Nigeria Content Online

In keeping with an ongoing trend this year, the British Council
opened a photography exhibition on December 3 to commemorate Nigeria’s 50th
independence anniversary. However, the idea for the exhibition evolved from a
book which is the key effort on the part of the organisation to key into the
celebrations of Nigeria’s golden jubilee. The book is titled ‘Reflections’.
Country director of the British Council, David Higgs and some of his staff shed
more light on the book and the exhibition during a press briefing at the
organisation’s office in Lagos.

“The book is about Nigerians and British. As part of our
contribution towards Nigeria’s independence anniversary, we decided to show how
the relationship between Nigeria and Britain has evolved,” Mr. Higgs revealed.

“We began to think about Nigerians who have become successful
and how their life opportunities were a combination of Nigeria and the UK,” he
added. “In ‘Reflections’, we have profiled 20 people; 10 of them based in the
UK and the other 10 based in Nigeria, and we have taken pictures of places that
hold memories for them.”

One of the reasons behind the founding of the British Council
some 76 years ago was to promote cultural relations between Britain and the
rest of the world. ‘Reflections’ is one of the ways the council is showing how
Britain-Nigeria relations have influenced those profiled in the bok. It’s also
aimed at showing how these diverse cultural influences have shaped them. Going
further, Higgs disclosed that the council’s role in promoting British education
is reflected in the project, as all the people featured have schooled in the
United Kingdom at some point in their life.

“Education in the UK has influenced their success stories in
various ways. So we are attempting to communicate a positive image about
education in the UK,” Higgs asserted. “For each person profiled in the book, we
asked them to choose a place that’s very important to their life memories. We
then sent our photographers to take pictures of those places. It is those
pictures we are exhibiting here today.”

He continued, “The book was the main thing. The exhibition just
evolved from it. We saw the photographs and they were nice so we decided to
exhibit them.” Higgs added that they initially planned on doing drawings of the
locations but decided to settle for photography.

Coming soon

Assistant director of the British Council, Ojoma Ochai, used the
opportunity to highlight some of their upcoming programmes.

She talked about a project tagged ‘New Work, New Audiences’,
which would involve exchange of music, literature, film, theatre, fashion and
other cultural products between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

She disclosed that the organisation had only recently rounded
off a year-long creative enterprise training and mentoring programme in
collaboration with the Pan-African University.

Some of the mentors on the programme included: fashion designer
Lisa Folawiyo of Jewel by Lisa, photographer Kelechi Amadi and Carl Raccah CEO
of Orangutan Records. “We are looking to help young people become entrepreneurs
and income generators,” said Higgs. The programme will resume in January 2011.

The opening event of the exhibition witnessed a good turnout and
attendees were given a handy-bag containing the book. The framed photos were
displayed on the wall at the foyer of the council.

Joke Silva, one of those profiled in ‘Reflections’, was spotted
at the opening. “I think it’s nice to see the memory of the Diasporans. It’s
nice to see all the different perspectives,” she told NEXT. Cultural
ambassador, Olusegun Olusola, ace broadcaster Eugenia Abu and renowned actor
Olu Jacob – are just a few among those who are included in the book.

The exhibition runs till December 23
at The British Council, 20, Thompson Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Nigerians are known
for being go-getters or what some people call hustlers. Watching the
episodes of the second week of the Nigerian Idol, the popular saying,
“Warri no dey carry last” came to mind but in place of Warri, I fixed in
Naija.

At the Abuja and
Calabar auditions, it was obvious that there were contestants who had
come to the centres not for a chance to feature on the Idol stage but to
get contracts with the sponsors Etisalat as jingle singers/composers.

There was one guy
who was so determined to showcase his “talent” that even when Yinka
Davies politely asked him to stop he insisted on singing his entire set,
more like giving his entire presentation. “Let me finish,” he almost
snapped out. Still at the end of the day, he went home with the ‘NO’
that the judges had intended to give from the minute he first said:
Etisalat. “They got me down,” he complained to co-host Anis Holloway
when he finally left the room. Another potential jingler who was also
disappointed with a ‘NO’, tried harder to impress the judges by
informing them that he had a rap version.

Then there were the
contestants who just could not own up to defeat. These contestants,
after leaving the audition room with a unanimous ‘NO’, would come to
Holloway and tell him instead that they got two ‘Yeses’! I guess no one
informed them that their auditions were being filmed for not just local
but international broadcast. Or maybe they were told and these are just
folks who, like I said, “no dey carry last”. Talk about lying on TV!

The auditions are
finally over and, according to the organisers of the show, so is the
comedy. As the show moves into the second stage, Theatre stage, we are
supposed to expect more of high drama and tension. The theatre stage is
where the judges would trim down the number of contestants from the 100
who scaled through the auditions to 50. These 50 lucky contestants would
then feature on the main show which is the third and final stage. We
can’t wait.

Nigeria is a richly endowed country with enough human and
material resources to make her one of the most advanced nations in the world.
Sadly, she is ranked among the world’s poorest. The pervasive poverty is
however attributable to the greed and insensitivity of elites occupying
leadership positions, and not lack of resources. To make matters worse, the
people, major stakeholders in the electioneering process, appear undiscerning
as they either sell their votes for cash or lack the courage to exercise their
power and stand by their convictions.

These and many more are the focus of Tunji Fatilewa’s voter
education play, ‘Bombshell’. The play was staged at the Cyprian Ekwensi Centre
for Arts and Culture on Friday, December 3 by the Abuja Playhouse in
conjunction with the FCT Social Development Secretariat’s Department of Arts
and Culture.

Corruption as a norm

‘Bombshell’ contains important electoral education messages,
delivered in a distinctive, uncommon theatrical manner to show our capacity as
a people to effect change by holding politicians, public office holders and
others accountable to their pre-election promises.

As it is typical of most politicians, there is nothing tangible
Akinfunmilola (Kayode Aiyegbusi) can point to as a development project for his
people in spite of holding public office for 10 years. Two of these was as a
local government chairman and eight as Commissioner for Works and Transport. A
pauper before coming into power, he acquires the mannerisms of the ‘nouveau
riche’. He moves to the capital, away from the ordinary people and acquires
about 20 state of the art cars for his fleet. His children attend one of the
best private schools in the capital while the older ones attend universities in
the Europe and America. The only primary school in his community, the same one
he attended, is without roofing and the pupils sit and write on the bare floor.

The highpoint of the play which highlights the deceit Nigerians
are subjected to, is the revelation by Engineer Jonah as to why water doesn’t
flow from the boreholes Akinfunmilola inaugurated as a local government
chairman. Jonah discloses that the bore-holes were not completed and that
tankers were used to supply water to them prior to the inauguration ceremony
performed by the governor and covered by the media.

The money meant for the project, of course, disappears into
private pockets. In spite of failing to give pipe-borne water to the people,
Akinfunmilola has two bore-holes in his mansion from which his wife sells water
to the people.

People power

Democracy vests in the people the power to elect and to eject.
Sadly, many lack the requisite knowledge and understanding of the electoral
process, thus they are easily deceived by greedy politicians.

‘Bombshell’, which was first staged in April 2001, demonstrates
the potency of the people’s power. Oladipo, a retired school principal played
by Jibrin Ahmed, invades Akinfunmilola’s political rally where he is declaring
his candidacy for the governorship positin. He instigates the people to demand
an account of Akinfunmilola’s previous stewardship, saying it will be the basis
to decide whether he deserves to represent them once more or not.

He says, “You have the power. Not the power to work in the
factories. Not the power to till the soil. Nor the powers to exhibit great
dancing skills as you are ignorantly doing now. No! It is the power to elect
whom you want to lead you and to eject him when he breaks his promises…”

Right environment for
business

Speaking at the end of the play, Mike Oko, a representative of
ExxonMobil Nigeria, sponsors of the production, disclosed that the oil company
supported the play because its financial and business stability depends on
Nigeria’s political climate. “We are doing this to educate the people so that
they can take the right decision when our politicians come calling, for we need
a stable environment for business to grow.”

Actor, Ropo Ewenla, commended ExxonMobil for the initiative. “I
am shocked to see that ExxonMobil is putting its money in theatre as a tool for
change. This is highly commendable and I hope other companies will do the same.
It is high time our corporate organisations begin to see that they can do much more
than just making money. Their corporate social responsibilities must be
channeled towards activities like these that have direct bearing on the
people.” Ewenla added that a few technical lapses he noticed in the play should
be addressed as the group plans to take it around Nigeria in due course.

An international workshop on Pan Africanism themed ‘Sustaining
the New Wave of Pan-Africanism – Youth Shaping Global Africa’s Development in
21st Century’, has held at the University of Namibia, Namibia, from December 6
to 9.

It was jointly organised by the Centre for Black and African
Arts and Civilization; the Nigerian High Commission in Namibia and Pan-African
Strategic and Policy Research Group, headed by Ishola Williams, a retired
Nigerian Army general. The Pan-African Centre of Namibia and the National Youth
Council of Namibia were also co-organisers.

About 45 participants from Nigeria, Namibia, Mauritania, Sudan,
Congo, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tanzania, Jamaica, United Kingdom, Eritrea,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and the USA took part in deliberations at
the meeting.

The objectives of the workshop, a prelude to the celebration of
the International Year of the People of African Descent holding next year,
included focusing future generations of Pan-Africanists on the outcomes of
previous Pan-African conferences and discussing ways of implementing the
resolutions.

Making recommendations on the role of future generations in the
ideological movement was another goal of the conference which noted that youth
in Africa and the Diaspora have significant roles to play in achieving the
goals and visions of Pan-Africanism.

Founding president of Namibia and patron of PACON, Sam Nujoma,
delivered the keynote address and opened the workshop on December 6 at Safari
Hotel, Windhoek, Namibia.

Depleted resources

Nigeria’s ambassador to Namibia, Adegboyega Ariyo, also spoke at
the occasion. He lamented that despite becoming independent decades ago and in
contrast to the dreams of the founding fathers of Pan-Africanism, most African
countries don’t control their economies. He blamed the development on the
extant political systems, which allow a few to become millionaires by
exploiting resources while the majority remain in penury.

Ariyo also identified the culpability of Western countries, as
to whose benefit it is for Africa to remain under-developed. “The African
middle class has been reduced in size. 80 percent of Africans in Africa and its
Diaspora today live below the poverty line because we have allowed too many
millionaires. African resources are being depleted everyday to enrich a few
Africans and many non-Africans,” noted Ariyo. He called for a review of the
social contract between the people and their governments.

The diplomat however noted that the onus of charting a better
future for Africa lies on the shoulders of leaders and youth. “African leaders
and youths have very serious questions to answer in order to chart a better
future for Africa. Certainly we know that there are many hungry lions probing
the world for means to sustain their self-centred sybaritic economy. Because of
the current architecture of the world economy and the limitedness of what it is
intended to accommodate and for who, there is need for Africa to chart a new
“Africonomy” based on our historical evolution as a people. The African economy
of old cared for all members of the community. African development should be
based on our historical experience. African Development must be based on a
holistic understanding of what development means. It is used to denote what is
new.”

Social engineering

Ariyo further decried the pervasiveness of Westernisation which
has impacted negatively on the study of African history and social engineering.
“We look at our civilisation and assess the state of our being from other
people’s understanding of their civilisation and state of being. We tend to
forget that there was a period in our history when we existed without any
interaction with the Western world. What constituted our state of being then
should have been what we should be developing, though mindful that there are
new things, to which we are now exposed and must relate to, for us to develop.”

The diplomat noted that the great civilisations of Africa could not have
been achieved without social, economic and political systems obliterated under
colonialism and suggested that, “we need a road map to empower ourselves
economically” for Africa to make move forward.Members of the Namibian executive
council and National Assembly were among guests at the opening of the
conference, which followed another hosted by CBAAC and PANAFSTRAG in October in
Abuja, Nigeria.

Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Abubakar
Sadiq Mohammed, spoke with journalists before the closing ceremony of the Abuja
Carnival held at Eagle Square on Tuesday, November 30. Mohammed discussed
issues surrounding the hosting of the 2010 fiesta tagged the Jubilee Carnival.

Funding the carnival

The Abuja Carnival is a government initiative initially funded
by government. It was based on the premise that when government creates
awareness about its benefits, the appropriate funding will come from the
organised private sector. For up to four years, government was able to fund it
though it was expected that a carnival of this nature should be fully funded by
the private sector. The private sector has a lot to gain if they can fund it in
two ways; as a brand and as a corporate social responsibility. We have tried to
show them over the years that it is a Nigerian brand they can leverage upon.

We have tried to market it to organisations we feel should key
into supporting Abuja Carnival. It has been supported for a while by some
corporate organisations in their own small ways but it needs more than that.
That is why government has been withdrawing funding because if you look at
carnivals all over the world, they are not government funded. Even local
carnivals in Nigeria have a lot of support from the private sector more than
the Abuja Carnival; the Calabar Carnival, the Port Harcourt Carnival. If we
improve on our marketing, we should be able to fund Abuja Carnival and even
earn from it. That’s our target.

Preparations

The committee was inaugurated early this year and going forward,
after this carnival, we intend to immediately sit down, x-ray it and kick start
the process for the next carnival. I can assure you that we have some ideas of
engaging the committee beyond just a mandate.

This is in order to ensure planning because for anything to
succeed you must plan properly and it is our belief this time around that we
have to plan early. Of course, you have to keep members of the committee beyond
just a carnival. In that direction, we will improve and you can be sure that
before the end of this year or early next year, this will be our objective.

The 2010 Carnival budget

Unfortunately, there are still releases. As for the expenditure,
I would probably say after the carnival because we are still spending from what
has been released. I don’t have it at my fingertips. At the end of the day, the
accounting officer will be able to tell the press through the appropriate
officer what has been expended on the carnival. From there, you will see the
real constraint and appreciate the position of the committee and the ministry
vis-a-vis what you have seen on ground in the carnival.

Selling off the carnival
as a product

For now, it will be very difficult. How do you coordinate the
participation of states if a private organisation is in charge? We are just
trying to be coordinators because government backing brings the participating
states and other nationalities. If that is not there, you may find it extremely
difficult for the private sector to organise and invite the states. I believe
private organisations can be involved and they are involved to the extent that
they are part of the management team. They can be involved to the extent that
they can buy into this product. If you give out the carnival to somebody, the
problem you may encounter is how to mobilise participating states.

NAFEST and Abuja Carnival

These are products in the arts and culture sector but they are
different products. We know certainly what a carnival is; carnival emphasises
more on creativity apart from just the culture aspect. And that is what we are
trying to do because the major challenge we had over this last period, though
things have improved tremendously, is that people seem to come to the carnival
the same way they go to NAFEST. That’s why people have the notion that carnival
and NAFEST are the same. They are not. The challenge we had this year of
hosting NAFEST close to the carnival was because of some communication problem
we had with the hosting state.

As for the financial challenges, I believe that each participating
state, aside from probably de-emphasising sponsorship from the corporate world,
has a budget. They should be able to focus that they have these two events in a
year. They are two distinct activities; you should make preparations to fund
them separately.

They are two different products; you in the critical sector
certainly know that they are different products. It’s for you to tell the
world, to tell Nigerians the differences and we will ensure we continue to
maintain the time interval we are supposed to maintain. NAFEST normally holds
in October; the first or second week of October, and we still will like hosting
states to make arrangements to host within that period while Abuja Carnival
continues where it is. We are now talking about in-bound tourism; NAFEST is not
a product we sell to the outside world as we sell the Abuja Carnival. They are
distinct products and in terms of content, they are supposed to be separate.
That’s what we are now trying to ensure, that the content reflects the true carnival
package.

Kogi State will not
relent in preserving its historical relics and monuments, the
commissioner for culture and tourism, Edward Olu Akpata, has said. Lord
Lugard’s office and residence (now the Kogi State Government House); the
Iron of Liberty; the first primary school in Northern Nigeria, Holy
Trinity Bishop Crowther Primary School; Inikpi Statue at Ega and the
Cenotaph in Lokoja are some of the buildings of historical significance
that dot the state’s landscape.

“We are maintaining
them. We allocate funds for the maintenance and we do periodic checking.
In fact, only recently we took the governor to a site, the Holy Trinity
School. A section was falling and he had wanted to start its renovation
immediately but there was the issue of ownership. They said you have to
clear with the Archbishop of Lokoja Province, Anglican Communion before
doing anything,” Akpata said during an interview at the recently held
Abuja Carnival 2010.

Akpata, the third
person to head the ministry established during the incumbent governor,
Ibrahim Idris’ administration, explained that government created the
ministry to consolidate on the gains of culture.

He said that though a
young ministry government wants to grow, it doesn’t receive any special
preference. “There is inter-sectoral balancing; government can’t do
anything to disfavour others,” he said, adding that the current
administration is keenly interested in the activities of the ministry.

Akpata further
disclosed that a labour strike in the state was why it didn’t have a
motorised float during the street party and parade of the carnival.

“There was a warning
strike, from the warning strike to a major strike and this affected our
preparation. Nonetheless, we felt we should be here. To be here is
better than not to be seen. When money was released, before we could
access it, it was late. The Governor had actually granted approval in
good time but to get process it was the problem.”

Asked if the
ministry was projecting any of the attractions in the State to attract
tourists, Akpata said, “We spread our effort. Except that we are working
on a subsector of tourism which is hospitality. We are re-constructing a
100-room hotel, the Confluence Beach Hotel, at the cost of N1.3
million in Lokoja.”

The commissioner also disclosed that the State wanted to organise its
own carnival as a test run before the Abuja Carnival but shelved the
idea because of the strike. “By next year, that will happen. It’s as a
result of strike, that’s why our plans were aborted.”

Recently, the
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) published the latest edition of
its journal titled ANA Review’. The journal commemorates ANA’s 29th
International Convention which held in October this year. The
publication is divided into three parts, which are sectionalised into
poetry, stories and essay sections. To say the journal is poor and a
ruffling of the dignity a national literary body like ANA is supposed to
possess may be an understatement. It brought home the glaring paucity
of good writers and editors. Ranging from elementary grammatical
blunders to desiccated ideas that shouldn’t even make a worthy
publication, not to talk of the pervasive typographical errors, the ANA
journal is simply an intellectual failure.

The poetry section
has 13 poems, most of which are not worthy of public consumption. A
poem like Chukwunonso Ezeiyoke’s ‘Better a Nightmare,’ which is full of
grammatical inconsistencies poorly, treats its seemingly elegiac subject
of a lament at the death of a loved one. The poem lacks the suitable
mood and tones that are worthy of the sorrowful subject. Same goes with
Richard Ugbede Ali’s ‘Wedding Feast at Qana’. Tade Ipadeola’s ‘The
Damned Echo Tree’ reeks of what a writer termed “a vaporous haze of a
mirage”. The writer should attend lessons in grammar to distinguish
particularly between “it’s” and “its,” and such other elementary
constructions.

Ironically too,
some of the poems supposedly dedicated to literary icons like the late
T. M. Aluko were deformed pieces that would have obviously made the late
writer tweak his nose at the bumbling pieces that were written in his
honour. Poetry is supposed to possess the power of feelings and a force
on words that speaks to the humanity of the audience.

If the poetry was
poor, the short story section of the journal is simply abysmal. The two
stories that made the publication, ‘The Taxi Fare’ and ‘Balls and Nets’,
written by Alpha Emeka and Olubunmi Julius-Adeoye respectively, lack
depth and such poetic cadence that good short stories often exude. ‘The
Taxi Fare,’ chronicles a humorous incident in a taxi cab and the
eventual violent turn-out. The story would have perhaps been close to
average if the writer spent ample time on the plausibility of events. In
trying to thematise on the absurdities of human character, he creates
improbable, unrealistic characters. The driver is too sophisticated for
his profession to the point of being somewhat intellectually more
advanced than his passengers, including a civil servant. The supersonic
kaleidoscopic ending of the story conclusively renders it childish. For
‘Balls and Nets,’ one can only say the writer struggled to piece a
feminist tract but failed woefully. The popular themes of sexual
harassment at the work front are not treated with depth.

The bulk of the
journal is filled with six essays, most of which were papers presented
during the October 2010 ANA International Convention. Many of the
essays, though poorly written, are informative and incisive. Of
particular mention is the long piece by Nwokedi nwa Nwokedi titled
‘Children’s Literature and the Challenges of National [the poor editing
ensured the title was incomplete though I suspect the missing word
should be “Integration”].’The paper moralises on the need to exploit the
valuable tools of literature in the various stages of children’s
education.

The richest of the
papers should be Austin Amanze Akpuda’s ‘A Dream Beyond Pyramids:
Ferment, Harvest, Bazzar and Carnival in Nigerian Literature of the
Post-Soyinka Nobel Prize Era’. Akpuda documents the various stages of
Nigerian literature and the ground-breaking leaps made by the younger
generations of Nigerian writers. The writer argues that literary laurels
have been dubiously awarded to unmerited writings of some popular
writers, to the detriment of more valuable works by younger ones. This
trend, he argues, has been used to deny younger generations of Nigerian
writers of deserved recognitions. Some of the other essays lack focus
and literary merit. Damola Awoyokun’s ‘The Yahoo Generation and the
Triple Tropes of Sleaze’ lacks the sleaze of a good essay. Ideas are
discordantly presented in some carelessly written English. Punctuation
and spelling errors riddle most of the essays and almost snuffed
scholarship out of the journal.

The best way to treat journals like this would have been to ignore
reviewing them. Paradoxically, this review may even popularise the
journal and make some persons wish to have a first-hand grasp of the
content. This, I advise nonetheless. It is quite saddening that ANA
could choose to produce something as unworthy as this journal. The
publication is highly unrepresentative of the ANA Achebe and Soyinka
graciously established to give identity to Nigerian writers. The ANA of
this era has brought literature to a near dead-end. No wonder the
Association lacks a firm backbone to put in hefty and weighty voice to
the present literary discourse in Nigeria. The editorial team that
worked on this journal needs to be sacked. No apologies!

Christmas Concert: MUSON Choir and Orchestra performances – Agip Recital Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos. Today
Comedian’s Workshop: ‘Stand-up Comedy and Creative Speaking: Critical Tool for Societal Development’ – Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja. December 15
Foxhole Garden: Featuring performances, readings, and discussions – 11 Maryland Crescent, Lagos. 4pm. December 16.
Lola Shoneyin Book Party: Author launches first novel, ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ – French Cultural Centre, 52 Libreville Street, Off Aminu Kano, Wuse II, Abuja. 6pm. December 17.
Whisper Araism: Exhibition by Mufu Onifade – Omenka Gallery, Ben Enwonwu Foundation, 24 Ikoyi Crescent, Ikoyi, Lagos. 3pm. December 18.
A Husband’s Wife: Play by Tyrone Terrence featuring Joke Silva and Dede Mabiaku – Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos. 5.30pm & 7.30pm. December 18
Christmas with Zaynnah: Afternoon of Christmas classics sprinkled with Highlife and Jazz – Protea Ikoyi Westwood, 22 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. 3pm. December 18
Reflections: Photography exhibition by Olayinka Stephens and Jide Alakija – British Council, 20 Thompson Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos. Till December 23.