By
Camilus Ukah
MONOGRAPH 009
First published in 2012
The Nigeria security situation is taking fresh, innovative and dangerous dimensions by the day. It is glaring that over and above the menace of manifest poverty and corruption is daunting as well most costly, given the toll it has taken on invaluable human life. The Nigeria government, using its security apparatus, has always responded both to traits and actual disaster wrought by agents of insecurity. As alarming as they are depressing, the result of these responses, some of which are crude, brutish and uncoordinated, have remained far from effective, resulting in loss of innocent lives and property and miscarriage of justice.
Nigeria, however, is not the only country with security challenges. With the rise in terrorist activities and threat, as well as other sundry criminal activities all over the world, the need to secure lives and properties from the obnoxious activities of criminals keeps increasing by the day. In pursuit of answer to diverse security questions globally, a number of strategies have been adopted, including seminars, workshop, training etc. A specimen of such seminars titled: “Creativity in the Security World”, explored such sub-themes as Prompting Innovation and Creativity into your Security Perspectives. The goal of which is to “clarify the importance of creativity mainly in the work of intelligence and security, being stuck in a thinking rut, can lead to disaster. Perhaps even the loss of human lives. Creativity is especially required in the field of security and intelligence, where the enemy is constantly trying to attack, and constantly coming up with new ways to do it”. The concept of “coming up with new ways” is in itself creativity. One can then clearly see the connection between creativity and criminality, which becomes very obvious in the light of the fact that the essence of bringing creativity into security is to checkmate the enemy effectively, the criminal, who keeps innovating in the business of attacking.
Every enduring security challenge is backed up by creativity with its abundant inventiveness. That is perhaps the reason why Ellyne Phneah of ZD Newt, Asia 2strongly suggests that creative recruitment is more effective for hiring security talents. Along the line of this suggestion, British intelligence agency, GCHQ, in December 2011, launched a code cracking competition as part of efforts to attract cyber-security talent, calling for potential applicants to solve a code posted online.
“Similarly, Roman Foeckl, CEO and founder of CoSoSys, suggested in an e-mail interview that other than puzzles, another ‘creative’ recruitment method is challenging the candidate to find a security breach in the company security policies…”2
Dr Ralph Carson, discussing “Creativity and Security in Recovery” explains the connection between crime and creativity by throwing light on how ‘thrill-seeking expresses important human capacity for creativity”. According to him, an artist does not create works of art without taking a risk. The thrill of investing in a creative process, Dr Carson explains, activities, the same neuroprocesses the addicted seeks when shop-lifting.
For the addicted thrill-seeker, expressive creativity has grown so large in his or her experience that the person no longer has the ability to take care for his or her need to be safe. Dr. Carson argues that “we can help the addict see thrill-seeking behaviour not as abnormal or wrong, but something very good. It is normal, even benefitting, when integrated appropriately with a second common human trait; our need from security”.
The rambunctious energy inherent in the thrill-seeking creatively endowed person is what literature harnesses. BM Dzukogi, a prominent voice in contemporary Nigeria writing mentioned in an interview with Sumaila Umaisha, published in New Nigeria Newspaper, 8th – 22nd May, 2004,4.
“Similarly, Roman Foeckl, CEO and founder of CoSoSys, suggested in an e-mail interview that other than puzzles, another ‘creative’ recruitment method is challenging the candidate to find a security breach in the company security policies…”2
Dr Ralph Carson, discussing “Creativity and Security in Recovery” explains the connection between crime and creativity by throwing light out the horizons of the human mind, and intellect, is by its very nature, a force for change, a medium for change”8.
Of course literature is key among such works of art that opens out the horizons of the human mind. This view is corroborated by one of the profound successes of the ANA Niger mentorship, Paul Liam. He is unequivocal in a recent interview, “Literature is the gateway to the answer to Nigerians problems”. One remarkable thing in this young and promising voice is his conviction and authenticity. One can see the interminable stretch of possibilities opened out in his mind that is wide open to limitless sheds of opinion.
This variability of views in a multi-dimensional human society he sees as raw material for the artist’s mill. It is this mindset that makes him see the current security challenges in Nigeria and the attendant upheavals as “Armageddon bliss” and suggests that young people should “not go out to the streets to do or encourage violent acts, which is always against innocent people; against posterity. Rather, they should learn how to document their experiences, observations and frustrations for teaching and learning purposes. For while disappointment in a country that has failed woefully to ameliorate the terrible human condition of her populace in the midst of plenty, raves trigger-pulling anger in his inventive mind, he is calmed by the green possibilities of the prevailing power of his ink.
He is certain that the turning point lies in his experiment with the pen, which is the source of illumination that has imbued his life with nobility. He does not forget his mentors: “When I came in contact with BM Dzukogi, Kamar Hamza, Ahmed Maiwada and Jibril Bala, I knew my breakthrough in writing has come. They picked me out in a workshop, after the presentation of my piece of poetry, they made their inspiring critique and I officially wrote BM Dzukogi, asking him to be my mentor.
Dzukogi did not work alone, and from him and his co-labourers, Paul Liam, an indisputable voice in his generation, has gained what he described as unquantifiable– “they kept my spirit alive, refined my art as a poet and gave me direction”. Now Paul is mentoring younger writers and strongly recommends responsible mentorship for the future of Nigerian writing and development of the country as a nation.
One must note here the differences in faith and culture of the mentors and mentee at the time of mentorship. While the mentors are all Muslims from Niger State, the mentee is a Christian from Benue State. And certainly if their names and religious/cultural identities are concealed, one may not be able to place who comes from where or what religious background. In Nigeria today, where trouble makers pitch their tents with geography, while pulling at ethno-religious sentiments, this set of mentors and mentee in question would most likely have no part in this treachery that has marred the emergence of a stable Nigerian potent tool in my hand. Contrary to what you believe, writing has tamed us”. This thought provoking assertion, after my visit, to the Hill-Top Arts Centre, Minna, Niger State, I must say, inspired this paper.
In this larger-than-life assertion, Dzukogi rises above the base influence of elemental rage where guns and bombs and swords are tools for expression of discontentment. Having been “tamed” by creative writing, the potent tool in his hand is the physically harmless pen, famed to be mightier than the sword.
Dzukogi is not alone and does not pretend to be alone in the claim, for regeneration through literature has come to be a defining paradigm in ANA Niger. Blazing the trail in this regeneration aesthetics is a group with the generic name of FOURTH ORDER. To this group, according to Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmed, “art is not precarious or complaint-induced and directed at a particular class. Art to them is seen as medium of self-examination, of all-round analytical assessment of situation,… and as a weapon to regenerate the otherwise degenerated lot, to affirm the assertiveness of this gnereation”3.
Ahmed’s articulation of the pursuits of the FOURTH ORDER is further illuminated by Prof. J.O.J Nwachukwu – Agbada’s explanation of the function of the art of literature in his well received inaugural lecture. “What the art of literature does to its connoisseurs is akin to what the proverbial rat, which scrounges at the sole of the human foot does: it scraps off the sole while fanning it with its breath.
Literature as a transforming tool has helped to tame the thrill-seeking tendencies inherent in creativity, harnessing persons that would have been disastrous security risks and turning them to enviable role models. A glaring example is Nigeria’s only Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka. It remains to say that the ANA Niger experiment of identifying young creative talents and regenerating them through literature using the instrumentality of the Teen Authorship Scheme is worthwhile and highly recommended for other branches of ANA.
