You cannot live a normal existence if you haven't taken care of a problem that affects your life and affects the lives of others, values that you hold which in fact define your very existence.

We wasted a lot of creative energy in that immediate post colonial era, when there was a struggle between, you know, the Cold War between the capitalism and communism. Many writers just wasted their energy and their talent because they want to be ideologically correct and of course all they produced was propaganda.

A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces.

I tend to work best as a one-man Task Force, including even the roles of messenger, coffee maker and office cleaner.

Writers who open up horizons for other people are performing a function every bit as important as a consciously politicized writer.

I am convinced that Nigeria would have been a more highly developed country without the oil. I wished we'd never smelled the fumes of petroleum.

There are different kinds of artists and very often, I'll be very frank with you, I wish I were a different kind.