By Prisca Sam-Duru

Terrorism and banditry have created several IDP camps in the country, and with the spike in their activities it appears IDP camps have become inevitable.

In Nigeria, stories about the severe hardship being experienced by displaced persons especially children abound.

In the book titled, ‘The Children at the IDP Camp’, author and academic, Olatunbosun Taofeek, exposes the bitterness in the hearts of not only children in the IDP camps, but also street kids and children in orphanages.

Taofeek, who was recently elected as the new chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the  Association of Nigerian Authors, had his book on the longlist of the 2024 the Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by the Nigeria LNG. The literature prize carries a cash prize of $100,000 and this year focuses on Children’s literature

During an interview, Taofeek shared more about the book, what should be done to stop an impending disaster from children growing up in IDP camps, etc.

First, he concurred that IDP camps have become inevitable in the country. “Realistically, IDP camps are inevitable. Our society needs to know how to handle such human crises. Anywhere you have human beings in their thousands, there must be crises. The only way out is knowing how to manage it.

“We can see the children in Gaza, Sudan, Chad, and Somalia. More than ten million children are homeless across the world wandering in hunger and pestilence. They will all come back for us in the future. If we build prisons for them, our prisons may not be enough to keep them when it is time. They will get back at the society. If those of us that are not in IDP camps don’t find a way out for them, they will grow with that anger and come and kill our children in the future.”

In writing the book, Taofeek projects possible ways to at least make life meaningful for the displaced. “We need to give them privileges so that we can assuage them and tame the beasts in them. Talk to one of those children, you will know they are growing in bitterness. Orphanages, IDPs and homeless children should have a life package. Those in government should sponsor a bill to protect those children. They are living dynamite growing in bitterness and grief. If they grow up like that the world would be paid in the same coin. It is the bitterness in the hearts of these children and how to resolve it that The Children at the IDP Camp is all about.”

He shares more about the core message in ‘The Children At The IDP Camp’.

“Plant kindness in the hearts of children so they don’t become the monsters that will destroy our world. Life is GIGO- garbage in garbage out. We are all the products of what we are made of. To every tyrant, there is a scar; to every murder, there is a beast in the killer; to all corrupt individuals, there is a sense of greed seated inward only waiting for the time to express itself.

“My hero, Danlami, was not a child telling us about life’s predicaments but driving a hero in his quest for change in the lives of other children who are forgotten, neglected and impoverished by no cause of theirs. It is a heroic struggle to make heroes of others. I know it is not our type to make heroes of others.”

The author described progress made in his creative writing career as a ‘situation of literary craftsmanship’ adding that, “As an apprentice in the school of creative writing, I should be able to do that. Mind you, some of us are not the mogbomoyo writers- those who gate-crashed into writing. This is what I have been trained to do both formally and informally—like an expert who has made all necessary mistakes and is ready to make more to keep gaining knowledge. I mean a transmogrifying writer who can transition from one genre to another. To me, whether drama or prose, children’s literature or adult, these are structural matters. Structures in creative writing are important but you can only attain proficiency in them through relentless practice. And what I have said is exactly what I do to master any genre while my message remains the same.”

The campaign for the revival of our reading culture as championed by the NLNG through the coveted literary prize, will receive more boost if Children’s literature could be studied separately in schools. This will help encourage reading at an early stage. Asked if such exists already, he said, “That is a thoughtful question. There is none for now except for English and Literature Departments where children’s Literature is not even a course rather an explanation to certain aspects of literary studies.”