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Actor, Oladele
Akinseye, and writer, Karen King-Aribisala, jazzed up the occasion on
Tuesday, July 22, when Wale Okediran read from his latest novel,
‘Tenants of the House’, at the Faculty of Arts boardroom, University of
Lagos.

Akinseye sang
‘Peace, Love and Happiness’ to honour Okediran for winning the 2010
Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. Okediran was a joint winner of the
prize with South Africa’s Kopano Matlwa. It was a funny spectacle as
Akinseye tried to involve the audience in the acapella piece. The two
groups he asked to mimic musical instruments gave discordant tunes
while he belted the lyrics of the Afrobeat number.

King-Aribisala,
head of the Department of English and co-convener of the reading with
writer Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, also delivered her welcome address in a
song “in the spirit of what happened.” She called it the ‘Ouch, wow,
wow, wow song’. Some mischievous students taken in by the song kept
repeating ‘ouch, wow, wow, wow’ during Adimora-Ezeigbo’s introduction
of the guest writer.

Strange environment

Okediran prefaced
the four excerpts he read from the novel with explanations in an
attempt to provide context for his audience. The author disclosed
before he read the first chapter that he realised he was truly in a
strange environment when he got to the House.

“I found myself in
a different environment and started keeping a diary,” he said. The
former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) added
that he wrote a fictional account of his sojourn at the House because
his lawyer warned him he could be sued. He stated that the novel
generated mixed reactions from his colleagues in the National Assembly
when it was eventually released.

Okediran disclosed
that he still dodges three female members of the House who are unhappy
with him for portraying women as hard and having loose morals in the
novel. He then read the chapter where Lizzy attempted to seduce Bakura,
who wanted out of the plot to impeach the speaker.

The author of
‘Sighs of Desire’ and ‘The Weaving Looms’ also touched on the problems
he and other anti-third term lawmakers had with former president
Olusegun Obasanjo.

A long tradition

During the question
and answer session, students and lecturers grilled Okediran, who
recently established a residency for writers in Iseyin, Oyo State.

Asked if the
demarcation between science and arts students in secondary schools is
necessary, considering his literary achievements despite being a
medical doctor, Okediran said, “We have a long tradition of
doctor-writers. I’m sure many of you have come across Anton Chekov,
there are many of them. It has now been confirmed that your profession
doesn’t matter, it’s your innate talent. Now in America, poetry is
taught in medical schools to encourage doctors to see the beauty of
poetry and do some writing.” He added that curriculum planners have
nothing to lose by re-examining the issue and addressing it.

Child’s play

Elites shouldn’t
shy away from politics, Okediran said when Lasisi Bolaji, a student
activist asked how credible people can get into elective offices. “I
believe the more people of credible background we have, the better
politics will be at the end of the day. And you should have a job
before you go,” he reiterated.

Kayode Soremekun,
a professor of International Relations and Okediran’s squatter at the
University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) where he studied
English, asked his friend if there was a future for democracy in
Nigeria, going by actions of members of the National Assembly.

“What you have seen
now is like child’s play compared to what happened many years ago,” the
writer began. “It’s something of regret to many of us because we
thought that now, things should be getting better. The future of this
democracy lies in the hands of us, the so-called elites, because it’s
like we abandoned politics and democracy to the second eleven. Bola Ige
said when he wanted to drag me into politics that the bane of the
elites is that we don’t want to leave our comfort zones, we are not
interested in how government is being run.”

Love wins

He offered an
interesting insight into how love got into the story. “It will be very
boring to read a 300-page book just on politics. Love story is a winner
any day and I know that from experience. I went to Spectrum Books many
years ago with my first manuscript about my experience during NYSC. The
editor said: ‘this will not sell. If you want a book to sell, either
write a thriller or a love story’. So, I had to go back and write a
love story. That’s why my first book, ‘Rainbows Are for Lovers’ is
about the bestselling book published by Spectrum Books till today. And
from comments from readers, particularly the ladies, the love story
carries the day. When Professor Ayo Banjo reviewed the book in Ibadan,
he said I wrote two books in one. One about politics, the other on
love.”

Sidney Sheldon’s influence

Okediran revealed
the influence of the late thriller writer, Sidney Sheldon, on his work.
“I was maybe badly or positively influenced by Sidney Sheldon. I read
him and I’ve read his biographies. When he was asked why he liked using
female protagonists, he said: ‘you don’t know what you are missing.
Women can change their minds anytime and with a woman, you can get a
very good character because you don’t know what she will do next. With
a man, you can predict’. To a large extent, I think it’s true. That’s
why I used Lizzy to open my book. Sidney Sheldon also believes in
cliffhangers. That’s why I said maybe I was badly influenced because
some of my friends tell me: ‘your book is (only) a little above James
Hadley Chase and I say, let it be like that. That’s what I like. It can
actually be a problem because some reviewers want literary books, so to
say – ‘difficult’ books. They call some of us populist writers but I
think it’s good. I think the best compliment you can get as a writer is
‘I read your book and I couldn’t put it down’. That says it all.”

A book signing session for the students and guests including the
writer’s relatives, friends and Hope Eghagha, Delta State commissioner
for higher education, ended the reading.

The Apostolic Faith
church must share sentiments with Franz Alexander von Kleist who was
quoted as saying “Mozart’s music is so beautiful as to entice angels
down to earth.” And the church might have achieved just such a feat,
when on August 7, its 1000 member choir and orchestra raised voices to
the heavens, performing symphonies from Mozart and other famous
composers.

As part of
activities marking its annual convention, which holds till August 22,
the Apostolic Faith Church held its classical music concert tagged
“Behold, He cometh” at its ‘Faith City’ in Igbesa, Ogun State.
Resplendent in navy blue and white, the impressive choir performed 18
musical offertories to God, and the large congregation consisting of
monarchs, foreign visitors and church members.

The church’s
District Superintendent, West and Central Africa Headquarters, Reverend
Emmanuel Adebayo Adeniran, in his opening remark, stated that the
concert was “set aside to remind the world of the great time set aside
by God to create the world.”

And we were
reminded where we were when the choir, with its impressive collection
of orchestral instruments opened the concert with a rendition of
Mozart’s ‘Praise the Lord for He is Gracious’. A choir and orchestra
piece led with cello strings and accompanied by violins and piano tones
to create an uplifting spiritual feel that set the tone for the evening.

A clarinet quartet
by Beethoven complemented by the keyboard notes and produced delicate
notes that evidenced the precision of the instrumentalists. Various
other musical renditions followed in quick succession: Mozart’s ‘Werke
No 3 in G Major’, ‘Carest Thou Not’ by Lance Nathan, and ‘I’ve anchored
my Soul’ by K. Oje, performed by a combination of choir, string
instruments and keyboard.

Songs from the realm of peace

Two songs from
Joseph Haydn’s oratorio ‘The Creation’, a masterpiece which depicts and
celebrates the creation of the world as described in the biblical Book
of Genesis, were performed. In a mélange of voice and sounds from
violins, cellos and keyboards, the triumphant history of God’s creation
of the earth and its creatures, was retold.

The concert was
broken briefly with a sermon from Adeniran, who proclaimed the theme of
the concert thus: “One glorious day, the saints of God are going to
break the law of gravity and meet with the Lord.” He enjoined his
congregation to “desire to leave the storms of this earth for the realm
of peace.” And advised that they not allow money to stand between them
and God; “the greatest mistake of our age”, he said, “is raising
another god (money) before our God.”

The second part of
the concert kicked off with Schubert’s ‘Symphony No 5’; followed
immediately by violinist Dare Ogunsanya’s performance of ‘Czardas’ by
Vittorio Monti. The performance, possibly the most riveting of the
evening, was heralded by almost pin drop silence. Holding the audience
spellbound, Ogunsanya spoke the gospel in different tones, starting
with measured strings, then quickening to a canter and finally slowing
down to be interspersed with keyboard notes before culminating in a
crescendo worthy of a virtuoso. His performance, which included an
offering of the popular hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’, received the loudest
ovations and elicited several shouts of Hallelujah.

Local airs

Though mostly
classical, the concert did not neglect to bring in the Nigerian
flavour, in a section tagged ‘local airs’. Ethnic hymns in Igbo, Efik,
and Yoruba were performed with the audience joining in song. The event
ended with a final performance from Creation, by the thousand member
choir, with every chorister playing an instrument in accompaniment.

Music Director for
the church, Dotun Ewumi, speaking after the concert, attributed the
church’s preference for organising classical concerts to the foundation
laid by its founders. According to him, “Our founding fathers brought
up the church with music from America, and we have continued the
tradition since then.” Should we be looking out for any such concerts
soon? “Yes,” he said, “this is the second classical concert this year.
We usually hold three every year: during Easter, during our camp
convention and at Christmas.”

No doubt due to the
technical difficulties of assembling a choir this large, the
preparations for the concert had taken four months, with rehearsals
beginning in April. And the performances, conducted by Ewumi, and the
church’s director of worship, Kayode Oje, evidently benefitted from
this painstaking effort as the two-and-half-hour concert progressed
without any glitches.

Surgical precision

The sound quality
was wonderful, and the change of choir and instrumental for each song
proceeded with almost surgical precision. Also, the concert had all the
choristers reading sheet music, and boasted an array of instruments:
strings such as violins, violas, cello and double basses; brass such as
trumpets, trombones and French horns; clarinets; a grand piano; and a
giant keyboard.

Speaking on the
success of the event, Reverend Dwight Baltzell, Director of Africa
Works, attributed the hitch-free performance to the Almighty, and to
the efforts of the choir, whom he prayed will be paid with blessings
from God. Reverend Adeniran promised happily that the concert is
“growing from strength to strength. This is bigger than the last
concert; Next time, it will be even better.”

Classical music is perhaps the most tranquil and inspiring music one
can hear, small wonder it spoke the gospel so fluently, as performed by
the Apostolic Faith Church choir. One cannot but be impressed by the
church’s wonderful execution (save for an alto solo in ‘I’ll fly away’
that went awry briefly) of gospel masterpieces. The performance, is
undoubtedly one of the most remarkable one might be privileged to
attend in Nigeria. One expects that The Apostolic Faith Church
continues to, through the expression of classical music, propagate its
message of the love of God.

The just ended
exhibition, ‘Clockmania’, showcased an Aladdin’s Cave worth of novelty
timepieces to the general public. Organised by The Multicolour, an
interior design outfit based in Lagos, the exhibition’s opening took
place at The Place in Ikeja GRA, Lagos, on August 8. Nearly 40 people
braved the heavy rains on the day to attended the opening.

In her opening
remarks, the organiser of ‘Clockmania’, Adebusola Akinnubi, expressed
her appreciation to guests who made time out of their busy schedules to
attend the exhibition. Hinting at her motivation for the show, she
said, “I want to give people variety of clocks in their homes and
offices, to beautify homes, offices with unique clocks.”

Multicolours, which
has been delivering uniquely designed clocks to clients, decided to
make it a public business, and the best way to signal this was through
the ‘Clockmania’ exhibition.

Akinnubi used the
occasion to stress the need for Nigerians to pay better attention to
time and time-keeping. “When invited to any occasion, people arrive an
hour late for the event, which is not helping us at all in this
society. I do not believe in ‘African Time’ the way it is said in
Nigeria today. With this exhibition, I hope to encourage Nigerians to
be time-conscious in the society and in their everyday life.”

A ten percent
discount was on offer on all clocks sold during the exhibition. The
CEO- turned-curator, Akinnubi, informed that, “We have over 100
varieties of clocks. From small table clocks to wall clocks and floor
clocks such as grandfather clocks, which are not what people are used
to seeing every day.”

Guests viewed the
clocks on display and many marvelled at the designs, some ornate, some
playfully quirky, while others are fashioned after themes likes sports.
One guest who decided to purchase one piece, Chuks Ibeh, said, “I read
(about) this online and was moved to come to this exhibition. I love
lovely clocks in my house, and hope this continues in Nigeria.”

Akinnubi has
promised to make the exhibition an annual event. Having established a
‘clock house’ in order to provide people with beautiful pieces, the
Computer Science graduate of the University of Ilorin spoke about her
“passion for clocks”.

She declared herself encouraged by the public interest shown in the
exhibition, and the attendance. During discussions at the opening
event, it emerged that the clocks are largely imported from Switzerland
and other places. Perhaps by the time of subsequent editions, the
efforts of The Multicolour and Akinnubi would have helped to stimulate
the production of similar clock design artistry locally, thereby adding
to the variety on of pieces on offer.

U.S Filmmakers Bart
Weiss and Kim Snyder were recently in Nigeria to attend an American
Documentary Showcase organised by the public affairs section of the US
Consulate in Lagos and the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers.

The event, which
took place at the Ozone Cinema, Yaba, Lagos, afforded Nigerian movie
directors an opportunity to exchange ideas with the established
American documentary film experts. The highlight was the screening of
three American documentary films – ‘Come Back to Sudan’ (which
documents the lives of three ‘lost boys’ of Sudan and their adoptive
white American mother)), ‘Street Fight’ (chronicling the bare-knuckled
race for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, between 32 year old Cory Booker
and Sharpe James, the four term incumbent mayor) and ‘Wiz Kids’ (the
story of three remarkable and passionate scientists who compete in
America’s oldest and most prestigious science competition). After each
screening the facilitators fielded questions from the audience,
consisting of established and emerging Nigerian filmmakers.

A film of truth

In his opening
remarks, Bart Weiss, an award winning independent film producer and
founder of the Dallas Video Festival, introduced the audience to
various techniques of making a documentary, with emphasis on cinéma
vérité. Defining the term as ‘a film of truth’, Weiss said, “It
involves a camera man following his subject in real life rather than
constructing images. The crew follows things as they evolve. It helps
you experience the emotion because everything is not based on the
imagination of the director”.

Citing ‘Street
Fight’ as an example of Cinéma vérité, Weiss added that the intensity
or emotions of any story can never be lost if the technique was adopted
into use.

Looking beyond the challenges

Whilst challenging
young filmmakers to be daring, Kim Synder, who recently co-founded the
BeCause Foundation to produce a series of documentaries designed to
raise awareness about global issues and inspire philanthropy through
the power of film, said: “You do not have to wait until you have
sophisticated equipments before you shoot a short film or documentary.
Go out and shoot with minimal equipments which you have and you can
shoot a state-of-the-art documentary. Start with what you have and
collaborate with friends or professionals.”

The Nigerian question

As the discussions
progressed, the question about how Nigerian filmmakers could benefit
from the expertise of the visiting filmmakers arose. Weiss addressed
the issue, saying, “[Nigerian movie practitioners] can benefit through
exchange programmes as well learning the movie making techniques of
both countries.”

Although the
organisers expressed displeasure at the sparsely filled theatre hall,
despite the large number of invites sent out, the audience present had
more than enough lessons to take away.

As the event wound to a close, Weiss had a last word for upcoming
filmmakers: “If you want the government to partner and work with you,
it won’t readily happen so you have to be persistent and hard on
yourself. Filmmakers have a charge to help and encourage each other to
get things going because if you want to do it all by yourself, it is
going to be hard.”

Veteran arts
journalist, Ben Tomoloju, has cautioned media practitioners against
what he called the “laissez faire approach to culture and
commercialisation.”

He made the remarks
at the National Workshop on Propagating Cultural Values for National
Development, held at Merit House, Abuja on August 2. The culture
activist cited as example of such laissez faire approach a recent
advert by Wale Adenuga Productions, producers of popular television
series, ‘Super Story’ and ‘Papa Ajasco’.

As related by
Tomoloju, “The advert, which gives a sorry impression of what one
refers to as ‘audition by lucky dip’, called for entries from
prospective actors at a fee, for a major television drama to celebrate
Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary. Shockingly… successful
actors will be selected, not on the basis of a critical assessment of
their competence by a panel of experts, but by a sort of ballot, a
lucky-dip system of actors’ recruitment, which throws traditional
methods of talent appraisal overboard.”

Tomoloju criticised
the advert as “a very easy way of adopting mediocrity and marginalising
genuinely gifted artists. Without taking anything from the high
reputation of Wale Adenuga Productions… by this ‘audition by
lucky-dip’, the integrity of the electronic media, media arts
programming and culture production is seriously undermined.” Tomoloju
charged that the attention of media practitioners should necessarily be
drawn to such “unwholesome trend”, in order to ensure the sanitisation
of the culture sector. “Let us not deregulate our culture along with
deregulation,” he said.

Cultural values

Tomoloju was
speaking as a resource person for the workshop, organised by the
National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO). Among those in
attendance was the Emir of Potiskum, Mai Umar Bubaram IBN, who entered
the venue with much fanfare, preceded by a horn-blower and surrounded
by his courtiers. Others on the high table included Garba Mohammed,
President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ); and Ibrahim
Abubakar Ganyama, chair, Governing Board of NICO. The Minister of
Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq Muhammed was
represented by the Director of Culture, George Ufot.

The theme of the
one-day workshop was ‘Cultural Values, Our Greatest Asset’. In his
opening remarks as chair of the occasion, Garba Mohammed commended NICO
“for organising this workshop at this particular time when there is
discussion about the need to expose our cultural heritage in the
development of the nation.” Responding, Barclays Ayakoroma, Executive
Secretary of NICO, congratulated Mohammed “on the release of your
kidnapped journalists”, noting that, during the crisis, the NUJ
secretariat had relocated to the scene of the action, Abia State.

Ayakoroma informed
that this was the second workshop in NICO’s programme of Propagating
Cultural Values for National Development; the first edition held in
May.

“On May 19, we
planted a seed and today, we can see that the seed is germinating,”
Ayakoroma said. He stressed the importance of such a talk-shop, saying,
“We cannot make appreciable progress without synergy between cultural
workers and administrators. It is my hope, therefore, that this
workshop would provide a platform for such synergy as well as afford
participants the opportunity to draw from the wealth of experiences of
our resource persons.”

In his remarks,
George Ufot affirmed that, “We are interested in a culture of
excellence, decency and respect… As we approach the national
elections, it is important we talk to each other.” Ufot also tasked the
media on the need to propagate culture as a means of developing the
nation.

Human relations

Ben Tomoloju and
the other resource person, Clara Obazele, engaged participants during
the Technical Session. Obazele, a veteran journalist, was first up,
with a contribution that focused more on the behavioural aspects of
culture. No mention of folklore, songs, dance, theatre or rituals in
her presentation, which treated such sub-themes as: good human
relations, sense of community, sense of respect for authority and
elders and the distinction between ‘clock time’ and ‘socialised time’.

Using references as
varied as Albert Camus and Nkem Nwankwo, Obazele’s was an engaging
presentation, somewhat compromised by the positioning of her Powerpoint
equipment, which meant that her back was to the audience most the time.
Her presentation later generated some debate about whether it was
possible to truly return to the values of the olden days, as she seemed
to be advocating.

Agenda setting

It was the paper by
Ben Tomoloju – written as he sat on the high table – that really got
the interest of the arts writers and editors present. Speaking on ‘The
Role of the Media in Propagating Cultural Values for National
Development’, the former deputy editor of The Guardian noted the
function of the media in “communicating culture through its reportage,
educative features and programmes, in critically analysing cultural
development and celebrating by way of conferring status (on) those
vital and noble aspects of the lives of people and institutions. The
cultural media is, therefore, central to national development.”

Tomoloju’s paper
charted some of the culture milestones achieved in Nigeria between the
years 1988 and 1997, designated as the World Decade for Cultural
Development by UNESCO. He drew attention to the agenda setting role of
the media and the ways in which this could be used for national
development.

“The media is close
to the people at all levels of the social hierarchy. They should
therefore serve as the barometer of public opinion and voice of the
voiceless, with the capacity to transmit the yearnings and aspirations
of the people to the leadership,” he said.

The culture
activist canvassed for the propagation of culture at all levels of
society, not just through to “monuments” like the National Theatre, but
via the establishment of cultural centres, operas, libraries and
theatres at community level. That way, “there is a graduation of talent
from the grassroots before it gets to national recognition.”

He advocated for
the return of craft villages to the level of traditional organised
guilds, noting that traditional skills had sustained the economies of
pre-colonial African societies. “All that China did during the Olympics
was based on their culture, not just technology. The computation had
been in the Chinese since Confucius.

Cultural action

Touching on the
potential of the media for mass mobilisation and cultural action,
Tomoloju said, “Film is a powerful tool for propaganda and cultural
diplomacy.” He recalled the colonialists’ use of Mobile Film Shows to
“subdue and subject” African societies culturally.

“Journalists and
media practitioners should maintain the required standards of their
practice” in order to be effective agents for the propagation of
culture for national development, said Tomoloju. For effective
communication, he urged against “the current trend of short-changing
the quality of indigenous languages in public communication.”

In this regard, he
praised the efforts of NICO, which has been running classes in
indigenous languages. “NICO is setting a fresh agenda in terms of
cultural praxis; a new visionary and pragmatic force of appeal that
will positively influence public consciousness on the viability of
culture in the creation of prosperity for the well-being of the
Nigerian populace,” Tomoloju said.

NICO Executive Secretary, Barclays Ayakoroma, spoke of plans to
extend the National Workshop on Propagating Cultural Values for
National Development beyond this second edition. He said, “We are
looking forward to a time when this forum will be a national event
[which] arts writers all over the country, not just Lagos and Abuja,
will attend.”

Fifty years ago
Chinua Achebe stunned the world with the novel, Things Fall Apart, a
muscular response to the stereotypical way the world viewed Africa in
her stories. Driven by fierce pride, recoiling from stories that had
turned Africa into a disease-ridden pit of mumbling savages, he set out
to prove the truth in the East African adage: “Until the lions produce
their own historian, the story of the hunt will glorify only the
hunter.”

Achebe was one of
an elite squad of super-bright intellectual leaders out of Africa that
jacked up conventional prejudiced opinion against the wall of the
world’s conscience. I am in awe of ‘Things Fall Apart’. I read it
regularly and I always discover something new and insightful in its
pages each time. I also marvel at the energy and fierce determination
that it took to produce such a masterpiece in a world without word
processors and the wondrous tools of the computer and the Internet.

Achebe’s
generation of writers certainly was seized by a grand vision and in
their books they laid it out often with sweeping imagery and majesty.
That generation’s energy and disciplined sense of purpose is awe
inspiring. Think of what it took to edit Achebe’s manuscript and the
energy it required to publish it overseas. It is impossible to detect
an editing issue in ‘Things Fall Apart’. This is a miracle considering
when, where and how it was written.

Achebe’s
generation also had the heavy burden of entertaining the community in
the absence of the ubiquity of television and the Internet. And they
delivered, writing books that even when bereft of any message or
ideology, simply delighted and entertained. There was coherence and a
consistency in quality and message and it was possible to define and
identify a great generation of African writers.

Fast forward to
today. Sad to say five decades later, the Nigerian publishing industry
is still virtually as inchoate as the environment that drove ‘Things
Fall Apart’ to be published abroad in the 50s. In many ways when you
adjust for all the enormous resources available to today’s publishers,
one could argue that the publishing industry has gotten worse since
then. Sure, there are bright spots, but these are sadly outliers.
Nigerian writers understandably continue to look to the West for relief
from the mediocrity at home. This is a shame; there are many reasons
why things are in near disarray; it is not all the fault of our
publishers: To say for instance that successive Nigerian governments
have been irresponsible is to engage in polite understatement. There is
not a shortage of passionate, talented writers willing to write today’s
story. But the sad quality of the production mirrors the sad quality of
virtually every production from virtually every Nigerian institution.
Art imitates life’s reality.

Many Nigerian
writers are worthy ambassadors and they do good things for Nigeria. The
best of them have been adopted by well funded Western individuals and
institutions. The unintended consequence has been to emphasise the
narcissistic individualism of our best thinkers. Too self-absorbed to
be relevant to Nigeria, they are busy grabbing prizes from the West
while giving Westerners condescending lectures for being avuncular and
patronising towards them. They openly eat the cake offered them and
demand it back.

Given the abysmal
state of today’s Nigeria it seems self indulgent for our writers to be
jetting around the world, lecturing white folks that we are humans
deserving respect. Many Nigerian writers seem obsessed with garnering
lucrative prizes, engaging in gimmicks to enhance book sales, etc. I
call it writing to the smell test of dollars. Short stories are
hurriedly written to order for the enjoyment of white Johns in return
for dollars: “Um, write us a story, fill it with huts, army generals
and peasants. I liked the line in your delectable short story, Things
Rotten in Nigeria “the fish in the egusi had a face! Brilliant!”

Apparently superciliousness is not exclusive to Nigerian writers. I
do love the Caine Prize for African Writing. It has been great for
African literature and I applaud the vision of its founders and
funders. The Sierra Leonean Olufemi Terry is the latest winner of the
prize. After winning, however, he assured the BBC that it was
“unhelpful” to see writers from Africa as a unique category. Hear
Terry: “There is a danger in seeking authenticity in African writing,”
He then hoped that winning the prize would help him get his book
published. This is where I lose it with our writers. Terry knew what
the Caine writing prize is all about. Hello, it is called the Caine
Prize for African Writing, for Heaven’s sakes. Nobody put a gun to his
head to compete for the prize. He wrote a short story to the test of
this particular prize and he won based on his very “African” short
story. He then proceeds to chide the West for calling him an African
writer. Olufemi Terry does not deserve the Caine prize. He should
return the prize.

Since its inception
in 2004, the Super Story television drama series has been a
viewer-favourite, won awards and other recognitions and is currently
under syndication in several African countries. The series are
non-concurrent with each of them based on a different story that is
concluded at the end of the season. The stories, which are didactic in
nature, portray societal ills and deal with issues pertaining to the
family. They also serve as a window onto the African society from a
Nigerian viewpoint.

Amongst the most
outstanding of the series is Nnenna, which aired in the 2008 season
and, unlike the rest of the Super Story drama series, was especially
popular with children. The story was based on a ghost girl, Nnenna, who
had come back from the dead to haunt those who had unjustly killed her
along with her mother and father.

Twenty-two-year old
Yinka Olukunga, in her debut role, starred as Nnenna with seasoned
actors Alex Usifo-Omiagbo and Shan George playing her father and mother
respectively.

“Before I got the
role I was a model. I have appeared in advertising for Visafone, Dudu
Osun and Lux amongst others. I heard about the auditions for the role,
went for it and I got it,” says the bubbly actress with a casual shrug
of her shoulders.

Although a novice
to acting at the time of portraying Nnenna, Olukunga’s sublime
performance belied her lack of experience. Indeed the accolades she got
from viewers that enjoyed the series and particularly the affection
accorded her by children who now view her as a role model, was so
overwhelming that the series producers, Wale Adenuga Productions (WAP),
decided to do something to show their appreciation.

The Nnenna and
Friends Show, a live variety show/children’s party debuted on
Valentine’s Day 2009 starring Olukunga still in character as Nnenna and
appearing alongside her were other popular characters from the WAP
stable, like Papa Ajasco and Co. and the Soul Sisters.

Interacting with kids

“It is fashioned as
an event where kids get to interact and have fun with Nnenna and some
of their other favourite characters,” explained Eno Kennedy, brand
manager for ‘Nnenna and Friends’.

After the first
event, the show was subsequently scheduled to hold five times in a
year: on Valentine’s Day, Easter, Children’s Day, October 1 – and an
end of the year show towards the Christmas holiday and twice on the
same day. Apart from Nnenna and her friends from WAP, the events have
also featured top-notch music artistes and comedians such as MI, Kefee,
Sound Sultan, Princess and a host of others.

“We have seen an
average of three thousand kids at these events and that’s for each
show.” Olukunga ends the statement with an impish grin that is so
charming in its child-like quality that one can immediately see why
kids identify with her.

But she soon reverts to her brand ambassador mode to explain the main focus of the show.

“Apart from
entertaining the kids, the shows also serve as a talent-hunt,” she
says. “There are dance and music competitions and also plays where the
kids get to take part and display their skills.”

“This is actually
the main focus of the brand Nnenna and Friends,” Kennedy chips in. “We
want to encourage kids to discover and explore their creative talents.
Hence, we have [devised] the show as a sort of launch pad for young
creative people.”

The Nnenna and
Friends Show is currently helping to promote a group of talented kids
called the BIS kids. The BIS kids perform at the Nnenna and Friends
Show and have also featured in other non-WAP events.

Fan club

Still, Nnenna and
Friends are hoping to do more by putting some structure to the
talent-hunt through the yet-to-be-launched Nnenna and Friends Fan Club.

“The Fan Club is an
avenue through which Nnenna and WAP hope to invest in the Nigerian
child by encouraging budding talents in the creative arts hence its tag
line, “Celebrating Tomorrow’s Leaders,” explains Kennedy who goes on to
give a brief outline of its planned activities.

“The Club would
host two-week summer camps where children would undergo training from
professionals in the fields of music, dance and acting. Participants
get to go home with certificates and a chance to feature in WAP TV
shows.

“However, the
exceptional ones would be awarded with scholarships for further
training at reputable schools of dramatic arts both within and outside
the country. There would also be organised tours within and outside the
country and an award show were outstanding kids in the entertainment
industry would be recognised.

“In order to
achieve all this, we are willing to partner with corporate bodies and
individual sponsors interested in investing in the dreams of a child,”
she added.

Nnenna and Friends is currently the only non-product brand uniquely
targeted at children and so far, with its charming front-woman has seen
a rapid increase in following and in such a short period.

Football is in the
air. South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup has ensured that the
ball has landed firmly on the continent. Africa is still under the
spell of football-mania! A new book conceived in the run-up to the
World Cup is now out and, predictably it will be very relevant for
long. Titled ‘Africa United: The Road to Twenty Ten’, it is edited by
Stefan Verwer, Marc Broere and Chris de Bode and, it is a joint
initiative of World Press Photo, Free Voice, Africa Media Online and
lokaalmondiaal; Dutch personnel and agencies based in the Netherlands.

It’s all part of
the old legacy of colonisation that these editors and agencies based in
a small European country have comfortably journalistically pigeon-holed
an entire continent of over 50 countries into one homogenous entity.
The sub-aim of the book is “to enable African journalists make
themselves heard at a moment when the whole world is focussing its
attention on Africa.”

The assembled print
features and photographic documentaries in the book were independently
chosen by the media people assembled and ‘trained’ by the World Press
Photo, Free Voice and Africa Media Online, with the ultimate purpose of
“encouraging these media professionals to creatively produce reports
about football in Africa and to help sell their products throughout the
world.”

Eurocentric

Beautiful and
admirable intentions. The results are interesting and in some cases
quite predictable in that knowingly or unknowingly, a few of the
coverage were deliberating slanted towards perceived Eurocentric tastes
in stories and pictures. That a few of the participants were trapped in
the mindset of deliberating producing ‘sensational’ coverage for the
world media market is obvious! After all, ‘sensational and weird’
stories and photographs out of Africa are always guaranteed to sell
well.

Nonetheless, the
end-result is an innovative book that generally seeks to erase old
stereotypes and in place offer fresher, ‘cleaner’ and more modern media
examination of Africa, football and the ‘very special’ 2010 World Cup!

There are 25 items
in this attractively-produced 200-odd-page book, printed in Hungary.
The reproduction of the colour photographs is exceptionally good, with
true rich colours.

There are 13 features including the Foreword and Epilogue and 12 photographic documentaries on a diverse range of subjects.

Ghettorisation

The Foreword is
predictable in that the editors offer the naive hope that football and
the 2010 World might magically save Africa from its many problems and
provide “an excellent chance to show people a different Africa.”
Unfortunately, next comes a photo documentary ‘Soccer Worlds’ by
Nigerian Andrew Esiebo, in which he unfortunately seems stuck in
glamorising the ghettorisation of football in Nigeria. Is he
deliberately unaware of the academics and middleclass like Adokiye,
Odegbami, Oliseh, Owolabi (to name a few) who are also a valid face of
football development in Nigeria? He is in the uncomplimentary company
of Nikki Rixon of South Africa whose photo study Ghana’s Future Stars
is a grimy study of a village football academy. One wonders whether
Rixon is unaware of Abedi Pele’s successful academy and club in Ghana,
the Ivory Coast Academy that produced the Toure brothers or the Kwara
State Academy that are all world-standard and now rightly world-famous
as well?

Number 9 jersey

There is a
thematically inspired photo study Number 9 by Thierry Gouegnon which
weaves a visual story of the journey of the number 9 jersey of the
Burkina Faso national team. It traces the jersey from the laundry to
the ironing sequence to the owner/playing receiving it in the team
dressing room, adorning it and wearing it on the field of play during a
crucial Malawi-Burkina Faso 2010 World Cup qualifying match. It is no
surprise that the cover photograph of the book is of the owner of the
number 9 jersey, Dagano; after being interviewed by the press at the
end of the match and, then acknowledging fan support with his famed
jersey held over his head between his hands.

Other creative
photo studies show a re-enactment of the activities of one of Congo’s
early and famous female referees, Marie Agnes Makengi Kapinga /Mother
Malou, The Woman in Black and, a study of the official and social life
of Liberia’s Iron Lady, lawyer and current Chairwoman of the Liberian
Football Association since 2004 and Vice-President of the West African
Football Union, Sombo Izetta Wesley. These are by joseph Moura and
Ahmed Jallanzo respectively.

There are, for me,
four outstanding journalistic contributions. The Dream of Twenty Ten by
Thomas Kwenaite is a rollercoaster journey of the emotional journeys of
South Africans as they missed out on staging 2006 to the nail-biting
anxiety on May 15, 2004 as the nation waited with bated breath for the
announcement of the host for 2010. Tadele Assefa dissects the deep
passion of two of Ethiopia and the world’s greatest-ever long distance
runners and multiple Olympic gold medallists – Gebrselassie and Bekele
– for football and currently Chelsea football club. It also toruches on
their aversion and fear of attending live matches because of
‘suffocating’ crowds. Mark Namanya of Uganda writes about Rwanda
strongman and President Kagame’s total immersion while watching
football, his attention to detail, awareness of tactics and amazing
analysis; including his quip to his national team, “I won’t blame you
for losing. I blame you for losing having not tried.”

Jay Jay or juju

Nanama Keita of
Gambia confesses his unbound admiration for Nigeria’s Jay Jay Okocha.
“Okocha caresses the ball with effortless ease and leaves you wondering
whether he has a spiritual pact with the round leather object,” he
writes and then tells about how his long dream of meeting Jay Jay
finally materialised in Abuja in 2009.

Espera G.
Donouvossi of Benin Republic examines juju in African football as the
The Ultimate Challenge for African magicians. There are other brilliant
essays on Drogba’s healing powers through football for war-torn Ivory
Coast, how the dreaded dictator Idi Amin used a visit by Pele to win
favour and calm the Ugandan nation, how the death of members of
Zambian’s national team in an air crash put a ‘curse’ on national
football and the all-important reality of football migration from
Africa to Europe and beyond.

Esiebo redeems himself with beautiful portraits in a study of
Pool/Football betting in Ibadan. And Adolphus Opara’s photo study of
the impact of Mallam Wunti’s small but very productive
football-manufacturing factory in Bauchi rightly deserves the title
‘The People’s Hero’. For sure, the journalists and photographers who
have contributed to this book are in many ways Africa’s media heroes!