By Anote
Ajeluorou
Culture has
been described as the totality of a people’s way of life. Although culture has
language as chief carrier, it also manifests itself tangibly in those performative
and expressive aspects that exemplify a people’s mastery of their world. This
is shown in the expressive performances as seen in theatre, literature, art,
music, dance, fashion, songs and festivals. These performative and expressive
forms serve as memory bank to recall past histories for reenactment and projection
into the future what had gone before. Young people come to learn about their
past through these performances and are thereby grounded in the lores of the
land.
While
there’s a Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation that routinely undertake
these aspects, as core mandate, what its affiliate agencies do serve as mere
tokenism; they do not permeate to the ordinary citizenry to make desired
impact. The ministry does not go out of its way to look for exceptional talents
to nurture. Corporate Nigeria does little by way of support to individuals and
groups promoting cultural expressions excerpt when it expressly promote their
interests.
But this is where some states of the federation
and their chief executives have made a real difference. Some states have
willingly gone out to look for cultural programmes that they execute yearly
with considerable success. Some partner with individuals or groups to realize
such programmes that throw the doors of their states wide open for visitors
from far and near, give employment to thousands of youths and keep the flag of
culture flying.
These
are culture-friendly states that see to it that the cultural expressions of a
people are as vital as the strength of the economy, as they reach deep down to
the spirit and soul of the communal experience. They believe in investing in
the human capital and giving impetus to the expression of the human spirit, as
perhaps the only way to build a rounded society, a society that still knows
itself and is better able to resist alienation from its African roots and
wholesale foreign domination that has become so pervasive.
States
in the frontline of this cultural awareness include Lagos, Rivers State, Cross
Rivers State and Osun. Those on the marginal position, whose endeavours are yet
to catch on, include Ondo and Ekiti States. These two states have made inroads
in defining appropriate modes of cultural expressions to support and nurture,
as means of creatively engaging their people in having faith in the practices
of their forefathers while introducing new ones that suit modern tastes and
temperaments. Ekiti Festival of Arts and Culture is in its first year; it
remains to be seen what it will become as the years go by.
Oyo
State retains its position as intellectual cultural hub largely because of
Nigeria’s premier institution, University of Ibadan, and not because of what
Oyo as a state does. With the many festivals in its official calendar from the
various communities, Oyo State ought to lead the way in annual festival
celebrations, but the state views such celebrations with some measure of
antagonism or disdain or both. Oyo State, just many others in the country, is
simply impervious to the humanizing influence of culture and can’t be bothered.
Foremost
among the states paying appropriate respect to culture is Lagos State that has
been home to come of the great cultural figures Nigeria has ever known. With
the introduction of its own festival, Lagos Black Heritage Festival (LBHF) about
five years ago, Lagos citizens have a yearly celebration to look forward to, as
adding spice to their lives. The festival’s rich programming, especially the
ones designed to stimulate school children’s imagination to give expression to
their idea of their own country, gives impetus to unbridled creativity.
Neighbourng states and communities find a fertile avenue to display their rich
cultural heritage to enrich Lagos’ ever expanding imagination. Also, its
Diasporic content also lends credence to historical awareness of the
connections between Nigeria and the outside world.
A much
older festival is the Calabar Christmas Carnival. Although rooted in foreign
carnival concept largely from Brazil and the Caribbean, Calabar Christmas
Carnival has done a lot to infuse the spirit of sumptuous engagement among
Calabar citizens. It has become the preferred destination during Christmas
season and the world looks forward to it with zest. After about eight years or
so of the carnival, there’s a need to reappraise it and possibly redirect it to
fit local needs and tastes so the people of Calabar and Cross Rivers State
generally own it as their own. Its content can be localised such that the
people’s culture takes centre-stage by way of ownership. The Brazilian carnival
content can be placed side-by-side local cultural and performative experiences
to better enrich it and thereby highlight what’s local and pleasing among the
people.
Rivers
State has, perhaps, redefined the concept of cultural promotion in a Nigerian
space where culture is viewed with suspicion or distrust. The state government
has helped to midwife Garden City Literary Festival, now Port Harcourt Book
Festival, which is in turn is hosting UNESCO Port Harcourt Book Capital 2014. Also,
the state organises CARNIRIV or Rivers State Carnival that promotes the diverse
cultural expressions of the people. These two events put the state in high
estimation among cultural enthusiasts, who see it as sustenance of society’s
humanistic tendency without which society is stifled to death.
The
continuing promotion of Osun Osogbo
Festival in Osun State has served the state and its citizens well. It is the
only festival that hosts the largest number of visitors every year. Sustaining
the festival is in the interest of the state that hopes to rake in billions of
naira from it. But the festival needs a face-lift, especially the Osun groove, with more content added to
make it more appealing to visitors from all over the world.
These
states or cities that have become home to one form of cultural expression or the
other have continued to rank high in the estimation of Nigerians. Culture is
how the people express themselves; a state giving its people such expressive
avenue would rank high. Such state understands the hunger of the human spirit
and proceeds to feed it with tangible and intangible soul food that only
culture can provide.
Apart
from what Lagos State Government does with LBHF, several other cultural
expressions find outlet in the city. Although paltry, the city as Nigeria’s
commercial hub, has aided various cultural expressions that need some form of
sponsorship or support to go on. The relatively well off citizens have also
aided the promotion of cultural expression. Because culture is not necessarily
a commercial product, but a humanistic one, it needs support for it to grow.
It’s the reason why philanthropy is key to cultural flowering or growth. While
Nigeria lacks the public-spiritedness of America’s Rockfeller, Ford and other
philanthropists that support culture, states are perhaps the only ones with
more than enough resources to promote culture, as the examples of states
mentioned above indicate.
There’s
the yearly Lagos Books and Arts Festival organised by Committee for Relevant
Art (CORA) that brings lovers of books and arts together in conversation and
Nigeria International Book Fair. Abuja also has some individual and group
festivals mainly book-related to stimulate citizens of the capital city; but no
input yet from its authorities. Abeokuta now hosts Ake Books and Arts Festival
that started last year; it is hoped that it will be sustained to add yet
another dimension to the book and art life of the country. Another individual
effort in Enugu is the Coal City Book Convention, which has suffered hiccups
for lack of funding. Enugu State could adopt it instead of looking to start
something new; it has structures on ground to build a first class book and art convention.
Indeed, more
states need to do the same or surpass existing ones. Sadly, some states are yet
to wake up to this reality. It’s on record that no state in the South-East does
anything in the area of cultural promotion. Anambra State with its wealth of
writers and other cultural creators does not have any avenue for its people to
express themselves. This also goes for other geo-political regions. Only Niger
State holds a colloquium in honour of the current governor of the state, Dr.
Muazo Babangida Aliyu, the MBA Colloquium on Literature that draws visitors to
the state in a two-day celebration.
Although
Delta State has propounded the mantra of ‘Delta Beyond Oil’, it’s unclear the
direction the state is being driven in this noble vision. A culture producer
and performer, Mr. Richard Mofe-Damijo, has been in the saddle of the culture
ministry in the state yet there’s nothing to justify his occupancy of that
position. There’s no dynamism of any sort that he has brought to bear on his
job. As the only state with a claim to the rainbow mix in terms of peoples,
cultures and talents, Delta State ought to show the way to many others how
things are run. But there’s no cultural expression of any sort that brings this
huge amalgam of peoples, cultures and talents in celebration and advertisement
to the rest of the world. The ‘Delta Beyond Oil’ mantra in the absence of
culture promotion would appear a huge joke.
The same applies to neighbouring Edo State.
With the state’s rich cultural expressions it would have been expected that the
state would explode culturally; but this hasn’t happen and may never happen.
Culture is
people! States that have tapped into the culture of their people and are
celebrating it will continue to be at the forefront of development. They are states
that understand the humanistic needs of the people and are creatively
responding to them. Other states would do well to walk in the same path to
douse the tension that is building up in many parts of Nigeria’s national life
– be it unemployment, youth restiveness and insecurity!
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