My hero is driving change in the lives of forgotten, neglected, impoverished children

‘The bitterness in the hearts of these children and how to resolve it is what The Children at the IDP Camp is about’ is how best to sum up Dr. Olatunbosun Taofeek’s children’s book, as he explains to ANOTE AJELUOROU motivations for his work and how not caring for these children is a boomerang that will society square in the face in future is urgent steps are not taken to intervene to give them meaningful lives now

The Children at the IDP Camp is your second time being on the longlist of the Nigerian Prize for Literature having crossed from drama to children’s writing. What has changed from the last time and how do you navigate from one genre to the other?
IT is a situation of literary craftsmanship. As an apprentice in the school of creative writing, I should be able to do that. Mind you, some of us are not the mogbo moya writers, those who gatecrashed into writing. This is what I have been trained to do both formally and informally—like an expert who has made all necessary mistakes and is ready to make more to keep gaining knowledge. I mean a transmogrifying writer who can transition from one genre to another. To me, whether drama or prose, children’s literature or adult, these are structural matters. The first shore of competence will be at the content level, the message. What message do you have as a writer? Then, the next is, ‘What form do you want to use to pass the message across?’ The theatre? The narrator(s)? Or the aesthetic composer? Once this is done, then you go to the intended audience. Structures in creative writing are important but you can only attain proficiency in them through relentless practice. And what I have said is exactly what I do to master any genre while my message remains the same. Nothing has changed about me just that you are getting to know me better, that is why you don’t say goodbye until the day is over.

Between your last work and this, it’s been just a year. Are you looking forward to the book party or should it be scraped?
Oh yes, I am looking forward to the book party. It shouldn’t be scrapped there should be some modifications to the organization—the authors should be given more time to express themselves on stage; the party should revolve around them and their books through multiple publicity fronts; the chosen moderator should be a seasoned and mature presenter; he/she should read those books and ask specific and more explorative questions. Questions like, what inspired you is too pedestrian? Such flat and generalised questions only expose the moderator that he/she is not acquainted with what he or she is moderating. You know, these are writers and if you want to moderate them and make such interviews interesting you need to be excellent. Look at ‘Hard Talk’ by Steve on BBC, excellent moderation. Even for two hours, no one is bored.

Go and bring seasoned moderators into the book party and let us reduce the whole frivolities of dancing and dancing, talking and talking—except for the awarding authors. Book party is not a tea party or an engagement to sympathetic throes; we must get that right. It is an intellectual engagement party where the audience come to engage the writers. Why will there be a book party without one question from the audience? Why will I come to a book party where they won’t allow me to ask any of the authors a question? Then it is synonymous to the BBNaija audience. I think proper moderation should be looked into and ample time should be given to it.

Nigerian IDP camps are usually traumatic places. What can we learn about the life of your hero?
Plant kindness in the hearts of children so they don’t become the monsters that will destroy our world. Life is GIGO – garbage in garbage out. We are all the products of what we are made of. To every tyrant, there is a scar; to every murder, there is a beast in the killer; to all corrupt individuals, there is a sense of greed seated inward only waiting for the time to express itself. For me, I see children’s books as the hardest to write; often, they should be psychological materials for psyche engineering where you try psychologically to convince the child of an idea or ideals you want them to embrace. My hero, Danlami, is not a child telling us about life’s predicaments but driving a hero in his quest for change in the lives of other children who are forgotten, neglected and impoverished by no cause of theirs. It is a heroic struggle to make heroes of others. I know it is not our type to make heroes of others.

Olatunbosun Taofeek

Are IDP camps inevitable? What should those responsible be doing to abolish them or improve life for those unfortunate to find themselves there?
Realistically, IDP camps are inevitable. Our society needs to know how to handle such human crises. Just like everyone that is born is old enough to die, anywhere you have human beings in their thousands there must be crises. The only way out is knowing how to manage it. We can see the children in Gaza; the children in Sudan, Chad, and Somalia. More than 10 million children are homeless across the world, wandering in hunger and pestilence; they will all come back for us in the future. If we build prisons for them, our prisons may not be enough to keep them when it is time. They will get back at society.

If those of us that are not in IDP camps don’t look at them or find a way out for them, they will grow with that anger and come and kill our children in the future. We need to give them privileges so that we can assuage them and tame the beasts in them. Talk to one of those children, you will know they are growing in bitterness. Orphanages, IDPs and homeless children should have a life package. Those in government should sponsor a bill to protect those children. They are living dynamite growing in bitterness and grief. If they grow up like that, the world would be paid in the same coin. It is the bitterness in the hearts of these children and how to resolve it that The Children at the IDP Camp is all about.

Have you been writing for children before now or your first effort? And how was the journey?
I have! My mum and I have composed a lot about children but I did not publish them. There are manuscripts about to come out: Tales from My Grandmother, Buba Made Me the President, Dido and Fido and others. There are many of them in manuscript form. The delays was because I like giving my books time and thoughts to review and rework. So, I am not in a hurry to go to press.

As an academic, is there a university and department where someone can specifically study children’s writing in Nigeria?
That is a thoughtful question. There is none for now except for English and Literature Departments where children’s literature is not even a course, rather an explanation to certain aspects of literary studies.