The Nation Newspaper

Category: Arts & Life

  • Chukwuma and his symbols of woods

    Chukwuma and his symbols of woods

    The title of the exhibition showed the extent of the seriousness involved in the works.  Genesis – a charity art exhibition, recently organised by the Ovie Brume Foundation, Lagos, in which several artists exhibited their works was a prove that there are Nigerian contemporary artists whose works always speak volumes.  One of them is Gerald Chukwuma whose three works on display showed the high standard of his artistic experimentation.

    In these three outstanding works titled Covered, Metamorphosis and The coral, he used woods to establish deep symbols and patterns entrenched in ulli and nsibidi arts.  His patterns are colourful and truly represent wood relief embedded in cultural values of a people.

    In reality, Chukwuma is better known for his wood relief sculptures, an artistic element associated mainly with the Nsukka (University of Nigeria) art school.  It is a tradition which the school has built and kept over the years.  And today, for most Nsukka artists, this has come to single them out in their artistic excursions into time.

    Wood allows Chukwuma to explore, dig, extend, narrate and describe indefinitely with deep colours, textures and morass.  In other words he embellishes woods with multiple colours, a habit that is widely known to him and for which he is respected among the comity of artists far and near.  While he works, he makes efforts to splash colours in such a way as to make woods come truly alive.

    “In the course of time”, he said, “teachers like Professors Uche Okeke, Chike Aniagor, El Anatsui, and Onuora Udechukwu who taught me at Nsukka have influenced me tremendously.  While my first love is painting these great artists encouraged me through their works to dabble into other artistic media.  These include woodworks, drawing and so on.”

    For now, he is involved in deep experiments in renaissance art, fauvism, impressionism, abstract art, chiaroscuro, vanishing point, provenance and more.  Every of his symbol has a message to pass across and the colours help to define the symbolism.

    In metamorphosis he emphasizes the beauty of the ulli symbols.  He juxtaposes colours on the woods to distinguish it from the ordinary art.  In the cord, another wood relief, he uses the symbol of a lady to address the issue of beauty.  The emblem in the background is a sign of love, desire and hope.  In it the lady is ready to be loved, as she perches precariously on the sand of time.  Her body pines for love, for attention, for cuddling.  She yearns for romance and her body seems to be on fire of want.

    Chukwuma knows how to use these symbols to tackle series of human needs for one another.  Having taken part in over 18 group exhibitions and 3 solo exhibitions over time, his art works have been made known far and near.  In 2008 and 2012, he emerged as one of the top 3 winners of the prestigious National Art Competition.  He has equally featured in the Cable News Networks (CNN), Inside Africa programme in 2011 not only to showcase his works but to also discuss Nigerian and African contemporary art works.

    Chukwuma made a First Class in Fine and Applied Arts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.  And today the same school has acquired two of his works for keeps in the school’s museum.  This shows him as one of the most classical artists of his generation in this contemporary era.

  • Behold her ‘feet of grace’

    Behold her ‘feet of grace’

    Dr Irene Titilola Olumese was a nutrition scientist with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for 15 years. She suffered lungs related disease for 20 years, which later resulted in lung transplant. But her resolve to stay alive opened her up to a greater challenge, which has since defined her life and destiny. In a chat with SEYI ODEWALE, she explains how what suddenly changed her course of destiny began. 

    She walked into the reception lobby of the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, that Tuesday with  two men, her husband, Peter and a family friend she held a walking stick that she used to support her gait. Spotting a pair of black trousers and a red, beautiful flowery blouse, the bespectacled Dr Irene Titilola Olumese was full of life. Nothing actually gave her away as an amputee. The former United Nations’ International Children’s Emergency Fund’s (UNICEF’s) nutrition scientist has learnt to carry her cross gracefully and resolved to use her story to change the lives of many hopeless Nigerians, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity of living a meaningful life because of their permanent disability:

     

    My background

     

    I’m a nutrition scientist. I worked for UNICEF for 15 years as a nutrition professional. I stopped working in 2007 because of my health. I’m married to Dr Peter Olumese. We have two sons, who are in the university in the United States (US).

    For 20 years I suffered from chronic respiratory disease called bronchitis. It is a disease of the lungs. This is when the lungs do not work as they should.  This meant that I was coughing nonstop, everyday for those 20 years. It was really a bad cough with a lot of secretions. Sometimes, you find it difficult to breath because of the coughing and in addition, I had a neuromuscular disease called Myasthenia Gravis. What happened was that the muscles of the upper part of my face got weakened.

    The combination of the two made respiration very difficult and I kept having recurrent chest infection because I could not move out the secretions in my lungs as I should. For the first 10 years, it was on and off the hospital, I still continued with my job even though I was coughing every day. It was manageable, having frequent antibiotics therapy, using a lot of ventilation to dilate the lungs. I was using the bronchodilator or ventilators to dilate my lungs. As the years went by, it got worse.

    By 2006, I was working in Cairo, Egypt, and with the heat and dust there it got worse. I had worked in Ghana before then, when the lungs actually collapsed. I was in the northern part of Ghana when  I was evacuated to Accra, the capital, and from there to Geneva, Spain, where I had the second surgery on the lungs. I had the first surgery on the lungs in 1993 when we recognised the fact that there was a problem then.

    In 2007 the lungs became so bad that I became oxygen dependent. I had to have oxygen bottle with me. I needed supplementary oxygen as my lungs were no longer able to hold enough air for me. Since I was working far away from home in Cairo, I had to have oxygen cylinder in my office.

     

    Working and living with oxygen

     

    Well, the oxygen cylinder in the office then was a big one. It could go for four or five days in the office.  And at home I had oxygen concentrates from which I extracted oxygen. So, I had to wear oxygen mask around my nose. Then in between, I had a  spray that sprayed on. But by 2007, that was insufficient. So, I had to return to Geneva because that was where my family was staying. I had a huge oxygen reservoir at home. At the beginning, the reservoir would last for a week. So, every Wednesday the hospital had an arrangement to refill the gas at home. We had to pipe the house and laid them carefully so that people would not step on them. But the situation continued to deteriorate. Then I needed two reservoirs and later three to last a week. Going out, I had smaller bottles of oxygen with me. At first, I could go out for four hours because one bottle would last four hours. Later it reduced to one hour. I could not go out of the house for more than four hours because I had two bottles with me. So, wherever I was going I had to be back within the space of four hours. Of course, we had incidence of when the oxygen would finish and that became a bit of problem for us. That was how we continued to manage the situation. My children were in school, my husband would go to work and both were taking care of me.

    By 2010, the situation got worse and the doctors told me that there was no longer a medical solution to the problem.  So, I needed to put on a ventilator to be able to sleep and be sure that my lungs would work. It was at that point that they told me that I needed a transplant. It was the only option I had to live. So, in 2010 I did a medical check up; it was an extensive medical examination that I had to do to ensure that I was a suitable candidate for a transplant. And then they put me on the waiting list. We waited for another three years. It was in April 2013 that they called us that they have found a suitable donor for me. I had to be moved into the hospital immediately because I had been told that I had to live within a four-hour radius of the hospital. So, they sent an ambulance because I lived some 60 Kilometres to the hospital

     

    My surgery and its effect

     

    So, I went in for the surgery on April 13 and the session was done overnight till the morning of April 14. And that was the only part that I knew of. I didn’t wake then. It was my husband and the doctor that told me what happened. They said the surgery went on very well and I got very strong lungs. But 48 hours after the surgery I began to have complications. My limbs got very weak and my organs started shutting down. I began to have renal failure and I went into medical coma and I woke up from that coma four weeks after. They told me everything that happened when I was in coma. When I woke up they told me that I had very strong lungs, but the news was that while I was in coma the complications involved poor circulation of blood to my hands and feet and in the process the tissues died and there was the possibility that they would have to amputate both my hands and feet. That was quite a bit of shocking news to hear after living with the problem for 20 years and getting the solution and another problem came up.

     

    Challenges involved

     

    It was a challenging period emotionally coming to terms with that. It was God’s grace that sustained us at that time. Even though they gave us about two weeks to make a decision, but it was not a matter of decision making, it was obvious that if I wanted to live to keep the lungs-the precious gift God has given me, I had to do it. It was at that moment that God ministered to us through a friend of my husband that He would give me the ‘Feet of Grace’ that would take me to places my natural feet could not. And that it would be beyond my imagination. When my husband was away in Somalia the word came and we just subjected ourselves to the process. But in the interim, I began to get some feelings back into my hands. So, God saved my hands, it’s just a miracle. On the 30th of May, 2013, I went back to the theatre and had my two legs amputated below the knees.

    I came out of that. First of all, I began to recover the use of my hands, learning to hold something, feed myself and write again. At the same time, I began the healing process for the lungs. After these, we began to think of what was to happen next. Definitely there was going to be a new definition of ‘normal’. What really happened was that I had a remarkably fast recovery rate from my surgeries. In fact, the doctor said mine was the first amputation they were going to do in that hospital that did not require going back to the theatre. In fact, the wounds healed within two weeks. In fact, they told me that they had no reason whatsoever to stop me from my rehabilitation process.

    Initially, after any amputation, you are advised to go home to return after six months to be able to fit into the rehabilitation process. But in my case I was able to start immediately and a month after my amputation, I was able to stand up on my ‘feet’. I was able to stand on my new legs, which are now called the ‘Feet of Grace’. Remember, God told me that He would give me  Feet of Grace that would take me to places my normal feet could not take me to. So, I went through the process of learning to walk by taking my first steps after amputation. Interestingly, at the rehabilitation center where I ought to spend months, I spent a few weeks to learn how to walk with my prosthetic legs. I walked my first metre, my first 20 metres and slow and steady I could walk with the support of a walker and later crutches, and later I could walk my first kilometer.

    I was taught so many things in the rehabilitation. Things like how to adjust to my new status; how to sit down; how to stand up when I fall down; how to ascend the stairs and descend same as well and how to get to the bathroom. So, all these I went through and we had to do some adjustments to the house to suit my new status.

    For me to begin to redefine life was important to me and it made a whole lot of difference to my mental health not to be dependent on people, but to be independent. I thought about those living in poor communities where all the services I enjoyed were not available. My prosthesis alone cost us almost 35,000 Swiss Francs. I began to think about what to do next. I knew definitely I could not go back to where I was working before, because my routine then at the UNICEF involved travelling, which I knew I could no longer do again. I now said if had this opportunity why did I not turn it to opportunities for others as well? So, I began to check what kinds of opportunities are available to amputees in Nigeria. Who is supporting them? How are they getting prosthesis limbs? It was in the process of gathering information that I realised that there was a huge need here and that we can contribute as well. That was what informed the Feet of Grace Foundation.

     

    Her advocacy

     

    At the beginning, what we wanted to do was to raise funds from our friends and channel the fund to support those who have no money to purchase prosthesis. So, we started to put the foundation together in 2014 and by 2015 we had the first charity walk in Geneva, where we called our friends together to walk. We were sponsored to walk. Initially, I told them that I was going to walk five kilometers, but eventually, I could only walk three kilometers, which was remarkable for somebody who just recovered from surgery less than a year ago. It was indeed, a feat. We did that to raise funds to be able to give Chidiebere, a 10-year-old boy a leg and a 42-year-old lady her leg. At the end of the year, we were able to do two more women, Vivian and Agana.

    This year we have been able to do one more and supported a wheel chair bound widow to get her a wheel chair. As we began to work we realised that it would not be sufficient for us to give limbs, but the circumstances around the people we are supporting required that we began to look at the possibility of leveraging, for example, the 10-year-old boy wanted to go to school, but he comes from a very poor family. His father is dead; his mother was the only one catering for him. He lived in squalor in Enugu. He wanted to go to school. He desired to be a doctor, but that was not going to happen if he did not go to school. So, we decided to look for sponsors because our funds capacity could not do that at that moment. So, the Feet of Grace has to network to be able to get sponsor for him. One of the women we were supporting had to die because she had no money to buy her drugs because she was diabetic.

    So, we had to look at how we could alleviate poverty among women. Hence, the widow I talked about, we gave her a seed fund to start her business. We see ourselves being able to mobilise funds from friends and general public by presenting stories of these people, who would not otherwise have the opportunity. The story of what happened to me has positioned me to become the voice of these voiceless people to be able to speak on behalf of an amputee. And being an amputee myself, I know what the challenges are. And I can speak from the authority of that experience that life as an amputee can be challenging in all as it is with those complications that go with an unfavourable environment. And just beyond providing prosthetic limbs and poverty alleviation opportunities where possible, I’m also looking at advocacy. How do we create handicap friendly facilities? How do we make an environment to be handicap friendly for people like to be able to move around? I should be able to go to the bank without being supporting me. I should be able to go to the rest room without a member of my family going with me. An amputee wants to be independent. He does not want to be a burden to anyone. Advocacy would ensure that we are able to mobilise institutions, agencies and governments to do the needful for us to have handicap car parks just like it happens in western countries. These are some of the things we want to engage in as the Feet of Grace Foundation expands and pursue its goal. On Saturday, July 23, the Feet of Grace Foundation was launched as a registered NGO in Nigeria. We got incorporated in January by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

     

    Succour for my travails

     

    My family and friends were very helpful. We have a great network of friends. They were very supportive. And if I had not experienced what happened to me I probably would not have given the project a cursory look for that matter. But having experienced it first hand, made me to put all that I have into it.

     

    Genesis of my lungs’ problem

     

    There are some things you cannot explain. I did not know how it started and what the cause was. We cannot say what triggered it. What I knew was that the cough started and it was not congenital. But during our investigations we found out that I had a cyst between my heart and my lungs. But an X-ray we did then in 1992 did not show that, that was what it was. It was just that I had a cough and it was not going and one of the requirements for me to be employed by the UNICEF. That was when we saw that there was something there. When I had the cough for about three months and it was not going that was when my doctor linked the cyst as being responsible. So, in 1993, I had the first surgery. It turned out to be a benign tumour. But after it was removed a few other things started happening. By end of that year I had myself being seriously allergic, yet the cough persisted. By 1994 the allergy became too serious. I was reacting to so many things. I remember towards the end of that year I just finished a meeting and went back to my office when I suddenly had my pupils got dilated; it was as if the whole room was flooded with light and I could not see. That was the beginning of the signs that we began to see of the second condition-Myasthenia Gravis. It became whirl pool of problems and in the midst of it I had my first son in 1994. I managed the situation to have my second son in 1997 and in 1998 everything just happened again with the myasthenia gravis. I literarily lost the use of my upper arm. I could not comb my hair because of weakening of the muscles. That was when the diagnosis was made. My doctors at the UCH, Ibadan did the diagnosis in addition to the lungs’ problem, there was another one-neuromuscular problem. That was when they told me that it myasthenia gravis.  I later went to the US where a battery of tests was done on me. They later confirmed the earlier result. They also told me that it was a degenerating disease and that in the next couple of years I would not be able to move. But I said that was not for me. So, I came back home, but my uncle was sending my drugs to me every six months until I could get a suitable location here to get them. I was on medication everyday to ensure that my muscles were working.

     

    Getting a donor for the lungs

     

    Unfortunately here, the culture of donating body organs before one’s death is not here. Everybody wants to go to the grave with every organ of their body intact. To the best of my knowledge, its kidney transplant that people are familiar with here. When I told somebody that I had lung transplantation the response was ‘is it possible to transplant lungs? Yes, I said it is. It is possible for people to donate their organ while alive. It’s just to indicate that whenever they die a particular organ of their body should be given to whoever needs. And the harvesting of such organs is done only when the recipient is around. The donor must be kept on life support facility until the recipient comes around. That was why they told me that once you are on the waiting list you just have to be around and there are numbers they must call to get you. You must be within a certain radius to be able to reach you.

    If I were in Nigeria it could have been worse. First of all the oxygen supply that I used or seven years could not have been easily available. I did visit Nigeria during those periods. It was a lot of organisation for me to be able to stay then. I came with my battery-operated cylinder with oxygen concentrates.

    In fact, that was part of the divine intervention. For us to have been in Switzerland at that time was just divine intervention. We never planned to move out of Nigeria then. My husband had a good job at the UCH then.

     

    Cost of getting a prosthetic limb

     

    Now it cost about N1 million to get limb of prosthesis. And this depends on size. It changes with age of the recipient, especially for children, the size changes with their age. Our concern is to give a good balanced limb, which will not affect the gait of the child when he or she walks and will not give him or her pains on the back. The kind of limbs that we give we always ensure that they are not too tight, shorter than the height or too heavy. But an adult can use the limb for so many years, particularly, when there is no catastrophe. For an adult, it cost an average of N1.5million per limb, going by the current rate of Forex.

     

  • UNIC Lagos, movie icons partner for climate change

    UNIC Lagos, movie icons partner for climate change

    With climatic change across the globe, the  movie industry has added its voice to the global environmental campaigns.

    Notable movie icons under the aegis of The Golden Movie Ambassadors of Nigeria (TGMAN) joined the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Lagos in its climate change campaign at Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.

    The council came alive when  the environmental advocates moved round, creating awareness on the impact of man-made activities against the environment. The awareness campaign, which was led by TGMAN President, Saidi Balogun, and the National Information Officer of UNIC Lagos, Mr Oluseyi Soremekun, moved from LASU-Isheri Road through Idimu to Egbeda area.

    The train, attracted motorists and pedestrians, actors, actresses, producers and directors, engaged members of the public,who were obviously excited to see and engage their movie icons, in Yoruba, pidgin-English and occasionally, Hausa language.

    The campaign, which calls attention to impacts of environmental degradation, was anchored on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 states: “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts’, informed and educated members of the public about climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning”.

    With mounted sound system on a small truck, the procession stopped intermittently at major bus-stops to address the public. As the campaign procession meandered through the streets, information and education materials were shared to the public.

    At the Egbeda terminus of the SDGs awareness campaign train, Soremekun said climate change remained a threat to all. He observed that the economy and people’s livelihoods were suffering due to unpredictable weather as lakes were drying up and dry land were getting drier while flooded plains were increasing. This, according to him, had serious health implications. He, therefore, urged the public be vigilant as flash floods have been predicted in some states.

    Balogun urged the public to take tree planting as a way of life. He added that tree planting was the best gift anyone could give to himself. “Trees break the devastating effect of storms; reduce erosion and flood; and provide cleaner and healthier air for the well-being of the people,” he said.

    According to Soremekun, the campaign was an outcome of a deal between TGMAN and UNICLagos a few months ago, noting: ”it is the first in the series of collaborative activities to leverage on creative arts and the movie industry for the promotion of sustainable development in Nigeria.”

     

  • Menu for the mind

    Menu for the mind

    If knowledge is power, then the power of knowledge may well be the missing link in Nigeria’s quest for positive change and development. This is the kernel of a new book, The Humanities and Societal Change, by the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL).

    The publication, edited by NAL Fellow and General Editor Professor Moses Akinola Makinde, is a compilation of five papers, four of them delivered to mark NAL’s 2015 Convocation, while one is its Annual Lecture this year.  The book’s title was the theme of last year’s celebration of cerebration.

    The case for knowledge-based governance is presented by Makinde whose paper in the volume was the Convocation Lecture delivered at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, on August 13, last year. His words: “Nigeria has an abundance of intellectuals in the humanities, like members of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, who can lead successive governments to govern well, in freedom and virtue, if only they are reckoned with and their works are read, especially by men and women in governments.”

    According to the General Editor’s Note in the book, “The second and third papers were delivered at the Scientific Sessions at the same Convocation by Professors Abdul-Rashed Na’Allah, Vice Chancellor, Kwara State University and Yomi Akinyeye FHSN, FNAL. The fourth paper was a speech delivered at the Fellows’ Night at the Academy’s dinner on August 12. The fifth paper by Prof Is-Haq Oloyede was the Annual Lecture delivered at the Kwara State University, Malete, Kwara State, on February 18, 2016.”

    Makinde’s paper titled: Reflections on the pains of growth, offers a useful “conceptual clarification”. His explanation of change: “The word ‘change’ does not entail forward motion alone. It could be backward motion like turning the hands of the clock forward or backward – backward like Nigeria’s case of oil boom to oil doom. Therefore, while growth involves moving forward, change necessarily does not. It could be forward or backward change.”

    Interestingly, this background helps to properly situate the self-styled government of change headed by President Muhammadu Buhari as well as the demonstrably discredited previous administration under ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.

    Makinde describes corruption as “the most notorious problem in the Nigerian polity today and, consequently, a problem that has contributed in no small measure to Nigeria’s pains of growth.”

    He makes the point that “the only Head of State who was not removed by the military is General Buhari,” adding that “he was removed by the military who feared General Buhari would purge the military for corruption.”

    Makinde argues that the change symbolised by President Buhari is critical to “achieving the much desired goal of leading Nigeria from the desert to the Promised Land.” He supports his position that Man is the instrument of change with references to Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.

    It is food for thought that Makinde, a retired Professor of Philosophy, recommends what he calls “Abraham Lincoln’s option”. He says: “We must first acknowledge our sins, confess, repent and then ask God for forgiveness. This is the noble path America had taken in 1861 by the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. Nigeria must follow suit. In a document contained in a book titled Shaping History through Prayers and Fasting, a former president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, during his presidency, had “proclaimed three days of national humiliation, prayer, and fasting. His first proclamation (out of three) was requested by a joint committee of both houses and congress, and the day set apart was the last Thursday in September, 1861.”

    The subject of change is approached from another angle by Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, a Professor of English, in his paper, “Myth-Making and Myth Breaking – Roles of a Hausa Singer: Nigeria and the Impact of Oral Tradition in Election Politics for Change, 2011 – 2015.” The paper focuses on the songs of a Hausa oral poet, Dauda Kahutu Rarara, composed for change.

    In Na’Allah’s words: “When the results of the 2011 election did not favour his preferred candidate and the party (and they lost the election), Rarara castigates, and showers vituperations on the Election Umpire, Attahiru Jega, through the evocation of negative images, diatribes and tropes. On the other hand, when his party and candidate won the 2015 election, Jega was presented in flowery and uplifting, elevatory poetry.”

    It is fascinating that Na’Allah’s paper suggests that Rarara’s poetry played an influential political role, and gives it credit for influencing “the political will of the Chairman of INEC to provide an electoral strategy such as the Card Reader that will protect the sanctity and integrity of the people’s will in the Nigerian electoral processes and outcome in the 2015 Elections.”

    In his paper, Yomi Akinyeye, a Professor of History at the University of Lagos, discusses technological advances and their “side effects which only the humanities can tackle”.  According to him, “The disciplines of history, philosophy, sociology and political science have all preoccupied themselves with the societal problems that have arisen out of technological development within the state.”  His conclusion: “In the final analysis, it is the humanities that will assist man and society to cope with all the consequences of technology.”

    In her paper, Akachi Ezeigbo, a NAL Fellow and Professor of English at the University of Lagos, looks at “The Humanities as Change Agent” from a literary perspective. She focuses on “how the humanities can assist in bringing about the change that Nigerians yearn for today and proposes a new strategy or approach to studying and applying the humanities must be found to continue to be relevant in the 21st century.” Importantly, her paper calls for “the establishment of a national humanities centre as an Institute of Advanced Study in the humanities.”

    The last paper in the publication, by Is-Haq Oloyede, a NAL Fellow and Professor of Islamic Studies, is titled: “Utilising religion for national integration and development.” Oloyede, a former Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, and ex-President of the Association of African Universities (AAU), is a recipient of a national honour, the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR).

    Oloyede addresses “the nexus between Religion and Development”, arguing that “it is not religion that is destructive”.

    According to him, “Rather, it is human beings who in their desperation to gain due and undue personal and sectional benefits that find religion and ethnicity as potent tools because of the emotional attachments that the two provoke in the overwhelming majority of the populace.”

    It is important to note that Oloyede emphasises “the importance of religious integration and religious understanding as a sine qua non to national integration in a religiously pluralistic and ethnically diverse country like Nigeria”.

    The NAL publication is an intellectual menu for the mind. It is a useful contribution to a nation seeking positive change.

  • Broadcasters inaugurate new officers

    Broadcasters inaugurate new officers

    The Yoruba Broadcasters Association of Nigeria has inaugurated its new executives that will run the affairs of the association for another four years.

    The swearing-in of new executive members from Southwest and national executives took place at the Multipurpose Hall, Radio Lagos/ Eko Fm, Ikeja, Lagos.

    Present at the event, which was attended by broadcasters from all the Southwest states, were: Adefunsho Ademigbuji (President); Module Ademiju, (Treasurer); Michael Olushaye, (Social Secretary);  Bakare Rasheed, (Secretary) and and Segun Olujimi, as Public Relations Officer.

    Father of the day, Oba Taiwo Oluwalambe of Ojokoro Land, however, tasked the new executives to live beyond expectations and help promote Yoruba unity in the society through their various mediums.

    Speaker Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudasiru Obasa, who was represented by member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Tunde Braimoh, called on parents and teachers to ensure that Yoruba language remains the medium of communication to children and pupils at home and in schools, adding that the efforts would help children to learn both the language and its cultural values.

    He said a day had been set aside in the state House of Assembly where only Yourba is allowed all through the business sitting.

    Dignitaries at the event were Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, represented by Oba Babatunde Adeleke, former PMAN president, Admiral Dele Abiodun and Sulaiman Ayilara Aremu, popularly called Ajobiewe.

     

     

     

  • Safeguarding culture from extinction

    Safeguarding culture from extinction

    Schools are institutions where learning takes place.  Such learning include our cultural heritage, which also encompasses the language we speak.  In this age of globalisation, where the world is highly interconnected and within reach, it is very easy to lose sight of who we are as a people, especially if our identity is not projected to the world at the same rate at which other cultures diffuse into ours.

    The internet gives us immediate access to happenings around the world, which incidentally does not include our culture.   Our children incidentally, through the internet are really learning faster than we can actually keep up with them.  It, therefore, behoves us as a people to do whatever is necessary to preserve our culture for posterity and prevent it from being extinct.  Cultural extinction arises when the way of life of a people no longer exist; this way of life include our language, religion, food, social habits, music and art.  With over 250 ethnic groups and over 500 languages being spoken in Nigeria, the question arises as to how we can effectively and efficiently do this, bearing in mind the very nature of our multi-ethnicity and pluralism coupled with the many needs of the Nigerian society, which are competing among themselves for the limited available resources.  It, therefore, means that cost effective avenues need to be explored and used for this to be achieved.  While we may not necessarily be able to stop the constant intermingling of cultures and its consequent diffusional effects, we can, however, at least, keep records for the purpose of history so we can always read it up and tell our story ourselves and not have others tell it for us.  Cultural learning means that our culture has to be taught and our schools as instruments of formal learning are great places to do this.

    Why bother the schools we may ask?  The answer to this is we need to use what we have in a way that can give us better and sustainable results, bearing in mind that a school is an institution or place where instruction is given for the purpose of learning. It is also an instrument for change being cognizant of the fact that the broad objectives of our national system of education not only include the acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities and competences both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live in and contribute to the development of this society, but also the inculcation of the right type of value and attitudes for the survival of the individual and the society.  The school, we must remember though a system, is actually a sub-system to the supra system called Nigeria and as such, has interactions as we all know with this larger system, Nigeria.

    Although our schools are already involved in teaching our children our culture, the purpose of this paper is to effectively and efficiently make use of the opportunities schools as instruments against cultural extinction. At present, it is compulsory for students attending public and most private schools to learn either Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba language, which are taught in these schools and compulsory for senior secondary school children to register and sit for during their senior secondary school certificate examinations.

    While these are good moves to make these languages relevant we, however, need to remember that these are only three languages out of over 500 languages.  We need to then ask ourselves how we can make sure that the remaining languages not taught in schools do no go extinct.  How do we justify emphasis on three major ethnic languages out of over 500?  This is a perfect recipe for cultural extinction if that is our objective. Furthermore, language is just one aspect of culture as stated earlier so we need to look at the broader picture which include food, dance, art, religion and social habits.  Commendation goes to our schools for teaching students at the pre-school, elementary and secondary level our culture through Cultural and Independence Day celebrations, which they mark with elegance encouraging children to dress in different cultural attires to represent our cultural diversity. Howbeit, we also know that as parents, who form part of this school society, we are usually found guilty of choosing the most readily available cultural attire to dress our children in and are only forced to do otherwise when the school chooses a particular tribe for a child, which they must comply with.  This simple example illustrates the power which the school has to be able to assist in keeping alive integral parts of our existence.

    What role should the school play and how can she play it so that we are not guilty of neglecting any Nigerian culture?

    Geographical location is a good place to start.  What this means is that every school should teach the students in their schools the language spoken where they are located with the collaboration of the community and make the culture of that community the integral part of any cultural celebration they want to have.  They will also be responsible for documenting everything about the culture of that area. Collaboration with the community is a must have because that is where authenticity will be guaranteed and internal or external criticism will not exist and even if it does, it can be easily rectified and corrected. The documentation ought to be done by the schools because it will be taught throughout the existence of that school. In other words, there should be a syllabus for it which will run for six years of both elementary and secondary school as the case may be. The responsible agencies will have to play their role.   Documentation of the culture should come not only in hard and soft copies but also in audio visual forms with copies of all forms sent to the local government councils, state and Federal levels for proper archiving.  Schools should be given a reasonable time frame to do this which should run in years and also be expected to submit a cultural aspect yearly. Documentation and posterity are no strange bed fellows as documentation is done for posterity and posterity needs documentation to trace its roots.  Have you ever searched for information that hits at the core of Africa and in particular Nigeria about who we are?  The majority of us don’t even know where to start. We rely mostly on the internet, which unfortunately has insufficient information because we haven’t put it there and anyone who puts it there apart from us will most likely misrepresent us. Available write-ups are either too expensive or not readily available and accessible. Our identity should be at our finger tips and within reach; cultural consciousness can help us do that.  As a people, we have fantastic stories to tell, folklores and legendary ones all waiting to be heard from the different ethnic groups which our diversity has created. As fans of legendary stories, how many do we know? A quick check and we discover that our knowledge of Nigerian legends, especially pre-colonial Nigeria is limited to a handful; Moremi, Queen Amina, Usman Dan Fodio?  Furthermore, if our culture is not properly documented, it will be like the case of “Dinosaurs, Did they really exist: Fact, legend or myth?”  It has been said that two of ours are already extinct. Rumour or fact:  A rumour means probability and a fact means reality; we should be concerned.  It is our duty to ensure that cultural extinction does not happen to the cultures we still have and if in reality two are already extinct it should be a constant reminder of what can be lost.  Every generation owes it to the next to tell the story of what happened in their time.  Our children and generations after them should always be able to look back through properly documented history and not question the truth or otherwise of their identity

    The International World Heritage Day

    The nation as a whole and schools in particular, should be encouraged to celebrate the World Heritage Day, a yearly event that takes place on the 18th of April.  This event was set up in 1982 by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and approved by the General Assembly of UNESCO in 1983 with the aim of creating awareness of the importance of the cultural heritage of human kind, and redouble efforts to protect and conserve the human heritage.  The celebration is usually centered round a theme which the schools can use to represent the culture of that community.  This year’s theme was titled “The Heritage of Sport”.  There is no society that does not have a local sport and if the suggestions of this paper were to have been in place, the local sport of each community would have been taught to the children and celebrated on that day.  One might say the date may pose a challenge as it sometimes falls within the second term holiday.  However, it could be viewed in a positive light as it will give children and parents ample time to get necessary materials and the event can be celebrated post factum.  The essence of all this is to be part of ensuring that our heritage is celebrated and kept alive.  As a nation, we should not contribute to cultural diffusion which happens when schools represent other cultures that do not belong to the community where they are located and in most cases completely ignore and neglect them which is not their intention.  As stated earlier, it is a communal and grass root effort, therefore in areas where there are no schools and the people have a culture different from the locality of the nearest available school, the local government council through its wards and units would play the critical role of cultural celebrations and documentation.

    There is an urgency to prevent the extinction of a vast majority of our culture as the world is highly interconnected and information and cultural diffusion is happening very fast and will most likely keep spreading.  Our rural communities are reducing demographically and at a quick rate.  Furthermore, our aged ones who grew up in the village and know these cultures very well are being replaced by those who have spent most of their lives in the city.

    As a nation that has one of its broad objectives of national system of education as inculcation of national consciousness and national unity we need to explore and use all avenues to ensure that we achieve this.  This paper is not exhaustive and it is hoped that it has reminded us of the need to prevent cultural extinction through the help of our schools.  Cultural education in schools is not new we can however use it in a way that can be beneficial to national unity as every ones identity is important in this society of ours that is very diverse both in culture and ethnicity.

  • Edo North art expo: Boost to youth empowerment

    Edo North art expo: Boost to youth empowerment

    Edo State Commissioner for Education Mr. Gideon Obhakhan has described the recently concluded Edo North Art Expo 2016 as a timely boost to the war against the increasing rate of youth restiveness and unemployment in the country. He said the expo would not only reawaken art consciousness and creativity of the youths, but would also reveal its essentialities in contemporary society.

    “Let me reassure all of us that Edo State Ministry of Education is in support of psychomotor domain of learning that embraces manipulation of skills which give birth to arts and crafts. The ministry recognises the role of art and craft to nation-building to the extent that two of its departments are now assigned to handle arts related matters,” he said.

    The commissioner, who was represented by the Chief Inspector of Education, Etsako West Local Council, spoke at the maiden edition of Edo North Art Expo, which held on July 12 and 13 at the main auditorium, Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi. The theme of the expo was Reawakening the art consciousness of Edo North. It featured no fewer than 40 exhibiting artists, and performances were organised by Merit Interior Gallery in collaboration with School of Art and Industrial Design, Auchi Polytechnic. Curator of the expo was Dr. Helen Uhunmwagho, while Otunba Usman Charlton Magaji, the Samari of Auchi Kingdom, was the chairman of the event.

    Obhakhan reassured that Edo State is irrevocably committed to ensuring quality and all- round education for her citizenry. This drive, he said, has informed government’s commitment to the massive renovation of schools across the state in order to make learning environment conducive for pupils and students. According to him, this has, no doubt, raised the tone  the public schools and boosted the morals of the teachers.

    “Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME), which are now the fulcrum of any emerging economy, mainly involve artistic works. Therefore, if the high rate of unemployment of our youths must be dealt with, artistic skills must be acquired and encouraged alongside the conventional cognitive domain development of the individuals. Our youths must recognise that self-sustaining disciplines like the arts and crafts are long lasting, compared to the popular white or blue collar jobs that are no longer there,” he noted.

    In his paper, Engaging cultural production as social activism: multidimensional approaches to regional advocacies in an art world, Prof Frank Ugiomoh of University of Port Harcourt stated that in many cultures of the world, art is appreciated in such a way that its activities evolve into global annual events or two-yearly and three-yearly events.

    Ugiomoh cited platforms such as Dakar Art Biennale and Life in My City Projects as examples of consistent art events that have succeeded in attracting participants from across the globe.

    He noted that regional spaces such as Auchi and the Northern Edo cultural space can overcome their provincial setting through the expo, adding that all it requires is a commitment and a funding plan. According to him, the gains remain inestimable and it is important to buy into a project like the Edo North Art Expo, which aims to re-awaken the region’s art consciousness.

    “This annual project may not be able to build this consciousness in the desired way where supporting events are not organised through the year. To this end, I encourage diverse activities centred on art that would engrain and build community consciousness regarding the subject and its cultural value. This is where a multidimensional approach comes to play in the set agenda for this vision.

    “The Northern Edo region is endowed with regards to the practice and appreciation of the arts right from time. The initiative set forth by the current programme is well seated in the cultural history of the region. The siting of the Polytechnic in Auchi thus is a boost to this agenda. However, a variety of activities aimed at sustaining and building the consciousness of the people is required to sustain the initiative,” Ugiomoh said.

    He observed that in Nigeria, there is no gainsaying the reality that Lagos has a domineering hold on cultural production and allied activities. But that the status of cultural production of Lagos makes other epicenters of culture in Nigeria inactive. “However, they indeed are inactive when the inventory of activities in Lagos are placed side by side other cities in Nigeria,” he said.

    Proprietor, Merit Interior Gallery, Mr. Chris Ogiebo recalled the challenges he went through to seek sponsor of the expo, describing it as monumental.

    He pledged that the expo will hopefully be an annual event that will bring artists, connoisseurs, art lovers and collectors to discuss and share ideas. “We intend to use this event to cause a revolution. Not a blood flowing revolution, but a mind-renewing revolution that will open Edo North to the creative world. This is timely, especially now that the Federal Government is diversifying our economy. If the cultural element across the country is properly harnessed the revenue will surpass that of oil,” he said.

    Dean, School of Art and Industrial Design, Auchi Polytechnic, Mr. Oladapo Afolayan said Edo North is not new to art and craft world  as it parades an array of famous art and artists both modern and post-modern cultures. He stated that in contemporary Nigeria, Edo North  have records of the first generation artists such as Mama Ugiomoh (traditional textiles) and Ms. Clara Ugbodaga-Ngu (painting), General Bolivia and Waziri Oshioma and a host of high-life musicians.

    “Auchi Art School is ever in the good news of contemporary art scene. We also parade so numerous artists, who are creating waves and are cynosure of Nigerian art. We could hardly count five contemporary Nigerian artists in any area of art specialisation without Auchi alumnus mentioned,” he added.

  • StarTimes redefines pay TV with 2-in-1 Combo Decoder

    StarTimes redefines pay TV with 2-in-1 Combo Decoder

    Digital television company, StarTimes, has launched the first of its kind 2-in-1 combo decoder in Nigeria, in an unprecedented move to change the Pay TV landscape in Africa and offer surplus entertainment access to subscribers.

    The new innovative product is equipped with the latest decoder technology to combine effectively for the first time the features of both digital terrestrial (DTT) and digital satellite (DTH) digital television technologies on a single device.

    StarTimes Nigeria Marketing Director, Mr. Oludare Kafar, while unveiling the new decoder in Lagos, said: “The 2-in-1 combo decoder is a game changing product from StarTimes and it was deliberately designed with latest global technology to lavish subscribers with unprecedented access to digital television and entertainment. Interestingly, this new combo decoder works with both antenna and dish and offers channels on both for the price of one. It also grants our esteemed customers access to over 100 channels across the genres with an enhanced high definition (HD) picture quality.”

    Kafar noted that the digital television company’s desire is to “offer multiple access to subscribers to enjoy both digital terrestrial and digital satellite television channels and offerings on the same decoder and grant ease of access to switch between the options conveniently because our customers deserve utmost comfort and convenience. We strive to ensure that with a single decoder customer enjoys access to all digital television channels and contents available and this new decoder is expected to replace the traditional single decoder model.

    By default, both the DTT and DTH have comparative advantages but with combo, StarTimes subscribers enjoy the combined strength of both.

    DTT is embraced as a model for its affordability, low weather interference, portability, more local channels, easy to set up and mobile friendly while DTH is desired for its sharper and clearer images, higher number of international channels, resilience and widespread strength in remote areas.

    Mr. Israel Bolaji, StarTimes Head of Public Relations, added that StarTimes will continue to offer subscribers the best in class of pay TV experience with world class channels for drama, sports, kiddies, news, music and religion. We are keen to continuously enhance access and improve digital television experience for our subscribers.

    “As a digital TV company, StarTimes’ desire and commitment is to ensure Nigerians continue to enjoy the best of digital television entertainment and experience with a plethora of enjoyable programs in higher definition (HD) images at very pocket-friendly bouquet rates. On StarTimes, Nigerians can enjoy fantastic movie channels like ST Yoruba, irokoworld, irokoplay Amc movies, ST Zone, Orisun, ST Yoruba, and Bollywood channels like Star Plus and Zee Cinema. Music channels like ST music, Nigezie and MTV Base; documentary channels like IDX, Nat Geo Gold and Discovery science; news channels – Al Jazeera and Bloomberg; ST Novela, Wazobia, Fox; Jim Jam, Nickelodeon, Baby TV, Fine Living and many more, Bolaji concluded.

     

     

     

  • Thinking back, writing about home

    Thinking back, writing about home

    Prof. Tanure Ojaide and Sam Omatseye read from their books  essentially to situate their new works.  The reading was organised by Artmosphere, noted for their zeal to promote literature through public readings, the event was held at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State. Edozie Udeze reports.

    Penultimate weekend, at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, the duo of Professor Tanure Ojaide and Sam Omatseye were brought together by one fate.  It was the guiding hand of literature where they were made to read from their latest literary offerings.  Even though both are story tellers, deeply imbued with the act of probing the society and tearing at the heart of the matter, the most binding factor was that both writers are from the Niger Delta area of the country.  This is a place where the attention of the people have been drawn due to the festering political, economic and social happenings tearing the place apart.  It therefore follows that stories will naturally emanate from such a turbulent area.  And so, writers like Omatseye and Ojaide with keen eyes for details have shifted their attention to the issues that trouble the people and what they hold so dear.

    The organisers of the literary readings, Femi Morgan and Ademola Adesola explained that the concept was to encourage writers to reach out to the people.  Since literature is the mirror of the society and what the people stand for, reading of such works would help to disseminate and explore further the information contained in such works and the message they have for the entire humanity.

    Reading from his latest poetry collection entitled Songs of Myself, Ojaide, a Professor of English Literature at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the United States of America, focused attention mainly on his works that pertain to the society.  Gently, a folkloric narrative poem on the traditions of the Urhobo people first captured his attention.  Gently, so titled, talks about the life of the riverine peoples of this world and what they live with from time to time.  With the invocation of dede-e dede-e, the audience sang along with him, as he took their minds into the foyers of “soft sheets of fabric covering the entire world’s nakedness.”  For, “it is not only years that confer wisdom, says the young crocodile.”  Yet “the crocodile had dug its hole with tools of its mouth and satiated with fish.”

    In other words, Songs of Myself is an expose of the poet in the throes of his community; where environmental degradation and oil pollution have torn the place to pieces.  This is accentuated the more in ‘We dey chop  akara dey go; ‘self-defence’, ‘only in his memory’ and lots more.  In ‘Let them die for Arsenal’ he humoured the youths and queried the essence of a lopsided globalisation.  Yet, he emphasised the more the never-ending problem of injustices and unfair treatments meted out to the Niger Delta minorities by the Nigerian state.

    Songs of Myself shows Ojaide as a writer who has not shrieked his role as a watchdog of the people.  In the question and answer session, he drew attention to the youths who are currently angry and have shown it through their numerous acts of brevity.  “Yes,” he responded to the issue of anger in his works, “the environment has been depleted, raped, violated.  One of these poems was written when Ken Saro-Wiwa was killed.  It still relates to what is happening now in the Niger Delta.  There’s so much anger.  If the people provide the oil and there’s so much hunger and poverty there, does it make sense?,” he asked.

    “If the oil was got in Bornu, or Oyo or even in Enugu, do you think we’ll still be together today talking about a commonwealth?  No, I think it is because it is from the minority area of the country and so it has been like this ever since.  This is the basis of injustice, lack of fairness and so on which breed the anger in the minds of the youths of the region,” he remonstrated.

    With his fond memories of the University of Ibadan from where he graduated in 1971 still intact, he told of how he and Professor Niyi Osundare and others founded the poetry club of the university in 1969.  “Oh, the feeling is the same.  Then we thought we shouldn’t write like the others before us.  Even though we read Okigbo, Clark and Soyinka extensively, ours was to shift attention from the norm.  We wanted a different approach and style to literature.  Yet, we did not want to lower the standard.  This was why my first collection of poetry titled Children of Iroko was written as an undergraduate of this great school.”

    Ojaide went down memory lane to recount his days while growing up with his grandmother in the Niger Delta and posited: “Of course, while growing up, the things that happened to you are also very important.  They influence your life; what you do as a writer, as a poet.  I grew up with my grandmother.  And my grandfather and my uncle were fishermen.  I used to follow them to the river.  The rivers were clean then.  Each time you wanted to prepare a meal all you needed do was walk down to the river, cast your net and then catch plenty of crayfish and fishes.  The land produced well; people looked well and happy.  Those things are no more there.  So, that’s what I try to restore; that lost history and memories.  I was there when Shell first came and today everything has been torn apart.”

    On his own part, Omatseye read from page 38 of his newest book, My Name is Okoro.  It was basically to situate Samson Okoro’s background as a returnee Nigerian and the lead character who suddenly found himself in the midst of the crisis that necessitated the war.  Thereafter, he went on to read the portion where Okoro was headed to the Eastern part of the country.  He set out in search of his in-laws and wife, Nneka.  It was for the author to depict in clear terms that the civil war did not only consume or affect the Igbos, but other ethnic minorities South of Nigeria.

    This is why the story has many Igbo characters, although it is basically to mirror and reflect the place of the Niger Delta minorities long denied a proper place or voice in most of the Nigerian Civil war narratives.  A passionate and consummate intellectual, Omatseye is profound and audacious in his stylistic crafting of the story.  “It is just to use the minorities of the Southern Nigeria to tell the story of the civil war,” he informed the audience.  “Of course, mine is not a single story,” he reiterated to buttress the fact that his work is more encompassing than Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun which makes it look as if the Igbos were the only ones that suffered the pogrom and genocide orchestrated by the North.

    In reaction to the relevance of the story in present-day Nigerian situation where the clarion call for restructuring has become the order of the day, Omatseye, chairman of the Editorial Board of The Nation Newspapers said, “That is exactly the problem today in Buhari’s Nigeria.  You have IPOB, you have MASSOB, you have Avengers, you have herdsmen, you have those calling for restructuring.  Some of the problems that brought about the civil war are here with us.  We have the issue of restructuring, all sorts of contending voices.  People are wondering whether they belong here or not.  It is the same kind of situation that led to the crisis of 1967 to 1970.”

    Omatseye noted that the confusion being faced by some people today equally affected Okoro.  His exposure to the outside world overshadowed his local identity, yet he wanted to show that he was a Nigerian.  “But then he married the woman he loved, an Igbo lady.  Now he was heading to the East in search of his wife and in-laws.  He wanted by all means to go to the East to locate Nneka.  Indeed, he had that sense of belonging because he knew he was a Nigerian.  But then when the war came his self-survival became tied to the name his own connection with never made sense to him.”

    As an author on a mission to give a more balanced account of an era, he repeated that his is unique.  “If you read the story of Okey, you’ll know that he was not Deltan.  He was not even Urhobo.  He was core Igbo.  I told the story of how he deftly defended his family but then lost his life in the process.  It is an elaborate story.  Okoro who went to the heart of Igbo land to look for his wife and others and he lived there while the war lasted.  Then the story of Udeze, one of the major characters in the book.  Okoro was just the rallying point for other characters.”

    Of Omatseye and his arts, one can say more.  His works are clearly marked by thematic accessibility and structured clarity.  Whether working within the framework of poetry, play or prose, he simply tells his stories to permeate the society.  It was in the same vein that he dealt with the sensibilities of the Igbos in My Name is Okoro.

    He went on, “In those days, people came from Warri, Onitsha and other places to get crayfish from this area.  Today the waters are dark due to oil pollution.  It was so easy then to go to the river and scoop as much fishes as you could.  No one then was thinking whether you’d exhaust them; they were inexhaustible.”

    Essentially, therefore, the readings were done to throw more light on the thematic thrusts of the books concerned.  It was to also reinvigorate the topics that pertain to the Nigerian project.  After all, literature is meant to raise issues and provoke and generate national discourse.

  • Kids showcase bus design at One Lagos brand launch

    Kids showcase bus design at One Lagos brand launch

    Caught a glimpse of a couple of radiantly designed LagBuses with childlike creativity? That is the work of some select schools kids in Lagos, as initiated by prolific artist, Polly Alakija towards the Lagos at 50 celebration. Gboyega Alaka witnessed their first official outing at the ‘One Lagos’ brand launch and reports.

    As the bells toll and the countdown to the Lagos at 50 celebration hots up, many individuals and organisations are keying in into the celebration, which seems to have begun in earnest with the official launch of the ‘One Lagos’ brand by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode last week.

    One such person is famed artist in residence, Polly Alakija, who is taking school kids on the journey. Alakija is revving up kids in some select primary schools across Lagos to be part of the historic event through her art initiative aimed at getting the kids to unleash their creativity on a few Lagbuses otherwise known as BRT and tell their own version of the Lagos story.

    Collaborating with the Lagos State Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the LagBus management, Alakija hopes to get the kids to be part of the celebration by creatively designing up to five buses that will uniquely capture how they perceive Lagos in their innocent minds. One bus with designs fully completed and bearing the colourful creations of the kids of Archbishop Taylor Memorial Primary School and Kuramo Primary School both on Victoria Island, was on display on Day 1 of the official launch of the ‘One Lagos’ brand at the former bar beach Arcade, Victoria Island.

    The proud kids of both schools eagerly rode on the bus in the short ride between their schools and the Bar Beach venue and it was without doubt a thing of pride as heads turned and people marvelled at what the kids have been able to come up with.

    Even Tourism, Arts and Culture commissioner, Folarin Coker could not hide his admiration as he openly extolled the kids creativity and engaged them in lively conversations.

    According to Alakija, “Lagos turning 50 is an event for anybody who’s got anything to do with Lagos. So we are doing something to celebrate Lagos. The kids for instance are completely blank about Lagos turning 50. But all schools should be doing something to celebrate Lagos. I just wanted to do something that is positive fun. What are those things  that bring Lagos together? That’s what the One Lagos brand is about and that’s what the kids have tried to capture in their innocence.

    “We thought it will be a great idea to get the kids involved. So I thought what we can do is to get the kids to do a design. Each school get to design one LagBus. Right now we have one bus, but it’s work in progress. Because it’s a new concept, we really hope to get the right support. So I’m now hoping that people will begin to understand what we’re trying to do. Of course people need to see what we have done with this bus to understand what we’re trying to achieve.”

    Alakija however clarified that the initiative is entirely a private one, though enjoying the endorsement and support of the Tourism, Arts and Culture ministry. She said the initiative becomes even more important, when one considers the fact that the main focus of the ‘One Lagos’ project has been more of entertainment and tourism. So she said “The idea is to introduce art into the whole thing. If it’s coming under arts and culture, then it can’t just be entertainment alone.”

    Beaming with pride, Alakija said the whole design on the bus is entirely a creation of the kids, adding that it just gives an insight into what the future holds.

    Alakija says buses design is open to corporate sponsorship. “We’re looking forward to reaching out for corporate sponsorship. I’ve got a couple of corporate organisations already signed up. The total package is affordable in terms of sponsorship but the mileage is huge. We plan to have these buses on the road for one year, so you can imagine what that means. Hopefully, the next few buses will not just bear ‘One Lagos’ logo but that of sponsors.”

    She however cautioned that it’s going to be soft branding and not one where a potential sponsor would hope to paint the whole bus in their brand colour, thereby obstructing the original concept.

    Alakija is doing this with the support of some young volunteers: Kelvin Agboso, John Isreal,  Abayomi Olabode, Bankole Olabode and Ajaero Anthony Uchenna; most of whom are artists and students of Yaba College of Technology, and her amiable PA, Gbemisola Sasore.

    The lads are of the GetReal team; a soft skills youth project, created and powered by Diana Yeside Johnson’s TMPL (Team Management Partnership Limited) to build conflict management, cultural diversity, self-awareness and self-worth and independence in young people.

    According to Agboso, Isreal and Bankole,  their main contribution has been in guiding the kids and teaching them how to ‘draw, cut and paste,’ which they confess has been an amazing experience for them.

    Bankole says “The designs have been more of Lagos and the things that makes the city tick, such as the Eyo masquerade, the yellow buses, molue buses and the people.”

    Tourism, Arts and Culture commissioner, Folarin Coker, in a chat with reporters at the venue of the ‘One Lagos Brand Launch’ said the project was conceived to drive economic growth across the state, by taking advantage of the over 20million population strength, diverse culture and tourism potentials, which he said cut across entertainment, religion, business, leisure and even food.

    He expressed delight that somebody in the calibre of Polly Alakija is complementing the whole project and countdown to Lagos at 50 celebration with her art initiative and especially getting the kids to be an integral part of it.

    “The message of the artwork of the kids is evoking deep thought. Even though we have entertainment for adult, we have now been able to engage children.”