‘It takes 38 years, N40 million to translate the Bible’

The General Secretary Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN), Rev. Dare Ajiboye, spoke with Medinat Kanabe on the 50th anniversary of the body as well as what it costs to have the bible in local languages

Tell us about The Bible Society

BSN was founded on the 8th of February 1966, so by the 8th of February 2016, we will be 50.

Before 1966, we had the British and Foreign Bible Society translating the Bible in Nigeria as far back as 1807. That is why the first local bible, which is the Efik bible, was published in 1858 followed by the Yoruba Bible in 1864.

So far, we have successfully translated the bible into 24 local languages.  They used to be 20 until last year when we added four in Idoma, Igede, Ebira and Bora languages.

We almost lost the translations which took us 40 years. What happened was that before it was dedicated last year, we asked the lead translator to come to Lagos for a month to work on the bible.

He wasn’t happy staying away from his family but he obliged, and after the job he went back to Adamawa. A month after, Boko Haram went into our translation office, burnt everything down and killed our translator.

It means that if the bible wasn’t taken out of Adamawa to Lagos or was to still be in that computer, then it would have been burnt and that was a work of 40 years. The bible was already in Lagos, so it had no meaning except that we lost our translator’s secretary and other valuables.

None of our translations has taken less than 38 years and it costs a minimum of N40 million to translate into one language but it takes a minimum of 12 years to translate in some other countries.

We have about 15 ongoing projects now that hopefully would be done in the next 10 years.

What else do you do?

It doesn’t end with translating the Bible. We have to also revise; some are undergoing revision now.

The Yoruba Bible has been revised twice. We have three different versions of the Hausa Bible, two different versions of the Igbo Bible and others are coming up too.

After we have translated them, then we go into publishing, which isn’t done in Nigeria because most of the printing presses in Nigeria cannot print paper with 28gl or 24 gl. It has to be from 40, 50 and when we use those ones, it will make a small bible to be so voluminous. So we have no choice but to use a thin paper, but, of course, the quality is high because when you leave a whole bible with a sheet of paper, it will not tear off.

And after printing we distribute. Our distribution is in two different categories – some are given out free to the prisons, rehabilitation homes and those who cannot afford; they include the blind and the deaf and dumb.

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, last year we were able to dedicate the deaf and dumb bible. We realised that the deaf and dump worship with us but they don’t hear or understand what we are doing except somebody is signing, which most churches don’t have.

Until recently when I came across the Deaf Society of Nigeria and some of the Christians there, I never appreciated the fact that the deaf and dump people were neglected.

We have about one million deaf and dumb people in Nigeria but many of them are not literate to be able to read conventional books and those who are literate went deaf along the line; they were not born like that.

We give the bible to them free. It is in DVD and it means we must sign everything because theirs is visual. We give them the television set, the DVD player and the DVD because they cannot afford to buy those things themselves.

We also give the blind the brail bible. The highest quality of brail bible costs almost a hundred thousand for a set but the middle level one is about N77, 000. There are other cheaper ones but you have to look at the one that the blind people in Nigeria can read. So that one costs N77, 000, but thank God for a foreign donor that one now costs about N44, 000 and we have to give the organisation free of charge. This year we have given out over 120 sets and last year we gave out brail bibles worth over N14.1 million.

Not only that we translate, publish and distribute, we run some programmes like HIV and AIDS, conduct not condom. What the government preaches, what advanced countries preach and what most nongovernmental organisations preach is use condom, but we say no. Condom is not a full proof that you will not contact HIV because it leaks. The hole in a condom is 10 times bigger than HIV, so it cannot protect you.

How will the anniversary be celebrated?

This is what we have been doing for 50 years, so we felt it is necessary to celebrate and to celebrate we have a bible that we will launch in February. We are going to be bringing in only about 550 copies because it is expensive.

It is a five language bible – English, Efik, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo – and it is parallel. We looked at it that if you build houses and bequeath one each to your children, it is typical but what can you give that is enduring and will last for over N200 years? It is the bible.

The bible is a family treasure. We saw it in the house of a colleague who said he inherited a bible published in 1664 from his father who inherited it from his own father and so on. The bible can be passed on to five generations.

We will be giving out 100, 000 copies of bible for free to those who cannot afford it and it will cost us about N50million to be able to get the bibles out.

Other activities include a lecture in Enugu on February 2, followed by another lecture in Abuja on February 4. A meeting with old staff and launch of our newest bible, The Legacy Commemorative Bible, will hold in Lagos on February 5. There will also be thanksgiving ceremony on February 7 and a lecture on the final day that will be graced by a former president.

What are challenges that BSN face?

We have challenges in term of cooperation from other churches. We have written to them, but so far only about three or four have responded. They see us as a competition.

They don’t know that BSN is an inter-denominational society. In fact, if you want to talk about ecumenism in Nigeria, the only true ecumenical organisation is the BSN. We do not believe in denominations; we belong to different churches in the country.

We even have a structure of auxiliary areas and national, just like local government, state and federal, we do not allow a denomination to form an auxiliary. It must be a group of churches that will come to form an auxiliary because we do not want denominations. What we are interested in is you are a Christian, you are a child of God; we worship together, so we don’t discriminate.

What version of bible do you consider the best?

I will say there is no best version but you need a combination of versions. The only difference in some cases is the language dynamics. An example is King James Version of the bible and the Shakespearean books. During their times, they were the best but these days many cannot read them. That was how they were speaking the language then. So, the new versions have not changed the content of the bible but have only made the bible easier for the new generation to understand.

Is BSN rich?

We are not a profit- making organisation. If not for the BSN, an average Nigerian will not be able to afford the bible. We sell when we want to sell at cheap rates and with discount. The bible is over one thousand pages but costs N380. We distribute some at a rate because if we don’t do that, we will not be able to keep printing as we are not getting the support of churches and individuals that are Christians.

We will also not be able to pay the salary of staff. Sometimes it is painful when those who are supposed to assist you are not doing anything. If people support us and understand what we are doing, we will be able one day to give out all our bibles free of charge.

We will not make the money we used for translation. An example is the Edo Bible. We dedicated Edo Bible in 1998. We printed 5, 000 copies and finished selling it in 2012. When are we going to make the money we put into translation when we sell a copy for N1, 000? So, some people don’t know.

Why was Efik Bible the first to be translated?

Really, Yoruba would have been number one because the first book that was ever published from the bible was the book of Romans and it was in Yoruba but the complete bible is Efik and what I think motivated that was when Mary Slessor went to Calabar and the people were killing twins.

She must have thought that there was a need for the people to understand what the word of God says. So, she must have added a lot of pressure to the Bible Society of Scotland because it was the BSS at CMS that partnered with her to translate that.

First published in The Nation of January 10, 2016