The Nation Newspaper

Category: Arts & Life

  • SNA storms New York for 2016 Artexpo

    Ikoyi Michael Onoto won the first prize in the Eighth Annual Visual Art Competition in 2013,  organised by the Embassy of Spain in Abuja. He is one of the young artists participating in this year’s edition of Artexpo New York, courtesy of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA).

    One of his entries, Untitled (Acrylic on African Fabric), explores the theme of the disadvantaged position of the African child. Also in this league is Evi-Parker Julius Opute, whose work: Peaceful Protest, a painting, is advocating peaceful means of demanding for justice. On his part, James Desmond Obumneke has a piece titled: Woman (Charcoal on Paper) with a high headgear. There is also James Izuchukwu Davidson, the youngest of the lot whose intricately executed painting, Jury is a delight to view.

    Among the mix are established artists, such as sculptors Kazali Olayinka; Ayo Daniels; Okide Maduka Tochukwu and Chairman, SNA FCT, Prosper Akeni, who will exhibit his experimental work, The art of Kulikism, among others.

    They will represent Nigeria at Artexpo New York, holding from April 14 to 17 .

    SNA FCT Legal Adviser Akeju Adetunji Aaron will also attend the event. His participation in the session on copyright administration will be of immense benefit to the society and its members on their return.

    On why there is a preponderance of young artists with a sprinkle of old ones for this year’s edition of Artexpo, Akeni said: “We discovered that the heart-beat of art in Africa may just be with the young ones. They are singing a song of the future. So, why not feature them in this exhibition to give them some kind of boost? Let us give them international exposure. Their works are good, trendy and innovative.” To him the Artexpo is an opportunity for the young artists to see the best of Art from all over the world. “That would boost their career. Also, the inspiration they will draw from the exhibition based on what I have experienced would rub off on their works when they return.”

    Chairman, SNA FCT, Okide said the Artexpo is a  rare chance for the artists to experience first-hand, one of the greatest shows of contemporary art in the world, to interact with other artists from other continents to see new techniques, media, and material, to experience art in all is redemptive glory. “It will also afford the artists the opportunity to project their own identities with a view to rediscovering themselves. As our nation repositions itself and turns its attention more to its greatest resource- its arts and culture- this cannot be coming at a more auspicious time,” he said.

    According to him, the SNA FCT under its Economic Social and Professional Upliftment Mandate (ESPUM) is striving to elevate the work and status of artists, creating veritable platforms for partnership with the private and public sectors, diplomatic corps, and non-governmental organisations, all within the acceptable framework of MSMSEs.

    “The exhibition of a body of their works  and the attendance by young artists is surely a step in the right direction in the continued edification of our dear country Nigeria, and her greatest resource, her arts and culture,” he added.

  • Okotie-Eboh in the eye of history

    Okotie-Eboh in the eye of history

    Title: Okotie-Eboh: In time and space in our history.
    Edited:Prof. Akinjide Osuntokun
    Year of Publication: 2016
    Number of Pages: 409
    Reviewer: Nurudeen Badejo

    The chapter one of this book aptly titled A Short Panoramic View of Nigeria’s Political Evolution is a deep historical development of Nigeria from when cities were conquered by the rampaging British forces, the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Nigeria, the administration of Nigeria during the colonial era, rallying for independence, eventual independent with the high hope of a bright future (which unfortunately was dashed or mis-managed), the crisis of political consolidation and the legendary military intervention in our politics culminating in our present democratic practice. The author, an eminent historian and professor emeritus in this chapter dwelt extensively on the historical development of Nigeria that should give everyone a re-think if really our dear country would achieve the aims and aspirations of its founding fathers. Lack of political tolerance, improper management of opposing views, deployment of state’s facilities for political purposes, greed, avarice and corruption are some of the issues highlighted bedevilling the development of Nigeria. Hopefully, we will get it right in the present dispensation with a new government.

    The life and times of Chief Festus Samuel Okotie-Eboh, CMG, M.P, is the thrust of chapter 3. Born on July 18th, 1912 in Bateren, present day Warri North Local Government, Delta State. He grew up with his mother, an Urhobo woman from Orogun. This made him bilingual in both Urhobo and Itsekiri languages. Popularly referred to as Omimi Ejo, Okotie-Eboh, voluble and ebullient was a self-taught man who after his primary school education, taught in his Alma Mater (Sapele Baptist Primary School) thereafter he joined Bata Shoe Company as an accounting clerk where he built a career culminating in becoming the first Nigerian manager of this company. After being sent for further training in Prague in Czechoslovakia in 1947 and obtaining a Diploma in Business Administration and Chiropody. As expected, he left Bata Shoe Company to set-up chains of companies; Afro-Nigerian Export and Import Company involved in timber and rubber business, Omimishoe factory (arguably the most popular among his companies), Omimi Plastics factory and other strings of schools set-up in Sapele, e.g. Sapele Boy’s Academy, Zik College of Commerce and Sapele Academy Secondary School. These schools were founded together with his wife, Victoria, whom he married in 1942.

    Clearly, he had become wealthy and extremely popular in Warri division, it was at this time that he joined the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) under the leadership of Herbert Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikiwe. He won election into the Western House in 1951, but by 1954 he had become a member of the Federal Parliament in Lagos and one of the prominent leaders of NCNC. He was thereafter elected party treasurer largely because he was a man of means. He was subsequently nominated as the Minster of Labour and Social Welfare in January 1955, where he formalised labour relations with Spanish authorities in Equatorial Guinea where a large number of Nigerians were working as labourers.And because of his raising national profile he became the Minister of Finance in 1957.

    As Nigeria’s longest serving Minister of Finance till date (he was Minister of Finance from 1957-1966, a period of 10 years), his achievements and financial acumen are well documented for the first time in our national history in this book. Chiefly among these are the establishment of Central Bank of Nigeria and the mint company, the inauguration of the first national currency, the establishment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, creation of the first Nigerian investment and development bank in the 1950’s and 1960’s, putting in place financial institutions such as the customs department to be part of the finance ministry, the securities commission and an efficient tax regime (He introduced pay as you earn tax system in Nigeria). After establishing these institutions, he won many friends for Nigeria using his long standing business contacts in Europe and America, many international institutions including World Bank, The Commonwealth, International Labour Organization and others which became critical partners of Nigeria in national planning for economic and social development. They all offered their services to Nigeria. With a tremendous capacity for hard work, he is a practical man with firm believe in Nigeria playing an important role in the international community.

    His larger than life image coupled with flamboyance created much attractions and perhaps enmity for him from those who accused him of flaunting affluence. His influence in the creation of mid-west state from the existing western region is a story of concern, political bickering and manovering particularly concerning the interest of his Itshekiri people. His influence in the NCNC was so pervading that he could get almost anything he wanted from federal government. In spite of his Itshekiri background he grew up in Sapele, and had all his investments in Sapele. Okotie-Eboh’s impact in many areas of national endeavour was monumental. He was a remarkable contributor to nation building before his unfortunate assassination in 1966.

    As an Ijebu man, Professor Itsejuwa Sagay, SAN, in an edited version of his lecture on The Itshekiri People in chapter 2 of this book, confirmed my age-long held belief that there is an element of Ijebu affinity with Itshekiri. My family grew in Lagos with an itshekiri family as our neighbour, my concern and suspicion about their language till date is that there is connection between Ijebus and the Itshekiris. In the edited version of the lecture by Sagay, an eminent Itshekiri son traced the history of modern Itshekiri from the late fifteen century when the people adopted Prince Ginuwa from Benin Kingdom as their monarch, though they have lived independently in different communities before coalesced into a

  • How I fell in love with art – Oputu

    How I fell in love with art – Oputu

    Evelyn Oputu, the immediate past Managing Director of the Bank of Industry (BOI) is a committed and consummate art promoter, collector and patroness.  Her love for the art and the promotion of the culture of the nation has made her one of the greatest conveyors of Nigerian fabrics and fashion.  In this chat with Edozie Udeze, she shares her love not only for the visual but also for music, drama and more

    “To begin with,” she says beaming an impeccable smile, “I believe that art is part of humanity; it is part of nature, part of us as human beings.  For me, art is an expression of light.  It is an expression of creativity.  It is an expression of what we are and what we do.  It is an expression of our culture.  Indeed, it is everything.  I have always liked the art and I’ll for ever like the art.  For me, it is even more important than fashion.  Oh, I don’t know at what point I really fell in love with the art.  All I know is that the first time I bought an art work, I was just 15 years.  It was a little sculpture piece.  And that made a lot of impressions on me.

    “Well, for me, like in everything, we have the good and the bad in the art.  Yes, we have a lot of charlatans.  But yet, we have a lot of creativity in the Nigerian art.  They are evolving and getting better all the time.  That is the situation.  Now we have the masters and then the little boys who did not have the confidence or financial strength to pursue the art as a profession.  Yet the society has evolved and people have been appreciating their works and are buying.”

    She sees some Nigerian arts as being bold and brave.  “Some of these works are bold and justify the culture of the Nigerian society.  These are bold professional artists.  So the art has grown; it has evolved over time.  This was why even as a professional we supported all the aspects of the creative industry,” she says.

    “We had to give the support needed to encourage the actors.  We are all artists, even from our body movement, from our languages, the way we gesticulate and relate with one another…  All show us as artists.  We are creative people; we are fun people, full of ideas.  Therefore, I love all aspects of the art of the creative industry.”

    This love began quite on time for Oputu.  As a child, she was sent to go and play the piano.  “Oh, that was how it began for me,” she says with blinkers of the love of the art creasing on her forehead.  “Yet, I am not very good.  I am not a Picasso in terms of what I can do.  But I love music from opera to ballet, name it.  As a child, my father actually sent me to go and dance a ballet.  So, all these combined to intensify my love for the art.  I love music and it is not only painting and the visual that I love.  I also garden a lot.  I farm a lot too.  I sew things; I make beads too.  All these are creative things and activities that keep me ever close to the art.

    “You know my background is in the banking industry, from there I went into manufacturing and so on.  But for me I am a proud African.  I love local fabrics; I love Nigerian fashion a lot.  Even as a banker I was known for my choice of local fabrics almost all the time.  Different cultures have different things that they contribute to the growth of humanity, to the world and to the society.”

    She believes however, that an average African does not have enough confidence in his/her culture.  This is why there has been a lot of copying and borrowing and imitation by Africans.  Yet, she proffers a way forward: “We should come out boldly to show who we are.  For me, I love adire, I love aso-oke, I love kente cloths.  I love Okene cloth.  In these, you see the total demonstration of the creativity of Nigerians and we have to love them all.   I like to be seen in these.  I just don’t want to talk about it; I want to live it; indeed I live it all the time.  I motivate people, encourage others by wearing these fabrics myself.  For me, this way, it makes a lot of sense.”

    Although she no longer works with the Bank of Industry, Oputu goes back into time to reflect on what she and her team were able to do to promote creativity and prosper the sector.  “Ah, I no longer work for the Bank of Industry.  But I must say we did a lot.  Yes, we did a lot.  When I got to the BOI as its boss, there was no attention given to the creativity industry in Nigeria.  That is the truth.  But this is not a criticism.  It was just that there was no definition for them to delve into such areas of human endeavour.  When I got there I looked at what areas where Nigerians excel.  I looked in that area and I discovered that not too many Nigerians had access to the areas of funding for the art in the banking industry.  So, I wanted us to be able to give the funding to the Nigerians who needed and deserved it.  One of the areas we saw clearly was in the area of the creative industry.  It was with this that we also looked into the SMES.  This I also did a lot to help the SMES.”

    She allays the notion that the loan to the entertainment industry was not properly disbursed. “Oh, it is not possible for everyone to get that loan.  You know it is not possible.  In this world, it is not possible to reach everybody that desires something.  But so far as you are meeting some that are sufficient, in so far as you have created the awareness you can call them for assistance.  But it is not proper for me to assess the situation now.  I think it is proper to ask the people there now.  I will not be able to say it.  No I won’t,” she insists with a broad smile. “It won’t be fair to go on to comment on that now,” she shakes her head with a note of finality

    She also focused attention on the intentions behind Ovie Brume Foundation, founded by her to help prosper the art and indoctrinate the less-privileged children.  “Yes, we often have an art bazaar.  In fact, we do a lot of things to raise funds for the foundation.  We have charity matches but this is the first time we are doing art to raise funding for the foundation.  Of course, we have art competitions within schools for the young people in the foundation.  We do this because children are our future.  They are our passport to posterity.  Children in Nigeria do not have sufficient attention.  When you see children who have excelled, it is because they have the resources to do so.  But for those who do not have the resources, it does not mean that these children do not have the talent.  So we are able to fill that gap.  So that Nigeria can benefit from all the potentials we have.  This will help to be able to make all our children make it in life.

    “This is why we train them; we give scholarship to them to pursue their education.  It is not only scholarships; we give them food, because many of them cannot even afford that.  So we ensure that all their bills are paid, give them uniforms in their different schools.  We take them from primary to secondary schools.  So, this is the first level of scholarship.  At the end of this exercise we still expose them to what young people are exposed to to be better people in the society.  So they learn to play the piano, they learn how to dance; how to operate the computer and lots more.  They learn how to do bead making.  During the long vacation we place them on where to get a job.  We give them exposure to art excursions, art exhibitions and so on.  We organize essay competition for them.  So, you see, we give them what the upper middle class get out of life or are exposed to.  Right now, we have about 1,000 of them.  The Centre is in Victoria Island Annex.”

    Right now, Oputu has given all her time and attention to the expansion of the frontiers of the art.  “That is what I do now full time.  I also mentor a lot of young people.  All these give me the joy I need.”

  • ANA solicits for younger writers

    ANA solicits for younger writers

    It was good that the last meeting of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Lagos State chapter raised a lot of dusts about the state of Nigerian Literature: The argument, as it were, centred more on why most Nigerian Institutions of higher learning do not seem to show deserving interest in the works of younger Nigerian writers.  The point at issue was whether to write to Nigerian teachers formally to draw their attention to this development or to meet them at an official level to sort the issue out.

    Usually, the monthly meeting of Lagos ANA is to discover and admit new members and to also read old and new works and banter generally on plausible new ways to move the association forward.  As a matter of fact, it was one of the poetry readings by one John Paschal Anikwe that provoked the debate.  The main issue of the day was to celebrate mothers anchoring the meeting on the role of motherhood in the breeding of successful writers world over.

    However, given the intellectual nature of writers and the ideas they often project, the theme of the day shifted to accommodate the growth and development and treatment of works of younger Nigerian writers by teachers of literature.  Daga Tola, a former chairman of Lagos ANA and a teacher by profession, was particularly irked that the Nigerian state does not love the arts.  “This is time for a literary revolution.  The education system is in deep crisis.  There is no consistent policy to promote education in Nigeria,” he said.

    Tola, a poet and revolutionary writer did not mince words when he posited that what the nation needs now is total overhaul of all aspects of the society.  “How can you say you have a sound educational system when the materials with which to teach are not there?  There are no modern tools.  And to make it worse, it is the same old poets and novelists that our people still teach.  What sense does this make?  We need therefore to restructure the system; we need to make those in charge refocus their attention on the modalities of how they teach and what they teach.”

    To most of the people who presented their own argument, it is not proper; in fact, it does not portend well when it is only the works of the first generation Nigerian writings that are given space in the curriculum.  Anthologies are done nearly every year in which works of younger writers are included.  Most of these works are deep, sound and intellectually suffused, yet they hardly get attention in the classrooms.

    “Oh, yes, let attention shift to these new writers, especially poets.”   Tanko Okoduwa, poet and a former publicity secretary of ANA (national), opined.  A well-celebrated writer, publisher, fine artist and entertainment impresario, Okoduwa argued that poetry is about the only genre of literature that survives in a rough terrain where a lot of writers groan.  “This can be expressed in any language, form and style, as it pleases the writer.  Whether the language of expression is simple or hard, it is the structure of poetry and the message it conveys that distinguishes it from the rest.  Indeed, poetry has so far created an enormous positive impression on literature.  It has immensely contributed to the promotion of language, culture and education generally.”

    Nonetheless, Anikwe, whose poem was captured on his way to Ghana, described the lines as the way he felt about the adventure.  Titled Bus without brake, some of the lines went thus: it is my vision.  But being broke and on my way to Ghana… travelling to Ghana..a famished dream many months of this monster.  At this rugged soul…”  Sorrowfully, he narrated his ordeal on his way to Ghana by road.  It was a journey that nearly drove him crazy.  His ability to capture it in lines also drew argument from members.  Did he do it well?  Was it a well-articulated poetry?  Is poetry really an admixture of structure and form and the like?  The debate went on endlessly, yet it was clear that these new writers who emerge with new ideas and renewed vigour also need some measure of mentoring.

    Mentoring is part of the grooming of writers.  Ideas may be there; they can be put into words, yet it is good to have them presented more convincingly in order to promote literature more accurately.  In his own short story presentation entitled Endless Night, Idoko Daniel said, “I was on my way home but darkness overtook me.  I have waited for over five decades now but the day is yet to dawn.  Help me, Owakum, to you I come.  Lead me, Omanchala, lead me home.  I beg your pardon, I have not introduced myself.  I’m called Oche-awanda.  This is not my real name, I was told, but no one has ever called me any name other than Oche–awanda since I grew up.  So, I assume my name is Oche-awanda.  I’m a poet, singing the ballad of woes.

    People don’t like me, I don’t know why.  Some say I talk too much… some say it’s better my tongue is severed off.  My aunt complained the most about my garrulousness.  She once scorched my tongue with a live coal of fire because I told her husband that a man came on his behalf and was leaking the palm kernel oil that my aunt used to wet her lips.

    I told him that the man was also looking for something inside her bra.  And that my aunt, refused to show him where the thing was.  So his hand moved here and there inside her bra for a long time.  Well, that happened when I was a child.  Now, I’ve grown old, though people still complain that I talk too much.  Even in this wicked desert, I have heard a lot about myself.  Passers-by hailed me with different names and titles.  Commentator.  Announcer… they call from afar.  I don’t care about what they call me.  But I will like to tell you all I have witnessed in all my years of waiting: in all the days I have spent in this arid land waiting for the day to dawn…”

    Such and more depicted the voices of some of the budding writers who grace these readings regularly.  This story by Idoko invoked emotions and attracted attention.  It is a story that shows a promising writer on his way to greatness if properly mentored.  This is one of the whole essences of such outings by ANA: by Nigerian writers.

  • Jalada releases Africa’s most translated short story

    The Pan-African writers’ collective, Jalada Africa has published the short story by one of the continent’s most engaging writer Ngugi wa Thing’o.

    It is titled Itu)ka R)a Miringari: Kana K)r)a G)timaga Andi Mathi) Maringi)  and has been translated into over 30 African languages; thus making it the single most translated short story in the history of African writing.

    Itu)ka R)a Miringari is a previously unreleased fable by the revered scholar and author and serves as Jalada Africa’s Translation Issue: Volume 1. It is a vast body of collaborative work by professional and amateur translators plus language enthusiasts from 14 African countries.

    The story is available at www.jalada.org in Kikuyu, Ahmharic, Dholuo, Kikamba, Lwisukha-Lwidakho, Ikinyarwada, Arabic, Luganda, Kiswahili, Afrikaans, Hausa, Meru, Lingala, IsiZulu, Igbo, Ibibio, Somali, isiNdebele, XiTsonga, Nandi, Rukiga, Lugbarati, Shona, Lubukusu, Kimaragoli, Giriama, Sheng, Ewe, Naija Languej, Marakwet plus French and English at http://jalada.org/2016/03/22/jalada-translation-issue-01-ngugi-wa-thiongo/

  • Glorious 80 years of God’s good times

    Glorious 80 years of God’s good times

    In this tribute, Adewale Adeeyo writes on a worthy humanist and physician Dr Charles Oladeinde Williams who clocked 80 years. 

    Listen to counsel and accept discipline,
    that you may be wise the rest of your days

    – Proverbs 19:20

    In all ways and at all times, our lives persist as if it were a leaf meandering upon a bottomless and capricious lake. We are all rolling stones drifting from high up the mountain top to unknown roads that rupture into furtive directions which blend the menacing challenges of our living with the wondrous realities that forge our daily experiences into our very eccentric world.All of life is pure perplexity, and nothing is sure except that which God gives. The most extraordinary sensation in life is our connection to the immensity of the powers of Almighty God. The wisdom and caution that manage human spirituality is vast and endless. And so baffling is the awesomeness of God’s goodness that we may never be able to comprehend nor understand Him. God is beyond us all and it is needless to even try to understand Him. What we need do, and must always do, is to never shift from Him, and ever praise Him. God is beyond compare! We must heed all His laws especially His significant counsel that declared that “whoever is strong must lend help to, and take care of the weak”. I ask, are you doing this? If not, start now!

    The Holy Bible invaluably interpreted the realities of life to us when it thus cautioned, “Test all things, hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). This profound exhortation forever intrigues me. For real, human history and religion would have been erased without trace if faith had not established itself as the pre-eminent controlling forcethat connect our mystifying motions through life to the beauty of meaningful spiritual composure that wrought the flawless human march to blissful salvation.

    If we wish to purposely travel through life, we must embrace unshakeable faith and be insatiably pre-occupied and absorbed by our spiritual convictions. We must permit faith to occupy its deserved space in our lives so that we may acquire a comforting immunity from the despairing calamities that decimate human hope and confidence. None can live without faith. And we must not even contemplate such a sad and ruinous eventuality.

    Our lives can only begin to feel important, delightful and meaningful when it is ensconced in faiththat forever arouse our praise and honour for Almighty God. The immensity of God’s powers are immeasurable, mysterious, and boundless.We thus must strive ceaselessly and relentlessly to help one another. It is the law of God. Every person of faith that abides by this rule has everything at his fingertips and the contours of his life is cemented to the abundance of God’s loveand His perpetual favours.

    Our journey of life is daunting, fearful and convoluted. Just as no person can step into the river and retrieve dry feet, so it is that no one can travel through life without faith and claim victory. Only the graces of God and His compassion can assuredly deliver triumph.

    As we trudge on through life’s mystic trek, we are co-travelers. But we also are in real and sensible terms, adversaries and competitors for myriad material blessings of the world. It is simply impossible to attain triumph without real and cherished faith. Whoever lacks faith has brutally diminished the chances to attain his goals in the way he had hoped for, and his whole life is immersed in great burden.

    As we seek God’s mercy and grace, so must it be a spiritual compulsion that  wemust do good always. This is what givesGod the greatest pleasure. It is also what begets God’s ordained favours. Those who ignore doing goodoften confront savage disappointments in life. Those who have capacity to do good but fail to do so earn as reward a harsh life of depressing humiliation.

    Daily, in as long as we tread upon the soil of the earth, God alone is He who both sustain and enliven us as we endure the beauty as well as the unrests of this vain and dangerous world. None is a solitary wanderer. It is thus the spiritual mystery attached to the enigma of our living that caused my life to collide with that of our brother, big brother, uncle, father, grandfather and worthy humanist, Dr. Charles Oladeinde Williams, who wondrously stepped into the grand old age of 80 today.

    No matter how we measure it, 80 is by far a very advanced age.We thank God for the life of our good doctor.Most times, old age make human beings succumb to a vast array of geriatric aliments that quickly decimate, and even terminate lives. All of human affairs are pretty much set on a wheel, and as the wheel turns around, it does not permit the same people who are already on deck to always prosper, nor even survive. Life is a great feast of nothingness and those who attain 80 must possess exceptional blessings of God. Whoever is 80 must also have done a great deal of good and virtuous deeds in the enduring sojourn that brought him to a magisterial and commanding point of God’s good fortune that lent him longevity that was, all along, preserved by sound wellness.

    Both parents of Dr.DeindeWillaims never attained 80. Neither has anyone in his immediate nuclear family lived up to 80. It is the benevolence of God that gifted this uncanny and prestigious history of conquest to his beloved son, Dr.Deinde Williams.

    Also, being a medical doctor has nothing to do with how long the personal life of an individual shall endure the brutalities of our risky life adventures. No matter how lavishly our lives may be appointed, dying or living is a transcendental matter that is strictly ordained by God who loves equally those who die young as well as those who die in the distressing twilight of their lives

    To understand life as clearly as I could, I always rely on the scriptures of our two great religions, Christianity and Islam. It is from Islam that is now so unimaginably demonised by faithless extremists and cruel jihadists that I would take wisdom to speak to our conversation of today.

    An irrefutable Islamic argument propounds that our two big religions are decorous and often enrich one another. God listens and agrees with all manner of prayers without a moment hesitation.It is bigotry, alone and by itself, that is always tormenting human souls. I implore you, kindly hear this Islamic adage:”others fear what tomorrow may bring, but I am afraid of what happened yesterday”.

    All the feuds that ever descended upon the earth, and enforced great calamities could directly be traced to needless but fierce arguments that occurred yesterday. The yesterday of life is gone forever. But it still is the hardest to deal with because people hardly forgive and certainly never forget, and thus petty issues of yesterday combust into fiery wars that decimate our collective joy and entomb our future bliss.

    On the Day of Judgment, it is our deeds of yesterday that would matter. The query is not about tomorrow. There is no tomorrow nor indeed a future in heaven.There is only everlasting bliss. The angels have no business with your tomorrow.Yesterday is the platform that releases the measurements of all your past deeds for appraisal and approbation. There is no other way by which the promised mission of our excursion in this world could be accomplished if we do not, appropriately and ceaselessly, do good to whomever we may encounter in our life’s journey

    I have much ruminated on what it was exactly that glued together the mentorship and friendship that has existed for 41 happy years between my person and the great man who we are celebrating today at 80, Dr. Charles Oladeinde Williams. This dignified and brilliant physician has countless titles.But I shall refer to him strictly by his loftiest and       pre-eminent title, MD, meaning, Doctor of Medicine. This is a substantial and indisputable cerebral attainment that is distinct from some others that mainly harvest vanity and perhaps worthless comedy.

    New York City is the most internationalist town in the whole wide world. Those who love her fondly serenade her as the Big Apple. Some others give her vitality and eminence by calling her the City that never sleeps. And those who are immersed in her sophisticated global elegance and ritzy culture refer to her as a “City so bad( meaning fabulous), that she has to be named twice; “New York, New York.”

    New York has the uncanny capacity to reduce to utter smallness and the utmost paltry status whomever came into town because the Big Apple gleams high up into the distant skies and her massive buildings erected into the earth always seem to frighten the senses. Dubai may demonstrate obscene wealth and powerfully modern architectural structures that are embellished in sinfullopulent affluence, there never would be another New York. This was the hot spot in which I first encountered Dr. Charles Oladeinde Williams in my life in the summer of 1975. I had been in and around the city for several years and indeedalready earned my first degree, and was about finishing my Master’s degree when our lives collided on the streets of Manhattan.

    It is easy to quickly have the fantasy that each of us would journey to faraway places, and to the farthest ends of the weird earth that is our real world. But none knows his destination nor his real brother or his sister, nor even whowill be a forever or impermanent spouse. We are nested in the shade of the unknown and scattered around the world. Even if we use the same compass, we simply are trekking in different directions at all timesbut we won’t ever know for sure where the stern world would toss us. The person with whom you would share the truest kindred spirits may not be that person who latterly sucked milk off your mother’s breast and passed her nipples to you.

    Life is a sunny fire, and fire is a real wild beast which can devour everything in motion. God alone is the master planner, and His plans never fail. In real life, fantasy is often mixed with facts. But life ever remains weakly illuminated because life is often obstinate and relentlessly cruel. But it is still these mystic motions of our living that lend to me the immense joy to make the claim that Dr. Charles Oladeinde Williams has been, these past 41 years, my big brother who my mother never had.

    No one ever introduced him to me nor me to him. I ran right smack into his person on Lexington Avenue, New York. I have never sighted him in my life nor know a thing about his person. A collusion of fates weaved the motions of our lives into compatible rhythm on that beautiful summer day of 1975. I emerged from the underground train to the main streets of Lexington Avenue and casually encountered a black dude who was smartly dressed in a very handsome but curious Safari suit. I was in the diplomatic enclave of Manhattan and thus intelligibly presumed him to be a Franco-phone diplomat.

    My mood was as sunny and effusive as the purity and beauty of that summer day and I thus directed my cheerfulness to the “African diplomat” saying, in my then ebullient American accent, “Brother, what’s goingon this pretty day?”The “African diplomat”, I guessed, considered my inquisitorial greeting intrusive. He politely responded in his thick African accent saying, “I am fine.” We both faced the same direction and varnished into the powerful human traffic of New York. We trucked on at about the same pace, andwe seemed to desire to walk in uniform swagger without losing each other. Remember, my co-traveler on that day was 41 years younger than he is today. He moved sprightly, and with a steady gait. Our simultaneous motions blended into a flawless choreography. We spoke no more to one another, and suddenly we slowed down in unison, and veered into the same building housing the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    I was ahead of him and was the first to step into the building but he was processed ahead of me because I yielded to him the respect that his dignified personappropriated. He said a swift thank you, and went off on the elevator. My contact at the consulate was an urbane and affable diplomat, Mr.Laoye, who was an Ibadan indigene and friend of my elder brother. By the time I was eased into Mr.Laoye’s office, I encountered him intensely engaged in a delightful banter with the mysterious “Franco-phone diplomat”, and in the finest Yoruba language. The man in the Safari suit and I seemed both interred in the total recall of our uncanny 15 minutes walk on the sidewalk of New York City. Our encounter on Lexington Avenue and the weird coincidence of our meeting in the office of a mutual kinsman liberated the unfamiliar reality of human imagination that adapts itself to the fusion of genuine gladness with deep telepathic brotherhood. Instantly, conviviality established itself whilst Mr Laoye used his diplomatic instincts to measure our body language and then spoke loudly, “I guess you guys know each other.” In unison, we instinctively said, “Yes”. It was a unique and irreplaceable moment that infected both of us with pervasive extraordinary affinity that sprouted friendship that has lasted forever.

    Quickly, we all got talking. Dr Williams was a much older person than I was but he was genteel, sophisticated, confident and self-assured. He was a Lagos-based physician but I deduced from the lyrics and words that weaved the tapestry of his life that he was a very diligent doctor with a nose for brilliant business ideas and an active social life. He asked what it was that I was doing in America. I told him that I had obtained my first degree and was about to finish my master degree program. He was happy with me for facing my studies and admonished me to come home, without any delay, once I was done with my education in America. Dr. Williams told beguiling and compelling stories of the robust social life and enormous wealth circulating in Nigeria amidst the military class in particular plus a great body of the educated elites and business men who diligently struggled and always tried harder. He then offered to me his business card and encouraged me to make contact with him anytime I returned home to Nigeria.

    That was the end of my quixotic meeting with Dr. Williams. For the next several years, I would never meet nor hear from the doctor. During the Christmas holiday seasons, I would send him greeting cards, and I believe that I wrote letters to him two or three times.Dr. Williams never acknowledged nor responded to my courteous signals.

    After a long sojourn in America, I came home on holiday for the first time in the summer of 1976. I made contact with Dr. Williams and was bemused by the elements that produced the fabulous delight that he expressed upon sighting my person. The manner by which he said “Wale” was as familiar and exceptional as if he called me yesterday and perhaps everyday of the past few years.

    Every human being has his own particular wit for identifying and interpreting reality which most often instinctively superimposes upon every set of fresh circumstances. I could not detect misleading signs that could expose to me anything different from the assured genuineness that I had sensed in the doctor’s humane capacity in New York way back in time, and that made me readily believe in his fondness for my person.

    He was very kind and attentive, and he invited me to come stay with him. I did not decline his offer but deflected the invitation. I took pity on myself for my action because there was no pride attached to my conduct except that I hurriedly absconded to America.

    I have had a luminous sense of the mystical spectacle that Nigeria was and the euphoria elicits my delirious attraction to her peculiar enigma. The appearance of unseriousnessin all matters and thelopsidedness of our governmental apparatus would never deter my reappearance on the soil of my ancestors. I certainly would return home, and soonest

    In 1978, at a ritzy New York hotel, I sat before a passionate and enthusiastic pack of executives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for a job placement. The body language of both sides was fabulous, and I had me a good time. I was hardly surprised when the NNPC offered me employment with the extraordinary notice that I have a dedicated one-year term to pick up the serious offer. My father was 90 years old and prodding me to come home. My mother was not by far younger than my dad, and she was even more emphatic and vigorous on the necessity for my return to Nigeria. I loved America and was having a grand time. But I have also aligned the good life of America to her inherent social imbalance and pervasive uncertaintiesplus the harrowingambiguity of solemn but ever present discrimination.

    The absolute worst could happen in America at any moment, and in any place. There is anarchy inspite of her vast orderliness. The great promise offered me by America was untrustworthy but I was already ensnared by the seductive affluence of American big living. Still, I sensed that my future may be impaired by America’s unstable grounds and corporate gangsterism, her expanding social atrophy and perhaps my deep concern for my personal circumstance of a punishing and lonely future in a magnificent but empty and callous space in far away America.I sensibly opted to return to my homeland.

    I finally returned to Nigeria in the summertime of 1978with enthusiasm and composed ambition. My good education endowed me with vast awareness, understanding and ample readiness to go through life with firm confidence. Within days, I visited the corporate headquarters of the NNPC, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos. The building itself lacked dignity and the ergonomics of the interior was scruffy and uninspiring. I would visit this building, daily, for the next several days, and with all my zeal and haste, I went in there for a tormenting 3 weeks justbecause the job offered to me in New York has indeed vanished. The personnel Department never doubted the letter I tendered to them. But it was unableto reconcile her books to reflect my appointment.

    Suddenly, everything connected to my return home became stale, impolite, disorderly and twisted, and thesesdespairing factors concretely compressed into a mystical fallacy. The soil of the earth beneath my feet was fast sinking and reality itself receded to the floor of the Atlanticocean that encircled Lagos. Above all, the skies sneers and scoffs at my ignorance of the contemporary sociology of life in my own country.

    The awkward bureaucracy at NNPC presented to me the most impenetrable barrier ever in my life. I was stressed to the limit and was feeling great exhaustion when in a humble and pleading tone, I enchanted a young female officer to take me to the file room where I hoped to find the missing link to my employment status. Once at the file room, there was no way that any dutiful movement forward could be accomplished. Heavy powders of dust lend laborious rhythm to the confusion and chaos in the room. Bundles of files rose high up to the ceiling and numerous more massively serpentines into infinity, each disappearing somewhere beyond mountains and forests of dust.

    By now, my exhaustion had translated to immeasurable frustration and I cannot anymore remember which maddening argument that I raised which so impressed one officer that he inexplicably issued to me a transaction document that empowered me with the right of residence at the fancy Ikoyi Hotel for 2 weeks only.

    Everything was impossible and unreal about my situation in Lagos. I needed to think fast, and act quickly. I had always known that a man who is proud and boastful is gloom dispersed in a pierced pot. I desperately yearned to return to my life of regularity and tranquil peace in America. I also reasoned that this action would not be ingenious and would not be dissimilar from defeat. I decided to make contact with Dr.Deinde Williams, and seek help. I went over to his clinic at Ojuelegba, Surulere, and met Dr. Williams who intently listened to the aching barriers that I encountered in Lagos since my arrival.

    The face of Dr. Williams communicates that it is hiding something about which I knew nothing, and never will. He interpreted my words very carefully and said “Wale, you shall not return to America, and “we” shall retrieve your job from the NNPC system.” I still remember the zealous haste, politeness and civility by which this good and gracious man burnished my sanity and restored my humanity. I was stunned by the immensity of his goodness when he offered that I should move to his home. Coming to Dr.Willaims was more than a little bit of good fortune in my life. I probably would not be living in Nigeria today if not for the compassion and mentorship of this person of staggering goodness who, in my own take, is an irreplaceable humanist. His singular effort permitted me to mingle with vast and ample chances in the landscape of our mighty country that may have eluded me.

    I can speak up without fear that Dr. Charles Oladeinde Williams is my iconic hero. He not only entranced me to his home but he actually inducted me into his feisty social life and connections that combined to forge his formidable business and personal lifestyles. He personally drove me around to important and high places. I met his buddy and brother,EgbonKunle Williams. A veritable and superbly gifted architect with a hugely successful practice in Lagos. EgbonKunle Williams remains unmistakably the truest Lagosian you could ever meet. But I was seized at once with a profound fascination with his completely absorbing European nature. A good man whose company is always cheerful largely because of his cerebral alertness that helped him to penetrate English culture without detachment from his all-consuming Lagosian identity. He always was, and remains the unknown factor that influenced and aligned my ambition with my real purpose in Nigeria, and thus always lend to me immense brotherly love andrealsolidbalance. Unbeknowest to EgbonKunle, it was him who emboldened me to stand up to, and conquer the perils of social and business developmentschallengesin Nigeria. I remain ever grateful to him for all the courtesies and untiring support.

    Dr.Funso Peters who was the principal partner to Dr. Williams at Unity Hospital was the only friend of Doctor that I knew before my association with Dr.Deinde Williams. His Uncle,AlhajiAshamu,lived on Adeeyo Street in Ibadan and four houses apart from my father’s house when he was a medical student at the University of Ibadan, and I was only in High School. He was by far senior to me and I never knew him up close except that I recognized him as Alhaji’s younger brother at the University. We looked at him withup to him with the highest regard great esteem and he was a fabulous role model who propelled my ambition for higher education.

    Mr Kunle Cole, now late, showed me love and friendship. He lived at Ibadan and was Governor, University College Hospital (UCH). Upon retirement, he relocated to Lagos and became a closer big brother and dearest friend. When I received Nigeria’s treasured National Honours in 2001, he was the first senior big brother and friend who called at 7am to congratulate me. Am I amat peace with the believe that EgbonKunle Cole is in the firm grip of God’s pleasure in Heaven.

    Mr Sunny Jegede, who later became Managing Director of Total Oil Company remains a close associate of Dr. Williams with whom I interfaced. But it was when Doctor drove me to the residence of Mr.Shyllon in Ikoyi that my job placement with NNPC was invigorated with official authority. Mr Shyllon was managing Managing Director of the National Oil Company who wrote me a note to a director of the NNPC, Mr Olaiya, who would ultimately raise a fresh and firm letter of employment for me. I also met with Mr.Wale Ige, who was then a high ranking civil servant with the Nigerian Telecommunications Company (NITEL). The NNPC Director, Mr Olaiya, was his cousin to whom he gave me a letter. Mr Ige would later become a Minister of Communication of the Federal Republic. The combination of letters from Messrs Shyllon and Ige influenced Mr Olaiya to swiftly induce the NNPC system to do the right thing at once so that my previously illusory placement would be accorded a satisfactory status with the order for instant commencement of duty.

    In the epic movie, The Godfather, Marlon Brando played the mafia Capone (boss of all bosses) who brought help and comfort to his devotees but misfortune and punishment of painful death upon his rivals and foes, real or imagined. One of his criminal underlings and indeed major enforcer had gone to him for assistance. Before he would agree to lend help, this plainly wicked and blood thirsty gangster who routinely sponsor criminal expeditions to eliminate even his family members asked,”do you have family? The enforcer replied, “Sir, No”. The Capone, a monstrous killer of souls gave a response embedded in the kind of philosophy that could have been authored by Socrates. He rested his head and then raised it with an idiom that remained immutably inscribed in both my mind and memory. Calmly, The Godfather muttered,”a man who ain’t got family is not a real man”.iIt is mystifying that a professional criminal, who perpetually has blood in his hands could interpret life with this kind of cheerful and profound exhortation. It was through these words of The Godfather that I recognized that family is the greatest strength that a man could ever possespossess.

    I have eloquently talked about Dr. Williams through the trajectory of my providential meeting with him in New York and my surreal re-union with his person in Lagos, to illustrate how the selflessness of one person can bring comfort and relief to the life of another and how especially we all are but pawns in the hands of destiny, at all times.

    Dr Williams is forever fascinated by the science of medicine, and especially its practice. Doctor is an astonishing workaholic who keeps working with a sacrificing spirit. His father was a Pharmacist and he had opted to become a physician because his meekness and love of humanity offered his soul to the profession of medicine. He certainly could not have succeeded as a priest. But he surely could have floweredas a successful politician. So great his is love of medicine that it forever takes his breath away. He drove himself hard practicing medicine and so did he play very hard on the stage of life.

    Doctor was a very lovable man who exerted himself very hard at work but even harder  whenat play. Women loved him immeasurably, and he loved them back with even greater passion. I met his wife, Kehinde, for the first time when I moved into his household. She was a lovely lady with dark silky skin who worked as a bio-technologist at LUTH, Idi Araba, Lagos.

    She was gracefully kind to everyone and would soonest become my truest sister.There never was any oppressive show off about her. She was inimitably meek and humble.At the time we met, she was nursing her son, Seun, who was less than one year old and I thus fondly call her “mummy Seun”. She lovingly doted on her son who today, like his dad, is a medical doctor

    “Mummy Seun” strictlyconcerned herself with affection for her husband and her family. By the time Seun was two years old, his mummy was already in the family way and this intrusion ushered Rotimi into the world. Rotimi is a graduate of “Great Ife” and an entrepreneur in Lagos who is married with children. By the way, Seun joyously married a physician like himself.

    The phantom fate of life is what hooks us all to what destiny has ordained. Destiny must be fulfilled and none can alter or avoid it, even if it is leads to great conquest or into an abyss. And so it is that human arrangements, no matter how sensible or rational, can easily be undermined by impudent and awry forces that always is greater than the power of material reality. We all just must learn to move on when human impulses, conflicts, feuds and doubts step onto the earthly stage and demolish relationships that once were happy and joyous. There is unremitting torment to marriages that break up but there is always cause for comfort and relief when we suppress our anxiety with faith that sustains courteous and reasonable friendships.

    Today, the wife of Dr.Deinde Williams, Olufunke,is my  delightfulsister who I fondly call “Grandma”because of her gigantic grace that God put together to forge an idyllic, sensible and humble personality. I am always fascinated by her predictable niceness and prodigious love of her husband. I never have had a feeling of deep self- satisfaction as I experienced these past two years when she, with great pleasure, calm devotion and steady attentiveness, nursed and took care of ourDoctor from the debilitating geriatric aliments that severely disturbed her husband and also tormented her person. Courageously, Grandma embraced faith with robust convictions that conquered these immense challenges. Believe, Grandma, nothing would ever be able to take away your man because you are amazingly strong and secure in God’s love and protection. Grandma has carried on with equanimity and the highest graces of selfless devotion for her husband. You are bound to prevail. I salute the Doctor for his magical restorationand extend to this fabulous couple a beautiful long life of joyous peace.

    Dr.Deinde Williams always thrived on sound wellness and God blessed him with prodigious capacity by which he sired many children. I know all his children very well and they have broken away,to far and distant places, all over the world, and are doing very well at the highest top in a vast array of academic pursuits. These graduates include computer technology specialists, a couture designer, management and business administration experts, a medical doctor and even a female pilot, Bukola. These extraordinary blessings are the finest proof of God’s love of this fabulous man to whom he has gifted a good and grand life.

    Doctor attracted to his life good and fabulous people. My dear Aunty Bola whom I call “Mmama Lara” remains a dear sister for whom I have the greatest respect. I extend my highest esteem to Bose in the UK and her mother. And the Chicago resident and married mum, LoLaLola, is the first child of Dr Williams.Doctor expressed no resistance to God’s blessings and even snatched my real sister, Funmi Williams, “mummy Mummy Segun”, a woman of undiminishing and self-sufficient energy, poise and character.

    Life can be grand and magnificent, depending on who one encounters in our tedious journey of life. We may never fully understand the meaning of irreversible destiny. But we may use the experiences of my personal excursion through life to calibrate the prism of the vast goodness inherent in the person of Dr.Deinde Williams, and thus extrapolate the very essence of the fates that inexorably paired us together as we trudge on for 41 blissful years.

    Crime and punishment, injustice and revenge, doing good or evil – one always follows the other, sooner or later. But whomever doesgood has done the will of the Lord and Almighty God shall gift to that person considerable advantage and perpetual victory. How much difficulty lurked therein in life, how many riddles and mysteries surround our existence, we may never know. We just need to be accustomed to the exacting mechanical and spiritual movements of life so that we may realize the computation of rewards that help us to conquer our distinct problems through the goodness and favours that other people extend to us from the overall benevolence of Almighty God.

    There ever shall be incessant collisions and innumerable contacts connected to our life’s trek in as long as our sojourn moves through uncanny orbits, and along trajectories that intersect at an infinite point of God’s munificence.

    May the angels nudge us allto glorious destinations of God’s mercy and glory. 80 years of living, by all necessary means, is a dramatic ascent. I sense a historic storm brewing, great blessings approaching, and glorious bliss coming to stay with you, forever.

    My father whom the Doctor knew very well died at a faultless age of 95. My big egbon and dearest Doctor, you shall match him, and indeed surpass him. Katherine Hepburn wisely observed life and said “love has only to do with what you are expecting to give – which is everything.” You have a delectable and exemplary wife who has an extraordinary place with God because she has given much of herself, in love and care, and with such conviction that your total wellness has acquired a magical resonance from her personal devotion and ceaseless prayers. Every day, and in every way, Grandma is getting better and better, and God shall continually direct the lives of both of you into a peaceful realm of sunshine and sustained joyous motions.

    It is happiness toward which our innate nature obliges us to eternally tend. Doctor, I thank you profusely for making me and my family always happy and joyous. I appreciate you more than you would ever know, and I always pray to God to gift to you immense wellness that wrought flawless longevity

    In the face of confusion and hardship, my ambition and confidence would have been obliterated by Nigeria’s callous and inefficient bureaucracy. God supplied me a defensive shield. I won’t ever be able to thank Dr Deinde Williams enough for the selfless goodness that he extended to my rumbling life at the time of utmost need. You have acted on the law of God and as reward, His graces in your life shall never wane, and further benefits shall touch all the seeds of your body plus those of your larger family.

    Your life has achieved a glorious accomplishment that assembled all the disputations of your early life into a feast of triumph and happiness that is immersed in God’s boundless powers of love for your entire family. What a life of charm!

    Sir, with a merry heart and the highest esteemed always, plus infinite gratitude, I heartily say,congratulations!

    Your children shall always encounter helpers allotted by God in their individual pursuits in life. All of them, including your grand childrengrandchildren, shall rise to lofty heights and God shall keep their feet firm on the soil of the earth. All of us who have come to share in the great joy of today shall forever be blessed. May our power of faith and love of one another fetch life’s most glorious victory as we strive to serve humanity and ever honour God.

    Most of all, let each of us love one another just a littlebit more, do good always, and live with justice and with the ever present fear of Almighty God.

    I sincerely thank all my brothers and sisters in the Lord for listening.

    AdewaleAdeeyo, OON

    Lagos, March, 2016

     

     

  • ‘Mbanefo’s visit is a boost to Adamawa tourism’

    ‘Mbanefo’s visit is a boost to Adamawa tourism’

    In spite of the insecurity in Adamawa State, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Director-General Mrs. Sally Mbanefo has visited Bachama Kingdom to promote its tourism, Assistant Editor (Arts) Ozolua Uhakheme reports.

    The Hama Bachama of Bachama Kingdom in Adamawa State, Homun Honest Irmiya Stephen (Kwire Mana, Kpafrato II) has commended the Director-General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs Sally Mbanefo, for promoting domestic tourism in the country.

    The monarch praised Mbanefo for promoting the cultural heritage, history and tourism in the kingdom.

    The monarch spoke during the visit by the NTDC boss to the kingdom.

    He said: ‘’The people of Adamawa are happy to host Sally Mbanefo who has brought the Federal Government’s presence to Numan Kingdom.’’

    “Sally Mbanefo is so courageous to have come to pay visit and honour the Bachama Kingdom, and the Adamawa people at large. She came to Bachama Kingdom when people are afraid of Adamawa State because of insecurity. No director-general of NTDC has ever visited the kingdom. In fact, the immediate past boss of the corporation, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe who is my good friend never honoured any invitations sent to him.

    “This kingdom and Adamawa at large are peaceful. In Bachama Kingdom, every tribe coexists peacefully. In fact, we have Igbo as political office holders and appointees in the state. And there is a good level of security; no insurgence whatsoever in Adamawa State. Bachama Kingdom has innumerable rich tourism potentials with enviable cultural heritage and history which are worth promoting and developing,” he said.

    The Hama Bachama of the Bachama Kingdom commended Mbanefo on her efforts at promoting tourism and culture in Nigeria, describing her visit as a hope for the development and promotion of the great tourism potentials, cultural heritage and history of the kingdom.

    The Kwire Mana, Kpafrato II urged the Federal Government to tap the tourism potentials of every state, particularly Adamawa whose rich culture is unique.

    Mbanefo described the Adamawa people as hospitable and very intelligent with rich cultural heritage and history, which are great tourism potential, if developed and promoted will not only create job opportunities in the kingdom and the state at large but will also strengthen unity among the people.

    “Tourism is a value chain, which cut across every sector. That is why NTDC under my administration will not relent on its efforts at promoting domestic tourism in Nigeria to create more jobs, promote unity among the Nigerian people, reduce urban migration and reduce crime rates in the country,” Mbanefo said.

    The NTDC boss, who was in the state to support the tourism efforts of the Hama Bachama of the Numan Kingdom, described the cultural heritage of the kingdom as unique and worthy of being exported globally just like the Sango festival in the Oyo town in Oyo State.

    “Sango festival has been exported to over 40 countries. This Kwete festival, among other festivals and the cultural heritage of Numan Kingdom are so fantastic that they will be well accepted and celebrated if developed, promoted and exported. And this will not only put the Numan Kingdom on the global tourism map, but it will also make Nigeria stand tall in the comity of tourism nations,” she added.

    Mbanefo promised to partner the Hama Bachama of the Numan Kingdom and the state government to develop and promote the great cultural heritage and tourism potentials in the kingdom and the state at large, while charging the community to continue their supports for the monarch.

    Adamawa State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mattias Ngaro also lauded Mbanefo’s visit to the kingdom, which is with a view to collaborating with the relevant authorities in the state to develop the rich cultural heritage and tourism potentials.

    “It is in my plan to bring the NTDC boss Mrs. Sally Mbanefo to Adamawa State to appreciate our rich cultural heritage and tourism potentials. But till now, I could not achieve this. Thank God that His Royal Highness, Homun Honest Irmiya Stephen (Kwire Mana, Kpafrato II), finally made this possible. The Adamawa State government will cooperate and partner with NTDC to ensure that our rich cultural heritage and tourism potentials are well developed and promoted for national and international acceptance,” Ngaro said.

    There were performances by various traditional dance troupes at the monarch’s house where the reception was held. The troupes included Wuro Kadwe from Lamurde, Jabin Imburu, Wuro Wajale from Lamurde, Igbo dancers and Mbowo Gra Njiya from Numan.

    After the reception, Homun Honest Irmiya Stephen, and the NTDC chief toured over seven tourism locations and attractions in the neighbouring villages where dance and warrior troupes entertained the visitor.

    The tourism locations and attractions include the fantastic big lakes, which are bigger than what is celebrated in America as the “big lakes,” and Women Exhibition Centre, Sangha and Lamurde Local Government.

     

     

  • Ogun unveils Nigerian Drums Festival logo

    Ogun unveils Nigerian Drums Festival logo

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has unveiled the logo and launched the raffle draw of the maiden edition of the Nigerian Drums Festival billed for between April 19 and 21.

    Unveiling the logo and the raffle draw,  Amosun, represented by his deputy, Mrs  Yetunde Onanuga, said the event would foster development and unity, being the first of its kind in Nigeria and Africa.

    He said the festival would also promote the cultural heritage and tradition of the people. It would attract participants from the 36 states and Abuja, who will showcase their talents and skills on drum beating, dancing and performances.

    The governor said the festival would boost tourism and create jobs.

    The Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Otunba Muyiwa Oladipo, said the festival would turn around culture and tourism  in Ogun State, Nigeria and Africa. The festival, he noted, would promote cultural heritage of the country which other African countries would take a cue from.

    ”Drum is a common factor that binds tribes and ethnic groups with different cultures and traditions in Nigeria and the Nigerian Drums Festival will be an avenue to bring the different types of drums together,” Oladipo stated.

    He said the unveiling of the logo has set the ball rolling and placed an official stamp on the organisation of the event which planning had begun in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism towards the successful staging of the event.

    He said: “The event is purely an initiative of the Ogun State Ministry of Culture and Tourism supported by the the Ogun State Government and some stakeholders, but more stakeholders and sponsors are welcome on board, the more the merrier”.

    The commissioner, however, said  the raffle draw was to create awareness and promote the festival amongst the people at the grassroots, adding that it would be an opportunity for buyers to win fascinating prizes to commemorate the Nigerian Drums Festival of the year.

    ”This is part of the side attractions of the Festival, there are other side attractions and they will be unveiled as time goes on,” the Commissioner said.

    The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Alhaja Salmotu Ottun, enjoined participants to be steadfast and focus as the event would bring about the cultural and traditional promotion of their states, saying that the event was first of its kind in Africa.

    She said the event would be soft-landing,  which other African countries would  emulate, as Ogun was known to be number one in cultural and traditional values across the country even in Africa.

    The event, which had in attendance, Minister of Information and Culture, represented by Ms. Grace Gekpe, Senator Olorunmbe Memora, Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Ronke Shokefun, her counterpart in Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, House of Assembly members, Head of Service, Elder Sola Adeyemi, among other dignitaries.

     

  • Home for distressed women

    A NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation (NGO) God’s Home for Women Foundation has been launched in Lagos.

    According to its Head/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mrs Ajibola Hassan-Odukale, the 20-bedroom facility is for abused and bruised women from the streets. ‘’It is a refuge for them,’’ she said, adding that they would be kept there for three months before they are let off.

    Mrs Hassan-Odukale decried domestic violence, saying it is one of the reasonssome women are thrown on the streets. “Domestic violence is on the rise. Many women are victims and have no place to go. So, here is a home for them,’’ she said. She promised to assist women without jobs to get them.

    Displaced families and women with children equally be accommodated by the home, she averred.

    Wife of the senior Pastor, Fountain Church (Taiwo Odukoya), Nomith, opened the home. She described it as wonderful, saying the owners have sowed a seed, which they would reap on the Last Day. “You are providing care for people to make their lives better. It is about caring,’’ she said. She also said humanity would be better if we cared for one another and that we depend on each other to live.

    She likened what the proprietresses of the Home had done to a concept called Ogbonto in South Africa, explaining we are all humans, and as a result, we should help ourselves. ‘’If you have heart for others, then help them. Help those who need shelter. Everyone should help,’’ she added.

    Her husband, Taiwo, who supports the role of Homes in the society, however, spoke against women battering, warning that men should not do so, no matter the provocation. Rather, they should talk things out. He advised the women too to seek counsel, if things were going wrong.

    Founder, Little Saints Orphanage, who said she had been in social work for 23 years, said the God’s Home for Women ‘’is a dream come true for vulnerable women’’. She said though women who sought help in the past were assisted, there were not provided financial assistance.

    As a result, Mrs George, a patron of the Home, said some of them returned to the streets. Congratulating the founders of God’s Home, she said: “This is a very challenging area,’’ praying that God would see them through. Assuring them of success in the project, she noted that Little Saints Orphanage, the first private orphanage to be registered by the Lagos State government, started from a humble beginning. “When God called me to go into social work, I was nervous. But I was encouraged,’’ she said. She promised to take care of the babies brought by the inmates of God’s Home for Women Foundation to Little Saints Orphanage.

    At the event, the Patroness of the Home were unveiled. They were Mrs George; founder Childville Schools, Lady Olugbeminiyi Modupe-Ore Smith and CEO, Greensprings Educational Services Ltd, Mrs Lai Koiki.

  • Help, our elders want us to remain beggars!

    Help, our elders want us to remain beggars!

    A group of visually-impaired men at the popular Idi-Araba community in Lagos, speak to Gboyega Alaka about their hunger for education and vocational skills and their battle to overcome  overbearing elders, who’d rather they remained beggars.

    The Lie

    The journey into the making of this story started three weeks earlier, precisely February 19 (2016). This reporter had joined a group of visually impaired but not destitute gentlemen, led by Ladipo Tade, who is president and founder of the Society for the Welfare of the Blind in Nigeria, (SWBN) on a mission to discovering young visually impaired people in the Idi Araba community, in Lagos, who may be within the education age range, want to go to school or further their education, but have no chance of reaching out to their dream, due to their destitute background. The team was also to identify young adults, who may wish to get education and probably learn a skill or trade. Idi Araba, for those who do not know is the host community of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, but inhabited largely by an impoverished populace, a good number of them physically challenged, who have settled for the life of begging as their only means of survival.

    Though blind himself, Tade has for nearly twenty years taken it upon himself, to rally other visually impaired people and give them hope of a new life, having himself gone through the trauma that comes with that challenge, and knowing how easily it is to be tempted to settle for a life of begging, once one pulls through that initial trauma. Not that he has a lot of money, he confessed, but he hopes to present their cases to bodies, government and corporate sponsors, who may be in a position to help them in reaching their dream goals. But on this occasion, the team met a brick wall, so to speak. Leader of the beggars’ community, Seriki Abdullahi Hamza, along with several elders, who are all beggars, declared unequivocally that they do not have any young people in the community, who may want to go to school. Neither, they said, did they have any young adult, who may want to learn legit trade and get off the streets, begging. Although they received this team warmly and discussed extensively their challenges, grouses with the government and reasons they may not be able to quit street begging yet – which may be story for another day, they insisted that their children are all in school. That journey thus ended a half success.

    Courage of one youth

    However, as the team made to leave after the meeting, a little boy ran into it and shoved a note into Tade’s palm. It was a brail letter, which he could not read immediately, but which later put a lie to the elders’ position on the day. Amiru Tasi’u, a 19-year old youth, had heard about the meeting and inched to meet with the team, but couldn’t, because according to him, the elders would have lynched and thoroughly dealt with he and his cohorts after the team would have gone.  Thus Tasi’u, with his letter, set up another visit to the community.

    I want to be an advocate for people with disabilities

    At the next meeting, which took place at a discreet location, far from the gathering of the elders, Amiru Tasi’u, who became blind as a result of a measles attack back in 2000, at the age three, spoke of his burning desire to go further in his education. Already he has completed his secondary education and even boasts of eight credits garnered from both his WAEC and NECO examinations, obtained back home in Kano. He also recently got admission into Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education in Kunboso, Kano to continue his education, and only recently came to Lagos to raise money, so he could prosecute that admission.

    His parents, in his opinion, have tried their best, sending him through secondary school, but now, he knows he has to buckle up, as he is convinced they may not be able to shoulder the burden of higher education for him.

    “I attended Special Education School, Tudun Maliki, Kano and I only recently came to Lagos to see if I could raise money to pursue my higher education. I also learnt to use brail at the school.” He explained.

    Asked why he is still in Lagos, since he already has admission into a college of education, Tasi’u said lectures were yet to begin, so he was taking his time. The bigger reason however, he said, is that his real hope is to go to the university and study Law or Mass communication. To that extent, he even registered for JAMB up North. He was hoping to travel to Kano to sit for the exam, when some friends he has made in Lagos hinted him he could actually secure a transfer of venue, which he heartily announced was successful.

    “Now,” he declared, “I will be sitting for the exams at Yaba College of Technology, YABATECH, tomorrow, March 10.” He is also happy that he would be saving the money he would have expended on transport.

    Luckily for him, visually impaired Sola Ajayi, secretary, SWBN and a final year student at the University of Lagos has also taken interest in him and adopted him, training him in computer usage and other aspects towards the examination.

    Of his quest to study Law, Tasi’u said “All over Nigeria, whether at the federal, state or local government level, people with disabilities have been left behind and are not respected or considered important. If I get to study Law and become a lawyer, I will do my best to fight against any government or citizens who are against or trampling upon the rights of people with disabilities. And if I get to study Mass Communication, I will be able to publicise the plights of people with disabilities and make the world understand that people with disabilities are important.”

    But ironically, the young man admits that all this is wishful and even his effort towards sitting for the university matriculation exam, remain half-hearted, as he is not sure he would be able to pursue a university education, even if he passes and is given an admission.

    Asked why he had to lose his sight to measles, of all ailments, Tasi’u said “I’m from the rural North and they didn’t appreciate the importance of going to the hospital immediately, once someone fell ill, preferring to try local stuff. They only think of a hospital, when the illness may have gone out of hand and in most cases, too late. That, in summary, is what led to my blindness.”

    In the meantime, Tasi’u admitted almost shamefully that he begs for a living. “All I do for a living now is begging. In fact, I bought my scratch card for the college of education exam with the proceed I earned from begging. But seriously, I hope to leave it soon. As soon as I can find an alternative means of livelihood.”

    Brimming with the spirit of learning

    Although Yusuf Isa Jamus is 32 years old and has far out-grown normal school age, there is nothing else he wants like going to school.

    Born in Jigawa State, he said his only window of education was at his local community’s Arabic/Quranic school back home. But the high point of this reporter’s interaction with Jamus, was when he disclosed that he learnt informally to read and write Arabic and Hausa languages from his ‘learned friends.’ This reporter had spotted him with a brailed paper, and thus asked what he was doing with it, if indeed he couldn’t read. This therefore is one man with an undying crave for learning.

    And now he says, “I don’t mind starting from primary one, maybe at an adult school – because of my age, to learn to read and write brail in English. I just love the way some of my privileged colleagues, like Amiru (Tasi’u), are able to express themselves in English brail. Don’t forget it was because he could write (in English) that we could reach you and are now having this discussion with you. Besides that, education will free me from these shackles of begging. I just don’t like the fact that I have to be led to the streets everyday to beg for food. What kind of life is that?”

    Asked why he is not considering the option of learning a craft along with literacy opportunities, since he is no longer a young man, he said “If I see that opportunity, I will appreciate it.”

    He said the reason he is begging is because he has no alternative. “I don’t have any alternative means of livelihood, and have a family and children to care and provide for. But if I learn a handiwork with which I can earn money and take care of my family, I will definitely quit it.”

    At this point, Tade Ladipo, president, SWBN, who was present at the interview asked if he was open to learning to weave mats, baskets, footmats and the likes, as well as making soaps and perfumes at the Vocational Training Centre, run by the Nigeria Society for the Blind (NBS); Jamus answered in the affirmative. “If I get this opportunity, I will be delighted.”

    On how he became blind, he said “My parents told me I was two years old, when I lost my sight. They said it was as a result of measles.”

    On why the elders of their community are shielding them from getting education, Jamus said: “I cannot say for sure. But I guess they think begging is far better and more profitable than going to school. Their position is, of what use is going to school to a blind man, when even those who have sight cannot find jobs. They normally tell us that even if we go to school, we would still end up on the streets, begging.”

    Adamu Adamu

    Adamu Adamu attended primary six and Arabic School and was planning to go to secondary school, when he became blind.

    He said, “I schooled at Dambata Local Government, Kano and I could actually read and write before I became blind. I learnt with biro and pencil, but I can’t even see the pages of a book now, let alone read. And I have not learnt to read in brail; so that leaves me with nothing.”

    He lamented the fact that he has had to rely on begging to survive, but said that was not his plan, nor that of his parents for him.

    As a result of his discontentment, Adamu, who has already fathered two children, ages three and one, with the senior already in school, said he would love to go to a school, where he could be able to learn and attain vocational skills, with which he can take care of himself and family.

    Arrested for begging

    Adamu revealed that he has been arrested severally by the government task force against street begging. “In fact I have been arrested three times, and have had to spend as much as N120, 000 to bail myself.”

    Is begging so lucrative that he could afford to bail himself with such huge sum? We asked.

    Adamu attempted to tone it down by explaining that the N120, 000 is cumulative. “When they caught me the last time, I borrowed N36, 000 to bail myself. They took us to somewhere around Bar Beach, where they told us to bail ourselves or be taken to Majidun. And the truth is, we prefer to pay money than be taken to Majidun because that place is horrible and people usually die there.

    Yunusa Isa

    At 29, Yunusa Isa is very clear about what he wants, he just wants to learn a hand craft and earn a living through it. Like Jamus, he attended only an Arabic/Quranic school as a child back home in the North; but he hasn’t been as adventurous as Jamus, and so could neither read nor write brail of any language.

    He said, “I have heard stories of blind people, who learn craft skills and earn money on their own and I would like to be in that position. If given the opportunity to learn a profitable craft at a school for the blind, I would be most delighted.”

    He would also definitely quit begging. “I really am not happy begging for a living.” He confessed.

    He said he really does not understand why it seems the older men do not want them to be exposed to education opportunities, stressing that it is not such a pleasant occupation. “It also comes with its hazards, such as standing in the sun (and maybe, rain) all through the day, and getting harassed by government task force officials, who raid our stands regularly and put us through hell.”

    Although he has never been arrested, Isa said a good number of his friends and colleagues in the business have been arrested. And most times, he said, they’ve had to pull their proceeds together to free the arrested colleague(s).

    On why he had to come all the way to Lagos to beg for alms, his reply was instructive: “If there are better conditions up North, why would I come all the way down South, where I barely knew anyone? I paid way to come Lagos to seek a better life; but I have since discovered that begging is not the kind of job I want to continue doing.”

    Dead tired of begging

    As for Abdulrahaman Adamu, he is “dead tired of begging.”

    Speaking and shaking his head vigorously, Adamu said “I beg because I have no handiwork. I don’t like it, never liked it and I will quit if I as much as have an option. But I never went to school and that’s why I came when I heard that you people are having this interview here.”

    Asked if he would go to Oshodi (Vocational Training Centre), Adamu’s reply was swift. “Most certainly.”

    Although he does not know the kind of job he would be learning, but said he is open to any convenient and profitable vocation.

    The 33-year old who hails from Babura Local Government in Jigawa State, regrets that he did not go to school, but said it is not the culture up North to border about school especially for people with disabilities. “Our parents just send us to Arabic school,” he said.

    Married with children, whom he says are back in the North with their mother and going to school, Adamu said his blindness was also caused by measles at age two. He however said he is taking care to make sure they don’t suffer the same fate as him: “They have taken ill to measles before, but thankfully, it did not affect their eyes. Hospitals are now available and they go to hospital once they fall sick, unlike when we were very young.”

    Lucky to be alive

    Zakari Abdulahi also lost his sight to measles, but he still counts himself lucky, as the same sickness claimed the lives of his brother.

    He revealed that he had had hoped to go to school and reach for the stars, as it were, but that the reality of losing his sight forced him to change his mind. “I now want to do business. I was hoping I could go into poultry business, but funding is a major issue.”

    A native of Migatari Local Government, Jigawa State, he revealed that he came to Lagos as a seven-year old, even though he knew nobody in the city, having been regaled with stories of prosperity that abound in the city by returnees.

    Asked if he could still practice poultry with his sight disability, he said he would need to go back home, but that his wife would assist him. He explained that even his brother is into poultry business and that all he needs is finance.

    At this point, Ajayi volunteered that poultry is taught as a craft at Farm Craft, a Federal Government establishment for the visually impaired located in Isheri-Olofin in Lagos.

    Muhammed Sanni

    In his case, 27-year old Muhammed Sanni, would like to learn how to make insecticide popularly known as otapiapia or soap. Should there be an option of trading, he would also embrace it.

    He revealed that losing his sight was very harrowing for him, since he had become aware of his environment when it happened. “Although I am not sure of my age at the time, I had actually grown up and was selling sugarcane on wheelbarrow when it happened.”

    He revealed that he went to primary school up to primary four before his loss of sight forced him to stop. But like his other colleagues, he went to Arabic School.

    About to wed       

    27-year old Bashiru Muhammed from Gomarau Local Government is however not interested in going to any kind of school, whether for literacy or to learn vocational skills. “I will like to do business if I get the opportunity. I don’t want to go to school, because as I speak, they have already chosen a wife for me and a date has even been fixed. So you see, what I need now is a business to cater for my family and not any kind of school.”

    Asked how he intends to cope in business, Muhammed said his plan is to be selling common foodstuffs like rice, beans and that all he’d have to do is get somebody to help him.

    The boyish looking about to wed revealed that he only recently came to Lagos to make money and that he can easily get somebody to assist him from the North.

    Asked how much he makes per day, begging, Muhammed said “I make N1000, out of which I feed and save the rest.”

    Measles as thief of sight

    If there is anything all of the gentlemen spoken to in this interview have in common, it is loss of sight and measles attack at one time or the other. But what is it about measles that makes it steal the sight of infants and adolescents?

    Dr John Gudi, Medical officer, River State Hospitals Management Board said measles is endemic in countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia and that it accounts for 85 per cent of blind children.

    Said Dr Gudi, “A review paper by Dr Richard Senba of John Hopkins University School of Medicine showed that measles accounted for anywhere from 15,000 to 60,000 cases of child blindness annually.”

    He explained that “Vitamin A is important for the eyes to function, as they should, as well as for the body’s immune system and growth. It is usually found in eggs, whole milk, butter and liver, as well as leafy green vegetables and red, orange and yellow fruits.

    Said Dr Gudi, “the correlation between measles and blindness has been explained thus: The cornea, the front transparent layer of the eye, requires vitamin A to work. The retina, which is the back layer of the eye that receives visual images (like the film in a camera), requires vitamin A in order to allow us to see at night. Measles infection can reduce the levels of vitamin A that the body needs for normal health. As a result, during a measles episode, a child can develop ulcers in the cornea, which makes it hard to see. These ulcers either result from infection of the cornea by the measles virus, or from bacterial infection that develops secondary to measles. When the ulcers heal, they can scar over, and leave opaque scar tissue that may further inhibit vision and cause blindness.”

    In conclusion, he said “The WHO recommends that children in developing countries who contract measles receive 2 doses of vitamin A supplements a day apart. It says vitamin A supplements have been shown to reduce the number of deaths from measles by 50 per cent.”