The Nation Newspaper

Category: Arts & Life

NTDC DG: Nigeria’s domestic tourism market worth $4b

How much is Nigeria’s tourism market worth? $4billion, says the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Director-General, Mrs Sally Mbanefo. She notes that the market has a lot of growth potential. If well developed tourism can become a major revenue earner for Nigeria that relies on oil. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME writes.

Tourism has a lot of prospect. A country like Nigeria stands to gain if it develops its tourism potential instead of relying solely on oil as its major revenue earner. Nigeria’s domestic market is worth US$ 4billion, according to the Director-General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs Sally Mbanefo.

With the right environment, she says, Nigeria would be able to cater for the Diaspora market estimated at US$3billion yearly.

The sector, Mrs Mbanefo notes, plays a major role in balancing sustainable development, adding that if effectively harnessed, it can generate net benefits for the poor. Mrs Mbanefo went on: “It is an important tool in promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, job creation, and contributing to national development goals.”

She spoke at this year’s Nigeria Tourism Investors Forum and Exhibitions organised by the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in Abuja last week.

Speaking on Promoting domestic tourism: Tool for national economic development, Mrs Mbanefo said recent data show that current global tourism contributions to GDP is approaching US$ 7 trillion, accounting for 9.3 per cent of total global GDP and that the industry accounts for 8.7 per cent of global employment with an estimated annual growth rate of 2.4 per cent. According to her, many developing countries have managed to increase their participation in the global economy through the development of tourism, saying it is increasingly being viewed as an important tool in promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty and job creation.

Nigeria, Mrs Mbanefo said, is not left out in this global trend. Domestically, the tourism market also has very high revenue and job creation potentials. The NTDC D-G cited various instances of the immense economic benefit of tourism from Nigeria’s festivals and carnival of international acclaimed, saying: “In 2013 Osun Osogbo festival recorded 21,713 domestic tourists including, 123 international tourists while N58,230, 170 formed the expenditure. Abuja Carnival (2013) recorded 19,015 domestic tourists, which include 113 international tourists while N147, 385,250 formed the expenditure. Religious tourism recorded over a million domestic tourists and a substantial number of international tourists in 2013.”

While urging that the industry economic potentials be harnessed with a view of enhancing its contributions to GDP, she called for better infrastructure, increased funding from the government, the need to implement the 2007 Tourism Master Plan, improving travel security as a necessary condition for growing both domestic and international tourist traffic in Nigeria.

She said: “It is, therefore, estimated that, we have a US$ 4 billion domestic tourist market. Similarly, the size of the Diaspora market is estimated at US $3 billion annually should we provide them with the right environment considering the volatility of oil revenues which is currently a major source of the nation’s revenue. To overcome some inherent socio-economic challenges in the sector, there is need to have good access roads to the various tourist destinations, review the Land Use Act to enable private sector access land for development of tourist sites, corporate and multinational organisation should adopt tourist sites for development, resolve multiple taxation for tourism operators and establish a Tourism Development Fund (TDF).

“To reposition NTDC, there is need for proper training of the corporation staff, regular collaboration with the private sector operators in forging new ideas for the sector, effective marketing and promotion of Nigeria locally to boost domestic tourism, collaborating with other government agencies such as the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, National Park Service among others and encouraging and assisting non-profit organisations operating within the travel and tourism industry.”

However, tourism promotion, she said, cannot be done alone by government and its agencies because there are specific areas of tourism development that requires certain skills and interests that are not within government.

She said: “We must develop domestic tourism, not just for paid travelers alone, but leisure infrastructure in our various communities for citizens who cannot afford to travel. Therefore, I am appealing to big businesses and individuals to adopt tourist sites and develop them as part of their contributions to the development of domestic tourism in Nigeria.”

Stakeholders also called for the harmonisation and integration of multiple taxes and levies in tourism sector, saying it would boost the growth of domestic and international tourist traffic in the country.

Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide and Director-General, said the ministry should set up a multi-agency committee in partnership with the private sector and other stakeholders in tourism sector to explore ways of harmonising and integrating all levies, charges and taxes. The committee is to come up with investor’s friendly recommendations, which may include initiating changes through the appropriate legal processes to bring about a desirable framework.

She said tourism potential of FCT can only be harnessed through a committed partnership between the public and private sector where the players in each sector will have a full understanding of their respective roles or functions.

The minister, who was represented by a director in the ministry, Mrs Adebola Elegbede, stated that the FCT administration is committed to working in partnership with the investors and other stakeholders in providing conducive and enabling environment to promote tourism in the FCT Area and in the country.

“We are beckoning on both public and private investors, event promoters and travel planners to invest and bring in tourists and organize more meetings, conferences, shows, fairs and exhibitions in the city as more critical facilities and good security network are being put in place,” she said.

She disclosed that Emirate Airlines will commence flight operations to Abuja beginning from August 1, which she said, would boost tourism industry.

President of FTAN, Chief Tomi AKingbogun observed that the effect of security challenges in less than 3 per cent of Nigeria’s land mass has resulted in decrease of about 50 per cent in tourism patronage. He identified lack of patronage from government as one critical setback, noting that government rather than patronise established businesses go into construction of massive economically unsustainable projects thereby competing with existing business.

He observed that there are too many foreign trips by government officials as consultants are often appointed to take civil servants outside the country for training, which can be done locally. “The preferred locations are Dubai, UK, South America etc. Millions in foreign exchange (otherwise required for manufacturing) are allocated as estacode benefit to participants. If the trip is embarked upon, officials go on shopping spree and do not attend the training. This trend not only kill the Nigerian tourism industry, but also deplete our foreign reserves,” Akingbogun said.

Among participants that took stand at the exhibition were Bayelsa State, Rivers State, Hotel Rosebud, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, Infogem, Owambe.com, National Film and Video Censor Board, Ethiopian Airline, NIHOTOUR, Hopesea, Abuja Enterprise Agency and La Campagne Beach Resort.

June 18, 2014
How the environment makes entrepreneur?

What has environmental phenomenon got to do with entrepreneurship? A lot, says former Ekiti State Chief Justice Kayode Bamisile. According to him, the environmental phenomenon will play a majo role in the emergence of entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

He spoke at the 2014 edition of the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, with the theme: Cultural Entrepreneurship Development in Nigeria, held at the South-West Zonal Office of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Bamisile said: “The disparities among nations in developing entrepreneurial societies have also been attributed to environmental differences between societies both in time and spaces,” adding that entrepreneurship in Nigeria is a function of the environment.

Some of the fundamental aspects of the social system, he said, included the cultures of a people as it affects the development of the entrepreneurial spirit, and motivation as it either enhances or inhibits entrepreneurship behaviour and drive among people.

Bamisile highlighted some family values and roles that determine responsibilities for the provision of the economic wellbeing of the family unit, saying, “in some societies and cultures, the men are given a total role of bread-winners and the women restricted to home-keeping; in other societies, the bread-winner is borne by both the man and the woman, thus allowing the woman a space to engage in entrepreneurial activities.”

The retired jurist, however, did not restrict himself to the environmental factor alone; he also identified the socio-cultural system, religion, education, and poverty level as some of the factors that affect the emergence of entrepreneurship in Nigeria and Africa at large.

Earlier in his address, the General Manager of FRCN, Positive FM, Akure, Rev. Olusegun Ayankoso, who was the chairman of the occasion, appreciated NICO’s effort in marking the World Culture Day event each year, and called on well-meaning Nigerians to be actively involved in cultural entrepreneurship ventures that will earn the nation foreign exchange.

He lamented that some of the socio-cultural menaces in the society today have led to the inability of most of the youths to engage themselves in meaningful ventures, stressing that, there were so many entrepreneurial skills that, when engaged in, would totally reduce the rate of violence and youth unrest prevalent in the societies today.

In his goodwill message, Mr Samuel Olusunle, Acting Director/Chief Executive, Engineering Materials Development Institute, Akure, felicitated with NICO on the successful celebration of the 2014 World Culture Day. He said the nation’s culture sector would move Nigeria from its mono-economy, to generate youth employment and create wealth.

In his words: “The culture and tourism sector of the Nigerian economy has the wherewithal to promote national pride, generate revenue, and protect our national image on the international scene, a source of employment and rural development.”

He advised Nigerians to take pride in cultural attires, assuring that his institute would be willing to explore any mutually beneficial area of collaboration with NICO to contribute to national development.

Also in a goodwill message, the Director of Culture, Ondo State Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Lawrence Amimi, encouraged culture stakeholders and the mass media to always deliberate on cultural matters in the indigenous languages as some of the inadequacies in our lives today are due to the subjugation of the indigenous culture to borrowed cultures, which, to him, was neo-colonialism, a cankerworm that the nation needs to fight with vigour.

In a lecture, titled: In Search of Creative Entrepreneurs, the Coordinator, NICO South-West Zone, Mr. Ohi Ojo, defined the concept of entrepreneurship as, “the art of making money by starting or running business, especially when this involves taking (financial) risks,” emphasising the importance of entrepreneurship in the evolution of the cultural industry in Nigeria which has helped to impact on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said that the current rebasing of the economy highlights the importance of the cultural industry in the overall economic outlook of the country, noting that, “a cursory look at the industry and a methodological approach through entrepreneurship will open up the great economic potential in that sector;” pointing out other areas of cultural interest where entrepreneurs ought to focus on, which include, arts and craft, traditional medicine, food, heritage sites, religion, music and drama.

There were questions and comments after the lecture as to what government was doing to assist entrepreneurs; how it would be possible to promote traditional medicine since government had banned adverts on traditional herbal practice; government’s efforts to ensure the production of standard products by entrepreneurs; how the issue of favouritism could be curbed when securing government loan for the establishment of small scale enterprises; and what government was doing to remove some of the stringent measures attached to securing loans from the agricultural and other development banks in the country.

While responding to some of the questions, Mr. Ojo said most entrepreneurs cannot stand alone in the production chain but needed to collaborate with others to come out with better creative works, adding that, most times, traditional medicines are not advertised, yet they still get appreciable patronage.

He submitted that the issue of favouritism was a universal challenge, and regarding advertisement of traditional medicines, he noted that, “government is only trying to protect us from death. It is difficult to prove the efficacy of native medicine due to its metaphysical nature and it is not a total ban but have to go through the relevant agencies for proper certification.”

Ayankoso stressed the need for a dress culture, saying: “We have lost interest in what is ours,” and charged everyone to take pride in their cultures and wear their native attires.

Highlights of the events were a drama performance, entitled, Local Content, staged by the NICO SWZ Cultural Troupe and Ewi (poetry) by Mr. Babatunde Adewunmi of Budget Unit of the institute.

June 18, 2014
Ebeano in Berlin

For three-and-a-half years, Valentine Nnamani was jobless. He lost his job (bricklaying and concrete technician) at a construction firm, Bilfielder Berger, Berlin, Germany – a parent company of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.

This condition forced him to take to cooking, first as a non-profit outfit under cover for two years. The patronage he got during that period gave him the confidence to invest in cooking. However, Nnamani was scared of the uncertainty and whether he could make it through cooking in foreign land.

Today, Nnamani’s Afro Intercontinental Restaurant (Ebeano) has become one of the first choice African restaurants in Tiergarten Mitte, Berlin, Germany. From an initial 20 customers per day the restaurant now boasts of over 70 clients per day plus indoor and home delivery services.

“For me, cooking is a hobby. When I cooked for 70 pupils of a school in 2005, there I discovered my talent in cooking. And I chose to open a restaurant when some of my friends visited my house and they confessed that they enjoyed the meal I served them. At a point, I asked myself why I got into the business, but for the push by my friends. This was in 2008,” he recalled.

Nnamani, who is a traditional chief from Neke Community in Enugu State later braced up to register the restaurant, which got German government approval. “For the past four years, Germans now know Nigeria has a rich food culture. In fact, the appreciation and patronage since then have been enormous. Apart from Nigerians or Africans, the Germans are getting interested in the menu,” he said.

His hard work got rewarded in 2013 when the restaurant was awarded a gold medal and certificate-Gastrol gold for integration kitchen. According to him, this has lifted the restaurant business with a client base of 50 per cent Africans and 50 per cent Europeans. Looking back, cooking has been a blessing for him.

Nnamani who was a clearing agent in Apapa, Lagos for seven years before travelling to Germany, said he left Nigeria because the late General Sanni Abacha’s administration was very unfriendly. Apart from cuisines, Nnamani also promote music and movie of Nigerian and other African countries. In order to reach out to larger audience in Berlin, Nnamani is planning to expand his outlets while retaining the old spot. According to him, the success of his business to a large extent, is the function of support from African countries’ embassies in Berlin that patronise Afro International Restaurant.

June 18, 2014
Three presidents for Soyinka’s literary prize award

Three Heads of State have confirmed their attendance at the fifth edition of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature, which coincides with the 80th birthday of the Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka.

The event is being sponsored by national carrier, Globacom.

The leaders, who are also expected at the presentation of a book in Soyinka’s honour three days after the prize award are Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia) and John Dramani Mahama (Ghana).

The presentation is slated for Accra, Ghana on July 8, three days after the prize award on July 5 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Other distinguished individuals expected at the event include former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and renowned Ghanaian author, Prof Ama Ata Aidoo.

The Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature is a biennial event to recognise the best literary work produced by an African. It was established by the Lumina Foundation in 2005 to promote literary excellence in Africa and has since become the African equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

The organisers of the award have announced a long list of 10 African authors from a total of 163 entries submitted from 17 African countries in the genre of Drama, which is the focus of the 2014 edition.

A shortlist of candidates for the prize is expected to be announced shortly, while the ultimate winner is expected to emerge on July 5.

As part of the activities to make the event colourful, Globacom has concluded plans to invite some of its subscribers as guests of honour. To stand a chance to be invited, the subscribers are encouraged to increase the usage of airtime on the Glo network by 50 percent before June 24. Subscribers chosen will receive special perks from the operator in addition to being celebrated on the special night.

For this edition of the prize, entries were invited from authors of any published play or collection of plays by the same author of African descent, published within the last two years (that is, a play published between 2012 and 2013). Globacom was also the main sponsor at the last edition.

June 18, 2014
The best jeans you’ve never heard of

Designer Richard Babalola worked long and hard to get his Babson Zotto jeans range on the racks of high-end stores in Flanders.

Some 20 years ago, Richard Babalola left his home country, Nigeria, for Belgium. He is currently based in Antwerp with his wife and two children. The artist and designer has been working hard to get his Babson Zotto denim label on the racks of local and international boutiques.

Babalola grew up in a house that was bordered by a tailor shop on each side. In 1989, he obtained an arts degree at the Polytechnic Ibadan institute in south-western Nigeria, and he started making clothes not long after. “My first label was called New Dimension, a collection of tie-and-die fabrics and batiks,” he recalls.

Babalola also exported to Europe during that period, and after a friend convinced him to try his luck abroad, he applied for a visa and arrived in Belgium in 1991. “I bought a sewing machine at a Sunday market, not knowing what I’d do with it,” he says. “I fell in love with jeans and worked for years to get the right cut and fit.”

The designer says he went to great lengths to make the best jeans possible. “I would cut up jeans to study how they were made. Then start from scratch with a paper pattern to design jeans with the right fit from waist to foot.”

In 2008, Babalola registered his brand on the market. “Babson Zotto, with the first part referring to my surname and the second to my oldest brother’s DJ name,” he explains.

In those first years, Babalola often went down to the factories producing his jeans to follow the entire manufacturing process until he was happy with the end product. His exacting standards paid off since his jeans label was quickly picked up by local media outlets. This in turn helped him to win over owners of high-end boutiques, such as La Bottega in Hasselt, to carry his jeans.

“Women loved the fit and the finish,” Babalola says, adding that some of his designs even include Swarovski crystals. “But as the orders increased, I had to start finding investors.”To get his name out to a wider audience, the designer also exploited his other talent: painting. He makes both abstract works and portraits in oil and acrylic.

For his portraits, he tries to come as close as possible to a photograph of the person. “The more you do it, the better you become,” he says. His portraits often depict public figures such as footballer Romelu Lukaku, Queen Mathilde, Herman Van Rompuy and TV presenter Ann Van Elsen. I’m thinking about a range of T-shirts for both men and women.

“Most of them don’t know that I have painted their portrait, but I want to show that I can do it,” Babalola says. Recently, the artist offered such an airbrush portrait to Sally Mbanefo, the director-general of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation. Upon accepting the artwork at a Berlin fair, she thanked Babalola for “doing his country proud with his handiwork and for distinguishing himself in his chosen profession”. With both his jeans label and artworks, Babalola is hoping to attract investors so that he can grow his business and, in the long term, have his denim exported to the rest of the world. He’s interested in Nigeria in particular, not just because it’s his native country but also because it currently has the fastest-growing economy in Africa. “I’ve been in Belgium for over 20 years now, and I’ve got the experience,” he says. And while nobody knows what the future will bring, the designer is ready for more.

“I’m thinking about a range of T-shirts for both men and women”, he says, “made from very high quality fabrics, but sold at an affordable price.” What exactly he’s up to, he won’t reveal just yet. But it wouldn’t be a surprise if his artworks have something to do with it.

June 18, 2014
Ooni donates land for Oduduwa project

A pan Yoruba group, Oduduwa Descendants World Assembly (ODWA) is initiating a forum for all sons and daughters of Yorubaland to re- open discussion on the unity and progress of their race. The group is using the launching ceremony of the Directory and Compendium of Yoruba Monarch, holding on July 11 as an avenue to commence the discussion. The National Coordinator and Chief Resource Person of ODWA, Heir Prince Emmanuel Adeleye Ashaye, spoke on the activities of the group to re- build the fractured house of Oduduwa.

Ashaye said “the role of Oduduwa Descendants World Assembly (ODWA) in the pan Nigeria since the time Africa was created, Yoruba has been known to possess powerful royalty and royal empire. And these are sets of people who can truly trace their origin and source to Abraham. They are ancient and modern in their ways of life. They are knowledgeable, exposed and very peculiar indeed, with successive Golden Age. No wonders why they have always been in the midst of world greatest civilisation. ODWA is all out to restore back to Nigeria what Nigeria has lost through corruption and a deceitful federalism form of a government”

Ashaye added that there is peace among the Yoruba monarchs.“ There is nothing to worry about over what is assumed to be the age -long rivalry between the two Yoruba paramount rulers which people believe may scuttle this project. He continue “ During our recent World Press Conference I made it clear to those in attendance that the two Paramount Rulers under reference are not sworn enemies. Their implied disagreement is not capable of scuttling our project. The construction of the Yoruba World Headquarters is an all Yoruba Project which they have embraced. In fact, they are all praying that the beginning and the end of the construction will happen during their life time. For instance, one of them gave us the 100 hectares of land on which we are to build the Yoruba World Headquarters, while the other paramount ruler is willing to donate land for Annex and other ancillary buildings. The Yoruba World Headquarters is a World Project which is to be financed through generous donations by the cheerful world. Since no financial strains are going to be put on either of them, then, ‘abuse ti buse’, that is, the job is done.

On ODWA’s plan to mobilise the support of all Yoruba Monarchs towards the actualisation of the dream of a United Yoruba Nation , Ashaye said “ The Project belongs to all the Yoruba; it is their baby. They own it, and they are ready to service and uphold it as a thing of joy and pride to them. There is no Yoruba monarch that is not disturbed by this disunity. All of them are worried, and for which they have been praying and necessary propitiations offered on regular basis in the closets of their Palaces. No meaningful Yoruba Oba with direct or indirect lineage to Oduduwa will be happy if we don’t have a United Yoruba Nation. In fact, the Yoruba politicians are the most affected by this malady as the other tribal groups usually take them for a ride since they know that Yoruba have a divided home. Therefore, since our prayers have been answered by having someone to bell the cat in the form of ODWA, which is a non-partisan, non-governmental Socio-cultural group without any affiliation to any known group or groups in the world, ODWA is simply the divine medicine that will cure the illnesses and sicknesses of ‘waste of time’ that have been plaguing the Yoruba Nation”.

June 18, 2014
Serious business of dancing

The National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), organisers of the show tagged it traditional dance competition aimed at discovering and nurturing young dancers who can make it a career in future. The four secondary schools that participated in the show proved that dance goes beyond mere movement in space and time. Edozie Udeze reports

It is glaring now that most culture departments in the Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation want to focus more attention on the development of the young ones in the areas of craft, painting, dance, writing and more. In the past four years or so emphasis has shifted to primary and secondary school children in terms of encouraging them to show more interest in Arts generally. The overall concept is to let them know that there are career prospects in these areas and whoever among them that has innate qualities and talent should not hesitate to develop it.

This is one of the reasons the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) during the week organised a traditional dance competition for secondary school children in Lagos. Four schools were purposely selected to participate based on their dance pedigree over the years. The total concept hinged on how to let them know and then appreciate most Nigerian native and traditional dance patterns. It was for them to look back in time to see how local elements of traditions and cultures influenced people’s dance styles. Essentially attention was paid on the rudiments of dances that are rich in content, movement and message.

The four schools indeed lived up to the bidding. When the drums began to beat and the arena became charged with variety of movements on stage, it became clear that the children had been tutored well. In the first place, three judges were selected. They included Adedayo Liadi Ijodee, Isioma Williams and Victoria Okolo-Agu. Their mandate was to look out for schools that would be able to define the concept of the competition. Where necessary choreographical patterns should be clearly demonstrated mostly based on the level of the kids. It was mainly to see how they can be co-opted into the main core dance profession in which case they would be encouraged to focus on what they already know.

Methodist Boys Secondary School, Lagos, surprised everyone when they came on stage with male dancers that dressed like women. Initially, the improvisation sounded convincing. A lot of people thought they were women until the end of the dance when they began to remove their costumes, ear rings, make-ups, beads and all those ornaments of decoration akin to women. But that was part of the beauty of the show. They danced, dressed like queens, married to a Benin Monarch. The concept was to juxtapose Benin and Igbo cultures which looked good on stage but incapable of convincing the judges. The dances were good at a point when the green-white-green national colours came into focus to form an essential ingredient of the dance pattern of the school. A rise in the tempo of the drumming further accentuated the beauty of the traditional dance style exhibited by the kids. The long and dangling red beads on their necks, the royal crowns on their heads, the bracelets that defined royalty and the horse tail that symbolized power, each in very many ways added colour and rhythm to the dances.

When it was time for St. Andrews Secondary School, Lagos, to mount the stage, it was already glaring that both the audience and the judges were impressed with the efforts of the children. With colourful clothes tied smartly on their waists, with white singlet to match, they depicted the true picture of old traditional Igbo title-holders on their way to an important village parley. The costume was completed with beads of different sizes, each of which obviously defined the status of the wearer in the order of things in the society. Types and sizes of beads usually characterized a person’s place in life in the days of yore.

With the songs rendered in Igbo, the dancers deliberately delved into moonlight songs, songs of age-grades, songs of love and hate, songs that hinged on the format a maiden should take to reach woman-hood. The lead singer, with her voice pitching high and deep, used her mesmerizing movements to stir the arena. She was a maiden in the throes of traditional patterns, both by the way she dressed and her un-canning ability to carry everybody along. At a stage, it appeared they were older than the dance because the strong command of their movements stunned people beyond words. What they sang evoked memories of innocence, those days when young boys and girls lived transparent life that made them the toast of all.

When they were about to leave the stage, they beckoned on the people through their songs to remain faithful to themselves and to the entire society. “All of us are dancers in this world. We are the graceful people and we are going away. Who is a dancer in this sojourn of life? All of us are”. And then off, they went, leaving the audience dumbfounded and in total need of more of such dances.

But it was Rybeka Model College, Lagos, that stole the show, even though they did not eventually win. They came, adorned in Zulu war dance costumes, almost frightening the audience with their awful but colourful war regalia. With spears glittering menacingly in one hand and war shield in the other, the dancers were poised to attack the stage with forceful and protest dances. As they moved from one end of the stage to the other, they made as if they would throw the spear and rush at the audience. These movements excited some, while others did not really find it funny. People were taken years back to South Africa when Apartheid was at its apogee and Zulu war warriors refused to be dissuaded by their white overlords. It was the symbol of protest, with the stringent potency to weaken the white man. But in the end, the judges by-passed them to give the first position to the Top Grade Secondary School, Lagos.

Top Grade, in the words of Adedayo Liadi Ijodee who spoke to The Nation, was able to convince people with their interpretation of the concept. He said: “The judgement was based on the level of the students and what they can offer. We looked at originality which Top Grade truly manifested. We also looked at content, audience reaction and the nature of costumes. The issue of the message and the depth of the songs they rendered, all formed the criteria to give them the first position.

“If you look at what they presented they were able to give the type of fishermen dance that can be replicated in any part of the country. The demonstration was not limited to any people at all. Even though both the costumes of adire and the songs represent the Yoruba culture, they had a central message that defined the whole country. The children, right from the start, were sure of themselves. The choreography was good, the improvisations were apt. these are a set of dancers we need to keep together, keep training and encouraging them to live the life of dancers. If we can do that, I tell you, we’ll have a set of dancers that can move the world in the next couple of years.” Liadi said.

Favour, a student of Rybeka Model College who led her own troupe also told The Nation that due to her love for dance, she has made up her mind to study Dance or Theatre Arts in the university. “Even though my mum wants me to be an Engineer, my grandfather insists that I should do what my mind tells me to do. At school, we rehearse Dance three to four times every week and that has afforded me the opportunity to learn more,” she said.

In her welcome speech, Chinwe Abara, the head of the Lagos office of NCAC apologised that the programme came a bit late due to some tight administrative schedule. However, she advised the children to keep close to their talents and the skills where they are proficient. “The concept of cultural literacy has long gained global acceptance. It encourages the perpetuation of broadly shared background knowledge of national language, history, traditional literature, folklore and myth. Therefore the impartation of traditional contents provides children the necessary foundation for further educational, economic and social improvement. This is why the year’s programme focuses on traditional dance competition. It is to show dance in a folkloric form to synchronise with the beliefs of the people,” she said.

She reminded both the children and their parents that dance is now a serious business capable of job creation, economic empowerment and opportunity to make people excel in life. “Let us look at the life of the Late Hubert Ogunde who rose to fame through dance. And here at the artistes’ village, you can see many dance troupes. You can also see Ijodee and his people who have conquered the world through dance,” she said.

The guest of honour, Ben Ikeakor who has been in the forefront of the promotion of children’s cultural programmes advised them not to lose focus of what dreams they have for themselves so that they wouldn’t grow up to be deviants. “We have too many of such young people today and so we need to do more to avoid raising more deviant leaders of tomorrow. Approach your parents with respect and obedience so that they will be able to do more to educate you. When they pay so much to educate you, all you need do is read and study very hard to justify the pay and then you’d have succeeded in making them happy.”

The schools that won the competition were presented with prizes. This is to encourage them do more in the next edition of the competition.

June 15, 2014
Lokoja’s untapped treasures

Some of the colonial monuments in Lokoja the Kogi State capital are suffering from abuses and neglect. They are begging for rebirth, writes Tosin Makinde who notes that the midwife of Nigeria’s amalgamation in 1914 Lord Lugard used to live in Lokoja.

Remember those famous colonial monuments in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital? They include the late Frederick Lord Lugard’s residence and office, Iron of liberty, Mount Panti, the cenotaph, the oldest school, prison and hospital in northern Nigeria.

All these monuments make Kogi the state with the highest concentration of colonial historical relics and monuments in the country. But, lack of interest and patronage from the people and the government are threatening to throw the glory they brought to Lokoja into the dark alley of historical obscurity.

Aside poor patronage, some of the monuments’ premises are being abused by people who have turned them into dump sites. The development is making the state to lose internal revenue that would have been generated from tourism.

But one of such monuments brings back old memories of colonial administrator’s living environment. Sitting in his colonial-styled British-made arm chair, the late Frederick Lord Lugard is spotted dressed in his highly decorated British military colonial officer uniform. Inside his pent Rest House built strategically on top of the 458 metres Mount Panti, which beholds the majestic River Niger, he consistently filled his pen with ink. That setting was perhaps the needed ambience for him to write one of the most controversial colonial books, Dual mandate in which he stated that an average African “lacks the power of organisation, and is conspicuously deficient in the management and control alike of men or business…

“Perhaps, the two traits which have impressed me as those most characterise of the African native are his lack of apprehension and ability to visualise the future”.

Callous and untenable, one might want to argue about Lugard’s view of Africa and Africans, the present realities in Lokoja where majority of Nigeria’s colonial legacies lie shows that Lugard’s views could maybe true to some extent.

How does one explain a situation where students of History and International Studies in Kogi State higher institutions cannot name nor describe the location or know the existence of those colonial monuments that define Lokoja and for which Lokoja is known? A lecturer got a shock when he asked his students about what they know about the colonial monuments in Lokoja and none of them could tell him anything tangible about them.

It is not only the students that are showing indifference to the monuments in Lokoja. Some residents show same, thus, giving credence to what Lugard said in his book that Africans.

One fact is that Nigeria’s colonial history is woven around Kogi State, particularly Lokoja remain incontestable. But one worrisome fact is that the people care less about the existence or significance of these monuments, which if well maintained could fetch the state fortunes as tourists’ sites.

For Abdul, a Motor-cycle operator in Lokoja, the only thing he knows about the cenotaph, which was erected in honour of soldiers that fought in the First and Second World wars is that it is a place where soldiers converge in January every year for match past. He does not know where the colonial cemeteries are located.

Abdul is not the only culprit in this show of ignorance. According to Mr. Samson Oyetunde, a staff in one of the universities in Lokoja, it is not that the people don’t know of these places but they know next to little about what they represent or their significance. “We know that these monuments are there but we don’t know what they stand for or what they symbolise. We don’t put them in mind”

To him, it is the government that should take the initiative in creating the needed awareness about the significance of these monuments to the development of Lokoja and Kogi State in general. “If the government is proactive and comes up with initiative that aim at creating awareness for these monuments, the people will change,” he said.

However, the General Manager, Kogi State Hotels and Tourism Board, Mr. Olowolayemo Joseph thinks differently about the state of the monuments. To him, the people’s lackadaisical attitude towards the promotion and celebration of these legacies cannot be justified saying that government has put in place various programmes aimed at creating awareness about these monuments and gearing up the interest of the people. “The attitude of the people is uncalled for, it is a sad situation that even foreigners care and show more interest in our legacies than our people do,” he lamented.

He said that among the initiatives of the government in ensuring the promotion of the significance of the legacies is a programme on youth sensitisation on the Nigerian Television Authority among others.

“NTA usually shows clips of these colonial monuments every day before reading the News. We are also planning to launch a book during this centenary period titled ‘Nigeria in the eyes of Lokoja,’ which will be available to the public and help increase the awareness,” he revealed, stressing that one cannot talk about Nigeria history without mentioning the city of Lokoja.

True. Writing Nigeria colonial history without the mention of Lokoja will only amount to half measure not with the array of first Governor-General of Nigeria, the late Sir Fredrick Lugard leftovers. It was reported that it was in Lokoja that the name of Nigeria was coined by Miss Flora Shaw later Mrs. Lugard while admiring the majestic River Niger.

Not wanting to do away with some of the colonial legacies of the city, the seat of the state government used to serve as Lord Lugard’s office and residence. It retained its original structure with minor renovations as the ambience at the entrance to Kogi State Government House speaks volume about it.

In 1900, the Charter given to the Royal Niger Company to administer Lokoja since 1866 was revoked and the protectorate of Northern Nigerian was declared with Fredrick Lugard as the High Commissioner. The spot where that revocation took place is still standing till today and it is marked with a concrete pillar measuring about 2 ½ metres tall. The European and African Cemeteries in Lokoja are another set of colonial monuments worthy of visiting. Here Europeans and Africans missionaries and soldiers were buried in three different places within Lokoja Township- harbouring about six hundred graves.

Lokoja was also a very important town during the slave trade era especially after the abolition of the trade by British government. It was in Lokoja that slaves that were rescued from Slave Merchants ship were set free. The spot where such slaves were freed from slave merchants is marked with two pieces of iron poles referred to as ‘Iron of Liberty”, a crusade championed by the late Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, this Iron Of Liberty is located inside the compound of Crowther Holy Trinity School.

In the area of colonial education, Lokoja can boost of being in possession of acclaimed oldest school in Northern Nigeria –the Holy Trinity (Bishop Crowther) Primary School constructed in 1865 by the Church Missionaries Society (CMS) and still in use till date as the Holy Trinity (Bishop Crowther) Primary School.

Other colonial monuments that will make one wonder why the people and residents of Lokoja hardly take note of them or take interest in them are the Graveyards of deposed Northern Emirs who were deposed to Lokoja for refusing to be used as agents of colonial masters, the Lord Lugard’s senior staff quarters, which are a set of prefabricated buildings whose materials were brought from England and being used today as the office of Kogi State Hotels and Tourism Board.

Probably the most celebrated tourism treasure and rightly promoted and made use of by Lord Lugard during his time but not being used to its fullest by the government and the people in today’s tourism world is Mount Panti. Overlooking the Niger River and hemming the town westward is the towering Mount Panti standing 458.3 metres or 1,500 feet above sea level with a stretch of 15 kilometre square plateaus. This wonderful gift nature bestows on Lokoja overlooks Lokoja like a monolith making it possible to view the scenic plain that surrounds the city.

His Excellency, the late Lugard so much fell in love with this natural beauty that he built his resting house on it from where he savoured the beauty of nature outlay in Lokoja.

Other colonial monuments in Lokoja include the Oldest Hospital in Northern Nigeria, the Oldest Prison in Northern Nigeria, the Safe of the Oldest Treasury in Northern Nigeria and the Cenotaph erected in honour of the Nigerian and African soldiers who fought in World war 1 and 2.

All these monuments, no doubt turned Kogi state into one with the highest concentration of colonial historical relics and monuments than any other sates in Nigeria. But the lack of interest and patronage from the people and the government is threatening to throw the glory they have brought to Lokoja into the dark alley of historical obscurity.

June 11, 2014
‘Why I want to build 774 libraries’

Dr. Raphael James, researcher and CEO of Center for Research, Information Management and Media Development in Lagos, has a strong passion for reading. In this chat with SULIAT ABODUNRIN, he speaks on his love for reading, why he founded a private library and a photo museum in Idimu, a Lagos suburb.

Where did the twin ideas of the photo-museum and a library come from?

The idea for the library came when I noticed that youths who patronised the business centre I owned then, would come with someone else’s result maybe Senior Secondary School Examination (SSCE) or General Certificate of Examination result, and they would demand for a typist and a sheet of paper. They would use it to cover the person’s name, then write their name on that particular result and make photocopy. So, I started asking them, when you use somebody else’s result to look for a job or gain admission, how are you going to defend it? Then I realised that the problem we are having, especially in our educational system, is not about passing exam, it’s because we don’t read, then I decided to start a library, hoping that the library would give people an opportunity to get access to books.

How about the museum?

Nigerians do not document history. This is particularly depressing because for you to move forward you should know where you are coming from. I understand that in most schools in Nigeria today, the history of Nigeria has been removed from their curriculum which is very terrible. A good number of youths today do not know anything about the history of Nigeria. So in order to fill this gap, the idea of the museum came up.

How did you start?

For over six years now, I had been compiling some pictures. But along the line, I lost the pictures when my system crashed. But I didn’t give up, I lost more than three thousands pictures. I started all over again. We have over ten thousand pictures telling the story of Nigeria and I thought that it would do no good if I have the pictures in my computer, the world won’t see it, I wanted a place where I could exhibit them and that was how the idea of the museum came up. We got an apartment and it’s been capital-intensive, the first time I realized we had spent over 2 million naira, I got worried and I started asking myself, are you sure you are doing the right thing, I remember querying myself so much that I thought that I had wasted money, but the encouragement I get when people come around goes a long way to show that they appreciate what I am doing and that has kept me going. We are trying to set the record correct and we are trying to make the history of this country to be updated, if you visit the national library in Onikan, you would discover that the last set of pictures there are photographs of when Nigeria had only 12 states and we are talking about more than thirty years back so there’s no improvement. Recently, I made a tour and I visited about three other museums, I was at the National Museum in Benin, I saw the pictures there and I told that I have 99% of their pictures, at the National War Museum in Umuahia,

Is that concept from your working experience at the government house?

Not really, like I said, the whole idea or part of what I regard as training came from my first job, when I left the university, I worked with Newswatch Communications Limited, and I was employed in their Special Project department. In fact, they used to call us The Newswatch Dream team and part of our job in Newswatch was to provide research material, based on the ongoing project, the Newswatch Who is Who in Nigeria and occasionally, we did provide research materials for the editorial team I want to come in as a research consultant to document their past publications and they accepted so that was where the idea came from that if media houses are actually lacking these process of getting information and if I can start it, probably, I might survive on it.

Has there been any assistance in the past, either by the government or anybody?

The government has not assisted in anyway but individuals have. The Rotary International once donated about a hundred books to the library, they sent some representatives who came and checked around and they said they love what I was doing; the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs have also sent a representative to the library and they donated about a hundred books too, the National Library also sent some representatives all the way from Abuja but they have not responded up till today, as that is more than five years now. There was an elderly man that donated a set of encyclopedia to us, he was just passing by and he saw the library and he said that he could scarcely believe that in his lifetime, he would see a library in Ejigbo, so he donated a set of encyclopedia and took me to his house, he told me had two set of encyclopedia, but he would donate one set and he would watch if I don’t fold up in one year, he would donate the second set. Unfortunately, after the first six months of the donation, there was a fire incident in his house, and the other set of encyclopedia in his house got burnt, so we missed that one.

What is the link between psychology and media and where did the zeal come from?

During my youth service year, I wrote two published books and my HOD called me told me that I was going to be a good researcher and I didn’t like it then. He probably said that because I was doing a lot of research job even as a student that I didn’t even realize it, I know as an undergraduate, I was probably the only student that did three projects for my final year project, I did one in year one. I did some research work during my years in school that earned me recognition from the HOD and I discovered I had so much fun doing them.

So what are the challenges?

What I would call the major challenges, then and now is that we have a poor reading culture. I know people would expect me to talk about finance. Yes finance is there but it is the least of the problem, what I see as the challenge is that people don’t come to read because even the little I have been able to provide or put together, people do not come to read them, I remember for the first six months or so, hardly did I see anybody walk in the building to read and even when student started coming in, they came because they either wanted to write the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination or General Certificate of Examination. On the other hand, when workers came in, it was because they were preparing for professional exams like ICAN, and immediately after the exam, everybody will disappear, so the library is there, and we had books. We were buying newspapers on a daily basis. At a point I thought to myself that this is wastage, because it was affecting my family, since I didn’t have any external sponsor.

How can we revive reading culture?

I think the government should provide libraries. Some people want to read, but because they either don’t have access to a library or they don’t have enough books or cash to buy the books. So I have one ambition of establishing 774 libraries in all the local government across the nation. If I am made the Minister of Education, I will establish these libraries without using federal government money, I would not demand one naira from the government but I will establish those libraries. I have been in this business so I understand how it works; I know what it involves so I understand how to go about it.

So where did you get the photographs in the museum?

What we did before we started gathering the pictures was that we first tried to understand the history of Nigeria, we then did a historical analysis of those who had played prominent roles in Nigeria and then gathered their names and the year which they operated, after that we …. The search took us into different areas, we consulted books, we consulted old magazines as far back as the 80s and the 60s we consulted old newspapers. Occasionally, we go online to search for the ones we don’t have. We also make visits like my recent visit to the museum, the pictures I didn’t have, I had to plead with them for an exchange programme, I offer them 10 of my pictures that they don’t have, for one of their own.

Do you think both library and museum are serving their needs?

I am convinced that these landmarks will live after me and for the sake of posterity; I want to be rest assured that I have, in my own way contributed to the sustenance of an intellectual community.

June 11, 2014
Duke presents N173 million to 37 antiquity vendors

The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Mr Edem Duke, has presented N173 Million to 137 antiquity vendors in Abuja.

The vendors under the aegis of Artefact Rescuers Association of Nigeria (ARAN) had, on different occasions, sold rescued artefacts to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) for the past five years.

Presenting the cheque in Abuja at the weekend, Duke reiterated the resolve of the Federal Government to protect the artefacts, saying the payment was another means of checkmating illicit trafficking of artefacts.

He enjoined the vendors and other stakeholders in the culture industry to partner with the government to ensure that the sector enjoyed its pride of place.

The Director-General of NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman, dismissed media reports that the failure of the commission to pay vendors was hinged on perceived corruption, saying the release of funds for such payment usually followed due process.

His words:“The commission had to write through the minister of tourism to the coordinating minister of the economy for the release of intervention funds to enable us pay the antiquity vendors the outstanding debt owed them.”

Commending the vendors for their patience, he added, “I want to particularly thank the vendors for their understanding and also request that they continue to keep faith with NCMM”.

June 11, 2014