Nigeria Content Online

It was close to midnight when the airport taxi dropped me off on
a quiet tree-lined boulevard, called the Anandagram, as I would later find out.
Before me stood the gate of Sanskriti Kendra, a place I had been eager to visit
in the past six months. I didn’t notice the compound’s loveliness – until the
next morning. Sanskriti Kendra is an artist complex; India’s most popular and
probably oldest.

It is located along the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road on the outskirts
of Delhi, a 20-minute drive to the picturesque Gurgaon, reputed as the call
centre capital of the world because of the proliferation of IT companies there,
and about an hour’s drive to the intricate heart of New Delhi by taxi. That is,
if you don’t resort to the cheaper alternatives: rickshaws and buses.

Anyway, that midnight as I lugged my bag to my studio, all I saw
was an ordinary well-kept compound fringed by trees and shrubs. No thanks to a
transatlantic flight that buzzed with Spanish and Hindi almost on end till
touchdown; to the clamminess in my armpits that comes with layovers and
long-hauls. Not to the tingly air pressure in my eardrums.

Soft waves, soft breezes

I stumbled out the following morning, gritty-eyed, like a man
gripped by a hangover. Jetlag, precisely. And lo – my senses brightened at
once. It was not the sun’s glare, too soft on the skin. Not the fragrant breeze
which fanned my face. No, it was the amazing shawl of green that perked me up.
The serenity was subduing! It was like waking up on the beach at dawn; soft
waves, soft breezes. No hassles.

I stood awhile on my veranda. Frangipani scent filled my
nostrils when I breathed out. Smiling dreamily, I imagined I had just
discovered freedom. The freedom to renew myself, like a phoenix.

That’s how Sanskriti Kendra can make you feel on your first day,
particularly if you crave a short escape from familiar metropolitan sounds. Or
crave a moment’s indulgence in its lush gardens of birdsong and daydream. If
you wish to awaken creativity and stir your Muse towards expected ends,
Sanskriti Kendra is the right place.

Banyan, terracotta, and
denizens

The first thing you will notice once you walk into the sprawling
grounds of Sanskriti Kendra, apart from the slow music of serenity which stirs
at once within your soul, is the mighty banyan tree with its sinewy roots
clenching the earth, like fists. Like giant dreadlocks. The first time I saw
such a colossal tree was in Miami, in 2008, and I posed for a photograph right
in front of it.

The second thing: two statuesque terracotta horses on your left.
Beyond the equestrian figures are other imposing statues of deities and animals
laid out in a pavilion. The third is the neatly-shaved lawn skirting the
network of cobbled pathways and terraces. The fourth is the fine simplicity of
the ochre buildings, and, finally, the other denizens: squirrels playing
around, the birds flitting in and out of a thousand branches, butterflies and
dragonflies surfing the air.

Timeless objet d’art

The other things you will begin to notice as you tour the
verdant grounds is the plethora of objet d’art – figurines, vases, various
pieces of artistic, cultural and religious values – each piece remarkably
placed at door-sides, verandas, in the gardens, on the cobbled pathway, by the
lily-ponds, and some in the artists’ studio. They are made of ceramics,
terracotta, woodcraft, metal work, and even textile. Most of these objects have
discernible features and forms; some look charming; some haunting – like the
horned head hanging by the door of Studio 7.

Then behind the artists’ lodge is a potter’s shed, where some of
these objects might have been fashioned. In Sanskriti Kendra there is indeed so
much to saturate not only your writers’ senses, but also attune to your mind to
the riches of India; her industriousness. Her timeless dedication to arts and craft.

Cultivating dreams

Sanskriti Kendra roughly translates to a centre for the process
of cultivating. Sanskriti means ‘the process of cultivating’ and Kendra means a
‘centre’ – both in Sanskrit, an Indo-Aryan language regarded as scared in
Hinduism and Buddhism. It is one of the 22 official languages of India.
Sanskirit Kendra is run by the Sanskriti Pratishthan founded in 1979 by O.P.
Jain, a non-academic but big-hearted enthusiast of arts and culture.

Sanskriti Kendra’s philosophy is influenced by antiquity,
artistic merit, and cultural significance, and its myriad activities revolve
around art, craft, literature, social work, and the performing arts, which the
centre has pursued and promoted with a passion that is essentially Indian, over
two decades. Hundreds of artists of various nationalities, and dexterous
craftsmen from almost every part of India, have enjoyed residencies here.

Two Nigerian writers have resided here before me. The beauty of
the centre can be appreciated in how arts and culture overlap harmoniously and
enrich each other in great degrees, thereby infusing a kind of synergy uncommon
with other residencies, with the artist attracting an unexpected boon. Another
beauty is Sanskriti Kendra’s capacity to create a pseudo-Eden ambience where
man and animals blend unobtrusively into each other’s daily life, without ill
will or threat, preserving the flora’s peace.

Unlike most residences, this idyllic writer’s complex houses
three indoor museums, an open-air museum and amphitheatre, an art gallery,
excluding its rich library and spacious residential studios, and a sprawling
luxuriant garden. The three museums are: The Museum of Indian Terracotta, which
is home to over 2,000 objects of art made primarily of terracotta. The Museum
of Everyday Arts, a mini-gallery of utilitarian objects and religious articles,
represented as works of aesthetics and art. And, the Textile Museum, which
displays the diversity of Indian textile heritage.

Veggie, red wine and
sweets

Later in the evening, over red wine and veggie snacks topped off
with mithai – Indian crunchy yet creamy sweets, Mr. Jain, the septuagenarian
founder of the centre, told all the artists present that his dream has always
been to ‘help cultivate an environment for the preservation and promotion of
India’s artistic and cultural resources.’

He recounts how he started the residency programme, inspired by
a trip to the US, how he started collecting art pieces many years ago, which
typify the creative and artistic urges of the common people, and how he decided
to put his soul into the achievement of an ideal artist village. He also
intimates us of the significance of terracotta in the Indian household and
life, although, sadly, capitalism has begun to erode this cultural legacy due
to its inherent acquisitive materialism.

We feel awed by Mr. Jain’s passion and vision. We become speechless awhile,
and start to sip our drinks and nibble snacks once again. We soon stand up to
leave. Darkness has dyed the night black; a frosty chill quivers in the air. I
pause, just briefly, to refill my wineglass – one swill for the road. And
smiling vaguely to myself, I think, ‘Sir, you have surely cultivated a desire
in me to take my writing more seriously,’ and then hasten off to catch up with
the fellow artists.

Aiyetoro Live: Afrobeat meets Jazz -Lets go bowlin. The Palms, Lekki, Lagos. 5pm. June 6.

Nigeria@50,So What? Featuring Crown Troupe of Africa, Coded Tunes, All Stars, and Amulegbajo Dance Company – Motherlan’, Opebi, Lagos. 3pm & 5pm. June 6.

Epiphany: Solo exhibition by Segun Aiyesan – Signature Gallery, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. Till June 10.

Theatre@Terra: ‘Who is afraid of Wole Soyinka?’- Play by Wole Oguntokun – Terra Kulture, Tiamiyu Savage, Victoria Island, Lagos. 3pm & 6pm. Sundays in June.

The Abuja Writers Forum: Weekly Reading and Critique Sessions -2nd Floor Hamdala Plaza, Jimmy Carter Crescent, Off Area 11 Junction, Abuja. Time: 4pm. June 6, 13 & 20.

Children’s Day is
one of the annual international celebrations when the leaders of
tomorrow are given due recognition. The National Museum is giving back
to these children who form over 70 percent of its visitors by
organising a Children’s Day celebration with the theme – ‘Nigeria At
50, Hope And Aspiration: From The Children’s Perspective’.

The programme is
aimed at awakening the cultural consciousness of Nigerian children
through constant interaction, competition, and education on Nigeria’s
historical and cultural heritage.

Events slated for the celebration are:-

•Wednesday May 26, 2010 – Essay and Painting Competition: ‘Nigeria of My Dreams.’ This event starts at 11am.

• Thursday May 27,
2010 – March past, Fashion parade in old school dressing styles,
display of tribal marks, cultural dance. Time: 11am

There will also be
a Cooking Competition displaying children’s abilities with indigenous
cuisines. More than 2000 students from across Lagos State are expected
to participate in this memorable fiesta.

All are invited.

For further information, please contact the Curator: 08037200420, 08038469798, 08028335519.

Why Art?

Expression is
common to man which comes in various ways. Unlike literature and verbal
expression, visual art is the type of expression that combines
intuition, tangible media and creativity to harness one’s environment
and thought. This ability resonates from first of all, a divine
empowerment and secondly a rigorous tutelage. These aspects give the
artist a form of equipment that makes him a creator.

I have written
elsewhere that “when I mount my wood with my creative essence in full
force I suddenly become divine.” This elated creative order spurs in me
a fulfilment which no other discipline can afford me. At that, art is
life. The creative process may be tortuous but the outcome is
satisfying to both the artist and his audience. Indeed art is the only
product that you consume without eroding, it appreciates in worth and
value instead.

Training

I had my Bachelors
and Masters in Fine Art at the University of Benin, Benin City in 1993
and 1999 respectively. Having opted for academics, I obtained a Masters
and PhD in Art History in 2006 and 2009 respectively.

Medium

Since 1998, during my Masters programme, I was elected to begin working in wood media. I also produce sculptures in mixed media.

Influences

Two major
influences are El Anatsui as an academic who is productive in creating
art and Bruce Onobrakpeya for his limitedness and dynamic mien for whom
old age is no barrier.

Inspirations

The inspiration for
my art, for which I have been dubbed the Niger Delta art crusader, is
traditional ‘Ivri’ figures of the Isoko people of Delta State in
synthesis with the petroleum oil pipes of the petroleum oil industry of
the Niger Delta. At this, my inspiration is environmental bound. These
include the human, physical and spiritual environments of the Niger
Delta.

Best work so far

My works engage me
within the context of their creation. At that, it is difficult to say
which particular work is best. However, my ‘The Child Must be King’
shrine installation engages me with a rare interest.

Least satisfying work

None really.

Career high point

Not yet a high
point because all that have preceded this moment, especially the
academic laurels, are foundations for the journey into greatness.
However, my works being part of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa
collection is worth mentioning.

Favourite artist living or dead

Pablo Picasso, for his sincerity at allowing the inner quest to give direction without cultural prejudice.

Ambitions

Just to be an artist

The role of arts
journalists in advancing Nigeria’s global relations was the focus of a
workshop themed ‘Journalism and Cultural Diplomacy,’ organised by the
National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), on Wednesday, May
19. Dramatist and former deputy editor of the Guardian, Ben Tomoloju,
and editor, Guardian on Sunday, Jahman Anikulapo, facilitated the
session held at Merit House, Abuja.

Growing culture

Executive
Secretary of NICO, Barclays Ayakoroma, noted the importance of culture
in Nigeria’s development and reiterated the place of arts writers in
cultural re-orientation. He explained that the training was organised
to foster a cordial relationship with the media on the one hand, and to
look for avenues to promote the culture sector better, on the other.

Ayakoroma decried
the negative impacts of Westernisation on Nigeria’s indigenous
languages and dress culture, but promised to cooperate with arts
reporters to stimulate growth in the sector. “We will partner with the
Arts Writers Organisation of Nigeria(AWON) to put culture in its proper
place of importance, especially in championing the cause of the
re-branding project of the present administration. Let us work
together; together we can show that culture is important and vital in
the rebranding process,” the NICO boss who disclosed that the workshop
will be held quarterly, said.

Presidential
adviser on Parastatal and Statutory Bodies, Braeyi Ekiye, represented
by Joseph Kariboro, affirmed that the present administration would
employ culture in its rebranding project. He noted that the media has a
role to play in “oiling global relations, including cultural diplomacy.”

Sola Balogun and
Ozolua Uhakheme, Arts Editors of the Sun and Nation newspapers,
commended the initiative in their goodwill messages. Balogun noted that
arts journalists “have a task to help our culture”, adding that “we
have a duty to use our skill to help in the business of cultural
orientation.”

Arts and diplomacy

In his presentation
titled ‘Arts Journalism and Cultural Diplomacy’, lead facilitator, Ben
Tomoloju, gave different definitions of culture, but noted that there
is no difference between arts and cultural journalism, though people
tend to think there is. The facilitator also explained the connection
between culture and journalism, quoting Abiola Irele and Senator
Fulbright. Tomoloju did not fail to highlight the role of the arts
journalist in international relations, noting that military posturing
and diplomatic activities are not enough for a country to project
itself.

The dramatist also
discussed the role of the arts journalist in reporting cultural
diplomacy and cultural relations. “The arts journalist may operate
conveniently within either of these two. But it is more likely that, in
a practical sense, one will be more of a diplomat than a journalist,
while the other will be more of a journalist than a diplomat,” he said,
while adding that, “intellectually, the arts journalist must be
grounded in matters pertaining to the national interest of societies
within his scope of operation.”

FESTAC 77,
Tomoloju affirmed, remains the “highest point so far in the history of
Nigeria’s cultural diplomacy and it was one epochal event whose policy
thrust was so effectively internalised and eloquently expressed by the
press that it engendered pride among the people and earned respect from
foreigners.” Though there has not been any major intercultural event of
FESTAC’s magnitude ever since, the facilitator said “it is a paradigm
which with vigour and zeal, the arts writer should apply to every
cultural manifestation that can help to promote the good image of
Nigeria across the international frontiers.”

Apart from covering
national events of all the agencies under the Ministry of Tourism,
Culture and National Orientation who are engaged in some form of
inter-cultural events, the author of ‘Jankariwo’ recommended ‘facility
trips’ for arts writers. “One would also suggest a more frequent
engagement of Nigerian arts writers in the coverage of cultural
activities outside the shores of this country, especially those
involving Nigeria’s participation. Such engagement would widen the
horizon of the arts writer, enhance his capacity and sophistication in
the cerebral demands of the job.” He insisted, when taken up on the
issue later, that facility trip is not bribery and that he benefitted
from such trips while on the Arts beat.

Adding value

Anikulapo turned
his session into an interaction with the journalists on problems
stopping them from functioning properly. It emerged from the
soul-searching session that some newspaper editors don’t regard the
arts, and as such, don’t allocate enough pages to the arts; some don’t
respect arts writers; while some are plain ignorant about the arts.

“The arts
journalist is disoriented, he is not paid. How much value can he
transmit?” Anikulapo wondered, while condemning newspaper houses that
don’t pay staff regularly. He however, told the arts writers that the
solution is in their hands. “You have to prove that you can add value
to the paper,” Anikulapo said, while urging the journalists to also try
to understand their environment better. “It is good to write about an
artist, but you also have to write about the environment. The
journalist has to be sympathetic to the cause of artists because they
are as endangered as you.”

He also recommended
resuscitating AWON and engaging in peer review. “You need to have a
sort of platform on which to make yourself heard; a sort of collective
to define yourself and push your agenda. It becomes pretty difficult to
make your case, without a platform to defend yourself,” he offered
while adding training and re-training to his suggestions.

Tomoloju, who was instrumental in the formation of AWON, also
reiterated the importance of the body. “AWON is very crucial. Let AWON
be revived, it is very important. As much as NICO and other agencies
can help with this, please help,” he said.

Skip Gates
recently re-ignited an old controversy by stating that Africans are
also culpable in the shame that was the transatlantic slave trade
because they were active participants who relied on the trade for
revenue. I agree with Professor Gates. To the extent that African
states sold off Africans, they are just as culpable as the Western
states that bought Africans as slaves. That they are too destitute to
pay should not absolve them from culpability and responsibility.

Should Africa be
compensated for slavery? Slavery was horrible. It is perhaps the
everlasting perversion of this evil that a reparations program is
virtually impossible to implement. I do not believe that the West
should stop giving aid to Africa; however, it is fair to say that over
90 per cent of the aid is being stolen or wasted. At the very least,
Western donors should invest in meaningful accountability measures to
ensure that these funds are going to the intended targets. In the
meantime, what is happening in most of black Africa is black on black
slavery. In Gates’ essay, he shares this gem: “Did these Africans know
how harsh slavery was in the New World? Actually, many elite Africans
visited Europe in that era, and they did so on slave ships following
the prevailing winds through the New World…African monarchs also sent
their children along these same slave routes to be educated in Europe.”
This mirrors what is going on today in Nigeria. Our leaders preside
over decaying classrooms that are too good for their children,
administer hospitals that are not good enough for their hogs and have
built palaces on what were once parks and zoos. They and their children
have to flee the hell they built to go taste a bit of heaven in Europe
and America. Our leaders should be shot.

A while back, I
watched Gates’ documentary on the slave kingdoms and I remember an
engaging, and effective presentation. In West Africa, African narrators
described to Gates and emotional African American tourists how Africans
captured other Africans from the hinterlands to the coast and sold them
to the white man for profit. It is a harrowing narrative and we must be
filled with compassion for Mr Gates whose great great grandmother came
from those parts as a slave. But then, as some scholars have asked
fairly, were these Africans? In other words, did they see themselves as
selling off their brothers and sisters? My view is that they were
selling off enemy captives. You don’t sell your brother. Identity is
dynamic. How “Africans” saw themselves then is different from how
“Africans” see themselves today. That would need to be factored into
any discussion of the role of people of African descent in the slave
trade.

What does it mean
to be African? My grandmother died in the late 70s not knowing she was
African. She died not knowing she was Nigerian. She did have a strong
sense of self and of community. Her friends and enemies were close by;
in nearby hamlets and villages, where strange people lived with strange
customs. Her daughter – my mother – married one of those strange
people, my father, who came from the village next door, strange people
who ate strange things and did stranger things. You could walk from my
father’s village to my maternal land in 20 minutes if you took the
little path. My father loved to crack ribald jokes at the expense of
another village next door. In those times, I could see him going next
door to capture slaves. They were not his relatives. They were simply
black.

The myth of a
monolithic Africa is an invention of the other to compromise our
humanity. Colour confounds and confuses everybody apparently. We are
suffering the crimes of a construct that never existed, save in the
minds of Westerners. An entire continent of (former) states has now
been lumped into one big fat state called Africa. The unintended
purpose of this broad brush has been to further dehumanise people of
colour. At the forefront of this pack of the prejudiced are white
liberal do-gooders who rush to douse any debate with patronising
platitudes about our humanity. The subtext: Africans did some awful
things but they lack the complexity to be responsible for their
actions; they had no idea, poor cute Africans.

The other point that is not made is that despite the protestations
of even the most rabid Pan-Africanists, Africans have been acculturated
by the dominant culture. The dominant culture says a drop of black
blood in you makes you black. That rule is the most effective and
unchallenged rejection of our humanity, a permanent stamp on our
“other” passport. Why is Skip Gates black? Why is he not white? Because
the dominant culture says he is not. Now, that is racist. Let the man
be whatever he wants to be. Not that he minds being black, but the
world is browning. Screw boundaries. The Man Above is not through with
us yet. He is too busy laughing his racist head off.

When the American
playwright Lynn Nottage travelled to Uganda in 2004 to interview
Congolese women fleeing the conflict in their country, they literally
formed queues to speak to her.

Nottage, who once
worked as a press officer at Amnesty International, wanted to write a
play about how the violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo had
affected women. Frustrated by the lack of media coverage of a conflict
that has killed an estimated 5 million people since 1998, she decided
to embark on her own fact-finding mission.

During her ten days
in Uganda – she subsequently made two more trips to the region in 2005
and 2006 – Nottage spoke to numerous women and heard stories that she
found devastating.

“In every instance,
there were more women who wanted to tell their stories than I could
hear,” she recalls. “I have pictures in one refugee camp where you can
see me literally surrounded by 50 to 100 people, people just lined up
to tell their stories.”

Some of those
stories are at the heart of her play Ruined, which received the 2009
Pulitzer Prize for Drama during its run in New York last year and is
now showing at the Almeida Theatre in London.

Ruined is a play
about the women and girls who have been victims of some of the worst
atrocities committed by armed groups fighting over Congo’s mineral
resources – women who have been raped, mutilated and left with injuries
so horrific that they are no longer able to bear children. Many of them
are abandoned by their husbands and ostracised by their communities,
their lives as well as their bodies ‘ruined.’

Deadly war

According to the
International Rescue Committee and other aid groups, the war in Congo
is the deadliest since World War II. Although the conflict officially
ended in December 2002, the IRC estimates that up to 500,000 Congolese
have continued to die every year, mostly from hunger and preventable
diseases.

The IRC, which has
helped thousands of rape victims in Congo, describes the violence
against women as a “combat strategy systematically used to terrorise
and humiliate,” rather than a by-product of the fighting. Although
Congo is home to the largest UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, the
attacks on women persist, especially in the North and South Kivu
provinces in the eastern part of the country. In South Kivu alone, one
woman is raped every two hours, according to the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Although Nottage
acknowledges that her play’s subject matter is dark, she says she
wanted to show that there are individuals behind the dreadful
statistics, “people who are three-dimensional human beings.” Her four
years at Amnesty International, where one of her jobs was maintaining a
photo file that included images of Iraqi poison gas victims, had made
her realise how easy it is to become hardened to stories of suffering.

“I would have to go
through these files, but at the same time you build up resistance and
you’re not thinking of these individuals anymore,” she says.

Although Ruined is
set in Congo, Nottage was advised against going there because it was
too dangerous, so she decided to visit refugee camps in neighbouring
Uganda instead.

“I’m not an
adventure seeker. I’m a mum,” says Nottage, who is 45 and lives in
Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two young children.

She also had to
abandon her initial plans to do a modern adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s
anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children, one of the few plays
about women caught up in armed conflict.

A woman’s story

“I very much wanted
to tell the story of war, but specifically from a woman’s point of
view,” says Nottage. “Initially, my impulse was to use Mother Courage
as a template. Mother Courage is such an iconic, strong representation
of a woman who was pulling herself through this intractable situation
and somehow managed to survive.”

But after
interviewing the Congolese women, she realised that Brecht’s work,
written in 1939, did not address their experiences of war.

“I found that that
play neglected to address one of the aspects of war, which is rape, and
most women who find themselves trapped in those situations have been
raped. Mother Courage never addresses gender-specific human rights
abuses and what happens to a woman’s body and what women have to do to
protect themselves.”

Nottage says that
as a woman, she wanted the audience to become emotionally involved in
the subject matter, in contrast to Brecht’s approach, which was to
engage his audience intellectually.

“If I’m emotionally
drawn in, I engage with that subject better and feel much more
compelled to act,” says Nottage. “I think that if you give intellectual
distance people can rationalise why they choose not to take steps, but
once you get someone emotionally engaged we know what happens. People
can move mountains.”

Critical acclaim

Judging by the
accolades and awards Ruined has garnered, it appears Nottage’s
instincts were correct. Besides the Pulitzer, the play has won seven
other Best Play awards, including the New York Drama Critics’ Circle
Award. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay,
and several officials from MONUC saw the play in New York, as did the
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Nottage says the Secretary General
was so impressed that he came to speak to her and the cast for half an
hour afterwards.

“I ended up going back and speaking with him at the UN,” she says. “He was that moved.”

Nottage was also
invited to speak at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos but had
to decline due to time constraints. But perhaps the most telling
tribute was from an expat who had worked in Congo for 10 years. After
seeing the play, he told Nottage: “I hear this information all the
time. This is the first time that I’ve shed tears.”

It is reactions such as these that have reinforced Nottage’s belief in the power of theatre.

“Something that
theatre does is we can force people to emotionally engage and to think
of the characters in three dimensions,” she says. “I still believe that
an army of theatre artists in a country can do more than an army of
soldiers.”

Ruined plays at the Almeida Theatre in London until June 5.

On Thursday, May
27, a little soiree took place at Jazzhole, a quaint bookshop/record
shop cum cafe on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, which gave testament to
the love of the arts. Friends and colleagues gathered to honour and
share experiences with the man, Toyin Alfred Akinoso, better known as
‘Poblisha’, as part of activities commemorating his 50th birthday.

Some would describe
Toyin Akinosho as a geologist and a cultural landscapist. But many
would better know him as the writer of Artsville, the art and
literature review column in Sunday Guardian; as publisher of Africa Oil
and Gas report, and as Secretary General of the Committee for Relevant
Art (CORA).

The event was a reading and interview session anchored by Kole-Ade Odutola and Molara Wood, Arts and Culture Editor of NEXT.

In attendance at
the event were notable arts personalities as Kenyan Caine winner,
Binyavanga Wainaina, writer Toni Kan, Sunday Umweni, Jahman Anikulapo,
Sunday Bayo Akinpelu, Francis Onwochei, and Yinka Davies. These and
many others, joined Akinosho to read excerpts of his past column
pieces, as well as stories and poems such as ‘Lagos Housegirl,’ ‘Berlin
Wall’ and ‘Night’, among other excerpts.

Akinosho reminisces

The evening of
banter was not complete without a host of anecdotes and insights from
The Publisher, who at the prompting of the hosts, regaled his guests
with recollections of his experiences in the city which he terms ‘My
Lagos… my life’. Akinosho took his audience back to the mid-80s, when
as a young adult, he explored all that Lagos had to offer him by way of
its art and entertainment culture. Despite obtaining his undergraduate
degree from the University of Ife, the Geology graduate admitted that
in comparison with Lagos, Ife seemed less artistically developed,
making him resort to making trips to Lagos every two weeks.

Akinosho told of
growing up on Vaughn Street, Apapa; of not having formal nursery
education, and of being more street smart than his Montgomery Road
contemporaries, who were considered more refined. As he recalled
proudly, “They could speak the English, but we could write it”. He
remembered visiting cinemas like Roxy, Apapa, and Metro on Ikorodu
Road, of dining in Bristol Hotel for N4.40 kobo; exploring Nefertiti,
an Egyptian restaurant (on Ikorodu Road); frequenting Fela Anikulapo
Kuti’s Sunday Jump at the Empire Hotel; of fishing at Ijora before the
National Theatre was constructed, and how, from the Cool Cat Inn, he
made out strains of Eric ‘Showboy’ Akaeze’s trumpets as he played his
Highlife far into the night.

“The Lagos of my
childhood was close-knit”, he remarked. “As a child, I could stay out
till the early hours of the morning playing with friends, so long as I
was within the neighbourhood; and it was not a rare occurrence to have
people staying out till very late. Even when I ventured into
journalism, many of my initial sources were family and friends.”

Initiation into the arts

Akinosho’s interest
in the arts began when he was a student of Geology in the University of
Ife. “The Geology department overlooked the Peak Theatre, the arts hub
of the institution, so I would watch from across until one day when I
attended a lecture and fell in love with the arts”.

In the course of
time, he approached Sunday Umweni, and spoke with him about his
interest after which he wrote a review, which was published in Lagos
Weekend, an effort which set off his career as a writer and reviewer.
While he was still in university, The Guardian newspaper was
established, and he joined as a freelancer. He considered this move the
next step towards a career in the arts because of the publication’s
crop of popular writers. Also along the line, he met with J.P Clark,
founder of the Pet Repertory Theatre, who said to Akinosho words he
still holds dear – “I am interested in your interest” – and took him
under his wing.

According to
Akinosho, his study of Geology had prepared him for a career in the
arts, as he finds a congruity between both disciplines. “There’s a
particular relationship between Geology and storytelling”, he said,
“Geologists are story tellers, starting from the end and working their
way towards the big picture. This allows for complete thought and has
helped me immensely in journalism and arts.”

Arts’ future

The economy has a
lot to do with the art industry and according to the arts connoisseur,
arts and entertainment can only be invested in after the basic needs of
an individual have been met. Unfortunately, however, for the middle
class Nigerian, the left-over expendable funds after these needs have
been satisfied is minuscule, so the arts have had to rely heavily on
sponsorship and international funding. Decay, lack of planning, and the
economic downturn of the late 80’s and 90s had resulted in the demise
of the art industry, which is only now beginning to recover structures
that had been in place in the 70s.

Akinosho’s
recurrent message at the event was that ‘we have been here before’.
There was a time, he said nostalgically, when cinemas, stage
performances, music, and art were well established and no one could
have foreseen their disappearance, but peter out they did. Now that
again the arts are gaining ground with the establishment of new
cinemas, the emergence of African voices in literature, music and art,
culture and arts practitioners need to expend no small effort in
sustaining the industry and its talents, and in ensuring that the arts
industry does not again fade out of sight.

Akinosho and Molara
Wood took a moment during the event to recognise the contribution of T
.M Aluko – whose burial took place Friday, May 28 – as a writer and
raconteur of Lagos life and the psychology of the middle class and
civil servants in the 1960s. They enjoined that the current crop of
literary critics place the late writer in the ‘pantheon of writers’
where he rightly belongs.

Amid reminisces, Akinosho stressed the need for more art and
literary critics, and recommended the practice of honest and objective
critiquing.

There has been a
lot of righteous rage in town over the recent not-too-complimentary BBC
documentary series on Lagos. This is in sharp contrast to the
assortment of appraisals in the print media which have been
paradoxically favourable and, in a few cases quite reverential! Why
would the BBC series, deliberately titled “Welcome to Lagos”, cause so
much divergence in its evaluation by Nigerians since the first part,
which featured life on the Ojota dump-site, was broadcast worldwide on
April 15, 2010?

The answer, simply
put, is that while some critics believe that in the spirit of
international media freedom all is fair game, others (and there is
division in this camp) believe that the BBC is not the proper judge to
assess what face/s of Lagos that are representative of the city’s march
towards mega-city status. The ongoing debate is certainly instructive
on how we see ourselves through other people’s eyes.

Double speak

For me, the problem
I have with most of the comments on the series – and I admit up-front
that I have not watched any of the three documentaries – is wthe
element of double-speak in most of the commentary. Bayo Olupohunda,
writing about ‘BBC’s Worrisome Images’ in the Sunday Guardian of April
25, mentions that the documentary focuses “on the humanity,
resourcefulness and compassion of the people who live and work in some
of the roughest parts of town”; going further to tell the reader that,
“their tales build a compelling portrait of a city brimming with
entrepreneurial flair, resilience, tough-mindedness and hope.” Gosh! I
am sure Will Anderson, producer of the series, will gladly give an arm
and a leg to match or put a more stunning human-angle spin than what
Olupohunda has given him for free! Olupohunda’s take, confirms that it
was a mind like his, who as minder/fixer for the BBC crew, did the
splendid job of discovering these ‘right’ locations in Lagos that
justify the intentions of the BBC producer to show the universal
struggle and faith in survival against all odds.

Elementary diplomacy

He further informs
that the federal government through Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the
UK, Dalhatu Tafida, “in a strongly worded letter to BBC2 called the
documentary sinister”, adding that “slums and ghettos were a global
phenomenon and, even in London it is not uncommon to see people (not
Nigerians) scavenge dustbins in search of food and other valuables.”
Well reasoned, I thought; until I read Ako Amadi’s bizarre attempt to
teach Tafida elementary diplomacy; by writing the obvious in his NEXT
newspaper column that the British Government does not control the BBC.
Surely, our High Commissioner has every right to register his
discontent even when we don’t seem to have the diplomatic balls to tell
both the British High Commissioner and the American Ambassador to stop
meddling in so many aspects of our lives and telling our institutions
how to run Nigeria.

The Guardian’s
editorial fizzled into a tame admission that the BBC is one of the
world’s most respected media organisations and is independent of the
British government. It would seem that our Nigerian commentators are
avoiding the reality that we are now in an era of cultural cynicism
occasioned by deliberately contrived attempts to muddle the age-old
complaint about the unfairness and unevenness of the North-South
information flow. There are Catch-22 situations as well as racial and
social considerations involved.

The West is still
primarily interested in ‘exotic’ images of Africa in particular.
Achebe’s anger against Conrad in the theatre of words is necessary in
today’s theatre of images. The more ‘exotic’ and outrageous the images
of Africa are, the more they are accepted as brilliant visual
investigations; and this is what drives the present generation of
Western documentary filmmakers in their bid to make ‘a name’.

‘Expensive Shit’

How many people now
remember footages of a row of people defecating, in broad daylight,
into the lagoon along the Lagos Marina. This was part of a French
documentary film on Fela. Well, Fela had made a hit album, Expensive
Shit. Then there was a huge mural of life in Lagos by Ghariokwu Lemi at
the old Alliance Francaise, graphically showing the Lagos go-slow as
well as people shitting into the lagoon. Years later, Fela’s son Seun
has a number ‘Don’t Give Me That Shit’ on his CD. So, do we hang the
French filmmaker?

Now, who are the
co-conspirators in our midst; the minders/fixers who will go out of
their way to scout for the weirdest and ‘baddest’ locations and scenes
to please these foreign filmmakers? For a start, union regulations make
it virtually impossible for a Nigerian film crew to shoot in, say,
London and Paris. If it were possible, will there be English or French
minders/fixers who will willingly take Nigerian film crews to the most
distasteful underbellies of these ‘great’ beautiful cities?

From experience, I
know that when the Nigerian social/business/political elite as well as
the so-called lower classes encounter an ‘oyibo’ journalist or film
crew, they immediately, without much prompting, start suffering from
the diarrhoea of the mouth! What about our feared ‘area boys’; will
they dare attack, seize the equipment and demand money from a ‘white’
film crew in their slum neighbourhoods? Maybe that is why Anderson,
tongue-in-cheek, was surprised by the siren-blowing armed guards that
escorted his crew on arrival from the airport to their hotel.

How come we no
longer have Nigerian-made documentary programmes on our numerous TV
stations? Our TV journalists are only interested in celebrity
politicians and socialites. Will they go to the slums to document the
lives and voices of people there? They will claim that, to protect
their jobs, they dare not air any scenes and voices that are contrary
to the wonderful development programmes of our dear governors and
governments nationwide.

The boisterous talk in town is about ‘revenge images.’ We must go to
England and shoot their slums and show them on our TV stations! Bayo
Olupohunda accompanied his ‘Mega City: Challenging the Stereotypes’
article in the Sunday Guardian of May 2, 2010, with photographs of
slums in Lisbon, India and Ajegunle – to make the point that slums
exist in the West and Asia as well. But then, deliberate desolate
images from Africa serve another purpose; that of a reminder to
residents of the West to make them understand the utter desperation of
Africans; why the African elite will steal national money to buy
mansions in the West and why millions of Africans will do anything to
escape to the paradise they have visually created in the West.

I can’t quite pin
down who sang the pop music hit ‘Respect Yourself,’ or when it made the
charts. I do know that Aretha Franklin’s monster hit ‘Respect’ released
in the late 60s, won the hearts of even hardcore avant-garde jazz
purists like pianist Cecil Taylor, for its soul rhythms as well as its
strong, demanding lyrics. The bottom line was basically what good
parents are supposed to drum into the ears of children quite early in
life, that you first earn then demand respect.

It would sadly seem
that this simple lesson in good social behaviour is entirely lost on
the majority of ‘younger’ press photographers on the scene today. As
for their freelance counterparts – those regarded with rightful disdain
as ‘kpa kpa kpa photographers’ – bad social behaviour is their stock in
trade; hence press photographers worth their salt usually keep a
spiteful distance away from them when they appear, usually uninvited,
at events. Maybe it is the patronage they enjoy and the open display of
cool good cash being offered them by their ‘customers’ at social events
in exchange for their ‘instant portraits’ that has infected press
photographers and made them abandon decorum for rowdiness and unethical
behaviour.

Local paparazzi

‘Kpa kpa kpa
photographers’ have never earned and, will never earn respect. It is
not in the nature of their genre of photography which thrives on a
dog-eat-dog philosophy. Hence they swoop on their victims and potential
customers in a pack and then jostle and block their fellow photographic
tribesmen, just to get the first and best shots. They then rush out to
print (temporarily pawning their cameras to the laboratory owners) and
offer to their potential customers at the venue, while the event is
ongoing. That they are desperate is an understatement. That they are
our local version of ‘paparazzi’ hunting down celebrity preys is
investing them with too much respect and intelligence. They most times
don’t care or know who their ‘victims’ are. They are solely driven by
the instinct that their victims are vain egomaniacs in love with their
faces and current fashion statements! They are usually right in that
they are patronised by an ever-growing class of people who want to
publicly show off, our socialites, as the gossip papers label them.

Unruly photographers

My concern about
how ‘younger’ press photographers have decided to lower themselves and
their genre of photography to the base level of ‘kpa kpa kpa
photographers’ was triggered by two items in the Arts and Culture
section of Next on Sunday, May 16, 2010; and observations I had
previously made in Media Review about the unruly behaviour of press
photographers at important events.

First, I was happy
about the photograph (courtesy of Newswatch) chosen to illustrate my
tribute to Matthew Faji. Dressed in a natty suit and tie was a smiling
Faji fondly holding in each hand SLR cameras fitted with medium and
zoom lenses. We behold the picture of a master photographer, properly
dressed for any occasion and venue and, very professionally equipped
with the right tools, especially the lenses. Faji demonstrates that he
has earned the respect that will smoothly open doors for him, be it at
UN Headquarters, the White House and our own State House/Dodan Barracks!

In the same edition
is a story on the Award ceremony for the Soyinka Prize in Literature
worth a cool 20,000 US dollars. To quote from Aderinsola Ajao’s report,
‘(Soyinka) gave an insight into dealing with obtrusive photographers
who proceed to plant themselves in the audience’s view, leaving their
“backsides” as the only entertainment available to the viewer. A few
pricks of the fork on the “soft backsides”, he said would instantly
deal with “this insensitivity to audience.”’

What Soyinka kindly
describes as insensitivity I bluntly regard as bad manners and
unethical behaviour on the part of press photographers! From my
article, Profile and Ethics (Media Review, June 2009), I offer some
quotes. ‘Where once you had press photographers like Sunmi Smart-Cole
and Felix Elijah (to name a few) wearing suits on assignments, and many
others always smartly and appropriately dressed, we now have many young
press photographers scruffily dressed in branded T-shirts, wearing
sandals and roaming around the venues of events without professional
comportment. Why would they not be disrespected and, why would the
security forces and political thugs not harass and push them around?”

Herd mentality

At the unveiling
(shown on satellite TV) of the mascot for the 2009 FIFA Under-17
Championship in Abuja, ‘Nigerian press photographers put on a very
embarrassing display of poor professional ethics. Hundreds of press
photographers and television cameramen (many unsuitably dressed) rushed
on to the stage and completely blocked the view of all the invited
guests who were seated at their dinner tables. After more than five
minutes the MC was forced to call them to order for unruly
un-gentlemanly behaviour.’

Then Vice-President
Jonathan, governors and top FIFA officials were at that Abuja ceremony.
Soyinka (who refused a call to the high table) was at the Awolowo 100th
Anniversary ceremony at Muson Centre, Lagos in early 2009; when press
and kpa kpa kpa photographers rushed on stage to grab shots of Ma Awo,
Governor Fashola and other VIPs on the high table!

‘This herd
mentality,’ I later wrote, ‘which drives press photographers; all in
the name of looking for exclusive close-up shots, has become the norm
as they crowd high tables at events and turn themselves into a public
nuisance. That they are usually verbally and physically abused for
their bad manners has not dissuaded them so far.’

Faji’s style

I wish our current
crop of press photographers will learn from Faji’s photograph on the
need to be always properly dressed and equipped with the correct lenses
to get their shots without interfering with the audience and other
photographers. It is bad enough that press photographers are still
viewed as poor cousins to the editorial staff in the newsrooms and on
editorial boards of Nigerian media organisations. Their newly-acquired
added minus of poor social decorum further diminishes their social
profile.

Journalists in
Nigeria fought hard and long to stop our so-called big men – the
military and all grades of politicians including Presidents – from
viewing and calling them ‘press boys’. The editors and senior
journalists who still crave for and accept ‘brown envelopes’ have
definitely tarnished the new and established image of our strong and
fearless press men. I wonder how our press photographers feel when all
manner of people shout out at them “hey foto-grapher, come here!”

The kpa kpa kpa brigade doesn’t care. For them, “Oga, madam, you want foto?” is a ‘professional’ prelude for quick cash!