thank you for sending the amended press release. It does address our concerns. It may interest you to know that Things Fall Apart was translated into Yoruba by Wale Ogunyemi and published by New Horn Press, Ibadan in 1997.
Yours sincerely
Secretary to Prof Achebe
With the final clearance from Achebe, I quickly bought a new copy of Things Fall Apart and made space for the translation in my “To Do” list but found myself never doing that due to what a friend of mine calls existential challenges. At a point I came to the conclusion that the only way I would actualise the project was by getting sponsorship so that I could take care of my bills and just go to quiet place and concentrate on the translation. However, non sponsorship came.
In the circumstances, I kept pushing the project forward but always reassuring friends who occasionally reminded me that this is one project I would definitely accomplish no matter how long it takes. Achebe’s death has left me feeling like a prodigal son. I am however consoled by the Igbo adage which says that debt can only harden but never rots– meaning that it must eventually get paid. So shall it be with regard to my debt to Achebe, my literary father.
•Umunna is a Lagos-based journalist and media consultant
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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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