“The Nigerian Novel and the Imperative of Good Governance: A Critical Study of Joseph Edoki’s The African Dream”

Abstract

As can be seen from the above epigraphic statements, the image of governance in novels written by African writers about civilian governments and military regimes in African nations has generally been bleak, negative, directionless and vacuous, especially so in novels about post-independence Africa, where power has become in the hands of the ruling class, whether civilian or military, a conduit-pipe for self-aggrandizement, embezzlement of public funds, corruption, graft and hero-worshipping. African writers across the continent, starting with Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe in A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah, Soyinka in The Interpreters, Fistus Iyayi in Violence, The Contract and Heroes and Abubakar Gimba in Sunset for a Mandarin, through Ghana’s Ayi Kwei Armah in The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Fragments and Osiris Rising, to Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o in A Grain of Wheat, Petals of Blood, Devil on the Cross, Matigari and Wizard of the Crow have generally depicted governance in Africa as we have painted above. The attitude of indignation and protest expressed in the above-mentioned texts is not misplaced, but derives from the writers’ frustration resulting from the truncation of the joy of the masses of the African people shortly after the attainment of political independence as a result of the derailment of their pre-independence expectations by the African ruling class. However, so many years after the attainment of independence in African nations and states, there is the need for African writers as custodians of the values of their societies, reformers and beacons of hope of the African people to foist a paradigm shift from the hitherto nihilistic and pessimistic outlooks of their creative works to one that is essentially supportive of the general drive to re-orientate and transform the society for good. This is one sure way of sustaining the growth of democracy and good governance in Africa. In Nigeria, this shift is clearly seen in one novel by a Nigerian writer, namely: Joseph Edoki in The African Dream.¹ This study is based essentially on this text as it critically assesses governance as portrayed in the spotlighted novel against the backdrop of the realities that are observable in the larger society.