Writing and Pastoral works are Spiritual Exercises with Inspirations

 

Writing and Pastoral works are Spiritual Exercises with Inspirations

 

-       Ibusa Novelist, Chike Okeze

 

With the recent literary growth and renaissance among young writers, an encouraging discovery is made of Chike Godwin Okeze, a Pastor, Writer and Novelist from the Ibusa Community in Delta State. Chike Okeze, the Author of “A Sacrifice of Peace” and a member of Guild of Ibusa Writers and Authors, speaks to PEN MASTER (EMEKA ESOGBUE) on a number of issues impacting on literary Nigeria. Excerpts:

 

Pen Master: It is my pleasure to meet you, a young Anioma writer. However, I consider it appropriate that our global readers also meet you for wider recognition.

 

Okeze: Thank you, the Pen Master Sir. It’s indeed a rare honour providing me the platform to be heard. My name is Chike Godwin Okeze. I am the author of “Amope the Slave Girl,” published by Macmillan Nigeria Publishers. There are other self-published titles like “Ule the Lazy farmer” and “Helen: A Retrospect | A Reversion.” I have written several unpublished titles. “Sacrifice of Peace” is my fourth published effort. I am a founding member of literary authors cooperative; I attended Sari Iganmu Primary School and also Sari Iganmu Secondary School, both in the same complex of Sari Iganmu in Lagos. I went further to attend the Lagos State Polytechnic and graduated with a university degree in Business Administration. I am an Associate member of Chartered Institute of Administration (ACIA). I am a Pastor in The Redeemed Christian Church of God and have been a Parish Pastor since 2014 in parishes of Lagos.

 

Pen Master: …I know you are backgrounded in Ibusa, a community in Delta State

 

Okeze: (Laughing aloud) Yes! Though I was born and brought up in Lagos Nigeria, I am from the Ibusa community. My parents are Mr. and Mrs. Sunday Josephine Okeze. Like I said, I am from Ibusa, in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State. I am from Obodo Akpu in Umueze axis of the community. I understand my dialect but not so fluent in speaking it. I am the second child in the family of six siblings. We are five boys and a girl. I can best describe myself as easy going and as an imaginative person. Maybe I should still that I am an indoor person. I have lived most of my life in Lagos with occasional trips to areas outside the state. If you call me a ‘Lagosian,’ I don’t think it’s misplaced. I know I love writing, reading, listening to music and have a fair interest in football.

 

Pen Master: Okeze, despite your Lagos background, you are coming from the homespun of writers and other great intellectuals. A mere intellectual imagination of Ibusa, your hometown strikes one with Prof Onyebuchi Emecheta, Philip Ngozi Kwusike, both late now; Dr. Peter Anene-Nzekwue, Toni Kan Onwordi, Austin Ogechukwu Nwulia, Austin Eloka Ajufo who is now the Secretary to the Oshimili North Council, Augustine Ajufo, Victor Asiana, who was formerly, the Vice President-General of your Ibusa Community Development Union. He had his book recently premiered by Nollywood. You have the likes of Irene-Genevieve Nwajei, the creative girl. You probably know writer and dramatist, Dr. Henry Obi Ajumeze, the President of Guild of Ibusa Writers and Authors who is based in far-away UK and recently, Charles Ozo Esogbue, the one with a work on motivation. Looking at this community, a natural beehive of writers, one may be tempted to ask you. Does the art of writing run in your people?

 

Okeze: (Laughing) Ibusa is indeed blessed with intellectuals, creative writing inclusive. I have read a couple of works from Prof. Buchi Emecheta and same with Mr. Philip Ngozi Kwusike. It came to me as a shock when I learnt about their passing on. It’s indeed a loss to the Ibusa community as both were great authors. May their souls rest on. I have heard of Austin Ajufo and others, but I have not been privilege to meet any of them.

To answer your question on whether writing runs in the blood, I would say yes. Both of my parents were good storytellers. My father, while he was alive, was a communicator and custodian of history, while my mother was good at bedtime stories. I believe storytelling runs in the blood. Storytelling to me is a gift. It comes to me naturally, but I had to learn the art of creative writing, to perfect it. I was able to develop my creative skills with literature during my secondary school days.

 

Pen Master: It sounds good to know that for you, writing was never accidental. Well, you are a Pastor and Novelist at the same time. Yet again, a storyteller. How do you combine all of these and come out unscathed?

 

Okeze: Maybe combining my writing with the pastoral work, for me, has been smooth. I have come to realize that creative writing and pastoral works are both spiritual exercises. It takes inspiration to do both tasks. Again, long before I became a Pastor, I have been writing. I took the decision to write for the first time, in 2001 and I became pastor in 2014. Due to my wealth of experience in creative writing, I have learnt to balance both tasks. Again, my writing skills have a way of rubbing off on my sermons. I have a draft of compiled sermons which I hope to publish in the nearest future.

 

Pen Master: …okay but what is this book, “A Sacrifice of Peace about?”

 

Okeze: Yes. The idea about sacrifice of Peace came about, because I wanted to try my hands on an epic story to emulate the likes of Chinua Achebe, who’s an authority in this genre. Again, the story is written to mirror the negative impact of long standing communal clashes prevalent in our African societies and the need for social reforms to stem this ugly trend. The story projects love as a panacea to the lasting unity and peace among people and communities. This is seen in the character of Amadi as he remains resolute with his idea of Peace and unity, even in the face of death. The story promotes the preservation of African folklores, folk tales, and songs, which could be sung in our schools and colleges. Sacrifice of Peace is indeed rich in folktales. Finally, the story is written with for our young adults and children of school age in mind, to stir up conversations on Africa culture and values in the class of learning.

 

Pen Master: …but the reading culture among young adults and children of school age and maybe among others appear to have gone down in the country and only a few care to purchase books with their money. How can the attitude of reading return in the country?

 

Okeze: (Nodding his head in affirmation) True! The reading culture in the country is drastically going down, if not totally dead. It’s indeed discouraging for writers who should be expecting the sales of their books. However, I am optimistic that the reading culture in the country can be improved if the right decisions are taken. The stakeholders in the creative writing industry must get all the necessary resources together to revive the near comatose state of our literate population. We have to take reading back to schools. This could be made possible by creating reading clubs; book reviews contest among pupils in schools. We should also sponsor and come on board to make incentives available for those participating in reading. Again, with eBook publishing by the likes of Amazon, Lulu, Okada book etc, authors have opportunity to make their books available to global readers. There are options of audio book publication and adaption of the books into movies and TV series, which is another source of income for the author. Sales of my books have been relatively good considering the number of copies I put out in the market. I opted for the print on demand option due to the high cost of producing a larger volume. The book will be going live on Amazon on the 30th of March, 2023. I have been using the social media to create awareness on the book. I hope to have the book adapted into a movie. And I will need the best hands of Ibusa in the film industry to achieve this. Pen Master, I know you will be an available resource person to the achieving of this vision, sir.

 

Pen Master: (Smiling) Thank you, Pastor Chike Okeze for thinking about me in this manner. Well, usually, they say no support from their people. Is your own case any different?

 

Okeze: Creative writing as a career is indeed a narrow path in this part of the world. Incentives, grants and sponsorships are to be made available for authors overseas though but that’s not the case with writers in Nigeria and some other parts of Africa. I have never been privileged to receive any support in whatever form since I took up writing as a pursuit. No notable personality from Ibusa community have sponsored or supported my writing project. I think the reason is because there is no structured platform to facilitate that. I hope things take a turn for the better for writers and other intellectual property owners.

 

Pen Master: That’s quite unfortunate. I understand you to be a notable member of Guild of Ibusa Writers and Authors. Maybe this Organization might help in future. Talking about this Association, Okeze, what does this group portray?

 

Okeze: We call the Guild of Ibusa Writers and Authors GIWA. Now, aside from GIWA, I belong to Literary Authors Cooperative, Christian Writers Association and some other online creative writing groups. I also belong to a group called Mitia. They have something to do with creative writing but are not limited to writers alone. GIWA is Guild of Ibusa Writers Association. This association is created to bring writers, media persons, film makers and other creative minds of Ibusa extraction together to forge a common front in cooperating and promoting the welfarism and professionalism of members. They are several benefits associated with GIWA but time will not permit me to go into this.

 

Pen Master: As a writer with interest in the development of your community, what can you say about your Ibusa?

 

Okeze: Though I have not been frequent in Ibusa in recent times so I may not have accurate information about the happening there right now, from the little I know, I think a lot of positivity are coming from the people. 

 

Pen Master: The old Ibusa generation portrayed names, cultures, traditions and landmark places in Ibusa in their respective works. Why don’t we find these in the new generation of writers? This question is coming as a constructive criticism having read your work, “A Sacrifice of peace”.

 

Okeze: What I tried to do with “Sacrifice of Peace” is to promote Ibusa and her cultural heritage to the world. I may not have mentioned the name Ibusa directly but I played with the locations and geographical relieves of the town. The names of places like Achala, Umueze, Iyi oji, Asiama River etc. Some of the common Ibusa greetings are being used in the story. I have always wanted to put Ibusa on the map with my writing. There are some of my yet to be published titles where one of my characters resides in Ibusa. I hope one day it will be published.

 

Pen Master: Is writing lucrative?

 

Okeze: Writing has a huge potential for good earnings but it’s quite unfortunate that the Nigerian market is bedeviled with a lot of abnormalities. One of which is piracy and almost none existence of a proper publishing companies. The government lack of interest in adequate protection of intellectual properties is contributory to poor profitability in the publishing industry. Again, author bodies like Association of Nigerian Authors are doing very little to promote the interest of writers as regards profiting from their works.

 

Pen Master: Finally, your message for the youths

 

Okeze: My message to the youth of today; the youths should make up their minds to be responsible. They must strive for self-discovery and engage their mind positively as to make a great change they would like to see in the society.