The Nation Newspaper

Category: Arts & Life

  • ‘At 95 I still sew clothes’

    ‘At 95 I still sew clothes’

    At an age when most of his peers would be too feeble for the most basic of chores, Pa Amos Iposiola Samaiye can still thread the needle and make clothes, Taiwo Abiodun met with him at his home in Esire, Ogun State, to tap from his vignettes of wisdom.

     

    He is fair in complexion and stands at six feet tall. His thick moustache stood erect, speckled white strands. At 95, he is still agile. He does his exercises by going to the farm, walking several kilometres daily. In his living room is a sewing machine at a corner while his farming boots and other implements are in another corner. For him, there is no dull moment as he still sews clothes, his advanced age notwithstanding. For a man of his age, he has good retentive memory with dates despite his little education. According to him, “I only read Standard Three and you cannot compare the education then with the university products of today, then there was discipline,” he said in a faint British accent.

    Locating the nonagenarian was easy because he is popular and very accessible in Esire, Ogun State. He is referred to as a wiseacre, full of wisdom, while his people go to him for advice and to resolve disputes. Welcome to the world of Pa Amos Iposiola Samaiye, a respected community leader.

    My Raleigh bicycle

    The nonagenarian who said he was called ‘Faworaja’ (Ladies’ man) due to his complexion admitted that “When I was very young I was the darling of all girls. I was handsome, clean and knew how to pose and carry myself. I was always clean-shaven, leaving only my moustache. I take great care of it because it is precious to me. I spend a lot to keep it. You can see that I still maintain it. I was also attractive and this made young girls to flock around me. I must confess that with my Raleigh bicycle then I was a flirt and became a ladies’ man. This landed me into the trouble of having many wives with children from different mothers ; in fact, I am a polygamist !” Asked if he would like any of his children to follow suit, he looked straight into the reporter’s eye and said, “I thank God that I have well educated, civilised and godly children who are in all fields, and they did not wear my ‘shoe’. He denounced polygamy, saying, “I regret it, it is not the best.”

    Pa Samaiye was born in Esire, Ogun State in 1918, four years after the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates into one Nigeria. In 1934, he became an apprentice tailor and learnt the art of sewing Yoruba and English dresses. “I still sew. I have at least six machines but you know my children don’t want me to stress myself again, so I only sew for myself. All my children are well- educated and believe the job is stressful. I still sew without the use of recommended medical glasses, I can still walk several kilometres and will not pant like you younger ones. I go to the farm to work for hours. I am as fit as fiddle, and I have been like this for a very long time, but I know one day we will leave all these and go to the last home.”

    He recalled who his clients were: “I used to sew for monarchs, big people, business men and big-time politicians but when I discovered their secret I stopped sewing for them.” Pressed further to tell the secret, he looked at the reporter and the surroundings as if trying to tell a secret and gave a loud laugh and said in low tone: “These so called big people will only pay you advance money to start the job but will not pay you your balance, when you finished the job. In order not to pay your balance, they would complain that there is a mistake in the sewing. They are not sincere. They don’t pay for services rendered. When I discovered this I started sewing for the middle class and the lower class but for the popular and notable ones I did not. “

    Asked to throw light on the meaning of the famous Yoruba proverb ‘Dandogo koja aso a binu da ‘( You don’t purchase a long dress in a hurry ), the old man nodded and said “Yoruba is rich in culture , yes that is how the saying goes, if you want to sew Dandogo you need 36yards , and it takes time to sew. Dandogo is a Yoruba style and it takes time and endurance to sew it.” He continued, “When one Baba Ogunbo, a native saw one I was working on years ago he said he was interested and asked me to sew one for him but he made a U – turn when I told him that he would need 36yards. He screamed and said those yards could sew another 10 different styles ! So it is expensive to sew and it takes time. It is unlike other types of styles. It is a pity that we no longer respect our culture, especially in dressing. But I still have one Dandogo here in my room.” As he said this, he went into his inner room and brought out some old clothes. Displaying them he said, “These are different types of Yoruba traditional styles, Suliya , Saro, Agbada, Dansiki. I have them for posterity sake!”

    On cloths or fabrics in vogue during his time, he said it was Ankara.”Ankara reigned for a very long time in Ijebuland that virtually every Ijebu man had a lot of it. And we said ‘Gbogbo won laju, won di Itsekiri tan! (They become civilised and turned into Itsekiri). We know it is the Itsekiris who are lovers of ankara, they used to sew up and down clothing materials. So the Ijebus turned into Itsekiri when ankara became known and popular among them.”

    Why I left the North

    He is worried at the level of insecurity pervading the northern part of the country now. Going down memory lane he said, “During my time in Borno it was peaceful but I am surprised that it is no longer the case.” According to him, he was in Borno State from May 16,1951till April 5, 1963, “I had many of my children there. I left when the Beriberi were killing the Igbo. One day they beheaded a Yoruba man who was a washer man, and this annoyed me and I left. The Fulani had a lot of juju. Another gave me the antidote of stabbing , no matter how you are stabbed it would not have effect, instead the knife would shrink while whoever attempts to use cutlass on you will bring the hands down empty handed.”

    He gave two reasons why he left the North unceremoniously “When I left the North I did not tell anybody but only the late Pa Adejumo the father of Baba Sala- the comedian. One day I just packed my few things and left my family behind for Ijebu Ode. In later years, I believed my mother used juju to recall me.”

    Growing up

    “While growing up I stayed with my uncle Balogun Dosumu who was a disciplinarian. He was a hunter and timber merchant. Anytime he was going out for hunting, he would give me a bowl of melon to remove the shell , and this was a Herculean task, but I would call my friends who would save time and assist me to remove the shell. And when my brother comes back from the bush, he would be surprised how I managed to finish the assignment and would double it again just for me to stay indoor till he comes back, but my friends would come back again to remove the shell, and when my uncle comes back and saw it again, he would increase it until he gave me baskets of melon to work on. To me then, he was wicked but it was discipline. And what used to amaze him was my magic wand of removing the shells.

    “I had many children, though some are dead, while I don’t even know where some are. When I was in Ijebu Ode, a lady had a girl for me on August 29, 1949.The mother went away with the baby but several years later, when the baby grew up, and got married and had children, somebody spotted her and said she looked like me. In the end, she later came to me at over 40!

    On the secret of his looking young

    He said, “The secret of my looking young is God. I eat what antelope eats (laughs). I eat green leaves, vegetables that animals eat. I would take tea in the morning with a small glass cup of Gordon Gin and by 4:30 pm take my lunch. I do exercise by going to the farm to spend hours working . I don’t know when last I fell ill. I had sex about six years ago. I am healthy and agile. My children and cousins take good care of me. “

    He later took the reporter to his farm where he spent 40 minutes weeding and clearing.

    Pilgrimage to Jerusalem

    Pa Samaiye says he goers to church and reads his Bible daily. However, he got more convinced about God when he visited Jerusalem. “When I got to Jerusalem I marvelled. We visited places like Jesus tomb, River Jordan, and many other places. I rejoiced when I visited there. I wish we could turn our places to tourist attraction centres. No matter how hardened your heart is when you get to Jerusalem, you will marvel and know that God is great.

    “I visited, America about 15 years ago. There, I saw many things, and that was where I celebrated my 80th birthday. It is good to go to America.”

    He spoke of the need to be a philanthropist, saying, “I believe one should do whatever he could do to assist the needy. I believe in the Robert Grellet’s philosophy that , “I shall pass this world but once , Any good that I do or any human kindness I can show to my fellow man let me do it now, let me not defer it for I may not pass this world again,.” That is my belief and philosophy. I have assisted the poor, I am still doing it and I shall do it till I shut my two eyes. I am not afraid of death, I am the only one that remains in the family. My wives are gone, some of my children too are no more while all my friends are no longer on this planet earth. So, I am not afraid of death. I saw one of my younger brothers who was sick and when I visited him he was crying and I asked why he was afraid of death. I told him that it will come and nothing will happen then why should he be afraid of death?”

     

  • A lucky escape

    A lucky escape

    Taiwo Abiodun  recounts the day he escaped being lynched while on an assignment.

    About 30 metres away from the house, the security man furiously ran towards me. As I sighted the iron rod in his hand with its head wrapped with thread, leather and other strange things I immediately knew he was up to something. He charged at me like a mad dog .The hair on his head  stood erect while his blood-shot eyes popped out from their sockets. His veins were visible on his biceps. As he got closer to me he raised the object in an attempt to hit me. Fear enveloped me. I cringed. I was trembling like a leaf on water. I quickly pleaded “Stop! Stop!! Please don’t hit me with that object!”.

    I thought of running away but again if  I should  dash across the eight lanes of  Ikorodu Express road ,  I could be hit by fast -moving vehicles . Again, I thought of exchanging blows with him. But I decided against it because I’ve never fought in my life. But what could I do among eight roughnecks with him now?  I then remembered one of  Bob Marley’s songs “He who fights and runs away lives  to fight  another  day.”  I  summoned courage and I continued begging  him not to hit me with the object. But what next? He  started kicking me in the groin and rained  blows on me. My head began to vibrate! I kept on pleading    I was not a thief .

    I  made a spirited  effort to show him my identity card  but he  ignored it. He was fuming and howling. I begged him to search my bag that I had nothing incriminating on me. Yet he did not listen. By now some roughnecks with croaky voices and nicotine-stained teeth had surfaced from nowhere and in a jiffy they had surrounded me!

    Different thoughts flooded my mind: Will they lynch me today? Did the neighbours hear  my screaming ? Why are people not passing by to rescue me? Why is this happening on a Saturday;  a non – working day? I was now sweating. It is finished, I thought.

    Is this the end?

    A  fair -complexioned young man in charge of Baba Ijebu  lottery machine (Loto lottery) in the area  ran up to  the gangsters and began to warn them  saying: “Stop beating him, ask him to identify himself. I am warning you o. Does he look like a thief?”

    I quickly fished out my phone and dialled Dr. Adeneye Marcus who introduced me to the family. I told him I was in trouble. He asked me to give the security man the phone to enable him talk to him, but the security man yelled, cursing and ranting,  “Who  the  hell is Dr. Adeneye Marcus. Who is he?” He pounced on me again, snatched my designer sun glasses and broke it. He later seized my phone. I asked him to take me to the police station if in doubt ! All my pleadings fell on deaf ears. I refused to resign to fate and kept on shouting, begging and displaying  my identity card.

    The young man in  charge of  Baba Ijebu lottery kept  warning them.  He asked for my identity  card and asked them to search my  bag. I  quickly obeyed  and while  doing this, one of the Area Boys demanded for money, I  begged him to be patient.  Another  one croaked: “Look at his beautiful rings and his  golden wrist watch. I could have that.” Then another interjected and pointing at my shoes said, “Dis shoe na correct.”  I listened carefully to their conversations and made sure I could point at them in case we all got to the police station.

    The great search

    While opening my bag, the  security  man removed my  cap and flung it away. He gave me another blow. I could not utter a word. I  showed them my identity card, iPad, midget recorder, camera,  and the Yoruba novel I was reading. These were all the contents in my bag, nothing incriminating. I emptied my bag for them to see  but he  kept raging “Nonsense, I said you should leave this place or else I will deal with you in the native way!” As I bent down to continue packing my shiff my saviour Dr. Marcus surfaced in a knickers and shirt!

    Freedom at last!

    Immediately the security man sighted him he became jittery. He started stammering like a two year -old baby who is just learning how to talk. His words became incoherent and his voice shaky.

    Dr. Marcus sighted the juju iron rod he was holding and challenged him. He asked to know whether I mentioned his name to the security man. He answered in the affirmative. Dr. Marcus confronted him with the fact that he heard all the uncomplimentary comments he made about him on phone.

    He was tongue-tied. Now, the ball was in my court, I tried to pounce on him to take my own pound of  flesh, but the roughnecks and other sympathisers restrained me. Only God knows where the energy came from. I was now charged and energised. The strength in me bounced back and I wanted to act like my favourite wrestler, The Undertaker. I flew at him, raining curses on him

    Thank God for using tactics: begging and pleading as I stooped low to conquer. If  I had argued and exchanged fists with him they could have all pounced on me and snuffed  life out of me. And in the end they could have pushed me into oncoming fast moving vehicles along Ikorodu Express way where my body would be mutilated. They could have put tyres round my neck and burnt me alive , accusing me of being a thief.

    Who feels it knows it

    When the case of ‘Alu 4’, the four students of University of Port Harcourt falsely accused of stealing laptops was reported that  I asked why they couldn’t make an effort to defend themselves. I wondered why just one of them couldn’t struggle, fight and escape.  Now I know better. It is he that has not been confronted by the storm of life that claims to be a man;, the Yoruba proverb became clear to me. What could the Alu 4 have done among  over 200 people?

    The road to House 258 Ikorodu Road

    The story started when I took permission from my editor that I had some stories I was working on that fateful Saturday. He reluctantly allowed me to leave because Saturday is our peak production day.

    Dr. Marcus had invited me to go and interview the mother of one Mrs. Olapeju Akanni who was celebrating her 85th birthday. I jumped at the offer because those are my kind of stories. I like talking to old people. I started ruminating over the questions I would ask. I would ask her how politics was in the late 40s, 50s,60s  and 70s, her love life, her sojourn abroad and so on. But all these died prematurely when I got to the house and  the security man told me the old woman had no knowledge of my coming. I told him the daughter was aware. I called her and she asked me to  wait, promising to  call me back as she was at a function. I told the security man that her boss asked me to wait, and he should talk to her. He refused to talk to her but ordered me out of the compound.

    I obeyed and left the premises. I waited outside. It was 5.30pm.  The security man met me there and asked me to leave the vicinity. I told him I was expecting his boss to call me or call him for clarification, but he insisted I should leave. I left and walked about 30 metres away from the house yet he came after me and almost set a mob on me.

    When I later called Mrs. Akanni on phone in the evening to relate what happened to me, she trivialised it and said: “Ma binu” (don’t be annoyed). I wondered if the casual way she said it was the way to tender an apology.

    Although Dr. Marcus has vowed that they must replace all my lost items, I observed that $500  in my bag was missing, along with my silver necklace and other things.

    But what occupied my mind was if they had killed me and thrown my body on the  express road  what would have happened? They could  have  lied  against me that  I was trying  to escape  and therefore dashed  across the express road  when I was crushed. How many would have believed that  I was not an armed robber?

    When I narrated the incident to my colleagues in the office, they were shocked. My editors were dumb founded.  All my colleagues taunted me and asked “Where did  you keep  your charms as Babalawo of The Nation?.” Another one screamed “For a whole Babalawo,” as they used to call me, “to have been humiliated like this we are embarrassed.”

    All professions have their own hazards, I soliloquised.  It would have been so painful to have been killed here in Lagos by an angry mob. I have been to the Forest of Thousand Daemons  (Igbo Olodumare)  in Oke -Igbo, Ondo State, to Igbo Aiwo ( Forbidden Forest)in Ijeru , Ogbomoso and recently to Igbo Agala (Agala Forest) in Ibadan  to do stories, nobody  harmed me nor  was I attacked physically. I have written stories about spirits, the dead and elves yet I was not threatened with any juju. How will a man threaten me with juju just because I was doing my job?

    I have had series of  close shaves  with death: at the Shaki border  in Oyo State , was I was shot at while taking pictures on the okada that took me to the border. I almost drowned in the sea when the wooden canoe engine  stopped in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean  while travelling from Ugboland to Aiyetoro town to do a story on the collapse of  communalism  in the community.

    In my sober moments I reflect on how I escaped jungle justice while on a legitimate search for stories and it occurred to me that many innocent people have been killed or lynched. The cause of my brush with death has not even thought it wise to apologise. But what apology do I need when I can thank God for saving my life?

  • ‘There’s knowledge in reading’

    A young author, Femi Onasanya, says in this interaction with Remi Adelowo that the more you read, the more you know. This forms the focus of his two new books, Soul Refreshers and Pleasant Dreams

     

    On Soul Refreshers Over the years, I’ve realised the importance of using jokes and riddles to get the attention of my audience, particularly the youth. At a forum in London, I talked about the benefits of rumour and I cracked four jokes. That was why I decided to add humour and riddles to this poetry. And I also added smart questions, because I used to be a Bible teacher and youth worker. That was how the book ‘Soul Refreshers’ came about.

    The story behind Pleasant Dreams

    The idea behind it started far back in 2007 when I came to Nigeria from the U.K. I was working then with Chemical and Allied Products Plc in Ikeja and something happened, which compelled me to leave the job. So, I thought of what to do next. With so much free time I had, I decided to put together a new book which I first titled ‘Sweet Dreams.’

    So, I merged some things that happened about 10, 20 years ago. I was on this for months, which rolled into years but I never gave up. Later, I realised ‘Sweet Dreams’ is a common cliché and I wanted to be different. That was why I changed the title to ‘Pleasant Dreams.’ But then over the years, I said I don’t want to be too traditional, just following the regular pattern. I wanted to be a little bit eccentric, the book is all about some personal pleasant dreams and experiences just to make people know that it’s not only nightmare that occur when we sleep; that it’s not only nightmare they should pay attention to; that sometimes, we have dreams that are very crucial, but we don’t take note of them.

    Personal experiences and my books

    These two new books are all about my journey through life. Although when I’m writing, I try as much as possible to be impersonal. For instance, if you go through my first book, ‘One Missing Ingredient,’ you’ll find out that it’s very impersonal; it’s not about my personal experience. It’s more academic or better still personal development or inspiration. But for the new books, they are about my personal experiences.

    Objectives for writing books

    I’ve always had the desire to be a writer since I was a teenager, but there was nobody to push me. Most times, I’ll start writing a book and would not complete it and at times. I would finish a book, but it would not get published. There were quite a number of books I wrote that were turned down by publishers. But two years ago, I was encouraged by some people to forge ahead. My books is basically to motivate people; the young and the old, on the importance of persistence in anything one does. Persistence is one major key to success in life.

    Thoughts on poor reading culture in Nigeria

    When we say people don’t read in Nigeria, we may be right and wrong at the same time. This is because first, most of the people who motivated me to write are Nigerians. One of them is not based in Italy. He studied at the then University of Ife and made a First Class. He was an ardent reader. When he talks, you’ll know he is a man of books. When I write books, of course I don’t expect that 150 million Nigerians would read it. My book is for anybody who wants to learn. At the early period of my life, I was not an avid reader, but if I could change, then others too can change as well. My philosophy of life is that ‘readers would always be leaders.’

    Mentoring is key to success

    To succeed in life, everyone aspiring to succeed must have a mentor. You can be absolutely brilliant, but you are not free from making mistakes. A person may not be brilliant, but if he or she has a mentor, he or she would be guided properly.

    My wish

    I hope these books would spread wide and change lives. Then my advice to youth is to be persistent.

     

     

     

     

  • This book of life

    As it is in the 400-metre race, the Christian is expected to keep a steady growth of his love for God. Competitors keep increasing their speed until the last quarter of the race when they run their fastest. There are factors that can encourage such steady growth. One of these is the realisation that our zeal alone cannot sustain our love for God.” (page 6).

    With this statement, Bunmi Adedeji set out to encourage followers of Christ to always be ready to be His true apostles. For every Christian, the race to make the kingdom is like a battle. It is an every day struggle where there should be no room to soft pedal. No winner ever loses hope or steam in the process of attaining the height he has set out to accomplish. Quitters, as it is usually said, never win.

    Entitled The Winners, the book is an embodiment of the right ideals to be followed to make a good life both here on earth and in the kingdom to come. This is why Christ usually frowns at those who often allow apathy to dog their ways. The race to make heaven is not for those who cannot be strong enough to encourage themselves thereby making it possible for others to follow in their footsteps.

    You do not need to allow sentiments or obstacles on the way to push you aside. This is so because God is the God of positivism. Those who follow Him should be optimistic all day long, no matter the circumstances. But in all these, we should not stay away from God – our closeness to Him in terms of prayers, in terms of supplications, in terms of humility and more, help us to be strong in being winners.

    In chapter one, the author noted that we need to be steadfast, always unmovable, allowing our lives to grow continuously as we do God’s work first. Here too, patience is the key word for those who want to start the race and win it with abundance of His glory and blessing.

    In chapter two, he makes it clear that there is no crown without a cross. As a follower of Christ, you are bound to encounter suffering and can even face imprisonment. After all, those who watered the seed of Christianity suffered thus, but were able to carry on because of their reliance on the powers of the Holy Spirit.

    A good Christian therefore needs to see beyond worldly goods and compare the wealth he has in Christ Jesus. But is this easy to do? That is the question and the author has plenty of Biblical questions to encourage readers to be doers and not necessarily the sayers of work of God.

    Even in the face of mounting trials and provocations, a Christian should be faithful, strong, and unmovable, up to the point of death. “For in all these, God is full of love towards us and wants us to know that we can be better managers of the future.” (page 36). God indeed does not live in the past, but always in the present. Therefore His desire is to constantly uphold us and keep us attuned to His desires for us. In other words, He doesn’t expect us to give up no matter the difficulty on the way. Like Saint Paul, we need to fight a good fight for the sake of Christ.

    Apart from few printing errors, the book is well laid out to encourage the apostles of Christ to do more to win souls and for those who are in the vanguard of ‘conquests’ to conquer more for the sake of the last day. In all these, God is always in control of the affairs of man.

     

  • ‘Kakadu is a musical metaphor for Nigeria’

    With the symbolism of Kakadu, Uche Nwokedi (SAN) has been able to weave the story of the glorious days of the country into a musical theatre that is the rave of the moment. Edozie Udeze encountered him on the reasons for the play and the issues that informed the concept

     

    The story is a metaphor of sort, depicting the glorious days of Nigeria, using Lagos as a mirror. But more than that, Kakadu – The Musical, is hyperbolic in a refreshing dramatic sense. In a way that dazzled thespians at the Muson Centre, Lagos, last week, the show displayed Lagos in a time of infinite possibilities, beauties and unpolluted landscapes.

    Written by Uche Nwokedi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the story sets out to represent major landmarks in Lagos, and Nigeria as a whole, using salient social issues as the primary focus. In an interview, the playwright, Nwokedi said; “Yes the story is used as a metaphor not only for Lagos, but for Nigeria as a nation. Kakadu speaks about an era in Nigeria when things were good and people loved it.”

    For a lawyer-turned-playwright whose love for what is good cannot be disputed, “from the stories I have been told, in those moments in time, people lived happily as one people. It was the period when people saw one another as brothers and sisters and life was generally good.” And so with the cast and crew of over 60 people, Kakadu has come to represent one of the greatest ambitious theatrical ensemble in the country.

    The idea, in the reckoning of Nwokedi, was to “weave a story around songs that I grew up listening to, and at the same time using the songs both as a dialogue in the play, and as milestones for the passage of time. Thus the music became a character on its own and in a sense my alter ego in the story.”

    In a profound theatrical sense, the songs as they came in those moments of peace and glory as from the 1960s became pivotal in the assemblage of the stories embedded in Kakadu. Nwokedi explains further: “Yes, the songs helped me bridge the fact that I do not write music. And my own experience as a child in the civil war and attending boarding school in Lagos after the war, guided me in making the war the backdrop of the story of Kakadu… Well, a really good student is the one who learns from his experience.”

    And that, indeed, was what propelled him to dissect the events of the moment and package them into a wonderful stage performance that thrilled theatre audience to no end last week. Kakadu is best seen on stage where both the artistes and the era they represented appealed to the conscience of the people. With a broad based musical band playing different highlife tunes to ginger the people on, the stage was indeed electrifying to portray the moods of the people. It was so engrossing to see different fashions of the time, the type of people who made waves and what they stood for. It was such a moment of absolute glory, joy and happiness.

    A night club in the 1960s, Kakadu now defunct, was for Nigerians a place to unwind, a place to socialise and be at peace with one another. There was no fear in the air then. People were wont to stroll into the night to have fun, to dance and discuss burning issues of the moment. Although Lagos has since remained more than a melting point for all Nigerians, Nwokedi regrets that Nigeria has not been able to replicate more cities to help decongest Lagos.

    He said: “Let us be honest with ourselves. If we have another city that has as much promises and opportunities that Lagos has for Nigeria, we will be the best for it. People come to Lagos from all parts of Nigeria because of problems and social issues. But beyond that, it tells us to do things right so that the nation will grow and give hope to the people. Right now, security is a big problem in the country. Policemen are being kidnapped; people are being killed everyday. Ten years ago, if you told me this was possible, I would have said no. That is the major problem and I will throw the question back to everybody – is Nigeria getting better?”

    With the music of such quintessential Nigerian icons like Fela, Victor Olaiya, Victor Uwaifo, Rex Lawson, Celestine Ukwu, Bobby Benson and so on, Nwokedi’s Kakadu constituted a broader narrative into time. Some of the musical tunes even became more elegiac depicting the emotive issues they portended.

    “Highlife was the main music then in the 1960s and they represent what we are today,” Nwokedi concluded.

     

  • ‘How I created Saka’

    Gregory Odutayo is the president of National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) and the director of Royal Roots Productions, involved in the creation of series of TV soap operas. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, he throws more light on how he discovered and created the character Saka in 2004. He also proffers ways on how to have quality actors and actresses for the sector and lots more

    For a long time, Nigeria’s affiliation to the International Theatre Institute (ITI) Paris, France, was withdrawn. What actually happened?

    I believe that everything has its time. Things happen for a reason. Things happen for a purpose. There’s time for everything. When it happened, I mean when the relation was broken, we didn’t know. But when it was ripe for us to restore the relationship, we did. For a long time, nobody even knew that we were not recognised by the ITI. If we had known that for a long time we probably would have tackled it immediately or much earlier.

    The last impression that I personally had was that it was done when Professor Wole Soyinka was the executive chairman of ITI Nigeria while Professor Dapo Aderugba was the secretary. So, we the younger generation didn’t think that there was much to worry about, if it was those two who were holding the position. So, I am sure that the thinking was also the thinking of a lot of people in the theatre sector. As at the time that I remembered we talked about it, we didn’t think it was really something to worry about. But the minute we realised that the dues were not being paid, and that nothing was happening and that we didn’t have that official recognition that we deserved as it were, we didn’t hesitate to make the necessary move, to register us back into ITI Paris.

    But how did ITI get to the level of deregistering you without your knowledge?

    Well, they alleged inaction from our end which would mean that they were not hearing from us. The chairman and secretary who were there were the people we were sure could be there for us. But that didn’t mean there were no actions taking place in theatre in Nigeria. No, far from it. I think it was basically a function of the fact that they had suddenly stopped hearing from us, from our two basic representatives. To me, that was the condition under which that decision was taken. And I wouldn’t blame them, I don’t blame them. Those were the two people recognised there and the ones to give us any feed back if need be.

    Before you restored the relation, was there any penalty you paid to them?

    No. There really was no penalty. It was an effort that was spearheaded by the Society of Nigerian Artistes (SONTA) led by Professor Dandaura who is now the chairman of ITI – Nigeria. Then the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) was called to be part of it. Then, we thought it was good enough initiative and we started paying back our dues. We then elected board of trustees for it. Today we have about 19 board members that cut across the industry as a whole from NANTAP to SONTA, to AGN to GOND and other guilds including the academics. These are all recognised professionals in the industry. With the board of trustees we believe we can effectively take NANTAP back to ITI.

    What is the role of NANTAP to totally restore the beauty of stage in Nigeria through good books?

    Basically, we need writers to write. By this, I mean good writers. There is dearth of writers in Nigeria; people who write the real things. The younger generation do not write what are exactly good for the stage. But we cannot say it is not totally our forte to bring back good stage theatre in the country, I don’t want to say so. But to say it clearly, it is not really our forte as an association.

    Basically, it is the forte of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). Theirs is to write and present good works to us. But because we are also performers, the first stage of the process of performing is writing. That’s how it concerns us.

    I know a couple of years ago, we had a play writing completion that was attached to the Festival of Nigerian Arts (FESTINA). But some bigger issues have made us to alter one or two of these programmes. It hasn’t been a direct focus for me, because I feel we cannot totally isolate the place of writing from the theatre. The problem of writing is an even bigger problem. What we have basically done is to scale our problems. And we said to ourselves okay, where do we start from?

    For me, returning audiences to the theatre is of primary concern. It is a major problem for me and for NANTAP. The writing of plays is secondary to me and so we have set out to ensure that audience participation is done right away. That’s why we’ve been channeling all our energies to the stage. In the process we’ve been having FESTINA even when it was belated. We’ll still have it this year. What we had in January was for 2012. Also, all these are tending towards building audiences. We also have a couple of stage programmes in collaboration with the National Theatre, Lagos. It is about being able to put up productions; being able to ensure that the stage is totally alive.

    Our work as an association is not to do productions. Our work is to provide the platform for members to do productions. That’s why we are going into that collaboration with the National Theatre. It is to ensure that regularly there are productions happening at the Theatre.

    Then I believe that using the strength of the old and the number of writers that we have now we can tap back into the theatre. After that we can go back to tackle the basic problems that we have; problems that are inherent in each of the guilds in the association.

    It is not only with writers that we have problems. We also have dearth of quality actors and actresses both on stage and the screen. I used that word quality deliberately. That also could be a problem in itself. We do not have enough light designers even from the stage to the screen. Even in the area of filmic designers we do not have enough. We need to take and tackle these problems one by one. For lighting designs we have a project with the British Council to bring in facilitators to teach a couple of basic issues on lighting. That’s phase one and then we will go into designing too.

    You were the first to create and discover the character Saka. How did this happen?

    Well, to me he is Hafeez Oyetoro. This is a friend. The relationship dates back to our university days. And very early on the life of Royal Roots when we started television productions we thought we could do a comedy. We sat down – myself, Hafeez and Gbenga and created House Apart. In it the character Saka came up. He was the one that played that role. This was in 2004.

    Unfortunately the whole issue degenerated on Facebook and we really did not want to react. We felt it was not an issue we needed to react to from the beginning. He is a friend of the house and someone we value so much. Yet a lot has been said on Facebook concerning who first discovered him or created the character. This is history that is being done and wrong impressions are being given. If we keep quiet and allow it to go on, it will not be good for history.

    Some even claimed it was their advert agency that created the character. That it was Centrespread that created the Saka character for Etisalat. It is so funny and I felt that was wrong impression that needed to be corrected. The reality of it is that I contacted him on Facebook and told him the history of the character. He went on to say oh, they are not the one that created it but went on to develop it. But I said no, that’s not true.

    I gave him the history and then expected him to go back to Facebook to correct that impression. That wasn’t done. I waited for about three to four days and I got pissed off. That was why we came out to speak up about it. It is not about taking part of the glory. No. It is all about being truthful and correct with facts of history. It has nothing to do with the MTN or Etisalat or the like. This has to do with the fact that Saka was a character for our series in House Apart. That even predates the telecom people who are now involved in it.

    Even in 2005, Saka won the best comedy award based on the role he played in the series. It was in the African Magic Videos award of that year. And I was the one that entered him for the award. He didn’t play any part in it. We just put in the application for him and asked him to continue from there. And in the end he won. This was so because we believe in him and that he is a star, who should be given his due recognition.

    So, if they said Centrespread adopted the character for Etisalat, that would have been better. Although Hafeez went to the University of Ife and I went to the University of Ibadan, our ways crossed and we became friends. That was years back and up till today we still relate as friends.

     

  • Photography across invisible borders

    Photography across invisible borders

    Barely two years in her photography career, Lilian Novo Isioro, is going places. Featured recently on Al-Jazeera Television combing three African countries with nine other artists on the ‘Invisible Borders’ trip, she tells Joe Agbro Jr. why she wants to photograph African market women

     

     

    EXPERIENCES of a lifetime don’t come often. One of such came for photographer Lilian Novo Isioro in August 2012 when she joined nine other artists on a six-week expedition to do art along land routes from Lagos, Nigeria to Kinshasha, Congo. The itinerary was to travel to Calabar, enter Cameroun, Gabon, and finally Congo, all the while doing art. They only made it to Libreville, Gabon due to bureaucratic bottlenecks.

    Recalling the major hiccup, Isioro said: “We experienced lots of delays and bad roads. You will discover there was so much chaos with our borders. There were times when we were delayed for one whole day, two whole days because we didn’t want to bribe. We didn’t want to pay these border people for us to pass. And we had all the papers. We had all the invites. So, the delays made us stop at Gabon, Libreville.”

    The trip also opened her eyes to the horrible condition of the roads between Cameroun and Nigeria. Recalling a point in the trip, she said, “We were in the mud for three days.”

    Nevertheless, for Isioro, the trip still remains indelible.

    Invisible Borders was formed by photographer Emeka Okereke with the aim of exploring the diversity and unity amongst the people of the continent by featuring photographers, film-makers, and writers document their experiences on land travels across African countries. Speaking on the essence of travelling across Africa by land, Isioro said, “the whites have been writing our stories as blacks. Now, these people (Invisible Borders) came and said we want to rewrite our story, we want to tell our story by ourselves. We want to use our pictures to tell the story of Africa. And it was a good discovery for us.”

    And being a professional photographer, she embarked on a photography project titled, ‘The corporate life of a market woman.’ On what informed it, Isioro said she was struck about the genesis of big institutions that had their roots from the market. She said, “Whatever trade we have today, it starts from the market.”

    Hence, as the team reached cities such as Doula, Yaounde, and Libreville, it was the markets that Isioro sought out, to court the market women. According to her, “the real people that are supposed to be called the ‘corporate people’ are the ‘market people.’ And we don’t see their efforts as good enough. But, for me, maybe because I’m seeing things differently, from an artist’s angle, I see them as people that actually hold the economy.”

    Speaking further, she said, “Women are dominant in the markets. I wanted to celebrate their efforts, celebrate their strength. When I was working in Cameroun and Gabon, I interviewed those women I worked with. I have pictures. Some of them have been there for years. One of them in Cameroun did a secretarial course and she said she had a choice. But she was making more money from the market. And she was finding more fulfilment from the market. And she sent her child to university from that same stuff. With all the enquiries I made, I just realised that our economy today lies on the shoulders of these market women.”

    Isioro, a 2010 bi-lingual (French and English) executive secretarial administration graduate from the Yaba College of Technology also has a certificate in public relations as well. But she says her choice of a career in photography was ‘divine.’

    “I had options to get a job,” she said. “I had fantastic offers but I saw a pamphlet to study photography in my church (Daystar). They do this free skill acquisition programme for two weeks where you can learn any course you want. I took photography. Afterwards, we were supposed to go to the school to pay. We were going to start another course (also photography). I did that for three months before I went for service (NYSC). So, during my service (in Anambra State), I was taking pictures here and there. And before I completed service, I knew this was what I wanted to do.”

    To Isioro who covers social events like weddings and birthdays, Invisible Borders trip was a huge learning experience. “We see photographers as people that cover events in Nigeria but we don’t see photographers that know how to take art,” she said. “Art is quite different from event photography. There are different aspects, two different approaches, which I am now a master of.”

    Doing a recap, Isioro said some parts of the Lagos – Libreville trip could be likened to ‘suffering’, “because at a time, you’ll ask yourself, is it really worth it?”

    Obviously, it was, because, she said, “I think it was one of the best experiences of my life.”

    And though the trip is over, Isioro is still interested in pursuing The corporate life of market women series. “I want to go to Ghana to continue the project,” she said, wearing a wistful look. “It’s like a project I want to do around African countries.”

     

  • Social media evolution: are writers at risk?

    IF a twist is to be written on the popular saying; ‘never judge a book by the cover’, circumstances confronting modern day writers, especially with the advent of the internet is likely to have the saying rephrased as “let the buzz judge the book”. The buzz in this sense relates to the amount of awareness and engagements writers drive on the internet through their books. The reality of the age compels writers to embrace the social media platform in promoting their works or stand the risk of decline in their career advancement considering the growing number of the internet savvy population in Nigeria.

    Publishers cannot also deny the fact that the medium is having far-reaching consequences on their trade. Gbenro Adegbola, a publisher involved in learning solutions and resources, claimed that to say that the new media is affecting the fortunes of Nigerian publishing business will be overstating the facts. According to him, “The truth of the matter is that the ecosystem upon which new media strives is still at its infancy here; but it is growing very fast and it is likely to catch many publishers off guard”. The former Managing Director of Evans Book, however, agreed that new media represents a cost-effective means for writers to engage with their public and get word out about themselves and their work.

    Temitayo Olofinlua-Amogunla, the creative director of Wordsmithy Media who also work as a publicist, believes publicity is paramount for both old and new writers to survive in the new terrain. She admonishes writers who cannot do the work themselves to get a publicist, as writers can tap into the platforms provided by the internet to promote their books. “There are loads of online marketing platforms out there. Even advert on Facebook is affordable, yet many are not using it. A Google ad is there also, E-books can also be made and sold. What happened to audio book? Most Nigerian writers are not making use of that”, she exclaimed.

    Writers who wish to survive the times they need to realise that it takes more than just style and structure to make a good book. The new deal is that as a writer pays attention to stylistic effects to tell a good story, they also need to pay attention to the opportunities provided by the internet to promote their books. This is like another standard added to the rules for writers-”be social media conscious or be dammed.”

    Most times, when Emmanuel Iduma introduces himself, people say they know his name but are shocked that he is younger in real life. This is a privilege that he attributes to the visibility of the brand he was able to create using online media. Emmanuel, who published his debut novel Farad last year and was recently featured on Aljazeera, confessed that online media offered him the first chance of publishing some years ago through Africanwriter.com. According to him, “The most important component of the web is its potential to reach millions of people; as a result of this, I believe my work has been seen by a host of people who otherwise would not have seen it.” Iduma, who keeps a blog and tweet, frequently confessed that the publicity for his book has been primarily through social media and the effect has transcended what can be done only by words of mouth and physical distributors.

    Richard Ali, the owner of Parrésia Publishers, attests to the indispensability of social media for writers who want to stay afloat in the modern age. The indispensability of social media to writers and even publishers proved instructive in the way he runs his business operations. For him, one of the biggest coups his company made was when Nigeria’s retail giant www.konga.com came on board as their online retail partner. This makes it possible for books published by Parrésia to be orderable on websites and purchasable with Nigerian ATM cards or with pay on delivery option. Furthering, he said; “The entire publishing process, from editing to cover design, with authors and clients being carried along all steps of the way, are done via the internet. We do not spend money or waste time on post or freight except when absolutely necessary keeping our operations lean and mean”, he told The Nation.

    The tradition where people must go to bookshops before buying books is also fading. These days, the upward mobile order their books online. The internet also has a way of impacting sales as it makes books easily available especially for urbane people. Another trend that writers are keying into is to make their books available on sites like Amazon which is easily accessible by those who read through electronic gadgets. This makes books available to readers all over the world without bearing shipping or inventory costs. Ali testifies to this, “We have seen a phenomenal rise in sales from these channels, especially amongst urban Nigerians”. He also said of social media. “Facebook and Twitter help us drive our market to Konga Amazon and bookstore where they can buy our books” adding that his publishing company would not have had its present cutting edge without the internet.

    David Ishaya Osu, a student who is an avid consumer of literature books, admit to the fact that the internet has restricted his reading frame by opening his eyes to scopes of literature. “Even though I cannot compare the thrill of holding a book in my hand to reading it online but one should appreciate the realities of the age. Thus, I do not have to wait for three months for a book to be posted to me; just a click and I’ve got the e-copy”. People do not want to be told to go to newspapers or even books to locate one’s writing. They want it in their phones, Ipad, tablets. It is even devastating now that many international publishing firms do online submissions.

    Although there is the argument that heavy reliance on the new media as a way of promoting literature detaches the population from critical reading and study of works, the reality is that the changes of the times compels writers to be on guard.

    Writers should embrace using the social media as the platforms enable them to use the interactive web by engaging users to participate and create contents as a means of communicating with their social group.

  • Lead Poison: A village remembers

    Lead Poison: A village remembers

    When the National Good Governance Tour (NGGT) arrived at the village of Bagega on April 26th, the team was met by cheerful children. Energetic boys ran alongside the vehicles in the convoy; and the girls appeared to be no different from anywhere else, dressed gaily and already showing interest in eye-shadow and lip gloss. But behind this appearance of normality, Bagega, a remote village in the Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara State, is a stricken place; and the team had come to inspect the site of the worst lead poisoning in Africa and the world.

    Minister of Information Labaran Maku was accompanied by two other of his colleagues: Hadiza Mailafia (whose Environment Ministry is in charge of the ongoing remediation programme) and Bashir Yuguda (Minister of State for Works). “Bagega has become a national concern,” said Maku, who heads the team made up of civil society groups, official stakeholders and a sizeable media contingent.

    They had come to see for themselves the efforts being made to address devastating lead poisoning in this large village of about 7000 inhabitants, an estimated 1,500 of whom are children – the demographic that has suffered the most from the contamination. “If you are looking for obvious signs of sickness, you won’t see any, but every one of these children has lead in their blood,” an official told members of the team. Impaired brain development is one of negative impacts of lead contamination, caused by unsafe artisanal mining for gold and other minerals in and around the village.

    To the rescue

    “Children have died here and will be affected irrevocably,” said Simba Tirima of Terragraphics International, an environmental engineering organisation that arrived in the state in May 2010 and started work in February this year. Médecins Sans Frontières has also been very active in the village. However, as Mailafia stated during the Citizens Forum that concluded the tour of Zamfara State, “It is not true that foreign agencies got to Bagega first.”

    A massive remediation programme is under way, spearheaded by the Federal Ministry of Environment in collaboration with Terragraphics, to rid Bagega of the lead poisoning that affected 417 homes and caused fatalities in 2010. The funds for the remediation are 100 per cent from the federal government, with over N800 million released by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to three MDAs for the clean-up exercise.

    As the team inspected residential Zone B, the Industrial Site and held a meeting with some of the locals in front of the traditional ruler’s palace, the women of Bagega stayed within the confines of their courtyards and counted the costs of Guba-Dalma – which means ‘lead poisoning’ in Hausa. The women spoke of deaths, “too many deaths in the same household”, especially among under-fives; as well as high childhood incidence of blindness, convulsion and polio manifestations. They also reported increased rates of impotence and miscarriage among adults. One woman, who gave her name as Luba, is the wife of a miner and suffered a stillbirth in the aftermath of the contamination. Her daughter died at age four; her five-year-old son is blind.

    Tales of tragedy

    Luba and the other women are in no doubt as to what brought lead poisoning into their midst. The ore from the industrial site was often brought into households for processing by family members including children, leading to the contamination of homes. “The soil used to be moved here,” said one woman, pointing to the middle of the small courtyard. “The soil mixed with the water, the food the children ate, and so on.”

    As Tirima explained at the Industrial Site (the main processing centre), the lead in Bagega is not soluble. “The particulate part stays in the water and is very dangerous when drunk.” Mountains of silted contaminated soil at the site must therefore be moved, as they pose a serious threat in the event of rain. “Children like to come and play here, but it is very dangerous for them,” said Tirima, whose team tests for lead contamination using XRF, a device that measures the presence of over 80 metals in the soil.

    Bagega women explained that that mining activities are no longer carried out in their homes, and have been moved to an isolated location. They are pinning their hopes on the remediation exercise, a delicate process that involves the removal of contaminated soil as well as mineral processing wastes from homes, compounds and open areas of the village. Even Bagega’s wells have to be remediated.

    The programme is on course. Over 300 homes have been remediated so far, and Terragraphics hopes to issue certification by the end of June to indicate that Bagega is clean. The remediation exercise utilises 90 per cent indigenous expertise; 19 Zamfara citizens are employed in the programme; and 164 unskilled workers are also engaged. The Minister of Environment emphasised the importance of knowledge transfer and continued to do so as she walked through the village with Tirima, his American colleague Casey Bartrem and their local counterparts to Terragraphics offices to sign the visitors register. “It is important that those working here pay attention and learn skills from Terragraphics,” Mailafia said. The XRF machines will be taken over by officials of the Ministry of Environment when Terragraphics leaves Bagega.

    Though some (including Nasiru Kura of Basic Rights Action) have called for the relocation of Bagega’s inhabitants, it is not thought to be a feasible option, given the size of the village. And, asked if they want to be moved elsewhere, the village women posed a rhetorical question: “Where to?” They do not wallow in self-pity; they just want a solution and are happy that the end of their travails is in sight.

    “The ultimate goal of this intervention is to ensure this does not occur again,” said Maku, who called for all to be properly trained and instructed on prevention.

    Remediation is necessary before treatment, to prevent further contamination. The Federal Ministry of Health will then move in to administer medication to those affected. The third MDA, the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, will train and sensitise residents on safe mining methods going forward. And then the detoxification of Bagega will be complete.

     

    Wood, a journalist and writer wrote from Abuja.

     

  • It’s dancing time

    It’s dancing time

    Penultimate weekend, dance scholars from far and near gathered in Lagos to discuss the challenges of dance scholarship and practice in Nigeria. It was an opportunity also for all the guilds and stakeholders in the sector to push for ways to make dance a more acceptable and recognized profession in the society. Edozie Udeze reports

     

    NIGERIAN dance scholars have called on both the Federal and State governments and the National Universities Commission (NUC) to make available the necessary academic materials to ensure that Dance is made a full-fledged department in the country’s tertiary institutions. During a two-day conference entitled Nigerian Dance Scholars Round-table Discussion – The challenges of Dance scholarship and practice in Nigeria, the scholars reminded the government that of all the aspects of Theatre, it is only Dance that is still subsumed by others, thereby denying a lot of students and professionals the opportunity of studying Dance to a degree level.

    In his keynote address, Dr. Chris Ogolo of the University of Benin, a seasoned academic who has been teaching Dance for over three decades said: ‘The study of Dance as a course in our tertiary institutions is still in its elementary level. The society’s attitude to dance makes it very difficult for people to see the intrinsic value in it. Even our educational system does not help matters. But for us dance experts, it still remains an aspect of theatre while both Drama and Music have since been made to stand on their own. In all the higher institutions in Nigeria, except perhaps the University of Ilorin, where Dance is a bit defined, Dance has been made to struggle for space and breath.” This, he noted, is not good enough to encourage Dance to develop to an enviable level in the society.

    From a book entitled Dance Pedagogy authored by him, Ogolo extracted what he described as the most salient issues to be urgently addressed in order to make Dance prosper and attract the necessary patronage from the public. “There is need for public enlightenment so that both the government and professionals will appreciate the essence of Dance the more. Beyond that, however, dance itself must be allowed to control and master its environment. The natural resources are there; it is only left for man to fully take charge of what we all know as dance patterns which are inherent in our nature. Dance itself is a health therapy. Man dances not only to earn a living but to also make himself happy and keep his nerves strong and healthy.”

    To him, dance is an artistic expression meant to improve man’s mental agility, help him to argue well, with better poise and self-confidence. “Therefore, we need to prepare a sound curriculum which the universities should follow to entrench it as a viable course of study. But again, it is better to begin from both the primary and secondary school levels to teach the kids the whole rudiments of dance. By the time they graduate into adults they’d know what is best for them,” Ogolo stated.

    He challenged the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) organisers of the confab to establish a dance studio where practitioners will go from time to time to learn and familiarise themselves with the trade. “It is not only enough to produce dancers and dance patterns. It is also equally good to have a studio where our dancers go to learn everything about dance. The facilities have to be there. There must be room for researcher, and research grants for those who want to do more. In the end, we will be able to train sound and committed students who will give their all to promote dance to the next level,” he said.

    In his own contribution, Professor Emmanuel Danzaura of the Nasarrawa State University, Keffi, who doubles as the president of International Theatre Institute – Nigeria (ITI) and that of The Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA), decried the level of apathy towards Dance both as a course and as a profession. He said: “I have been concerned that the quantum of publications and researches conducted or being conducted on Nigerian dances remains grossly inadequate. This is even when we have numerous talents, dance forms and expressions that abound in the country.”

    He went on to remind the gathering that Nigeria’s “tertiary institutions are in dire need of qualified dance scholars, professionals and instructors to teach the available courses. Therefore, I see this conference crystallising with a formidable research-driven body of dance professionals who are poised to reverse the poor state of scholarship and documentation in this important discipline. This is why ITI – Nigeria under my leadership is ready to partner with and support all stakeholders to mainstream the contribution of our professionals in dance, drama, music, home-video and television productions into world performing arts discourses.”

    However, for the dancer to be seen as a serious artiste and be so appreciated, he has to take himself as a committed professional. “People look down on our dancers because of their own negative attitude to themselves and to what they stand for,” so said Professor Bakare Ojo Rasak, a seasoned dancer and teacher and the Dean of Humanities of the Federal University, Oye – Ekiti, Ekiti State.

    Rasak also contended that due to shortage of qualified manpower, it will be difficult to make Dance a complete department. “Even if all of us here now converge in one university, we are not enough to constitute the staff. So, we have a problem at hand. We need to encourage the training of our manpower. It is not enough to dance and make money; it is equally good to go to school. Education is the key to the highest level of human endeavour. If we have to make it work, we have to work collectively as a group to push the frontiers of our professional to the highest level,” he said.

    The convener of the confab, Arnold Udoka of the NTN, thanked the participants but quickly reminded them that time had come for them to form a committed association to further promote and champion the ideals of dance in the society. “It appears the challenges are both institutional and self-inflicted but we need to respond to these challenges as scholars and that’s the only way we can surmount them and move an ahead,” he said.

    There were dance performances by Ijodee, the Crown Troupe of Africa, Guild of Nigerian Dancers, National Troupe of Nigeria and others to embellish the confab. Most of the dances dwelt on current social issues in Nigeria. Crown Troupe, for instance, used their dance-drama to trace the ills militating against the progress of the country. The satires in the dance indeed moved people to tears. So also was the gun booth dance by GOND which reminded the people about the heyday of the mine workers in South Africa. Then workers were meant to do booth dance at break time to entertain their bosses and keep their spirits aglow.

    Scholars and practitioners came from far and near. Among them were Teju Kareem, of Zmirage, Greg Odutayo, President of National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) and the Secretary General, Steve Ogundele and many others.