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Why Art?

Art was one of the
subjects in which I excelled and derived maximum joy right from
childhood. Art was everywhere around me [in] the totality of my
childhood experiences. Music at home, in the church and at school;
storytelling, moonlight performances, communal living, craft traditions
of my people and our general outlook and ways of doing things. All
these, if you put them together, are art. I think I was destined to
become an artist; because I was not the only child raised in the
environment I mentioned but I was the only one who tapped into the
abundant resources to become an artist.

Training

I was fortunate to
attend primary and secondary schools (Methodist Primary School, Ayedun
Ekiti, Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti and Federal Government College
Ilorin) where art was taken seriously and taught. While in the junior
classes I would visit these senior art students who were usually
scattered over the entire beautiful Christ’s School landscape, painting
scenes either for assignments or exams.

Whereas my training
in the arts had been limited to drawing, painting and design, in (the
University of) Benin other areas such as sculpture, ceramics, textile,
performing arts, metal design, materials and methods, art history,
visual aesthetics, art education were added.

Benin was a fine
experience under the tutelage of artists/scholars/administrators such
as S.I. Wangboje, Clarry Nelson Cole, Doris Rogers, Ademola Williams,
Oseha Ajokpaezi, Dr Chris Ebighgbo, Osi Audu, Austine Onwordi etc.

After graduation,
after stints as practising and exhibiting artist, art teacher,
journalist, cultural activist and advocate, I found my way back to
school for a post graduate degree in Visual Art History at the
University of Lagos.

Medium

I work in the areas of painting, drawing, mixed media, and cartooning, curating, writing and cultural advocacy.

Influences

My Yorubaness, and
a whole lot of artists across the globe whose works I have seen and
have appreciated, have influenced me. Artists such as Professors Yusuf
Grillo, Uche Okeke, Kolade Oshinowo, Clarry Nelson Cole, Muraina
Oyelami, Boye Gbenro, Dotun Gboyega, Bayo Odulana, Kunle Filani, Nkiru
Nzegwu etc have all influenced me.

Inspirations

Peaceful mind,
clean environment and the flurry of socio-political happenings
globally. Also, I get inspired by reading, listening to good music and
thinking positively. There is a realm where I believe all artists get
into to receive their ideas. I get intuitive and psychic promptings
from sources I cannot explain but which further confirm that artists
have patron muses.

Best work so far

I have no such work
yet, every work is a unique experience. What you classify as your best
may not be considered so by others. Art does not belong to the artist
only, the artist according to a school of thought is just a vessel used
in communicating society’s collective ethos. The search for my best
work continues.

Least satisfying work

It is also
difficult to say which work is the least satisfying because I have done
numerous works. I have had exhibitions where works grudgingly included
will be the ones to receive the most accolades and may be the earliest
to be bought. I am a perfectionist though, it takes time for me to
append my signature to an art piece, and any one so appended has
fulfilled my requirement of a good art work.

Career high point

My exhibitions are
so far my high points, especially my solo exhibitions. Through them I
render accounts of how well I have spent my time and life. My
exhibitions are usually my happiest moments because they are summations
of my experiences, being, hopes, joy and all. I

Favourite artist living or dead

I particularly
venerate Michelangelo, he was wonderful. So also Leonardo, Raphael and
many other artists of the Renaissance period. Also, P.P Reuben,
Rembrandt, Van Gogh, the Impressionists, post impressionists, Picasso,
Matisse etc. Back home I admire the anonymous traditional artists for
their wonderful legacies. The Onabolus, Lasekans, Enwuonwus,
Onobrakpeyas, Grillos, Oshinowos, Jegedes, Yusufs etc. I owe a lot to
inspirations derived from these artists.

Ambitions

To become a great
artist, one of the greatest of all times who will be remembered long
after I might have gone not just as a painter but one whose
contributions bestride different genres of the art profession.

In a bid to make
the youths embrace their cultural heritage, the National Museum Lagos
has celebrated this year’s International Museum Day with a Miss Museum
Beauty Pageant. The pageant, held in the museum’s premises in Onikan,
Lagos on May 14, 2010, was established to select a beautiful but also
intelligent young lady conversant with Nigeria’s cultural heritage, and
who can represent the museum internationally.

The pageant started
in 2008 as an in-house event involving staff only, won by Temilade
Ibrahim. With Lagos State setting the pace for other Museums around the
world, the Miss Museum pageant was approved and recommended by the
International Council of Museums. Fascinated by the idea as a platform
to showcase the beauty of the African woman, the international council
included it in their programmes and recommended the pageant for all
affiliated museums worldwide.

Ibrahim reigned for
two years, because the National Commission for Museum and Monument in
Abuja celebrated last year’s international Museum Day, in Lagos. That
made it impossible to hold a Miss Museum Pageant last year. The need to
hold another Miss Museum pageant became necessary in order to get a
representative for the Lagos-based Museum at the International Museum
Expo in China.

This year’s pageant
started out with a four-day camp at Jabita International Hotels in
Ikeja, where the contestants were taught about the Museum and
artefacts. They received self improvement skills like catwalks,
personality development, etiquette, and ideas they could develop for
pet projects during their reign. They also went on a tour of the
Museum, and were introduced to Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage. As
future cultural ambassadors, the contestants who were picked from the
humanities and the social sciences, represented fifteen of Nigerian
ethnic groups: Afemai, Benin, Egun, Efik, Fulani, Fulade, Hausa, Ibo,
Igala, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Ile-Oluji, Nupe, Tiv, and Yoruba.

After much scrutiny
on poise, confidence, carriage, beauty, expression and how to represent
the museum, Joy Iruobe (Miss Efik) emerged winner. With a 100,000 cash
prize amongst other gifts, she will be representing the National Museum
in China in October. The runners-up also count as winners and will
represent different arms of the museum. Miss Museum Tourism is Miss
Nupe, the pageant’s first runner-up and the second runner-up
representing Ile-Oluji is Miss Museum Education. Relishing her victory,
Iruobe said, “I was overwhelmed, excited. I was weak and nervous and I
didn’t expect it.” For her pet project, she said, “I want to create a
journal and a newsletter to inform the world about the Nigerian
traditional culture and also invite secondary school students to a
competition on how well you know your culture; and roots and the
student with the most cultural knowledge goes home with a prize.”

The Curator of the museum, Ibironke Ashaye, expressed gratitude to
everyone who contributed to the success of the pageant. “The
celebration doesn’t end here, we also want to show the world that there
is ability in disability, so we are bringing the (physically
challenged) to the museum (Monday, May 17).” The Curator, who expressed
her faith in the youth of this generation, said, “we must try as much
as possible to see that our youth are well grounded in culture, so that
when we leave, we would be at peace that we are leaving people that are
very intelligent and can move the Museum forward.”

“You said you will
be here by 10am but you are just coming when I’m almost set to return
to Ibadan,” founder of the African Heritage Research Library and
Cultural Centre (AHRLC), Bayo Adebowale says in mock anger as the
‘okada’ (motorcycle) brings me into the complex in Adeyipo, a village
in Lagelu Local Government Area of Oyo State. I had underestimated the
time it would take to reach the village, some 18 kilometres from
Ibadan. It is nearly midday.

Occupying about 10
acres of land, AHRLC is a charming resort in rural Adeyipo. It was
originally conceived as an Africana library for researchers but has
since incorporated culture and heritage into its mandate.

Sowing the seed

Mighty oaks from
little acorns grow. This holds true for the centre, conceived in 1987
in reaction to a disparaging article on Africa and Africans in a
foreign magazine. “The writer was saying all sorts of things about the
capability of the average African and I was tickled. I said these
people must be proved wrong, they must be convinced that not all of us
run after what to eat and drink. So, I hit on the idea of floating a
library or an international magazine. I toyed with the two ideas but I
finally picked floating an Africana library to begin to project Africa
in its true colours to the outside world,” Adebowale explains as we set
out on a tour of the centre.

The former deputy
rector of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, started collecting books on all
disciplines around March 1988 at the College of Education, Ila Orangun,
Osun State where he was then teaching. He started with about 500 books
he used at college and in the university before the centre blossomed.
He recalls, “We kept on expanding and contacting the world, intimating
them with the idea that we want to float an Africana library. Some of
them rallied round us while some discouraged us. In six months, the
collection had grown to about 10,000, 12,000 and 15,000. By the time we
left Ila Orangun, the collection had grown beyond 25,000.” Since its
movement to Adeyipo in 1993, AHRLC’s collection has grown to over
100,000 volumes on all disciplines.

Though Adeyipo is
his birth place, it is not what made Adebowale site the centre there.
“We had a limitation of finance. To purchase acres of land that will
take all this will cost a fortune. When you realise we are just an NGO
with no subvention from anybody, you will realise that a library like
this should be located where land would be donated. The people of
Adeyipo were ready to donate land to us to establish the centre; the
serenity of the countryside is another factor.”

There is an
improvement at Adeyipo since I last visited three years ago. The
landscaping is better and there is an ongoing electrification project
Adebowale is excited about, because of what it portends for the centre.
He is also happy with the various sections — Ayan Agalu African
Talking Drum Museum, Research Library, Music of Africa Auditorium,
African Orchard, guest chalets, Labalaba Flower Garden and Community
Services Building— that comprise the centre.

Of all the
sections, only the writers’ enclave named in honour of Nobel Laureate,
Wole Soyinka is still under construction. The author of ‘The Virgin’
however has lofty dreams for the enclave. “What we will be doing in the
enclave is to give African writers some sort of residency programme
which will enable them do serious writing on all aspects of
literature.” A library that will stock the works of Nobel Laureates and
others will be part of the eight-room bungalow.

The Orchard

There are some
elderly people under the shade of the mango and almond trees in the
African Orchard as we approach. “The community people relax, drink
palm-wine, play, sing, dance and settle quarrels under the trees,”
Adebowale offers as we greet them. Behind the orchard is the Labalaba
Flower Garden, introduced to further enhance the aesthetics of the
centre.

Home for bibliophiles

The research
library is a haven for bibliophiles; books and journals on different
disciplines line the shelves. Long essays, PhD theses, and masters’
dissertation from Nigerian universities are also available as are
autobiographies by Muhammed Ali, Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere,
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, Thomas Sankara and Nnamdi
Azikiwe, amongst others. “All together, we have over 100,000 volumes of
books in the library,” Adebowale reiterates.

The serial section
is no less riveting. There are old editions of ‘Spear’, ‘Drum’,
‘Flamingo’, ‘Prime People’, ‘TSM’, ‘Lady Love’, ‘Newswatch’ and
‘African Guardian’. There are also copies of ‘Ebony’, ‘New Yorker’,
‘Broad Street Journal’ and a strong collection of ‘Tell’. “Tell
Magazine gives us free subscription every week as a token to the
development of this library, they send bound copies of six months at
times,” Adebowale explains.

Home of music

The Music of Africa
Auditorium, named after highlife maestro, Victor Olaiya, contains long
and short playing records of yesteryears. A turntable sits on a shelf
while works of African musicians on the continent and in the Diaspora
are still being collected. “We are proposing to get a gramophone
player,” Adebowale informs as he shows me works by Dauda Epo Akara,
Odolaye Aremu, Tatalo Alamu, Ogundare Foyanmu and Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
Also represented are Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Nat King Cole and
James Brown. Magazines and newspapers on African music are part of the
mix. “They are there for a purpose. Students from colleges of music
come here to do research; polytechnic music department students come,
they spend days researching because they have abundant materials for
writing their long essays and term papers,” he offers.

There are also
works of late great musicians including Adeolu Akinsanya, Ayinde
Bakare, Orlando Owoh, Rex Jim Lawson, ET Mensah and Tunde Nightingale.
I sight two albums by Danny Wilson, works of Orlando Julius – he sent a
collection of his works to the centre recently – and Tunji Oyelana.
Adebowale says Oyelana was surprised to see his ‘Unlimited Liability
Company’, a collaboration between the musician and Wole Soyinka, at the
centre. Albums of Fuji musicians including Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and
Kollington Ayinla line a shelf in the auditorium. Almost all genres of
Yoruba music are in the hall; there are albums of the late I.K Dairo,
Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Ade, Dele Abiodun, Suberu Oni, Kayode Fashola
and Prince Adekunle. There is also a sprinkling of apala and sakara
music of Yusuf Olatunji, S. Aka and Haruna Isola.

A collection of
different musical instruments including talking drums, agidigbo
(African thumb piano), and agogo – are neatly arranged in the Ayan
Agalu African Talking Drum Museum.

Preservation

The founder admits
that preserving the structures and collections has been an issue. “We
fumigate to control termites from time to time but it’s an ongoing
battle. Termites did havoc when we had not started fumigating but now
that we have started, they are going.”

The distance of the
centre from Ibadan, the Director, Centre for Foundation Education,
Bells University, Ota, notes, does not stop people from coming. “We are
not left alone at all. This place is a beehive of activities at regular
intervals. Researchers come and spend weeks here. Even the community
people come to do research work.”

He also has no
worries over security. “There is a club of hunters around us, they keep
vigil in the night all over the villages and especially our centre.
There has never been an incident of pilfering or robbery since we
started. The people see the projects as theirs. They are always
protecting it, watching over it day and night.”

Assured future

The author of
‘Village Harvest’ has no fears about the future of the centre after his
demise. “We have a board of advisors comprising eminent personalities
from all over the world running this centre. In case of any
eventuality, board members will be ready to take over. We are trying to
establish a Friend of the Library Club; we will include people from
different communities around the world who are already showing interest
in what we are doing and are willing to continue after we have gone.
Incidentally, the children are also showing interest, they want to
continue with the work the parents are doing.”

A tree does not
make a forest. AHRLC has benefitted from people’s generosity over the
years. Individuals, companies and institutions have lent helping hands
in the area of books acquisition and physical development.
“Institutions all over Europe, America, Asia, Pacific and the
Caribbean, donate books to this library. We also enter into exchange
programme with libraries all over the world,” Adebowale reveals. Other
benefactors of the centre include Mobil Unlimited, the American
Embassy, the late philanthropist, Nathaniel Olabiyi Idowu, the lawyer
Afe Babalola and banks. Though the Oyo State Governor, Adebayo
Alao-Akala promised in 2007 to rehabilitate the six kilometre road from
Olorunda to Adeyipo and sink a borehole, AHRLC is still waiting.

“They couldn’t get the palm wine I promised but our pounded yam is
waiting. Let’s eat before we return to Ibadan,” Adebowale says as we
end the tour. I oblige.

Nigeria’s tourism
sector is working hard to make the country a destination for travellers
worldwide. However, a large number of its historical sites and
monuments remain in a deplorable state. To set a trend in a positive
direction, LEGACY (a historical and environmental interest group), has
unveiled its latest restored building, Jaekel House. Part of the
country’s build heritage, the Jaekel House presentation also included a
Mini Museum and the Nigeria in Transition Photographic Exhibition, all
of which opened to the general public on May 13, 2010 at the Railway
Compound in Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

Guests at the event
included the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and
Inter-Governmental Affairs, Tokunbo Afikuyomi; the British High
Commissioner to Nigeria, Bob Dewar; and the former managing director of
the Nigerian Railways, Greg Ilukwe, amongst others.

With soft Nigerian
oldies music playing at the background, the railway compound’s tranquil
and serene environment offered guests an opportunity to exchange
pleasantries. On the lawn outside the building everyone could view
exhibited sample railway tracks and maintenance trolley on display.

In his opening
remarks, Afikuyomi pledged the state government’s support and
determination to make Lagos a tourist destination. “Lagos state is
poised to preserve and restore historical buildings and sites. We have
sponsored a bill to the state House of Assembly to that effect. It has
gone through the second and third reading and will soon be signed into
law.” The commissioner also pledged a million naira to the Jaekel House
restoration project, on behalf of his ministry.

For guests who were
taken on a tour of the mini museum and exhibition by Professor of
Architecture, John Godwin, it was a nostalgic experience as they saw
glimpses of the ‘good old days’ of the Railway Corporation (as it was
then called) in archive images displayed.

As they walked down
the large verandas of the restored building viewing the artefacts, many
where held spellbound and could not help but express disappointment at
the level of decay in the railway system today. Many also praised the
efforts of LEGACY in embarking upon the restoration exercise.

A little history

Godwin shared the
story behind Jaekel house with those present. The building, formerly
known as Quarter 17, was renamed in memory of the former chief
superintendent of Railways, Patrick Jaekel, who came to Nigeria in 1938
and served in the country for 27 years.

Upon retirement,
Jaekel wrote the definitive history of the railways and is also
credited with having been a co-driver of the diesel locomotive on which
the Queen of England and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh travelled to
Ibadan in 1956. Professor Godwin said, “Jaekel was the Number Two in
the hierarchy of the colonial era; and when the governor general went
on holiday, he took over. He was that important.”

Godwin also added
that the late Jaekel, who died on March 28, 2002, was more Nigerian
than most Nigerians. On his insistence, Jaekel was buried at his
Woodhall Spa Lincolnshire home wearing a Nigerian national attire with
a Nigerian flag placed on the casket. Godwin, who taught Architecture
at the University of Lagos for 12 years and has been living in Nigeria
since 1954, was able to provide impressive testimony to a bygone era at
LEGACY’s presentation of the restored building. He informed that the
railway system in Nigeria began in Lagos before moving Abeokuta, Ibadan
and further to the North.

Why Jaekel House?

LEGACY President
Desmond Majekodunmi, said the decision to restore Jaekel House was due
to the desire to set an example about the need to embrace restoration
in the country. Historical artefacts and buildings of historical
significance should be restored to their original glary, he insisted,
indicating Jaekel House project is in a bid to show people that it can
be done. “Jaekel is a very good representation of the old structures
that existed and this building is over a hundred years old. As
environmentalists, we appreciate that this building is very
environmentally friendly, the carbon footprints of a building like this
with huge verandas and large overhangs which cools the building
naturally is far less than these other buildings which require mass air
conditioning,” he said

Majekodunmi added
that Jaekel House is not the only building being restored. “We are
working on other buildings and we are happy to say that the Lagos state
government has been in support and has passed an edict which is going
to blanket preservation over old buildings in the state,” he said.
Citing money as the biggest challenge while executing the project,
Majekodunmi said LEGACY was faced with THE task of subtle fund raising.

Saving the day

With the assistance
of British Gas (BG), the Jaekel building was restored as near as
possible to its original 1900 state. LEGACY was registered as a charity
in 1995 and some of its past projects include the restoration of
Lumpkin House, Abiku Oke Street, Lagos Island. The organization also
undertakes recording, researching as well as publishing a map of
Nigeria showing all historic sites, establishment of a database for
photographic archive, to mention a few activities.

Who needs
reparations? Not Africa. Many centuries from now, uncommon sense will
return to African thinkers and there will be a new dawn of fresh
thought: A deadly combination of black leadership kleptocracy and white
liberal guilt has harmed Africans more than slavery and colonialism.
Even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Western Aid does nothing
but enrich African kleptocrats, Western do-gooders continue to heap
gobs of US dollars on the “dispossessed” of Africa in the hopeless hope
that the problem will go away. Haiti is a problem that was caused by
that “little” problem called slavery. Haiti-the-Problem has remained
intractable despite billions of dollars of “aid” funneled through
10,000 thieving NGOs allegedly helping the Haitians through the trauma
of their slavery, oppression, poverty, etc. Today, Haiti is still so
poor, it is a fourth world nation.

Serious attempts
to address the horrible consequences of slavery have been undermined by
the arrogance of Western liberals and some African intellectuals who
vehemently deny that Africa should be responsible for her own sins.
Dialogue is driven underground as new thought is met with unnecessary
roughness of the liberal left, led by black Africa’s self-styled uncle
– the great white liberal hope. Ask David Brooks of the New York Times.
Recently, he mused aloud about Haiti and responsibility (the personal
type). He was heckled off the square of common sense and called all
sorts of names, racist being the most benign of all of them. Brooks
will never reminisce aloud again on matters affecting black folks. Who
needs the stress? A cat that has sat on a hot stove will never sit on a
stove again, ever.

Take the
reparations movement. The only thing striking or remotely unique about
the reparations movement is its incoherence of thought and vision. What
is the problem that its founders are trying to solve? It does not help
that some of the leaders of the reparations movement in America have
been famous for shamelessly forming lucrative liaisons with some of
Africa’s deadliest buffoon-leaders starting with dead dolts like Idi
Amin and Mobutu Sese Seko. Different strokes for different folks. It is
not slavery when it is black folks doing it to poor black folks. And of
course, white liberals, ever so patronising and avuncular go tut tut
and look the other way. Where is the outrage?

The reparations
movement has attracted a self-selected group of black activists who
tend to colour their opinions to match the colour of green – money.
They are outraged by slavery and mark my words, like thieving
pedestrians who run into a bus that has just been hit from behind, they
are lining up for payback. It serves the white man right, he should
never have gone fishing for slaves in West Africa in the first place-
capitalism would have provided him all the slaves he needed at 40
percent interest per credit card.

How much are the
reparationistas looking to harvest from the offspring of our odious
slave owners? Who gets credit for the trillions of aid funneled into
Africa and promptly stolen and repatriated to Swiss Banks by thieving
African leaders? Who gets credit for the trillions in welfare programs
and affirmative action set asides, etc, that have been expended all
these years? Before you start yelling, I am a firm believer in
affirmative action. I believe also that the state has a moral, if not
legal responsibility to ensure the welfare and prosperity of the
downtrodden. So there! I am a liberal. Confused enough? Let’s continue.

Don’t get me
wrong: Africa needs help. However, thanks to the ineptitude and savage
greed of African leaders, all attempts to infuse badly needed aid into
Africa have been as useful as giving a hog in a latrine a bath. The
trillions of dollars of aid that have been given to Africa have done
nothing for anybody I know except the NGO pimps riding around Africa’s
desolation in a convoy of tinted SUVs. How about this for reparations:
Scour all of the banks in the West, find all of Africa’s stolen funds,
load them onto airplanes and drop them on the long suffering peasants
of Africa? Now, that would be reparation.

African Americans who have been wronged by African and white
kingdoms in that shame called slavery deserve to have a real
conversation about what shape, if any, reparations should take. And I
agree whole-heartedly with Professor Skip Gates: The question of
restitution should include African perpetrators. That we are destitute
should not make us any less culpable. There is a new slavery going on
today, black on black slavery. In the name of democracy and capitalism,
black leaders of all stripes are busy raping, pillaging and carting
away what is not welded to the ground. I say to the African, forget the
white man, and turn your rage on your real oppressors. They are black.
Like you. Now, if the white man is still rich and foolish enough to
offer monetary reparations, I want mine, every penny of it. In hundred
dollar bills.

The Minister of
Tourism, Culture, and National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed,
left good tidings in his wake when he visited parastatals under his
supervision in Lagos on Thursday, May 13.

“I am happy to note
that we have scheduled June 15 for a stakeholders meeting to make new
inputs into the cultural policy, after which it will return to the
Federal Executive Council,” Mohammed said at the Centre for Black
African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) headquarters at Broad Street,
Lagos Island.

Mohammed, who had
earlier visited the National Theatre, National Troupe of Nigeria, and
the National Museum, Onikan, added that “The Federal Executive Council
made some observations on the policy and returned it to the Ministry.
This is their second time; it is only wise that we invite stakeholders
again to look at it critically so that we can take care of all other
aspects that were hitherto not taken care of.”

Players in the arts
and culture sector have been clamouring for the adoption of the policy
since the 1990s and the Minister’s disclosure was sweet music to the
ears of those gathered inside the CBAAC conference room.

The Minister
further explained that contrary to people’s thinking, the draft policy
has not been taken to the National Assembly but to the Federal
Executive Council. Mohammed said several interest groups drew his
attention to the policy when he came on board and this explains why
action is being expedited on it.

Thanks, but we want more

Earlier, Shadrach
Gollen, the agency’s director of finance and administration, who stood
in for Tunde Babawale, Chief Executive Officer of CBAAC, had intimated
Mohammed of the body’s activities. He noted that CBAAC had achieved so
much in the last four years. He listed the series of international
conferences and colloquiums the parastatal organised in Trinidad and
Tobago in 2007, Benin Republic in 2008, and Rio De Jainero in 2009 as
examples.

Gollen disclosed
that the agency is planning another international conference in Abuja
to coincide with Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary. He thanked
the ministry for its support to CBAAC, but appealed for more assistance
in overcoming some “constraints”. The director noted that CBAAC lacks
adequate office accommodation and wants support to open more outreach
centres.

Though it has
outreach centres in Abuja, the University of Ibadan, palace of the Ooni
of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, and has approval to open one each in
Lafia and Sokoto, it wants to fulfil its international scope. “We want
centres in Benin Republic and Atlanta, Georgia,” Gollen stated. He
added that CBAAC needs more funding and it will like to be upgraded
from a Grade C body to Grade A “to fulfil its mandate as an
international parastatal.”

He also expressed
hope that “CBAAC will become the cultural arm of the African Union,
like UNESCO is to the United Nations.”

Real professionals

Mohammed commended
CBAAC and noted that it has lived up to its mandate by being a
repository of knowledge for black arts and civilization in his
response. “I could see that you have put in a lot of intellectual
resource to organise the centre and clearly, it means it is manned by
people who are professionals, people who are supposed to be there. You
have done a lot, but you can do more.”

He urged CBAAC to
make sure its impact is felt outside Nigeria because it is not
established for Nigeria alone. “Your impact should go beyond Nigeria,
it should go to Africans, and Africans in Diaspora. Those who
participated in FESTAC should be able to feel your impact after 33
years and therefore, your outreach must go beyond this country alone.”

Mohammed added,
“There is a need for constant feel. The mandate of CBAAC is very lofty.
We need to promote Africa; we need to promote African culture. By that,
our identity will be upheld by people of all races. I expect that you
will develop some framework that will be able to translate this mandate
all over the world. I also expect that you collaborate with other
institutions all over the world to promote these ideals.”

The Minister said his ministry is supportive of efforts to make
CBAAC an arm of the African Union but noted “that will mean you have a
Herculean task because we will expect the activities to be dispensed
across the continent and to Africans in Diaspora. We will continue to
support you on efforts to promote the Black man, either in Africa or
elsewhere.”

The audience at the
Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), venue of the
presentation of two poetry volumes, were not left in doubt of the
brilliance and intellectualism that exist amongst some of the nation’s
political class. The poetry collections titled ‘Mandela’s Bones’ and
‘Dear Baby Ramatu’ – published by Kraft Books and authored by Sam
Omatseye, chair of the editorial board of The Nation newspaper
editorial board – were unveiled on Wednesday, May 12, 2010. The event
was graced by top government officials who all agreed on the vital role
intellectualism has to play in redeeming society.

Intellectuals needed in Government

Representing the
former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed, as the chair of the event,
Dele Alake (a former editor of the now defunct Concord newspaper, and
former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State)
decried the low-turnout at the book presentation, stating that “events
like this give us hope in the darkness that envelopes Nigeria, which
all good men and women must embrace to move us to the light.

“Without a sound
intellectual base, a society, people is lost” Alake said, noting that
“one of the major problems of Nigeria is the lack of visionary
leaders.” He warned that “when we destroy the intellectual base of a
country, the soul of the nation is lost” while adding that
“intellectual works are very important in our national development, for
the elevation of governance from a mundane to something substantial and
concrete.”

Alake congratulated
the author for making this contribution to the Nigerian literary scene,
which he acknowledged “is struggling”, saying that intellectual works
such as Omatseye’s poetry volumes are very important for the country’s
national development.

The Poet Governor

Since the return to
democracy, some Nigerian governors have been identified by different
monikers such as ‘servant leader’, ‘comrade governor’, and ‘labour
governor’. Omatseye’s book launch revealed the ‘poet governor’ in the
person of the Bayelsa State governor, Timipreye Sylva, who was a
special guest. His speech was replete with praise for the author.

Sylva thanked
Omatseye for coming back to write poems, saying, “Thank you for coming
home to poetry, the mother of all literary genres, which is fast
declining. Thank you for bringing back the dying genre to our hearts,”
he said.

The governor also
did not hide his appreciation of the style of writing of the poems. “I
really enjoyed the racy style of the poems, moving on, oblivious of the
existence of punctuation marks.” He likened the seamless writing style
to the Nigerian political scene, which according to him, “just moves
on, without full stop and punctuation marks.” He brought a political
spin into the event in his speech, calling for the nation’s presidency
to be retained by the Niger Delta region, “as a son of the region by
Providence is now the president,” following the death of President
Yar’Adua.

Sylva highlighted
the role the region has always played in Nigerian history, from the
pre-amalgamation era to the independence struggle, and to being the
treasure basket of the nation. He emphatically urged that the region
retains the presidency in the 2010 election.

The governor, a
graduate of English Language, in concluding his speech, identified
himself as a “budding poet” saying that “when I grow up, I aspire to be
a poet.” To great applause, Sylva recited a poem offhand, which earned
him the name ‘Poet Governor’ from the moderator, Jahman Anikulapo
(editor, Sunday Guardian).

According to the
poet governor, the poem titled ‘Jubilations’ involves “playing with
sounds and alliterations, as the harmony of sounds creates a soothing
effect on me”.

Worthy contribution

Reviewing
‘Mandela’s Bones,’ Harry Olufunwa described the collection as “a
convergence of meanings into various meanings” noting that Omatseye
used a few words “to convey a great deal of meaning.” ‘Mandela Bones’,
with the notable name of a global icon in its title, had citations
named after iconic sites and cities in the world such as Tiananmen
Square, and Ibadan, amongst others.

The second book,
‘Dear Baby Ramatu’,- born out of a true life story that encapsulates
“pregnancy outside wedlock, amidst scornful lovers and the unmerciful
laws of religion” in northern Nigeria – was described as a ‘story poem’
by the reviewer, Femi Macaulay. “The poems mirror the raw stuff of
life, although it is an embellished representation. You will find the
joy of language in this work that often stretches the reach of word.”

Macaualy also
acknowledged the writer’s unique style of writing, saying that “his
lines usually run on without punctuations, even for formal questions…
even if it challenges the spirit of the grammar.” He added that the
mechanics of the poetry rests on “sheer verbal delight, it is music to
the ears .”

Both reviewers commended Omatseye for “his worthy contribution to the small cluster of Nigerian poetry.”

Performing Baby Ramatu

‘Dear Baby Ramatu’,
which the author claims he is “most emotionally attached to”, was
performed by Evelyn Osagie, a journalist and poet. Donning the facial
make-up and female attire from northern Nigeria, Osagie gave a
brilliant performance that expressed diverse emotions like expectation,
fear, confrontation, and being lost and helpless, as entailed in the
poem.

In his closing
remarks, Sam Omatseye was full of appreciation for everyone present. He
noted that the zeal to make a stride in the literary world commenced
for him at about the point in time when the nation’s polity was
dwindling towards the end of last year, and now “I have over sixty
collections” he said. One of these, he disclosed, is titled ‘Acting
President’ – a warning to Goodluck Jonathan, the nation’s president
who, as the time of writing the poem, was ruling in an acting capacity.

The poem reads: ”I
don’t wish you dead/As I wish myself health/Though am just a second
fiddle/… /Even if it is crass/I want your palate/I want your palace/I
just don’t want you dead.”

The poem was read by all present at the event.

Omatseye revealed that the poems were written across the Atlantic,
both in Nigeria and the United States, while shuttling between the two
continents. Some of them, he said, were also written on the planes, in
the bathroom, while driving, sleeping, and dreaming.

The pros and cons
of the so-called 419 phenomenon, came under scrutiny at Adaobi Tricia
Nwaubani’s reading of her debut novel ‘I Do Not Come To You By Chance.’
Organised by her Nigerian publishers Cassava Republic, the event was
the writer’s first reading in Nigeria; and it took place before a full
house at Quintessence, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Not a chance occurrence

“Everybody tends
to say my book is a book about 419,” Nwaubani said while elaborating
that as a trained psychologist her focus was more on behaviour change
and how people change because of certain situations. “It wasn’t that I
always dreamt of writing a book about 419 or that the story was calling
my name, you know the kind of thing I hear lots of artists and writers
say. The 419 idea was just perfect when it came. I just latched on to
it and then I developed it.

“When you hang
around the western world, they seem to have this awe of 419ers like
they are some bogeyman just going to sneak out and grab everybody.
Because I grew up in eastern Nigeria, (I knew) that they weren’t like
that. I know a lot of girls whose lives changed because their brothers
went into 419, a lot of parents whose lives changed because their sons
went into 419, communities who didn’t need to depend on the government
anymore because their sons were into 419. (Providing tarred roads,
portable water), things that weren’t there.”

The author said it was only possible to look at the 419ers solely as criminals when you “interact with the West.”

Nwaubani read from
her book about the lead character Kingsley’s visit to his
fraudster-uncle, Cash Daddy. This part featured the young unemployed
graduate’s awe at the hi-tech operations centre from which Cash Daddy
ran his global scam empire.

Providing musical interludes was Lola Okusami, who performed her songs and the aptly-titled ‘Maga Don Pay’ by Kelly Hansome.

The gift of humour

The Commonwealth
Best First Book (Africa Region) winner then took questions from the
audience. She pointed at her reading list as a likely influence on her
art.

“I tend to write
the way I speak,” she said. “Usually, I speak very fast and you can
imagine that’s me just running, speeding along with my words. I read a
lot of books for young adults and I watch cartoons -the style for those
kinds of books is lighter – when I combine the style in the children’s
books with what is in my brain that’s what comes out in my style.”

Nwaubani said her
style was influenced by short stories written by her eldest brother,
his collection of comic literature and an encounter with Frank
McCourt’s ‘Angela’s Ashes.’ “I grew up on African books. You know how
most of our books are serious, deep issues about deep, sordid lives.
There was this thing somewhere that every African story had to be
serious. I wasn’t aware that I had that mentality but I thought if I
was to write, I had to write about this very serious issue in a very
serious way.”

Why much of African
writing is serious remains a mystery to the author. “I laugh a lot and
Nigerians laugh a lot but once we write ‘Gbam! Serious! It’s as if we
are afraid that somewhere when they see us laughing they won’t take us
as seriously.” She however conceded that, “Humour on its own must be a
separate gift.”

Undoubtedly a gift for the author, who had the audience laughing constantly to her comments and responses to their questions.

Starring Cash Daddy

“Cash Daddy is a
prototype 419er. Every Igbo person that knows an average 419er knows a
Cash Daddy and there’s nothing that he’s doing that is going to
surprise you,” Nwaubani said.

Her intended
message with the book might also come as no surprise. “I didn’t want to
write my book with a message. I was just telling a story. But I know
that sometimes they say your subconscious writes along with you and
there’s a message that you are passing across that you are not aware
of. I will judge a government official who steals my taxes more harshly
than I would judge a 419er who goes to steal one stranger’s money and
brings it back to develop his country. Nobody reads my book and comes
out with a negative impression, in fact the consistent things I hear,
everybody around the world falls in love with Cash Daddy and people say
they almost find themselves hoping that the scam succeeds.”

With the success
trailing the novel especially in the purported ‘mugu capital’ – the
United States – the question of when Kingsley and Cash Daddy would hit
the big screen soon came up. Nwaubani revealed that her agent is in
talks with some companies in relation to producing a film, but said
it’s not connected to the one Hollywood actor Ben Stiller is rumoured
to be producing. Stiller had himself recently fallen victim to a credit
card scam orchestrated by a young Nigerian.

Falling ‘Mugu’

During her recent
trip to India for festivities surrounding the 2010 commonwealth prizes,
Nwaubani who had not been out of the country since 2005, met many
people who seemed to know someone who had been scammed. She also met
someone who was lucky to have only fallen ‘half-mugu.’ “It made me
realize how deeply penetrating this 419 thing has grown. I was really
shocked.”

One speaker was
interested in knowing what the future holds for the reputation of
younger Nigerians at home or abroad if the arts decide to empathise
with fraudsters through songs like ‘Maga don Pay’ and Nwaubani’s novel.

“I wished my
country didn’t have these issues but it just so happens that we do and
it just so happens that people do these things because of certain
reasons and that was what I was trying to portray.” The author conceded
to having no control over the emotions her book evokes.

No easy task

Some wanted to know
what her plans were for promoting aspiring writers. “Nigerians have
never stopped writing. People have had badly-printed, self-published
books. People just have the impression that there is some way it’s done
somehow and very few people bother to investigate that process.
Everything I know about how to get published, I found out online.” Her
Nigerian publishers are the only ones she has physically met in her
global production team.

“It takes an extra
effort. The average Nigerian style is that you write your manuscript
today and then you send it to the printer tomorrow and they send it
back to you all bound and then you have a book launch over the weekend
and invite traditional rulers, uncles, aunties and then they come and
give you some millions of naira and you make so much money and after
that the book dies.”

She pointed out
that all her publishers contributed towards making a better material of
the 399-page novel that has steadily gained a global fan base.

She stressed the
role of agents and publishers as people who can shape the success of a
novel according to what the market requires. “They wouldn’t let you go
until they are satisfied,” she said, pointing out that certain books
that need such input have gone on to win indigenous prizes, but hardly
make a mark abroad.

For those who
wondered why the book was published abroad first, Nwaubani said
infrastructural problems in Nigeria meant the book could not be
released at the same time as the US and UK editions. She however
maintained description of herself as an “impostor” in the midst of more
established writers who she said come at literary texts from an
academic angle and manage to drop all those names that are unknown to
her.

Nwaubani’s dream is
to own her own publishing house and show aspiring writers how they can
easily get published at home and abroad. She however offered one lesson
in kick-starting the process. “If they don’t like the voice they won’t
publish it in the first place.”

Guests at the
reading must have liked Nwaubani’s voice as copies of ‘I Do Not Come To
You By Chance’ were soon flying off the shelves with a long line of
fans eager to get autographs.

Review of the book – page 46.

Many adults can
imagine the horrible lifestyle of a Lagos street kid, but would hardly
want to live it. The impact of this hits home harder after you‘ve seen
Michelle Bello’s ‘Small Boy,’ a film about 10-year-old Sunny Agaga who
finds himself struggling to survive on the Lagos streets.

Set in a Lagos
slum, ‘Small Boy’ is, however, not another ‘Slumdog Millonaire’ yarn.
Sunny’s journey begins after a dispute between his mother, Aina (Najite
Dede) and father Sunmi (Akin Lewis). It is the final act of spousal
abuse that opens his mother’s eyes to the need to flee for her life. At
their borrowed lodgings, Aina transfers her aggression to young Sunny
(AMAA-winning child actor, Richard Chukwuma) and accuses him of theft.
He runs endlessly into the night. So begins life on the streets.

What ensues is a
depiction of the lad’s picaresque existence, echoing scenes from ‘Les
Miserables’, ‘August Rush’ and ‘Oliver Twist’.

Sunny makes friends
with Deola, played by Agbolade Gbolahan, who nearly steals the show
from Chukwuma. Deola and his gang of urchins – one of whom is named
Dragon – all fall within Sunny’s age-range and work under the
supervision of the Fagin-like Oyi, played by Toyin Oshinaike.

Nobert Young in a
cameo role as the drug peddling ‘Presido’ unwittingly sets Sunny on the
journey to finding himself. Some might be surprised to find out the
kind of job these boys do when they are on the run. For the
uninitiated, it is at this point that you might feel concerned that
‘Small Boy’ is actually based on a true story.

The film does not
go into the politics of this, but it becomes obvious that society is
not handling the problem of juvenile delinquency effectively.
Especially when elected lawmakers break all laws, including those that
should protect children.

‘Small Boy,’
however succeeds at not being preachy or excessively didactic. The
script by Makinde Adeniran, who also handled the casting, is an
original in the realm of Nollywood scriptwriting. Using the power of
imagery and few words, Michelle Bello’s style and approach to directing
is forward-looking in terms of storytelling. Acquiring the viewer’s
eye, Bello showed more than she told.

A carving on the
wall in the Agaga household ironically reads “One love keeps us
together” when that is not the case in the family. As Sunny’s mother
and brother embark on a frantic search for him, a road sign points out
‘Murtala Mohammed Way’ and ‘Herbert Macaulay Way.’ Sunny could have
gone anywhere in a million and one places. Their search has only just
begun.

Note: there’s
hardly any romance when you consider many characters in this film are
brutes of some sort. But what little romance there is, is key to the
unfolding of ‘Small Boy’s plot; a very effective type of cause and
effect.

Aiding imagination

It is however
unfortunate that we neither get to see Sunmi again nor does a love
affair bloom between Aina and Ade (played by Wale Macaulay also in a
cameo role). Maybe it works better that we get to imagine.

Also aiding
imagination was the use of sound. Like all good film scores should, the
‘Small Boy’ score heralded the ominous and the joyous, pre-empting the
audience’s emotions and reactions.

Thankfully, the
music in this film is not distractive. The music by Robb Williamson and
Justin Horsford is a lesson in film music for Nollywood practitioners
who are usually content with slamming hits straight off the charts into
their hastily-done movies.

Through Bello’s
deft use of almost every angle available to a director, we see Sunny’s
sorry sojourn side by side his mother’s torment at losing him. This is
not the repetitive, melodramatic dross served up in Nollywood. It’s not
all serious, heavy stuff though. A few comic spots light up our faces
especially when the young ones make good their threat to ‘show’ a man
for parking his rickety car at their meeting point.

Getting the best of
child actors has never been easy, especially in a film studded with
older stars. But the young ones get a grip of the screen minutes into
this work and the viewer is the happier for it because these kids
really can act. If all we see of Sunny is the wacky goal-scoring
celebration he does at the start of the movie, that’s enough proof.

‘Small Boy’ has
gone on to make its mark in Nigeria and beyond, winning two AMAA awards
in 2009, including one for Best Art Direction; and garnering
nominations at the 2008 American Black Film Festival.

Anyone who sees
‘Small Boy’ – a gripping tale of child abuse – is likely to end up
taking a new look at all those other Sunny-like small boys who roam the
streets, especially in Lagos: they might not just be beggars or
windscreen cleaners. When ‘Small Boy’ comes to town you don’t want to
miss it.

‘Small Boy’ premieres at the Silverbird Cinemas, Lagos, on May 27.

Standing tall on
Ayobola Street in the Alagbado area of Lagos is a building that is
architecturally sculptured in metal designs. The aesthetics will cause
any passer-by to stop and wonder who could have thought so creatively
in designing the house. It is not very surprising to learn that the
house belongs to Adeola Balogun, sculpture lecturer at the Yaba College
of Technology (YABATECH).

No sooner than I
entered the artist’s studio in the house that he started talking about
an art work he is working on. Balogun’s phone beeped and he answered.
“Give me like an hour,” he told his caller. “Boy, I have only 30
minutes to spend here, I need to meet a client,” he said after
receiving the call. That made me realise how busy Balogun is even when
he is not teaching. “I thought today is a Sunday and you are supposed
to be having your rest,” I noted. “Rest”? He asked. “You can’t eat your
cake and have it. Do you think business and pleasure go together?”

Artistic foundation

Born on November
17, 1966 in Otta, Ogun State, Balogun grew up in Lagos. The academic
moved back to Otta, a city known for Egungun festivals in 1979, in
pursuit of education. That childhood exposure to masquerades’
ornamented attire would later influence his works.

Balogun, son of
Muslim parents, attended Quranic School (known locally as ‘Ile-Kewu’)
early and was forbidden from Oke’de, Otta, where masquerades performed.
This stimulated his interest in religion and faith, and made him
research Egungun later in life.

Balogun was
influenced to study art from childhood by his environment, and by a
teacher who noticed his innocent drawings. He learnt his trade formally
at Yabatech where he bagged the Best Student Award in the Department of
Fine Arts; and was retained as a lecturer for his brilliance after his
youth service. The artist still thirsted for knowledge, and proceeded
to obtain his Masters degree in Fine Art (MFA) from the University of
Benin in 2004.

Art of used tyres

Balogun’s new solo
exhibition titled ‘Infinite Patterns and Forms’, features works made
from used and abandoned tyres. Okada (motorcycles) tyres feature
prominently as a medium in the new artworks. Why used tyres?

His answer: “It’s
like a metaphor; I am relating the lifestyle of typical civil servants
in Nigeria to that of used and abandoned tyres. When I buy tyres for my
cars, I go to the extent of polishing them virtually every week after
washing them with black-gold patina to give them the sheen. Whenever I
see them, I feel happy because they appear beautiful. After a period,
the tyres get worn-out and they don’t appeal to one again.

“What follows is
that one finds a way to dispose them. The irony of this is that these
are tyres that served me for long but now that they are old, I need to
dispose them. This could be [compared] to the lifestyle of civil
servants in the country.

“In this part of
the world, when workers are in active service, the government takes
care of them. But immediately they are not useful again, probably
because they have attained the retirement age, government does away
with them.

“These one-time
heroes don’t get paid on time; most of them die before their benefits
are paid. Those who do not die probably become burdens to the society
and to their immediate family – like abandoned tyres which litter the
streets and block drainages during flood. This is the perspective I
have thought and [it] really inspired me to pass the message across.”

Art of masquerades

The artist also explained why masquerades, which have fascinated him since childhood, are represented in this exhibition.

“In reality,
masquerades’ attires are made by people and are beautifully adorned
with several ornaments. Immediately the masquerades come out to
perform, they become an idol and people turn them to gods by singing
their praises while worshipping them, whereas they are empowered by the
same people.

“This scenario has
been critically looked into and likened to that of a politician. Before
election, they eat, dine and wine with colleagues, but as soon as they
hold the staff of office they turn to something else.

“These are
ensembles that cost much to design and elections that nearly emptied
our treasury. At the end, what do we get from it? Nothing. “What I
advocate for is that power belongs to individual and not the other way
round,” he added.

Art and Nigeria’s economy

Making positive
comments is also a focus of ‘Infinite Patterns and Forms’. “For
instance, we all know that in Nigeria, the power supply is epileptic.
Why don’t we channel our energy positively towards how can we better
what we have, rather than just seeing things in negative directions?

“Let us shift our
attention from lack and not allow what is going on in our society to
subdue us. Because the more we think about the problem, the more we get
into it. So, what am advocating through my works is that we should take
our minds off the problem and shift them on the solution.”

Balogun has held
solo and group exhibitions within and outside Nigeria. He facilitated
at the recently concluded Harmattan workshop in Agbarha Otor, Delta
State.

‘Infinite Patterns and Forms’ opens on May 29 at the Nike Art Gallery, 2 Elegushi Street, 2nd Roundabout, Lekki Phase I, Lagos.