MAN OF THE MOMENT ON THE NEIEFFELLOWS TWEET CHAT

Stanley Azuakola of scoop Nigeria was host on the NEIEFFellow twitter platform who engaged us on the topic “why your reading choices matters in promoting religious tolerance. The tweet chat took place on November 24th, 2017 at 4pm. This chat between Stanley and the NEIEFFellow lasted for two hours and it was a very educative and interesting tweet meet.
Stanley Azuakola is a satire writer and the editor in chief of thescoopng. The discussion and concerns raised was timely because as fellows who are advocates of countering violent extremism in the North East of Nigeria, we need to be very careful in the selection of words and composing articles or write ups on social media as the issue of religion in this part of the world is a very sensitive one. We were make to understand that writing on religious tolerance, we mustn’t necessarily use satire in sending our messages especially that of religion. I quote him “I think satire definitely can make us pause and think when it is effectively used. From experience, I have though I have found that sometimes Nigerians find it hard to get satire. Plus when it has to do with religion, care has to be taken” as well as “religious identity is very deep in Nigeria. The satirist sometimes can be perceived to be attacking a faith if care is isn’t taken. The Charlie Hebdo palaver comes quickly to mind. A work can quickly turn from satirical to inflammatory if care isn’t taken”.
Furthermore, he stated that when writing, the first thing a writer should bear in mind is that you have a unique voice and something valuable to offer. That even though we must read and study the work of others to be better, trying to imitate voices that aren’t ours can be counterproductive. Simply put, it’s good for a writer to be outstanding in his or her own way to make a difference. According to him, books can help in counter narratives i.e. book can provide that necessary meditative /interpretative context which fundamentalists ignore.
Views concerning writing and effective communication to the mind of the reader should be paramount in order to pass information effectively without been misunderstood or misconstrue. Reading books help individuals cultivate empathy. When you read, you are drawn into the lives of people and characters have a way of who may not be like you. Though Nigerians have a poor reading culture which is not too good, it is advisable to read books for information is power. One thing we fail to understand is that reading increases and broadens knowledge and the mind of an individual.
In countering extremists narratives, its advisable individuals empower themselves with timely information and I will urge you to keep following and engaging yourselves with the activities of the Neieffellows, by so doing you will be glad you were part of those fighting a noble cause for our generation yet unborn to benefit and #NotAnotherNigerian should suffer from the activities of Violent Extremists.

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