The Nation Newspaper

Category: Life – The Midweek Magazine

  • Ooni names Adegbola aide on history, culture

    The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has appointed Prince Adelegan Adegbola as his Special Assistant on History and Culture.

    In a statement the Ooni’s extolled Adegbola as a cultural scholar and custodian of Yoruba heritage, who has done well in the preservation of culture through his publications and research works.

    “It is my pleasure to appoint you as a Special Assistant on History and Culture to House of Oduduwa, Ile-Ife. You have proven to be a selfless individual, who has gone to great length to protect the history of Yoruba culture. It is my belief that you will handle this role with utmost care and protect the integrity that comes along with the office. I charge you with noble appointment to do more in creating awareness about the Yoruba culture as well as protect our heritage and advocate for its sustenance,” Oba Ogunwusi said.

    Prince Adegbola is an author, communicator of history and tradition, founder and president of the Oduduwa Cultural Foundation (OCF), a centre for the Yoruba Cultural, History, Tradition and Documentation. He is also the publisher of a monthly magazine called Oduduwa Heritage Magazine, a production of the Oduduwa International Communication, which focuses on culture reports and events in Nigeria and the Diaspora.

    The cultural scholar has been in the forefront of promoting and propagating Yoruba cultural identity and African values as a cultural researcher for decades. He described the appointment as an “honour” and “well-received”, adding that establishing the magazine and centre were driven by the desire to create an enduring legacy as the mouth piece of the Yoruba people.

    Prince Adegbola said: “I am very happy that I have been recognised today by a foremost traditional ruler in Yorubaland, the Ooni of Ife for my effort in promoting our cultural heritage. It is a welcome development and this will further push me to do and go beyond what I am currently doing in propagating Oduduwa cultural heritage to the world.

    “Beside magazine and book publishing, the Oduduwa Cultural Foundation will be engaging in various programmes to actualise this mandate. Interestingly, the foundation, my books and magazines are meant to make Yoruba culture a source of pride to all Yoruba people all over the world and spread Yoruba enviable culture of honesty, integrity, equity, accommodation and sense of justice all over the world, and showcase Yoruba culture as a point of reference all over the world.”

    His books include “Ile-Ife: The source of Yoruba Civilisation, launched in 2012 by the former Ooni of Ife, the late Oba Okunade Sijuwade and the recent one, Ooni Obalufon  Alayemore: The father of Efon-Alaaye Kingdom published in 2017

     

  • ‘Way ahead for tourism’

    The Senate has passed the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) (Repeal renactment) Bill 2017 into law. The law, which was initiated to reposition NTDC, is awaiting President Muhammadu Buhari‘s assent. NTDC Director-General Folorunso Coker speaks with Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME on his expectations of the law and its relevance to global tourism objectives.

    Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Director-General, Mr. Folorunso Coker, has described the new NTDC bill awaiting President Buhari’s assent as the needed legal framework to grow the nation’s tourism potential. He said the new bill when passed into law will prompt a financial framework that allows the agency to operate as a business entity capable of generating huge revenues for the economy.

    He likened the NTDC’s legal framework to the required foundation (the financial framework inclusive) laid in the communication, banking, oil and gas sectors, which resulted in their huge revenue returns.

    He lamented that most tourism operators are now unable to access loans from the banks because tourism does not generate individual returns, which may allow it to withstand 25 per cent interest rate. This, according to him, is because tourism is not seen as a serious business.

    Coker, who spoke in Lagos, said it is not profitable for the corporation to sit on the fence as a regulatory body and being unable to behave like a private sector concern in terms of understanding people’s needs.

    He noted that since he assumed office in 2017, he has refrained from performing assignments on the pages of  newspapers, but focused carefully on building blocks on a foundation that will allow subsequent development plans.

    “In tourism, the legal framework for the commercialisation of tourism world best practices was not there. The law was really old.  The law has also been handcuffed by a Supreme Court order, so it was not a law that could allow tourism industry generate the kind of revenues the oil and communication industries have. That is the significance.

    “With the legal framework required for the financial framework to sit on, with the global best practices locked into that, you can see that the lip services that tourism was paid can not achieve much, except the legal frame work is in place. For instance, tourism operators cannot conveniently borrow from the bank because tourism is not seen as a business, because there is no legal framework that supports it. Now, hopefully that will change as soon as the bill is passed into law,” he said.

    According to Coker, despite these challenges, tourism has been very lucky with the on-going infrastructural development (roads, rail, security, power) embarked upon by Buhari’s administration across the country. He added that for every naira President Buhari has spent in making the life of every Nigerian better is what tourism requires.

    He commended Nigeria for investing in agriculture, manufacturing, power, rail, road and other infrastructure, noting that the best off taker for these industries is tourism because it consumes almost all the products. “Tourism will create more intense demand for agricultural products, manufacturing, power, etc. and ‘we will see good value for the investment,” he said.

    “Every naira spent benefits tourism. Even though tourism is angling for more funds for specific tourism projects, a lot of things are being done that benefit tourism as it benefits the larger society. Also, we have started the process of Tourism Satellite Account, (TSA), which allows you to measure what is going right or wrong,” he said.

     

    Journey so far

     

    On the journey so far, Coker said: “This is not something one would particularly want to publicise. But, in terms of NTDC, I met a lot of historical debts. And with limited funding it was important that I discharge some of the historical debts, but I also kept the organisation alive. The financial engineering was required to balance that historical debts that I did not create, but keep people running and paid off little by little, without fear or favour.” The implementation of that is what attracted the initial protest by staff of the organisation. “If you have very limited resources, you must close loopholes. And when you do that, there will be crisis. In terms of human capital, our focus has been digital. I am glad that the staff have embraced the digital training because the future is digital. Today, the richest companies in the world are not in the oil and gas sector, but digital, where Apple, Google etc. are leaders. Everybody’s life in the future will be disrupted by this new technology.”

     

    Promoting tourism brands

     

    “Within the NTDC’s Tour Nigeria and Nigeria Flavour the digital marketing brands we created, we can generate in-bound tourists from the Diaspora as witnessed in Ghana last month, which might have been subsidised by that government.  By virtue of our population, we have the strength to bring good number of Diaspora to Nigeria. We are pleading for financial institutions to make funding of tourism cheaper for tourism stakeholders because tourism does not generate individual returns yet that allows it to stand 25 per cent interest rate.

    “If you go to Dubai or London, most of the tourism facilities are domestic first and foremost, but expanded to accommodate international plugging.

    “In fact, Nigeria offers value for money when compared to other cities. As long as we have good value for money, we will get the international tourists. All we need to do is get our fundamentals right. That is what I am trying to do.”

     

    Tourism Development Fund

     

    “This is to aggregate the taxes that are due to tourism and allow the identification of tourism tax that will go into the development fund, which will be managed by a board. For instance, if NTDC wants to build a small motel in Gurara Fall, we need to bring a seed money as counterpart fund to execute such project. This is to encourage the host state.

     

    Use of data for development

     

    “We have a very good relationship with National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The Bureau examined the performances of tourism related industry in the economy and declared that tourism was responsible for 34 per cent of the country’s GDP and 20 per cent employment generation. These figures are incredibly encouraging to me.

    “It is good Nigeria is investing in agriculture, manufacturing, power, rail, road and other infrastructure. The best off taker for these industries is tourism because it consumes almost all the products. Tourism will create more intense demand for agricultural products, power, etc and we will see good value for the investment. By investment, I mean the seed money we need to put into the sector to encourage state and private operators. In fact, the bill is not punitive to anybody as it is more by collaboration than enforcement.”

     

    Hotel standardisation

     

    “Hotel standardisation and grading across the world are done by countries and not by states. We are going through the motion with UNWTO to put ourselves in a position to grade all our hotels so that we can deliver value for money. We cannot force any state to subscribe to standardisation of hotels because it is in the state interest to subscribe. Will anyone wish to have many standards or one standard that is uniform across board?

     

    Expectations from the law

     

    “I see a future where NTDC is a technological company in the sphere of tourism regulation just like UBER in the sphere of transportation, Inter-switch in the provision of switching system in the banking sector. That’s is my vision for NTDC.”

     

  • Author recounts near rape experiences

    The need for more stringent measures to check the increasing cases of rape came to the fore at the presentation of a book, She Tells It All, at Landmark Towers on Victoria Island, Lagos. OLATUNDE ODEBIYI reports.

    Advocates against rape have called for more stringent measures to check its increase in  the country. The call was made at the presentation of a book, She Tells It All, at Landmark Towers, Victory Island, Lagos State. The book, written by Access to Basic Medical Care (ABC) Foundation Chief Operating Officer, Dolapo Oyedipe, is a story of her near rape experiences, and a call to action booklet, highlighting portions of the nation’s law relating to rape.

    “I wrote the book to impact the society on some aspects of my life and some incidents that occured, which I have always felt the need to shout out to families, and to other girls and women. By taking this bold step in being a voice that can be heard, I am hoping that others as well can make a positive change in their lives, knowing that it is never too late to speak out,” said Oyedipe.

     

    The recollection

     

    She shared her near rape experiences, saying: “My near rape experiences were in broad day light. I was always decently dressed, but these men still made the attempt. My first near rape experience occurred when I was about 10 years old. My mother had warned me not to go to the neighbouring convenience shops nor should I run errands for anyone. But, on this fateful day, a relative came to the house and instructed me to buy something for her at one of the convenience stores nearby, despite my initial protests.

    “She persuaded me to go since it was not far and I would be back in a few minutes. I skipped along, happy to be able to run an errand. When I got to the store, there was no one there. I shouted for attention, I was eventually invited to come inside the room by the store. I was met by a man, who was probably in his thirties. Immediately after I informed him of what I needed to buy, he started taking off his clothes, which I found strange, and I kept remembering my mother’s voice saying I should ‘never be in a room alone where a man is taking off his clothes’.  In instant reaction, I screamed as he advanced towards me, while also attempting to pull off my dress. My voice attracted the attention of other people in the vicinity, who demanded that the door be opened immediately and I was saved from the hand of the perpetrator.”

    She continued: “Another near rape incident occurred to me when I was about 14 years old. I was alone at home as my parents had gone to work and my younger brothers were also not at home. I was lying on the settee, deeply engrossed in my Mills and Boon novel. After the closing hour, my father’s driver came in to drop off the car keys and I responded perfunctorily when he informed me that he wanted to drop off the keys.

    “Suddenly, I looked up and saw him advancing towards me smiling saying, ‘pretty girl, you know I like you’. To say I was stunned, shocked and afraid was to say the least, but I remembered my mum always advised me saying, ‘never be left alone in a room with a man. Always be vigilant’. I got up swiftly, managed to evade his glasses, ran past him and he kept protesting, but grinned and said words to the effect that ‘pretty girl, no one will hear you, you know I like you’.

    “I had two choices. I could either allow my father’s driver to rape me or I resist him with all that was within me. He backed me against a wall while attempting to remove his scruffy blue jean, which slowed down because of the belt he was wearing. When the opportunity presented itself, I quickly kicked his manhood. While he yelled in pain, I ducked and ran past him outside, hid behind a bush, till I heard my mother shout my name continuously. Immediately I got to her, she asked where I was and what was wrong with me because she saw that I was visibly shaken and I told her what happened. My mother was angry and informed my father.  The driver was sacked the following day after he resumed work as if nothing happened.”

     

    The call:

     

    While urging the public, especially women and girls to speak out against the menace openly, she observed that sexual assault is a feature that occurs every day.

    Oyedipe said: “Everyone should speak to their children at home, at work, in the church and mosques about sexual assault. As parents, you need to develop a relationship with your children. Fathers should be fathers and mothers should be mothers.  Sex should be something we speak about freely to our children; otherwise they will learn it from the wrong people.”

    “For each experience, I immediately recounted what happened. Nowadays, I wonder why there is always the fear of not telling anyone or reporting an incident, especially to our parents.  It could be due to the fear of being reprimanded or even blamed. But as girls, we must speak out so that those in a position of authority can act fast and take the necessary action, otherwise the culprit will not be caught and would act again.  Never blame yourself for any act done or about to happen to you.”

     

     

    The place of the law

     

    The chairman on the occasion, an engineer, Femi Odumabo, described the book as a significant effort to help contribute to the knowledge of how to handle the subject of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, rape and related matters.  While stating that the book is useful as a handbook to remind women, who have been assaulted in one way or the other that it is not the end of the world, he commended the author for stepping out of her comfort zone to put together the book, saying it is informative.

    “This book will help us to bring the knowledge base to the fore front as it highlights the major aspects of the subject because the author is a lawyer and has graciously highlighted the portions of law in Nigeria and how they relate to the subject. The book is also to remind ourselves that there is solace in breaking the silence; that our past will not define us and that in our own little way, we can make a change.”

    He observed that government has a role to play in ending sexual abuse, and therefore, called for the enforcement of normalcy in the society, including the law and justice rest with the government. He said: “It is the duty of the government to execute the required consequences on perpetrators such act of violence. And people will know that when they are caught, they will be reported and prosecuted.

    “The government are supposed to be the champion of campaigns against such and prosecution of perpetrators; all the other institutions, including churches, parent and mosques are agents, should be too. As known abroard that offenders are labelled such that anywhere they go, it will be on record that they are sex abusers. This is why I said government is the one that should know what to do when cases like sexual abuse come up.”

  • ICAF targets new audience

    Aderemi Adegbite is the Artistic Director of the yearly community-based international art festival, Iwaya Community Art Festival (ICAF). The event seeks to promote alternative art and artists, bringing the former closer to the people. In this interview with FOYEKE AJAO, Adegbite speaks on the festival’s radical approach and its impact on Iwaya Community.

    What sets Iwaya Community Art Festival (ICAF) apart from other festivals?

    It is a community-based international art festival that runs on very organic ideas. At the poetry session of last year’s festival, the audience sat under a tree with mats while the artists sat on stools. And we went out of the community – to Tejuosho market in Yaba – for the performance of Yusuf Durodola’s play, titled: Agbegilere. Taiwo Aiyedogbon painted human figures on the street.

    The festival is not limited by space, we just want to engage everyday people on the streets and we believe these settings open up the arts to a wider audience, especially  petty traders, who hawk on the streets and market men and women, who are typically not involved in the discourse on contemporary arts.

    We call for submissions of work and for residency from local and international artists.

     What inspired the starting the  ICAF? 

    I was prompted by a sense of commitment. I was born and bred in Iwaya community and ran an organisation that focuses on creating art projects that are both didactic and artistic within the community. I like to say that this festival is my personal artistic Corporate Social Responsibility to the community. Art in Lagos and Nigeria, in general, is restricted to the galleries and museums, making it very elitist and sometimes very academic. In Nigeria, community festivals that are visual arts-oriented and focus on contemporary art are rare.

    Rather than recycling the regular audience at visual arts openings and shows, the idea behind the ICAF was to reach a new audience through a contemporary community festival that was visual arts-oriented. The festival is focused on bringing art closer to people who cannot actually afford it.

    It’s important to bring art to low income earners who cannot afford to visit the galleries and museums. Art should not be limited to a particular set of people or space. It’s so sad that art writers would rather review organised exhibitions but will not attend community festivals in Lagos and other states except it’s organised by the government or a corporate organisation. They cannot go through the rigour of covering this type of festival. How are we going to win new audiences when we continue to recycle audiences and meet the same people at gallery exhibitions?

    How do you go about bringing art closer to the people, and ensure that art spaces are accessible to all?

    The festival is meant to present art in the community in unusual spaces because the usual spaces, which would have suited the purpose are non-existent within the community. And so, we are constantly looking for alternative spaces to transform into art spaces with the works we installed within them. And we are happy to say we have done several since the festival began in 2016.

    We have put up some images of Bariga-based boxers (shot by Kayode Oluwa) in a very iconic space where a lot of street boys love to sit. That spot is like the political signpost of the community where you find lots of campaign posters; and because we are in the political season, there were lots of posters there representing different political parties.

    There was also a long wall close to the headquarters of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), where we decided to install Congolese artist, Georges Senga’s work about a particular religious community in Congo. The work focuses on Simon Kimbangu, the founder of Malemba religious community, who claims to be the first black prophet in Africa. Kimbangu of Nkamba, DR Congo was jailed by the Belgian colonial authority for more than 30 years before he died in prison in October 1951.

    In this work, Georges Senga recounts his childhood memory of Kimbanguists through still images. Members of the Malemba sect have their own rituals and processes, but they dress like members of the white garment churches in Nigeria. While we were mounting those images, most passers-by who worshipped at MFM were curious to know what the photographs were about and why we had decided to mount them close to their church. The MFM members would not have approached us if we were putting up a tutorial centre banner similar to those that littered the wall, but they had that conversation with us because we were putting up photographs of what looked like another Christian sect. For them, what they saw was a rival congregation and they had to react to it immediately.

    Another alternative space that was maximally explored included some walls built in 2016, by a family that closed a major street entrance road to a sectional area of the community. Kris Russo in collaboration with residents of the community whose lifestyles were affected by the walls, co-created an open-space, town hall intervention on Yeye Street, where series of talks were held with the affected people and the community leaders during the festival.

    Did the people understand some of these works?

    At first glance some did not but oftentimes they would approach us to find out more and we would explain to them. A typical example is the the wonderful work about human trafficking through the Mediterranean Sea and the dangers around it using effigies and some toys by Enoh Lienemann. The title of her photography work -“FRONT-EX A Mystery Tour”- alludes to Frontex, the name of a border control agency established by the European Union in collaboration with Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania. Frontex controls the frontiers of Mediterranean Sea in order to prevent illegal migration of Africans through European waters.

    I remember we installed Enoh’s work right across from a big lottery shop in the community where at least 50 to 100 boys bet their money every day and try to hit the jackpot. To my surprise, some of the boys really understood what the installations were about because they could engage with it and talk about the risks involved in such journeys.

    What are some of the challenges encountered in organising the festival?

    The first challenge is funding: to run some of our projects successfully, we need funding from local and international funding platforms. Vernacular Art-space Laboratory is an artist-led organisation with different community projects one of which is Communal Re-Imagination, an alternative art school project funded by the Prince Claus Fund. This aim of this project is to re-engage youth in the Iwaya/Makoko community through art workshops for a year without any financial commitment from the participants. We have not been able to gain such funding for Iwaya Community Art Festival, which is in its fourth year. We always have calls for submissions: for work and for residency. We run an international community art festival and apart from reaching out to local artists, we also reach out to international artists for submissions through art platforms. It’s very important for us to continue to engage with and encourage conversations between Anglophone and Francophone countries. In 2017, we invited Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi also known as Crazinist Artist from Ghana, Youchaou Kiffouly from Republic of Benin and Gor Soudan From Kenya. Last year we were able to get one artist from Mali that was supported by Art Moves Africa (AMA) travel grant. We tried to get two of them but only one got the funding.

    The second challenge is the thugs who are out to tax us for every space used. We also have people accosting us and trying to stop what we are doing, but we just find a way of engaging them. At Tejuosho Market, where we had a performance – even though we were on the walkway outside the market – a task force, led by a woman, came and asked us to take our things away from the walkway that is located outside the market complex. They shouted and threatened to arrest us, so I spoke with the commander and told her that we were not about to do anything cunning or diabolical. Rather, we were artists and she should be calm and see what we were about to offer.

    How has the experience been and is it open to all artists and art forms?

    It has been exciting. And yes, all artists and all art forms. 2018 was the most open year for entries. For the first time in the history of ICAF Lagos, all the projects done by the artists-in-residence were community-based. Unlike two years ago  where some artists already brought their work, all the works exhibited at last year’s festival were inspired by the community, created within the community and exhibited within the community, which is what we want from the festival. For me, as the Artistic Director of the festival, it shows that the residency programme is working and that the festival is meeting its objectives.

    The way we mount photographic works during the festival is strategic. In 2016, we focused on photography and video art because of our limited resources. In 2017, we adopted a similar process, but unlike in 2016, we had exclusive access to an abandoned space directly opposite the community market – an uncompleted building – that we used as an installation space. It was very important for us to use this space as part of that year’s festival.

    We didn’t have access to the building in 2018 the way we did in 2017, we only had a floor to ourselves and we put an artist on that floor. Nameer Davis, an Australian artist, collaborated with school kids to paint three-dimensional life size pictures directly on the pillars of the building, giving it a sculptural feel. Nameer’s work was indeed, sophisticated for the festival and I sincerely think it is something that should be shown in a biennale.

    We were able to accommodate all art forms last year, thanks to the Communal Re-Imagination Workstation funded by Prince Claus Fund as part of its Next Generation Project. The space we have is not big enough to accommodate every artist at the festival – its proximity is also a factor – so we need other alternative spaces within the community.

    In 2019, we will not have the uncompleted building at Iwaya market anymore, and if there are no alternatives, such as open spaces and uncompleted buildings, we might consider negotiating to put works in people’s compounds and their homes.

  • ‘ASUU strike will not affect Auchi Poly conference’

    Centre for Gender Studies Director, Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, Dr. Helen Uhuamwagho, has reassured that the lingering labour dispute between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will not affect the forthcoming international conference holding at the polytechnic from January 21 to 24.

    In a statement, Uhuamwagho said the conference would still hold, adding that participants were being expected from within and outside the country.

    “So far, we have received encouraging responses from participants for the conference. The strike will not in any way affect it, even if by then the dispute is not resolved because the school is in session except for academic activities,” she added.

    The conference with the theme: ‘’Implementing and sustaining gender mainstreaming in a globalised world, is being coordinated by the Centre.

    Participants at the conference will address sub-themes, such as strategies for ending poverty, strategies for making our cities and human settlements safe, inclusive and sustainable, strategies for effective implementation of international action programme on climate change, strategies for achieving gender equality and strategies for economic empowerment of women and girls, among others.

    The four-day event will feature a keynote address by Dr Kwame Nyamekhe, a lead paper by Prof. Agatha Eguavoen of Faculty of Social Sciences, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, a technical session, a gala night and a guided tour of tourism sites in Afenmai.

    Auchi Polytechnic Rector, Dr. M. S Jimah, is chief host.

    Personalities who have distinguished themselves in various fields have been listed for the conferment of the Centre’s award of honours.

     

  • Experts seek end to land grabbing, others

    A workshop on Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) by the Friends of the Earth Africa (FoEA) has put the spotlight on land grabbing and informed consent policy to safeguard communities in development projects across the continent, writes OMOLARA AKINTOYE.

    Participants at a two-day workshop organised by the Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Africa Regional Exchange on Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) have drawn attention to the problems of land in some parts of the continent.

    With the theme, Reclaim FPIC democratise development, the event was held in collaboration with member-groups from Liberia, Nigeria, Togo, Uganda and other relevant stakeholders across Nigeria.

    It focused on enhancing knowledge, building capacity and common understanding on the principles of FPIC, its applicability and how it can be used to influence practices and policies at various levels of advocacy work.

    Dr Maurice Olory, from Cross Rivers State, said:  ‘’The international legal instruments and standards on FPIC in connection with its success stories, loopholes and prospects relevant to  Africa were examined. The community was relatively peaceful until multinational companies came many years ago.

    “Instead of them to dialogue with the community leaders, we were not being carried along at all. Initially, these companies came in the name of development, but at the end, what you hear is revocation of our land. In Nbarakon community in Cross Rivers State where I hail from, land grabbing has been the order of the day by multinational companies, our means of livelihood has been taken away from us, our land is polluted,” he said.

    The story of Cheo Johnson of Jogban clan from Liberia, was not different.

    “When the multinational company came to our community, divide and rule was the order of the day coupled with financial inducement of the community leaders, but some of the leaders refused to be bought.

    “Large-scale land acquisitions are widespread in Africa. Africa, many years ago became a ‘grabbers’ hotspot’, following global concerns over food security and fuel supplies. Land, with its available water potential, was acquired by a wide range of private and public actors, including sovereign governments, on African soil.’’

    Also, Sustainable Development Initiative (SDI) Co-ordinator, Ali Kaba, from Liberia, said: “Ineffective legal, political and institutional processes have permitted large-scale land acquisition to the detriment of local communities. There are increasing tensions with local communities who suffer from dispossession of land and natural resources and lack power, made worse where there are no mechanisms for relocation or compensation.

    The issue of land ownership in Liberia, Kaba added, is being managed by people in Counties (aka states) in Liberia and not the government any longer.

    He said while Liberia is a late comer in land reform, countries, such as Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda and Togo, had been executing policies on it.

    He said: “The land reform was made possible as a result of collective efforts, the battle of rural Liberians, community members who fought for their land rights, the efforts of civil societies to expose the land rights and the abuses in the sector to the international community and the goodwill of the international community to pressurise the government to open up to reforms in the land sector. Liberia was just lucky because it recognised the rights of communities with or without document. We have FPIC in some of our domestic laws, and it really helped. Nigeria can also emulate this.”

    Forest and Bio-Diversity Programme of Friends of the Earth, Africa Co-ordinator Rita Uwaka observed that FPIC could be used to challenge unfriendly processes.

    “As CSOs, we need to domesticate this issue and hold our government accountable.The concept of development, she said, must involve everybody. People must be carried along. It’s wrong for the government and companies to get to a community and take over their land without any understanding. There is need for community to give their consent first before their land is taken from them.’’

    Uwaka called on African governments to prevent and address the adverse human rights impacts of company operations on community peoples before concessions are made to multi-national corporations.

    She said: “We demand free prior and informed consent of community people before any development project commences by any company operating in community territories in Africa. Consent must be given without force, intimidation, oppression or coercion and according to the decision making processes of the communities.”

  • Queen Moremi the Musical goes to US, Europe

    For the freedom of her people, she went undercover and paid the supreme price. Welcome the iconic Queen-warrior Moremi Ajasoro of Ile-Ife. Celebrating the life and times of the legendary queen, Queen Moremi the Musical hit the theatre last December amid positive reviews. EVELYN OSAGIE writes that the show is set to tour the United States and Europe.

    She was the daughter of one of Ife’s bravest hunter-warriors, Lukugba, and Princess Olunbe of Offa. Moremi stood for the oppressed and questioned injustice. And when her race was faced with the greatest threat of annihilation, she braved the challenge, risked her life, demystified and overcome the threat of the people of Ugbo.

    Behold one of most courageous and iconic queen-warriors in the history of Yorubaland, Moremi Ajasoro!

    Once again, her heroic-cum-sacrificial deeds were revisited when the show, Queen Moremi The Musical, an initiative of House of Oduduwa Foundation, in collaboration in Rejuvenee, premiered at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, last December.

    The musical, which was produced by Bolanle Austen-Peters (BAP) Production and supported by Rejuvenee, parades a cast of notable Nollywood and theatre stars, such as Bimbo Manuel, Kunle Afolayan, Femi Branch, Rotimi Adelegan, Deyemi Okalawon, Omotola Jolade-Ekeinde as leader of Esinmirin, Tosin Adeyemi, Kemi Lala Akindoju, and Bamike Olawunni.

    From the energetic deliveries of the cast to the beautifully-crafted attires, plus the phenomenal stage set, the show not only puts a spotlight on the 12th century tale of brave Queen Moremi braving the lead to save her people but forces women to rethink their roles in leadership and today’s world. It also recaps the need for sacrificial leadership as elections are around the corner.

    While leaving its audience spell-bound, the premiere, which ran from December 21, last year till January 2, this year, also received the blessing of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who was at its command performance along with Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Ogun State Governor’s wife, Mrs Olufunso Amosun, and the Peopls Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr Jimi Agbaje.

    The energetic performances of Tosin Adeyemi, who played the role of Moremi, were highly applauded along with those of  other members of the cast.

    And after a successful outing in Lagos, Queen Moremi the Musical is set to tour the United States and Europe, according to the Global Ambassador of Queen Moremi Ajasoro Initiative, Princess Ronke Ademiluyi.

    It would be recalled that the monarch, who has initiated several projects to immortalise the Yorùbá heroine, in his bid to take the initiative beyond Nigeria, appointed Princess Ademiluyi as the heritage ambassador of the Moremi Ajasoro legacy.

    The monarch said: “With this appointment, Princess Ademiluyi is now the living embodiment of Moremi with the responsibility to promote and safeguard the legacies of the great African heroine.”

    Creating a musical out of the story of the historic heroic Yoruba figure,Móremí, Princess Ademiluyi stated, was inspired by the need to revitalise the cultural heritage of the Yorùbá race.

    She said: “In the beginning, the idea was conceived to join the Moremi project, we approached Bolanle Austen-Peters to direct the production, but she refused because of the traditional and cultural aspects of it.

    “At the said time, she was also engaged in contemporary projects like Saro, Fela and the Kalakuta Queens, among others. Doing a traditional project then was a ‘no, no thing’ for her. And that took us a lot of going back and forth to convince her until Her Excellency, Mrs. Amosun, came into the picture to convince her to accept. And the outcome is what we have just seen as Queen Moremi the Musical. And we have been approached by some people on the film project of Móremí, which is the next project that will be a Hollywood blockbuster movie.”

    The outing, according to the organisers, has also paved the way for the next staging at Easter and abroad.

    Recounting the success of the Lagos outing, Princess Ademiluyi said: “When we first set out to produce it two years ago, we did not imagine the impact the musical would have. When it premiered last December and ran till January 2, 2019, the show went beyond our imagination.  We had 21 shows  and all the tickets were sold out. Right now, people have started to book for Easter shows. Some booked from abroad, came home to watch the show several times, and at some point, people were asking why it shouldn’t be more than two shows per day, but the cast needed a break because they are human.

    “After that, we will be having a global tour that will take us to the United Kingdom, the US, some African countries and some states in Nigeria. Some people booked ahead of time. Overall, it was a success. It is phenomenal and as an Ambassador of Queen Moremi Ajasoro Initiative, it is my role to look for strategic partners to portray the name of Queen Moremi out there which is what it is all about.”

  • NGO donates to LUTH

    A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Grant Children Heart Foundation, has donated materials to the Pediatrics Department of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos.

    They include one suctioning machine, pulse oximeters and mobile ward screen.

    Mrs Lois Nwaogwugwu, a board member of the NGO, said the donation would address needs of the hospital.

    According to her, many parents of children with heart defects do not have the funds to take care of them, especially to do surgery.

    She said: “We are health workers and we visit hospitals to see what Nigerians go through before they can have access to medical attention. It is our passion to help people in alleviating their sufferings and to give them hope. We, particularly, have the interest of children born with heart diseases in mind and we are pledging to make the gesture  continuous by partnering with LUTH.”

    While receiving the items on behalf of the hospital, the Head of Department, Pediatrics, Prof Christy Okoromah, commended the group for the gesture.

    Okoromah said: “The government alone cannot cater for the health sector because it is a huge part of the economy. The Federal Government, through the management of the hospital, is working hard to improve infrastructure. So, I think the private organisation can come to see what they can they contribute”

    “Gestures of this nature would help to improve the quality of care that we provide to patients. We encourage more people to team up with this kind of gesture for children with heart holes.”

    She added: “This is a good development. I am pleased that they are interested in helping children who have heart problems. Unknown to people, heart problems in children are common. People only know about holes in the heart, but there are many more problems, including hypertension, asthma.

    “Some of the things they are presenting here are very useful for children. This is the beginning of greater partnership. We will be engaging them more to ascertain the area of interest and It is a good move, especially at the beginning of the year.’’

     

     

  • Culture, tourism as means of viable economic development

    Culture is the totality of an individual, or group of persons’ way of life. This includes dressing, language, religion, religious ceremonies, governance, arts, craft, technology, etc. Every culture on the face of the earth is unique, and people react differently to the environment around them.

    Culture derives its significance from people’s belief, literature, customs, knowledge, values, and codes, among others.

    Tourism, on the other hand, is the travel for recreation, leisure, religions, family reunion, business purpose, etc., usually for a limited duration of time. It can also be viewed as an activity done by an individual or group of persons, which leads to a movement from one place to another. It could be a move from a country to another for the performance of a specific task, or a visit to the particular place/places for the purpose of entertainment, which leads to an awareness of other civilisations, and culture, thereby increasing the knowledge of countries, cultures and history for and by the tourist. Tourism is an art, science and business of attracting and serving visitors.

    Culture-tourism, therefore, is a combination of both culture and tourism. That is, what culture of a people/place can offer and the ability of tourisms to patronise the tourism product available. Cultural tourism relates to the visit by tourist to a place for the purpose of admiring the beauty of the available cultural resources and national heritage. It reflects the diversity and character of a nation, which calls for the need to conserve and maintain the value of the cultural heritage of that nation.

    Suffice it to say here that one of the principal gateways to achieve this laudable intention is the Museum. The museum is charged with the conservation, preservation and presentation of our cultural heritage-tangible and intangible.

    The conservation of cultural heritage by the museum creates access to the heritage of the people, giving rise to cultural tourism.

    In 2000, the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) addressed the issue of culture and its relationship with tourism development, and extensively discussed the impact of tourism on the preservation and conservation of cultural heritage policies and guidelines for cultural tourism and development and its marketing techniques. Tourism is essentially a service industry, which yields an attractive form of economic development.

    Cultural heritage tourism is a tool of economic development that achieves economic growth through attracting visitors from outside a host community who are motivated wholly or in part by interest in the historical, artistic, scientific or lifestyle, heritage, offering of a community, religion, group or institution (Silberberg, 1995). Such travels are focused up on experiencing cultural environment, including landscape, the visual and the performing art, special lifestyle, value, tradition and events.

    Linking tourism with cultural heritage can do more for local economies than promoting them separately. The core ideas in cultural heritage tourism are “save your heritage and culture, share it with visitors, and reap the economic benefits of tourism”. The mission of the preservation community is to preserve and protect historic, cultural and natural resources. The cultural community is looking for ways to attract new audience.

    Tourism brings individuals/human communities into contact, and through them, cultures and civilisation has an important role to play in facilitating dialogue amongst cultures. It enables people to live better together and contributes to the construction of peace in the minds of those that co-exist together.

    Culture has been identified as the centre piece of a nation’s tourism, and cultural heritage is an attraction for tourism. The community is the incubators of culture, and culture the world over, controls human development.

    The greatest influence in human endeavour is culture, which is created by man that came together as a group to form community, nation, state, country, etc. The government should give due attention to culture and tourism; provide all needed machineries (fund, manpower, level playing ground, etc.) to develop the industry and place it within the key sectors of the economy. This will generate sustainable development of cultural tourism that will result to community empowerment, which eventually will minimise the poverty of the people, where too much rely upon the government is the major reason for the poverty state of its citizens.

    Cultural and natural heritage that attracts so much tourism is a resource for development. It provides opportunity for raising awareness, educating, training, and involves communities in the process of conserving and enhancing their heritage. It is the involvement of all that will enable the heritage of humanity to be better preserved, living condition to be improved and poverty reduced.

    Preserving cultural and natural heritage, in order to bring it within reach of all, making culture and civilisation better known, improving daily living condition and reducing poverty is what gives meaning to the sustainability of tourism development.

    Tourism is a powerful economic development tool that creates jobs, provides new business opportunities and strengthens local economies. Cultural heritage tourism can have tremendous economic impact on local economies etc. new businesses, job creation, higher property values, etc. It adds less tangible but equally important pay offs. A well-managed tourism programme improves the quality of life, as resident take advantage of services and attractions tourism adds. It promotes community pride, which grows as people work together to develop a thriving tourism industry.

    An area that develops its potentials for cultural heritage, tourism creates new opportunities for tourists to gain an understanding of an unfamiliar place or time. The influx of people/visitors comes with new opportunities for preservation and conservation and increase diversified economies, while holding on to the characteristics that make communities special.

    Tourism is widely recognised for its tangible outcomes (job creation, tax revenues) as well as its intangible outcome (quality of life). It may build upon a wide variety of attractions, including “agri-courism”, destination tourism, fairs events conferences, sports teams, recreation and more. Tourism is an important industry that depends on culture and science. It has a direct impact on national revenue as it creates work opportunities, industries and several investments to serve and raise a nation’s performance culture distributes its history, civilisation and tradition.

    The impact of cultural tourism cannot be over-emphasised as the world is fast becoming a global village and people the world over are interested and curious about discovering new places, culture and civilisation.

    The museum being one of the major catalyst within which cultural-tourism can flourish, is the custodian of the nation’s heritage potentials. The preservation, conservation and presentation of the nation’s cultural heritage by the museum creates access to the heritage of the people, which culminates to cultural tourism. Cultural tourism empowers the community and provides opportunity for the people to acquire skills and experience that transform their perceptions. For instance, instead of over depending on the government, people will become self-employed through craft production, works of art, serving tourists with local products, etc. Some are empowered to acquire apprenticeship on the production of arts/crafts which will yield better input and community services satisfaction.

    Nigeria, in its diversity, is blessed with abundant tourism sites and cultural attraction which are scattered across the 36 states of the federation. The proliferation of this cultural tourism has contributed immensely to the gross domestic product of the nation.

    People’s curiosity over discovering of new tourist sites has helped Nigeria, coupled with the festivals.

    An example of the New Yam festival in the East, Osun Osogbo grove in the Southwest, the colourful Carnival Calabar in the South and the colourful horse riding event known as Durbar in the north, particularly Kano and Katsina states have attracted millions of tourist thereby affecting the economy of Nigeria positively.

    Our hand crafts, which are aspects of our material culture like bronzes, leather works, shoes, bags, pottery are not left out. Such items are produced as sourvenirs to our tourists to take back to their various destinations making our crafts men and women reap back with profit their efforts. Not only these, our materials of global craft are being exported globally for both commercial and image making purposes. This has been able to gainfully employ and populace as well as portray our rich cultural heritage, the value of our local inhabitants, generating markets and investors.

    The economic fortunes attached to our hospitality industry cannot be easily qualified. The tourism industry yields its revenue through the foreign exchange earnings. The mass inflow, especially of international tourist, enhances exchange of foreign currencies.

    Expenditure takes place from the first entry point of the country, as well as other direct and indirect charges on goods and services. This in turn contributes directly or otherwise to the current account of the balance of payments, thus creating business turnover, increase in household income, employment and revenue generation. A portion of the revenue or money is re-spent within the destination economy, thereby further rounds or re-circling of economic activities is created.

    Cultural heritage, are great potential for tourism, if well-maintained, attracts visitors. They are preservation by the museum helps to maintain the appealing value of the historical or natural sites resulting in pleasurable visits, desirable again and again by the tourists, due to experiences which are worthwhile, satisfactory and enjoyable.

     

    • Ezinwanyi works with National Museum, Abuja.

  • The fastest way to kill your dreams – procrastination

    Do you know that for the average Nigerian, January is the longest month of the year? Just check it after January we will suddenly be saying Happy new month in July, after that we are buying chickens and saying merry Christmas, and suddenly the year has ended. Maybe I exaggerated a bit, but you definitely get what I am saying. Everyone thinks we have time and tomorrow is still there, after all January has 31 days and February has 28 days and March has 31 days and we go on and on, till the year comes to an end, then we ask ourselves where did all the time go? What did I achieve in 365 days, then we enter the new year in regret.

    In my experience as a life coach, I have realized that when it comes to coaching people on goal setting a lot of people encounter what I call the goal killer AKA procrastination.

    Procrastination simply defined means leaving what you can do today to tomorrow, tomorrow in the case of a procrastinator never means the next day.

    A lot of people are chronic procrastinators and do not even know. To the regular Joe procrastination may seem like just an habit, but I have realized that procrastination involves a special level of living in denial and daily lying to one’s self, it may be the number one reason why people say the grave is the richest place on earth.

    When I began coaching people especially to overcome procrastination, in order for them to live their best lives the first phase which is diagnostic led me to formulate what I call the different types of procrastinators, I realized that as broad as procrastination sounds there are many underlying reasons why different individuals procrastinate, most of the time knowing what makes you procrastinate why you solves half of the problem.

    In this article I will be sharing on just four types of procrastinators.

    • The Perfectionist : It seems very unlikely that someone like this will procrastinate, but most perfectionists will keep pushing back on a task simply because they want everything to be a certain way before they start, if it’s not up to a certain standard they refuse to continue the project, a peek into this persons closet shows skeleton of unfinished projects and we soon learn that perfectionism is just a cover up excuse for the persons inability to master the task given. Most times this person has an unrealistic picture of how the task is supposed to go, and would not start until this unrealistic picture is in the reality, this person forgets that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and that starting small is the key to a perfect project. If you do not bother starting, how will you even attain the picture of perfection you have in your head.
    • The fearful procrastinator: This person delays in taking action because of the fear of the unknown, or the fear of what others may say if failure occurs. This person most likely seeks validation from those around him and, the thought of ‘what if this task flops’ is his or her mantra. This person unlike the perfectionist procrastinator doesn’t even bother starting the project, so most of his ideas are stuck in his brain and he will probably go to the grave with the ideas, if he doesn’t get professional help.

    This person doesn’t know that courageous people have mastered the art of going forward despite the presence of fear. A tip for the person is ‘failure is nothing but feedback’ change your perception of failure and watch yourself achieve what you didn’t know you were capable of doing.

    • The overwhelmed procrastinator: To the passer by, this person is very efficient, and is quick to action, whenever there is a task to be done, this person is usually the first to volunteer his or her service, what no one knows is that this person in a bid to seem efficient and up to the task has taken on more they can bear. This person takes on way too much tasks and appears to be at the fore front of all tasks, unknown to most this person is crumbling beneath all the tasks, the person most likely has a mountain of uncompleted tasks, because they are tired and can’t juggle it all. What this person needs to realize that it’s ok to say no to anything that is a burden to you. Be more interested in results than activities.
    • The last-minute procrastinator: This person’s most used phrase is ‘I work better under pressure’ the highest level of self deceit. This person leaves tasks till the last minute and begins to rush to complete tasks just at the last minute. What this person doesn’t know is that things like sleep, health, family time and many other things will suffer for this behavior.

    The good news is that it doesn’t matter what type of procrastinator you are, it is possible for you to overcome in my practice I have seen that with a few coaching sessions a procrastinator can well be on his way to becoming a goal getter. For more information you can follow me on Instagram @coachgbemz or email me at gbemieobadan@gmail.com

    In the interim here are some tips to help you if you procrastinate

    –            Forgive yourself for opportunities lost from procrastination

    –            Write down the tasks you need to complete and allocate a reasonable time to complete them

    –            Attach a reward to each completed task, this way you can look forward to completing  tasks because of the reward attached to it

    –            Get an accountability partner to keep you in check, this could be a mentor or a coach

    –            Eliminate all distractions

    –            Celebrate your progress as you watch yourself become a goal getter