PANAFEST… the lift Africa’s culture, tourism needs

By Anote Ajeluorou

The Pan-African Culture and Tourism Festival, PANAFEST, had its second outing last week at MUSON Centre, Lagos, with eminent personalities drawn from three West African countries and beyond. What resonated at the colloquium and exhibition was the commitment by stakeholders to use Africa’s vibrant culture and tourism potentials to bridge the socio-economic and political gap amongst peoples of the continent.

WHEN Nigeria’s Taiwo and Kehinde Oluwafunsho, twins with an untiring spirit, had inspiration to summon people of African descent to a town hall meeting to celebrate their richly endowed culture as tool to promote their culture and tourism, little did they know how far-reaching their novel idea would go. At the hugely decorated Shell Hall of MUSON Centre, Thursday, last week, the immensity of their pan-African cultural feast played itself out in multi-colours. PANAFEST now alternates its activities between Nigeria and Ghana. The Ghana edition of the festival holds in July.

  The guest list was an impressive fusion of political and cultural heavy-weights from across divides. In attendance were former Commonwealth Secretary, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola; his deputy, Titilayo Laoye-Tomori; Ghana High Commissioner in Nigeria, Alhaji Abdulkareem; Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner, Nyahuma Mentuhotep Obika; The Gambia High Commissioner, Mrs. Angela B. Colley; Oba Gbenga Sonuga; Chief Frank Okonta; mater print maker, Bruce Onobrakpeya; renowned artiste, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett; and Prof. Ropo Sekoni among others.

  In setting the tone for the festival colloquium, the organisers, Taiwo and Kehinde Oluwafunso, said the festival was a cultural event that came into being in Ghana and designed for the enhancement of Africa, with the gathering of the best brains on the continent to chart new visions for Africa through robust debates.

  They stressed that integration of the continent was key to its future and development quest and tasked leaders to take immediate action in using culture and tourism as effective tools to drive the continent’s growth.

  They argued that it was not enough to knock on doors of foreign institution donors to beg for money if only Africa could apply itself to processes of economic development by looking inwards and harnessing available local ideas and resources. They said now, more than ever before, had the need for Africa’s integration, tourism, and rebirth become imperative for the continent’s future.

  With African Economic and Social Integration, the Experience of Ghana and Nigeria as theme, it was clear the festival was out to set a clear mandate that would take Africa from the backwoods of under-development.

  Also, with Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner in attendance, PANAFEST would seem to have its eyes set on the over 250 million Africans in the Diaspora as a potent force in the transformation that the continent must make to reinvent itself.

Africa’s economic woes

FOR keynote speaker, Aregbesola, Governor of Osun State, Africa’s economic woes was traceable to the continent’s checkered history of slave trade, colonialism, post- and neo-colonialism and the unending political crises that continue to bedevil it. A combination of these, he stated, had pushed the continent to a marginal position from which it must break free. He noted that concrete action was needed to reverse the continent’s disadvantageous position in the era of global capitalism so Africa could be better served.

  Aregbesola posited, “As things are, Africa is delinked from the world in many respects, more importantly in economic terms, which means it is largely disconnected from the many benefits that accrue from the process of economic globalisation.

    “I’m an unrepentant advocate of regional integration. It is commonsensical, for instance, that the contiguous states of the South West maximise their proximity to Lagos and take a huge chunk of the sprawling city’s N3.5 billion daily food market. Given our common history, culture and heritage, it is in our interest to cooperate maximally in the diverse areas of economy, education, infrastructure, arts and culture, and social interactions.

  “The first stage of integration is progressive political platform. This is why the progressive states of the South West were quick to embrace, promote and work towards regional integration the moment they came to power. It is our vision to re-enact the regional economic integration framework, which effectively enhanced great socio-economic developments of the autonomous regions of First Republic.”

  On his part, guest of honour, Anyaoku, who flew into the country just to attend the festival, commended PANAFEST initiative, and noted its significance to the continent’s quest for a better future. He noted, “people often forget that human history began in Africa; it’s been proven through historical evidence. The history of our continent is the history of the world, but it is regarded as the least one to be developed. Our generation that is passing away for a new one is looking up to it to make Nigeria what Nigeria should be. I’m very encouraged by the integration in the South West zone of Nigeria. It’s a great example for the rest of the country.

  “If our country is to realise the hopes of our founding fathers, we need to restructure our existing structures of governance. We need true federalism. The kind of federalism we practice today cannot develop this country the way we want it. We must go back to the six units. The example of the South West regional integration should set the pace for this country.

  “Ghana has been one of the beacons for this continent; successive governments have kept Nkrumah’s flame alive. We all must keep the flame alive. I wish the organisers every success.”

Tourism in The Gambia

HIGH Commissioner of The Gambia, Colley, in recounting her country’s tourism development infrastructure, would seem to be indicting Nigeria that was yet to decide what to do in that regard. And Nigeria’s inaction in taking the lead would later infuriate Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner, who was to express his dissatisfaction with the abandoned and undeveloped slavery sites in Badagry.

  Commending theorganisers, Madam Colley said, “We are here to add our weight in organisers’ endeavour to put the African culture back to its rightful place. The legacy of slavery and colonialism had kept us at odds with our true history, cultural identity and prevented unity and growth amongst our people and within the continent. PANAFEST is trying to address the most traumatic interruptions that ever occurred in the natural evolution of Africa societies, which among other forms of trauma, profoundly eroded our self-determination, esteem and freedom.

  “But what the festival is doing is not only creating an environment for a productive healing process for those whose ancestors where taken away from the continent years ago to re-unite and forge a positive future in the present dispensation of global development, but PANAFEST is also celebrating the strength and resilience of Africa’s culture and achievements of Africans in spite of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, colonialism and their aftermath”.

  With a population of only 1.7 million people, Colley said, The Gambia is a multi-cultural country with a vibrant tourism industry, widely referred to as ‘The Smiling Coast of Africa’. Among the heritage sites that The Gambia boasts include Kunta Kinteh Island, formerly known as James Island, the Stone Circles in Wassu, the Slave House in Janjangbureh and Fort Bullen in Barra.

  Two biennial cultural festivals celebrated in The Gambia are designed to bridge the gap between Africa and sons and daughters of Africa stolen during the Slave Trade era. Colley said the first one is known as ‘Roots Homecoming Festival’, “which creates the opportunity for people of African descent to further discover, re-affirm and re-embrace their ancestral identity as well as enjoy the tranquility of The Gambian environment.

  “The second one is the ‘Kanilai International Festival’, which has been gaining momentum since its inception a decade ago. It creates opportunity for Africans and those of African descent from all over the globe to unite as a people, share their cultural talents, appreciate each other’s cultural values in an effort to foster better understanding among nations and peoples in order for us to live in peace”. She extended the invitation of The Gambian Government to organisers of PANAFEST to these two festivals in her country.

Pilgrimage to Ile-Ife

STILL on maximasing the abundant tourism potentials in Nigeria, Aregbesola lamented the neglect the sector had suffered in the country, and said it was indefensible that such a valuable economic resource should suffer such dire fate. He stated that Osun State has mapped out a tourism policy soon to be implemented as a viable economic tool to generate employment and wealth creation. His approach, if implemented, has the potential of causing a revolution in tourism industry in the country.

  According to him, “It’s quite ironic that tourism, one of the most auspicious industries on the African continent, has not been fully explored to the level that it can be used as part of the resources with which the continent can trade itself out of poverty, as is the case with the many countries in America, Europe and Asia.

  “Consequently, we have designed a practicable culture and tourism policy whose main objective is to attract the attention of the world as well as making tourism a worthwhile venture. We are developing the tourist attractions in the state because we want to attract investments there. We have identified about 67 notable tourist sites and monuments for this business.

  “Ile-Ife alone as the spiritual origin of the Yoruba people is being packaged for pilgrimage by millions of Diaspora Yoruba people in West Africa, the Americas, Caribbean and Europe. We are putting infrastructure in place to make it worthwhile for all. The point has been made repeatedly that tourism can help stem the tide of poverty, preserve Africa’s cultural heritage, provide employment for its increasingly large army of unemployed youth, create long-lasting opportunities for entrepreneurship and promote stability”.

  Aregbesola restated his conviction that Africa has the capacity to reinvent itself from the position of a marginalised continent to one that can “transform itself, unite its peoples, and contribute quite significantly to the development of world economy. What is required is visionary leadership that will encourage the formation of useful economic ties and harness the huge available potentials for development of our various interests…

  “The role of a nation like Nigeria is to lead the sub-region, lead Africa and the Diaspora. We must rework Nigeria into meeting its historic duty. Nothing lacking outside of leadership for Nigeria to take the historic role of taking Africa to the next level of development”.

HIGH Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago, Obika, a Diaspora African, could not understand why Africa has continued to wear the tag of under-development in spite of its huge potentials in material and human resources. With a population of just about 1.2 million people, Obika said his country has long mastered the oil and gas industry and wondered why Nigeria could not power itself on its abundant oil and gas resources. He stressed the need for Nigeria to develop its infrastructure and strengthen intra-regional trade.

  Obika noted that with a population of about 250 million people, Africa’s Diaspora could emerge as a regional power in the world, and enjoined Africa to position itself properly to benefit from such huge economic block. Obika affirmed that Africa’s children in the Diaspora had not deserted the continent, but stressed that Africa needed to move forward with its Diaspora people.

  With an overwhelming passion in his voice that rose in cadence, Obika declared, “My heart bled when I paid a visit to Badagry recently. Something needs to be done about the historical sites in Badagry. We have to take back control of our history. We cannot allow the historical sites in Badagry to be left unattended to”.

WHILE responding to the colloquium theme, Onobrakpeya and Sonuga restated the place of culture in a people’s life as a viable tool for integration, unity and peace. They both stressed Africa’s historic place as the cradle of world’s civilization, and charged the continent to shake off the negative tag given it by the West and be determined to forge ahead as a people with a common identity, with one destiny!

Performances and exhibition

OSUN Cultural Troupe opened proceedings with a dance performance and drumming. The performance from Lagos State Cultural Troupe thrilled the audience, with the theatrics of the dancer with a bottle balanced on his head. Jojo Beats, too, thrilled with his eccentric beating on his cheeks and mouth to produce a unique xylophonic sound and rhythm.

  With his beats, he got the Yoruba audience, especially the elderly ones, to respond to the folk songs he pelted out, as he beat his cheeks to produce the rhythm in a manner similar to the talking drums. Aregbesola was so enthralled that he made him a discrete donation.

  Murhi Amulepoja also did his chants. The duo of Exodus also did their stuff before the fashion parade took place. Art and crafts makers, who were mainly girls, showed off the beauty of locally, hand-made and hand-woven fabrics of adire, aso oke and others. It was a graceful moment that showed that the power of Africa textiles that had long been neglected for foreign ones. Lere Paimo, too, thrilled with his African, earthy rhythms. When he fetched the young protégé he is nurturing to the microphone, everyone recognised a child-prodigy in the making; his pulsating vocal power and inflexion gripped the audience that applauded non-stop.

  Performances from ATM and Sky also spiced up the festival. Although handicapped, Sky’s velvety, R&B voice got the audience rocking on its seat, as he gyrated and stumped to the power and passion of the American R&B music he mimed.

  Eventually, dignitaries were conducted round the exhibition stand of assorted artworks on display. They ranged from sculptural pieces, bronze and clay works, painting, textiles of various make – adire, batik, aso oke and other hand woven materials, both ready-made dresses and those yet to be made.

INDEED, the duo of Taiwo and Kehinde Oluwafunsho, pulled off a remarkable cultural fiesta. Although held indoors, it did not weaken the spectacle expected of a festival, especially with a colloquium from which unique ideas of growth were spawn.

Adenubi’s passion for children’s literature takes flight

By Anote Ajeluorou

FROM being an author of several literature books focusing on children, Mrs. Mobolaji Adenubi has taken a big step forward in realising her dreams of making children writing books for their kind. To realise this, she set up Splendid Literature & Culture Foundation late last year. Now, children with creative ability in writing can craft interesting stories for fellow children to devour.

  She anchored her new initiative on a complaint from most Nigerian parents that goes thus about locally produced children’s books: “We continue to buy these foreign books for our children because we can’t find good quality books for them written by Nigerian authors.”

  Taking the argument forward, she asserted, “Foreign story books for children are admittedly attractively produced, with colourful covers, inviting illustrations and sharp and clean print. The stories, though no better than those written by Nigerian writers, are error free, flow smoothly, with vocabulary appropriate for the age grades they are intended for. These imported books are affordably priced.

  “However, it is not impossible for Nigerian writers to produce qualitative, legible, colourful, well written and culturally acceptable children’s literature.

  “The assertion that Nigerians lack a reading culture is false. What is more correct is that Nigerian adults and children do not read much literary works. Children consume cartoons. Adult Nigerians buy and read the many magazines published weekly and monthly; and new ones that come into the market regularly are sold. So we read!

  “However, there is worsening use of the English Language, the country’s official and commercial language. The inability of the young to write well in English is linked to their lack of reading edifying books in that language, usually storybooks”.

  It is her drive to correct this anomaly that she has set up Splendid Literature & Culture Foundation, named after her first work Splendid, which she wrote back in the 1990s. For Adenubi, “The Splendid Literature & Culture Foundation aims to ensure that books written by young writers for children readers satisfy parents who continue to buy books for their children, and the children who read them. The Foundation will encourage the production of children’s stories for ages 8 to 12 years that will entertain, enlighten, ignite their interest in reading and stimulate their imagination.

  “Above all, stories that stimulate the imagination of readers will be encouraged. Children’s regular use of their imagination will help them develop HOW to think, not what to think. Imagination is everything. No invention is possible without imagination. A thing has to be imagined before it can be made. This applies to solutions and improvement. The use of imagination will help children think up different ways that things can be done in any circumstance. In this fast-changing world, this is an important skill to develop and use.

  “As a sub-project, the foundation will run English Language and writing workshops for students in public schools in the long holidays in centres designated by each state. Able, retired English language teachers will be engaged to make these classes imaginative and fun. Much learning takes place in playful environment!”

  “The foundation will annually call for submission of imaginative works by young Nigerian writers of children’s literature. A body of Judges, including renowned writers, literary critics, book sellers, children readers and publishers will be instituted to select stories that satisfy the above requirement. The Judges will also select the illustrators for the production of the works.

  “Each year, a call for entries from young authors (11-21) will be made for unpublished works of children’s literature. The scripts received will be reviewed by the panel of judges and six (6) will be selected for publication under the grant arrangement. Every author thus published will be identified as a Splendid Young Writer and each book thus published will be under the Splendid Young Writers Series.

  “Splendid Literature & Culture Foundation will carry out the publishing activities inclusive of editing, illustration, book design, printing, promotion and distribution of the books published by the Foundation.

  “The authors whose works are published by the foundation will have public presentations of their works, with readings, book signings and tours arranged for them. They will receive adequate and regular royalties for their works. The illustrators, whose contributions embellish the stories and expand the imagination of the readers, will also be publicly recognized and adequately remunerated.

  “The foundation will ensure that its children’s books will be published in time for these to be available for entry for the literary prizes for children’s literature, annually awarded by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), NLNG Prize for Children’s Literature awarded every three years, and other similar prizes. Thus, our authors will have opportunities for validation as serious writers!

 “The Foundation plans to operate nationwide to reach all Nigerian children. Writers, and illustrators in each State will be involved in the work of the Foundation, introducing the flavour of the cultures of their peoples. The imagination ethos of the Foundation will permeate its work everywhere.

  “Of course, the Foundation’s books will circulate countrywide entertaining, educating and engaging children everywhere. Because these books will be produced in large quantities production cost will be reduced and they will be as affordable as foreign books sold worldwide. The Foundation will establish a distribution network, first in each State, and will link these with those established in the other States.

  “As the Foundation plans to operate in each State of the Federation the Foundation aims to solicit government grant to encourage reading and writing among the young there. Corporate bodies and institutions all over the Federation will also be approached for support of this mission that will help develop highly adaptive adult workers”.

  Splendid Literature & Culture Foundation is a not for profit company. The administration of the Foundation is vested in a Board of Trustees that will formulate its policies. The members include an accountant, Mr. Dotun Sulaiman, an award winning author and literary administrator, Odia Ofeimun, and a brilliant lawyer, Mr. Lanre Adebayo.

  Others are veteran publisher, Mr. Lanre Idowu, a book marketing professional, Mrs. Ronke Orimalade, a civil engineer and IT specialist, Kemi Adenubi (Mrs. Lemon), a medical doctor and writer, Dr. Mariam Onuzo, and a seasoned educationist, writer and founder, Mobolaji Adenubi.

Splendid Literature calls for entries

Young Nigerian writers from ages 11 to 21 are invited to submit manuscripts for children’s literature from all over the country for the Splendid Literature and Culture Foundation Series.

  According to Splendid Literature and Culture Foundation, organisers of the contest, the aim is to produce imaginative children’s stories that will entertain, enlighten and appeal to children of ages 8 to 12, and encourage them to read. These stories should also stimulate the imagination of the readers to help them think in novel ways to do things.

  An initiative of Mrs. Mobolaji Adenubi, who is herself a prolific author of children’s stories, the series is designed for young writers resident in Nigeria and that their stories should have strong Nigerian/African content or flavour. Entries must also be original works, unaided and unpublished fiction in English. Plays and poems are not eligible.

  The work to be submitted should be between 3000 and 3,500 words long, typed written, double spaced or legibly hand written on numbered pages. Illegible entries will be disqualified. Deadline is July 31, 2012. Six (6) copies of the story together with evidence of Nigerian citizenship (photocopies of birth certificate or Nigeria passport or Nigerian ID card) should be submitted to Splendid Literature and Culture Foundation at 31 Alhaji Tokan Street, Alaka Estate, Surulere, Lagos.

  Submissions will be assessed by the foundation’s judges and six suitable stories will be selected and published annually. She also said the usual royalties and publication terms will apply to every story published.

  Interested children’s authors should include their names, address and telephone numbers and email address if possible on the title page of the manuscript, with only the full name of entrant on each number page of the submission. Entries must be submitted under the real name of the entrant; pseudonyms may not be used. Entrant must submit only one entry

National Theatre... Culture edifice labouring to reclaim lost glory

By Anote Ajeluorou

THE perceived inability of government to run businesses effectively gave birth to the notion of privitising all national assets during the reign of President Olusegun Obasanjo. And consequently, the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) was set up with the mandate of midwiving the sale of these assets. Although, there were mixed feelings trailing this decision, yet the government went ahead and sold off as many as the BPE could sell.

  Whether those assets sold off have come off better is an argument still raging in certain quarters. The attempt, however, to sell off the nation’s cultural showpiece, the National Theatre, sparked off protests from the culture community.

  Culture, they argued, must not be treated strictly as a business because of its other uses like education and value-orentation. But the National Theatre has continued to slide especially in attraction to cultural producers and enthusiasts. Rather than retaining its prime position as the foremost cultural events centre in cosmopolitan Lagos, it has taken its seat firmly at the background. Its telling motto, ‘the venue makes the event’ has thus become a hollow slogan. Serious events promoters hardly think about the National Theatre as appropriate venue.

  Save for organisers of children’s events, who prefer the open lawn, the theatre is a shadow of its former self. Although the General Manager, Mr. Yusuf Kabir, signed some MoUs with some cultural players, especially for Nollywood films to be premiered at the theatre, Silverbird, Ozone and other small venues in town continue to host movie premiers while the National Theatre is steeped in darkness most evenings, even weekends when the place should be a beehive of shows.

  The Guardian went to town to speak to cultural events organisers on why the National Theatre fell into its present state of coma. Many have cited bureaucratic bottleneck, infrastructural decay, lack of vision on the part of management, government’s poor perception of culture and what role to assign the ediffice and among other reasons why many shun the place.

  Poet and essayist, who has turned his hand on poetic drama, Odia Odeimun, used to find a home in the theatre in days goneby. But this is no longer so. His three dance drama, Itoya, A Dance for Africa, Nigeria the Beautiful and A Feast of Return  have all been staged at MUSON Centre and other venues. And he is not keen to return to the theatre. Although the best theatre space in all of Africa, he said the theatre has lost its ambience and communality as a cultural showpiece.

  His argument, “First, let’s put it this way; the National Theatre may look like an overdone white elephant. But it’s still the best theatre space in Africa; there’s no one space like it that is as good. It has more facilities for artists and cultural enthusiasts than what you’ll find anywhere else. It has space, which is the most up-market space you can find for a cultural happening anywhere in Africa.

  “As a piece of estate, there is nowhere in Lagos that is as good as that space if there was a good manager of cities, not just of culture. What would be built around the National Theatre will be such that all the railway lines will meet there. You all come out of the under-ground and you’re into the cultural space. And when you finish what you’re doing you go back under-ground and go wherever you came from.

  “There’s so much you can do with that space at the National Theatre that at the end of the day what is happening there right now is enough to make you sick. It’s as if gold is being turned into bronze very deliberately. It’s true there has been attempts to make the place better. But you know it’s not being managed; it’s not so much the fault of the people they bring in to manage it. It’s the fact that from conception, the administration of the place is aimed at defeating the arts rather than promoting, preserving or generally sustaining what artists do.

  “It is passion that runs a cultural estate, and you do need to have a lot of it in an organisation for it to take off. When what energises an environment is just administration, it doesn’t work. You just don’t administer a space. You can build a much better theatre than a National Theatre in the country today, but that won’t turn it into a cultural space. The passion of the organisers is what makes it a cultural space. I can assure you between having a National Theatre or a National Troupe and having a museum all that you need is a sense of space architecture, people who know how to govern space so that space can help you govern the things you do.

  “The environment of the National Theatre is not being governed, so that what you have at the National Theatre is not proactively a sustenance of the arts. Proactively ought to mean this: as I look at the environment, just to look, it excites me. A National Theatre as an edifice invites you; but as you actually moves closer, you’re being distanced from what happens there.

  “When you look at the mushy background around the theatre, that space by now ought to have been taken on by good money, and turned into a place of beauty. It was possible it was planned into it, but never actualised. The Federal Government does not put the kind of money into the place that will make it work. So, the people who are given the job to do begin to behave like the under-developed funding is meted to them like a punishment. The amount of money you put into that place does not attract good money. If you want to build a proper theatre that will attract good money you put good money into it first.

  “Also, let me tell you that people who want to privatise the National Theatre are not interested in the arts; they want to use the space for some other things. I’m talking about using the space for the arts and making good money out of it. Most people who want to privatise the theatre are not only against the arts, they are against the national spirit. There are things you need to do with that space, which are art-oriented and which are also money-making such that when people sit down at home they just begin to think of how to go to the National Theatre, not to do anything, not to watch a play, but just to be around the festive environment. We have not been able to create that space because, as I said, the place should attract you.

  “But as you move closer and closer to the National Theatre, it pushes you away. It does not enfold you; it does not accommodate you. I mean, you look at abegi (the space opposite that is converted to a drinking joint) it tells you that more and more people would have been coming if you built that sense of community into the way the whole theatre itself is run. There’s nothing you want to do about culture that the National Theatre has no space for. The question is, why do people not go there?

  “Now, when you don’t put money into a National Theatre, the people who work there are not energised; they have no reason to be very passionate. Unfortunately, people who manage the arts in Nigeria do not see artists across the country as a community; they see them in divided caucuses. So, that it’s about loot-seeking groups: how do you get a share of this or get a share of that , and because of that they are not able to erect that structure of enterprise which involves everybody.

  “Some people imagine that the divisive logic of loot-seeking is the order of the day; they are unable to go out seeking for what will accommodate the whole community.

  “A National Theatre is not a commercial enterprise; it is a means for defending the soul of a country. Those who do not see the need to put money into the defence of a National Theatre are unserious as politicians, administrators and so-called patriots. A true patriot will defend the culture of his country; the defence of the culture of your country means that you will give education to your people, you will make sure that the stories they tell have a means of survival beyond the here and now, which means you have the means of preserving their stories.”

ANOTHER professional and play director, who regrets the state of the theatre is Nick Monu. For him, “The National Theatre is a wonderful piece of architecture of its day. It is large and the potential is amazing. However, we must not forget the building’s history or its initial intention as a venue for the 2nd World Black and African Festival of 1977 more commonly known as FESTAC. Only after the event was it thought of as a theatre complex.

  “So, there are already some problems built into the structure, no pun intended. When designing a space, form should follow

function; in the case of the National Theatre, this was not the case. So, we have a space not ideally designed for theatre. The Cinema Halls used for theatre — Cinema Hall 1 and 2 — betray their intended use in their name, they were designed as Cinema Halls. The main bowl is so large, at over 4000 seats, it must challenge some of the largest international theatres in the world in terms of size, making it difficult to fill and difficult to maintain.

  “These problems can be overcome, but, in the case of the cinema halls, it would require investment to turn them into viable theatres whilst not loosing their use for cinema and the large space needs a complete overhaul and thereafter should be used mainly for musical events, dance and concerts as it is far too large for spoken theatre.

  “The next challenge this beautiful edifice faces is the fact that it is a Federal Government building. That is not a problem of itself; the problem only arises when the government appoints anyone to work in the space other than the Artistic Director and the Managing Director. To run any company, a CEO needs to pick his or her own staff to ensure smooth running of a company. The National Theatre is full of appointees that have not been appointed by the person in charge making it difficult, if not impossible to run it efficiently.

  “In the artistic company which is mainly a company of dancers and musicians drawn from every state in the federation vis-a-vis the Ogunde Model might have worked many years ago, but does not have the flexibility needed for a modern, more complex and intellectually more advanced country that is modern Nigeria. The company should be capable of putting on the best of Nigerian and world classical works as well as advancing the field of African modern dance and looking to create a form of Africa-influenced opera and music of both the ancient Nigerian

tradition as well as those influenced by our over 200-year relationship with Europe.

  “This requires significant long term investment. These artistes should be permanent members of an ensemble housed on the considerable grounds on which the Theatre stands. The theatre is, quite simply said, overly bureaucratic with so many office staff that budgets better spent on art goes to keeping people in office jobs. In this modern computer-based era, these staff could be streamlined to only the essential. The area around the theatre and the general upkeep of the space require a more modern cost-effective overhaul. Storage space and technical equipment as well as the various departments needed in running the artistic side of the theatre need to be revisited and rethought.

The space requires a huge amount of investment from the government and a complete reassessment of how the space is run and used.

  “My first play I directed there upon returning home from abroad was Wole Soyinka’s Swamp Dwellers and to be honest, I have received no invitation to come to direct another production.

Terra Kulture is a privately-run enterprise. Bolanle Austin Peters makes it as easy for financially challenged artists as possible to put up their works. She is supportive and understanding to the needs of theatre and apart from picking the people she wants to feature in her space, she allows artistic freedom without getting involved in artsistic choices made. I treasure this, without it, art freedom is stifled. This is not always the case at the National Theatre.”

OPA William is easily the merchant of comedy; he revolutionised it as a major commercial business in its modern sense in the country. And the National Theatre was home to his famous Night of a Thousand Laughs in the late 1990s and early 2000 when comedy became serious business. But he has since shifted base to more accommodating venues. Of the theatre, he said, “Infrastructural failure and security are some of the challenges the theatre faces; they were why we left to find better venues.

  “For the most part, the lighting do not work, the halls became horrible and hot because of poor air-conditioning. But I heard the new man is putting things in order now. Also, the image of the theatre needs to be polished. Image is everything.

  “Sadly, that place is a national monument, a tourist and cultural centre; it should never have been left to rot like it did. For it to attract people back, they have to look at the structure again and overhaul it completely. They have to make it more attractive. If you pass the place at night, it’s completely in darkness like a ghost town. It should not be so”.

  A senior staff of the theatre, who is also a professional culture producer, who spoke anonymously, expressed sorrow at what has happened to the theatre over the years. He noted, “As an industry player, I’d say nothing is happening at the theatre in terms of patronage. It’s an open place. Nothing is happening; there is a dearth of activities. The apathy is there on the part of management. The halls are okay now.

  “Those of us, professionals, try to initiate programmes but whether they are done is another thing. It depends on the interest of the people at the head and what they want to do with the place. What I know is that it’s a big tragedy what is happening at the theatre. It’s like you build a very beautiful house and you lock it up. Sad!”

ATTEMPTS made to speak with the marketing team proved abortive. The PRO, Mr. Toyin Mohammed would not be drawn into the argument about whether the National Theatre is doing well as it should be. He insisted that the place was doing well with lots of children’s programmes taking place on the lawn.

  Howver, the current General Manager, Mr. Kabir Yusuf, not long ago, enumerated efforts his team was making to make the theatre attractive to the public and draw traffic to the prime venue.

  He said, “I have done renovation in parts of the theatre; I have overhauled the security and I’m now doing the publicity. I have adverts placed on NTA Channel 10. We have a trade by barter arrangement with them; they do their programmes here and do adverts for us. We have 30 minutes of theatre called ‘My Theatre’.

  “The cooling system is one of the major problems here but it is now perfect. Our cost is relatively cheaper than any hall in Lagos. We have the advantage of parking space and security. We have the advantage of food and drinks available on the grounds of the theatre. Even the underground garage can take 1,600 vehicles. Our parking space can take 4000 vehicles. So, I don’t think there is a lack of parking space. Whenever there is a bigger crowd we used to get reinforcement from the police station nearby.

  “So, since we have done 70 percent of the renovation we are doing, we will start doing prorammes because we have a full fledge unit headed by a principal officer, so we will start developing our own programmes including concerts, dramas that will bring people in.

  “We have now put the structures in place, and we can now go and bring more programmes in. We wanted to fix the structure because once you come to the national theatre you want the water to run, the air conditioner to work; you want to go to the toilet and come out not holding your nose. We have renovated the waterworks and water is flowing. We treat the water. We get cleaners to clean the toilets. The air-conditioners in the halls are working. The electricity is constant and we can now run our own programmes”.

  Nevertheless, transforming Yusuf’s dream of activities at the theatre into reality seems far-fetched at the moment as culture producers have shown a preference for MUSON Centre, Terra Kulture, Expo Hall of Eko Hotel and Suites, newly opened Freedom Park, and even The Life House. Instructively, both government and theatre management would need to rethink strategy to return the National Theatre to a house of culture that it was intended for.

QOUTE:

Sadly, that place is a national monument, a tourist and cultural centre; it should never have been left to rot like it did. For it to attract people back, they have to look at the structure again and overhaul it completely. They have to make it more attractive. If you pass the place at night, it’s completely in darkness like a ghost town. It should not be so.

Ujubuonu… Mining the mind of the past for future generations · Exploring Jalaa Writers’ Collective

By Anote Ajeluorou

The historical novel that mines the mind of the past so as to unearth Africa’s ways of life and preserve them for posterity has become for Odili Ujubuonu the lost diamond that must be found. His trilogy on the narratives of Aro people has set him apart in exploring the historical past in fictive mode to bring it close to modern African audience lost to their past

Chinua Achebe’s pacesetting novel Things Fall Apart is Odili Ujubuonu’s leading light on Africa’s past that still needs illuminating in all spheres. Africa’s historical brush with the West eventually came to redefine a new way of living for Africa. After its loss of paradise, only a restorative reconstruction through fictive narration could future generations come to know a continent and its people so blighted by external forces and internal in cohesiveness.

  It is this restorative reconstruction that has come to define Ujubuonu’s fiction starting from Pregnancy of the Gods through Treasures of the Wind and recently, Pride of the Spider Clan. Also and advertising expert, Ujubuonu said animatedly in a recent conversation, “My motivation is that I’m a product of two cultures made up of modern African cities, a collapsed culture of the remnant of colonialism and that of the mind of the village.

  “Unfortunately, the African city is neither London, Ogbomoso nor Ozoro, but that of a man who wants to be like the Londoner glimpsed only from magazines. Things Fall Apart and such books are no longer available. So, I wanted to seek that as a path, as if I could conquer that past. If you want to be an African you have to live in the mind of the past – how our ancestors lived, the challenges they faced, how they over came them and the things they did”.

 Ujubuonu, who, having lived in the city, has had to research all his novels, however, contended that Africa’s development had its moment of arrested development as a result of colonial intervention, which forced alien education that cut short competition with the white man.

Jalaa Writers’ Collective

Also a strong member of Jalaa Writers’ Collective, under which he published his recent work, Ujubuonu restated the body’s mission of redefining the nation’s publishing landscape through quality works that would further give writers publishing opportunities outside the traditional publishers that have failed to live up to expectation. Jalaa Writers’ Collective is therefore a response by some Nigerian writers to the challenges of publishing in an otherwise harsh environment.

  For him and his other colleagues – Igoni Barratt (who initiated the idea of a writers’ collective), Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo (Roses and Bullets), Jude Dibia (Blackbird), Uche Peter Umez (The Runaway Hero) and Bimbola Adelakun amongst others, the goal of the collective is how to use the power of 10 to solve the problem of one. Through this arrangement, all the writers in the collective jointly work on each book before it is published. With this arrangement, they aim to solve the problem of editing that has come to plague local publishing in recent years.

  While many publishers on the local scene have found a printing haven in Asian countries, Ujubuonu enthused that Jalaa is perhaps the only group still printing its books in Nigeria, a testimony to its resilience and willingness to empower local printers.

  In measuring the success rate of the collective, Ujubuonu said while it is yet too early to say after two years of existence and one and a half years of its first published work, Jalaa Writers’ Collective could be said to have made success in giving expression to the vibrancy of Nigerian authors in defining a new path to follow and give writers a new leash of life.

   Ujubuonu gave the collective a pass mark, saying, “Jalaa has been very, very successful. We’re not as loud as the others; we’re sort of conservative, but a whole lot is happening in Jalaa. Some of us are working on our second books in the collective although others are yet to publish; some works are in the offing. Some books in the collective have been reprinted to tell you how successful we have been.

  “The idea is that Jalaa prevents a writer from being self-published, but a writer is allowed to print what he can afford. Till date Dibia’s Blackbird has done very well followed by Ezeigbo’s Roses and Bullets. So, too my work, Pride of the Spider Clan and Umez’s The Runaway Hero. In short, virtually all the books are doing well.

  “Although we haven’t exceeded our expectations, we have met our expectations, not so much in terms of books’ sales but book outing”.

  On how Jalaa books are being distributed, Ujubuonu stated that one area of vacancy in Nigeria where young men and women could venture into for self-employment is book distribution, where honesty to relate to publishers may be the only requirement needed. He said the Campus Ambassador outlet, where Jalaa uses students to sell its books has paid off immeasurably and advised other students to pick up the gauntlet and be self-reliant. Magazine Circulation is another distributor Jalaa uses to spread its books around.

  Jalaa’s challenge, just like other publishers, is in the area of return of money of books sold by booksellers. The issue of damaged or missing pages still plagues books from the body. However, Ujubuonu was quick to point out that Jalaa was retooling after its first outing so as to come out better and stronger, with fewer errors like missing pages.

  Part of the retooling is a new office it is renovating in Surulere. “We’re reorganising, retooling Jalaa to bring more control to meet objective, meet with quality delivery from script to finish. We just reactivated the website to bring in e-commerce model, to ensure delivery is done on time. Our books can be bought on Amazon”.

  Ujubuonu stated that the first phase of Jalaa is gradually coming to an end when only members’ books would be published before it is thrown open to all writers with good stuffs. He noted that this could happen towards the end of 2013. According to him, in this first phase, “We wanted to take all the risks, establish the brand and put the destiny of our publishing in our hands before it can eventually be opened to everybody”.

  As has often been stated, artists are not usually good at doing business. So, how are writers in the Jalaa collective overcoming this major business obstacle? How much staying power do they have to weather the storm of business environment as slippery as publishing in Nigeria? Ujubuonu’s response is as philosophical as it is metaphoric, “The art is a consuming fire; only the artist ignores the heat, that sees the business of art or art as business, and they are very few!”

Adesokan… A global scholar on the hot seat

By Anote Ajeluorou

Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Dr. Akin Adesokan, teaches at Indiana University, Bloomington, U.S. He took the opportunity of being in town to entertain Lagos literary audience at The Life House to an evening of stimulating discourse. He spoke on his current works, read excerpts from one and spoke on literature and Nigeria’s export to the world, Nollywood, a field he has done scholarly work on and his take on Nigeria’s 13-year old democracy. Adesokan is as engaging as he comes

His current work

I want to express my appreciation to The Life House for this initiative to host cultural and artistic events. I was here during the Odia Ofeimun’s event on Okigbo. I remember in those days, it used to be at the Russian, French or German Cultural Centres that these events took place. But now, we are coming to stage these events in our own space, which has a different kind of philosophy, orientation. I want to say that it is a remarkable place, and I hope the Adegokes (owners of The Life House) should keep it up.

  So, I’d be reading from my current fiction work, South of the Still River, but I want to add that I have another book, which is a result of my doctoral degree thesis, Post-colonial Artists and Global Aesthetics. South of the Still Waters is like an autobiography about the African novelist not of my own generation, but an African novelist of the 1960s. In this book, I’m trying to explore the idea of belonging on the African continent; that is, the idea of an African who at least does not belong. I mean, he identifies with Africa but because of the nature of belonging on the continent, he is often not considered African.

  And I think that is very contentious point; and it says a great deal about the way we identify with the continent. It is instructive that this was a writer born on the continent but his peculiar history makes him live outside the continent. What is also instructive about this main character his kinship with what happened between Laurent Gbagbo and Alasan Quatara of Cote D’Ivoire, where Gbagbo claimed that the other was from Burkina Faso and so could not contest elections in Cote D’Ivoire.

  But the point is that partly because of the complexity of the African history and the relationship between Africa and the Diaspora, and the identity of the African living abroad, you tend to see things from the continental stand, you tend to look at things as a person who is looking at the totality of experience of the entire Africa. So, that in a sense is what I’m trying to address or relate to in this work. Virtually everything about Africa is about tribalism, about exclusionism like the Cote D‘Ivoire scenario. That is a bit of an African life, not just about the politics.

  Even in my thesis, there is the concern with the particularity of the cultural form like Nollywood, but of a relation with the work of a writer who sort of moved to the world. So that in itself that simultaneity of sort, of holding onto the particularity of a place like Nigerian and then relating it to something as global and constantly changing as the experience of black people in the world.

  Like I said, it’s an autobiographical novel, and the character is a fictional figure; he doesn’t really exist. I published a short story in Farafina in 2003, and it was basically about a young Nigerian writer who goes to Equatorial Guinea to meet a writer who was his favourite author. So, after that story, I began to think that I could actually expand it into a novel. That writer who then in that short story lived in Equatorial Guinea is this writer.

  So, it’s actually a conceptual idea, a conceptual novel in the sense that it looks at the phenomenon of a pan-African writer, an individual who did not belong. And I thought that the most intellectually satisfying way to represent that is from the point of view of a writer, who deals with the question of homelessness. That is the whole idea. So, it’s not me. I didn’t live in the 60s!

  Also, there is another theme that I’m working on. One is already written; it’s called Underground Movement; it used to be called Yellow Fever. My idea is to actually write about Lagos in ways that are exciting, which is different from my first work, Roots in the Sky. But the point is that as a writer, I will generally not do what others do. There are different kinds of writers. One can read different kinds of novels and one can write different kinds of novels. I’m capable of doing that.

On Nollywood

Let me start with the scholarship. Virtually everybody wants to be a Nollywood scholar. It’s a very fascinating and troubling phenomenon, partly because of the irrepressibility of the phenomenon itself. So, they tend to think that they have a point to make about Nollywood. Like it happened to literature, which, when the novel began everybody wanted to get a piece of the action; Nollywood is a form which everybody thinks he or she has an opinion about, which ultimately should have been a good thing because the cultural form and aesthetic form actually survive on the strength of being talked about. The more they are being talked about the more they are institutionalised and entrenched.

  Now, what goes for Nollywood, which did not go so well for the cinema of Eddie Ugbomah or Ola Balogun or Francis Oladele and all those people who made films in the 1970s and 1980s was basically that you can see Nollywood; that it is a form, a commodity, a product that you can actually feel. But you could not see films of those people. When you have a material that you can hold, that you can watch; it’s tactile. That is one of the reasons why Nollywood commands that kind of attention.

  Like I said, you have a fair idea of African literature, but you realise that with the exception of the departments that came out in Lagos and cities like Ghana and Senegal in the 20s and 30s, which was actually political materials like those of Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe; it was during the Onitsha Market Literature that you saw the material that was propelled by some kind of high visual power, that if you want, sort of developed from the people.

  Like I said, Nollywood has a past; and part of the weakness of the scholarship of Nollywood is actually the claim that it is an orphan that came out of nowhere. That is not true; that is not true. If you’ve lived in Lagos in the 70s and 80s, you’ll know that isn’t just true. You could have seen the music, in theatre and in everything. And I think that that’s what people are complaining. In spite of the imperfection of the form, the fact that it is so internally incoherent, differentiated makes it unique. I have a chapter in my book, and I write on Tunde Kelani, Tade Ogidan, Amaka Igwe.

  Now, about the economics, that is a more difficult aspect. But one thing I’d like to say is, there is this guy called Kunle Afolayan. He has a slightly different approach to Nollywood; slightly different from the kind of approach that Tunde Alabi may use or Zeb Ejiro has. So, in fact people are beginning to talk about a new Nollywood; I won’t go so far. But I think that there’s something very imaginative about the kind of work that somebody like Kunle Afolayan is doing. The way he organises his production is very imaginative.

IN any case, if you’re to periodise Nollywood, Kenneth Nnebue’s Living in Bondage is the one that sort of started it. But there are two things here – one thing with the filmmakers is that they actually don’t have a say in how they categorise them. If you know the work of Tunde Kelani back in the 80s, he was not only a cinematographer; he directed Anikura. It’s true that what we have now is, both academical and commercial orientation is an intensification. You can make an argument about the kind of people who never made films at that period, that they are making films now, you know. But that is a technological question, and the kind of technological possibilities that we are exploring now, those possibilities were there in the 70s and 80s. It’s just in the analogical form that is different from the digital form.

  So, the point is that of freedom or democracy or democratisation of Nollywood, which is a function of the superstructure of capitalism and all of that. But again, how come that did not happen in Ghana, although some claim it happened in Ghana before us. But how come it didn’t gain root? That in effect didn’t mean because some people were wiser or smarter; it’s because it is real. You have to periodise, you have conceptualise and you also have to historicise. There is no need to be schizophrenic about things; it’s better to talk about where things are coming from. If I want to write a book about Nollywood, of course I won’t put Ola Balogun in the middle; I would be doing a disservice to the work.

  One thing that worries me is to think of Nollywood basically as an orphan; and I think that it is actually not true. I agree that there is a commercial intensification but that is as a result of looking at the media in Nigeria; it’s bound to happen.

On democracy

Of course, not! The kind of struggle that took place then till Gen. Sanni Abacha died still takes place today. It’s just that when people are struggling to rid the polity of dictatorship, some of them would have other things in mind, the general idealism. What we have today is a carricature of democracy, just like what we had with Alhaji Shehu Shagari in the 80s. Although it isn’t as violent like Abacha’s, who was killing people and putting them in jail, violence still takes place in parts of Nigeria.

  But in terms of real democracy, no; we’re not yet there.

  But  you know, victory is a process. Now is another phase of the struggle after the military left. What we stuggled for wasn’t in vain. People still have memory of the struggle. It’s just that people wanted real democracy. The outcome of that struggle in the 1990s is disappointing for people who have understanding of history. I don’t want to magnify my role in it; others suffered more, those who lost loved ones. Mine is not important in relation to what others went through.

  I could not participant in the process we struggled to bring about as a journalist went to jail for because everybody had an attitude towards this thing. I saw myself as an intellectual; I had my role elsewhere. Once the struggle was over, I had my goal elsewhere. I saw myself as an intellectual, a writer and a think tank!

Remember for Tomorrow… interrogating Okigbo’s mindset on Biafra

By Anote Ajeluorou

At the celebration of Christopher Okigbo’s life and work as a poet at The Life House, and the heady events that were to plunge the young, independent Nigerian nation into civil war that claimed Okigbo’s life, other participants offered contrasting narratives as to why Okigbo possibly donned military uniform to fight off the advancing federal army at the Nsukka front in 1967 to save the life of the new Biafran nation just created out of Nigeria.

  While principal anchor of the programme and poet Odia Ofeimun had argued that Okigbo needed to prove himself as being true to the Biafran cause, especially the slaughter of innocent Igbos in parts of Nigeria, and just as he had been true to his artistic calling, others disagreed. Author and publisher, Austyn Njoku argued that the late pre-eminent poet went to war because it was the natural thing to do at the time, pushed as the Igbos were to the wall in the face of aggression from their fellow countrymen on the federal side.

  He simply stated that Okigbo could not have watched his young siblings to go to war at the time while he remained behind. He noted that every Igbo young man felt the compulsion as social expectation demanded to take up arms to defend what was the new homeland that gave them a sense of security and humanity.

  According to Ofeimun, “Many argued later that it was because of the need to prove himself true to his calling that Okigbo chose to become a soldier; he needed to prove himself. Perhaps, he didn’t need to. Okigbo was a very excited and excitable young man, who knew only one thing about himself: the need to create also requires that you have the capacity to defend what you have created. Those two did not quite mix for him. But finding himself in the contradiction of a poet defending something that he considers a shrinking of the narrow neck of the calabash, it makes us to remember Kenya’s Prof. Ali Mazrui, who wrote a book called The Trials of Christopher Okigbo.

  “All Mazrui thought that a poet has no business dying in a tribal war. A question Ali Mazrui never tried to answer is, what do you do if your humanity is being denied by people who believe that there is race? If tribes do not matter, what do you do when other people deny you what is yours because of your tribe? It is a question you can’t answer by being neutral; when you are confronted by the evils of a given situation, you won’t need to answer the question. Okigbo took a decision that many of us would have had to take. Okigbo chose where he believed he would be safe. And, many years later Ken Saro-Wiwa showed us a different way of looking at that problem. We have not resolved that problem yet; we do need to resolve it.

  “Unfortunately, those factors that led to Okigbo’s death are still very much around us today. And, we are not just victims, we are also promoters of that which led to Okigbo’s death. Okigbo’s life teaches us something, that whatever we wish to commit ourselves to, we must start early and never give it up! If you’re truly good at what you have to do, the world will beat a path to you. It doesn’t matter how long it disparages you or ignores you; if you do it right, it will beat a path to you”.

  Njoku argued that over the years, people have fallen for Ali Mazrui’s position that a poet has no business fighting a tribal war or even going to war at all, and so Okigbo was guilty for his action. On the contrary, Njoku noted most people do not understand why he went war as arising from his cultural background and its expectations of him, particularly as demanded by the age-grade system in Igboland.

  Stated, “If you’re Igbo, you can’t but go to war. There’s the age grade thing. Also, young boys of 14 and 15 were being conscripted to, and Okigbo was far older than that. For instance, Ofeimun wanted to enlist at 17, but he was rejected. It was not so in Biafra. It was would be a great shame for your family for a grown up man like Okigbo not to have gone to war. What would he say when others who went to war began to narrate their exploits. So, the society, the culture of the people necessitated Okigbo going to war. It wasn’t just about Okigbo’s decision alone; it was social expectation as well.”