By Evelyn Osagie
Writers under the aegis of the Nigerian Centre of PEN International, aka PEN Nigeria, has called for stimulus package for writers in the country.
According to the association which promotes literature and defends freedom of expression and linguistic rights globally, besides the apprehension occasioned by armed robbery and other indices of insecurity in a situation that seems to have overwhelmed the security apparatus, forcing many residents to adopt the duties of night guards, starving people staying up all night to fight off marauders, this period has been particularly traumatic for writers.
They, therefore, called on the governments, particularly at federal and state levels, not to forget creative writers and other components of the creative community “in its effort to cushion the excruciating impact of the Coronavirus lockdown on many parts of the country, particularly Lagos State where residents have already spent about one month in confinement, mostly with minimal access to existential stimuli needed to boost our immune system”.
“This period has been particularly traumatic for writers who are known to be hypersensitive to chaos, discomfort and claustrophobia, a situation has exposed many of us, writers, to extreme boredom and depression.
“We appeal to the government and all well-meaning Nigerians to extend the said stimulus package to members of the literary community, considering the crucial role writers play in projecting and shaping society, besides charting a course for its advancement and civilisation.
“We, writers in the country, have, for several decades, been carrying out our social responsibilities under several pressure – physical, psychological, economic, et cetera, with little or no concrete support from the government,” the association stated in a statement signed by its President, Folu Agoi.
While observing that no aspect of the book policy formulated some years ago has been activated, PEN Nigeria decried that “the entire document seems to have been jettisoned”. “Writers, whose cerebral productions present the mirror through which society views itself and makes necessary adjustments, are groaning under the weight of the lockdown that has been making life unbearable for citizens, some of whom the government has offered some palliatives. We, members of the creative community, feel left out, a situation analogous to a poultry farmer attempting to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, even if inadvertently,” it was observed.
THE NATION