Question 1

Song of the Jobless Graduate

I’m unemployed
And old enough to realize
That’s just not cool.
With “B.A Hons” in hand
Struggling locate where to kick start a new life
Near and far are barricades
Life can be tiring for graduates

While school drop-outs around me

Previously tagged “failures”
Are driving luxurious cars,
Building mansions with the “soap” baba gave them
And it’s my job to clap for them,
To envy their success
At having hammered it big,
While I struggle with all I have
To live a dream

Being unemployed is like….

Being stuck in a hole in the ground
with a broken leg and no cell phone,
while surrounded all on sides by people who ignore
your very existence,
or treat you as if you are less than…. well…anything.

No one offering you a hand.

Each time you reach out for help
you are rejected coolly and professionally.
No one wants a failure, but they also don’t
want the responsibility of helping to create a success.

Where is the job, oh! where?

What can we do to get a job?
Head in tons glancing online to find a job
But all to no avail.

They say there is job for a B.Sc holder

Now searching for a job when the age is older
We clamored for the labour market
But now we see the reality in this our flea market.

It is a world in which we are by ourselves,

In this world, we are unimportant.
 OR
Song of the Jobless Graduate

I honestly do not know which is worse

The hunger causing havoc to my brain
Or the knowledge I can't do anything to help my self
Alas! What have I not done to?
What can an abled-bodied young man do that I have not done?

Just the other night

Babatunde said "perhaps our problem is spiritual"
Out of sheer frustration
Or perhaps because I needed an outlet to vent my anger
I accompanied him to a white garment Congregation
Where I was almost beaten to death and not my problems.

What though are my problems

"They seem too numerous for me to even remember"
But one thing I know for sure is it begins and ends with money.

"You see!
"There's no money on ground"
Not even enough to bye mama Ìyábo's buns

Not long ago we were told

Education was the golden key to salvation,
The ticket to the big game.
We all ran like men in the ancient Athenian games,
We all ran to acquire this degree and that degree.
When we came out we realized
We have only attained the degree of being "educated and poor"
Nothing had change, we are still the same.

I have looked for a job longer than a lifetime now

I have searched the deepest seas below and the highest clouds above.
I have lived longer than methuselah in hopes things would change.
I have given hope like a man lost in future

Just yesterday
I was on my way to another job interview when
A JLK drove past like it was pursued by the gods
A few moments later
I looked down to see
That I had been splattered by every mud in the city
Worst still it was Tega,
Mama àkàrà son who had not been to school
That drove the car.

The poem passionately describes the sorry plight of most Nigerian youths who roam the streets
jobless, homeless and vulnerable to all sorts of depreciation and ridicule. After having spent
several years and painstaking efforts in attaining vital degrees, the Nigerian youth emerges from
the university to the harsh reality of life after graduation; a life characterized by intense struggle
for survival and lack of basic human wants. The situation is worsened by the sight of the so
called “yahoo boys”, mostly school drop-outs and illiterates, who flaunt their ill gotten wealth
without shame and is celebrated by society.
Question 2a
Literature, in all its genres, does not exist in a vacuum. Often, it is a reflection of the artist’s
experiences and observations in the society in which he lives. Thus, creative writing can be
perceived as imaginative works of art which reflect the realities of life in societies. This is in line
with Paul Munden’s (2013) assertion that “creative writing is not just concerned with
competence in replicating a practice, it’s students are not just learning craft, but flexing muscles
within our culture future”. This implies that topicality is an obligatory function of creative
writing.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines topicality as “the quality of being of
interest at the present time, or of relating to things that are happening at present”. Creative
writing does not exist in isolation of the people’s way of life. As a genre that imitates human
reality, it is always a mirror of human existence as it is almost always linked to a specific time,
place or culture.
According to Achebe (1965), the creative writer in Africa is a teacher who writes on
contemporary issues of the African people in their homeland, and also serves as the spokesman
for his people as well as a recorder and an interpreter of their experiences. This means that
creative writing in Africa does not just serve as idle entertainment (aesthetic appeal) but is rather
a potent vehicle for addressing significantly critical issues in the African society (i.e.it is rooted
in ideology). The socio-political consciousness of creative writing in African societies is
inevitable because continent’s contemporary predicament is such that arguably, no one with the
sensitivity and insight of a “true” artist can be immune to engaging with it in his work.
Therefore, the African creative writer acts as a social commenter through whom the
interpretations of issues in the society is presented via the medium of fiction.
In line with the foregoing, the prominent Nigerian creative writer, Helon Habila embraces
topicality in his literary outputs. As a writer who subscribes to the burden of the novelist as
teacher, Habila, in his writings, has been interrogating myriads of problems plaguing Nigeria,
particularly with respect to the issues of bad leadership, corruption, poverty, reckless nature of
the military regime, poor infrastructures, and many more. He aligns himself with the plight of the
downtrodden and socio-economically marginalized people in the Nigerian society in particular,
and Africa in general. Accordingly, Habila criticizes the wanton degradation of human lives by
the political elites and multinationals who through the depths of their insatiable greed plunge the
common man deeper into an abyss of despair.
In concordance with his modus operandi, Habila’s third novel, Oil on Water, vividly reflects the
crisis in the Nigerian socio-political space: the decay in leadership, corruption, oppression and
underdevelopment during the military and civilian era. In Oil on Water, Helon Habila captures
the extent to which the oil industry has been associated with corruption, violence and bloodshed;
wreaking ecological devastation on the Niger Delta region and its fishing and farming
communities, which benefit little from the enormous profits involved; fueling ethnic conflict and
guerrilla activity. At the same time, as local lives and livelihoods are constantly endangered, the
kidnapping of foreigners for ransom has proliferated over the years, with opportunists
collaborating with self-selected freedom fighters. It is the reality of these fundamental concerns
that informs Helon Habila’s Oil on Water. In this regard, Helon Habila arouses the people’s
perception concerning their social realities as he encapsulates the plight of the people, their
aspirations, fears and challenges as evident in the Niger Delta region in particular and Nigeria in
general.
As an art form, creative writing must present more than just idle entertainment. It is the duty of
the writer to ensure that he not only entertains his audience but also educates them through the
presentation of the harsh realities of life via fiction.
Question 2b
Kworuption
Nigeria, my father's land,
So religious,
But so kworupt,
Using falsehood to fight
Against corruption.

Nigeria, the land of the nobles,

Politicians come into office,
Promise to make it kworuption-free,
But cabinets, full are
Family and kinsmen.

Election rigging is a celebrated culture

Insecurity flirts around like the vulture
But we are asked to pray without cease
Can we ever be free from this disease?
Nigeria, my incredible home,
Speak to kworuption to leave your vicinity,
And take your place among the giants of the planet earth.

The poem is a satire on the current socio-political situation of our country, Nigeria. The stylistic
deviation from the correct spelling of ‘corruption’ to ‘kworuption’ is an act of foregrounding
which serves to highlight the reference to president Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in his
pronunciation of the term “corruption” as “kworuption”

The poem criticizes the failings of the Nigerian society. Lines 4-10 is a direct reference to the
Buhari administration which promised to make Nigeria free from corruption but instead practices
massive nepotism and fabricates lies/stories of taking action against corruption in the society. use
of the term.

Question 4
The quoted Latin expression implies that an orator gains ability through practice and skill, it is a
learning process; however a poet is born, in life's experiences one finds feeling and drive to
express the human condition and a purpose in the world. Therefore, this means that many hold a
pen, few create art.
Creative Writing encourages the capacity to see the world from different perspectives, and the
study of creative writing thus involves a commitment to improve the quality of one’s own and
other’s cultural experiences.
The rise of creative writing as a course at school and university has been met with some
criticism. It is impossible to teach creative writing, the argument goes, because there are things
about writing that simply cannot be learned. You either have the talent, or you don’t. It is posited
that true creative writers are fascinating because of their natural flow of words and rhymes; they
have a talent which is innate and effortless. Proponents of this theory believe that creative
writing is a form of self expression; it is sending out a message from a very personal viewpoint.
However, this does not necessarily mean that creative writing cannot be taught.
Some creative writers carve, chisel, and polish their works over long periods of time, whereas
others produce their works in an intense moment of inspiration. In fact, sometimes the same
writer will use both methods. The creative work produced in such an intense moment of
inspiration is not necessarily better or polished than the one carefully constructed and revised
over time. It all depends on the writer and the worker.
A creative writer’s mind, especially his subconscious--is prepared ground. If the writer has done
his homework, which is to say, if he has trained his creative sensibilities and skills by meticulous
observation, study, and practice, then he can often turn the creative process entirely over to his
subconscious, or nearly so. This means that the more excellent creative works you read, then the
more your mind's operations will be shaped by creative thinking.
The creative writer need not seek out intense or exotic experiences. We encounter innumerable
prizes, surprises, and miracles every day--we're usually just too preoccupied to notice, though
from time to time some part of our inner being notes it. But even the most attentive observer is
not going to produce powerful art unless he masters his medium (writing skills); no more than a
painter who did not understand the properties of paint would be able to convey his exquisite
visions on the canvas. This means that the poet must not only be able to put his hands on the
word or phrase that precisely captures the meaning or experience he wishes to express, but also
that he must not handle grammar in a way that will strike the serious reader as something like to
fingernails screeching on a blackboard. He must be alert to the flow and rhythms of language.
The conclusion of the argument is that a creative writer, like any other artist, is not necessarily
made or born. Most people come into the world with the potential of seeing with a creative eye,
of responding with a creative heart, but some others, if they are serious about their art, they go to
school to learn: diligently practicing their craft, mastering its basics, just as a superb athlete will
build his body's strength and stamina, as well as its mastery of the basic skills of his sport, by
constant practice. When the time comes for the athlete to call on his body to accomplish some
astonishing physical feat, it responds like a perfect machine, and he has no need to think about
how to perform the essential movements of his sport. So also the serious creative writer will
practice and eventually become proficient. Good creative writers are both born and made.