Notes From Nigeria
Assistant Professor Maik Nwosu spent 11 years as a journalist reporting on a turbulent time in Nigeria's history. We sat down with Nwosu, who teaches world literature in DU's English department, to learn how his experience has given him an unusual perspective on teaching and research, and how he shares that perspective with students.
Why was your work in journalism such a powerful experience?
I was a journalist at a very important time in Nigerian history. I saw General Sani Abacha, a military dictator, come to power in 1993, and I saw the government become a democracy in 1999.
What was it like being a reporter under a dictatorship?
General Abacha had a vicious way of dealing with his enemies, both real and imaginary.
In 1995, [Abacha's government] arrested four journalists. They were accused of working with more than 40 other Nigerians to plot the overthrow of Abacha's government. His tribunal convicted them and sentenced many of them to death.
One of Abacha's targets was the Sunday news magazine I worked for. It was considered antigovernment. My publisher was one of the four journalists arrested. She was initially sentenced to life imprisonment, which was later commuted to 15 years.
From that point on, we had to publish from underground on many occasions. We published several issues from hidden locations, and we kept moving so the government couldn't find us. The magazine was eventually shut down.
That kind of violence against reporters continued until Abacha died in 1998.
What did you do after the magazine was shut down?
I cofounded a weekly news magazine called The Source. It was more politically oriented than the Sunday magazine had been.
There were so many things happening with the government that nobody was talking about. We wanted to significantly report the unreported, including how we were being governed.
I think we succeeded. The Source is still in print. This year is its 10th anniversary.
Did the government ever come after you for what you published in The Source?
Once we printed an interview with someone who was in prison. You were not supposed to do thatit was considered a security breach.
He wasn't just any prisoner. We nicknamed him Dr. Death, because he was an army doctor who worked with General Abacha's network of assassins.
It was a very revealing interview. When that story came out, we had to go underground.
How has your experience as a reporter affected the way you teach?
I'm willing to bring journalism and popular media into the classroom, to show my students some real-life aspects of literature.
And I often have my students read at least the front page of different international papers. Reporting on international issues made me aware of global intersections, how our realities interconnect. I try to help my students understand that.
Published on May 7, 2007