Obu Udeozo, poet, painter and Clinical Psychologist is a lecturer in the Department of English, University of Jos. He is the publisher of landmark critical intervention on the third wave of Nigerian poetry titled, Garderners of Dream. In this interview, he speaks about the project that took him so much time and about other sundry issues. He spoke to McPhilips Nwachukwu.

Congratulations Obu Udeozo for completing your sixteen years critique of The Third Wave of Nigeria Poets. Can we start by knowing what motivated you into the project?

OBU UDEOZO:  McPhilips we thank God for persons like you who key into foundational issues of our national life.  I was worried at first- then later alarmed by what I witnessed. There was a reluctance by the Establishment to validate the new voices in our literary firmament.

In Nigeria poetry lots of new works were being published but did not seem to fetch the respect or recognition that will turn them into cultural products in the long term.  Simply put; I wondered who was going to save the worlds of Uche Nduka, Ogaga Ifowodo, Esiaba Irobi, Amatoristero Ede, Remi Raji, Izzia Ahmad and say Promise Ogochukwu Okekwe … who were releasing works that accurately portrayed their own seasons: but with a near tragic backdrop!

Constantly, I noticed that the authorities in the field kept evaluating these young persons  with other critical parameters and values totally different from their world view and experience. The monotonous comparison with Okigbo, Soyinka and Clark – kept being invoked against the performance of these youth- regardless of what they were saying and against the source of their inspirations.

Great scholars lent stature and prestige to such conversations. And because of my own preparation and familiarity across other forms of the creative process; I easily saw the shortcomings of that kind of mindset- and where it was dragging Nigeria literature.

I decided to do something about this by volunteering to document the emergent poetry by the usual métier of critical appraisal across time. I think it was Monet who said that he wanted to turn Impressionism into the art of the Museums. He was aware the new art form was different from the establishment taste of 19thCentury French official art. I desired for the kind of Nigeria poetry which has the stamp of our national experience – as a biological community of men – with advancing and varied experiences over time!

*Obu Udeozo

Where exactly did the idea  germinate?

OBU UDEOZO: I embarked on this project quietly at some point in 1995 because I had always been drawn to literary criticism: the genre intoxicated me. I had been immersed in that field for several years during my undergraduate season as a psychology student at The University of Lagos. I remember a fortuitous meeting with Professor Chukwuemeka Ike and his wife, Adebimpe Ike.

We had been family friends over the years: and the Madam teased me. She said:” Obu we have seen the poems and the paintings; but we are yet to see the novel?” She was responding to aspirations that I had verbalized as a young person in earlier years. And I realized that the literary community was like a strong fellowship.

People kept tabs of even solemn broadcasts and naturally expected delivery times. So, having actually completed three anthologies of poems; I decided to move into the Literary Criticism which I had fortunately not communicated to anybody before. I intended it was going to be ‘a sweet surprise ‘ to those tracking my activities.

That was an added incentive. These ideas germinated in Jos, towards the end of my Paintings of The Portraits of all Heads of State and Presidents of Nigeria- since independence. It was a special commission by the Government of The Federal Republic of Nigeria; which I completed in 1996.

Were you drawn into the project by the work of any particular poet or moved by other extraneous factors?

This is particularly kind of you. Yes, indeed. I had relished the immediacy which African Writers Talkinghad on me as a young writer. I was fascinated by the privilege of ‘hearing’ the direct expressions of Christopher Okigbo, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Leopold Sedar Senghour, Denis Brutus, J.P. Clark and several African writers of that dispensation.

I was thrilled that the simple decision of Denis Duerden and Cosmo Pieterse   could bequeath us and posterity with such abiding charm and illumination in the creative process. I similarly savoured Arthur Powers’ Conversations With James Joyce.

In poetry there is Wole Soyinka’s seminal Collected Poems of Black Africa; a peerless compendium at the continental level. I was aware of interrogations on Pablo Picasso by several enthusiasts and devotees. Then stasis. For a very long span of time – nothing of a canonical stature happened in our literary horizon. I felt it was an unhealthy hiatus. I decided to step into the burgeoning void.

Why did you call or rather title the project, Gardeners of Dreams Series?

Gardeners of Dreams is one phrase I will never be tired about! Immediately I met those expressions in Toyin Adewale’s Naked Testimonies, I recognized that I had secured the galvanizing metaphor for a historic enterprise. I consciously privileged those cycle of Nigeria poets by a construct from among their own peers!

It was important that the defining moment and semiology of their critical appraisal should also belong among and within the poets being chronicled. I gained this insight during my mandate to show case Paintings to represent Federal College of Education Yola, as directed by The Provost, Dr. Gidado Tahir.

There was A Joint Trade Fair for Gongola, Bauchi and Borno States in 1988; and I was elected among those representing the Institution. The Dean Obumneke Ibe counselled on the imperative of accurate pictures! We agreed that masquerades are more spectacular when they convey the colours and idioms of the native environment. And I executed that famous Portrait of Dr. Aliyu Mustapha – The Lamido of Adamawa – in that season! Similarly, Gardeners of Dreamsfrom The Third Wave of Nigeria Poetsvivifies the material and metaphysical conditions which those writers were addressing in their collective works.

What dreams did you have in mind?

The simple dreams of having a stable, decent, safe and predictable existence! The dreams of living in an organized society and having basic amenities of life within one’s reach. The pathetic and prolonged dreams of  fulfilling the Nigerian fantasy of having good roads, uninterrupted Power supply, attending well furnished schools with qualified teachers; the right to a health care delivery system that is neither erratic nor prohibitive.

The dreams to live normal lives in a sane nation – without the trauma of corruption and compromise. The dreams of the barest facilities for civilized existence in a global age and communal experience. All these minimum desires of the average Nigerian citizen had become nightmares  across our diverse communities.

The Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka had described theirs as a ‘wasted generation’. For the Third Wave of Nigeria Writers, the malaise had deteriorated more grossly and perhaps more hopelessly. It was as if, Life itself had stopped: only to continue in DREAMS. Thus: Gardeners ofDreams.

It is a painful tragic condensation.

Can you share your own experiences. What did you find particularly intriguing about the project?

TIME! When I embarked on translating Chinua Achebe’s Odenigbo Lecture from Igbo Language into English  in 1999: I had expected a quick exercise because I had lots of other programs at stake.  But I was shocked that the work took nearly 7 weeks to complete. And we are talking about a mere 23 pages of script. Gardeners of Dreams surprised me because of the duration it has lasted, which was not originally countenanced. And there are several  contributing factors to this.

I was amazed at the ‘nature of human nature’ to invoke George F. Will. I had expected spontaneous co-operation from the poets I was dealing with and labouring to immortalize their works. I realized quite – late; that such endorsement was not automatic nor even to be taken for granted.

Some of the young persons involved seemed not to comprehend the import of historic documentation. Some appeared out rightly apathetic. Eighty percent of the duration consumed by the work; was over waiting  for the respondents to turn in their answers so that I could commence work on the actual critique of the series.

It took me nearly 7 years to realize that I will have a still born baby – with that frame of mind! And immediately I recognized this; I commenced on the Long Walks – which comprised expositions on the material I had already gathered.  I am delighted that within a few more years; I completely finished the work I had intended to do.

Professor Femi Osofisan recently complimented me on behalf of The Third Wave of Nigeria Poets. From the published works, you will notice that the majority of these writers were and have remained enthusiastic and helpful. But because you asked – I have been amazed at the few instances of blackmail and betrayal encountered among the species.

Another dimension to the lessons is again the drama of Time. Death has happened in the interval; and that was totally unexpected. My sessions with Izzia Ahmad in Jos, lasted for nearly 16 hours at a stretch – with promises to continue at a later date. It remains unavailing with the Poet’s death some months later. So for Esiaba Irobi. And the Diaspora factor.

You could actually meet most of these writers with firm appointments across Nigerian cities -in that period of composing the series. But not anymore. A majority of The Third Wave Poets are domiciled overseas at the moment. And if you have experienced the logistics of such transactions – that is an additional freight to smooth transactions in the trade.

Never mind the ‘promises’ of online correspondences – there is nothing as strong as getting a Maik Nwosu to chat in The Presidential Hotel Port Harcourt, and taking on Onookome Okome in the evening at the same venue! Because time flies or freezes – this much is now Lost.