Category: Arts & Life

The Goethe Institut in Lagos hosted Emeka Udemba’s Witness, an exhibition of Molue as an interactive way of taking art to the people while interogating critical issues in the society. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports.

Imagine the popular Lagos yellow passengers bus Molue, parked at a busy bus stop on a Lagos road during peak period of traffic on Monday morning. An army of anxious commuters rushed to the bus struggling to gain entrance into it. Workers, market women and students were all part of the mad rush. “Hey stop. This is not a passenger bus, please all of you get down,” a voice from one of the few seats at the back end of the bus shouted.

Surprised and shocked, the frustrated commuters wore long faces as they looked out for the real Molue. However, they did not leave until they discovered that the refurbished and attractive bus was a Molue Mobile Museum of Contemporary Nigerian Art with a  vehicle  registration number LND 100 XF.

Inside the bus is a medium-size flat screen television screening a documentary on the operation of Molue on Lagos roads, food and drug hawkers, newspaper vendors and shouts from the unfriendly conductor form the staccato of noise from the documentary. There were also four paintings of faceless figures (two on each side) of the spacious bus.

Also arranged on a platform at the back end of the bus are copies of journals, books, brochures and hand bills on art. It is a mini-library of sort, which is serviced by 10 comfortable covered seats

Apart from the footage, the narration of the documentary is a historical journey of when Molue bus came to be, its challenges, characteristics and mode of operation among others. Welcome to Molue Mobile Museum of Contemporary Nigerian Art, which hosted its inaugural exhibition titled Witness by Germany-based Nigerian artist, Emeka Udemba at the City Hall premises, Catholic Mission Street, Lagos. It was organised by Goethe Institut, Lagos and supported by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Lagos, Mercedes Benz, British Council and Ayenibiyi Limited. The mobile exhibition which will run till July 26 will move round some major streets and neighbourhoods in Lagos.

Present at the opening included Muson Centre’s Artistic Director, Thomas Kanitz, Chinwe Uwatse, Ndid Dike, and representatives of British Council, Lagos.

To the organisers of the exhibition, the refurbished Molue, which costs about N2 million  is a rare symbol of public transportation system in Lagos after the scrapped Bolekaja, a wooden commuter Bedford truck. Witness according to director, Goethe Institut, Lagos Marc- Andrea Schmachtel, is not only a way of addressing the public through art but also to take the art to the people. He observed that the medium became necessary in Nigerian fine art scene, though novel in this part of the world as a way to promote art. “Fine art scene is greatly influenced by physical gallery space. But there are other forms of presenting art, this is one. Molue is iconic in Lagos transport system. But it is going out of use soon hence we are interested in transforming the popular bus to other uses. The Molue don’t need to be demolished and scrapped as it can be used for different purposes such as mobile museum or library,” he said.

There are many aspects to the Witness project. Through it a serious missing link-a befitting art gallery- in a mega city like Lagos is being brought to the fore. And the medium being used to draw attention is an iconic object such as Molue.

According to Emeka Udemba, one of the major challenges facing contemporary art, especially in Africa today is the issue of the context, representation, presentation and documentation as well as the question of how to map the evolution of contemporary art in Africa. He raised the following posers:

“How can we engage or appropriate a critical form in the way we show and interact with contemporary art to suit our local environment and in so doing make culture more accessible to the public?

“To what extent is a museum of contemporary art capable of interrogating real issues that affect us? How do we engage the public in a more participatory and collaborative way as part of the creative process? How can we generate more interdisciplinary exhibitions that are focused and in multiple spaces,” Udemba wondered. But importantly, the primary concept behind Witness is hinged on reinventing space while simultaneously preserving an icon of the Lagos city urban transportation heritage- the Molue.  It is the hope of Udemba that this iconic means of moving from point A to B, (which is being phased out by government), can serve as exploratory exhibition spaces, host exhibitions, educational programmes, screenings, performances, discussion sessions,music and workshops.

“The goal is to shift from the static to the flexible, harnessing the opportunities of social mobility within the urban space,” he noted, adding that art is not complete without the participation of the viewers.

On the characters of the operators of the buses, Udemba said: “The questionable technical condition of most of these Molue buses and the recklessness of the drivers is a constant threat to other road users. When Molues breakdown, as they often do, the drivers and their conductors often abscond leaving the passengers to their own devices.

“Like bullies on the road, Molue drivers epitomise the broad culture of impunity in the larger Nigerian society.

They are always impatient, they frequently flout traffic rules, and they stop to pick up or drop off passengers outside designated bus stops. This often exacerbates the perennial traffic jam and traffic chaos in the city.”

Hoewever, the Molue bus, to some extent, captures the spirit of optimism, resilience, and adaptation to the daily challenges of survival of the ordinary Nigerian citizen.

Book review
Title: NGOR: A Historical, Cul tural, Pol;itical and Socio- Economic Analysis

Author: Jossy Nkwocha, Ph.D

Pagination: 120 Pages
Publisher: Igbo Heritage Foundation Publishers Inc.

Reviewer: Chikodi Okereocha

As a history graduate and a journalist, I was quite curious to read this book entitled NGOR: A Historical, Cultural, Political and Socio-Economic Analysis, authored by Dr. Jossy Nkwocha, former General Editor of Newswatch magazine.

Books of this nature are usually very controversial because to x-ray the historical, cultural, political and socio-economic analysis of a community will involve stepping on many toes.

In a very crafty manner, Jossy meandered the minefield of Ngor history and politics. As a senior journalist, Jossy deployed seductive prose to make the book quite compelling to explore his community, Ngor, one of the 28 autonomous communities in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State and the ancestral headquarters of the Ngor-Okpala people, the acclaimed food basket of Imo State.

I must confess that after reading the book, I came to the conclusion that Jossy Nkwocha wrote a great book that has the potential to transform Ngor community positively. The book is divided into three parts, namely the historical, cultural and socio-economic analysis; historical events to remember; and a 13-pont roadmap for development.

Part one begins with a map of the community  the first of such. From the historical perspective, the author traced about 500 years of Ngor’s existence to show that the ancestors were brave warriors that were feared by neighbours. This gave rise to the saying, “Onye je Ngor nga chi jiri”, meaning “who will go to Ngor at night to commit crime.”

Ngor was so prominent that it became the foundation stone of naming the clan called Ngor-Okpala. The book showed why Ngor people are self-esteemed people who usually introduce themselves as “Nwa Ngor Eze-Ogboro”, meaning “prince or princess of the Ngor royal dynasty.” The book also brought out, for the first time, the history of Umuneke Ngor, the headquarters of Ngor-Okpala-Okpala, which is fondly called “Ekeneze” — a people known for their aggressive lifestyle.

From the cultural viewpoint, the book projected the rich cultural heritage of the Ngor people. It threw up an intriguing ceremony called “Akaraka Ngor” an annual event at which a jar of palmwine goes round the entire celebrants of about 350 persons.

The political dimension is likely to arouse the greatest interest of most readers. Jossy depicted Ngor community as being politically backward, and suffering from dire political exclusion. He extrapolated his thesis to include the fact that Ngor-Okpala is supposed to be three or four LGAs as some other clans in Imo State.  A map of Ngor-Okpala vis-à-vis that of Imo State provided in the book is eloquent evidence that indeed Ngor-Okpala is being marginalised politically.

In the social sphere, Jossy’s book explored the traditional marriage system in the community, the traditional criminal justice system, resolution of disputes, and security through community policing. The author proved that in the olden days, Ngor people had a good social system that ensured peaceful co-existence.

Part two of the book, chronicled the emergence of Christianity and western education in the community, the Biafran war as it affected Ngor people, the Umuohie-Umuanyika wars tht claimed many lives in the community and the biography of a great man called Okere-Onyeoma who single-handedly built a road to link Ngor to Aba-Owerri highway.

Part three of the book is perhaps the greatest contribution of Dr. Jossy Nkwocha to the Ngor community. He outlines 13 areas of intervention needed to transform the community economically, politically and socially.  According to him, these include functional education, entrepreneurship development, a positive mindset, community mobilisation, market development, the power of Diaspora indigenes, and so on. Jossy concluded by proposing what he calls Ngor community anthem, dripping with fervent Ngor spirit and consciousness.

Finally, the book contains some historical photographs that would certainly excite many Ngor people, especially the pictures of their first university graduates, the man whose action stopped the Umuanyika-Umuohie war and the legendry Okere-Onyeoma.

The book, NGOR: A historical, cultural, political and socio-economic analysis exposes Jossy’s deep sense of Ngor-ness in him, his uncommon love for his community, and his rare capacity for research and seductive prose. With this book, Jossy Nkwocha has put his Ngor community on internet and global literature. Apart from a few typographical errors, I find Jossy’s book quite readable, and commendable to all and sundry. Indeed, Ngor will surely be better!

A photography exhibition in Lagos attracted eminent Nigerians. The fundraising event, RAYMOND MORDI writes, has rekindled hope for the continuation of the treatment of Motunlayo Adefunke Sofowote, a multi-talented philanthropist, who is recovering from cervical cancer in Germany.

From landscapes of wondrous mountains, trees, clouds, flowers, buildings located in expance  of woodlands, birds in flight, sunset, and animals in action close-ups, Mrs. Motunlayo Adefunke Sofowote, 67, has captured in still pictures brief moments that depict interesting facets of life in the world around the human being. Mrs. Sofowote’s works were put on display at a one-week photo exhibition that ended on Sunday May 11.

The exhibition, which took place at Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos, was put together by a group of friends of the beneficiary, under the name, Adefunke Sofowote Cancer-Fighting Fund Team. It was a subtle appeal to raise N35 million to continue the medical treatment of the ailing impulsive amateur photographer and founder/president of Glowing Channels Foundation, who is on admission in a German hospital where she is battling with cervical cancer.

In a terse foreword to the exhibition brochure, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka said it is the duty of all to ensure that Mrs. Sofowote’s memorable photos do not turn prematurely memorial. His words: “That memorable photos turn prematurely memorial? This is what we are all in common duty bound to prevent.”

What is particularly interesting about the pictures is that majority of them were shot during this illness.  The pictures were taken over a period of time and in different countries and continents. According to Charles Ayo Dada, a member of the Adefunke Sofowote Cancer-Fighting Fund Team and coordinator of the exhibition, a few of the pictures are dated 2006 and 2010, but a vast majority of them were taken in 2012 and 2013, when she was already afflicted by the ailment. Similarly, in the midst of her battle with cancer on her hospital bed in Lubeck, in the northern part of Germany, she has written a book, her fifth book,with the  title “His Wondrous Presence: A Peep at His Greatness.” Indeed, Mrs. Sofowote indicated in a transcript of a recording published in the exhibition brochure that no matter the severity of the pain and the agony, “I shall remain happy, I shall remain cheerful, I shall remain committed in absolute confidence, in trust, of the Love of the Almighty Father.”

With careful composition and appropriate lightening, she was able to produce a stunning record of beautiful photographs, which capture the beauty and fascination of nature in almost every conceivable guise. As Ajai-Lycett aptly puts it, “With this collection of photographs, Funke the naturalist, by force of will and thought, illustrates how everything in nature contains all the powers of nature, is made of one hidden stuff.” With this, Ajai-Lycett enthused, the photographer bears witness to the interconnectedness of the universe, which man as a creature is part and parcel of. “And so, here we are, at this exhibition, being entertained to a graphic realisation of the infinite abundance of the universe and how wonderful and comprehensive is the plenty of the Divine Universal Mind,” she added.

Mrs. Francesca Emanuel also noted that the title of one of the photographer’s poems, A Peep at His Greatness, is the thematic chord that runs through the entire collection. Her words: “Combining visual content with poetry, she suggests to us that we contemplate the complexity, wonder and vastness of nature, either in its detail or in gross, and realise how insignificant we may seem as part of a Greater Whole. Yet as humans with the ability to think, to contemplate these things, to consider them philosophically and spiritually, Motunlayo reminds us that therein lies a manifestation of the Almighty in the Everyday.”

In a way, the pictures at the exhibition looked very much like paintings. Dada says such effect is the hallmark of a good photographer “because photography is also art when you take it to a very high level.” He noted that Mrs. Sofowote obviously has a heightened sense of beauty to be able to capture such rare moments that would have eluded a lot of people. “First and foremost, she was able to capture such rare moments through the lens of her spirit before allowing the camera lens to capture it,” he told The Nation, adding that basically that is what happens to a painter. His words: “First, a painter would visualize his subject and sees with his inner eye something worth capturing, before putting it down on canvass or some other medium. In photography, the person taking the shot must be able to recognise a unique moment and capture it for everyone to see.”

The idea of the exhibition was conceived in January by Mrs. Sofowote on her hospital bed in Lubeck, Germany. By that time, the need for a large pool of fund to finance a crucial aspect of her treatment had already become palpable. As a sensitive and considerate woman, she did not want a situation where she would be going cap in hand, begging for money without giving back anything in return. “Even though many generous donors had already latched into the idea of donating towards her treatment and her extended stay in Germany, it is more prestigious for her to give back something in return, so that there would be balance. Even if what she is giving is disproportionate, at least she has made an effort to reciprocate,” Dada noted.

But the Adefunke Sofowote Cancer-Fighting Fund Team actually started planning for the exhibition mid February. Feelers at the last day of the exhibition early last week suggest that the effort was highly successful. This is in spite of the fact that photography is not widely considered as a form of art yet in this part of the world. Though a group of artists such as Uche Edochie, James Iroha and photographers like Sunmi Smart-Cole have made photography very appealing, with their pioneering efforts in that regard, the idea is still novel in Nigeria. As a result, the Nigerian art collector would feel more comfortable relating with an original work of art more than he would relate with photographs as a form of art. This is perhaps due to the fact that a photograph has the potential of being replicated, so it can be argued that it is almost semi-craft.

The exhibition, which took place under the theme, ‘She Lives On!’ attracted eminent Nigerians, including the wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dame Emmanuella Abimbola Fashola, Prof. J.P. Clark, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, Olusegun Ajanlekoko, Prof Duro Oni, Dr. Abayomi Aiyesimoju, the Fadesewa of Simawa, Oba Gbenga Sonuga, chief hostess Taiwo Ajai-Lycett among others.

Leader of the Adefunke Sofowote Cancer-Fighting Fund Team, Dr. Lateef Adewale Ogunbadejo said Mrs. Sofowote chose the theme of the exhibition. By choosing to float the exhibition under the theme, ‘She Lives On!’, Dr. Ogunbadejo, who is also the Medical Director of Aniyun Hospital, Gbagada, Lagos, noted that Mrs. Sofowote probably sees the possibility of her own experiencing being used to fight cancer for others in the future.

The ailing Sofowote has spent the last 16 years providing succour for the needy and less privileged, through her charity, entertainment and merit-recognition organisation, Glowing Channels Foundation. The 67-year old woman is a bundle of talents. She is a writer, singer, motivational speaker, administrator, organiser, trainer in corporate practice and etiquette and an impresario.

The April 14 abduction of over 200 girls of Government Girls Secondary School(GGSS), Chibok,  Borno State by terrorists, took centre stage at a photo exhibition tagged: Femme Fatale Deconstructing’ the politics of sexuality. The group exhibition shares many things in common with the Chibok calamity- girl child, freedom, perception and representation of women and politics of sexuality. It was organised by the African Artists Foundation.

Little wonder when artists, enthusiasts and collectors gathered at the opening of the exhibition at Ford Foundation office in Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, issues raised by the works were familiar to all.

Also, the exhibition theme has been used extensively as a stereotypical representation of women in literature, cinema, and the visual arts throughout history. In its popular incarnation, female identity is articulated through her role as an over sexualised, seductive, and scheming predator that uses her erotic charms to manipulate the opposite sex, literally translated from French as ‘’deadly woman’’.

Curator of the African Artists’ Foundation, Medina Dugger, said that the Female Artist Development project, which aims to call attention to the vital yet undervalued role of female artists in Nigeria contemporary arts community, is what this exhibition will explore and how female identity is constructed, articulated, and vehemently asserted in both the contexts of Nigerian society and a boarder global paradigm.  She noted that the self esteem of the girls has been demoted and kidnapped.  She asked; what are they bringing them to?, what are we bringing in future that is worthy of the respective girls and the education that they have. I will also like us to have a check on bringing back our girls, winning back their self esteem, bringing sisterhood and bringing back the dignity in girls all over the world.

The artists whose works were on display included Karimah Ashadu, Elisa Bortolussi, Sesu Tilley- Gyado, Shannon Lawrence, and Omoligho Udenta. Exhibits on display were: photography, mixed media, video, design and performance.

Mask Woman by Jenevieve Aken, who is a Nigerian photographer, focuses on social documentary photography, self- portraits, urban portraits and cultural portraits. According to Aken, the mask is a self portrait performance series that explores sexuality, firstly as an African woman, and seeks to challenge the narrow concept that women are nothing but possessions and sex objects, void of intellectual or creative potential, whose primary role is to please a man. It is a personal journey to freedom from self bondage, prescribed by society, she said. She also said that, she wish to call into question the unspoken strength dormant within many African women, a thick silence which, if broken, would unleash the necessary spark to ignite our mutual supreme womanhood: a state which will empower us to face our fears of judgment.

The mask woman addressing a growing number of unmarried, independent, women professionals and exposes both their autonomy as well as their stigmatization by society. By diverting from the status quo and by exercising their freedom of choice, such women are often perceived as extreme, eccentric or pitiable. She said, I chose to create these self- portraits to birth my personal freedom, with the hope it will inspire other women to express their truths as well.

Naked Truth by Tyna Adebowale, who is a painter and mixed media artist lives and works in Lagos. Her work explores issues of gender, politics, and social media in contemporary Nigeria society, described her work, that investigates the politics of, and sexuality of the female gender, and her downplayed importance as well as the abuse of the female gender in social, traditional and religious context in Nigeria, which is her view of Femme Fatale as an African female artist. Naked truth addresses issues of sexual exploitation of the female body in fatal situation like crisis, the struggles experience because of the female identity through the years resulting in victimisation and continuous rape of the female gender, with little or no power for self- defense. Why should I be a victim of my sexual identity? I know it not. Will I just remain silent or will my struggles be given a continuous ‘ignore’ button?

Dr George Okeyoyin is the Conservator of Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Nigeria’s biggest protected area with a land mass of about 6,731 square kilometers cutting across Adamawa and Taraba states. In this interview with Paul Akpabio, he reveals the importance of fauna, floral and animal conservation to national life.

Can you give us an insight into the Ghashaka- Gumti Park (GGNP)?

This place is a great testimony to the future of Nigeria as a veritable player in global effort in conservation. GGNP is the most scenic and the largest of all National Parks in Nigeria. Its ecological importance lies in its protection of flora and fauna species because of its location to several conservation enclaves across the Cameroon border. As a laboratory for sustaining and protecting the gene pool, this place is an important watershed for Rivers Benue, Taraba and other streams where aquatic species complete their life cycles. GGNP is also home to the diverse and rare population of primates and migratory species from Cameroon and home to the highest mountain in Nigeria.

It is also a laboratory where Nigerian and foreign students carry out biological and primate research. To give you all about GGNP, is to give you all about Nigeria’s conservation future.

What are the specific issues that drive conservation today considering the conflict associated with husbanding gene resources?

There is this dynamism associated with conservation just like other human developmental efforts. You need understand that in a world where population explosion is on the increase, pressures definitely will be visited on earth resources either for housing or farming. So conflict becomes a face of conservation because people, even government when they are not properly informed, will kick at setting aside a Chunk area(s) of land for the sake of the yet unborn and the future well-being of our people who no matter the  level of infrastructural development, need to find food, water and fish for survival.

However, the templates of arrest and prosecution of offenders who dare illegal entry into protected area have long changed and there is the need to respond in such a manner that all stakeholders can appreciate the tasking assignment before us. We need to diverse another progressive opening to carry along people who own the land in the first place. That rigidity in conflict management when conservation is still at infant stage has to change, so we now operate in such a manner that endears us to our immediate communities.

Instead of arrest and prosecute, what we do now is arrest, train and provide platforms of productive engagement outside and within the confines of our cherished collective patrimony which is the protected environment. To achieve developmental conservation objectives, the management of the seven National Parks in Nigerian has resolved to change the way we do business. The era of pursuing poachers, hunters and grazers need to come to an end and that’s way this initiative must be sustained.

How, considering again that forest reserve and other primary source of conservation seem to be abandoned over the years?

In GGNP, about three years ago, we met and resolved to build a vocational training centre where offenders or those arrested for illegal entry into the Park can be trained and assisted on graduation with seed money to engage in productive activities. Today, our initial fear and apprehension has given way to joy as we graduated the first batch of trainees. We have empowered them and would monitor their activities so that they can grow and become employers of labor, feed their families without recourse into our parks for hunting or faming. The people now have alternative source of living and it makes our work easy.

What about grazers?

This is truly a headache and telling situation. Grazers, particularly the Fulani should have a grazing reserve which the state can carve out and engage a management team comprising of people from livestock department, National Park, and Veterinary people. We suggest that the management should be in line with that of a National Park and government can give us the opportunity to nurture the reserve areas for a particular period of time and then hand over.

The Park definitely needs more funding in view of your challenges?

This is part of the reason for our new policy. National Parks Services should work to generate revenue. This would convince the budget office to do more for us. The option of Private Partnership Project (PPP) should be an option in particular areas such as visitor facilities. In GGNP, we have an NGO, Chester zoo from United Kingdom assisting use through the primate project. We have two Rotary Camps.

Want to know about Ondo town? Take a collection of paintings titled: Perspective, by four Nigerian artists, who captured the historic and iconic landscape of Ondo on canvas, reports Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME.

Have you ever been to Ondo town in Ondo State or lived there? There are symbolic features-rocky hills and picturesque scenery- in the town that will forever remain fresh in your memory.  They include the famous Oke-Ijewo Ese hills, the historic  St. Stephen’s Church, Oke-Aluko and the Ondo Boys High School.

Remember Prof JP Clark’s popular poem, Ibadan- ‘running splash of rust and gold-flung and scattered among seven hills like a broken China in the sun?’ Take a trip to Ondo town, and you will almost be greeted with same landscape as captured in Ibadan above.

These and many more scenic views are what four Nigerian artists-Tola Wewe, Lekan Onabanjo, Abraham Uyovbisere and Damola Adepoju captured in their paintings recently exhibited at a salon held at House 6, Foreshore Town House, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The one-day salon entitled, Perspective, which featured a minimum of four paintings per artist, was attended by mainly Ondo indigenes, art collectors and critics.  Perspective is a fall-out of an invitation to Lekan Onabanjo by the Managing Director, Alma Stores and chairman, Irede Foundation board of trustee, Mr. Kunle Akinkugbe for a weekend painting retreat in Ondo. This gesture later turned into a week and an extension to three other artists.

Between March 20 and 27, the four artists undertook the task of capturing sceneries of Ondo on canvas. The exercise was sponsored by Mr. Akinkugbe, an indigene of Ondo town. What inspired the project? Mr. Akinkugbe was inspired to capture the picturesque scenery of his home town he has fond memories of on a medium that transcends time-artists’ canvas.

For the host, Mr. Akinkugbe, the landscape in and around Ondo has always held fascination, having a raw natural and ancestral beauty that sometimes comes across as mystic.  He said through the salon the four artists are contributing to the Irede Foundation. Two of the artists donated paintings to the foundation. “I love Ondo scenery and I wanted Lekan to spend a weekend in Ondo to capture it on canvas. So that was how the idea came up. In fact, my views of the paintings are exceeding my expectations,” Akinkugbe said.

Interestingly paintings exhibited are expressions of each artist’s peculiar and unique style of interpreting scenic subject matter. And nio doubt, each artist’s character and skill manifested in their respective paintings while at the same time, revealing the other parts of one or two artists’ handling of landscape.

For instance, former Ondo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Chief Tola Wewe literarily left his regular spiritual motifs and forms to embrace outdoor painting of landscape using different colour scheme as against his traditional hues. Wewe described the Ondo retreat as revealing and refreshing especially when such is done amongst professional colleagues. “It was a sound fun, and elating with colleagues reminded me of my school days. The experience made me feel younger as a painter. The lesson I took from the painting retreat is that Nigerians must appreciate what they have as heritage. In fact, I did not know and see the beauty Ondo has until I painted them. We are really blessed and our natural environment is rich enough to sell to the globe.

“It was also an opportunity for art collectors to discover that beyond those spiritual-images and motifs in my paintings, I do love nature,” Wewe said.

President, Guild of Fine Artists, Mr. Abraham Uyovbisere sees Ondo through the landscape and rocky ills he painted. The retreat gave him opportunity to resuscitate some of the fading values in colour scheme. “It was a revealing experience as it exposed us to outdoor painting once more. I wish to go back there to document Ondo,” Uyovbisere noted.

Perspective was curated by Mr. Timi Balogun who was also part of the retreat in Ondo.

Book review

Title: Rich country, Poor people
Nigeria’s story of poverty in the midst of plenty
Author: Prof Banji Oyelaran Oyeyinka
Reviewer: Prof Kayode Soremekun

This book by Professor Banji Oyelaran Oyeyinka speaks to these times. The book, titled: Rich Country, Poor People, has a familiar ring. In a sense, it is an echo of street wisdom on one hand and what can be called a particular version of another book by Terry Lynn Karl, who has done a much more generalised study-titled: The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States.

Another difference is that Karl can be viewed as an outsider. Certainly, one cannot say the same thing for Professor Banji Oyelaran Oyeyinka. Indeed, if he must be described, one can view him as an outsider and insider. This much is evident from his own admission in the book’s acknowledgement, when he contends that this work is the outcome of his research experience and reflections over several years of working and teaching in Nigeria and within the international system, especially the UN system.

Thus, flowing from the above, what runs through the book is the anguished voice of a patriot who incidentally and unconsciously admits to his patriotism by contending that he has been motivated in large part by a deep love for Nigeria. This is understandable if only because even if he does not admit it, there is a sense in which throughout the book we cannot but sense the comparative phenomenon. By comparative phenomenon, we refer to a situation in which from his base, Professor Oyeyinka in the course of his studies and work experiences has seen diverse social formations in their respective primary contexts.

But clearly, Oyeyinka has done more than seeing, courtesy of his training and work experiences in places like Sussex, Maastricht and Nairobi, the question of the contrast between Nigeria’s opulence and her poverty must have been tugging at his mind. I have gone into his mind, but this familiar phrase must have been bugging at his mind: “why are we so cursed?” For those who are familiar with literature, the phrase, why are we so cursed is really a play on another phrase, why are we so blest. And talking of literature, what came to the mind of this reviewer in the course of reading this book is, Wole Soyinka’s book entitled: “The Interpreters”. For those who do not know “The Interpreters” as depicted by Wole Soyinka were members of the emergent and cynical elite in the early years of post independent Nigeria. If I may take into account generational dynamics, I can safely assume here that given the anguish and I dare-say vibrant pessimism of Professor Oyeyinka, one can easily assume that Professor Banji Oyeyinka is a member of the generation that can easily be called: The Post Interpreters. Unfortunately for the author, he could not unlike a Soyinka, take refuge in the world of fiction.

Rather, and as can be seen in this book, what he has done, is to virtually confront head-long, the various indices of the brutalising reality in contemporary Nigeria.

It is, therefore, not surprising to note that in the opening chapter with the title: Paradox of Penury in the Midst of Plenty, the author highlights factors like colonial legacy and what he described as the deepening poverty in the Nigeria social formation over the years. With facts and figures, it was revealed that between 1980 and 1996 Nigeria’s poverty level rose from 23 to 66 percent. In the same vein, it was demonstrated that GDP per person was 860 dollars while in 1996, it was 230 dollars. At the moment, it has been reported to be 290 dollars. Meanwhile, in numerical terms, 17.7 million people lived in poverty in 1980. Such a population rose to 67.1 million in 1996.

As a follow-up, the author contends that in qualitative terms what has occurred is really a failure of development. But he quickly corrects himself by arguing that development has not really failed. Rather and according to him, development was not really on the agenda in the first instance! As true as the immediate foregoing may seem, I do not want to agree with the author. This is because, a close reading of the literature on our founding fathers and mothers, will reveal that they were indeed committed to development. Sure, there were free-loaders and carpet baggers among them, still some of them put in place some of the structures which constitute an integral part of modern Nigeria. I refer here to institutions like: the University of Lagos, the extension of the Railway line in the North and the building of the Ports in Apapa. In saying this, I am not attempting to take anything away from the narrative of the author, this is because in  subsequent sections, he goes on to dwell on what can be called the regression of the Nigerian state. In this respect, he argues that the notion of the developmental state routinely associated with East Asia is less of a phenomenon in Africa and by implication Nigeria.

This regression coupled with the crisis of governance is, according to the author, mainly responsible for Nigeria’s failure to come to terms with her manifest destiny. Indeed, far from being a developmental state, it was revealed that ours is indeed a fragile state. This fragility is best exemplified in contemporary times by that fact that the on-going drama of the abducted Chibok girls has drawn in various indices of the International community. Meanwhile, and in another vein, the consequence of the industrial decline and low-level agriculture has given rise to a contagious issue: unemployment.

According to the author Prof Oyeyinka symptomatic of the lack of industrial dynamism are the level and rates of unemployment rate. It was further revealed that the unemployment rate is seven times the population growth rate; meaning that not only is there dearth of opportunity for the newly employable but existing industries is also shedding jobs.

The immigration test tragedy in which nobody has been brought to book till date aptly illustrates the deposition of the author. What is particularly instructive in this section of the book is the author’s intellectual pre-occupation and wrestling with the notion of poverty. Here he begins by giving us Seebohm Rowntrees’ definition of poverty … which according to him is a situation where total earnings are insufficient to obtain the minimum necessities for the maintenance of mere physical efficiency. He goes on to state that despite the controversy among scholars about the concept of poverty, all are agreed, that the poor exist in a state of deprivation, that to quote the author, “poverty is a condition in which the standard” of living of the individual poor falls below minimum acceptable standard. In this same section, we are treated to very comprehensive and novel conceptions of poverty.

According to the author, and since Rowntrees definition, it is indeed possible to effect a taxonomy of poverty. Specifically here, the author has disaggregated the notion of poverty into various forms. These include: relative poverty, absolute poverty, the dollar-per-day measure of poverty; and subjective poverty. For this reviewer and particularly from the perspective of what can be called the national question; the most interesting of intriguing dimension is relative poverty. It was revealed that, the Northwest part of the country recorded the highest poverty rate in the country. This is something of a paradox because in a way, it speaks to the counter-productive nature of the Lugardian scheme. In more explicit terms, my puzzle here is this; in view of the data provided by Professor Oyeyinka and given the privileged access of the Northern elite to power at the centre, why and how have these areas turned out to be the poorest zones in contemporary Nigeria.

Beyond the nature and content of poverty, is another interesting and abiding concern in the work. This time, the emphasis is on the elusive sociological cum economic animal: The Nigerian middle class.

In this respect, the Nigeria in middle class as defined by the author is characterised by an average monthly income of N75, 000 – N100, 000 naira.

And the profile of this middle-class was disaggregated along the following lines: education and work, attitude, car ownership, banking habits; spending habits, ownership of household appliances; travel habits, sources of information and perception about Nigeria. I am not too comfortable however with aspects of the quantitative identification as regards what constitutes the middle-class. That lower base of N75,000, as far as I am concerned is very unrealistic. In a context like Lagos, a salary of 75,000 naira for a family of four really puts that family on the edge of poverty. In the subsequent chapter, the author focused on a numbing and plaintive note by contending that Nigeria’s power elite has blocked every attempt at Nigeria’s industrialisation and the attendant structural transformation by corruptive actions that result in widespread abandoned projects. Such projects include: the iron and steel plants; sugar factories, expensive dams and fertilizer plants.

•To be continued