Omatseye honours Soyinka at 80 with play on religious fanaticism, political engagement

By Anote Ajeluorou

Come July 24, the Command Performance of Sam Omatseye’s play, The Siege will be held at MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos. Omatseye is dedicating the play to Prof. Wole Soyinka, black Africa’s first Nobel Laureate who turns 80 next week, July 13. Wole Oguntokun is directing The Siege. Like the venerable man of letters, Omatseye is raising similar concerns about religious fanaticism and bigotry, using a remote historical moment in time and space to interrogate Nigeria’s contemporary experience in religious extremism and its deadly mix in politics.

  To better situate his subject, Omatseye takes his audience to 18th century Sudan and the conflict that embroiled two men – the local but highly influential cleric, Madhi, who laid siege to the capital, Khartoum to oust the British colonial forces from the city. Although the British were beginning a roll back plan from Sudan because it was considered bad investment, but General Charles Gordon, who had been instructed to pull out, would not give the Madhi easy victory over a land he’d invested his passion and adopted as his own. It became a contest between two men who view Sudan with equal love and were willing to sacrifice all to keep it.

  According to Omatseye, “Gordon and Madhi loved the land and their God. Both men were fanatical about their religious mission – Madhi desires to control his homeland and Gordon to retain his civilizing mission in Sudan. Gordon became a folk hero in England for holding out against Madhi. This prompted the British to urge the government to send troupes to Sudan to help Gordon stave off Madhi’s siege on Khartoum to save the pride of Christianity and the pride of England. The two men had exchanges in a year before Madhi invaded Khartoum, routed the British army and killed Gordon before troupes could arrive”.

  For Omatseye the Madhi-Gordon imbroglio has implications for contemporary experience in the country, especially on current religious extremism that has crept into the political space and is fast becoming a way of being. He asserted, “The play is a way of looking at fanaticism, a lesson in religious bigotry and love of land. The two antagonists talk about the love of God in laying claim to the land, Sudan. It’s also a look at how clerics support politicians, urging them that it’s the turn of Christians or Muslims to rule or be in power irrespective of the consequences such motivation has for the interest of the larger society.

  “The Siege is a historical play, a tragedy; a way of telling contemporary story using historical materials. It’s to say that religious bigotry isn’t news and that it has consequences for the present and the future. So, I decided to use the distance of time and space to tell a story, like Shakespeare basing his plays about incidents in Rome to address the British society of his day with similar situations and forcing the British to think about the political consequences of their actions”.

  However, with Nigerian elites’ avowed disinterest or indifference and outright aversion to everything culturally and intellectually stimulating and challenging, how much influence does he think his play would have in helping to stem the ugly trend of mixing religion and politics? Keeping quiet or giving up or doing nothing isn’t an option, Omatseye argues, adding, “You don’t have to lay down; you have to keep engaging, keep striking at the ear to see if it will listen. To do nothing is paralysis and to surrender.

  “It’s important we understand that as society gets increasingly philisticnic, it’s on the threshold of another awakening. Even in America, it’s beginning to reverse; they are beginning to understand that you cannot build society on money and power alone, but on culture. Money and power must have cultural templates on which they rest. So, when Obama questioned the value of art education for Americans and sued for science education only, he came under fire. He had to apologise for such gaff!

  “Ironically, as education tends to be going down in Nigeria, people still want to get more education. Why is that? We’ll get to a point where we reject half-baked, educated people. Take Ekiti stomach-infrastructure proposition, for instance; it will get to a point where people will be dissatisfied with it and opt for the real deal. Or even the National Conference; we’re not yet desperate otherwise you won’t need anybody to convene it before it’s held. It gets to a time when our desperation will force us to sit down and really talk to ourselves”.

  Omatseye, like many of his ilk, is sad that almost 30 years after Soyinka won the Nobel Prize, no endowment of any sort has been instituted for the two areas - drama and poetry - where Soyinka’s creative impulse has been most powerful. According to him, “Isn’t it ironic that the man that has brought the greatest accolades for Africa is a dramatist and poet and no endowment for both disciplines? How much does it cost to keep actors together to continually perform for a year? How many plays has the National Troup of Nigeria (NTN) produced in the last one year? Why can’t they do the job for which they are assembled and paid monthly? We have wealthy billionaires that don’t know what to do with their money except celebrate birthday and wedding parties in Dubai. We have companies that spend money on the vanity that goes on in the name of Nollywood, for what?

 “On Broadway in New York, there are plays going on every day. That’s why it’s the most exciting city to visit. There’s nothing wrong with spending money on reality shows, but we need to put money in books. As bad as our education is, we have some really smart students. When they go outside the country, they beat the best over there. We should encourage this by putting money in what really pays us as a people.

  “Part of my campaign in this play is to make the case that as part of our cultural policy, we should see to the pursuit of the arts being properly funded in budgetary terms by federal and state governments. Yes, they must all begin to put money in the arts!”

  The Siege started out as a poem, Omatseye says, but grew bigger to a point where The Madhi had to reply Gordon and then it morphed into a play. He said he could do with sponsorship from willing corporate bodies and wealthy, theatre-loving individuals, as the play needs staggering amount of money to put it on stage. With foreign actors being flown in to play Gordon and other British officers’ part, the cost has gone up astronomically.

  Above all, Omatseye has promised a thrilling experience for the privileged audience that will see the Command Performance on July 24, a date slightly removed from the frenetic activities around July 13, the actual birthday of pre-eminent man of letters, Soyinka.

At Authors Forum, experts advance solutions to youth unemployment, social cohesion

By Anote Ajeluorou

The yearly University Press Plc’s Authors Forum was held last week at Kakanfo Inn, Ibadan, with a gathering of scholars and intellectuals. Although this year’s keynote is a departure from the regular one that usually dwells on books and related issues, this year’s did not fail to excite on account of the lecturer and the manner he handled his topic, which was on science and technology and how Nigeria has failed to make the most of it for its developmental needs.

  Present at the event was such eminent scholars and academics as Profs. Ayo Banjo, Niyi Osundare, Femi Osofisan, Managing Director, UP Plc, Mr. Samuel Kolawole, Prof. Remi Raji-Oyelade, Eze Prof Chukwuemeka Ike and a host of others.

  Delivering the keynote was the Provost, Federal College of Education and African Regional Representative on the International Council of Association of Science Education, Prof. Mamman Audu Wasagu. He spoke on ‘Science Education as an Entrepreneurship Platform and Career Opportunities for Sustainable Youth Employment’. The import of his lecture rested on the premise that with a growing youthful population and an ever-widening gap in unemployment, Nigeria was walking the tight rope. It was time, therefore, something urgent was done to arrest the situation. With sectarian threats all over the country and youths becoming ready recruits for their nefarious activities, it was time to do more than pay lip-service to issues of unemployment by all strata of society, especially government and corporate citizens.

  While bemoaning Nigeria’s poor attitude to strengthening science education that should usher in technological advancement and attract corporate patronage, Wasagu said attention should be paid to governance structure and how it has added to the sundry woes bedeviling the country. For him, “poverty and illiteracy are indices of bad governance. Until we can solve poverty and illiteracy problems, we cannot guarantee good governance”. Using the recent Ekiti State’s governorship elections, Wasagu said, “Credible elections do not guarantee good governance”.

  Instead of educating today’s youths, the professor of science said education in Nigeria was deepening illiteracy because of policy summersaults, especially as it concerns activities of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Commission (NERDC), which he said must stop its rapid change in curriculum so as to stabilize the educational system for development. He said there was nothing bad with Nigeria’s educational system that NERDC keeps tinkering with all the time. He, however, stated that problem of implementation was what bedevils it. He said the 6-3-3-4 system that was copied from the U.S. was still being used there with great results, and “is seen as the golden system as everyone wants to go there to study”, but this was different from what obtains in Nigeria’s application of the same system.

  For science education to be meaningful, Wasagu said it must have technology as its by-play otherwise such science education would become sterile. He argued that while science concerns itself with knowledge, technology is its application to enterprise or entrepreneurship that should bring about employment. In bringing this analogy to bear on current trends in Nigeria’s technological situation, Wasagu came to the conclusion that the country was far from attaining technological drive.

  In all Wasagu canvasses for the type of educational that encourages entrepreneurship for the purpose of solving unemployment problems in society. He also encouraged youths to have entrepreneurship mentality that would remove their minds from paid employment. Such entrepreneurship minds would be such that involves the creative process, requires devoting time and efforts towards creating things, involves reward and risk-taking.

  Such youths must be goal-getter, culture of work, creativeness and persuasiveness, must build skills, know-how and risk tolerance as being integral to the success venture.

  But Wasagu was also mindful of the contribution of all strata of society for the success of technology-driven society. He argued that government and industries must be ready to fund research and incorporate every bit of technology that is developed locally into mainstream as means of encouraging innovations coming from institutions. He stated that unless this done, Nigeria would continue to be the highest importer of finished goods from Asia and the rest of the world.

  To stem the tide of such high import to the country, he said, “Neither our industries nor the governments are ready to fund research and development in the country; this has partly contributed to the low value addition of raw material such that a large percentage of our manufacturing industries have shut down while others are simply in ailing conditions; there’s doubt that our current paradigm for science and technology, especially the way and manner we conduct, finance and perhaps distributes its services may not lead us to the promiseland”.

  Continuing, Wasagu stated, “Therefore, we need a transformation agenda through the use of science and technology that will lead and fuel the emergence of a 21st century workforce highly adept at meeting the needs of the public, private and labour markets to usher in growth in jobs opportunities and wealth creation’ changing in economic competitiveness are creating an increasing demand for science and technology education and teaching competent young boys and girls with requisite skills and science and technology curricula must change to reflect the skills required in modern markets”.

  On the often-stated view that the west should transfer technology to Africa, Wasagu said such was vain wish that would never work. He said what works is either that technology is created from within or stolen from wherever it can be found! He urged Nigeria to imitate what happens in the west where governments and industries invest heavily in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education otherwise referred to as STEM. He added, “Many contemporary policymakers consider widespread STEM literary as well as specific STEM expertise to be critical human capital competencies for a 21st century economy”.

  In this vein of making science through technology to help solve problems, Wasagu made a case for what the objective of science education should be, noting, “The traditional view of science that we once knew as curiosity-driven truth-seeking has significantly diminished and the professional scientist is now more likely to hold a dominant understanding of science as market-oriented, pre-competitive and administrative, providing exciting and long overdue opportunities”.

  For Wasagu and all progressive-minded people, entrepreneurship holds the key to job creation, which in turn rests what scientific and technological advances can make possible. However, for this to happen, he argued that there should be paradigm shift in the educational system from ‘less content or theory to skill acquisition that leads to entrepreneurship”.

  In concluding, wasagu stated, “Strengthen the curricula in entrepreneurship, encourage annual career talk for the promotion of awareness of career pathways and opportunities, increase public awareness on the value of early stage entrepreneurship in science education, reduce bad governance and tackle science illiteracy through the provision of equal to quality science education”.

 During the question and answer session, novelist Ike recalled the technology that was developed in war-ravaged Biafra during the country’s 30-month civil war, and condemned Nigeria’s attitude towards technological development. He said Biafra, pressed to the wall, was able to refine the fuel it used after Port Harcourt fell to the federal forces. He enumerated all manner of weaponry and other usable technologies that were developed at the time that eventually fell to disuse after the war.

  Ike said, “Biafra taught us to use our brains. When Port Harcourt fell, Biafra had to refine its own oil or collapse. What is oil refining? When you heat crude oil to certain degree, you get kerosene; heat it to another level, you get diesel; and heat it to another degree, you get petrol. But Nigeria didn’t want ot create the impression that anything good came out of Biafra. Crude oil is being refined in the Niger Delta by local hands. We can do many things productively if we choose to use our hands!”

ON his part, Chairman, University Press Plc, Dr. Lalekan Are welcome guests to the sixth annual Authors Forum, as the company’s efforts and commitment to its drive as the nation’s foremost publishers. He noted, “This gathering offers us the opportunity to reflect on what we have been doing, and what more that we need to do to reshape our society. Thus, more than ever before, we must gear up for the challenges the present times have placed on our laps. We owe it a duty to ourselves and our children to come up with quality content in order to achieve the bright future of our dream.

  “The shocking unemployment rate in Nigeria is in sharp contrast to the robust economic growth rate suggested by the national accounts data. Many young Nigerian men and women, after leaving school, are not gainfully employed for individual and national development. This is due, in part, to poor policy planning and implementation in our educational system, especially science education.

  “Interestingly, scientific knowledge and its applications are deployed to the creation of job and entrepreneurial opportunities in developed nations. This they achieve by fashioning a school system that teaches students the actualization of scientific processes for the purpose of creating wealth for individual and collective benefit. The educational system in such countries revolves round inspiring young minds to undertake researches that explore the sustainable usage of resources at a rate at which they can be replaced naturally for self actualization and national development. This we have even seen in the Asian countries, where young school leavers are able to invent and innovate ideas and technological products to solve society’s needs.

  “In other words, science education is the bedrock upon which scientific and technological advancement, which drive national development depends. In essence, science and technology education is critical to the elimination of unemployment and the realization of sustainable youth empowerment in Nigeria.

  “It is in view of this that Professor Mamman Audu Wassagu, a renown science educationist is here amongst us to present a keynote address on Science Education and Entrepreneurship Platform and Career Opportunities for Sustainable Youth Empowerment. It is our hope that his presentation will be of great benefit to us as authors, teachers, lecturers, students and parents”.

‘Let us bring back Nigeria’

By Anote Ajeluorou

The chant became insistent and took a life of its own the moment erudite scholar, Distinguished Professor of English at New Orleans University, U.S., poet and special guest, Prof. Niyi Osundare, gave voice to it last Friday. It was at the ‘Voyages Around The Sahara Testaments’ colloquium organised in honour of poet laureate, Mr. Tade Ipadeola, winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2013, at Drapers Hall, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

    It was the first time a colloquium was being held in honour of a winner of the prize that has spanned over 10 years since its inception. The colloquium was specially convened by Dr. Sola Olorunyomi of Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, with support from Ipadeola’s other friends, Director, Communication Centre, UI, Ropo Ewenla, Dr. Dami Ajayi, Dr. Niran Okeowo and Rotimi Babatunde among others started planning the colloquium shortly after Ipadeola was announced winner on October 9, 2013.

  ‘Let us bring Back Nigeria!’ according to Osundare, would be the fitting campaign or rallying point at this critical moment of national consciousness, seeing that the country was already missing through inept leadership and that it needed bringing back so it could be a good place for the missing Chibok schoolgirls when they returned from the hands of their abductors. Specifically, he said Nigerian was missing as a livable society on all fronts and that it needed to be brought back from the brink of collapse it seems inexorably headed.

  The colloquium, which was on Ipadeola’s winning poetry work, sought a robust conversation around the phenomenal poetic journey Ipadeola has wrought and how exposing it through rigorous scholarship would help in making sense of our world in relationship to the vanishing Sahara. As would be expected, it threw up intense scholarly fireworks, with the presence of eminent literary and humanistic scholars in attendance.

  But as usual, Osundare brought his critical understanding of Nigeria’s malaise to bear on the conversation. And just as another literary scholar, Prof. Wole Soyinka in April gave voice and urgency to the now famous ‘Bring back our girls’ slogan that Dr. Oby Ezekwesili later amplified, Osundare has added yet another twist for effect. For him and everyone present at the colloquium, it wasn’t just President Goodluck Jonathan’s lukewarm book that should be brought back, but Nigeria as well. Indeed, there is added urgency now more than ever before to bring back Nigeria from the woods it has wandered even as efforts were still ongoing to bring back the Chibok schoolgirls.

  The accomplishment of Ipadeola’s poetic genius in this award-winning collection has continued to amaze scholars who continue to wonder how the lawyer-poet managed to evoke such poetic magic. For Osundare and many others, such feat would be difficult for the current educational set up, with its many lapses, lack of commitment, poor funding and a myriad of problems, to throw up again.

  For Osundare said, “As we celebrate this book, let’s ask ourselves, as the country deteriorates, how many products from our current school system can produce this kind of book? The tradition of literary theory and criticism is dying today. No literary culture survives without a robust educational culture. You need functioning libraries, good teachers, students that are willing to read and learn. But what do we have today? Ignorance is spreading today. This book is a commentary on Nigeria today.

  “We have not brought back the President’s book yet; we’re still trying to bring back the girls. This book is affirmation that it’s possible to create something good, something enduring in the land. This has to be a regular pattern. Good education, solid literary culture is what is needed. To achieve this, let us first bring back Nigeria!”

  Osundare said he’d followed Ipadeola’s literary trajectory, and how it has been very progressive. He said wWhen he got The Sahara Testaments’ manuscript, he nearly fell into the same trap as Prof. J.P. Clark, who confessed to reading it all night non-stop until he finished it. But although Osundare didn’t abandon his sleep for it, he didn’t sleep until he read a third of it, saying, “You read it while sitting on the edge of your chair. Tade, this is a new voice about Nigerian poetry. I’ve never read a book with this kind of intensity. This book carries a lot of weight”.

  Osundare, a first class scholar, one of those who should never have been allowed to leave Nigerian shores for greener pastures abroad, said there were fallouts about Nigeria’s academic conditions that Ipadeola’s books evoke that need addressing. According to him, “We shouldn’t only talk about the book but about the fallout. What we have here is a compendium of metaphors. Could Ipadeola have produced this kind of panorama of African history, philosophy and geography if he wasn’t exposed to history? If there is any continent that needs history it is Africa!”

  He also used the opportunity to look at the essence of The Nigeria Prize for Literature and what he said could be its continuing resonance for winners. “How many times do winners enjoy their fame?” He asked, “It’s twice the value of the Caine Prize for African Writing. What about the resonance? It’s the gravitas attached to it that matters. We have to make sure that winners survive beyond its first three weeks of winning. A literary culture is not created by the amount of prize money attached.”

ANOTHER special guest, who served as chairman in place of Prof. Ayo Banjo and prize governing board member, NLNG-sponsored The Nigeria Prize for Literature, Prof. Ben Elugbe, noted, “People should be proud to win a prize when they write a book. But not often is it remembered that a winner is a source of pride. As the prize’s board member, our gathering here is evidence that it’s a mighty piece of work. We’ve rarely seen that kind of oneness of voice regarding the work’s outstanding nature to warrant its endorsement by Profs. JP Clark and Dan Izevbaye”.

  In 2012, Elugbe disclosed that prize jury head, Prof. Abiola Irele, used superior argument to win the prize for Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters Street. He, however, noted that while “Tade is very proud to have won the prize, but the prize is very proud that Tade won it!”

  Elugbe used the occasion to call on critics to partake in the competition in the Critical Essay category, a prize designed for academics and scholars, where a critical work published in a reputable journal is entered for the prize worth N1 million. He noted that poor awareness about this prize has not generated enough entries for it since initiating it two years ago.

  Director of Institute for African Studies, Prof. Dele Layiwola, who also represented the Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Adewole, expressed his pleasure in celebrating Ipadeola, whom he said he knew from his toddler years at Fiditi Grammar School, where senior Ipadeola taught him English and French. He recalled how Ipadeola senior told him about renowned poet, Christopher Okigbo, an unusual poet, with amazing love for football, how he left Ibadan for Fiditi to teach.

  Layiwola said he carried Ipadeola as a toddler, and described him as an inquisitive and active child, adding, “They are a family of great poets; they have drums. When I learnt Tade was reading law, I felt he strayed a bit; but he has come back. I know he still does bread and butter law. But he’s still a poet.

  “Now, Africa begins and ends here. By the grace of providence, we will be able to celebrate more. It’s a great joy to see that you excel. You didn’t only win the prize, you also allowed the prize to win you!”

  Then there was a brief interlude in which Jumoke Verisimo read an excerpt from the collection “?????”

  One of the jury members for the prize in 2013, gender expert, feminism theorist and poet, Prof. Molara Ogundipe, also gave testimony about Ipadeola’s outstanding work and the unanimity of the jury’s verdict including that of the external assessor and Ghanaian poet, Prof. Kofi Anyidoho. Ogundipe said it was educative and enlightening to have been a judge of the poetry prize last year, adding that Ipadeola “you made us proud as Africans, writers and critics”.

KEYNOTE speaker, doyen of African literary criticism and Dean, Faculty of Humanities, Bowen University, Prof. Dan Izevbaye delivered a paper titled ‘The Sahara Testaments: Poetry as Centre and Circumference’. In his usual cadence, Izevbaye looked at the role of poetry in Nigeria at the present time with Ipadeola’s collection as example, by looking at the intellectual context of the collection, saying, “The book keep you. I was roped in by the quality of the writing, the fascinating diction. This is creative writing of high quality. The poet at this point is God’s rival in the creation story. This is a candidate for the canon of Nigerian literature!

  “There’s a blend of oral and literate, western and middle easterner style of writing. this breath of vision and style is Miltonic, so mush so as to say, Tade represents a poetic personality. This poetry of the first water!”

  Izevbaye also took his audience through English literary history and how poetry came to be seen as the centre and circumference of all knowledge and social relationships with the failing of religion and economics to bring order. He said, “When there’s anarchy in the polity and economic sphere, you turn to poetry for order and structure; when there’s chaos it’s the poets we turn for vision and direction”.

  The eminent critic argued that it was for this reason that Chinua Achebe took his famous title ‘Things Fall Apart from W B Yeats, who had a vision of order. He also restated Matthew Arnold’s position that with the rise of science and the failing of religion, it was that poetry to people turned to get a grip on reality. Ipadeola has also done the same thing with The Sahara Testaments in his epic journey through the vast landscape of humans and nature that the Sahara represents in the abysmal neglect it now suffers.

  For Izevbaye, Ipadeola, having considered all the African ideologues finally settles for Pan-Africanism, as the best political ideology best suited for African in the race to resolving the continent’s manifold conflicts.

  According to Izevbaye, “The Sahara has been marginalized in our literature. We have treated the Sahara that way not just physically but culturally and spiritually. We don’t see it as anything of value. It’s the same as the colonial error that posits that Africa has no history. By omission, we have treated the Sahara that way. Tade overcame his physical limitations about the Sahara and ventured into it. The knowledge of The Sahara Testaments does not come from western tradition”.

  Izevbaye also recalled Room 32 of English Department of University of Ibadan, where poetry performance and reading used to take place just as he said he wasn’t the performance type like Osundare, as he best enjoys poetry in solitude. According to him, Ipadeola’s poetry “is of great technical scale; it’s fluid; it flows. This text will find its way into the canon of African literature. It will force our students, however lazy, to read the poem. It gives enlightenment.

  “History and literature have been marginalized. Literature may not produce a car, but it has profound cultural effect. Ipadeola’s poetry is both and contemporary in range. It’s a very valuable addition to our intellectual condition”.

  In his response, Ipadeola expressed his gratitude for the honour done him, saying, “I never imagined in my life that this was going to happen. This is a story unforgettable. I’m never going to forget this!”

Poor funding for scholarship, education in Nigeria

The colloquium gathering also afforded the academics present to examine the state of funding for scholarship and education in the country. They came up with a damning verdict, which was singularly held for the poor showing in the educational sector.

  First to fire the first shot was Ogundipe, who recently returned to the country, University of Port Harcourt specifically, to teach after many years of teaching in universities in the U.S. and Ghana. According to her, “Poor funding is a bane of scholarship in Nigeria. Government has to put more money in education; condition in universities is terrible. Ghana here puts 31 per cent of its budget in education; South Africa puts 39 per cent, but Nigeria only manages 8-9 per cent of its total budget in education”.

  She blamed Nigerian parents for not insisting on quality education being given to their children. She also blamed student’s poor attitude to learning, saying that the students hardly use the smartphones the students carry for research work, as they hardly went to google education to consult educational materials that are available for free online.

  Apart from poor funding, Ogundipe also criticised the attitude of Nigerians towards fellows like her who have taken the hard decision to return to offer their scholarship and time to the fatherland. According to her, “There’s exclusionary attitude towards those who want to return from overseas to offer their services”.

  Also, she found placing a ceiling on the retirement age for academics ridiculous, arguing, “Retirement age for academics is wrong. A teacher should teach till he or she drops dead! They have vast private libraries students can consult for enriched scholarship”.

  She also sued for the reintroduction of history as a subject in schools, saying, Let’s fight for history”.

  Izevbaye also joined the call for better funding of education, arguing, “The present National Conference doesn’t have a committee on education; it’s stuck somewhere on social issues. Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) that is supposed to monitor standards and quality control should be interested in asking hard questions about university funding, that investment in education is too low. But NUC is only interested in going round in trips collecting money”.

  Elugbe said even the so-called 25 per cent supposedly allocated to education “that didn’t come to education doesn’t mean that it went to something good to the people’ it simply disappeared into some people’s pockets”.

The arts, culture… Nigeria’s dwindling tribe of corporate supporters worrisome

By Anote Ajeluorou

The history of corporate support for Nigeria’s art and culture sector has been a chequered one. Like the abiku child, it comes and goes, as it deems fit. Just like abiku, too, when it comes, there’s joy and vitality in the sector. And when it goes, there’s sadness as it means loss of income and joblessness for a season because such support helps to create employment, engage those involved in culture production and give them a ray of hope. But when it dries up, as the art and culture scene current suggests, there’s despair and hopelessness among producers and workers in the sector.

  Perhaps, the first major corporate sector support for the arts was Liberty Bank Limited, which instituted a prize for Literature. This was in the 1990s. The prize helped to galvanise the creative process among writers and there was a real buzz. But like all good things that have a slender lifespan, Liberty Bank soon fell into bad business times. It was forced to close shop; it became a huge loss for the bank’s depositors as well as Nigerian writers, who had come to see the lifeline the bank provides for them.

  It was also at the same period that Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre, Onikan, situated at the old Lovers Garden, opposite National Museum, held a poetry competition during its yearly Music Festival. For young poets, MUSON Centre Music Festival Poetry contest was an eagerly awaited yearly ritual that helped them to sharpen their craft. But soon, MUSON Centre also fell into bad financial times, as sponsorship of their programmes dried up. They let the prize go and sealed yet another avenue for writers to better express themselves, be exposed and rewarded.

  For writer Ton Kan, “Critics and naysayers may belly ache all they want but prizes are important to writers no matter how subjective the criteria for selecting winners might be and the reasons are obvious. One, it provides instant recognition, adulation and fame. Secondly, it provides entrée into the literary canon. Thirdly it helps situate writers within a tradition and I will explain.

  “Chiedu Ezeanah, EC Osondu, Maik Nwosu, Helon Habila, Tade Ipadeola, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chike Unigwe, Kaine Agary – these writers wouldn’t be as well-known as they are today if they didn’t win one prize or the other.

  “For many of us writers who emerged in the 90s and early noughties, prizes like the Liberty Short Story prize and the MUSON Poetry Prize as well as the ANA prizes helped put our names out there long before the Caine, NLNG and Etisalat prizes.

  “Winning an ANA prize left you feeling like the year’s Mr. or Miss Nigeria. It said to the literary community that some important new talent has arrived.

  “Helon didn't become popular because he won the Caine. He did when he took second place in the Liberty Short Story and First place in the MUSON. 

  “When I took third place in the Liberty and MUSON prizes I felt like I had won the Booker. Sadly those prizes are gone and now writers have to wait for validation from the NLNG and other foreign prizes. It is sad. Steve Osuji must get deserved commendation for setting up the Liberty Short Story prize which died with Liberty Bank. I don’t know what killed the MUSON prize but I know it fizzled out when Rasheed Gbadamosi took over from Arthur Mbanefo. One would have thought a writer would be more invested in a prize that honours poets. Sad”.

  Also for Ibadan-based culture producer and writer, Ayo Olofintuade, “As to your first question, we are presently a nation under siege; nothing works and this is a result of a hundred years of mismanagement, and in an atmosphere like this the fact that the arts are even managing to survive is remarkable! When you talk about culture the first reaction of an average Nigerian is usually 'blood of Jesus!' Because Christianity/colonialism has managed to demonize everything 'cultural' in Nigeria. So you make an art piece and take it to a 'big man philanthropist' who tells you he/she can't hang such an abomination in her/his house.

  “We are suffering from an identity loss; its not like we no longer know who we are but we've never known who we are. Are we really Nigerians or Igbos or Idomas?

  “What can be done? At this point we need guilds, a support system that is 'corruption' free. Because aside from foreign funding which a few get access to and guard jealously, there's little else that can be done”.

  One corporate citizen that took art sponsorship and patronage seriously is Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Indeed, GTB, as its fond acronym, more than any other corporate institution took art and culture promotion to heart as part of its Corporate Social responsibility (CSR). Every branch of the bank has various paintings of Nigerian contemporary artists adorning their walls to the delight of customers. The paintings, mostly incorporating the orange theme colour of the bank, depict various activities that characterise life in the country. A visit to any branch of GTB usually produces a visually pleasing colours in artistic allure, as the walls throw back at the customers or visitors vivid images of orange as given expression through artistic imagination.

  Over the years, GTB has made art patronage part of its corporate mandate, with the multiplier effect that many artists create knowing that a corporate buyer is around the corner. In the art circle, GTB is believed to have the biggest collection of art in the country. However, the bank’s consciousness and patronage in art and the need to invest in it arose from the interest the bank’s pioneering Managing Director and Mr. Tayo Aderinoku, now late. For Aderinoku, Nigeria’s art is such a rich treasure that deserves maximum support, and he threw himself heart and soul into making it a reality.

  Aderinokun’s passion for supporting Nigerian art was so intense that he was also at the forefront of the partnership with Ford Foundation, British Museum and other donor institutions in rehabilitating Nigeria’s ancient artefacts warehoused in the vaults of the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos. Aderinokun, along with his Nigerian group, were to raise some $2 million as counterpart funding for the initiative while their foreign partners were also to raise the same amount. He left this noble, nationalistic unfulfilled, with his sudden passing.

  Under his watch also, culture producer and playwright, Mr. Ben Tomoloju got support to produce Poetry, Laughter, Art and You (P.L.A.Y.). It was a significant poetry performance festival that brought many young people together to perform and showcase their poetic essence. For over a week these young poets and performers were engaged in digging deep into their poetic reservoir to satisfy the audience. For two years running, P.L.A.Y. ran its course at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.

  Since his passing, GTB seems to have slowed in its art patronage. It’s not known to have been involved in any art or culture related activity, even the multi-million dollar art auctions going on. In fact, it’s not clear if the art pieces that continue to adorn new branches of the bank are not the ones bought while Aderinokun was alive and in charge. But after the passing on of Aderinokun and the coming on board of another Managing Director, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, how far so far?

  Efforts to reach GTB for response failed, as telephone lines to its corporate affairs failed to connect.

  One of the country’s cultural pride, Mr. Ben Tomoloju, who benefited from GTB’s sponsorship, rather took a philosophical position regarding art sponsorship in the country. Tomoloju summed up the poor funding the arts and culture are getting thus, “In general response to the CSR to the arts, I think that the popular arts – music, movie and comedy - are having a reasonable part of the bargain; they are having corporate sponsorship. We are happy about it, but the intellectually inclined arts – literary art, dramatic art, celluloid films (movies of international standard) are not being given attention that is required; they are not being patronized.

  “It depends on us as a people whether we are in love with the enlightenment of the mind, which is the mark of our civilization. Do we wish to laugh it off, joke it off and strut the red carpet all the time? What about the things that we need to make culture dynamic?

  “I’d like mobile companies to build corporate theatres and brand them, say XYZ Communication Theatre and give professionals guidelines on how to operate them. I’d like them to sponsor literary festivals. Osofisan converged a theatre conference in Ile-Ife; it should have been sponsored. We should have festivals of plays, dramatic criticism, fairs, symposiums along with a playwright’s fair. Any company that sponsors such cerebral conference will be given great credit!”

ANOTHER corporate citizen supporting the arts is Fidelity Bank Plc. It was during its former MD, Reginald Ihejiahi’s reign that Fidelity Bank Creative Writing Workshop (FBCWW) was initiated to hone the skills of aspiring writers. For three years running, established writers from within and outside the country were brought in to train young writers in a 10-day workshop. The workshop produced a book from one its workshop sessions with the creative efforts of workshop participants incorporated in it.

  At the close of one such workshop in June 2011, MD, Fidelity Bank, Ihejiahi said, “We started with Helon Habila, and I’m happy the way it has worked. We felt we have many stories to tell the world. If you’re the owner of the story and you tell your own story, so much the better for it. It’s a reflection of the times; the art of writing is an occupation. Participants are young people and they need to be groomed to take writing seriously. But we also know it for a fact that if you don’t read, you can’t write as effectively as you’d want to.

  “There was a lot of interest among young Nigerians in the workshop series, which is a positive thing for us. However, where it will take us next we don’t know. We know that we can’t do it alone. It will be better if other people can come up with their own ideas on how to help young people find their rhythm in their areas of interest through mentoring. I can only assure you that we’ll try to continue to improve on the workshop so it can serve young Nigerians better”.

  Unfortunately, continuity issues cropped up, with an online platform being initiated also for writers. But the impact has not been as significant as the workshop series.

  In his reaction, a corporate affairs official of the bank, Mr. Henry Ndiolo said having pioneered the Fidelity Bank Creative Writing Workshop, with others coming into the terrain, it felt it had to move on to other frontiers. It settled for an online blogging and testimonial platform where writers submitted short pieces that were judged with prizes given out periodically. But Ndiolo admitted that responses on this platform was as yet to yield desired result as the workshop did with its cast of international writers as facilitators

  According to Ndiolo, “We were the first people to start creative writing workshop, and built it up with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. After that we shifted, we moved on to the blog and testimonials. Toni Kan was the leading judge; we publicized it. Right now, we’re looking for approval from management for the second season. But it didn’t quite catch on as the writing workshop; not many people came on. Our people seem to like the traditional style of doing things. But now that you have mentioned it, we are encouraged that it was worth it, and since there are not many others like it out there, we will have to dust it up and re-present it to management”.

  Ndiolo said Ihejiahi’s leaving the bank has not affected its core policy towards arts and culture productions, noting that he was instrumental in Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo joining the bank before stepping in his shoes. He reaffirmed continuity in the bank’s policy, promising that Fidelity Bank Plc would continue to encourage creativity in the arts.

  Chams also did its bit when it commissioned eminent playwright, Prof. Femi Osofisan some years back to adapt, produce and direct D O Fagunwa’s novel, Forest of a Thousand Daemons. The buzz the performance created while it lasted was phenomenal, as it toured several cities. The very spectacle of the performance was a dream, but like others, it soon stopped to the collective amazement of theatre and art lovers alike. It was perhaps the first and only such commissioned major production the country witnessed till date.

  According to Osofisan, the project died due to certain erroneous perceptions, the kind that seems to bedevil every good thing about Nigerian. Chams management, Osofisan noted, were told he wasn’t big enough for their dreams after a successful first outing. And so Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka was commissioned without his knowledge to produce his 1960, A Dance of the Forest. But the company soon fell into bad financial times and so could not continue to fund the project.

  He said, “A number of things went into it, but we can only speculate. Chams was going to celebrate its 10th year of operations and also celebrate Nigeria. Somebody told Chams they needed somebody bigger than us. So it was Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forest they chose. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do Soyinka’s play even when he was already rehearsing. They didn’t know how to tell him to suspend it. Finally, they couldn’t do it.

  “Again, people began to agitate; that why should it be Yoruba play or Osofisan that is commissioned. They wanted it for themselves. The plan was that we were to go to other cultures because Chams wasn’t a Yoruba company. Of course, I wasn’t happy that I wasn’t told about the change. By this time, I had begun to build up a crop of actors, giving good welfare to them. We had also hoped that it would rob off on other companies who would cash in on the bandwagon effect and come to sponsor other groups and theatre would get a new life. We gave the project massive publicity to attract others. Eventually, I tried to reach the MD but it didn’t work”.

  Osofisan had hoped that the Chams initiative would rob off on other companies to join the bandwagon in corporate sponsorship. And since everything revolves around government in the country, he wants government to take the initiative, which he hopes would also rob off on corporate citizens to follow suit. Unfortunately, “since government isn’t involved or doesn’t insist that companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) must go to culture, it would happen as it does in the U.S. and elsewhere where culture is taken seriously. Endowment for the arts is not in operation; Arts Councils don’t function. If government is indifferent, private sector will be indifferent as well. And you have the irony that foreign embassies are the ones supporting the arts. If we have people in government who have interest in the arts, it will be better. Also, there are not enough theatre venues for theatre practice”.

  Another corporate citizen involved in art promotion has been UBA Foundation. In its education support initiative, Read Africa, the foundation usually gets a renowned writer to give out his books to secondary school students while the author also reads to them. The last of such effort was in 2012 when Kenyan author, Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o was guest writer. But two years down the line, the foundation is yet to carry out another programme again.

  Reaching school children with books in the African continent is a daunting task in terms of sustainability. Although a source at the foundation said it still carries out its Read African campaign, it’s doubtful the success of such huge task.

  Farafina/Nigerian Breweries Plc Trust has been another promoter of writing in the training of budding writers to be better in their craft. With Chimamanda Adichie headlining, the workshop it has been working well. It has already called for participants for this year’s edition. That is to say there’s continuity here, which is something to cheer about.

ONE of the biggest setbacks plaguing the country’s book chain is lack of book distribution channels or bookshops. When show promoters Silverbird Group opened its Silverbird Bookshop at the popular galleria, many book enthusiasts were ecstatic. The huge bookshop on the first floor was a Mecca of sorts for book lovers, those who buy and those who just loved to admire books flocked there. Shockingly and without notice, the bookshop closed shop. Many were dismayed. First sign of its disinterest in books was stoppage of the monthly book reading event brokered by the pair of Igoni Barrett and Anwuli Ojiugo. The bookshop had begun to enjoy real patronage, as it became a monthly converging point for writers and book lovers to share ideas, network, sign books and also buy. Its stoppage was a rude shock.

  Known for its lavish promotion of America’s pop culture all through the years, the bookshop appeared like an atonement of sorts in redirecting youth interest and energy towards books and education. But with the stoppage of the book reading event and final closure of the bookshop it became clear Silverbird Group has joined the race towards a country that has gradually become anti-intellectual, philistinic and a bookless country!

  America’s Pop culture as represented by Hollywood films is the norm. Its radio and TV stations were relocated from their Lekki beach location to occupy the space that held the bookshop. It’s a wonder what happened to the books the shop had in stock. Were they thrown or given away?

  For children’s storyteller and TV presenter, Noma Shodipo, “It is true that philanthropy and corporate support for the arts and culture sector in Nigeria is scarce. Arts and culture encompasses a wide variety of industries. My comments are limited to the stage, sports, film and television. My comments are also limited to my research drawn from my experience and the experience of colleagues in the arts and culture sector. This can be tested by researchers with the following enquiries: What percentage of your CSR have you spent on productions for the stage, sports, film or television in the last five years? What percentage or ratio is this for the total monies spent on CSR? If this is low, what can make you spend more money on stage, sports, film and television?

  “ In entertainment, Nigeria’s Nollywood has reinforced the brand NIGERIA. Nollywood, a major employer of youths, attained its phenomenon without much support from Nigeria’s corporate sector.  The corporate sector must be incentivised through taxes holidays, etc, to support the entertainment sector. In broadcasting, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) regulates broadcasting. Given the policy thrust of Eng Bolarinwa, all Nigerian television stations are obliged to broadcast only Nigerian movies between 8-9. The new DG, Mr. Emeka Mba is an achiever.  He needs to raise the bar.

  “He must order Nigerian stations to comply with the Broadcasting Code: not only in terms of the 40% or 60% local content but in the genre of programmes: The 40% or 60% split must feature that percentage of Nigerian sporting, news, film, children’s programmes. That way, philanthropists, and corporate Nigeria will be encouraged to support the stage, sports, film and television”.