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On Tuesday, June 29, the Korean Cultural Centre in Abuja played host to 20 primary schools from across the Federal Capital Territory to celebrate the winners of its first drawing competition. The centre organised the event to mark 30 years of diplomatic ties between Nigeria and South Korea.

According to Jeong Sun Suh, director of the centre, the competition had called on students to submit drawings exploring the relationship between the two countries. Out of hundreds of entries, 30 finalists were chosen, which will be on display in the centre’s exhibition hall for the next three months.

Korean ambassador to Nigeria, Young-Kuk Park, was on hand to present the awards, though some schools were not available to receive their prizes as they arrived late.

The gold prize winner went home with N20,000, while the four silver medallists received N10,000 apiece and the five bronzes won N5,000 each. Every awardee, including the consolation prize winners, got notebooks and poster colours.

Reactions

The centre had called on the National Gallery of Arts to help judge the contest and this led to some controversy. Some schools complained that the competition’s rules were vague and that many students’ works were unfairly disqualified.

In her remarks, Perpetua Onyejekwe of the National Gallery of Arts explained the winning criteria.

“We disqualified so many entries because it was clear that many were assisted by art teachers,” she said. “The National Gallery is a neutral body, without sentiment, and we gave [prizes] to those who got what we actually wanted.”

Despite the anger, most of the attendees were happy with the results. A few students even sneaked out of the ceremony to celebrate noisily in the hall after they received their prizes.

Sarah Hosea, a parent, noted that the competition had given her child an avenue to express himself, though he did not win any prizes.

“It is part of learning,” she said. “This is a part of the handiwork that will give him a job as an artist in the future.”

The gold winner, 10-year-old Jidechukwu Ilokobi, of Festival Primary School, also looked forward to a future in art.

“I want to be an artist,” he said. “As for the money, I’m going to give it to my parents and I am going to give the prize to my school.”

Until next year

Though organisers had planned on a small-scale ceremony for 50 people, over 100 attendees crowded into the centre’s exhibition hall and many continued to arrive as the ceremony progressed.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Park said that this year’s ceremony was only the beginning. He noted that the competition was the first hosted by the centre and promised a smoother event next year.

“This is just another effort to lay the groundwork to strengthen the ties between our two countries,” the ambassador said. “We will continue this and we will raise the next edition.”

Twelve-year-old
Temilorun Oguntoyinbo, the Drummer Boy, plays the Gangan drum with the
dexterity of a virtuoso. clutching the drum rhythmically between his
flank and underarm while tapping its face with his drum stick and
fingers, his expression is solemn as he makes the drum speak the
language of the traditional Yoruba.

Born to a musical
mother, Titi Oguntoyinbo, who is hailed as the Queen of Highlife,
Temilorun says he started playing the talking drum when he was five
years old. He bought his first drum with money given to him by his
mother, with whom he performs at shows on occasion.

A JSS 2 student of
Fortune College, Ikotun, Lagos, Temilorun speaks with a maturity
noticeably contrasting with his age as he mentions the different types
of drums he can play, namely: Iya Ilu, Gangan, and the modern drum set.
He also recalls trying his hand on the Sakara and Bata drums. Asked
about his influence towards playing traditional Yoruba drums rather
than the newer drum sets, he said he learnt to play it watching a man
in his church choir and taking lessons from him occasionally.

The budding
musician plays for his church, his school and for events where he is
invited to play. When asked if he has a manager, he responds, ‘I’m
still young’, and says his mum currently manages him; while Nigerian
classic music promoter Femi Esho gets him events from time to time,
such as the Tunde Fagbenle book launch where he played recently. Asked
how he juggles his craft with his studies, he says he knows he has to
work hard to become something in life; and he hopes to study Human
Kinetics at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, because it involves
sports.

When hailed as an
expert, he denies this as he says simply, “I make mistakes too”, though
from an audience’s point of view his performance appears perfect, he
admits to knocking his fingers with his drum stick on occasion such as
in the beginning of the act this writer viewed. “Drumming is hard”, he
says, “your neck, shoulder, underarm and hands hurt a lot.”

Drums are however
not the only instrument he’s skilled at, as he plays the flute and
admits to preferring that over the drum. In the future, he plans to
deviate to playing the flute publicly and he mentions Yemi Sax, popular
saxophonist as his role model. Born into “a united polygamous family,”
he says his father is rarely at home and he seeks counsel from his
older brother, Lekan, 28, in the absence of his father.

Temilorun Oguntoyinbo’s other interests include football, in which
he plays mid-field position, basketball and computer games. This young
talented boy of many interests, kindly gave this reporter a discount,
offering to accept ten thousand naira to play at an event instead of
his usual charge of twenty thousand or more because, according to him,
he is young and he doesn’t need a lot of money; and also because “we
are now friends.”

Being a patriotic
yet pragmatic Nigerian, I ‘Never Expected Power Always’ during the one
month duration of the World Cup in South Africa. But my patriotism took
a beating when during Nigeria’s first match against Argentina and
Nigeria’s crucial last match against South Korea, it rudely dawned on
me that I should ‘Never (have) Expected Power Anytime!’

Just as
unexpectedly our dear Super Eagles disgracefully turned out to be Super
Chickens (stage fright?) on the world football stage, I was more than
reassured that the ‘Power Holding Company of Nigeria’ would always live
up to its true name! As sure as night follows day, I will still get my
fat bill from PHCN for my excessive consumption of electricity during
the entire month of the 2010 World Cup!

Well, life goes on
in Nigeria, or ‘Naija’, as the younger hip generation have warned me to
rebrand our dear land of wingless Eagles, and one-time flying
Elephants!

My faithful
companion was the bass drone of my over-worked generator, until Osho,
the master-technician-turned-sound-conductor changed the generator’s
pitch to a manageable tenor purr. However, whenever there was a live
broadcast of matches from SA2010, the steady buzzing sound of vuvuzelas
immediately overwhelmed all other sounds around me; even the
commentator’s voice, and most times the referee’s whistle, and it
became an instant decision on whether to turn down or cut off the sound
of the transmission. Most times, I watched matches without the
accompanying sound.

The vuvuzela

Like it or not, the
vuvuzela is the sound of SA2010! It might also well become the new
sound of South Africa itself and many other sporting events worldwide;
unless sports organisers have the guts and anti-noise courage to say
‘no’, like Wimbledon has emphatically done.

For me, vuvuzela is
a sound of noise which, some ‘sharp’ social scientists now identify as
the new symbol and living proof that Africans love noise when they are
having a good time! Definitely, the multi-thousands of football fans
blowing their vuvuzelas at SA2010, particularly the South African
football fans and citizens, were having the ball of their lives for
successfully hosting against all odds; and, in appreciation of their
brave boys, Bafana Bafana.

The decibel level
of 90,000 vuvuzelas when Bafana Bafana ‘rightly’ scored the first goal
in the opening match of the SA2010 World Cup, was the highest
earthquake-inducing noise imaginable at a sporting event. When Mexico
equalised in the second half, the vuvuzelas were not as loud and after
the match, the South African goalkeeper made the odd observation that
it did not feel like they were playing at home since the vuvuzelas were
not loud enough throughout the match to inspire Bafana Bafana.

Most visiting teams
simply hated the sound of vuvuzelas. The horrid sound, they claimed,
prevented them from communicating with their teammates during play, and
their coaches concurred that they could not shout out instructions over
the din, which also made players lose concentration. FIFA
diplomatically appeared to consider a ban, but then overwhelmingly
approved the use of vuvuzelas.

Uninspired Eagles

Vuvuzelas had
infiltrated Nigeria during the FIFA 2009 Under-17 Championships. The
Nigeria Football Federation supposedly gave out many to Nigerian fans,
but obviously they didn’t fancy blowing their lungs out all in the name
of supporting the Eaglets.

My neighbour’s
teenage ward let the entire area know he had a vuvuzela when he let out
a few blasts of its sound just before the vital Nigeria-South Korea
match. When Nigeria scored, he let loose ecstatic vuvuzela bleats. When
South Korea came back strong, the absence of his vuvuzela sound
smoothly blended into the graveyard silence that suddenly enveloped the
entire neighbourhood!

The vuvuzelas were
subdued when Uruguay beat South Africa in the group stage, and they
became a whimper when the Bafana Bafana exited the competition. And so,
when huge competing sounds of drumming and flag-waving singing from
thousands of rival fans filled Pretoria stadium during the crunch match
between Spain and Chile, it refreshingly sounded as if another and
older aspect of support for football teams had finally infused SA2010.

Who knows, if the
vuvuzelas were not overbearing and had let our world-famous Supporters
Club continuously drum, sing, and blow their trumpets, they would have
inspired the Eagles to fly sky-high to victory!

Interestingly, a
South African freedom fighter of old expressed his displeasure that
intense inspired singing and dancing, which had motivated the struggle
to victory over apartheid in the past, has now been replaced by the
vuvuzela. He should have added that the soul sound of Soweto where
Mandela was welcomed from jail and where the showpiece Soccer City
stadium of SA2010 now stands, was the penny-whistle, the driving force
of Kwela and South African jazz music.

Actors and cheats

Live images of
SA2010, television close-ups, cut-aways, live action, and replays were
a feast of human emotions and sports intrigues. They confirmed that
football players are actors and cheats, as well as rough and brutal.
The calculated cynicism of hardcore football players and fans who brag
that football is a man’s game was laid bare and raw!

I noted, amongst
many, the antics of the Chilean player who deliberately dug his studs
into the knee of his Spanish opponent as they both rose from a fall.
Unfortunately, the referee was right over them and as the Chilean
feigned innocence by shrugging and opening his arms, the referee
promptly rewarded him with a yellow card.

Then there was the
Ivorian who made a real meal of Kaka’s slight shove on his chest; by
clutching his face, falling and reeling on the ground. He was rewarded
by the referee showing Kaka a red card and sending off the dangerous
Brazilian striker. Ivory Coast still lost 1-3 to Brazil!

Of course,
Nigerians all over the world are aware of Kaita’s recorded moment of
madness when his intent to stamp his Greek opponent was rewarded by a
red card and sending off. Nigeria lost! A close-up replay clearly
showed the elbow of the French midfield player, who was eventually
red-carded and sent off, firmly planted in the cheek of the South
African defender as they both went for a header in front of South
Africa’s goalmouth. Bafana Bafana deservedly beat a Henry-captained
ragged French team 2-1; throwing them out in the first round of SA2010.

Who says there is no law of karma in football? The Republic of
Ireland’s sports press gloated the next day after the inglorious exit
of France. They printed huge images (also seen live on television as it
happened) of Henry deliberately palming the ball in the last-gasp move
that led to France’s goal that eliminated Ireland from qualifying for
SA2010.

Living in America
is expensive. And dying, sweet relief, is almost impossible. America
will not let you die in peace. I have life insurance, and it is the
irony of my wretched existence than I am a million times worth more to
my family dead, than alive. As a condition for my family getting the
proceeds of this life insurance, the insurance company has expressly
forbidden me from dying. In fact any such desire expressed loudly in
the presence of the many spies working for the said insurance company
could mean cancellation of my insurance on account of the fact that I
am a certified loser.

Our insurance
company does not have to worry about rumours of my impending death. It
is impossible to die in America because the country’s afamako emergency
personnel will not let you die. Let’s say you drink yourself silly
every day, and then one day you wake up to find that your liver no
longer exists. Well, in civilised societies like Nigeria, you are dead
and your children start buying aso ebi for your funeral. They even buy
you an aso ebi for your own funeral. Your relatives who previously
declined to spit in your mouth to save your life will spend all their
life savings honouring pleasant memories of your worthless existence.

In America, say
you wake up to find that you are now missing a liver and both kidneys,
please do not start celebrating your coming rest in the arms of the
Lord. America will not let you rest in peace without a fight. As soon
as your eyes start closing, your amebo neighbour whose binoculars are
trained on your sorry behind will immediately call the emergency 9-1-1
line. “Officers, a poor black man is threatening to die! Please come
right away and get his black ass!” America will swoop on you, ambulance
wailing, police cars racing into your lawn, ruining everything, the
firefighters showing off their big red fire engines, breaking down your
doors and rescuing you from eternal bliss. If you are really dying, an
air ambulance (helicopter!) will swoop down and snatch you away to the
hospital. In America, there are helicopter pads in poor neighbourhoods,
because the poor have a bad habit of threatening to die. In Nigeria,
only the super rich have helicopter pads for ferrying them to Dubai to
take care of their skin rash. In the hospital, America will spend
hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep you alive (sample bill: Room
and lodging per night, $10,999, one toilet roll, $1,999, Cable TV
($2,999), Internet access ($5,999 per hour), beautiful Nigerian nurses
specially flown in to understand your Ijebu accent ($6,999 per hour).
They will patch you up and then throw you back out on the streets,
alive but still hungry for death.

Many Nigerians
don’t like dying, an attitude I find very irritating since they are
fond of going to church to pray to go to heaven. I am not a Christian
but I once visited this Nigerian church in America because I had heard
they would serve pounded yam and okra soup plus bush-meat at the end of
the service. They did not, the jerks. As I was backing out of the
parking lot in rage, while texting my displeasure to my daughter
Ominira, this yeye member of the church who was not looking as she was
walking to her cheap-ass car hit my car with her big behind. She almost
destroyed my car with her industrial strength butt. Wo, she immediately
fell on the ground screaming about the devil (me!) and how death is not
her portion and how Jesus Christ will not allow her to die in the hands
of an idiot (me) and in any case if she was going to die, why be killed
by a thirty-year-old coat of many colours (my van!). The yeye woman is
from Nigeria.

Dying in my
village in Nigeria is very expensive. In my village, Made-in-Nigeria
democracy has ensured that people live impoverished lives. But once
they die, come and see wahala. The villagers form a funeral committee
called Screwing the Living and they start to demand all sorts of
nonsense from the bereaved relatives, delicacies that the deceased did
not enjoy while alive. Everyone in the village benefits. These days, my
dad Papalolo walks around the village with a spoon in his agbada pocket
in case he runs into a funeral. Funerals are expensive. That is why my
dad Papalolo will never die. I cannot afford his funeral. I don’t have
the money. Once Papalolo lands in the valley of his ancestors, I will
have him properly embalmed, dress him up nicely and sit him on his
favourite lounge chair in his veranda. I will tell everybody he is
taking a nap.

I have been rambling. This is a round-about way of saying that I
love my wife. Once, I go to our ancestors, she knows where the
insurance papers are. Woman wen dey cry dey see road. Go for it, my
queen, I love you.

The fifth edition
of BookJam @ Silverbird held Saturday, June 26, at the Silverbird
Lifestyle Store, Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island. The BookJam,
which takes place on the last Saturday of every month, is sponsored by
Coca Cola, Farafina and Feed Mill.

Anchored by Anwuli
Ojogwu, the event had as special guest Alain Mabanckou, a writer from
Congo Brazzaville. Nigerian writers, Toni Onwordi, Kunle Ajibade and
Abraham Oshoko were guest writers; reading from their books. Also
present at the event were actress Joke Silva; and Theatre @Terra
producer, Wole Oguntokun.

Jailed for life

Among the
highlights of the event was the reading by Kunle Ajibade, also author
of ‘Nigeria, What A Country!’ He read an excerpt of his
autobiographical book, ‘Jailed For Life’. He narrated for the benefit
of the audience, the details of his ordeal and his ruminations while
incarcerated by General Sani Abacha’s administration. “We suppose to
open you when you wan chop and lock you when you finish… We suppose to
chain you to this bed when you wan sleep,” he read – words, which he
attributed to his jail keepers, and which depicted the inhumanity of
incarceration.

June 12

Perhaps the most
interesting reading of the evening was that of Abraham Oshoko from his
graphic novel, ‘June 12’, which is produced in the style of a comic
book. According to the cartoonist, his motivation for the book was the
need to let people know the story of June 12.

“Nigeria and Africa
as a whole do not keep records; we are a people who sweep issues and
problems under the carpet. And now the carpet has a hunch back,” he
said. Reading an excerpt about a politician trying to convince an
activist to mobilise his ‘people’ to vote for him, Oshoko illustrated
how in the matter of politics, “money is the only ideology.”

Oshoko also read a
collection of quotes from past political office holders. These
included: “We have not chosen who will succeed us, we have only decided
who will not” – Ibrahim Babangida (1988). “Everyone has a gift from
God. The Northerners are endowed by God with leadership qualities, the
Yoruba man knows how to earn a living and has diplomatic qualities, the
Igbo man is gifted in trade, commerce, and technological innovation;
God so created us equally, with purpose and different gifts” – Yusuf
Maitama Sule, supposedly supporting an opinion that the North should
maintain leadership of Nigeria.

Pilgrimages

Alain Mabanckou,
international writer and author of such works as ‘African Psycho’,
’Broken Glass’ and ‘Blue, White, Red’ declined to read as according to
him he wasn’t satisfied with his English language reading abilities.
His excerpt from ‘African Psycho’ was read by a member of the audience.
Mabanckou, is in Nigeria for a two-week period as part of Pilgrimages,
a Pan African literary project organized by the Chinua Achebe Centre,
Bard College in the US. The project has sent 13 African writers to 13
cities on the continent, after which each would produce a travel
writing work about the experience. Mabanckou is therefore on a
‘pilgrimage’ to Lagos. He is writing about his impressions of the
sprawling metropolis and the phenomena associated with the city, such
as traffic and youth culture.

Sand in the mouth

In the question and
answer session following the readings, author of ‘Under the Brown
Rusted Roofs’ and arts journalist Abimbola Adelakun, asked Ajibade if,
with the benefit of hindsight, he would have gone ahead with his
activities under Abacha’s dictatorship had he known they would land him
in jail. The question seemed a difficult one for Ajibade; despite
explanations and a reiteration of the question by another member of the
audience, the most substantial answer he gave was that “I was writing
for pleasure, not with the intention of going to jail.” He remarked,
however, that “I sometimes regret that we did all those things we did,
only to have the aftermath of it tasting like sand in our mouths.”

The readings were
interspersed with poetry by Abidemi, who read a poem titled ‘Black’,
and a musical performance, ‘Times Are Good’, by Khafayat Quadri. Like
the readings earlier, the musical interlude suffered from unpleasant
feedback from the sound equipment. The evening ended with a raffle draw
for attendees who had purchased books from the lifestyle store, while
refreshment was served courtesy of Coca-cola and Feed Mill.

BookJam @ Silverbird is a monthly initiative, which is intended to
promote the appreciation of literature and the arts in Nigeria.

The organisers of
the book review for Nnedi Okorafor’s novel, ‘Zarah the Windseeker’,
kept to time. While some supposed attendees were only just arriving the
venue, the one hour thirty minutes event had ended; giving adherents of
“African time” something to think about.

The event recorded
a low turnout, however, as its timing clashed with the highly popular
BookJam @ Silverbird, holding only a few kilometres away. Farafina have
introduced the new book reading and discussion event, in the hope it
will become a permanent monthly fixture at Terra Kulture, Victoria
Island, Lagos. Tagged ‘Book Reviews @Terra’, the session debuted on
June 26 with Okorafor’s book.

Platform for discourse

“It’s not just
about the author; we look at the stories and try to glean those aspects
that relate to our culture and background,” said a Farafina
representative. On-air-personality, writer, and musician, Tosyn
Bucknor, was on hand to read excerpts from ‘Zahrah the Windseeker’, a
young adult fantasy /science novel about a girl with superhuman
abilities.

A forest with
computerised flowers and a large, pink, talking frog are not things you
will find in too many books; but discussing the relevance of living in
a world of make-believe, and its relationship to African customs,
topped the agenda at the pilot edition.

The almost empty
venue came alive at 3pm as the moderator started to introduce the
topics of the day. Considering the genres of science fiction and
fantasy, a member of the audience drew comparisons between similarities
between the characters in the blockbuster film, ‘Avatar’ and D.O.
Fagunwa’s ‘Forest of a Thousand Deamons’.

He also suggested
that Africans are the creators of the fantasy genre. Another audience
member complained that while a movie like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is
celebrated, other stories incorporating fantastical elements are seen
as a propagation of witchcraft.

Hidden from the wind seeker

“‘Zahrah the
Windseeker’ is about hiding things,” observed Bucknor. “The parents
were hiding the existence of the forest and the market from Zahrah in
the book. This is how we protect our children; by lying to them, [to]
prevent them from doing some things.”

She asked members
of the audience to give examples of ‘tall tales’ told to them by
adults. Many examples were offered by the audience, including: how not
cleaning lines drawn on sand could attract witches, or affect one’s
mother’s breast size; the bizarre notion that whistling at night can
attract snakes; and the one that says: ‘if you eat while standing, the
food goes straight down to the feet.’

Striking a balance

The discussion
moved on to the ability of a Nigerian writer to write fantasy while
still remaining relevant in the African context. An aspiring writer in
the audience said, “Just write, don’t try to strike a balance.” He
suggested that an attempt to strike a balance could lead to a loss of
originality. “You need to know what you’re writing about, otherwise it
would be shallow,” said another discussant.

All agreed
eventually that the most important factor when writing fantasy is the
sincerity of the voice of the writer – as it is through this that the
author’s originality is perceived.

New kid on the block

Book Reviews @Terra
has joined the league of monthly literary events in Lagos and Abuja.
“We might schedule the next one for Friday or Sunday… We are still
trying to find the day that works best for us.” Fixing the time-clash
with the more established BookJam, would be a start.

The clamour for a
review of the national policy on the financing of the culture sector
has gained new momentum, following a two-day conference, held at the
Bolingo Hotel in Abuja on June 22 and 23. Held under the aegis of the
Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, the Stakeholders
Forum on the Review the National Policy of Culture focused on ‘Taxation
and the Arts’ as its theme. The sub-theme of the conference was
‘Empowering the Professionals in the Creative Industries’.

Speaking at the
forum’s opening ceremony on Tuesday, June 22, Culture Minister Abubakar
Sadiq Mohammed said, “I came to the Ministry to discover that the
Cultural Policy… has been undergoing a process of renewal for some
time now.” Sadiq called for “contributions and resolutions that will
promote the Nigerian artistes and create new avenue for funding their
activities through well articulated tax incentives and other avenues.”

The Minister set
out the aims and objectives of the forum, including: a look at the
relationship between the Arts and the Economy; to see how the creative
industries can benefit from Corporate Nigeria; to define and recommend
appropriate fiscal policies, especially tax, which would be of benefit
to the creative industries; and to discuss the need for an Endowment
Fund for the Arts.

“The outcome of the
deliberations will certainly form part of the Nigerian National Policy
on Culture,” said Sadiq, as he rounded off his address. Also at the
opening ceremony was the Minister of Information and Communications,
Dora Akunyili, who noted that “tax and taxation can be creatively used
to encourage the creative industries.” To underscore the close working
relationship between her ministry and Sadiq’s, Akunyili observed that,
had Nigeria been unable to afford many ministries, Culture and Tourism
would have been under this same ministerial umbrella as Information and
Communication.

Also at the opening
event were the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Culture, Sheidu
B. Ozigis; and Chairman, House Committee on Tourism and Culture, K.G.B
Oguakwa – both of whom attended the two days of the forum, the latter
presiding on the adoption of the conference’s communiqué at the end.
Other government attendees over the two days included Edo State
Commissioner for Information and Culture, Abdul Oroh; and Cyril
Chukwuka, a director at the Ministry of Finance.

The papers

In his background
paper titled ‘The Journey So Far,’ the Federal Director of Culture,
Nkanta George Ufot, set out the chequered history of the 1988 Draft
National Policy of Culture, telling the high level culture stakeholders
present that, “We need to move forward”. Ufot stated the main purpose
of the conference: an examination of Section Four of the policy.
“Whatever comes out of this workshop will enable us to take the next
step and will help us in completing a National Policy of Culture in
this country,” he declared.

Other papers
delivered during the conference were: ‘Taxation and the Arts –
Empowering the Art Professionals’ by Abiola Sanni; ‘Rebranding
Nigeria’s National Endowment for the Arts Act of 1991 for Service and
Effectiveness’ by Frank Aig-Imoukhuede (Pioneer CEO, National Council
for Arts and Culture); and ‘Government and the Management of Culture:
Endowment of the Arts and Taxation’ by Ahmed Yerima.

Tax and taxation

“The importance of
taxation cannot be over-emphasised in the Nigerian economy,” said
Sanni, a lecturer on Taxation at the University of Lagos. “Tax is an
instrument of social engineering. We want to look at how we can use tax
and taxation to empower the arts.”Before exploring the many ways in
which taxation could be put to the service of the arts, Sanni noted the
fact that there is no art-specific tax law in this country. Therefore,
there are no special exemptions for the arts, and artists are subject
to the general rules. Later in the conference, Olusola Omotayo of Chams
Plc revealed that the company, famous for sponsoring theatre
adaptations of D.O. Fagunwa’s novels over the last two years, received
no tax incentives for their effort. “We paid tax fully,” said Mrs.
Omotayo, an experience she described as “unfortunate”. She further
disclosed that Chams is taking a break from its Theatre Series this
year.

The Corporate
Nigeria discussion panel was notable for the absence of representatives
from companies invited, with the exception of Chams. Glo, United Bank
of Africa (UBA), MTN, Guarantee Trust Bank and Ecobank failed to show.
“Corporate Nigeria does not believe in brand Nigeria – if they were
here I would say it. If this were South Africa [the absent CEOS] would
all be here,” said Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, President of the African Movie
Academy. She observed that in South Africa, MTN spends a lot on
promoting the arts, not just music, as the company does in Nigeria.

Her concerns were
echoed by other speakers. “Those sponsoring music in Nigeria are doing
it for self promotion purposes, and to the detriment of other forms of
music,” declared Ben Tomoloju. He decried the disproportionate spending
on Sport vis-a-vis the arts, asking, “What has been the per capital
contribution of sport to the economy compared to culture?” Calling for
a participatory relationship between artists and media practitioners on
the funding of the culture sector, Tomoloju cautioned that taxation can
also be counter-productive. He cited as example the requirement that
students seeking university admission must produce their parent’s tax
clearance form, asking, “What if the parent has no job?”

Still on taxation,
Olu Ajayi, who said, “I don’t consider my art as luxury, my art is a
serious business,” spoke about the need for systems and structures for
any tax regime to work. Artists, he said, cannot currently include
Value Added Tax when they sell an artwork because they have no VAT
number. He called for workshops and seminars to educate artists about
processes, noting that many cannot fulfil the requirements for travel
visas as they have no banking culture. Ajayi also cautioned against a
sweeping call for tax rebates in the culture sector. “There are certain
sectors that cannot enjoy tax rebate because they are profit making
ventures and they are based on art. You can’t run a gallery and say you
won’t pay tax – when you’re selling paintings for millions?”

Endowment for the Arts

Delivering his
paper, Ahmed Yerima said, “You don’t talk about tax and taxation
without having a system of endowment on the ground. So, what we’re
doing is simply putting the cart before the horse.” The Vice Dean,
School of Performing Arts, Kwara State University, said the issue of
endowment for the arts needed “passion”. And passion characterised
during the forum’s session on an endowment fund. “This requires
standing,” said Frank Aig-Imoukhuede, when responding to a lone voice
that asked whether there was a need for an endowment at all.

Most of the
speakers were united in their call for endowment. Uwa Usen, National
President of the Society of Nigerian Artists, said, “Even America great
as it is, they have so many endowments… The National Gallery of Art
has no gallery as there is no endowment. Let’s set up this endowment
and make it work.”

Is Abuja a 419 carnival?

Passion was also on
display in the tail end of the Corporate Nigeria session when, in
response to Tony Okoroji’s criticism of the Abuja Carnival, the
carnival’s artistic director Rasaki Ojo Bakare jokingly cited an Igbo
proverb: “If you see a dog in the dark, it always looks like a goat.
I’m sure [Okoroji] must have been looking at the Abuja Carnival in the
dark and so he’s not seeing properly.” The discussion grew more serious
when Aig-Imoukhuede spoke further on the carnival. “In Abuja, we have a
festival that pretends to have local content. And when visitors come
from abroad and try to see local content, they are told: ‘go to that
state, that’s where it is’. This is what we call 419. You spend N1bn
and make N2m… South Africa is staging the [World Cup] and is getting
money out of it. This is what is wrong with Abuja carnival,” said the
retired Director of Culture, who added that, “In my time, I staged the
most successful national festival on 1.177m naira.”

Pleading with the
moderator for the opportunity to respond, Rasaki Ojo Bakare said the
“dangerous assumptions” in the public space needed to be corrected.
“Since last year when I took over as director, the carnival has become
a private public driven project. Abuja Carnival 2009, we spent
125million and that money did not come from government. We generated
the money from carnival secretariat,” said Bakare.

The way forward

Many delegates
lamented the fact that the 1988 Cultural Policy, recommended for review
every eight years by UNESCO, is still a work-in-progress, two decades
on. “Individuals in the cultural sector in the last one-and-half decade
have not allowed things to move forward because of their own personal
interests along the line,” said Hilary Ogbechie, Deputy Director,
National Council for Arts and Culture. “This thing does not take 20
years, if government is sincere,” said Odutayo; while Iyen Agboifo
(President, Creative Design Guild) called for the setting up of a
pressure group, saying, “At every level, we have to lobby. There has to
be some consistent and persistent clamour for these things to get done.”

In a communiqué issued at the end of the forum, the conference
observed that: Section IV of the Culture Policy and the National
Endowment for the Arts Decree 1991 do not sufficiently address the
issues of funding in the sector. Government was asked to review both
provisions, as well as papers and reports from the forum, with a view
to achieving the conference’s aims. It was also recommended that an
advocacy group be set up to ensure that the Policy objectives are
implemented.

Nigerian artist, the Junkman from Africa, is building a replica of his Junkyard Museum of Awkward Things in Wales.

The museum, the original of which is in Lekki, Lagos, is being constructed at the Oriel Mostyn Gallery in Llandudno, where the artist began a three-month residency programme in May.

Also known as Dilomprizulike, the Junkman has been named by British newspaper, The Independent, as one of Africa’s 50 greatest cultural figures. This is the first time the Junkyard Museum will be seen outside Nigeria.

Junkman fashions his pieces from discarded materials – ‘junk’ in his usual parlance – and his museum is a “kind of artistic hospital”, where worthless objects are resuscitated and given a second life as art. The artist has described the Junkyard as an effort at “presenting the un-presentable; valuing the worthless; appreciating the depreciated; taking the outcasts inside; embracing the untouchable.”

In addition to its commentary on ecological issues, the museum is also a reflection on the disposable culture in a consumer society.

The construction of the Junkyard is the gallery’s International Project of the Year, and is sponsored by the Henry Moore Institute and the Arts Council of Wales.

Junkman said he will be using “local Welsh junk to cook their soup for them.” Using materials which he will source locally in the Welsh environment, the artist is working with educational groups and members of the public to bring his unique museum to life in Llandudno. Work is progressing on the museum which, after its completion, will go on display until October 16.

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.

Three Nigerian writers have been shortlisted as possible winners of the Inaugural Penguin Prize for African Writing. Chika Ezeanya, Tanure Ojaide and NEXT columnist Pius Adesanmi feature on the shortlist of thirteen African writers. The prize comes with a cash award of R50000, a publishing contract with Penguin Books South Africa, and worldwide distribution via Penguin Group companies.

The competition, organised by Penguin Books South Africa, is broken into fiction and nonfiction categories, with a prize winner emerging from each category. Organizers had called for entries of unpublished full length works of between 60,000 and 100,000 words in length. Approximately 300 submissions were received from authors across the continent.

Shortlisted alongside the Nigerian authors are Ellen Banda Aaku (Zambia), Moraa Gitaa (Kenya), Shubnum Khan (South Africa), Isabella Morris (South Africa), and Mukoma wa Ngugi (Kenya, shortlisted for last year’s Caine Prize) in the fiction category; and South African writers Andrew Barlow, Ruth Carneson, Ahmed Mortiar, Anli Serfontein, and Tebogo Tlharipe for non-fiction.

Judges for the fiction category are Kole Omotoso, Director, Africa Diaspora Research Group, Johannesburg, and judge for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Africa; Harry Garba, author, poet and associate professor, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town; and Elinor Sisulu, author and adviser on democracy and human rights issues in Zimbabwe.

Redi Diko, South African columnist and broadcaster; Nic Dawes, veteran investigative and political reporter, and editor-in-chief of the Mail and Guardian Weekly; and Jonathan Jansen, Scholar-in-Residence at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Johannesburg, and alumnus of Connell and Stamford Universities, will decide the winner of the Non-fiction category.

Winners of both categories will be announced on September 4, 2010 at the Mail and Guardian Literary Festival. Speaking on the rationale behind this maiden initiative, Penguin South Africa’s CEO Alison Lowry said, “Although this prize does not exclude established authors, we believe that there are new writers from Africa for whom Penguin can provide a platform, and in so doing we hope to reflect and showcase the diversity of voices on our continent both at home and abroad.”