(Dr Ayo Daniels is the creator and convener of ‘Just Doodles’, an annual literary festival in Abuja. With JERRY ADESEWO in this interview, he recounted the journey of the event which has been on for twelve years.)
You recently hosted this years’ edition of the annual gathering of creative minds in Abuja known as Just Doodles. What is Just Doodles all about?
If you check the dictionary meaning of doodling you will get an idea of what just doodles is all about. The term doodles could be applied to absent-minded or spontaneous playing of musical notes, drawing or scribbling. If you travel outside the country, in England for example you find doodles (generally referred to as graffiti) on walls on the roadsides. These are in form of paintings, writings etc. Some of them actually turn out to be very beautiful. Similarly, when you play series of unrehearsed notes on a guitar, that may also be referred to as doodling.
Now, talking specifically about the annual Just Doodles I host, it is a way of encouraging people to bring out the creativity in them and at the same time getting a relief from the stress of life. I believe that every individual has some creative talent. So, during just doodles sessions you are encouraged to express your creative talent as the ‘spirit moves you’ - that is just coming and doing whatever creative art comes to mind. Though I am a trained scientist I recognize the importance of the arts in life. My friends and I, in my younger days, often got into debate trying to characterize God as a Scientist or an Artiste. I remember advancing argument in support of God being an Artiste before being a Scientist. Consider the beauty of nature. Look all around you at the work of creation, the colours, and the balance in everything. Consider the singing birds and the blue ocean. Look at man - the curves and the symmetry. Please note that I am by no means trivializing the scientific contents of nature.
What is the origin of Just Doodles?
The idea of gathering artistes started when I was in the University of Lagos. I started a club with some friends called Inner Vision. Initially, people did not understand the concept of the club. In fact, some thought it was another cult group springing up. I was faced with the challenge of explaining the name Inner Vision. You see, I believe art works are physical manifestation of the vision within - the way we think, the way we perceive things. The club Inner Vision had four departments. There was the music department headed by Alex Irene, literary department headed by Kudo Eke, drama department headed by Dotun Tokun (gifted actor whom I am surprise is no longer in drama), and fine arts departments headed by Bolade Apampa. They were all undergraduate students while I was a postgraduate student then. We had performances in various places, most of them within UNILAG but some were held outside the campus. Within the music department of Inner Vision, I also put together a music band called The Zenith. We played in the campus and occasionally in Night Clubs where we made extra money. I switched between playing the bass guitar, lead guitar and keyboard. I tried singing but soon found that wasn’t my strength. In the course of event we all parted ways.
In 1984 I joined Lagos State Polytechnic as a lecturer in the School of Engineering and set up a group called Utopia. Most of the membership of Utopia was drawn from my engineering students who were highly talented artistes. Utopia was a sort of carry over of Inner Vision from University of Lagos. We had presentations of drama, music and fine arts and all. Just the same concept of Inner Vision. Let me briefly take you back to my undergraduate days at the University of Lagos. I am sure you know Abayomi Barber, a fine artiste and Bode Osanyin, a playwright and dramatist. Both of them encouraged me. Abayomi Barber in terms of my painting and Bode Osanyin in the area of writing and drama production. I recall , with glee, 1977, when I earned my first substantial salary in life by designing the stage/set for one of Bode Osanyin’s plays, Kubura. This was during Festac ’77 when UNILAG organized a mini Festival to complement the major Festival. I also composed music for some of the productions. I am currently working on the music I composed for Exception and the Rule. – One of Bode’s productions to release it as an album.
You have probably heard about Writers Resort in Ijoko-Ota, on the outskirt of Lagos. That was Bode Osanyin’s concept. On a monthly basis he hosted writers in critique sessions. The Association of Nigerian Authors played prominently role in these sessions. My troupe from Lagos State polytechnic was a major support for the writers resort. We presented drama sketches and dances as side attractions. Usually a Guest Writer was featured every month. Both established and up-coming writers wer featured. I remember that Kole Omotosho once feature at the Resort. I was also featured. He also featured Tope Ashade (Now Mrs. Olaifa). Her play, a cut too deep which I produced for that session has been acclaimed as a masterpiece.
When I left Lagos State polytechnic I lost the luxury of using students to produce my plays so I focus more on my paintings. But the concept of Inner Vision and Utopia was still burning in my mind. When I came to Abuja I tried to get involved with the University of Abuja theatre but found activities were in low gear and of course the distance to town wasn’t encouraging. After that I went to the Abuja Council for Arts and Culture with the desire to get involved in art, literature and cultural activities in the city but there was low level of activities as well. So I came up with the decision to start inner vision in my house and that was when the idea of Just Doodles came up. That was in 1996. I bought some basic musical instruments – drum set, keyboard, electric guitars and amplification units. I went to Sheraton, invited some of the musicians I had met with when I use to go to Sheraton with my family to spend the evening. It started as a quarterly gathering but when I got too busy with office work I decided to host the gathering annually. The beauty of just doodles is that you don’t know which artistes will be featured. Though we have some regular guest artistes like Francis Duru, Chuka Ugwu, Oma Oma. We have at some time had Onome, Ayuba, Aladin, Julietta, Patrick Otoro, and Aladdin, Cappo, Ada Jesus and many others. Other lesser known artistes also get to express themselves. A lot of times the Guest Artiste don’t even get to perform as such because we have a lot of people wanting to use the opportunity to express themselves. Today, there are so many of those who had performed at Just Doodles that had gone ahead to be professionals. Just Doodles was just like a rehearsal ground for them then. Altogether, Just Doodles has been on for the last thirteen years.
Obviously, you have a long history of presence and experience in the art, literary and cultural sector. What exactly is your own background?
I have BSc and Phd in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos. I have always been torn between art and sciences. I will tell you a small story. After my O’Level my literature teacher wanted to register me for French, Literature and Fine Art while my science teachers registered me for Mathematics, Biology and Physics. My father had preference for science even though he never forced it on me. I was saved the trouble of choosing when I was admitted to University of Lagos for prelim Chemical Engineering. The consolation was that studying Engineering did not stop me from expressing my artistic talents. The truth is that I am also interested in engineering and if I had studied the arts it would have been difficult for me to actualize my interest in engineering and science.
What is in Just Doodles for you?
What is in it for me is satisfaction. I don’t expect any back. I will tell you a joke. At a point in time we had a function that required us buying clothes at what I considered ridiculous amount and I told my wife that we were not prepared for such expenses. She there and then calculated the cost of instruments I bought for Just Doodles and wondered if we were prepared for that kind of expenditure. She won the argument and so I allowed her to buy the cloth. Of course I didn’t buy for myself. What I am trying to say is that a lot of my personal earnings go into it. There has been a lot of suggestion from people that we should turn it to a club or commercialize it. I am afraid that doing that will negate the objectives of the concepts. You see, in all sincerity I consider myself a very lucky person because I had scholarship all throughout my education from secondary school through my Undergraduate and postgraduate studies. I had job offers from more than one organization on graduation and I can’t remember not being able to get what I need at anytime. So I can afford to give back to the society. That is my own philosophy. I am not saying this for political reason. I don’t have interest in partisan politics. I look at people who had given themselves and their life to this country and I admire them. People like Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the rest. I admire there courage and wished I can do what they are doing for the society but may be I am not cut out for that role so I try to play the role I believe I can play effectively. I try to give similar support to sports, especially basketball as well.
Are you in any way worried about the lack of support for the art in Nigeria?
I won’t say I am worried. We have the same complain about engineering, we complain about education, sports and other sectors. The fact is that Nigeria is Nigeria and a developed country is a developed country. What we are spending on science and technology in Nigeria is peanut. And no country can grow like that. The problem with Nigeria is multidimensional. We have lots of differences. We have political, religious, ethnic and of course individual differences. I must tell you at this point that I don’t envy the President because there is a lot for him to think about and manage. If you build an art center in Ibadan, you have to build one in Kaduna and Enugu. Same with stadium, you cannot build one in Enugu and stop there; you have to balance it by building in Kano and Ekiti as well. These are some of the challenges we have. Nigeria is not as rich as people believe. We don’t have basic infrastructure for anything we want to do. So there is competing needs for funds. So Art is not considered an immediate necessity. If the question is asked ‘why should I listen to music?’ you’ll probably get a response such as ’music sooths the heart’. This is not as tangible as putting food on the table. So, let’s not burden the government further. It is the art that should organize and sponsor itself. For instance, is it government that is driving comedy shows? Is it government that is driving fashion show? Anything that you see that is thriving, it is the people behind it that are responsible for its success. It is the people. It is what they want. I will tell u something about Just Doodles. The initial concept was modified a little bit. It was supposed to be a creative session but when people come in they want to dance and we have to give in to them. Personally, I would prefer to feature more of classical music, jazz and their likes, but it’s the popular demand we have had to give in to. The people of Lagos have made some appreciable stride in promoting the arts. Abuja is a civil servants and contractors town. It is only recently that more creative people are coming in. I can see a gradual change but it’s still going to take time before Abuja can host, on regular basis, the kind of events that take place in MUSON Center in Lagos.
Tell us about the most memorable and challenging point of Just Doodles
Most memorable is when I see a star on the television and remembered that they had once been at Just Doodles. The occasional challenge is funding. I must say we have a good number of friends who support with drinks and other food. Another challenge is space. When we started it was just fifty but this year we had over 300 people. We also have the challenge of managing people and parking space. There have been suggestions that I move it out of my house possibly to a garden or a hotel. While I am giving that a thought, I am worried people may become more inhibited if it takes place in such public places.
What is your assessment of Nigerian Literature in the outgoing year?
I came across quite a number of new books and I will like to commend the efforts of the authors. However, you find grammatical and spelling errors in some of the books while others can at best be seen as series of disjointed sentences. These were in the minority but they are enough to cast doubts in the minds of any reader about Nigerian books. This is where I believe bodies like ANA can come in. ANA could take it upon itself to review books published in Nigeria and possibly rate them along some clearly defined criteria – for example style, plot, grammar, spelling and so on. Such reviews should be published in a magazine and given wide circulation – especially for non-technical books written for children, pre-teens and teenagers.
Should art be for art sake?
Art for art sake does not last. When art has a message it stands the test of time. In history, even when the message is not understood critics struggle to find meaning to the art. Take for example Mona Lisa – painting by Leonardo Davinci or Christiana’s World by Andrew Whyet. Apart from the beauty of these paintings, what have kept men discussing them are the messages behind the paintings - the various interpretations.
Consider Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Yes, I admit the music is good but the major reason Fela’s music is still fresh in many people’s mind is the message – voice of the oppressed; hope for the poor; liberation for those who seek to be free from conventional life style. There were some excesses with Fela but you must agree that he had a message. We have heard more melodious music from other artists but because they didn’t have strong message they faded away.
Years after Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart it is still being celebrated. It is classified as a novel but it is also a documentary of a sort – a history book.
Wole Soyinka did not win the Nobel Prize just for writing nice stories in good English. If anyone doubts this he should read ‘The Man Died’.
The same thing can be said about drama and movies. Sound of Music is just a story but it has a message hence it has passed from generation to generation. Some of us remember, with nostalgia, ‘Village Headmaster’. These days, when I stumble upon Nigerian films, usually when somebody else is watching, I have no difficulties in predicting what will happen next. Many of them have a single message – ‘don’t trust Nigerians, they practice voodoo and occultism, they are con-men etc!’ Is that the message we should be sending to the world. Of course, I have seen some good ones too!
Which Nigeria author have you read of recent?
I have not read much in recent times – I have been following the American politics – reading the two books by Obama – ‘Dreams from my Father Land’ and ‘Audacity of Hope’. I have just read Wale Okediran’s book – ‘The Weaving Loom’ – simple book but loaded with message. I didn’t discuss it with him but it sounds like the story of Nigeria. I have also been struggling to review Tope Olaifa’s collection of poems.
Any plan to publish any of your own writings?
I published a book in 1996 titled “Just Doodles”. It’s a collection of short stories, poems and works of art – drawings and paintings. Some of these are also on my personal website ayodaniel.net. You see, the internet is taking over and if your primary aim is to give people access to your work then internet is a good place to go. It’s cheaper to publish on the internet and you reach a wider audience. It is however less financially rewarding.
Your opinion about the Nigerian publishing industry?
Because readership is not much there isn’t much profit in publishing with the exception of gossip and fashion’s magazines. Thus publishers do not invest enough in production with the result that final products are often not attractive and, as earlier said, full of errors. I have seen some good ones though. For example, those from Cassava Republic are impressive.
How in your opinion can the reading habit be improved?
We should look in the direction of electronic publishers. Obama won the American election by exploiting technology. We can exploit technology – specifically electronic publishing to win the war against aparthy to reading amongst our youths. I don’t know exactly how but I know we need to go digital. For example, all our folk lores should be produced in electronic forms – multi colors and distributed on CDs and possibly directly to computers and cell phones.
Where do you see Just Doodles in the next five years?
In five years I see people traveling from across the globe to attend “Just Doodles”. Some of my friends come from various parts of Nigeria – especially Lagos for Just Doodles - second Sunday of every December. My daughter is already playing with the idea of parallel sessions of Just Doodles in America and England – she’s only ten but then … who knows!
You recently hosted this years’ edition of the annual gathering of creative minds in Abuja known as Just Doodles. What is Just Doodles all about?
If you check the dictionary meaning of doodling you will get an idea of what just doodles is all about. The term doodles could be applied to absent-minded or spontaneous playing of musical notes, drawing or scribbling. If you travel outside the country, in England for example you find doodles (generally referred to as graffiti) on walls on the roadsides. These are in form of paintings, writings etc. Some of them actually turn out to be very beautiful. Similarly, when you play series of unrehearsed notes on a guitar, that may also be referred to as doodling.
Now, talking specifically about the annual Just Doodles I host, it is a way of encouraging people to bring out the creativity in them and at the same time getting a relief from the stress of life. I believe that every individual has some creative talent. So, during just doodles sessions you are encouraged to express your creative talent as the ‘spirit moves you’ - that is just coming and doing whatever creative art comes to mind. Though I am a trained scientist I recognize the importance of the arts in life. My friends and I, in my younger days, often got into debate trying to characterize God as a Scientist or an Artiste. I remember advancing argument in support of God being an Artiste before being a Scientist. Consider the beauty of nature. Look all around you at the work of creation, the colours, and the balance in everything. Consider the singing birds and the blue ocean. Look at man - the curves and the symmetry. Please note that I am by no means trivializing the scientific contents of nature.
What is the origin of Just Doodles?
The idea of gathering artistes started when I was in the University of Lagos. I started a club with some friends called Inner Vision. Initially, people did not understand the concept of the club. In fact, some thought it was another cult group springing up. I was faced with the challenge of explaining the name Inner Vision. You see, I believe art works are physical manifestation of the vision within - the way we think, the way we perceive things. The club Inner Vision had four departments. There was the music department headed by Alex Irene, literary department headed by Kudo Eke, drama department headed by Dotun Tokun (gifted actor whom I am surprise is no longer in drama), and fine arts departments headed by Bolade Apampa. They were all undergraduate students while I was a postgraduate student then. We had performances in various places, most of them within UNILAG but some were held outside the campus. Within the music department of Inner Vision, I also put together a music band called The Zenith. We played in the campus and occasionally in Night Clubs where we made extra money. I switched between playing the bass guitar, lead guitar and keyboard. I tried singing but soon found that wasn’t my strength. In the course of event we all parted ways.
In 1984 I joined Lagos State Polytechnic as a lecturer in the School of Engineering and set up a group called Utopia. Most of the membership of Utopia was drawn from my engineering students who were highly talented artistes. Utopia was a sort of carry over of Inner Vision from University of Lagos. We had presentations of drama, music and fine arts and all. Just the same concept of Inner Vision. Let me briefly take you back to my undergraduate days at the University of Lagos. I am sure you know Abayomi Barber, a fine artiste and Bode Osanyin, a playwright and dramatist. Both of them encouraged me. Abayomi Barber in terms of my painting and Bode Osanyin in the area of writing and drama production. I recall , with glee, 1977, when I earned my first substantial salary in life by designing the stage/set for one of Bode Osanyin’s plays, Kubura. This was during Festac ’77 when UNILAG organized a mini Festival to complement the major Festival. I also composed music for some of the productions. I am currently working on the music I composed for Exception and the Rule. – One of Bode’s productions to release it as an album.
You have probably heard about Writers Resort in Ijoko-Ota, on the outskirt of Lagos. That was Bode Osanyin’s concept. On a monthly basis he hosted writers in critique sessions. The Association of Nigerian Authors played prominently role in these sessions. My troupe from Lagos State polytechnic was a major support for the writers resort. We presented drama sketches and dances as side attractions. Usually a Guest Writer was featured every month. Both established and up-coming writers wer featured. I remember that Kole Omotosho once feature at the Resort. I was also featured. He also featured Tope Ashade (Now Mrs. Olaifa). Her play, a cut too deep which I produced for that session has been acclaimed as a masterpiece.
When I left Lagos State polytechnic I lost the luxury of using students to produce my plays so I focus more on my paintings. But the concept of Inner Vision and Utopia was still burning in my mind. When I came to Abuja I tried to get involved with the University of Abuja theatre but found activities were in low gear and of course the distance to town wasn’t encouraging. After that I went to the Abuja Council for Arts and Culture with the desire to get involved in art, literature and cultural activities in the city but there was low level of activities as well. So I came up with the decision to start inner vision in my house and that was when the idea of Just Doodles came up. That was in 1996. I bought some basic musical instruments – drum set, keyboard, electric guitars and amplification units. I went to Sheraton, invited some of the musicians I had met with when I use to go to Sheraton with my family to spend the evening. It started as a quarterly gathering but when I got too busy with office work I decided to host the gathering annually. The beauty of just doodles is that you don’t know which artistes will be featured. Though we have some regular guest artistes like Francis Duru, Chuka Ugwu, Oma Oma. We have at some time had Onome, Ayuba, Aladin, Julietta, Patrick Otoro, and Aladdin, Cappo, Ada Jesus and many others. Other lesser known artistes also get to express themselves. A lot of times the Guest Artiste don’t even get to perform as such because we have a lot of people wanting to use the opportunity to express themselves. Today, there are so many of those who had performed at Just Doodles that had gone ahead to be professionals. Just Doodles was just like a rehearsal ground for them then. Altogether, Just Doodles has been on for the last thirteen years.
Obviously, you have a long history of presence and experience in the art, literary and cultural sector. What exactly is your own background?
I have BSc and Phd in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos. I have always been torn between art and sciences. I will tell you a small story. After my O’Level my literature teacher wanted to register me for French, Literature and Fine Art while my science teachers registered me for Mathematics, Biology and Physics. My father had preference for science even though he never forced it on me. I was saved the trouble of choosing when I was admitted to University of Lagos for prelim Chemical Engineering. The consolation was that studying Engineering did not stop me from expressing my artistic talents. The truth is that I am also interested in engineering and if I had studied the arts it would have been difficult for me to actualize my interest in engineering and science.
What is in Just Doodles for you?
What is in it for me is satisfaction. I don’t expect any back. I will tell you a joke. At a point in time we had a function that required us buying clothes at what I considered ridiculous amount and I told my wife that we were not prepared for such expenses. She there and then calculated the cost of instruments I bought for Just Doodles and wondered if we were prepared for that kind of expenditure. She won the argument and so I allowed her to buy the cloth. Of course I didn’t buy for myself. What I am trying to say is that a lot of my personal earnings go into it. There has been a lot of suggestion from people that we should turn it to a club or commercialize it. I am afraid that doing that will negate the objectives of the concepts. You see, in all sincerity I consider myself a very lucky person because I had scholarship all throughout my education from secondary school through my Undergraduate and postgraduate studies. I had job offers from more than one organization on graduation and I can’t remember not being able to get what I need at anytime. So I can afford to give back to the society. That is my own philosophy. I am not saying this for political reason. I don’t have interest in partisan politics. I look at people who had given themselves and their life to this country and I admire them. People like Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the rest. I admire there courage and wished I can do what they are doing for the society but may be I am not cut out for that role so I try to play the role I believe I can play effectively. I try to give similar support to sports, especially basketball as well.
Are you in any way worried about the lack of support for the art in Nigeria?
I won’t say I am worried. We have the same complain about engineering, we complain about education, sports and other sectors. The fact is that Nigeria is Nigeria and a developed country is a developed country. What we are spending on science and technology in Nigeria is peanut. And no country can grow like that. The problem with Nigeria is multidimensional. We have lots of differences. We have political, religious, ethnic and of course individual differences. I must tell you at this point that I don’t envy the President because there is a lot for him to think about and manage. If you build an art center in Ibadan, you have to build one in Kaduna and Enugu. Same with stadium, you cannot build one in Enugu and stop there; you have to balance it by building in Kano and Ekiti as well. These are some of the challenges we have. Nigeria is not as rich as people believe. We don’t have basic infrastructure for anything we want to do. So there is competing needs for funds. So Art is not considered an immediate necessity. If the question is asked ‘why should I listen to music?’ you’ll probably get a response such as ’music sooths the heart’. This is not as tangible as putting food on the table. So, let’s not burden the government further. It is the art that should organize and sponsor itself. For instance, is it government that is driving comedy shows? Is it government that is driving fashion show? Anything that you see that is thriving, it is the people behind it that are responsible for its success. It is the people. It is what they want. I will tell u something about Just Doodles. The initial concept was modified a little bit. It was supposed to be a creative session but when people come in they want to dance and we have to give in to them. Personally, I would prefer to feature more of classical music, jazz and their likes, but it’s the popular demand we have had to give in to. The people of Lagos have made some appreciable stride in promoting the arts. Abuja is a civil servants and contractors town. It is only recently that more creative people are coming in. I can see a gradual change but it’s still going to take time before Abuja can host, on regular basis, the kind of events that take place in MUSON Center in Lagos.
Tell us about the most memorable and challenging point of Just Doodles
Most memorable is when I see a star on the television and remembered that they had once been at Just Doodles. The occasional challenge is funding. I must say we have a good number of friends who support with drinks and other food. Another challenge is space. When we started it was just fifty but this year we had over 300 people. We also have the challenge of managing people and parking space. There have been suggestions that I move it out of my house possibly to a garden or a hotel. While I am giving that a thought, I am worried people may become more inhibited if it takes place in such public places.
What is your assessment of Nigerian Literature in the outgoing year?
I came across quite a number of new books and I will like to commend the efforts of the authors. However, you find grammatical and spelling errors in some of the books while others can at best be seen as series of disjointed sentences. These were in the minority but they are enough to cast doubts in the minds of any reader about Nigerian books. This is where I believe bodies like ANA can come in. ANA could take it upon itself to review books published in Nigeria and possibly rate them along some clearly defined criteria – for example style, plot, grammar, spelling and so on. Such reviews should be published in a magazine and given wide circulation – especially for non-technical books written for children, pre-teens and teenagers.
Should art be for art sake?
Art for art sake does not last. When art has a message it stands the test of time. In history, even when the message is not understood critics struggle to find meaning to the art. Take for example Mona Lisa – painting by Leonardo Davinci or Christiana’s World by Andrew Whyet. Apart from the beauty of these paintings, what have kept men discussing them are the messages behind the paintings - the various interpretations.
Consider Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Yes, I admit the music is good but the major reason Fela’s music is still fresh in many people’s mind is the message – voice of the oppressed; hope for the poor; liberation for those who seek to be free from conventional life style. There were some excesses with Fela but you must agree that he had a message. We have heard more melodious music from other artists but because they didn’t have strong message they faded away.
Years after Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart it is still being celebrated. It is classified as a novel but it is also a documentary of a sort – a history book.
Wole Soyinka did not win the Nobel Prize just for writing nice stories in good English. If anyone doubts this he should read ‘The Man Died’.
The same thing can be said about drama and movies. Sound of Music is just a story but it has a message hence it has passed from generation to generation. Some of us remember, with nostalgia, ‘Village Headmaster’. These days, when I stumble upon Nigerian films, usually when somebody else is watching, I have no difficulties in predicting what will happen next. Many of them have a single message – ‘don’t trust Nigerians, they practice voodoo and occultism, they are con-men etc!’ Is that the message we should be sending to the world. Of course, I have seen some good ones too!
Which Nigeria author have you read of recent?
I have not read much in recent times – I have been following the American politics – reading the two books by Obama – ‘Dreams from my Father Land’ and ‘Audacity of Hope’. I have just read Wale Okediran’s book – ‘The Weaving Loom’ – simple book but loaded with message. I didn’t discuss it with him but it sounds like the story of Nigeria. I have also been struggling to review Tope Olaifa’s collection of poems.
Any plan to publish any of your own writings?
I published a book in 1996 titled “Just Doodles”. It’s a collection of short stories, poems and works of art – drawings and paintings. Some of these are also on my personal website ayodaniel.net. You see, the internet is taking over and if your primary aim is to give people access to your work then internet is a good place to go. It’s cheaper to publish on the internet and you reach a wider audience. It is however less financially rewarding.
Your opinion about the Nigerian publishing industry?
Because readership is not much there isn’t much profit in publishing with the exception of gossip and fashion’s magazines. Thus publishers do not invest enough in production with the result that final products are often not attractive and, as earlier said, full of errors. I have seen some good ones though. For example, those from Cassava Republic are impressive.
How in your opinion can the reading habit be improved?
We should look in the direction of electronic publishers. Obama won the American election by exploiting technology. We can exploit technology – specifically electronic publishing to win the war against aparthy to reading amongst our youths. I don’t know exactly how but I know we need to go digital. For example, all our folk lores should be produced in electronic forms – multi colors and distributed on CDs and possibly directly to computers and cell phones.
Where do you see Just Doodles in the next five years?
In five years I see people traveling from across the globe to attend “Just Doodles”. Some of my friends come from various parts of Nigeria – especially Lagos for Just Doodles - second Sunday of every December. My daughter is already playing with the idea of parallel sessions of Just Doodles in America and England – she’s only ten but then … who knows!
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