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The profundity of Nduka’s contributions to knowledge bears the marks of an exemplary individual, and the richness of his intellectual engagements allows the world to celebrate and appreciate him. An international scholar of global repute, Otiono continues to serve as a beacon of hope to African scholars, both locally and worldwide.
People with exceptional minds are rare. It is unclear whether this results from nature’s design or mere coincidence. However, I believe that nature intentionally creates such individuals, as the brilliance of the human mind shapes humanity’s journey and significantly influences its direction. Generally, it is accepted that intellectually gifted individuals are at the core of the universe and the societies in which they live. This is inevitable, as nature and human society benefit significantly from their intellectual contributions. The limited supply of these individuals across different environments may result from the accolades and recognition they receive because nature often uses rewards and compensation to value their contributions to human family growth. Although they are expensive, their prices match the multiple benefits described earlier. The weight of their people’s ignorance rests on the shoulders of many sound individuals who must use their authority to voice their perspectives to prevent society from stagnating.
The reasons why Professor Nduka Otiono belongs to this category will be revealed soon. The acknowledgment of scholars who select poetry as their communication medium should increase because they demonstrate exceptional insight and foresightedness in their work. Poets possess a rare ability to view worldly elements and depict them in such a way that their work will undergo continuous interpretation by future generations. The ability of people to distill their intentions into explicit expressions that convey fresh ideas to diverse audiences fascinates me.
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In the case of Nduka, his ability is inborn, and he has nothing to discredit the deep-seated import of his intellectual engagements and productions. Let me mention one of his works, his collections, that have significantly impacted readers, his audience of which I am one. Published in 2023, “Avian Friends, Naturecracy and Artocracy in the Time of Coronavirus” is a piece that portrays the multidimensional nature of artistic productions, especially in ways that capture the human frailty, and their inability to connect existence among things of nature. Perhaps humans are overshadowed by the selfish thought that the world is exclusively made for them. They have been engrossed in this assumption to the extent that they are not particularly convinced to be considerate of other forms of life with a shared interest in the universe. In essence, the problem of Coronavirus magnitude, for example, came knocking and caused the hunters to become hounded because not only did they experience the helplessness of human folks in the occasion of such fatal emergencies, but they also saw how vulnerable they could be in the general scheme of things. In all their predicaments, they saw solace in art because it was the only reliable instrument to neutralise their tensions and safely return their sanity. Such power profoundly impacts human relationships with nature, and I am convinced that poets have this ability.
More than revealing our unresolved internal contradictions, most inherited from our cultural identity, poets enrich our society with cultural knowledge absorbed in the behaviour often taken for granted. Mr Otiono’s scholarship situates African oral literature within the context of diffused mechanisms set in motion by many African societies so that users can internalise how to use them in different situations to make marks where needed. His writings conceive African oral literature as an engagement that mirrors the fundamental systems of the people and how these systems have absorbed in them a social behavior that necessitates spectacular actions, inactions, and activities. To that extent, by merely reciting a poem, a song, or a panegyric, individuals are bound to internalise specific societal values, upon which they could likely take immediate or long-term actions. Even in contemporary times, the practice endures because such a system has remained inviolably unique for many generations. To understand some ideological grounds upon which certain behaviours and actions of Africans are also modelled, some oral narratives exist that would help illuminate them. More than this, African poetics gives room for the infusion of past generations’ history, thoughts, philosophy, and vision, which explains why they are employed as social material for the regeneration of youths and the redistribution of knowledge. Through them, many individuals get reliable education sources to improve themselves.
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Otiono and many other poets of his intellectual stature do not only perpetuate oral narratives as instruments of rediscovery; they also use them to showcase the undersides of human history that must be addressed and improved upon. His writings often dive into the sociopolitical problematics, which are engineered by those in the political class to attain provincial objectives. Nduka uses his pen to prove to us how the foundation of a societal system is often fissured by the few influential people who are exclusively within the space of power and control. That comes with some destabilising consequences for the public because not only are they being shortchanged in the process, but they are also being exploited without their knowledge. People like this are continually interested in helping society understand its conditions and how the people’s actions are fundamental in shaping it. Without coming to that awareness, it is believed that they would always progress in a perilous direction without the possibility of redemption. The extension of such poor power dynamics often brings about the prevarication of orderliness in exchange for the anomaly. In any case, Otiono’s works would continually educate us about the need to reorder the African and human world so that people could jolt themselves back to the reality of their existence.
I should mention, too, that he belongs to a school of thought that subscribes to the orientation that the endorsement of external languages to convey African poetry often diminishes its cultural and ideological values. This means that he shares some measure of interest with decolonial scholars, and it cannot be overemphasized that his intellectual productions have always revealed his commitment. He believes that orality has become more encumbered by various experiences, which therefore necessitates that it is taken through several experiments that would either work or not. A good example is how modernity often challenges orality to remain within its standards in an evolving world tilted towards globalised adventures. Although some individuals see this as a challenge, Mr Otiono sees it as an opportunity. He believes that orality may face some challenges that it is unprepared and unsuited to confront. The possibility of its triumph, however, cannot be externally inspired, for it has the potential to be flexible and adaptive so that it can survive whatever conditions it is pushed to. This makes us understand and appreciate how much he has pushed the frontiers of knowledge.
Otiono has accomplished great things, and he deserves celebration. Those who have consciously made efforts to improve the conditions of the world deserve some honour, and they deserve a special place in our hearts. Apart from the honours and awards conferred on him by notable international institutions and academic groups, the fact that scholars have confessed to the magnitude of his influence in their intellectual lives explains why he cannot be pushed to the background. For people like him, giving more to society is how they measure their greatness, and how much of an impact they have made on the lives of others is the way they derive their joy.
The profundity of Nduka’s contributions to knowledge bears the marks of an exemplary individual, and the richness of his intellectual engagements allows the world to celebrate and appreciate him. An international scholar of global repute, Otiono continues to serve as a beacon of hope to African scholars, both locally and worldwide.
Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, is the Bobapitan of Ibadanland.
