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Attending the
opening ceremony of the Stakeholders’ Forum on Taxation and the Arts in
Abuja on June 22, Minister of Information and Communications, Dora
Akunyili, must have been buoyed up by her introduction to the podium.
Emcee Ronke Bello speculated publicly that the “able and vibrant”
Akunyili would eventually go for the top job in Nigerian politics,
something that caused many in the audience to look at one another. Did
Ms. Bello know something they didn’t know? The minister lapped it up.
“The men are all jealous now,” she joked.

Knee-jerk reaction

In her goodwill
message to the conference, the ‘rebranding icon’ observed that “the
knee-jerk reaction of most artists to the theme of the workshop is
bound to have negative repercussions.” This, coming from a minister
who, minutes before, had given a knee-jerk reaction of her own. “I want
to say something that bothered me when I was sitting down. A young girl
came out to sing. I would like to know the language. What language is
that?”

The singer, Itan –
a young woman rather than a “young girl” – had been the cultural
highlight of the opening ceremony. Somehow, in the melange of languages
(largely English and Yoruba) in which she had performed earlier,
Akunyili managed to sniff out a non-Nigerian language. To the
minister’s query, Itan answered from the audience that the language in
question came from Togo.

“This is totally
unacceptable,” said an indignant Akunyili. “Don’t talk. Don’t talk.
Keep quiet,” she commanded, when Itan tried to explain, pulling down
the only other woman to share the opening ceremony limelight with her.
“She sang in a foreign vernacular language and she wore a Ghanaian
attire. As far as I’m concerned, that is not how to sell our culture,”
pronounced Akunyili, and many in the audience clapped. She continued:
“So many musicians have been able to sell their culture, to sell their
country to the world. You remember in the 60s when Jamaican musicians
gave us the impression that Jamaica was like paradise, and that
attracted tourism to Jamaica. When I went to Jamaica about four, five
years ago, I was very disappointed. I didn’t see any paradise. It’s not
even as developed as Nigeria, yet the tourists are pouring in.”

Akunyili disclosed
that, as part of her Rebranding Nigeria project, she has been engaging
musicians about the need to project the country well. She claimed that
Eedris Abdulkareem who sang ‘Nigeria Jagajaga’ had promised never to
sing such again. Itan’s offence was not on the scale of ‘Nigeria
Jagajaga’, she conceded, “but it is a foreign vernacular language, and
employing a fabric that Ghanaians are known for.”

Diplomacy and
international relations are clearly not Akunyili’s strong point, or the
minister would have considered Nigeria-Ghana relations before frowning
on the Kente in public. It is doubtful whether her comments did
anything to further regional unity in West Africa. She failed to
recognise the Pan-Africanism symbolised by the Kente; and the
commonalities in West African clothing, languages, and cultures –
divided across the artificial borders of colonialism. Instead, she
focused on separateness in a sub-region where cultural influences
interflow. Her uncritical use of the word ‘vernacular’ for African
languages is also problematic; we are after all beginning to question
the colonialists’ relegation of our mother tongues into the
‘vernacular.’

Many in the
audience were by now debating, possibly questioning, Akunyili’s
pronouncement, because a somewhat disagreeable murmur rose in the
audience. But the deed was done, and might is right. Soon, there were
comings and goings by culture bigwigs, who held a quick meeting with
Itan at the back of the hall. It emerged that some kind of face-saving
deal had been made.

Cheap victory

“A good African
mother will not spare the daughter, and a child that wants to live long
will listen to advice,” the singer told the conference in a hurriedly
put-together segment. “People ask me: ‘why do you do African music? Why
can’t you do Rap music, why can’t you do Hip-Hop?’ But I tell them that
I’m proud of my culture. I love my culture, and that’s why I keep doing
African music. Today, I’ve learnt a lot from Her Excellency; and I
promise never, ever to do anything against my culture again.” Itan then
sang about Nigerian unity in Pidgin English and Yoruba; and ended up on
her knees in front of Akunyili, who smiled benevolently, appeased at
last.

Itan’s vision

But had it been
the intention of Itan (full name, Enitan Adebo) to insult Nigerian
culture? “No,” answered the singer, speaking to the press afterwards.
“Itan is a folklorist, a folk singer. She sings all kinds of songs from
every part – be it Nigeria, Togo, Uganda.” She revealed that she had
just returned from The Gambia, where she represented Nigeria in an
international cultural festival with 46 participating countries. She
won the cup.

“Itan stands for
unity among Africans,” she explained, adding that the Kente cloth had
been given to her by a Ghanaian fan. “He gave me the gift… to uphold
and to support what I am trying to preach in Africa. So, I decided to
put it on today. I thought it was part of rebranding.”

The singer spoke
passionately about the need to preserve African music, saying, “It’s
happening everywhere; Hip-Hop music is taking over African traditional
music in Ghana, in Nigeria, everywhere. So, I just want to preach my
own ‘rebranding’ to every youth out there in the Diaspora, in Africa –
that you have to be proud of who you are. If you are a Ghanaian,
Nigerian, Gambian – we are one body. We are one and our culture is one.
That is the vision of Itan.”

Itan’s manager,
Henrietta Ikediashi, said they had to do the “damage control” of Itan’s
apology to Dora Akunyili because “a minute can destroy the career
you’ve been building for long.” According to Ikediashi, “In trying to
preach oneness in Africa, we say to ourselves that as long as it is
African attire, we do not care where it comes from. But with that, we
can still project where we come from.”

Itan’s final word
on the scrape with Akunyili: “I don’t see that as putting down Nigerian
culture in any way.” The cultural decorations in the hall suggested
that conference organisers were closer to Itan than Akunyili in their
promotion of ‘Nigerian culture.’ Pinned to strips of aso-oke on the
walls were motifs of the Kora – a Malian musical instrument. Some of
the calabashes hung up had ‘Gimbiya’ inscribed on them – pointing to
their origin in The Gambia.

Perhaps, it is Dora Akunyili who needs to move away from her simplistic position about culture.