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Category: Arts & Life

Theatrical experience at unusual spot

Putting a play on stage at any theatre takes a great effort. It takes greater efforts staging such play outside the non-conventional theatre venue just as it takes even greater efforts and skills.

This was demonstrated at the just concluded second edition of Lagos Theatre Festival (LTF), the largest ever outdoor theatre festival to hold in Lagos State in recent time, at Freedom Park. Theme of the festival was All the city’s a stage, organised by the British Council, Nigeria.

“The event was part theatrical experience, part real life and part city journey. The festival transformed historical Freedom Park, a public space born out of the ruins of a colonial prison and reconstructed to preserve the history and cultural heritage of Nigeria,” said the organisers.

This year’s edition of LTF witnessed interactive performances, making it possible for the audience to participate in the plays. Artworks and attractive African cloths and accessories were some of the items on display at the festival. Venue of the festival was beautifully decorated with Ankara fabrics of various colours. No wonder the Director, British Council Nigeria, Ms Connie Price said at the opening ceremony that “it is tremendously exciting for the British Council to be working again on Lagos Theatre Festival. Our hope is that the new collaborations taking place will captivate audiences and stimulate future works as the British Council builds towards 2015, a year that will see a major season of culture and educational programmes take place across Nigeria.”

Price said that both Nigeria and UK have reached theatrical condition and is great to see how two countries come together to collaborate genuine ideas. “There is no other for Lagos Theatre Festival to take place, but at the Freedom Park, a once a prison yard but now a centre of creativity,” she said.

The plays were staged in unusual locations in the park. The first play titled Queen of the Night, written by Wole Oguntokun and produced by Renegade Theatre, was staged in a bar and gave the audience the opportunity to participate in the play. The play was about a bar in Lagos where there is no good or bad; where all pretences at right and wrong stop at the door. In the play a brief history about the first owner of the bar in 1950s, Esther, who killed her white lover in the old prison yard, was narrated by Queen, (Tosin Adeyemi), a cast in the play.

Make we Waka; a play inspired by the city of Lagos and written by two young British ladies: Artistic Director Mimi Poskitt and Molly Taylor, after they did a rigorous research on Lagos and a hand full of interview, with diverse people living in the state, they came up with the play, produced by a multi award winning interactive theatre company based in the United Kingdom (UK), Look Left Look Right sit-specific theatre company. The play was premiered at the opening of LTF.

“It has been a journey for us, when we arrived in Lagos we took a trip round the city, we spent weeks trekking around the place and we interviewed many people ranging from an ex-doctor, a policeman and artiste and whole lot of others before we could create ‘Make we Waka’. The city of Lagos has so many stories to tell us and it really thrown it arms around us,” said the two ladies.

The cast in Make we Waka invited the audience to partake in some friendly stroll performances in the park with the aid of a small audio guide, which told amazing stories to the audience about the park while they explored the hidden parts of Freedom Park in the play.

The Creative Director of LTF, Kenneth Uphopho said the festival was designed to show the true essence of Lagos State nature. Uphopho revealed that writers from all over Nigeria were asked to tell their experiences in Lagos. “Almost everybody in Lagos sent a story and eventually we shortlisted the stories to three,” he said. The stories are: Queen of the Night, Waiting for a Lottery and Diagnosis were born and tuned into scripts by Jude Idada, Lekan Balogun, Wole Oguntokun and finally Imagine Nigeria, Renegade Theatre and Oxzygen Koncepts(sic) companies were employed to direct the projects. Uphopho said putting the festival together was a tedious process.

The LTF kicked off last week Friday and ended on Sunday.

March 5, 2014
Alowes makes intellectual premium of ‘minorities’ debate

Book review

Title: ‘Minorities as Competitive Overlords’

Author: Jimanze Ego Alowes

Reviewer: Chuka Nnabuife

Publisher: The Stone Press

SUCCESS could be as circumstantial as birth location. At least, in Nigeria, the existentiality of place of origin rub off significantly on the trail of successes recorded in crucial industries and strategic enterprises.

The view runs radically contrary to the ones popular contemporary classrooms of leadership studies where the notion of ‘born achiever’ is often hotly contested by scholars. But while scholars across the globe debate veracity of nature lending helping hand in the fate of successful or unsuccessful people, in business, leadership, scholarship, sports and other areas a few writers such as the author, Jimanze Ego Alowes, are not scared to wade in with clear thought.

And he makes things clear from the outset of his treatise that in his case study, Nigeria, people of socio-cultural, if ethnic minority roots enjoy competitive edge in some crucial economic sectors. All through an engaging span of 141 pages, in his latest book, ‘Minorities as Competitive Overlords’, Mr Alowes argues his cause that place of origin really pushes up some people while equally limiting the accent of others.

However, he sets his premise with a hint that despite the fact he has a lot of instances to buttress his ideological position the issue is more about possibilities than of definite stance. In his introductory remarks he states thus: “…in a Nigerian case study, the minorities are not assumed to be more or less talented. The thesis is that they will have natural comparative advantage issuing as it were from the disadvantage or weakness in numbers. The important thing is to deploy the understanding as a strategic asset and comparative tool. There are niche businesses and competitive areas they would be quick to trounce all non-minority, all majority competitors, despite what appears on the face of it as disadvantages.” (p vii)

Though he dropped the hint, early, that he was merely throwing up issues to provoke serious thought, reading through his three-section book (Part 1 – 3), spread through 10 chapters offers ample instances to establish a conviction. Every chapter features a distinct sector of Nigerian economy in which clusters of enterprises owned by persons from the said ethnic minorities have excelled. His first chapter which kicks off the collection of essays in an engaging taste that runs through all the publication is entitled ‘Why and How Nigerian Media Moguls… are All From the South-south Minority’, captures the minorities in southern Nigeria as adept in excelling in media business. But he establishes that the feat is not achieved by rare or identifiable genetic endowment. Rather planned, steady strategic progression through the corners where majority political groups failed achieved that cluster climb in the area of media entrepreneurship.

Alowes delves into analyses of the ideological tendencies of Nigerian ethnic aggregations which, according to him, the media businessmen from the South-south understudied and exploitatively tapped into.

“Since the majority powers all want to be really regional… while pretending to be national just to appear… politically correct, the nearest people to a national and nationalistic group, are the South-Southerners. This is by the logic and irony of being powerless and a highly vulnerable group and not out of their goodness… And here again the minorities of the South-South wins, and this shows up in their media prowess concomitantly.” (p 30)

He goes on to appraise that the South-south media moguls excelled because of the lack of trust among the majority ethnic aggregations of Nigerians in the South-west; South-east and northern Nigeria. Hence the southern minority media bosses will continue to reign because the rest of the country would rather trust them to be in control of such a vital economic sector as the media than have it in the hands of people from the major ethnicities.

In the chapter, ‘Why and How the Golden Deltans Dominate Nigerian Banking,’ he once more drummed the “geography” konga. He states “however, that this is not a result of any conspiracy, but a consequence of known and determinable vectors that help shape and fashion market dynamics. Or, one can justifiably say that what is going on is what we may call the sociology of market in action. And it plays out in markets as far apart as Tokyo, New York or Lagos.”

The sociology of the marketplace at play, as he identified is, the ability of the South-south banking buffs of Delta State origin to tactically play second fiddle consistently until they raked in the clients of bankers from major ethnicities who the populace are afraid of empowering through business. Being an independent social researcher with practical entrepreneurship experience and academic background in accounting and economics, the author should know a lot about what he dubs the sociology of marketplace. Alowes is also a prolific writer with several books in the market. He equally writes weekly columns in national newspapers. Therefore, his pedigree necessitates serious consideration of his views. More so, he has a substantial social and intellectual credential for such serious interrogation.

His position on the edge south-south media merchants enjoy from their minority ethnicity routs, for example, has been interrogated by people who previewed his manuscript. Some argued that his conclusion was hasty as it tended to exclude some other newspaper and electronic media men who are not from the minorities that succeed in the industry. Some others reason that it is too early in Nigeria’s media history to conclude thus. Some commentators just faulted his hypothesis, claiming there is yet to be an extensive study. Some urged a deeper probe into Nigeria’s eventful media history to note many non-minority media owners who excelled. While some just cannot stomach the notion.

Alowes attended to the comments in the publication.

“I suspect that the concern is from the traditional study of the media as its own existent, whole and entire. Media practitioners are often deluded they are objective almost android-like in the trade. And they make no other concessions. For many of them nothing other than objectivity and market savvy influence the making of great newspapers. In their implied logic the major newspapers… are all doing well because of their professional vision and accomplishment. They cannot imagine any other outsider or outlier force at play. Perhaps they are precociously right before the fact. After this (the book) perhaps, sociology of business analysis will be included as a standard market analysis, just as funds flow analysis currently is,” he stated.

He further wrote thus: “closer examination tells us media assets don’t grow or flourish in its own world, that it is not one separate world, except in the sense in which it is one mesh of several worlds.”

Alowes, a prolific writer who writes a weekly column in a national newspaper, is not a stranger to strong ideological positions. He has written two earlier books (all essays) with emphatic postulations on how to advance the social and economic state of Nigeria. But none is as novel in treatise as ‘Minorities as Competitive Overlords’. It is as audacious intellectually as it is revealing and contentious. But the meat of the whole matter is in reading all the essays or at least, most of them, and ruminating on the unifying thrust.

In a communication to the writer after reading the book, veteran economist, Henry O. Boyo remarked thus: “ I finally had time to read all of it during holidays and I confess that I am enriched by your rare insights which were properly couched in supporting factual information. Nigerians should be proud of your trail-blazing thesis which will no doubt ultimately resonate and command universal attention….”

On the blurb, a consultant economist, Dr Boniface Chizea remarked is similar enthusiasm thusly: “some of the the assertions had the effect on me as that of coming into a sudden awareness and realization of some facts regarding the existential realities of Nigeria.”

Sure, Alowes’ new book is one of the most resourceful social study on Nigerian economics’ sociology in recent time. But the publication though rich in knowledge with beautiful cover design suffers from some of the peculiar problems of self-publishing. Ignore the occasional long sentences, poor binding and subediting neglects and you will enjoy the golden throve of knowledge Alowes has dropped in the bookshelf.

March 5, 2014
Facets of life in Victorian Lagos

Book review

Title: The life and Times of James Pinson Labulo Davies

Author: Prof. Adeyemo Elebute

Reviewer: Fola Arthur-Worrey

Publisher: Florence and Lambert

Pages: 235

The first feeling I experienced on reaching the last page of the book was a touch of envy-why didn’t I write this book? And this was immediately followed by the kind of feeling you get when you’ve just had an excellent meal, but you wished that the portion were larger; the you remind yourself of the Buddhist principle, that the healthiest approach to a meal is to leave the table still feeling slightly hungry-its good for the digestion and makes you appreciate the food all the more. So it is with this book.

When a professor of surgery, as our dear author is, approaches any task, even if outside his professional field, it would be reasonable to expect only the highest standards of meticulousness, and this has been his approach to this book. But what is really striking is the vividness of his imagery, rich with detail, by which he takes you back to Victorian Lagos, circa 1850 to 1900, the age of gentlemen and gracious ladies, the age of order. The time of the beginnings of ‘Innocent Commerce’ replacing the slave trade; the time of conquest and intrigue and imperial fiat, and yet, in spite of that, the truly golden age of Lagos, the birthing of its cosmopolitan character. Let me again express my envy for his mastery of this exceedingly difficult craft.

Reading this book revealed to me that there are so many facts and facets of life in Victorian Lagos that I, and I venture to say many of us here, never heard of knew of, and if you want a vivid snapshot of those times, rich with personalities and politics and social scenery and business and failure and recovery, this book will provide it.

The book examines the life and times of James Pinson Labulo Davis, whom I shall now refer to as JPL, the son of liberated Yoruba slaves in Freetown and who subsequently and astonishingly became a school teacher with the CMS, and officer in the Royal Navy’s anti-slavery squadron, an independent ship owner and merchant, a leading figure in Lagos society, a prominent member of the Legislative Council, and a pioneer of cocoa cultivation (disputed). And all this achieved by a man with such humble beginnings.

This is a book that will make all who read it reflect on the current state of our society, its coarseness, under attack by all manner of cultural and social distortions and disruptions. Yes, change is inevitable but surely we can all do a bit more to redirect it.

Professor Elebute’s masterful work of 235 pages made up of five chapters and an epilogue, along with very useful endnotes and striking illustrations, is very well packaged with easy to read prints and delightfully designed cover. The prose is surgically structured yet racy, grabbing your attention immediately and taking you on a very fascinating and gripping ride. I must confess that I searched with a fine tooth comb for even one solitary grammatical or spelling error, searching desperately for my “Aha!” moment, but sadly, I was to be disappointed.

One aspect of the book that fascinated me the most was the recounting of the extraordinary life of the wife of JPL, Sarah Davis (nee Sally Forbes Bonetta), a Yoruba girl captured as a child in 1848 by Dahomeans who raided the Egbado villiage of Oke-Odan where she lived with her parents. From that rather dismal event, fate intervened and this young slave ended up living with a family in England, becoming a ward of Queen Victoria who invited her to Windsor Castle, took on responsibility for her welfare and education (she was even referred to in official correspondence as a protégée of Her Majesty), and on her death fully adopted her her daughter Victoria, gave her a life-long annuity, and sponsored her as her first African student to be admitted to the famous Cheltenham Ladies College paying fees of up to 100 pounds a year (equivalent in purchasing power, according to the author of N2.6 million today).

When the couple married in England no less, it was a major event, sponsored by Her Majesty the Queen who sent a representative, a social event reported with great descriptive colour in the local Brighton paper, the Penny Illustrated.

And yet here we are, over a century later, begging to be let into the UK and being threatened with cash bonds as a condition for visa.

Another aspect of the “Life and Times of James Pinson Labulo Davis” that will delight readers is its coverage of the colonial politics of Lagos, from the intrigues surrounding the “conquest” of Lagos and the Treaty of Cession, to the description of characters of the local big-wigs and colonial officials and governors that served during this period and their various roles, both in Lagos and Egba land. There are wonderful portraits of these individuals and I found the account concerning Governor Glover quite intriguing and indeed ironic, especially considering that we still have a hall named after him in own-town Lagos.

I won’t say much about the chapter in CMS grammar school. It is an old boy’s account and therefore understandably sentimental. As a KCOB myself, I can’t but…well, you know…

All in all I have to commend the author for the amount of effort he put into the research because it is what gives the book authenticity and hence it’s essential integrity. It is a daunting task to take on historical work. You may lay yourself open to all manner of disputations.

But the work that has gone into this book, the historical sources both here and in the UK, the sheer amount of effort expended to construct a coherent account from the great mass of it, the fantastic illustrations, all combine to make it a true classic, a must read for all who are interested in exploring the building blocks of this bustling, thriving dynamic metropolis.

March 5, 2014
Towards a Nigerian writers’ series

The naming theory, pristine but ever so elastic, has indicated that there are objects out there, waiting to be named.

There could, in addition, be a retinue of concepts, orientation or convention, deserving linguistic attachment or association, for purposes of identification or classification. Either way, lexicon has gotten accustomed to linguistic coloration or attachment by adjectives, graphical details, noun or noun verbs such as “international”, “European”, or “American” to anything sublime, of value constellation or world view as to reduce any parallel, cress-culture association to mere image-boosting propaganda, ambitious avowals, speculative orientation or inferiority complex.

Linguistic etymology espouses the intrinsic or extrinsic connotation deriving from location, or the culture, in situ. The dynamism in language ensures that symbols, which can be environment or generation-specific, are concomitantly irrepressible, are open to trespass and/or cannot be quarantined. English language especially enjoys motivation or attraction from French or Latin, yet many French or German words do derive their translations in their near-English alternatives and vice-versa.

In one word, linguistic symbolism is interwoven without necessarily engendering sociological incompetence or culture surrogacy.

There always seem to be some form of in-built existential nihilism, or epochal grandstanding when linguistic attachment is meant to impact, to leverage, to adapt or to influence development or heeded change. Yet, it is to some form of credit that the modern world, having refused to remain on the same spot, has continued to deploy intellectual ups-winging albeit, within decorum.

The association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), tagged its November 2013 convention in Akure, Ondo State. “The 32nd International Convention of Associaltion of Nigeria Authors”, because, according to its President, Professor Remi Raji, the time has come to enlist Nigerian writers in the diaspora, into ANA and to establish a Nigerian Writers’ Series, while the African Writers’ series is not destroyed or annihilated,

As is embellishing ANA’s new impetus, the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Humanities Chair, Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Series Edition of Rochester Studies in African History and The Diaspora, as well as Series of Carolina Studies on Africa and Black World, Profession Toyin Falola, in bhis Convention keynote address disclosed that Yorubas, for example, carried their pathogenic creativities with them to the diaspora, consequent upon the transatlantic slave trade.

Indeed, towards the second quarter of the 15th century, the King of England had begun dispatching emissaries to hitherto unknown parts of the world. One of them, Christopher Columbus, arrived Nigeria in 1472, one decade before similar gestures were extended to America by Britain. Almost immediately afterwards, however, the trans-atlantics slave trade, which ravaged many coastal parts of Africa, began and officially lasted till 1773, when Abraham Lincoln legislated against it. They are the survivors of this trade, who constituted the first generation of Africans and/or Nigerians in the diaspora, their black skin, their natural response stimuli, their costume and worship mode, giving them out. In progression, they acquired the western form of formal education.

The second group consisted of recruited, able-bodied Africans who fought the world wars but decided to stay back, their transborder trading, artisanship-driven professionals, stowaways, etc counterparts who crossed carnivorous Sudan, Libyan or Algerian desert, or the island or Lampedusa; relocated to other parts of the world.

The third group, perhaps the most vulnerable, the most lugubrious, consists of highly educated Nigerians, the “Brother Andrews” of this world who have obtained their degrees at home, are in the worlds of Barrack Obama, “simply expelled out of the country” for lack of employment. It is to mediate the foreignness, to showcase and protect the Nigerianness in the literary exegetes amongst them that ANA is internationalizing its programmes. Already, according to its re-elected President, Professor Remi Raji, ANA has branches in other countries in the West-African sub-region. ANA also intends to begin a Nigerian Series, very soon.

From immemorial, authorship has always influenced development in many areas. Socrate’s school of philosophy that around 300 B.C midwived empirically-based discipleship in Logic, Physics, Ethics, Geography, Mathematics, Meteorology etc. pitched against Monarchy and gods which Monarchy worshiped in Macedonia” For a long time, it went under.

However, the Lutheran Movement against Episcopal hypocrisy and the convocation of writers, authors and other categories free thinkers in refugee city of Antwerp in Belgium. In the 16th Century went 1.800 years back to non-fiction authorship that activated the European revolution. That revolution, has today remained unreserved such that since the 1998 Kyoto Convention the entire world has continued to pleas that the western world mediate tropical deforestation and reduce the industrial emission that characterizes the ozone layer.

Another convention speaker, Engr. Moses Idowu, observed that Nigerian writers of today perhaps shy away from non-African fiction authorship that requires fact-finding and meticulous assemblage of dad. Additionally, perhaps because non-fiction writers require ability to say the truth and stand by it, the generation of people like Tai Solarin, Gani Fawehinmi, Kanmi Isola Osobu, Bade Onimode, Prof Mr Mrs Edwin Madunagu, Teacher Amachri, etc is fast disappearing. In this perspective, Guest Lecturer, Toyin Falola, regretted that the frustration in the Nigerian writers resides in the continuous recycling of societal ills which writers have been writing against for a very long time.

By the end of the Convention, ANA’s new impetus’ seemed to tilt towards non-fiction, target-audience, attitude changing, development-directed authorship, as against culture-bound fairy tales, mendacious love stories and others that tend to divert the people from the harsh realities of the day-to-day existence.

ANA recognises efforts by sister or ancillary Art Associations promoting categories of art works and may partner authorship of publication that promise ascertainable percentaul payback. To aid book dale, Nigerian authors are to employ simple, interactive, transactional languages, as against highfaluting, wall-destroying grammar that usually attracts head nods or mere familial handshakes after narrow-casting to small but customarily scholastic audiences.

ANA signposts India, a fellow British colony, where publishing has been a catalyst. India ranks amongst the top seven publishing nations of the world, Self-publishing private house, exclusively devoted to academic articles, research results or technological breakthroughs in academic journals are being continuous accredited since 1998. She leads the world in pharmaceutical products; she’s the second, largest world’s cotton producer, after U.S.A, and the second in the world’s total farm output. In India, there are seconds of third generation families who live or have lived exclusively on proceeds of book writing.

March 5, 2014
iREP film festival holds March 20

This year’s iREP International Documentary Film Festival will run from Thursday March 20 to 23, at the Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos, between 10am and 10pm daily. The festival’s keynote address titled: “Rhythms of Amalgamation- Fashioning a Nigerian Identity” will be delivered by the Director-General of the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Mr. Emeka Mba by 10am prompt.

iREP 2014 will feature highly respected filmmakers from different parts of the World. It will also feature a rich collection of award-winning Documentary films from across the world, complemented by works of young and old filmmakers in Nigeria. This year’s, will also introduce a special room; which is entirely dedicated to films screenings all day, throughout the period of the festival. This is to cater for participants, who are wholly interested in films screening, and also allow other participants see a film they might have missed.

The festival will feature producers’ roundtable, an international co-production and co-operation forum for documentary filmmakers, established during the 2011 festival. The Filmmakers’ Roundtable will hold on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 March and will explore innovative options and opportunities in international co-productions and distributions.

March 5, 2014
Muson honours Francesca Emanuel

It was an evening of harmonious tunes at the AGIP Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, as various musical instruments were put to work in honour of Mrs Francesca Emanuel. The event was put together by The Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) in reverence of Mrs Emanuel, who turned 80 last September. The occasion was not just to honour this woman of prowess, but to celebrate her achievements and her contributions as a philanthropist.

Right at the center of the hall was a big, beautiful black piano played by renowned pianist and lawyer, Louis Mbanefo. Dignitaries at the performance included Prof Wole Soyinka and Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, who sat quietly in the hall. Also on hand to thrill the guests was Ranti Ihimoyan, a soloist, supported Mbanefo. They opened the stage with Giovanni Bononcini’s Per la Gloria d’adorarvi, Wolfgang A. Mozart’s Una Donna a quindici anni and Gioachino Rossini’s La pastorella delle Alpistage. Thomas Kanitz, a master and conductor of MUSON Symphony Orchestra (MSO), took over the stage and did what he knows how to do best alongside Mbanefo; delivering a beautiful and soulful rhythm with their piano and violin to the listening pleasure of the celebrator and audience, who are mostly elders. This made the celebrator, Mrs Emanuel, to describe the show as ‘one of the most beautiful moments in my life.’

After an interval, the show continued with the MUSON Symphony Orchestra. They occupied the whole stage with their musical instrument of various shapes and sizes, while Kanitz conducted the orchestra.

At the concluding part of the show, more appealing pieces from Max Bruch Kol’s Nidrei, Kanitz, Giacomo Puccini’s Sim mi chiamano Mimi and W. A Mozart’s Overture, from Magic Flute; were performed by these talents. The show also featured Nkiruka Andrew, Guchi Egbunine and John-Paul Ochei, who mesmerised the audience with their outstanding performances.

March 5, 2014
Fatima still needs N2.5million for hole-in-the heart surgery

Months ago, her plight was brought to the public domain. Yet, little Fatima still beaFourrs her pain as she waits for funds for treatment, Bukola Fasuyi

When her story broke, a number of Nigerians expressed sympathy and that raised her family’s hope of succor.

However, months after the news broke, help is yet to come the way of young Fatima Usman as she continues to battle two life threatening ailments at the same time.

Like her peers, Fatima had the dream of running around with her siblings and friends, studying to excel in school and become a successful legal luminary; today, all these seem a tall dream as she- silently awaits death with unusual calmness for a child her age.

At five, Fatima Usman’s life is gradually ebbing and like a candle in the wind may be snuffed out anytime soon if urgent help does not come her way.

According to the medical diagnosis, little Fatima has a heart disease and a life threatening malignant ulcer that is about to render her armless; and rapidly spreading to other parts of her body.

Before the diagnosis, Fatima was a bubbling kid with big dreams, high hopes and strong will. Neither she nor her parents anticipated such conditions she presently lives with until two years ago, precisely 2011, when she suddenly developed incessant unusual body temperatures.

According to her mother, Wunmi Usman, “In 2011, we noticed she was always getting sick and running very high temperature. We took it as malaria and gave her some malaria drugs. The temperature stopped for few days but later came back. We took her to a nearby hospital and she was treated for malaria again.”

After several days of her persistent ill-health and she began to emaciate, Wunmi said she took her to a General Hospital where she was diagnosed with a hole-in-the heart.

“We had taken her to a private hospital and at the hospital, we were referred to the General Hospital where it was discovered that she has a hole in her heart and would need to travel to India for treatment,” said Wunmi.

While still thinking of how to raise the needed money, another tragedy struck the little girl and her family. She was struck by another ailment.

“ We were still thinking about how to run around to raise the money, when, on a particular day in 2011, she was sent on her errand and on her way home she fell on her right arm by the elbow. We applied some ointment to the elbow to reduce the pain, thinking the pain would soon go away.”

“Before we knew what was happening, the hand began to swell few days later. We started to apply treatment to it but it refused to heal. We took her to the hospital and the hand was treated but we were surprised that the pores began to come out from the elbow some days after the treatment at the hospital. By the time we took her back to the General Hospital, the injury had become worsened,” her mother reports sadly.

“It was at the General Hospital that the injury was diagnosed of ulcer. Right now, the hospital said we need N2.5million for the treatment of the heart and the hand,” Wunmi concludes with a sigh.

Fatima’s mother said when neighbours drew her attention to her daughter’s story in the newspapers after exhausting all available means of raising money, she was elated and hopeful that their long search for a lasting solution might be around the corner. However, she says the hope is fast turning into despair as help is yet to come their way. Their search for the solution to her child’s health problem seems still far.

Wunmi Usman, the mother of the girl barely able to hold back her tears is pleading with well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the family financially so as to save the life of the child.

“I want Nigerians to help my daughter; I have no means of raising the money. I want them to help us so that Fatima would not die,” she begged.

BELOW IS THE ACCOUNT DETAILS

FIRST BANK

ACCOUNT NAME: USMAN FATIMAT

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 3074405328

PHONE: 08093190941

N.B: This is the only account details recognized by The Nation. Any other details soliciting money for this initiative should be ignored.

November 24, 2013
Beggars at the gate

It is now common to see women begging with infant babies, especially twins, in Lagos. Hannah Ojo who monitored some of the beggars with their children writes on the thin line between tradition, sympathy and treachery.

The noise thinning out under the flyover bridge at Obalende was biting. It was brawny enough to distort one’s sense of hearing. Confusion created by heavy trucks and big buses locked in a traffic snarl is a usual occurrence. As these vehicles blast their hones, a loud alarm pierces your ear. Coming from the conduits of these vehicles are suffocating fumes which make the atmosphere hazy. The scuffle between motorists and pedestrians for space gives the place away as a domain of brawl.

On a pavement close to this seat of madness are two babies laid on a piece of cloth. The scene resembles the way goods are displayed to attract the attention of buyers in the market. Their principal, assumed to be their mother, uses the hem of her wrapper to drive flies away. Although the bridge provides a shelter to shed them from the sun, it could not stop the fits of dusts which filled the air. It could neither drone the noise coming from the vehicles. It is the early hours of the day; the dust is yet to gather enough to make them look squalid, so their innocent beauty exudes from the white cloths they were attired in. The woman gave her name as Aisha. She would go no further. Her defence: she cannot communicate in English. When this reporter tried to engage her in a talk with a smattering of Hausa language, she would not budge. She only gave her name and the age of the babies whom she said were four months old. It was difficult to ascertain the sex of the babies as she had them covered from head downward in order to beat the cold of that early morning. Efforts to probe her further did not yield fruit. She gave a demeanour that she wanted out of the discourse so she could concentrate on passers-by for stipends.

The popular Mushin market, situated in the not-so-green area of Lagos, plays host to a boisterous atmosphere. It is characterised by noisy enthusiasm from traders and by-standers. The place usually witnesses a turbulent melee as Danfo drivers and bus conductors hustle with business. Just before the park where Okadas gather to pick passengers, a woman whose look gives her away as being in her late 30s laid her ‘wares’. She places her two bundles of joy on her laps while managing to guide the direction of the umbrella shedding them from sun rays. Her name too is Aisha. To get her to talk, the bait was to seek her help to change currency into other denominations. She took the guile. When a part of the money was handed to her for take, her countenance changed and she flashed her teeth in appreciation. Her babies whose names she gave as Hassana and Hussaina were attired in a pink dress with white layers sequined with pink patterns. Their heads were covered and they looked healthy. While the first baby was asleep, the other one thumb-sucked and fixed her gaze on the intruder as if in askance. How does she balance the weight of the twins? In the place of an answer, she flashed a smile betraying no fatigue accompanied by the weight of her duty. Where is the father of the girls? The question caught her attention. “Their father sells tomatoes in the market.” Aisha, who said she came to Lagos from Kano four years ago told why she opted for begging with her 8-month old babies instead of working, queried: “Who will employ a woman with two infants?” As she sat quietly with her babies, her stares were dull and fixed. With this she gets attention and draws sympathy from passers-by who stop to drop money into her hands.

Although Marina Street on Lagos Island is noted for hosting big companies, another spectacle fast catching up with the business district is the sight of women begging with babies. On a particular day, this reporter encountered two of them who gave their husbands’ demise as the reason for bringing their children to the open to beg. Both women had their children looking squalid and unkempt. The hairs growing on their heads were tattered and brownish in colour – a pointer to malnutrition.

Between tradition, sympathy and treachery

The practice of using infants, especially twins, to beg dates back to an old tradition of the Yoruba people associated with the cultural belief that twins are oracles. Words like ‘e ta ibeji lore’ (present a gift to the twins) were used by mothers, who are most times instructed to ‘worship’ the deity of these twins by taking them out to beg. It was believed that the children needed to be taken round streets and markets to avert impending dangers associated with non-adherence to the creed. The fortune of the parents and those of the twins are tied to this, it was learnt. According to this belief, some of the likely consequences of defaulting to adhere include generational misfortune, premature death of the parents and family members, ill health, etc. In lieu of this, people happily hand them gifts since it is believed that twins have mystical powers. Some even use their generosity as a point of contact to pray to give birth to twins as well. However, the arrival of education, Christianity, Islam has led to a sharp decline in this practice over time. It is a rude awakening to now discover that the trend is being picked up again. Another interesting dimension to the issue is the fact that Hausa women are more into the ‘trade’ these days. This serves to prove that other than traditional beliefs, poverty, illiteracy, greed and laziness are the factors fuelling the act, which is dehumanising to these children.

Can one see another person’s woe and not be in sorrow too? Can one see another person’s grief and not give a relief? The sad story of Aisha and the burden of catering for two children at a time without a genuine source of income, forcing her to come into the open, appears sympathetic. Yet sympathy can easily become treachery.

After some weeks, the same set of twins – Hassana and Hussana – were seen with another woman along the same Mushin road. The woman who claimed to be their mother gave her name as Halima Kano. “I came to Lagos with my husband. I spent the Ramadan period here. I don’t have a job because my husband could not get one for me. I was working with Hajia Rabiu, one of our matrons at a mosque but had to stop because she is battling an illness. I do not have a choice than to bring my children to the open and beg.” As she talked, she managed to keep an eye on her 8-month-old twins who were actively playing, oblivious of the commotion generated around them.

What implications?

From observation, a movement seems to be on the rise as the number of infant beggars in Lagos increases. They have become common sights at motor parks, pedestrian bridges, markets, roads and other public places.

What implication does this trend portend? Dr. Olamide Kayode, a paediatrician at LAUTech Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State, when asked on the implication of alms begging with infants, said such babies could be carriers of skin infections such as scabies, fungal skin diseases (ringworm), respiratory tract infections, as a result of exposure to air pollutants.

“The trend could also have a negative effect on these children as they grow up,” according to Dr. Kayode, who said that rape cases of young children abound because of their vulnerability and their living on the street. The children, he added, fall into the group of OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children).

Speaking on the moral implication for kids who are subjected to this practice, Kofoworola Ayodeji, a physiotherapist, opined that the act is a form of child abuse. “It is a practice that is detrimental to the future of such children who grow up with low self-esteem and morale in the society. By extension, it puts the future of Nigeria as a nation in danger as these children end up not being useful to the society; they grow up to have low level of productivity as a result of low self-esteem.”

To nip the trend in the bud when it is still rising seems wise as a delayed action could lead to the startup of another social problem such as the almajiri phenomenon in northern Nigeria. To put a stop to the disturbing trend, Adedeji, who also runs HRF Nigeria, a human development and charity organisation for children, suggests there should be a strict legislation against the act by making it punishable under the law. He added that women, especially those in the rural areas, should be educated on the implications. Although these suggestions may appear lofty, Dr Kayode believes they are realistic if individuals and government can rise up to the occasion by empowering women and assisting families that are genuinely in needs with scholarships and vocational training.

As children whose parents have decided to introduce them to a debauched aspect of life without their consent, the future is not bright. One wonders if they can show values of diligence and appropriate behaviours in the future.

November 14, 2013
Nigerians make Golden Baobab prize shortlist

On the recently announced shortlist, two Nigerians: Philip Begho, on the shortlist for The Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books and Fego Martins Ahia, on the shortlist for The Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers.Fego Martins Ahia who recently made news for making it to the long list have moved on to the Short list.

The Golden Baobab Prizes for African Children’s literature were set up to celebrate and inspire the creation of riveting African children’s stories. 7 Nigerians appeared on the 2013 long list. On the recently announced shortlist, there are 2 Nigerians: Philip Begho, on the shortlist for The Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books and Fego Martins Ahia, on the shortlist for The Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers.

In Fego’s words “Writing fiction for African children adequately helps me trace and recapture the early moments of my seventeen-year old life. Not only does this give me a sense of belonging; it also helps me contribute to Africa’s literary renaissance from a childhood-friendly angle.”

Fego’s story, The Little Secret, which has shortlisted for the Golden Baobab Rising Writer Prize, is said to be “a well written, original story with good use of humour” by a member of the Golden Baobab Prizes evaluation team. Below is an excerpt from The Little Secret:

“Her father was standing at the tall window, drinking his palm wine from a long green bottle. Grandma Tutu had written her a birthday letter in soft pencil lines as if she were a child. Meanwhile, Mama was outside in the yard and the sun had fallen behind the hills. Night was coming, so the light bulb hung from the white ceiling above them and spread soft yellow light like a small sun in the dark room”

Fego, who is a first year student at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, mentions Americanah author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, as his favourite writer. When asked why he has such a passion for writing, Fego said, “Writing gives me an amazing chance to re-examine truths about the world I inhabit. I relish the opportunity to craft my own characters and build a world around their lives. I find delight in telling stories which are too beautiful or tragic to be left untold, as these explore various aspects of the human society, within and without the scope of my colorful experiences.”

Fego hopes to soon complete a full-length novel and to one day have his works read all over Africa and the rest of the world.

Philip Begho on the other hand is an award-winning author who has published over a hundred books, including the critically acclaimed Jelly Baby (a novel about boy soldiers), Songbird (a young adults novel about career choice), and the blockbuster Penny for an Orphan. Philip appeared twice on the long list for his stories, The Princess with a Golden Voice and The Two-Headed Monster. However, it was The Princess with a Golden Voice that made it onto the 2013 shortlist.

“How exciting to make the 2013 shortlist for the Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books!” he said. “The news came as I was pondering where the greatest stories lurked. In films? On the stage? In real life? In bestselling novels? No, they are to be found in the best children’s stories. For no story is as timeless, as universal, as revealing or as helpful as the best of the world’s children’s stories.”

The Princess with a Golden Voice “is a tale of a young and beautiful princess who defeats a fearsome monster with the power of her lovely, golden voice and saves her kingdom. She shows us that bravery comes in many forms and that when we embrace our inner strength, we can become strong and capable leaders and face any foe.” – Annette Hansen, Researcher, Administrator and English Teacher at the University of Groningen, Netherlands and 2013 Golden Baobab Prizes judge.

November 11, 2013
Was it an earthquake or volcanic eruption?

Olobeide, a village in Ikeji- Ile, Osun State was recently hit by an explosion that sent old and young scampering to safety. Two months after residents of the rocky community are yet to get over the scare. Taiwo Abiodun reports.

The cock had just crowed at 3 o’clock on September 23, a Monday. The farmers and the traders who mainly dominate this town knew at once that they should be getting ready to set out for the day’s work. Seconds later came a massive explosion. The earth shook, the houses vibrated. No one could have missed the impact.

By now everyone had woken up, asking the nearest person what was happening. There was no precise answer, only gesticulations that indicated nothing.

In twos and threes, the panicked residents stepped out of their houses to ascertain what had happened. What they saw next would only confuse them and terrify them the more: water gushing from the top of the rocks and cascading down. Trees were uprooted and flung away, some over 100 meters. Food and cash crops were not spared.

There was no need for further probing; the race for survival had begun. Some fled into the bush: some just kept running, to nowhere in particular. Some were practically nude. Mothers reached for their children, all screaming and running at the same time.

The explosion had blasted off the top of the rock, leaving a huge opening through which the water gushed out. The base of the rock was littered with gravel.

Olobeide village has 12 mud houses and about 200 inhabitants who are chiefly farmers. It is nearly three kilometers from Ikeji- Ile. The town is surrounded by rocks which seem to be competing for space with one another.

A resident, Pa Oladiti Isaiah Ajayi, said of the explosion:”It was in the early morning around 3.00 am on September 23 when we heard a deafening explosion that sounded:’graagra gbagbagba gborogodo gba, ya, ya, ya, yooo.’ It was terrible, it woke us all up!

“And then we heard the sound of flood rushing down on us. We started running helter-skelter. In the morning we all went to look round but lo and behold there was a wide range of a big gulf with uprooted trees flung away.”

Ajayi, who said he has been living in the village since 1963 added: “ I am a farmer planting cocoa, kola-nut and others .We were shocked .Most of the residents ran away and abandoned their children though some came back to take their kids. I advised them against running away; I told them that nobody should run and that there was water all over the place. I’ll keep telling them that it was the ground that opened and caused water to come out. For one week, the water kept gushing out.”

He recalled that the explosion was preceded by a tremor.

“The entire village was shaking (trembling) the previous night until we heard the blast that woke us up. There was a tremor but we were all sleeping when it happened. We are about 200living in this village.

“We didn’t know what could have happened but once in a while we would some sound coming from the rocks. The explosion destroyed so many things we cannot quantify now. About 30 farmers lost their crops. Such a thing has never happened before.”

Another resident, Elizabeth Ajayi, said: “We were sleeping when we unexpectedly heard ‘ waa,wa waaa wooo’, and we all ran out. In fact I forgot my children behind for it was unexpected until we were asked to go back for it could be water. In the morning we went to Ikeji-Ile to inform them about what had occurred.”

Prince Segun Ogunmokun, a retiree, farmer and politician said: “Immediately I heard of the eruption, I called Bola Ilori, Special Assistant who is in the Ministry of Environment in the Osun State Government. He demanded for some pictures which I sent to him but up till now I have not heard from him. We need an expert to discuss this and tell us what actually happened.

Hon. Busayo Akinsuyan said:’’ I learnt that this is not the first time. In the past a small portion burst about 13years ago. We were told that the water that gushed out was smelling and hot.

“The actual place where this thing occurred has rocks, big trees, crops pulled out and the place is still soft till now. If it had happened in the cities we would have been saying a different thing. The place looks like a bulldozer came there to work. This is an act of God. I believe there is a large water storage which forced itself out from under the ground, or there was some chemical reaction.”

Retired Major Owoeye Abiodun described what happened as a mild volcanic eruption. “Naturally, a volcanic eruption would occur when the earth moves. There is tendency of an eruption where the earth is weak. In every part of the earth, we have certain movements under the ground when it will form a radius and we find small explosions, but if the explosion is big we will be able to identify a volcanic eruption, but if it is mild we would say it burst,” he said.

“There is what we call molten lava; much of the hot lava is continually moving .We are very lucky in this part of the world for all these activities are mild. In 1985 there was a mild quake in Ijebu- Ode down to Oke -Ado in Ibadan when there was a tremor

“When the bed of hot lava under the ground comes to a point where it is weak, it will burst and come up but when it is a real volcanic action it will cover a wider area and it can destroy a whole town.”.

A soil scientist, Emmanuel Olayemi, argued that it could have been caused by the movement of hot water under the ground that could no longer contain it.

“There are some elements in the ground which can cause this .We need to investigate. The water which was said to have come out from it had a foul smell and should be taken to the laboratory for tests.”

The villagers would no doubt be hoping that Osun State government officials would initiate urgent investigations to determine whether what occurred was a localized phenomenon, or whether there are other areas where such volcanic activity could occur and endanger lives.

October 27, 2013