The Nation Newspaper

Category: Arts & Life

  • Making meaning out of nothing

    Making meaning out of nothing

    TITLE: Biblenomics: Before Adam Smith, there was…
    AUTHOR: Bayo Sodade
    PUBLISHER: The Book Company Limited
    NO. OF PAGES: 138
    YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2014

    Having an insightful, well-researched book on economic concepts,ethical values and management principles which stem from biblical precepts, depicts ingenuity as exhibited by Bayo Sodade in “Biblenomics: Before Adam Smith, there was…”

    The book’s publication is a novel idea meticulously conceived through the in-depth knowledge of economics and the Bible, as Sodade deftly underscores modern thoughts in economics, finance and management, in comparison with biblical precepts, flawlessly referencing wisdom nuggets that drive home his points.

    It is noteworthy that the Nigerian civil service is characterized by intellectually-gifted elements as the latest book obviously brings to fore the ingenuity of some of its practitioners, most especially, in economic planning, as personified by Sodade.

    Having worked at the Lagos State Civil Service, where he garnered his wealth of experience in the area of budget, planning, finance and procurement for 31 years, Sodade has proven his mettle as a versatile economist with this unique presentation.

    The author maximises his exploration of the Bible, showcasing a clear understanding of  its concepts, and establishing the fact that economic and management thoughts have their roots in the age-long spiritual book.

    Divided into three chapters which explicitly define productivity, division of labour, conflict management, delegation of duties, integrity, nepotism, among others, the book corroborates each economic concept with references from the Bible, with the author copiously quoting the scriptures for clearer understanding.

    Chapter one’s analysis is based on contemporary economic and management concepts in comparison with wisdom nuggets from the Bible; Chapter two seeks to identify the scriptural compass to financial success, while Chapter three deals with biblical stumbling blocks to financial success which must be avoided by individuals desirous of economic growth.

    Sodade’s submission is that for every value system humanity places premium importance on, the ancient book provides the source. He infers that Adam Smith, whom the world believes to be the father of economics and the most influential thinker in the field, could have drawn his inspiration from the Bible.

    “What is the connection between the Bible and Economics? Economics studies human behaviour as it relates to meeting unlimited needs from resources that are not only scarce, but also have alternative uses. The Bible was inspired by a benevolent God who understands human needs and provided divine guidance to prosperity. Our God cannot co-reign with poverty because He is the El-Shaddai-the All Sufficient God….,” he writes.

    The author awakens reader’s conciousness as he convincingly establishes the nexus between economics, finance, management and the Bible, giving a road-map into living a successful and God-fearing life.

    The book would be of tremendous value to Christians who strive for success in a corrupt-ridden world, and guide them towards its attainment.

    “The Bible is a sword, arming the Christian for all earthly battles, including those of poverty and want,” the author stresses.

    Having carved a niche as a reputable former facilitator in the Lagos State Treasure Training School, and the incumbent Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Sodade seeks to impact positively on the readers in this book.

    Citing gossip, anxiety, pride, procrastination, greed, discrimination, corruption, dishonesty, hypocrisy and envy as some of the avoidable hindrances to success, he makes it crystal clear that the road to economic breakthrough is paved with a myriad of challenges which could deflate ambition and sentence the unwary to a perpetual state of misfortune.

  • Creating arts with tiles

    Creating arts with tiles

    From over a decade in the banking sector to the world of arts, Mr. Samuel Kunle Agbi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Safeway Information Technologies Nig Ltd, an ICT-based company with speciality in IT training, digital imaging on tiles, glasses and many others, believes that no one should remain backward in an age where technology provides the platform to diversify. He speaks with Joke Kujenya on how to make your offices, churches, homes, and indeed, every place of human existence an arts exhibition

    AS the world goes artistic in every aspect of life, Agbi said: “we are thinking along that line by giving arts a new shape.  We do this by encouraging everyone to use a simulation of designs, made within a few days, to create a world of their own. It is strange the initiative seems not to be known. But we have been in business since 2004. For someone like me who had worked as a banker for over ten years with the then  WEMA Bank that transformed to OMEGA Bank and now to Spring Bank; I imbibed that culture of creativity from there. Through that period, I observed the role that IT played in renovating banks from manual to IT-wired digital operations. “This innovation made things better than what it used to be. That singular ingenuity aroused my interest in digital technology which I then decided to transfer into the way we live.

    So, by the time my United Kingdom (UK) partner, Graphix Tiles, intimated me with the idea of how we can transfer and engrave images into tiles and other products, it blended easily with what has always been on my mind. So, we began this new phase of our transformational artistic venture on that note.

    “What we do is that we bring an edge of artistic imaging into tiling of offices, homes and church,. In which case, whilst your regular tiles are just plain or with some lines drawn on them, ours enables you, as a lover of arts, to redesign your tiles to suit your dreams for your home or offices. So, rather than just make do with what is available, you re-create the same tiles you just bought in the markets to exactly what you want.

    “The difference here is that where a regular artist invites you to his or her arts exhibition, you daily live or work in an artistic environment to exhibit. You bring your own ideas to whatever you want on your tiles and customise your tiles. This has never happened before. Through a process called ‘digital transfer’, everyone can now have their dream design in their own castles. It gives you an alternative to painting your structure for a low maintenance, long lasting finish to the walls and enables you to create what we call bespoke, that is, custom-built, designs.

    “You know when you ‘bake images’ into tiles, they are not ordinary drawings or sketches, but ‘impregnated’ into your tiles for durability. A couple can even engrave their picture on the tile of their wedding reception to make it a customised wedding event, or for floor or wall, they make your kitchen, bed, living or bathroom personally theirs, as an individual artist of your own world by customising the dimension or portion you want done.

    “Sadly in Nigeria, the first thing you want to look at is expense, but everyone can actually do what his or her money can cope with. For instance, if The Nation wants to do this, the company will just have the floor of its reception hall engraved with its name. So, that will be the company’s artistic message, like its copyright. Again as expected, the cost would be high because you’re turning the conventional tiles into an artist’s expression. You will only realise at the end that, the cost is worth the image you’re creating. And for now, it is so because we are currently on a franchise with the UK company and trying to sensitise the Nigerian public to what this offers them. However, depending on acceptability, we would have our own home-based factory where people can demand their individualistic tiles for their personal use. But basically, we use all tiles, Italian or Chinese, to create an interior that would withstand the demands of your environment and at the same time match with your design style. Also for now, the start-up is hard to be determined because when you get orders from home-based clients, we only send their image requirements to the parent company in UK, who builds in their image concepts, and then, return it to Nigeria for delivery to customers.

    “Above business, for us, this is for your personal interest and living satisfaction. You can have the versatility you want with our unique bespoke on a fresh perspective. Every life is individual, as such we appreciate that every home is different and requires a stylish mural to create a stunning feature for their interior space. That is why I believe that from single tiles to larger scale projects, we work with each client directly to create for you an artistic wall painting to compliment your dream home style and personality.

    “Like artists, we help everyone interpret and turn their vision into reality. Again, due to the current fluctuation in the forex markets, the project could experience some constraints just like any other business, but we are hoping that government will do more of start-ups. In fact, for the austere period our government just introduced, an average Nigerian, no matter the social status, need to have tiled murals in their home because they are hard-wearing and fade-resistant and retains the colours vivid for the life of the project. Also, the tiles are slip-resistance to ensure health and safety with pendulum testing method for an average user. All Nigerians are artists in the making if they can just put their creative minds into carving out their own homes”, concluded Agbi.

  • ‘There is too much agony in the land’

    ‘There is too much agony in the land’

    In 1986, United States based Nigerian scholar Prof dele jegede held a solo exhibition, Paradise Battered, in condemnation of what he perceived as the government’s insensitivity. Almost three decades after, he says in this interview with Assistant Editor (Arts) Ozolua Uhakheme that Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s administration that was truncated by the military may literally look like Nigeria’s golden era, given the magnitude of abuses these past years.

    You once described your art thus: My art is cathartic. What do you mean?

    My art—specifically my paintings and, to some extent, drawings—are outlets for my pent-up emotions. They provide an effective lever for my personal musings and creative monologues. I remain committed to the philosophy of engaged and catalytic art, an activist art that has relevancy in the way that it seeks to tug at the conscience of the nation, provoke a level of personal reflections, even reactions, at the same time that it historicizes its period. The luxury of vacant aesthetics is something that I do not often indulge in; there is too much agony in the homeland—far too many traumatised mothers, too many brutalized children—for art to miss the opportunity to inveigh against annoyingly obtuse leadership. In fact, whichever direction you look, the artist could not have asked for better topics to focus upon. If your interest is in landscape art, how about the cataclysmic environmental degradation that we all have continued to be party to in the Niger Delta region? What gave you the right to think that water was not critical to human life? The ecosystem is being laid to waste right under our nose. Our streets have been taken over by vituperative generators that spew soot in our face and are on a mission to impair our hearing. Yet our country continues to wallow in abysmal poverty of ideas, leadership, and implementation. Of course, the laudable Millennial Development Goals of the United Nations have become, in the mouths of Nigerian leaders, nothing more than mere usernames and passwords that facilitate access to the political treasury. The artist has an unmistakable responsibility to be the social conscience of his or her era; to de-legitimise all unwholesome acts that are now routinely left in the hands of “Baba God.” Piquant art and soothing balms of color are not mutually irreconcilable.

    How much of social conscience do we find in our artists’ works of today?

    It is difficult for me to say with any degree of certainty, given the constraints that I have to work with as a result of (dis)location. Artists of the African Diaspora have opportunities that are not afforded their colleagues who are on the continent. But artists of African descent who live and work on the continent also have tremendous opportunities to help shape the discourse of social conscience through their work. This is one area in which our writers have logged appreciable success. Specifically, Nigerian artists have the chance and space to conscientise their audience to the economic depravity and the abdication of responsibility that seem to have become normative among some key actors of the political class. For sure, all art has whatever freedom it may claim to affirm its legitimacy. And again, I should emphasize that I simply do not want to be prescriptive; you cannot dictate who should do what when it comes to the exercise of individual expression. But there is need for our artists to hone their skills and target their message. Nigeria is an open canvas.

    At the presentation of your book by CBAAC, Prof Salah Hassan described the most exciting artists as those who live simultaneously in the centre and at the periphery. What is your take on this?

    Salah Hasan’s reference to the center and the periphery recalls the discourse of dualism and dialogic presence in a global creative environment that remained, until less than two decades ago, firmly in the grip of Western culture. That artists who live simultaneously at the center and the periphery are exciting is borne out of the vast vistas that are opened up to those who are bold enough to liberate themselves from the hegemonic restrictiveness of monolithic thinking. For example, the notion that works by African artists must conform to the standards bequeathed to society by dead white artists is no longer considered relevant. Let us face the fact: there is no longer a universally acknowledged center in the art world if by that we mean that such a center has monopoly on modes of cultural production. The idea that certain cultures belong in the periphery, which is itself a quaint carry-over of the primitivising tenets that once held sway in the West, has been ruptured by the presence and work of a coterie of artists, writers, and scholars. From Nigeria, for example, there is such a strong and aspiring painter as Nina Fabunmi who is currently rocking the world in San Francisco. There are also Nnena Okore and Marcia Kure, who bring such diversity and newness to the art world in the same way that Chimamanda Adichie has done in literature that you can no longer talk of centre and periphery as discrete spaces.

    You held a solo show Paradise Battered at the National Theatre in 1986. Three decades after, will you still retain such theme given what the nation is going through now?

    My 1986 exhibition, Paradise Battered, has turned out to be an epochal event not only because of the artworks but also because of what has become a manifesto of profound import. You will observe that Paradise Battered came after a quarter century of independence. Babangida was in his first year as the new dictator, having pried Buhari from his self-imposed mission of sanitising the nation. In the early 1980’s some of us had complained quite vociferously about the direction that Nigeria was going. We challenged Umaru Dikko’s notion of poverty, which posited that there was no poverty until Nigerians had taken to scavenging. We berated our then Minister of Information, Walter Ofonagoro of the infamous Verdit 83 saga, for such puerile fawning and cavorting in the discharge of his duties. My exhibition of the time attempted to use art as a viable critical platform. There was abject poverty in the land. The Paradise that was envisioned at independence had been battered by Nigerians who had looted and vandalised national treasury. Within this set-up, the poor had become even poorer, traumatised by a bureaucracy that celebrated pomp and pageantry but signified sheer narcissism and indecisiveness. The administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari was seen as mild-tempered: an administration that was largely insensitive to the yearnings of my generation for bold policies in the area, for example, of technology. It was considered tone-deaf, and relished its power to create a burgeoning bureaucracy. It was the era of substantives and subordinates in government establishments. There was a Minister of, and a Minister for Water, for example. This meant that one minister would dig the borehole, and the other would drink the water. My popular anecdote of the period was taken from the contention of a colleague of mine at the University of Lagos, who had threatened that if he died he would not come back to Nigeria. Rather, he would reincarnate in Saudi Arabia as a camel! Reference to the camel was to emphasise that in Saudi Arabia, even camels lived a more dignified existence. Now, is Nigeria of 2015 better than Nigeria of 1986? Given the myriad of problems that have assailed and continue to assault the national psyche, and the gratuitousness of many Nigerians in the public sphere, given the attitude that you could get away with murder, literally, the Shagari years are now made to look like Nigeria’s golden era. I would love to see more artists embrace their role as the voice of the underprivileged and the conscience of the nation. Or as visionaries who care more about the art and the message than about the auction market.

    Do you believe the boundary-breaking efforts of some artists in the Diaspora have shored up the value of African art on global market?

    It is important to contextualize the visibility that African art has continued to enjoy in recent years. My view is that there is a certain degree of inexorability to it; it is meant to happen at one point or another in the course of art development and the age of globalization. It certainly helps that there is a coterie of artists in western countries who are able to key into this development. But we should not neglect the fact that the current visibility is the result of a number of separate but interrelated developments, all of which have coalesced in the rise in the value of African art on a global scale. Look, for example, at the curatorial work by key African curators who are based in the West. Then consider the cumulative impact of the scholarship of African art. The fact is that in the last decade or two, the focus has shifted from traditional arts of Africa to the contemporary area. In 1983 when I defended my dissertation, contemporary African art was viewed with disdain and apathy. Today, graduate students are more inclined in favor of modern and/or contemporary African art. And then there are artists of the African Diaspora who are quite versatile in utilizing the means, mode, and language of the West even as they express Africa-centric views. There is also the business dimension to all of this: the emergence of auction houses on the continent, and a reciprocal exploration of modern/contemporary African art by both established and emerging auction houses in the West. In short, there simply cannot be one single entity claiming the prize for stirring this visibility in African art. It has been decades in coming.

    During your tenure as director cultural studies, Unilag, there was a popular Unilag music festival. What was the inspiration?  

    I took over the reins of directorship of the Center for Cultural Studies in 1989, the same year that I became President of the Society of Nigerian Artists. It was a period filled with excitement. With my colleagues, including the late Bode Osanyin, Duro Oni, Abayomi Barber, Joy Nwosu, Uwa Hunwick, and the late Afolabi Alaja-Browne, we strove to live up to our role as a center for research into visual culture and the study of popular and material culture. The Center for Cultural Studies was solely responsible for managing all auditoria on the campus at that time: the University Auditorium, the Arts Theatre, and the College of Education Auditorium. We came up with the Unilag Popular Music Festival in our effort to raise the profile of our musicians, especially budding ones such as Shina Peters and Adewale Ayuba. Of course, we yielded the platform to established artists such as Ayinla Kollington and Ayinde Barrister among others. It was a win-win project, one that allowed us as practitioners, professionals, and scholars to continue our research into sundry aspects of popular culture at the same time that we raked substantial revenue into the coffers of the University of Lagos. The Popular Music Festival was but an aspect of our agenda—the domestic agenda—of maximum exposure during my tenure as Director at the Center for Cultural Studies. At the international level, the Performing Arts Troupe, which was headed by Bode Osanyin, with a 21-person-strong team of actors and drummers, undertook two international tours during my tenure. In 1989, we took Bode’s play, Orisa, to Jamaica, with another tour of Germany in 1992.

    1989 to 1992 were eventful years for you as president, SNA, director cultural studies. How did you manage the task before you then?

    By the time I became President of the Society of Nigerian Artists in 1989, the association had laid comatose for a while. Although the Lagos branch of the society remained active, that was about it for an organisation that our founding fathers, including Yusuf Grillo, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Erhabor Emokpae, T.A. Fasuyi, had nursed with high hopes. I was quite fortunate in having such dedicated and motivated members on my Executive Council. I had the privilege of working with such practitioners as Okpu Eze, B.A. Aina, Bisi Fakeye, Ndidi Dike, and Ola Oloidi, and my National Vice-President, L. T. Bentu, among others. It was during my tenure that we democratised the structure of the Society, created and empowered state branches, and backed this up with a legal instrument. It was during my time that we registered the Society as a legal body, with all that that entailed. We inaugurated a series of activities that took place outside of Lagos. In 1989, we were in Zaria and Kaduna with a major lecture and a slate of activities that brought attention to the national scope of the society. We annualized a national exhibition, which brought together artists from all over the country, and paid attention to our own history through ample documentation and exhibition catalogs. We celebrated our elders at the same time that we opened ourselves up to budding members. We were insistent on going to bat for our members and the Society on all matters pertaining to art at the national level. We called our Minister of Culture Lamba Gwom to order on his ill-advised attempt to subsume the nascent National Gallery of Art under the Arts Council. We took out a full page advertorial in the Sunday Times to plead our case for the establishment of the National Gallery of Art as an independent government parastatal in tandem with enunciations in the cultural policy. Indeed, this last issue was one of the major achievements of the SNA under my leadership. Quite sadly though, we are yet to have a national edifice as our National Gallery. In fact, we are on a slippery slope on this score, if the information that the National Theatre is now with a concessionaire is true. What made us so successful at that time was that we were quite idealistic and bold. We were passionate about building upon the legacy bequeathed to us by the founding fathers. We believed strongly in the notion that leadership was not necessarily coterminous with huge budgets, flamboyant pronouncements, but little accomplishments. We dared.

    Are there such artists in Nigeria who can dare the economic realities as well as be the voice of the voiceless?

    Becoming the voice of the voiceless, or producing art that is focused on social issues has less to do with an artist’s economic buoyancy and more with personal perspectives or ideological bent. I believe that the art market does not discriminate on the basis of subject matter, as art is largely an issue of aesthetics and, of course, perspectives. If you are not an economically successful artist, it is probably not necessarily because of the subject matter that your work extols although I can see where, in certain areas, a subject matter may be so provocative as to create social uproar. (Here, I have in mind such sensitive issues as religion and sexuality). But in terms of highlighting the social malaise that Nigeria has found itself in-the inequalities in living conditions; the pallid conditions in which most people live; the non-availability of basic conditions that are conducive to healthy life; even social systems such as the police-these and many other aspects are aspects that a socially conscious artist can draw attention to. Economically successful artists are not necessarily going to be impelled, all of a sudden, to become art activists if that simply is not what excites them.

    You were very popular with your cartoons in Sunday Times with Kole the menace in the 70s. Considering the state of Nigerian media now, did you miss the newsroom activities?

    The cartoons that I produced intermittently from the mid-70’s to through the early 90’s were a celebration of my penchant for humor. But, as you know, this was a period dominated largely by the military. (I was out of the country during the reign of Shehu Shagari). So much has changed between then and now, in terms of the Nigerian media. The newsroom has gone global. With technology, access to information has been democratised. The Internet now furnishes humanity with an inordinate amount of news, breaking or cold, at little or no cost, and accessible in real time. In the 70’s the source of information was quite predictable. Domestically, it was either Radio Nigeria, the NTA, or the Daily Times under Alhaji Babatude Jose. This is the sense in which I miss newsroom activities. As Art Editor at Kakawa, I miss the camaraderie that often prevailed in the studio, what with Cliff Ogiugo, the late Yomi Wilson, and the ever-ebullient Josy Ajiboye, with whom I have continued to share indissoluble affinity. Yes, I miss my colleagues in the Daily Times of the 1970s: Tunde Agbabiaka; Lade Bonuola; the late Terry Agbelemoge; Banji Ogundele; Livinus Okereafor; Achike Okafor; Clement Okosun; and, of course, the late Tunji Oseni for whom my respect and admiration continue to endure. Oseni was a principled gentleman who neither lucre nor power could sway from whatever he considered righteous. Cartooning was at its infancy at that time although this should not be misconstrued as implying that the dominant cartoonists of the time were infantile. Far from it. When you look at the cerebral drawings of somebody like Bisi Ogunbadejo in the early 1980s at the Guardian, or the pesky cartoons of Kenny Adamson of the Punch, you couldn’t but sit up, especially if you fell within their operational orbit. Josy Ajiboye’s trademark remained jokes that were inspired by the pedestrian and the marginalized. Still, all of us were at the vanguard of a profession that was at its early stages of development, notwithstanding the pioneering efforts of Akinola Lasekan at the West African Pilot, or even Ayo Ajayi of the Daily Times. Nowadays, the advent of technology has considerably facilitated incredibly memorable cartoons, with particular regard to production.

    How fulfilling were those years as cartoonist and any regret while you were running the column?

    Those were quite fulfilling years and I have no regrets whatsoever. For sure, cartooning came with its perils and pleasures. You were not sure if you would spend the night with your family; if an unmarked car would come for you on account of a cartoon that you did, but which probably riled a soldier. Fortunately, I never once had such unpleasant experience as going to Alagbon, an idea made popular by the indomitable musician, Fela. This had less to do with my brashness though, and more—a lot more—to do with the prudential stance of the editors. You may call it self-censorship and I will not quibble about that. All I can say it that, given the prevailing climate—remember the Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irhabor saga—it worked. I particularly relished the discipline that meeting submission deadlines imposed on me as a cartoonist. And the beauty of production was yet another draw: all I needed was paper and pen. This meant that I could execute my drawings in the sparsest environment. There was, of course, the issue of ideas. There is no doubt that ideas are superior to execution with regard to art in general and cartooning in particular. Regardless of how pretty your drawing is, if it is not embedded within a workable idea, it is not a cartoon. It may be just an illustration but it will definitely not be a memorable cartoon.

    Often time, people easily identify you with the beret cap. Is it driven by the activism in you or what?

    The beret is as much an aspect of my love of fashion as it is a part of my expressive personality.

    Between art history and studio practice, which is your attraction and why?

    I am drawn to both and I do enjoy writing as much as I do studio work. Each brings its own pangs and joys. There is pleasure, for example, in research and scholarship, especially where one has the opportunity to impact one’s field. On the other hand, you simply cannot beat the reckless abandon that painting or drawing brings. While a certain degree of meticulousness and deference is warranted when it comes to writing, such constraints are not characteristic of studio practice although this by no means annuls the challenges that studio practice harbors. It is the process that marks the shift in both instances: shift in mentality and outcome. With respect to art history, I consider myself privileged to be able to contribute to perspectives that assert the integrity of my ancestry. As for my studio practice, this is a forever thing.

     

     

     

  • Honour for NLNG award winners

    Last Thursday, top officials of Nigeria LNG (NLNG) Limited were in Lagos to present winners of the Nigeria Prize for Literature and Prize for Literary Criticism. Assistant Editor (Arts) Ozolua Uhakheme was there.

    Four months after they emerged winners of the Nigeria LNG sponsored Nigeria Prize for Literature 2014 and The Prize for Literary Criticism 2014, the duo of Prof Sam Ukala and Isidore Diala last Thursday got inducted into the hall of prize winners in Lagos.

    The public presentation of the winners (almost like a replay of the award night on October 9 last year) was held at the Agip Recital Hall Muson Centre, Onikan Lagos and it attracted literati, academics, top government functionaries, artistes and students drawn from about 10 secondary schools in Lagos.

    Essentially, it was also a forum to honour the prize winners and hear first-hand the authors talk about their muse and, ultimately, give an acceptance speech that serves as the final trappings of their investiture as winners.

    Guests at the event included Managing Director NLNG Limited Mr Babs Omotowa, his deputy, Mr Isa Inuwa, former Vice Chancellor University of Ibadan, Prof Ayo Banjo, Prof Charity Angya, Prof Austin Anigala (who represented Vice Chancellor Delta State University, Abraka Prof Victor Peretomode) and Delta State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr. Richard Mofe-Damijo.

    Others were Deputy Vice Chancellor University of Lagos Prof Duro Oni, filmmaker Tunde Kelani, Mrs Bolanle Austin-Peters, Prof Ahmed Yerima, Dr. Kudos Eresia Eke, Prize runners-up Friday John Abba and Jude Idada.

    Omotowa said over the years NLNG has raised the stake of the prize to $100,000 and remain fully committed to the prize irrespective of the economic challenges. “The prize has stimulated some new writers and it has helped to improve standard of publishing…We hope other organsiations will join us.

    For us at NLNG, the prize is to develop human capacity. Ukala’ book Iredi War, is on leadership and there is no better time to address that than now in Nigeria. The success of NLNG is a testimony that Nigeria can hold its own in the comity of nations,” he said.

    Ukala, who dedicated his award to God almighty for the inspiration, talent and direction said: “I whole-heartedly and most gratefully accept the award of the Nigerian Prize for Literature 2014.”

    He said those he criticised most in his works are the leaders because ‘if the leadership is right all other things will be right.’

    “I feel fulfilled, grateful to God Almighty for the inspiration, talent and energy. I also feel indebted to NLNG for endowing the prize and processing the entries with utmost integrity and transparency through the appointment of an Advisory Board of truly honourable men, who, in turn, appointed persons of impeccable character as judges.

    “I also think the public presentation is a great idea. It might result in the promotion of this author and his work as well as the promotion of literature and literary artists in general. It might be a forum to spotlight the need for Nigeria to consciously cultivate and maintain a robust reading culture as a way of improving the standard of education in the country,” he added.

    In his acceptance speech titled: Warring twin or intellectual muse? Diala, who won the prize for literary criticism, said it was a privilege to emerge as the first recipient of an award that is bond to grow in prestige among scholars of Nigerian literature. He noted that exaltation of a great literary work is invariably also a literary criticism, noting that by endowing the literature prize, NLNG acknowledges one of the oldest functions of criticism: informed evaluation and judgment, discrimination between the mediocre and the great.

    “Charting and enriching the tradition of ideas on which the writer relies, the critic’s endeavour is thus of crucial import to the artist. Thus, the endowment of a specific literary criticism prize is the sponsor’s acknowledgment of the complementarities between creation and criticism. Yet, the literature and literary criticism prizes sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited are ultimately of greater consequences.

    Prestigious prizes play pivotal roles in determining the trajectory of a people’s literature and canonising its masterpieces. By its capacity to lift into prominence its preferred concept of excellence in African literature through publication, distribution, and the award of prestigious prizes, the West metonymically appropriates the African voice and endorses as authorised particular forms of the representation of African reality,” Diala said.

    The Professor of African Literature, Imo State University said the literary criticism prize would seek to authenticate preferred nuances in the reading of Nigeria/African literature. This, he said, was bound to generate controversies, some of which, hopefully, could serve a positive purpose.

    “Examining Isidore Okpewho’s astonishing novel, Call Me by My Rightful Name, in my winning entry, I approach cultures as necessarily syncretic, hybrid exogamous and appraise the writer’s realisation of his vision in the work of art,” he added.

    In a goodwill message,  Kelani said though he has not won NLNG literary prize, he had adapted seven books into movie and that what NLNG has started is sowing a seed that would grow.

     

  • Cuba builds first church since Castro came to power

    A neglected, weed-strewn field in a small Cuban town where there are more horses than cars seems an unlikely setting for a major shift in government policy.

    But in the isolated town of Sandino, Cuba’s first Catholic Church since the 1959 revolution took power is set to be built.

    “There is money to start, there is the construction material to start, there are the permissions to start, so everything is ready,” said Bishop Jorge Enrique Serpa Pérez, who oversees the diocese where the new church will be built.

    The Sandino church has been 56 years in the making, ever since Fidel Castro took power and Cuba became an officially atheist state.

    Religious people fell under suspicion by the new revolutionary government, but none more so than those who belonged to the Catholic Church, which was seen as being overly sympathetic to the Batista regime that Castro had driven from power.

    In the first years of the revolution, thousands of Catholic priests were jailed or forced into exile, and church property, including the Jesuit school that Castro attended, was seized by the Cuban government.

    Only with the visit in 1998 of Pope John Paul IIto the island did relations between the Cuban government and Catholic Church begin to thaw. Christmas again became a national holiday, and Cubans faced less official discrimination for practicing their faiths.

    In December, Cuban President Raul Castro thanked Pope Francis for his role in the secret talks that led to a prisoner swap between Cuba and the United States and the start of negotiations to restore full diplomatic relations.

    In 2015, church officials said requests to build new churches that had long been ensnared in red tape began to receive government approval.

    While church officials said several new Catholic houses of worship are in the works, the first will be built in Sandino, a remote town at the end of a pothole-cratered road in Cuba’s westernmost province.

    The Rev. Cirilo Castro drives that road to Sandino once a week to officiate Mass in a converted garage in the back of a house the church rents. He has lost count of the miles he has put on his green Russian Lada as part of his ministry to towns throughout the province.

    When the new Catholic church is built — the first in Sandino’s history — Castro said he would move to minster there full time.

    “I hope the church doesn’t stay within the four walls,” he said “That it will go farther than that. That with the building of the new church, there will be more people of faith,” Castro said.

    The Cuban Catholic Church desperately needs more followers in Cuba, where in recent years the syncretic religion Santeria, that mixes African religions with Catholicism, has exploded in popularity.

    The church in Sandino will take about two years to build and when completed will hold 200 people, Castro said.

    Most of the $50,000 collected so far for the new church comes from fund-raisers held by the St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Tampa, Florida.

    “Much of Tampa’s history and culture comes from Cuba,” said the Rev. Tom Morgan, St. Lawrence’s vicar. “It’s absolutely fantastic they are building a new church, and I hope to be able to visit one day.”

    Morgan said he was optimistic that recent changes in U..S Treasury Department regulations would make it possible for his church to send supplies and building materials to Cuba to help with the construction of the new church.

    As she makes her way down a path to attend Mass in Cirilo Castro’s converted garage, Digna Martinez said she has waited more than five decades for a church to be built in Sandino.

    Martinez said she, her husband and two children were those relocated to the town during early 1960s when a triumphant Fidel Castro was still battling what he called “bandits,” holdouts against his revolution waging guerrilla warfare in the countryside.

    While there is no official tally, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people suspected of plotting against the revolution were shipped to Sandino to live in a form of internal exile.

    “It was a process to make a community for political prisoners,” Martinez said. “They took our farm away and brought us here.”

    A lifelong Catholic, Martinez said one of the most devastating things about being forced to move 500 miles away from her home to a town she had never heard of was that there was no church.

    “Having a church is very important,” she said. “Many of the people here were brought up Catholic and need a church. We were baptized and prayed when we went to bed and woke up, just like our parents and grandparents taught us.”

     

    •Culled from CNN

     

     

  • Painting bought for $5,212 sells for $5.2m

    Painting bought for $5,212 sells for $5.2m

    An art enthusiast paid $5,212 in 2013 at a London auction for a painting of a 19th-century English landscape. That price was well above Christie’s auction house estimated value of $760 to $1,200. This week, however, the painting’s price jumped exponentially — 1,000 times its previous value — at a Sotheby’s auction in New York. It sold Wednesday for $5.2 million. The discrepancy in the value of “Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows” is due to a difference of opinion by art experts at the rival auction houses. Christie’s analysed the painting in 2013 and declared that it was the work of a follower of John Constable — not a creation of the famed English Romantic landscape artist himself.

    But Sotheby’s claimed it was an original Constable made in preparation for another work owned by the Tate gallery in London. The auction house valued the painting at between $2 million and $3 million. Anne Lyles, former 18th and 19th century British art curator at the Tate, wrote in catalog for the Sotheby’s auction that “the present work by Constable was heavily retouched with a dark and opaque pigments which probably dated to the late 19th or early 20th century, in a misguided attempt to ‘finish’ the painting.”

    Expand Gallery

    Lyles wrote that this was the reason why Christie’s “overlooked” its authenticity in 2013.

    “The retouchings on the present painting were readily soluble in the course of its recent cleaning, and Constable’s original and brilliant conception has been once again revealed,” Lyles wrote.

    Christie’s, however, said that experts disagree about the painting’s authenticity.

    “We are aware that Sotheby’s have sold this work as by Constable,” the auction house said in a statement. “We took the view at the time of our sale in 2013 that it was by a ‘follower of.’ We understand that there is no clear consensus of expertise on the new attribution.”

    Mystery masterpiece a Rembrandt

    Lyles wrote that the painting recently sold was one of five preliminary oil sketches, precursors to “perhaps the greatest of his late masterpieces,” a work that goes by the same name. According to Sotheby’s, it is believed the sketch was possibly sold by the artist in 1837 for 6 pounds — or about $9 today. John Constable (1776-1837) was famous for his landscapes of the English countryside, particularly scenes of his native Suffolk. In 2012, the Constable painting “The Lock” became one of the most expensive British paintings ever sold, fetching £22.4milllion ($34.8 million) at an auction at Christie’s in London.

  • Odunuga: Exit of principal

    Odunuga: Exit of principal

    Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so. For those, whom thou think’st , thou dost overthrow, die not . Poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

    From rest and sleepe , which but thy pictures bee, much pressure, then from thee, much more must flow. And soonest our best men with thee doe goe, rest of their bones and souls deliverie.

    Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men, and dost with poyson, warre, and sickness dwell, and poppie , or charmes can make us sleepe as well, and better then thy stroake ; why swell’st thou then ;

    One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, and death shall be no more ; Death, thou shall die. “

    This sonnet by John Donne written around 1610 and first published posthumously in 1633 brings back the fond memories of my Principal at Multilateral Grammar School, Okun – Owa in Ijebu, Ogun State. Chief Oladotun Odunuga whom we, his former students fondly call Papa, passed on peacefully on Thursday, January 29, 2015 at his 9, Agbon Odumosu Street residence in Ilese – Ijebu, a town he fondly calls “a city of the black, sacred cat “ , at the age of 84.

    It is not his demise that brings about the memories of this literary giant, but his professionalism. As our Principal, he also combined the administrative job with the teaching of Literature in English. A vibrant teacher, he recited poems with a lot of drama and this particular poem was his favourite. Without any prompting, most of us, his students, memorised poems and the quotable quotes in all Williams Shakespeare books we read. No wonder many of my classmates in the Literature in English class ended up as journalists, lawyers, theatre practitioners and University lectureres, apart from the fact that the school produced professionals in all areas of science, arts, commerce and technical works.

    Papa Oladotun Odunuga who resumed duties at my school on September 1, 1975 when he was posted from Mac – Job Grammar School, Abeokuta, served my school meritoriously for seven years until his retirement on August 31, 1982.

    A thorough bred professional, a disciplined and principled mind, Papa Odunuga made his teachers to engage in extra classes after official hours and on Saturdays , at no financial cost to our parents. We were thoroughly fed with words of God and good moral upbringing. A handsome Principal and a choice dresser, Papa Odunuga like typical teachers of that time, do carry cane, like a military officer carrying a swagger stick, but hardly apply it on students.

    We all love him and respect him because our progress was uppermost in his heart. Because of his exemplary leadership, all teachers toed his line and the college did not only excel in academics but also in sports, drama, literary and debating activities. We were all made to cut grasses and do little farming, just to shape us up. He engaged labourers to use mowing machines to do the grass cutting, when what we call stubborn grasses, becomes cumbersome for us to handle.

    Many would have thought that his dedication to duty and determination to excellence in studies must be due to the fact that one of his children , Mopelola (now a top bank manager) was one of us, the final year students, when he resumed at our school. This impression was removed when he sustained the tempo throughout his tenure at Multilateral Grammar School, Okun – Owa. The result of his commitment came out with some of the students having Grade one in the West African School Cerificate examination (WASCE), after a lull in that particular grade.

    What really stands Papa Odunuga out was the fact that he was always ready to spend his personal money to advance the cause of his students. He was the one that purchased the Higher School Certificate entrance form examination at Remo Secondary School, Sagamu for this writer and he refused to accept a refund from my mother. He was instrumental into the school granting scholarship to brilliant, indigent students. He motivated a lot of us to aqquire University education as he had already stimulated us with stories about his days at University College Ibadan (now University of Ibadan) where he obtained a degree in English with History and Religious Studies awarded by London University on November 17, 1963.

    We, the Old Students, had planned to add to his numerous honour as the college clocks 50 years on March, 19, 2015 but poor death has robbed us of this much desired appreciation.

    As one bade farewell to the mentor and role model of many students, who are now great leaders in Government and private sectors, the food for thought is for our modern day Principals and teachers to imbibe from the legacy of Papa Odunuga.

    This great soul, humble and peace lovng personality, will be committed to mother earth on Wednesday , February 11, 2015 after a funeral service at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Ilese in Ijebu, Ogun State. However his legacy to humanity can never be buried as he has etched his name in gold. Adieu, Papa Odunuga. Rest in perfect peace.

    • Ogunbambo, a journalist and public affairs analyst, was a former student of Odunuga.

     

  • Extraordinary world of female boxers

    Extraordinary world of female boxers

    Taiwo Alimi explores the amazing world of female boxers, who are daring all obstacles and impediments to express themselves in the tough and male-dominated world of pugilism.

    Except for the twin mounds on their upper sections, there is little about them to suggest they belong to the hallowed fairer gender. Even those, have been temporarily compressed into tiny lumps by their taut sport underwear. Their otherwise bursting locks, are cut low like those of their counterparts; the male boxers. It is only after a closer scrutiny that you could actually distinguish three out of the dozen and a half young boxers during these regular early morning training sessions to be ladies.

    The cluster, buoyed on by a lone coach/trainer, takes turn, to attack a red-coloured punching bag hanging droopily on a horizontal long pole that is supported by two others, firmly attached to the bare ground.

    For about 30 minutes, they continue to hit hard at the stuffed bag; then, shadow box for another 15 minutes; and then spend another 15 minutes sparring. They use up the final 20 minutes on the vast football field, racing round it five times; taking time in between only to catch their breaths and take new instructions from their coach.

    Welcome to the professed gymnasium of Golden Weapon Club Agege, tended by ex-Lagos State boxer turned coach, Yinka Adeyeye. The gym is a tiny portion of a massive football field at Ladoje Primary School, Agege. Here, there is no boxing ring or shed to keep off the baking sun, but makeshift poles, a swollen bag, a trainer and 18 boxers. Here too, there is no preferential treatment; Beijing Conference takes the back seat as the girl boxers compete vigorously with the boys, who outnumber them. They were on their feet for as long as the boys were and one of them actually finished the endurance race ahead of many of the boys. Nothing here suggests it is a man’s world, as the girls radiate in the satisfaction of dominating men in their own field. Welcome to the extraordinary world of female boxers.

    In the course of gathering materials for this report, the picture of insufficiency seems to pervade all other boxing clubs and gymnasiums visited, whether in Yaba, Surulere, Somolu, Ilupeju, Bariga in Lagos or Agbado in Ogun State.

    From National Sports Festival champions,  Kate Peters, Mutiat Adebayo, Funmilayo Adekunle and Aisha Oriyomi; to potential champions: Tawa Awise, Olayemi Mustapha, Mistura Olalere and Bolanle Kareem; and up-coming Olalude Oluwatomisin; they all express aggressive passion to be counted in the male dominated boxing world.

    LOWLY SETTING

    Interestingly, a good number of them have taken to boxing of their own volition, while few were attracted to the pugilism trade by the exploits of close friends, family members, and parents. In-fact many have rebelled against their parents, just so they could to learn the fine art of defense and become champions in their locality and state.

    Surprisingly, as this reporter discovered, the female boxing culture is fully integrated in many clubs and schools in the states. Amongst them are Golden Weapon Club, Champions Boxing Club, No Shaking Club, Agbado, Smart Club, Agbado and Ashimota Club, Ilupeju. In these places, girl boxers have a core discipleship and like Golden Weapon Club, gender issues do not come up, as girls and boys, women and men are treated alike.

    This is not unconnected with their lowly background, as some of them are products of humble homes; many as a matter of fact from poverty-stricken homes.

    Olalude Oluwatomisin of Golden Weapon Club lives in the Lagos suburb of Agege, close to Ladoje Primary School, Oko-Oba, where she trains daily before heading off to school. “My father is a boxer and boxing coach with the Nigerian Police. He is now retired from boxing but trains up and coming boxers in his spare time. One of my elder brothers is a fine footballer and I have been boxing for four years now. My father likes to box and it is from him that I picked up the habit. I want to be a great boxing champion one day.”

    Eko 2012 gold medalist, Kate Peters lives in the same neighborhood as Oluwatomisin but she lost her father in an auto accident in 2014. She says of her deprived background, “My father was working with local newspaper, PM News when he had an ‘okada’ (commercial motorcyclist) accident and died last year. My mother maintains a grocery shop. Sometimes I go there to help her out when I am not training. I started boxing seven years ago at age 13, even though my parents did not like it.”

    Kate just wanted to be different and boxing afforded her that dream. “No member of my family is boxing but people are different and have different choices. Boxing is my own choice and I don’t care if it is dominated by men.”

    Asked if it is not too dangerous a game for the soft and gentle female folks, Kate answered in the affirmative before adding, “I used to watch coach (Yinka Adeyeye) training his wards here and I told him I would like to box too. The first thing he told me was that boxing is a tough game and not for girls and soft boys. I told him that I am different and would cope well. And since I have started, I don’t see any guy that can push me around. I am not afraid to get hurt because that is what boxing is all about and so far, my mother, siblings and most importantly, my coach have been there for me.”

    An indigene of Akwa Ibom State, Kate was born and bred in Lagos. She has won gold medals twice for Lagos at the Sports Festival in Port Harcourt (2010) and Lagos (2012). She decided to be different and boxing for her fulfils that desire.

    Mutiat Adebayo and Aisha Oriyomi are two of a kind. They fell in love with boxing from watching the game in their locality in the dregs of Shomolu/Bariga. “Many great boxers have come out of my area, says Mutiat, who attends a public school, Ilupeju Grammar School. When I got to secondary school, I noticed that they have a thriving boxing club and our boxing coach invited girls to come. So I joined and I have been enjoying myself.”

    SELF-PRESERVATION

    In a world of violence, boxing seems to find acceptance and that is a factor in female boxing too. Kate emphasizes that crave for self-defense also led her into the pugilist business. “As a trained boxer, I am not afraid of any attack coming from any quarters, be it from a male or a female. I have learnt how I can defend myself, even though as trained boxers, we are forbidden to fight in public. However, because of what I have learnt, I am not afraid of any man. No man can threaten me.”

    Kate’s testimony is quite relevant for anyone grow up in the violent- prone settings of Mushin, Shomolu, Agege, Bariga and Agbado areas of Lagos and Ogun States.

    For female boxers therefore, strong character, determination and daring to go against the norms, are things they have in common.

    PARENTAL CONTROL

    Though Oluwatomisin’s father did not stop her from boxing, being a boxing coach, she revealed that her mum wants her to be a lawyer. “My mother wants me to be a lawyer. She does not believe that a girl should be boxing and she has advised me to read my books well, so I can become a lawyer. So, I would like to combine the two and in future become a lawyer as well as a boxing champion.”

    For others: Kate, Mutiat, Funmilayo, Assiat and Tawa, they had to take their destiny in their hands, first by revolting against their parents, before their weird choice was accepted. In-fact, Tawa disclosed that her parents are yet to come to terms with her preference. “Kate’s parents,” Coach Adeyeye clarifies, “did not want their daughter to have anything to do with boxing until she started winning laurels and cash prizes. They warned her severally not to go anywhere near boxing because they thought it is not a good sport for girls. When I tried to convince them by following Kate home, they expressed fear that it is only rough people and people of questionable character that indulge in boxing. But because of me, they would permit her and once they see bad changes in her, it is the end of boxing for her. It was not until they started seeing her name in the newspapers and she brought home her winnings in cash and kind that they fully supported her. Now they come to watch all her fights.”

    Instances have also been documented where overbearing boyfriends and husbands have truncated dreams of their boxer girlfriends.

    SHORT LIFESPAN

    “The lifespan of female boxers is very short. As a coach, I know that if I don’t rush them (female boxers) and ensure they achieve on time, as soon as they begin to get into relationships, their boyfriends or husbands can tell them to stop. Men like to dominate their women and many don’t believe that their women should be boxing all over town. Besides, by the time they get married and begin to rear children, they cannot train as hard as they would want to. And once you cannot train hard, your boxing career is over.”

    FASHION

    Interestingly, training, sparring and sharing with the male boxing folks have robbed most female boxers of the definitive feminine stuff. Kate says she does not ‘party nor like to dress up’ like women love to do.

    “I don’t go to parties. I don’t even like it. I like to wear jeans and shirt. I don’t wear dresses because I won’t be free in them.” Makeup is also a taboo to her and she wears her hair low, typical of American marines. “I don’t have time for things like that; boxing is all I think about,” she says.

    Olayemi and Kate are as strong as a mule and coach Adeyeye bears witness to this: “I can tell you that some of these girls are tougher and stronger than their male counterparts. For instance, Kate Peters can beat some of my male boxers. I have not seen her kind since I became a coach. She stood through thick and thin. She spars with men. The only time she box with female boxers is at Sports Council and during tournaments. She challenges me too because, she asks many questions and I have to be at my best to contain her. Many of them are like Kate. They are powerful, purposeful, determined, and full of life. They only need to be given equal opportunity to excel.”

    CHALLENGES

    With the number of female boxers put at a conservative figure of 100 spread all over the country, and Lagos and the South- south states having greater slice of the number, foremost female boxing coach, Gboyega Adeniji-Adele says the figure can double quickly if they are given better attention.

    “There are many potential champions in our midst but many of them are discouraged from going deep into it by the poor attention those in sports authority are giving them. They come to me every day, eager and willing to learn, but I have limited facility and equipment to take care of them adequately.”

    He further pointed out the natural challenge in female athletes. “Age is a big disadvantage in female boxers and that is why we try to catch them young, because by the time they are in their 20s and looking forward to settling down and starting a family, it would be difficult for them to train hard. And boxing is different from other sports like football and table tennis. You have to be at the peak of fitness to be a successful boxer; so marriage is a great impediment.”

    Tawa and Olayemi are of the opinion that female boxing is still overlooked by boxing authority and promoters in the country.

    Tawa, a 45kg boxer from No Shaking Club, says: “Most of the time, we end up as spectators at tournaments because it is either there are no bouts or little bouts involving female boxers. We are therefore calling on organisers of the boxing shows to increase the female bouts, so that more female boxers can develop their skills.”

    She made particular mention of amateur boxing promoter, Wale Edun, the brain behind the Lagos monthly boxing show. “I thank Wale Edun for promoting amateur boxing through the monthly show, but the female bouts should be increased for more female boxers to also enjoy the benefits. That show has inspired many boxers in Lagos, but he should extend it to more female boxers because we need it more than the male boxers.”

    According to Olayemi, female boxers have a unique advantage to cart home medals from regional, continental, and international championships given that; “When you look at all aspects of Nigerian sports, women athletes are doing better, though very little is allocated to them. Look at what (Blessing)  Okagbare achieved in 2014. Even in football, the Falcons have done wonderfully well more than the Super Eagles that we give all the money. Nigerian women are resilient and it is not different in boxing. All we ask for is support from individuals, corporate bodies and government.”

    Kate offered near similar opinion while canvassing for more sponsors in female boxing. “Many females have the skills and zeal. I appeal to promoters to organise female boxing competitions for more female boxers to be discovered and nurtured to stardom.”

    LAUGHABLE FACILITY

    From Agege to Somolu/Bariga and Mushin, down to Surulere, areas of highest catchment for female boxers in Lagos State, you will be amazed at the deprived level of facility for boxers.

    What Coach Adeleye refers to as his boxing gymnasium is laughable. It is an insignificant portion of land overlooking a massive football field in downtown Oko-Oba, Agege; an open-air gym devoid of any structure to shield trainers and wards from rain or sun. The visible gears for learning and imparting knowledge are one punching bag, some washed-out pairs of gloves and improvised pipes to hang the bag. After a particular training session, all that was available to restore lost energy, was a bag of sachet water, which the boxers distributed among themselves after over-one-hour energy-sapping training.

    At the boxing gymnasium located in the main bowl of the National Stadium Surulere, over 20 boxers cramp into in a 30 by 40 meter hole, almost completely taken by a ring. Here too, the men are mixed with the women boxers.

    Veteran female boxer and National Sports Festival champion, Funmilayo Adekunle described the dreadful conditions they pass through to make it to the top. “It is not easy to be a successful boxer in this country. We live and operate in neglect. It is only when we are called to camp that we see some level of comfort-that is when you must have passed through hell to prepare yourself and win at a major tournament. Before that, nobody wants to know how you have been coping. We simply rely on our determination and support of our coaches, who sometimes use their own resources to make us comfortable. We don’t eat good food, or vitamins that are essential for all athletes. To even get to the gym is a problem at times.”

    Coach Adeyeye, who is Special Assistant on transport to former Agege Local Government Chairman, Taofeek Abiodun Adaranijo, revealed that out of his meager earnings, he had to support Kate Peters to keep her in the business. “I manage myself as well as my female boxers. Since there is no support from governments, I have to help them out so that they don’t seek that comfort from men, whose only aim is to spoil and impregnate them. Sometimes, when I run into financial difficulty, I seek out friends who support me with loans or give me money out-rightly. That is how I have been managing this gym and my female boxers. I hope that governments, individuals, and corporate bodies will come to our aid.”

    HOPE RISING

    In the midst of insufficiency, neglect, paucity, and harshness, these special breed of womenfolk still have ample room to dream. Kate says boxing is tough yet interesting. “It is indeed a tough sport but also interesting. I have been boxing for seven years; it is all I think about now and my dream is to one day become a professional boxing champion in Nigeria and abroad.”

    In as much as Oluwatomisin would want to satisfy her mother to pursue a career in law, she says, she is looking forward to becoming a ‘lawyer boxer.’ Nothing, she adds, would separate her from this interestingly tough world of boxing.

  • Boko Haram, Nigeria’s punishment for losing Bakassi – Paramount ruler

    Boko Haram, Nigeria’s punishment for losing Bakassi – Paramount ruler

    Paramount Ruler of Bakassi in Cross River State, Dr Etim Okon Edet, in this exclusive interview with NICHOLAS KALU ties the Boko Haram menace in parts of the country to the loss of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. He also spoke other issues.

    What is your take on the issue of Boko Haram raging in parts of the country?

    Boko Haram will not stop unless something is done about the Bakassi people. Was there any Boko Haram before the ceding of Bakassi? When Bakassi was ceded as a result of the ICJ judgement, it was not only Bakassi that was affected. Adamawa, Bornu and Yobe axis were also affected on the land boundary. On the maritime boundary, it was Bakassi. Now in those areas, nobody has said anything because they were resettled properly. You will not hear any complain from them as they were resettled by the Presidential Resettlement Committee. I have the report. It was the same committee that was supposed to come to Bakassi area.

    The Boko Haram thing is highly spiritual because God abhors injustice. There was no Boko Haram before the ceding of Bakassi, was there? None. So Nigeria should look at this angle carefully. The moment you begin to have injustice particularly the one done to a people who have no arms and who have not done anything wrong, God is always there to intervene. People always think that the thought of God towards us is good and not evil to lead us to a successful end. But in the Bible, we were told that God sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. So if the thought of God is perpetually good towards us, why did he send evil spirits to torment Saul?

    You’re saying that Boko haram is a curse linked to the Bakassi  neglect?

    Yes. After several years, Bakassi people have not been resettled. They have been scattered all over. And they are silent. They are not saying anything, but God is doing their fight beyond the Bakassi territory. Look at the Bornu and Adamawa axis, where resettlement took place; where the Boko Haram menace is hottest. I wanted the resettlement there to be replicated here, but the government of Obasanjo told me that the government of Cross River State would do it and today, Bakassi people have not been resettled. And you think God is sleeping? There is too much injustice. That is why there is Boko Haram. And it will not stop until the Federal Government holistically looks at the Bakassi issue. How many committees have been set up for this and I keep saying these are not necessary. We now saw in 2014 budget N100 billion for resettlement of Bakassi people, but we have not seen anything. Also the Efiok Cobham Resettlement Committee white paper is not out. What is the justice there? And you are beginning to do elections every time. Where will the people vote? So these are injustices done to Bakassi people that have made God to do what he is doing there. It is not prayers. People have been praying. There are so many churches and the thing is still going on. So these are the questions that people should ask. There must be fundamental causes for what is happening. Until we address that, we cannot fix the problem. Nobody even has the conscience to ask ‘where are these people and what is happening to them?’ I don’t understand when they say the welfare and security of a people shall be the primary purpose of the government.

    What do you think is responsible for the economic crisis the country seems to be facing?

    The problem of Nigeria is not economic or religious. It is purely political. We don’t have religious crisis in the north. What we have that has permeated the whole country is political problems. If the political environment can be stabilised, then all other facets would stabilise. Nigerians are very resilient people. If there is any other country that there is no light, that government would be toppled. But Nigerians can endure. Just give them a little bit of political leadership and stabilise the system. Nigerians are very enterprising. They can do a lot. All these they are talking about the economy and saying the dollar is low or high, how many Nigerians are using dollars? They are still going to their market. The problem is politics. Now we are back to the political era. If you look, the politicians have taken over everything. You see a local government chairman suddenly assuming leadership of the community. That is not how community leadership is made. Political leadership is transient. The community has its leaders. You see local government chairmen taking security votes, but when there is crisis, they call on the traditional rulers who have not been given security vote. There is no local policing. The chairman would send the police to do certain things and the traditional ruler would not know anything about it. Unless and until we get to that past, we cannot have peace. The traditional rulers are keeping quiet because the politicians have taken over. They cannot solve the problem. There is no traditional ruler in this country that does not know a thief or Boko Haram or sea pirate or those committing crimes in their communities. And we have these people in all the communities in Nigeria long before now. They are still performing those roles. Politicians just came in and decided to take over those roles. If you give the police information about criminals, they would turn round and tell the criminals who would now descend on the traditional rulers.

    We need a strong leadership and people who have the fear of God and conscience, otherwise Nigeria would not grow beyond what it is now. When you have a turbulent political situation, there is no way the economy would be stable.

     What role should traditional rulers play in stabilising the polity, given their limitations as you have highlighted, especially as elections approach?

    The point is that traditional rulers are not to participate in partisan political activities. You cannot get your name in the register of any political party. You are a father of all political parties. You receive all of them and give blessings, but you are not to have your name in their register or become an officer of the party. In the days of old, political parties used to go to the communities to find out beyond the politicking within their party, who is the popular candidate in that community. They will go to the community, go to the traditional rulers, community leaders and find out about their candidate. If you go and find out that someone is a bad candidate and still go ahead and picked, then you will fail at the main elections. In those days, if you are discovered to be a bad candidate from your community, they dump you and go for a popular candidate who has no money because at the end the day, it will not be party primaries, but the verdict of the people. So, whoever you are choosing must synchronize with the wishes of the people. In those days, they will even come and pay for your form, because you are an asset to them and one that can easily win election and they can go and sleep. But today you just see someone coming to introduce himself to you as your councilor or chairman and you don’t even know him. The person will be so strange to the community and will not do anything for them because he is not with the people. Let us leave this party thing and consult with the people. When you do that and it synchronizes with the wish of the people, there will be no crisis because the person is of the community and who they want. The crisis we are seeing today is picking people that the people don’t want or like and you want to force such people and there is a reaction. So I appeal to politicians to please always consult beyond their parties to the communities in choosing who will lead them, so that there will be peace in the polity.

    What do you think of politicians who fight to win party tickets and begin to feel like the election is already won? Secondly, do you have faith in INEC to deliver?

    Such politicians succeeded largely before now because votes did not count in elections and there was apathy. That is why they were struggling to belong to a particular political party. The moment you spend all the money and you are candidate, it is over because they will carry the ballot boxes and run away and all of that. But the moment this election is going to count as we are seeing, faith will be returned. People will now know that they don’t need to spend a lot of money and pass through a political party in a wrong way. They will now know they can do everything but can never change INEC’s register. When you know that you cannot run away with the ballot box, you will have a rethink. We have been told every polling area has a different polling unit and colour; and there is a card reader and permanent voters card like ATM. The moment they all see that this election is going to be credible, the political parties themselves are going to have a rethink because votes will now count. You have to be a person ready to serve and loved by the community and your pedigree must be known. We have seen that INEC is going to conduct the most credible election in 2015. The moment that is done all these problems will end. The verdict of the people will be final.

    What’s your advice to the people?

    People should come out and vote this time that their votes will count. They should come and vote for the candidates of their choice  the ones that will serve them right. Not the ones that will put everything in their pocket. They should send all the politicians who will not serve them away. The people have the power now. So I am appealing to the people to go and get your permanent voters card. I have mine. If you don’t go out and vote, they will continue to do what they are doing.

  • Save us from these hoodlums, Ojuwoye traders appeal to Fashola

    Save us from these hoodlums, Ojuwoye traders appeal to Fashola

    Traders at the bustling Ojuwoye market, Mushin are calling on Governor Babatunde Fashola to come to their rescue, as they allege harassment and extortion in the hands of street urchins and hoodlums. Medinat Kanabe reports.

    Ojuwoye Market, Mushin is under siege, and the traders are at their wits end and crying out for help. The traders are calling on the government of Governor Babatunde Fashola to come to their rescue and save them from the claws of street urchins and hoodlums who have been disturbing the peace of the market, extorting money from them and generally making life unbearable for them for over 12 years.

    As it is, remaining peacefully in their shops without being disturbed now means paying huge fines to hoodlums on a regular basis. According to the traders and market leaders, they have done all in their power to stop the boys but they just seem unstoppable.

    If some form of intervention is not made soon, the Iya-loja (female market leader) fear that the traders, especially the Igbo traders who experience more threat and extortion may rise up to fight for themselves, which she says may lead to communal clashes.

    The Chairman of the Igbo traders, Mr Ojukwu, some Yoruba traders and the Ija-Loja took time out to share their sorry stories with The Nation, insisting that a quick government intervention is needed to save the situation.

    According to the Iya-loja, Alhaja Mufuliat Adebunmi, the boys who go by funny names such as Odo, Oshodi, Akeem No-case, 2-pac have become semi-gods in the market as they are feared by the traders.

    “We have been on this issue since 2007. We have been reporting them both verbally and through writing to different government agencies, but nothing has been done.

    “Their new leader is Akeem No-case. The most annoying thing they did recently was to ask the Igbo traders at the Aganran part of the market (dominated by Igbo traders) and some part of the Ojuwoye main market to pay him (Akeem) N10,000 for the Christmas and New Year celebration, while he asked those using container (makeshift stores)  to pay N7, 000. “

    Continuing, the Iya-loja said “The chairman of the Igbo Traders Association, Mr Ojukwu came to report this incident to me. He told me that they were forced to pay N7, 000 in 2013 which they did, but the Igbos didn’t pay in 2014. They had had enough. It was only the hairdressers that paid N7, 000 to him last year.”

    The Igbos decided that instead of paying they would expose the boys. So they called a press conference to report the issues, but this didn’t go down well with the boys, as the boys locked up their shops and made sure they didn’t sell anything for more than 24 hours; even threatening to kill them if they did.

    She said she wrote to the Kabiesi  Oba Fatai Ayinla Aileru, the Olu of Mushin reporting the matter and told him to call a meeting and caution the boys because some of them are indigenes.

    “The Kabiesi called the boys and told them to stop harassing traders but they have not stopped. So I have decided to let the world know what we are passing through in this market.

    “I had written many letters in the past. I wrote one on 24th June, 2010 to the Kabiesi, where I mentioned the head of each family that these boys belongs to, so he can call them to order, which he did. He called a meeting on 16th January, 2011, where it was concluded that I should give them jobs in the market, which I also did. And that wasn’t the first time I was doing that.

    “I gave them the job of loading and off-loading goods for people from trucks when they bring things to the market. I also told them to start operating tricycles in the market, but they have continued the extortion”.

    The Iya-loja also revealed that the only time anything tangible ever came out of their numerous reports and petition was in 2003 when the DPO of Olosan police station arrested the boys and called a meeting where they were made to sign an undertaking to maintain  peace.

    “The DPO then also told me to give them something to do, but they have persisted in their ways. By this time Akeem No-case had become their new leader.

    “We have written to the Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area, LCDA, the traditional ruler, the commissioner of police, the commissioner, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Commissioner, Ministry of Transportation, President General, Market Women and Men Association of Nigeria, The Director, State Security Service, The Divisional Police Officer, Mushin Olosan Police Station, Chairman National Association, Road Transport Owners, Chairman National Union, Road Transport Workers.” The Iya-loja expatiated.

    The boys, it was gathered decided to join the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and took the traders to court that year, but the traders won the case. They were given a court injunction never to disrupt the peace of the market again, but they have continued in total disregard to the court order, an action that led to their being disowned by the NURTW.

    The Nation also gathered that the person backing Akeem No-case is known as Faronbi Taureedi, otherwise known as Alado or Baba Bili. Whenever he is arrested, Akeem would keep shouting that nothing will happen to him and that Baba Bili is there for him. And true to his boast, he usually resurfaces in the market in five minutes.

    For Mr Ojukwu, the extortion has become too much. “It is not once or twice but continuous. Monthly, weekly, most especially, end of the year. In December they always have a fixed amount. They will request for N7, 000, or N10, 000. If you fail to pay, you will be beaten up or they will collect your goods. This has gone on for long, but it grew worse in the last two years.”

    He called on Governor Babatunde Fashola to help stop the hoodlums, as “Our members are getting scared and even packing out of the market.

    One of the traders who spoke on condition of anonymity said she has always paid them because of her safety. “Whenever we bring our goods, they will just appear and demand for money. I give them but I let them know that I am not happy with them. They have also taken my goods away on many occasions.

    She disclosed that “On one occasion, after I had closed for the day, one of them came to me and said I have been questioning them instead of just paying like others. He said one day they will kidnap one of us and bugle our shops. I was also giving them money, which they said was for the Iya-loja, until she told me she didn’t ask them to collect any money.”

    She complained that the harassment is also affecting sales as the boys also harass suppliers and car owners who come into the market.

     “When we ask our customers why we are no longer seeing them, they say ‘this Mushin problem is too much, and that they now prefer to buy goods in the streets.

    “Do you know that these touts collect as much as N100,000 from companies before they’re allowed to set up for promos in the market? And upon all these, we still pay our taxes and every other levy.” She said.

    She said the harassment is getting out of hand and everybody now lives in grave fear. Asked if they are as deadly, she exclaimed that “these ones can kill o, if you see their appearance you will know they can kill. They have a chairman who sits and waits for them to bring returns. Of course they use all the money to drink marijuana.”

    She also said that this has created deep doubt in her minds as to whether “we have a government in this country, or whether the government cannot do anything about these boys.”

    Another trader, Alfa, said he has had a bitter experience in the hands of the boys in the past. He narrated how they greeted him with the beating of his life, when he first came to the market.

    “I reported to the Iya-loja, who told me to go and report to the police. But the police told me to go and bring the boys, which I couldn’t. The policeman on duty said he could not risk his life for me, so I went away.”

    Because Alfa wasn’t ready to continue receiving beating from the boys, he took a resolve to go to the National Stadium, Surulere to learn how to fight and defend himself. “Now” he says, “the boys fear me.”

    He also called on the government to provide security for them in the market.

    When The Nation called the leader of the group, Akeem No-case, he denied extorting the traders: “They are lying. I am not disturbing anybody. I did not collect anything from them. We wanted to collect the money but I didn’t collect anything, even the case is in Panti (Police Station). Now as I am talking to you, we don’t collect anything from them.

    Prodded further, Akeem bellowed “I am telling you something and you are still saying it. The one that I wanted to collect, they didn’t pay, so don’t write anything against me or else you go to court. If you write anything I did not say, I will take you to court!”

    Responding in smattering English, 2PAC, another member of the group replied: “No o, it is a lie. No ma, I no collect anything o, me and Akeem I no dey work o. Akeem no dey work inside market, na Aganran e dey work. Me I dey work inside market, but I no dey disturb person. You no say na union.”