By Christy Anyanwu
The seeming easy money which reality shows give has contributed to decay in education as students see the rigour of intellectual development of any value. Most youths now simply want to make quick money and become celebrities and millionaires in the twinkle of an eye. Therefore, most of them no longer find interest in education and have no desire to excel with good grades.
An academician and founder Sastoma Empowerment Foundation (STEFO), Dr. Stella Ebuetse, frowns at what is happening and is passionately working to reverse the trend though an academic-theme reality show called Wake up the Giant Literary Reality Show, that will target secondary school students within the age bracket 11 and 18 years. Already, her organisation has been holding auditions for the reality show.
In this interview, she talks about the project, her challenges and how is confronting them.
You have a laudable and unique project. Please talk about it in some detail.
I’m writing a book on my journey to Wake Up The Giant. It’s been a very long journey. I started in 2017. I have been a literature teacher for over 30 years. I have been teaching literature in my school. When I started I had over 50 students in SS3. At a point I noticed a trickling in the number of students studying literature and I became worried. I began to ask questions and discovered that our children are so lazy to read books. They want to study Mass communication and Theatre Arts. I would tell them that they can’t study those courses without literature. Reasons they don’t do literature is that they find it difficult to read. The main reason people are not studying English Literature is because they find it difficult to read. Fortunately for me, Big Brother Naija came up, which was a very good programme. It brought a lot of money to our youths. But I wasn’t happy because the first edition gave winners N27 million then. First Class graduates of got N5000 for emerging the best in their class and they were not celebrated. I was angry. Then the Holy Spirit said that I don’t have to be angry. ‘You studied literature till PhD level. Do something in your field. These children want to be entertained. They want to go outside of the school wall, interact with people etc. I asked God where do I start from.
When it comes to academic competition, the situation is horrible. Academic competition is completely gone in Nigeria but I decided to start from somewhere. I wrote a lot of letters to almost all the banks in Nigeria, sent letters to almost all the governors in Nigeria. We had only one response from Zenith Bank and Access Bank which showed interest in giving partial support. At a point of taking off I got a call from Edo State governor. I have been married to an Edo man for 33 years. I started lecturing in Edo State. I decided to go with the governor. Unfortunately at the middle of the road, the Ministry of Education came in and it was all stories. Finally with my husband and family support we were able to do that project alone. Later, Edo State government gave us part payment for the hotels we rented for those ten days.
We reached out to a lot of people but unfortunately in Nigeria now, people are interested in sponsoring projects that have to do with entertainment, music, and dance competition but not education. Unfortunately, I was about giving up two weeks ago but Sifax Group came in to sponsor and that was a big relief. The Ooni of Ife and other royal fathers also got in touch with me and I believe God that as we are taking off now other sponsors would come on board. The audition is currently going on in the Southwest region. The Lagos edition will start on the November 12.
What inspired the name, Wake Up The Giant?
I was trying to find a name that is more relevant to my goals. A name that is easily understandable. Our children are intelligent, brilliants and some of them can write beautiful stories. Unfortunately there’s nobody to push them. They are highly intelligent. I see some of them performing drama sometimes and I ask myself who is going to discover them in these villages. I have done reality shows in Edo State. I have been to almost all the villages in Edo State on bike. I have been to schools and I have seen these students just like a sheep without shepherd. Most especially when they don’t even have English and Literature teachers. When they came for the first audition, they were so timid, they were so reserved, they were so hidden. I felt we can just push them a little to awaken that creativity and talent in them. I started writing at the age of 14. I had people who were able to push me into writing, for instance, Prof. Dayo Alao of blessed memory. I felt there should be a kind of shoulder for children who have this gift in writing. In sciences, we have a lot of people supporting Mathematics and Science but when it comes to English Language and Literature we are just helpless. Unfortunately, with the current reading culture we may never see replicas of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ola Rotimi, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Chukwuemeka Ike, Femi Osofisan, Gabriel Okara, Christopher Okigbo, Zulu Sofola, Zainab Alkali and Sam Ukala, among others, who gave us memorable stories and everlasting rhythms
What advice do you have students for students on drugs and engage in other social vices?
The problem starts with our leaders. I was going to Ghana for my last award in Ghana and some teenagers sat beside me. I think they were not more than 19 years. They looked at me like I was one old woman and they didn’t even know I’m Yoruba. One of them said, “That Baba charm is very effective.” These teenagers were apparently going to engage in vices and Yahoo Yahoo crime.
Recently, I went to a particular state and was shocked by what I saw. I visited a particular state in respect of this programme and learnt there’s a secondary school where students are taught how to become Yahoo Yahoo fraudster. I was shocked. Parents will now take their children to that school and their parents pay heavily for it before they graduate. Then, ask these children why they are going into crime they simply tell you that education is a scam in Nigeria. Who has education helped? My niece graduated from Federal University of Technology, Akure with First Class. She was promised N5,000. Till date they have not given it to her. She’s almost completing her PhD in United States. My daughter graduated from one of the best private universities in Nigeria, she never had one gift from that university. When she went for her masters in the US, in one of the most discriminated states in the US, she was the best in her department. She studied Engineering. The department rallied around her because they saw something in her. She was given a scholarship, a job and treated like a queen. She came out as the best graduating student in that school. She was to carry her Nigerian flag and be the representative of the Nigerian government there.
What are some of your memorable moments as a teacher over these 30 years?
I discovered that teaching is like a calling. I don’t think I can do any other job in my life apart from teaching. I will continue teaching till I go to my grave. If you are a parent and you don’t believe in moral upbringing don’t bring your children to my school. I tell my teachers I am not after the money. Give them spiritual and moral training, not just the academics alone. By the grace of God, with time they will change. Teaching for me is like a drug: it is healing and satisfying, it gives me joy. I see these children as my biological children. That makes it easier to deal with them whether they are bad or good. Most of my students would tell me what they don’t tell their parents, especially those living in the hostel. I see them as my own. I identify the weaker ones.
You read Theatre Arts for your first degree. Why didn’t acting appeal to you, being a Nollywood actress?
I was formerly an actress. I’m a very shy person. When it comes to acting on stage I’m a different person. I flow. In fact, in Edo state, my husband and I were the first to start Christian drama, through Shalom Christian ministry.
Tell us how you met your husband?
He has a drama troupe in Auchi. I was newly married to him and I was very pretty. I would stay inside the room and peep through the window and see other girls acting the role of a wife to my husband. I said ‘Haa, I can act that role.’ That was how I became part of the group so that they don’t take my husband from me and I can also monitor what they are doing there. So, I joined his drama group and I became a very successful actress in Edo State. When we came to Lagos, I wasn’t comfortable with all these romance roles in movies and I’m not really romantic. So, I decided to step out of acting so that I can take care of my children and concentrate on the reality show.