POPULARISING THE NAIJA LANGUAGE
Using the word 'pidgin' to describe the speech pattern or its written version commonly referred to as broken English in days gone by or stylishly named 'rotten English' by Ken Saro Wiwa in his novel Sozaboy is no longer fashionable nor accurate -so concluded language scholars at the IFRA (Institut Francais de Recherche en Afrique) Nigeria-organized conference on the Nigeria Pidgin held at the University of Ibadan in 2009.
The conference rose with the firm resolution that the Nigerian Pidgin is currently well developed enough in terms of widespread usage, identifiable orthography and communicative propensity to shed the derogatory connotation of the term pidgin and wear a new respectable toga to be known as Naija. Several measures were suggested to further popularize the Naija Langwej in its current standardized version, among which was its use in literary writings.
The poet, Eriata Oribhabor, was an active participant at the said conference, where he presented a paper on 'The Use of Naija in the Media, Arts and Entertainment' and it is, therefore, logical for him to attempt to creatively present the newly renamed Naija langwej in 50 poems of varying length and subjects in a collection entitled Abuja Na Kpangba An Oda Puem -dem .The arrival of the collection, with its catchy title, echoes many other iconoclastic efforts by notable poets in the past in their attempts to make us take the then pidgin seriously as a language of creativity. One recalls Aig-Imouekhuede's Pidgin Stew and Sufferhead (1982),Ken Saro Wiwa's long pidgin poem 'Dis Nigeria Self' in his collection Songs In a Time of War(1985), Mamman Jiya Vatsa's Tori For Geti Bow Leg(1985),Ezenwa Ohaeto's I wan Bi President(1988) and If To Say I be Soja(1998) as signposting the land-marking usage of the Nigerian Pidgin in literature.
All the aforementioned books were received by the reading public for their public spirited themes and particularly for their use of a language with mass appeal -the language of the people.
Abuja Na Kpangba An Oda Puem-dem, though following in the footsteps of the rich traditions of Pidgin poetry of the earlier writers, makes a strong case for taking the form seriously in terms of conforming to the grammar and stylized standards of the Naija langwej. Beyond the pioneers identified above, contemporary writers usually switch on to pidgin as a kind of second rate attempt at creating humour which they erroneously think pidgin is best for and can be done as solely defined by the capacity and exposure of any writer. Thus we see varied orthography, some of them outlandish and mostly led by the ear and generally appearing like twisted English in many of the pieces presented as Nigerian Pidgin in contemporary Nigerian literature, whether it is drama, prose or poetry.
In Abuja Na Kpangba…, the corrective and pioneering venture of the poet Eriata in showcasing the new way the hitherto Nigerian Pidgin now Naija should be written is noted in the 'Edito Mesej' by David Esizimetor prefacing the poems thus: 'dis koleshon of puem speshal bikos na im bi di fest naija langwej buk we dem poblish wit di niu spelin sistem we bi Standad Naija Otografi(SNO) we Naija Langwej Akedemi(NLA)aprov.' After that, the poet plunges into the wonders and the contradictions of the city of Abuja in the title poem entitled Abuja na hevun,na kpangba where he writes: Abuja na ples!/ wen you land/ yu go wonda weda/ na Naija yu de?/ yu go de luk ayanyan/ yu go de hala laik se/ yu wan kolo/ yu go se/ 'abi no bi Naija bi dis?'/ 'abi na obodo oyibo bi dis?'
In another poem the poet asks: 'Wich Landa Broda?' as a post-colonial critique of history as written or perceived by the colonizers, not sparing the internal colonialists, too: Abuja don te/ Gbagyi don de/ bifo Abuja kom de
na so i bi.// Naija don te/ awa pipul don te/ bifo Naija kom de/ na so i bi.//
Na so wi de/ Dem se na Landa Broda/ Dat na wait lai/ Wich Landa Broda?
In poems, such as 'A get sista' and 'Wich neshon yu bi?', the poet explores family themes and upbringing resonating with the boy-girl child dilemma as it affects both parents. In the first poem, we witness a mother with so many boys already pining for a girl: 'No bi boi bi di tin/na gel mama want/bot na boi' ; while in the second poem we encounter a disciplinarian father dealing with his horde of boys: 'Papa pas soja/i gada os laik gels/haus no get gels/i no wan hie.'
The poems in the collection traverse the wide range of subjects any poet can muster, ranging from socio-political concern, love, treachery, ribaldry ,urban tales, class dichotomy to simple display of street lingo or credibility which is never in short supply in the arsenal of the form on which the collection is built. What is however very noticeable in Abuja Na Kpangba is the assured manner in which the poet is able to navigate the varied subjects using Naija(Nigerian Pidgin) without being verbose and with refreshing turn of phrases in virtually all the poems that give the reader a feeling of reading Pidgin like it has not been written before. And in places where the poet quarries deep into the lingo of Naija, as spoken in maybe Sapele-Warri axis considered as the native speaking area of the language, footnotes not glossaries are generously supplied to aid comprehension by non-native speaker. For example, in the poem 'Na fo haus yu swim?', mocking pretentious child upbringing by parents, who themselves were very free as children, the poet pens thus: Wi du am fo sansan/ Baf fo sansan/ Swim fo dambadamba/ Kach ogoro,kuk feri fud/ Ple,jomp an laf. (italics mine).
In explaining some uncommon words in the above smippet from a much longer poem, the poet supplies footnotes indicating that sansan means 'sandy ground',dambadamba as 'stagnant pool of rain water collected in dugout sand pits',ogoro as 'frogs' and kuk feri fud as 'cook imaginary play food.'The most obvious change in the orthography a lay reader of the collection will notice in relation to earlier forms of the Nigerian Pidgin he or she may have come across is in the spelling and pronunciation of the letters or words i and a . The letter i in very many pidgin renditions sounds as or pronounced as a as in i dey kampe (apology to Olusegun Obasanjo of i -still -dey- laugh fame).In Abuja Na Kpangba, the written form of i and the pronunciation is close to that of the letter e as used in context in the poem 'Abuja na hevun,na kpangba': 'Abuja na dip les!/na di veri ples/i de kamkpe no bi lai.' Compare that to the use in the poem 'A arenj' which goes thus: 'A de kamkpe/a arenj/a si pepe,a sabi/a arenj, etc.'
Eriata Oribhabor has definitely achieved a crescendo in Abuja Na Kpangba in the sheer exhibition of the mastery of Naija(Nigerain Pidgin), as he passionately weaves piece after piece, showcasing the viability of the language in expressing our humanity and the endless pleasures that lie in speaking in one's own tongue;in this case the Naija Langwej.The book from the content page to the blurb is written in the Naija langwej which is commendable except for the page on about the author at the very end which is written in straight English and one wonders why that oversight?And you readers must wonder too why this review was written in English and not in the Naija Langwej or at least in Nigerian Pidgin. I guess it will take a long time before we will be able to settle the language question in our literature and the coming of Abuja Na Kpangba has added a fresher dimension to the unending discourse.
Denja Abdullahi, former National General Secretary, Association of Nigerian Authors, is Deputy Director, National Council for Arts and Culture, Abuja.