Nupe language is far from developed – Ibrahim

ISYAKU BALA IBRAHIM, popularly known as Nupe Writer, is an indigene of Bidafu-Zhaba in Gbako local government area of Niger state. A holder of B.Sc. in Management Studies and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, and Bayero University, Kano, respectively, he is a staff of Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja. In this interview with SUMAILA UMAISHA, he speaks on the recent Northern Nigeria Writers’ Summit held in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, Nupe literature in comparison to Hausa literature, and the place of translation in indigenous literature.

What is your impression of the 2nd Northern Writers’ Summit held in Birnin Kebbi?

This is a summit that assembled writers from all over the country. To my understanding, the tag ‘Northern Nigeria Writers’ is just an assemblage of writers residing in the North. You could be an Igbo person as late Cyprian Ekwensi was, born in Niger State and some of his writings and book could not divorce his northerness from them, like The Passport of Malam Ilia, An African Night’s Entertainment etc. Frankly, here, I see Nigerian writers living in this part of the country brainstorming on the best way to grow literature in the region and the country as a whole. This is my impression actually.

The paper you presented at the summit is titled ‘Translation as a Tool for Language development – The Nupe Language Experience’; let’s have the gist of the contents of the paper?

Language is the emissary of every culture. The ability of one to spread it and be acceptable by other cultures/ethnic groups is the height of cultural promotion. It took me five days to put together something on this genre for the summit after my interest was triggered by BM Dzukogi who informed me of the date and the need for the popularization of the work we are doing on translation for the literary development of the region. Prior to this summit, we came up with the idea of encouraging the development of our indigenous languages’ literature that will lead to their growth because Niger State alone has about 36 independent languages. The questions keep on coming as how do we make sure that these languages live beyond 21st century? How do we can encourage writing in Gbagyi (Gbari), Kamuku, Kambari, Nupe, Dakarkari, Fulani, etc? So, we found that aside writing in the languages, translation of popular works of our English book writers into these languages. We started with Nupe as a pilot language.

So the paper actually centred on how we can use translation to advance the development of our dying languages, for instance how the country can effectively teach sciences with the use of translated science and humanity books in schools in the students’ mother languages. the paper went further to state that it was the translation of the earlier scientists and philosophers’ works into chains of languages that trigger the European Renaissance which invariably led to the scientific revolution of the world which we can repeat same here in Nigeria or Africa.

What is the importance of this matter to literary development in the North?

History has shown that most developed societies in Europe and America used translation as a tool for promoting their culture, and scientific development. This is done through transmission of knowledge from one language to another which gives societies unlimited access to other civilizations and how they solve economic, security, religious and social problems. For instance, The Complete Bible is the most translated book in the world into over 475 languages, while the Holy Qur’an 112 languages. Our own Things Fall Apart got translated into 50 languages of the world from its source language of English; surprisingly and sadly too, none of Nigerian languages is among these translated works including the author’s language of Igbo. How I wish he published the book in Igbo language first then may be the English one. Nevertheless, can anyone doubt the impact of these books in changing the people and the world’s cultures currently?

Therefore, I strongly believe that when we translate books like Things Fall Apart into say at least 100 Nigerian languages, out of which 50 might come from the north – one would have at least helped in the language preservation efforts from the threat of extinction, promotion of cultural harmony and multiethnic jingoism. It will also put the region on the world map of the most vibrant in times of multilingual literary development. And lastly it will also help to curb uncontrolled cultural imperialism on other indigenous languages in the country because I do not like the use of the term ‘minority languages’ instead I used ‘indigenous languages’.

Would you say Nupe Language has been developed enough in terms of literature?

To say a language is developed depends on the parameters used. It could be the number of speakers the language is able to create, available literature, technological adaptability, multimedia advancement etc. However, if these are your gauge of language development you are talking about, then, Nupe language is far from been developed as the language only has few literary books which most often are out of the reach of many speakers that is, they are not widely circulated or gone out of stock. But in oral transmission of the language from parent to children, we have done a bit well but lots are still needed to get there. I can only say we are developed literary wise when I see Nupe Language books been sold in the markets and the language is been taught in schools both at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Can it compete with Hausa language in this regard?

The fact is there are different experiences in the growth of this genre. We have been competing long ago, I am not too aware of many translations of other languages into Hausa or vice versa. The few and popular ones I knew are: Charles Henry Robinson’s first edition ofDictionary of the Hausa Language Volume I (English-Hausa) published in 1900. There is another effort by Neil Skinner that wrote the Hausa – English Pocket Dictionary titled Kamus Na Hausa Da Turanci published in 1959, and then Modern Hausa –English Dictionary by Paul Newman, and Roxana Ma Newman of the Centre for the Study of Nigerian Languages of the Bayero University Kano published in 1977. There is also the translation of the complete Holy Qur’an from Arabic language to Hausa by Late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi titled Al-Kur’ani Mai Girma da Ma’anoninsa da Harshen Hausa completed in 1979 and widely circulated too. I think there is also complete Bible translated into Hausa language too.

Likewise, there are several works that have been translated into Nupe language too which I extensively mentioned in the paper I presented some of which are: Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther translated Gospel of John into Nupe in 1877 and others. Rev. Henry Johnson published a Nupe reading book and a translation of the Catechism of the Church of England in 1883; he translated the Gospels into Nupe and popularly known as the African Pastor between1886-1887. Thomas W. Bako with others published some of his translations works such as: Alikéwo Wóró nyá Jesu Kristi Cocĩ to Zaboluguoyi (Gospels (revised), a 283 page book with J. L. Macintyre, and CMS in 1899; Psalms into Nupe in 1903. Alexandra Banfield Wood also translated the following: A Grammar of the Nupe Language together with a Vocabulary by A. W. Banfield & J. L. Macintyre in 1915; A Nupe Dictionary in two volumes of over 13,000 words was also published; volume 1 in 1914 and volume 2 in 1916; Published in 1916, Gamaga – Nupe Proverb and translated in English, a collection of 623 Nupe proverbs. Through a committee included: A. W. Banfield, I. W. Sherk, F. Merryweather, A. E. Ball, and C. H. Daintree together translated the whole bible into Nupe in 1953. Late Sheikh Saidu Muhammad Enagi translated completely the Holy Qur’an into Nupe Language in 2002, Ambassador Solomon Adama Yisa, Just published over 700-page Nupe Heritage Dictionary presented to the public in Abuja last month. So, if this is the competition you are asking, I will say both languages (Nupe and Hausa) have been competing in this subject, and it is a healthy one.

What are the factors hampering Nupe literature?

First government total negligence at all levels, little efforts from traditional institutions, gross negligence by the department of Nigerian languages of our higher institutions to explore other languages either than Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo; not teaching the language in the core language centres in Niger, Kogi, Kwara, and FCT.

What is being done to overcome these hurdles and improve Nupe literature?

Regrettably, the current efforts to improve Nupe language literature are squarely championed by few individual writers. Ambassador Solomon Adama Yisa just presented in June 2013 over 700page Nupe Heritage Dictionary to the public in Abuja. There are also few individuals trying their little way to grow the language. On the collective level, there is a proposal to host Nupe Language Conference which will take place very soon been championed by BM Dzukogi, Abdullahi Ismaila, Baba Akote, and myself to develop a curriculum and teaching the language in our schools.

What personal project are you embarking on to improve the literature?

There are several of them; first I have two published works on Nupe language; in 2009,Eganmaganzhi Nupe (Nupe Proverbs) which is over 1000 proverbs-book with English translation and explanations; then in 2012 Enyalò (Nupe Arithmetic). Secondly, I have several unpublished titles such as:

- Cincin Guta (a Nupe Novel)

- Ecingi Mi à kya (Nupe Folktales for Children)

- Egancinzhi (Nupe Idiomatic Expressions)

- Ecinzhi (Nupe Riddles)

- Eganmaganzhi Nupe (Nupe Proverbs) Volume II and lots more

On translations – last year with Sarkin Wasan Nupe, Sadisu Mohammad we translated Prof. Muhammad Kuta Yahaya’s play – Ignorance is a Disease into Nupe as (Rakpebo Batán Wun Yi ò). In addition, I have just finished translating BM Dzukogi’s Sex is Beautiful into Nupe (Cin Sà);and I’m currently translating Chinua Achibe’s Things Fall Apart which is expected to be on the shelves by the end of the year everything been equal.

How do you see Nupe literature and the Northern literature generally in the next ten years?

With the right commitment and determination by Allah’s Grace, there will be very soon several books on different genres on the language and other languages in the region. I expect our educational institutions to produce different research works in different aspect of our languages using the languages as instructional tools.

What is your advice to writers in indigenous languages?

They should keep writing in their indigenous languages, because if they do not, no one else will do it and they should be aware that the threat of language extinction which our languages face today can to a large extent be averted through teaching and documenting them in books, films etc. So the fate of these languages is in our own hands. So, do something today.

 - This interview was published in Blueprint newspaper (No.509) page 32 Friday, August 2, 2013, Abuja, Nigeria