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Culture combined
with tourism and sport in a magnificent spectacle on Saturday, May 8 at
the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, Durban,
South Africa, during the opening ceremony of the 2010 INDABA, a travel
fair organised annually by South African Tourism since the 70s.

South Africa’s
world-famous Drakensberg Boys Choir, pop group TKZee and the Drum Cafe
drummers offered peeps into the country’s culture during their
presentations at the ceremony. The Drum Cafe drummers comprising men
and women beat both the top and sides of their drums to produce good
music while the dancers, who incorporated black flips and somersaults
into their steps, did justice to the music.

But the drummers’
performance was nothing compared to that of the boys from the
Drakensberg Mountain. The intermittent applause from the audience
eloquently testified to people’s enchantment with their sonorous voices
and overall performance. While some wore black pants, blue t-shirts and
wellington boots, others were dressed in the beautiful costumes of
their Zulu forbears. The boys also had a use for the soccer balls they
brought to the stage. They incorporated it into the drumbeats by
bouncing them rhythmically on the ground. Naturally, this attracted
more applause from the crowd.

A screening of the
Diski Dance created specially for the World Cup which starts on June 11
was part of the menu at the colourful ceremony emceed by SABC’s Carol
Manana. Groups of people doing the dance across the world; South
Africa’s President, Jacob Zuma trying out the steps and an elephant’s
funny attempt, attracted chuckles from the audience.

We are ready

South African
president, Jacob Zuma proudly declared in his speech at the evening of
culture and sports that South Africa was ready for the world. “South
Africa is ready for the World Cup. We look forward to welcoming the
world, to hosting the world and to celebrating with the rest of the
continent, the first World Cup here in Africa.” He also highlighted the
benefits of the soccer fiesta to the country’s economy. “The World Cup
has changed the face of this country. Not only has it revitalised our
economy, but it has given impetus to infrastructural development and
job creation. It is estimated that over 3.6 million additional job
opportunities will be created during the tournament. This is a welcome
boost for the industry and for many South Africans. Of particular
importance to millions of South Africans and also visitors to our
country is the revitalisation of our public transport network.”

Zuma noted the
gains of the tournament to the country’s tourism, information
technology, sports and culture. “After the tournament, South Africa
will have more skilled people working in tourism and better tourism
infrastructure to grow arrivals and foreign direct spending into the
economy. The World Cup will also deliver about 350,000 more foreign
visitors this year that will, in the medium to long-term, result in
greater repeat visits and word-of-mouth recommendations for the
destination.

“South Africa’s 10
World Cup-ready football stadiums give [the country] truly magnificent,
capable and world class sports venues. They give the world a capable
destination for global sporting and cultural events such as the world
cups of other sporting codes, the Olympic Games and music concerts.”

Welcome to heaven

Earlier, eThekwini
Deputy Mayor, Logie Naidoo had sold the tourism sites of Durban in
superlatives to the gathered delegates. He described the city as the
“land of great kings and leaders” including Shaka and Mahatma Gandhi.
Durban, he added, is home to two World Heritage Sites and the Zulu
nation. Naidoo welcomed people to ‘heaven’ because Zulu means heaven in
English.

Premier of
KwaZulu-Natal, Zweli Mkhize, spoke in the same vein. He heartily
welcomed delegates to the province and noted that it’s a special year
because “we are celebrating the World Cup for the first time in
Africa.” He added that it’s a celebration of the 20th anniversary of
Nelson Mandela’s release from jail and a celebration of the effort of
African people “to free themselves and take their destinies into their
own hands.” Mkhize urged people to “spend some time and enjoy our home”
in closing.

South Africa’s
Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, brought glad tidings to
Durban and its residents. He announced that the city has been given the
right to host INDABA for the next five years.

Important lesson

FIFA General
Secretary, Jerome Valcke and Chairman, Local Organising Committee of
the World Cup, Danny Jordaan, treated guests to some drama at the
occasion. The two wisecracking officials poked fun at themselves while
speaking about South Africa’s preparedness for the tournament. Valcke
stated that he has learnt how to fill the stadiums from INDABA and that
some of the 10 new stadiums are “better than the ones we used in
Germany 2006.” “What of France 98?” Jordaan asked the Frenchman, but he
gave no a clear answer, noting instead that both France and South
Africa have to beat Uruguay and Mexico to qualify from the group. The
duo assured that South Africa, indeed, was ready for the world.

The task of thanking guests and inviting dignitaries on stage to
symbolically turn on the lights at the new stadiums fell on Chief
Executive Officer of South African Tourism, Thandiwe January-McLean.
Zuma, Jordaan, Valcke, SA Tourism chair, Jabu Mabuza, Schalkwyk and
January-McLean turned on the light after which a video of the stadiums
state of preparedness was screened.

Yusuf Nuhu,
Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN),
recently sat down with NEXT for an interview, to mark his one year
anniversary in office.

Starting out in journalism

I ventured into
broadcasting in 1966 after my HSC, when I couldn’t immediately gain
admission to the University of Lagos to study Mass Communications. So,
I joined the Broadcasting Corporation of Northern Nigeria (BCNN) as a
Programme Assistant. After two years, I got a scholarship to read Mass
Communication in London. I graduated in 1972 with HND in Mass
Communication.

I started as a
graduate journalist in 1972, a year before NYSC was introduced and at
that time, it was only degree holders and NCE holders who were allowed
to participate in NYSC. So, I couldn’t serve because HND was excluded.
It was only later on, when NCE was dropped, that HND was included.
After returning home, I rejoined BCNN as Chief Staff Editor. I went
back to London to work with BBC African Service; I spent 5 years with
the BBC and when I retuned, I joined the Daily Times. I left Daily
Times in 1979 for New Nigerian Newspaper, and from there to NTA Sokoto,
where I worked as Senior Editor. In 1981, I returned to BCNN, after the
amalgamation of BCNN and Eastern Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation,
which is what is known today as FRCN. So, you see, I have been in
journalism for a long time. It was in 1987 that I decided to take a
course in Law at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. So, I was first a
journalist, then later a lawyer.

What did you consider your greatest challenge when you assumed duties as DG in 2009, and how did you resolve it?

I was familiar with
most of the challenges because I was the Executive Director of Kaduna
National Station from 2002 up to 2007. FRCN, before 1999, was just FRCN
without any action. It was not until 1999, when the new Director
General, Dr. Eddie Iroh, was appointed by the civilian government that
FRCN woke up from its slumber, liberated and rejuvenated.

So, I was familiar
with most of the challenges as a member of the management. The
challenges were enormous, enormous in the sense that there was no sense
of direction because of the long years of military administration.
Eddie Iroh brought a new lease of life to FRCN, bringing it up to be
what it is today. The challenges he faced were, first of all,
dilapidated equipment, no style, no sense of direction, no method
whatsoever. It was just a military outfit. Even the editing was biased.
So [Iroh] had to start retraining most of the staff in line with
democratic practice; how reporting in democracy was different from
military dictatorship. He achieved well over 90 percent of whatever he
set to achieve, that is, waking FRCN from sleep, so to say. FRCN of
today is really different from the FRCN of the yesteryears.

Our greatest
challenge, coming in, was to take the organisation to a higher
pedestal, to achieve national and international positions in the
broadcast industry.

Another
pressing challenge in the media industry is the transition from
analogue to digital, which is slated for 2015 as the deadline. Do you
see FRCN meeting the deadline, and what are the measures on ground for
that?

Thank you very
much. That challenge was really faced since 1999 when Eddie Iroh took
over and that was what brought the 32 FM Stations project; most of them
are digital. We started digitisation long before the deadline given by
the International Telecommunications Union (ITU); FRCN started as early
as 2002. We are advancing to reach the deadline within 2010 to 2012. We
are on course. We still have some equipment to replace, some
transmitters to change. But the major challenge is actually for the
listeners: digital radio sets are not readily available or affordable
for majority of the people. This is the only challenge, mainly for the
listener. Even when we fully transmit digitally, we have to convert to
analogue so that listeners can receive us with the current analogue
radio sets.

What would you say is your main achievement within your one year in office?

Previously, there
was a sort of adversarial relationship with other media. When we came
in, we said let’s face each other, let’s collaborate, because the whole
system of government itself is collaboration; you can’t be an island.
So, the major thing we did was to take FRCN to other outfits. DAAR
Communications was the first port of call and there again, they were
really surprised. They said ‘this is the first time FRCN is reaching
out.’ We took FRCN into the planet of synergy to achieve one common
goal – that is, excellence and perfection. We made that major
breakthrough.

Another aspect of
what we developed within the year under review is bringing back live
coverage of sporting activities. We re-introduced its past glory. FRCN
was always first class in sports, but it went to sleep and we woke it
up. Plans are on the way to participate in the World Cup in South
Africa. We are taking FRCN to many places where it was never reached
out to before. We are collaborating with PTDF, ETF, Ministry of Niger
Delta, etc. We are also retraining our people for 21st century
broadcasting.

What is the status of the 32 FM Station Project?

Nine of the FM
stations are awaiting completion, out of 32; over 90 percent has been
achieved. If not because of the delay in release of funds, the whole
project would have been completed by now. With this year’s budget, if
fully disbursed, we will complete either seven or eight out of the
remaining nine. Most of the 23 completed stations are functioning, but
not at 100 percent capacity because of spare parts, which we are
fighting very hard to acquire. Unfortunately, we had put the cart
before the horse when the project began. We should have provided the
spare parts warehouse before establishing the stations.

These modern
digital equipment are often not repairable. It is replacement that is
peculiar with the digital equipment, not improvisation. If a power
module is bad, you replace it, not repair, and when there are no
spares, we have to wait to get any part which is faulty. However, we
are addressing all these and are about to complete the whole project.

How is FRCN coping with the challenge of broadcasting in indigenous languages?

The law
establishing FRCN created linguistic zones, and these are taken care of
by our National Stations at Enugu, Ibadan, Kaduna, and Gwagwalada,
Abuja. These National Stations broadcast in the several languages of
their zones. Our FM stations in the states also broadcast in local
languages, so [it] is no challenge for us at all.

We will always remember how the military used FRCN to always announce coups. Why was FRCN always attractive to the military?

FRCN was the
national station owned by the federal government, and those wanting to
take over from the federal government would have to go through the
federal government mechanism. It was then the only medium that one
could use to reach people everywhere. Because of its national
broadcasts, coup plotters felt that once you capture FRCN, it means you
are successful. Also, it was believed that whatever is said from FRCN
was the truth and nothing, but the truth.

What are FRCN’s plans for Nigeria’s 50th Independence anniversary?

Well, it is going
to be low key because of lack of funds. But definitely, it is going to
be very rich in content. You will hear the voices and the echoes of
yesteryears, those national voices that are being forgotten. We will
bring them to the fore. There will be features and documentaries on our
history, heroes, and heritage. It will be low key, but very rich indeed.

The BBC deserves
major kudos for its excellent documentary ‘Welcome to Lagos’ which
shines a big light on the open sores of Lagos (apologies to Soyinka,
who has reacted angrily to the piece, calling it patronising and
condescending). Soyinka should reconsider his views. The BBC deserves
credit for having the courage to damn the consequences and put out what
was obviously going to be controversial. The Nigerian poor were
empowered to open their doors and hearts to the world and revel in
their humanity, warts and all. It was a triumph of the human spirit
over the meanness of those sworn to care for all of us.

A work of
cinematographic excellence, the producers were able to draw us into the
intimate lives of folks who have learnt to survive and thrive in spite
of the government of the day. This was a documentary about the
dispossessed by the dispossessed. In this three-part series, we follow
what passes for life for people living in the slums of Makoko, in a
dump near Lagos and on the beach. This searing view is seen through the
lives of folks with names like Chube, Joseph, Esther and Eric Obuh aka
Vocal Slender. It was hard to tear myself away from this riveting
series. It was heartbreaking to see beautiful little children somehow
bravely capture a childhood out of the ruins of a wealthy nation. We
see brave men and women enjoying families with little or nothing.
Somehow they survive and thrive. The ecological disaster that the BBC
exposes is of mind boggling proportions. It can be seen in the trash
dumps where thousands make a daily living, in the tee-shirts bearing
Western logos, and in the new culture and religion. It is appalling
that in the year 2010, there are actually Nigerians swimming in faeces
and filth, trying to earn a living. We should be outraged.

Some worry that
the title Welcome to Lagos gives a false impression that this
documentary is all about Lagos. This is a fair criticism, but then
Lagos for most Nigerians is a metaphor for tough living. I actually
thought the film had a disciplined focus on the triumphs and
tribulations of the truly poor, not unlike Soyinka’s The Trials of
Brother Jero. Within that focus, it was balanced. Ironically, the
larger Lagos would come to a crashing halt without the industry of the
poor. And such joy and song! They rarely complain. Instead, they spend
their time tackling problems and somehow eking fun out of life. The
government simply does not exist, except when it lands ashore, as it
often does, to make life miserable for them. As I watched the
documentary, I kept reflecting on the genius of Fela and Soyinka. And
Soyinka’s words in ‘A Dance of the Forests’ kept ringing in my ears:
“We were sent the wrong people. We asked for statesmen and we were sent
executioners.”

The BBC
highlighted many issues that Soyinka has spent his lifetime battling:
Many generations are being destroyed in Nigeria. This is a sad place;
there are hardly any books here, here there are no playgrounds, here,
their playground is hell, These Nigerians are the face of an emerging
nation of uncritical, unthinking people, only interested in what money
can buy. The viewer is overcome with emotion watching little boys
snatching playtime in between hard work in a saw mill that is so
dangerous, two adults have been electrocuted in the space of two weeks
by exposed electrical cables (one apparently while the cameras were
rolling. I urge Governor Babatunde Fashola to investigate the deaths
and the abuses of his “task force” gang as documented in the
video-clips; we are not lower animals.

The cinematography was an artist’s dream. There is a little bit of
the showman in each character, hamming it up for the cameras, enjoying
the attention long denied them. It was simply great to meet Esther and
her friends in the third part of the series, In a way, it filled me
with hope, because I saw possibilities in the murky underwater of the
slums.

There were entrepreneurs making rich fish ponds out of sewage
infested seas. There were university students logging wood to pay for
questionable education. In summary there were all these children, women
and men, gracefully and stoically assuring the world of our humanity,
with dignity and uncommon grace. Finally, there was genius and the gift
of creativity everywhere.

You must see Esther who lives on the beach
and Eric Obuh, aka Vocal Slender the dump scavenger who dreams of
someday becoming a musician. Listening to him was pure poetry. Please
watch the clip on YouTube. Slender will make you really proud to be a
Nigerian. Nothing is wasted. Everything here is useful. You can smell
Lagos, taste her dust, and her cries of joy as dusk shuts down another
rugged day. And then you will cry for all that creativity wasting like
gas flares in Nigeria’s hell Delta. This documentary comforted me in
many ways. There is hope.

It was his
spontaneous chuckle, which always graduated into a warm smile, that I
always remember of Matthew Faji. That I did not know that Matthew Faji
had died and been buried, is a sad indictment of how well the present
generation of editors of national newspapers know those, particularly
photographers, who have contributed so much to build and strengthen
what is now called ‘the new journalism’ in Nigeria. As one of his many
genuine admirers, Nkanu Egbe, said to me recently, “Matthew Faji’s
death should have been front-page news. He was a national treasure in
print journalism!”

It was a call to
another great friend, ‘younger brother and journalistic supporter’ of
Faji, Wole Olaoye, himself recuperating from an accident, that informed
me that Faji had been buried. And it was indeed sad that Olaoye, who
had made me know Faji and his body of work much better, broke the
terrible news.

I knew Matthew Faji
was ill and down. I had spoken with him; he sounded low in spirit, his
voice was weak and, I had promised to call him again. I had lost touch
with him and had last visited him at Oregun, at his Newswatch office
some years back. 2010 being a very special year for Nigeria, I had been
approached by a Frenchman and Swiss lady who were respectively
collecting photographic images for politics and fashion projects on
Nigeria at 50. I automatically recommended Matthew Faji as one of the
best sources for such archival photographic images on Nigeria. With the
help of Olaoye and Dan Agbese in particular, I was able to get the
phone number of Faji’s son who in turn put me in touch with his father,
Matthew.

In 1995, when Jide
Adeniyi-Jones, Don Barber, and myself were considering ‘veteran’
photographers of professional repute to invite to become protem
president of the Photographers’ Association of Nigeria-PAN – an
umbrella body for photographers from all genres – we decided to
approach Faji, Peter Obe, and Okhai Ojeikere. Faji was friendly in
turning down our offer, but that did not diminish the respect we had
for his huge body of work and immense contributions towards
strengthening the standard and quality of photographic work in print
journalism in Nigeria.

Master photographer

Matthew Faji was a
master photographer. His forte was documentary and news photography,
and his favoured medium was medium format black and white celluloid
film, working mostly with a twin-reflex camera.

I personally
considered him then, and now, as the father of magazine photography in
Nigeria. With the older Peter Obe as the doyen of newspaper photography
in Nigeria, the duo of Obe and Faji can be classified as the fathers of
print journalism photography in Nigeria. They definitely were not the
first, but were unquestionably both amongst the very best and had long
and very impressive careers in terms of magnificent and memorable
visual outputs.

In the 90s, Faji
was making a sort of comeback in that he was encouraged to dig into his
bank of characteristic strong and gripping images and offer them for
publication in the Plume, the in-flight magazine of ADC Airlines. He
had earlier made his name and earned professional respect and accolade
as a photographer with the Nigerian franchise of the original South
African magazine, Drum.

I called Olu
Obafemi, who had joined the Drum group as an Assistant Editor of Trust,
back in 1975. He was unaware that Faji had died, and of course
devastated by the sad news. He recalled that Faji was the Chief
Cameraman of the Drum group when he joined and, to him, “Matthew Faji
was photography!”

“Each time Faji
went out on assignment,” Olu Obafemi continued, “he came back with so
many excellent photographs that all the editors would be full of
admiration and they had difficulty choosing what photographs to use.
His photographs were always full of surprise!”

What were some of
his favourite Faji photographs, I asked Obafemi? “One of the greatest
was at Ikenne, during an interview with Awolowo. Awolowo was talking
and he and the editor had forgotten that Faji was around. Then
suddenly, Awolowo threw a long-range punch demonstrating the kind of
punch he was going to give his political opponent, and Faji captured
the famous Awo punch. This was in 1976-77. The other was during FESTAC
’77. A group of dancers from Southern Africa were performing on stage
and suddenly they made a move and Faji captured a stunning photograph
showing a row of their bare buttocks. My third favourite was a
photograph he took when we were interviewing Major Ademoyega of the
first-coup fame. Faji caught the moment when Ademoyega suddenly pointed
at something.”

Action photographs

What made Faji such
a great photographer? “Faji captured events in details that are
frightening,” Obafemi explained. “He was never in a hurry, and he never
removed his eye from the lens throughout an interview, however long,
and he put the interviewee at rest. Yet, he was ready when the action
happened. He had great action photographs of Ahmadu Bello, Zik, and
Awo. Like the photograph of the bare-bottomed women dancers, there were
16 other photographers there but only Faji got that critical shot!”

How does Obafemi
rank Faji? “In photography, I place Faji on a pedestal a little higher
than Obe. Obe had success. Faji was exceptional. He was full of
surprises we all could not expect, and he had the knack for taking that
moment’s action that always told the story.”

I always believed
that in many ways Matthew Faji was a bit too quiet and self-effacing.
He underplayed his great talent and the value of his masterpieces. Olu
Obafemi in turn believes that Faji “was shy.”

Way back in 1977,
Faji had shown Obafemi over 2,000 of his photographs and they had
decided to do a book from them, but they got no sponsors. They were to
revisit the project many times decades later and again, could not
source sponsors.

Matthew Faji had
gone on to work with the weekly news magazine, Newswatch, where he
contributed immensely with his photographic images and was a source of
inspiration and knowledge for the younger photographers there.

He may have been withdrawn in life, but his creative and powerful
images will forever testify that Matthew Faji was indeed a master, and
one of Nigeria’s greatest photographers. Definitely top ten!