The Nation Newspaper

Category: Arts & Life

  • Homecoming for the prime minister’s son

    Homecoming for the prime minister’s son

    It was a day full of reminiscences and power-packed emotions as soloist and monodrama exponent, Greg Mbajiorgu, took time off the annual conference of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA) in University of Calabar to re-visit the  premises of the State Secretariat of The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) where he conceived, wrote and premiered his enigmatic solo artist play, The Prime Minister’s Son 21 years ago.

    Greg Mbajiorgu was accompanied on the historic re-visit by foremost theatre scholar, Professor Kalu Uka, who incidentally was part of the premiere of the play in 1991 as artistic /technical adviser alongside the late pioneer Nigerian playwright, James Ene Henshaw. Also on the visiting entourage were Sola Balogun,arts editor of The Sun Newspapers, Obi Okoli, popular Nollywood actor and Denja Abdullahi, poet, playwright and National Vice President of the Association of Nigerian Author(ANA).

    The visiting team found themselves in the warm embrace of the management staff of the NYSC Cross River State secretariat and serving corp members, led by the State Director, Engr.Nkereke Ibangha. Greg Mbajiorgu, now a senior lecturer in the department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, set the tone for the visit when he reminiscence on how the then State Director of the scheme in 1991,one Mr Ajayi, encouraged him to follow his passion and approved his desire to adopt the one man theatre show as his primary assignment and community development activity. According to Greg Mbajiorgu, in spite of opposition from certain quarters, the then NYSC State Director, gave him an office space and an accommodation within the secretariat complex as a corp resident dramatist, from where he unleashed his talent as a solo drama artist culminating in the conception, writing and performance of the mono actor drama The Prime Minister’s Son; which was taken round schools and communities in Cross River State. Speaking to a roomful of entranced corp members of the drama and dance community development group and management staff of the NYSC State Secretariat, Greg ,in an emotional laden voice, declared that the NYSC scheme defined his career and served as launch pad for his later endeavour as a theatre enterprenuer. According to him ,he had it so good as a travelling solo theatre artist as a Corp member that while his colleagues visited banks to make cash withdrawals, he regularly went there to make deposits and later bought a car from proceeds of his performances and was financially disposed to buy a cow for his colleagues to party with. At the end of his inspiring speech to the corp members and an appreciative NYSC staff, Greg was on the verge of tears and Prof Kalu Uka, had to step in to convert as he said “Greg’s tears to joy” with a powerfully rendered praise song and an inspiring speech that bordered on showing gratitude and aiming for excellence. Engr Ibangha, the NYSC State Director responded to the speeches by thanking Greg Mbajiorgu for appreciating the contributions of the scheme to his successful career as an artist while noting that stories such as that of his highlight the relevance of the scheme to youth development. He called on the corp members present to take a cue from the import of the visit to discover their talents and pursue their dreams.

    The visit ended with the presentation of copies of the 20th anniversary edition of the monodrama The Prime Minister’s Son by Greg Mbajiorgu to the State NYSC and the performance of a drama sketch entitled “Conundrum” by the state’s NYSC drama troupe within the same quadrangle where The Prime Minister’s Son was premiered 21 years back.

    The Calabar visit thus marked the beginning of a series of events already scheduled to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the play, The Prime Minister’s Son, across Nigeria. The anniversary activities are conceived to highlight the past contributions of soloists such as the late Funso Alabi and others to the theatrical form which is in need of re-invention in Nigeria. The next stop will be in Abuja on the 27th of September 2012 at the Korean Cultural Centre where a play reading, performance and a critical session have been scheduled for The Prime Minister’s Son under the auspices of the Arojah Royal Theatre.

  • A breezy service memoir

    A breezy service memoir

    The entirety of a man’s life is often described as a book, scripted by some mysterious force. And then the belief is that every phase of that life makes up the chapters in the book. But now, the story of only a phase of his life (which is just supposed to be a chapter) is what Agbro ingeniously tells in a whole book. Indeed, many experiences can culminate in a ‘novel’, but then, there’s always a touch to some experiences that give them an edge in being relayed in the pages of a book.

    A whole year is undoubtedly a wealth of experience for anybody that has observed the National Youth Service Corps, a scheme designed in 1973 to foster the unity of the country by encouraging youths to have a feel of another part of the country other than their areas of study, domicile and study. And it is the experience of this one year that Agbro tells in this work.

    But then, like every other art of story-telling, there’s usually a beauty to each that gives it a voice of its own, distinct, even in the midst of many voices screaming to be heard. Indeed, everybody has a story, but not everybody can tell their story in an equally creative manner. Agbro regales us with his prowess of story telling; in fact, I daresay you might easily forget that you’re not under the tree, below some full moon, listening to tales, as you read through here.

    Even though it does not achieve so much particularly in the extensive delineation of characters, a feature prominent with the novel genre, this entertaining, engaging, and educating work of Agbro’s sufficiently fulfils the seeming motivation behind it; plainly sharing the author’s experience of NYSC. A reading of Agbro’s work provides you with so much knowledge of the NYSC camp and the many activities that go down there in the spate of three weeks. The bugle-wake-up-call, morning drills, mealtimes, lectures, dance, drama, the beauty pageant, the Bonfire night, the endurance trek and many more are vividly relayed so that even a primary school pupil can easily have the feel of NYSC. What’s more, such frivolities these things afford one such as flirting around a girl like Mariama are also there!

    There’s, truthfully, no end to the adventures of Federal Government pikin as Agbro’s narrator describes himself and his fellow corps members. Even parleying with a native doctor, and earning some cash and other benefits for a translation ‘contract’ in the process was there for this narrator and his pals. What’s more, there is the chase for bush allawi; indigenous females nicknamed according to their sophistication- FBI (fully blown indigene), CIA (common indigenes around) etc.

    The esprit de corps amongst corpers is extensively explored herein. The relations among batch A and B corps members as portrayed in this work shows another plus for NYSC; the love that Nigerian youths are capable of sharing regardless of differences in their religious and/or ethnic affiliations or backgrounds.

    There’s something about the way the author plays up the peaceful life of rural living which is not obtainable in busy cities like Lagos. From those pliant neighbours who are ever ready to attend to his needs, to the villager-friends that keep his head bubbling at the palm-wine joint, to the indeed “studious” students, the narrator’s stay in the village of Izzikworo in Ebonyi state easily reminds city dwellers of the ‘life’ they are missing.

    For a scheme that has been trailed by a plethora of controversies lately, it is rather a very bold act for a book to venture into lauding it. Not so much of lauding anyway, as the author equally brings to bear the many ills bedevilling the scheme, prominent amongst which are mismanagement and corruption. The author brings these issues to the fore with the bicycle allowance scheme that was corruptly managed apart from the fact that funds released for it were grossly inadequate to achieve its aim. “For an establishment that was rumoured to have contracted the dress kit for about fifty thousand naira, it was shameful that such pittance was allocated for such an important position,” the author comments of the scheme.

    Impressively, and telling a story relevant to this period too, the author displays the hydra-headed fault of the Nigerian education system. So that apart from the thrills and frills of NYSC, the narrator is able to experience, first hand, these critical issues facing the nation. Community Secondary School, Izzikworo, the narrator’s place of primary assignment, is iconic of the Nigerian educational system; grappling with inadequate infrastructures to cater for a teeming population of students, examination malpractices, dearth of teachers, poor academic curricular and so on; all of which remind him of the situation in his university.

    In the end, Agbro’s work successfully serves two divergent yet complementary functions. It tells a story, sharing an experience as interestingly as it could be done. And then, it lends its voice to the call, reminding us of our complacencies and showing us that our contentment with the social status quo needs to be rethought.

     

    Title: Served; memoir of a youth corps member

    Author: Joe Agbro Jr.

    Date of publication: September 2012

    Publishers: Grasshill Books, Lagos

    Reviewer: Kayode Odumboni

  • A bleeding nation

    A bleeding nation

    If it is more apt to say so; Nigeria is indeed like Dolly Paton’s evergreen song which eulogises her coat of many colours. This society operates on the basis of many colours, colours of deceit, colours of confusion, colours of indecision, colours of cheating and many more. And what Soji Omotunde is saying invariably is that a nation founded on a loose foundation is bound to make no concerted progress. This is basically the thrust of the book – This Country, our nation, which is a collection of newspaper articles he wrote over the years, from 1986 to 2006.

    The titles of the articles are easy to discern. They show a society in the quagmire of rigmarole like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti used to sing. There is plenty of executive confusion and disorderliness in the socio-political and economic spheres of the nation. Today Nigeria is neither here no there in terms of its defined goals to lead the people to Eldorado.

    Those issues Omotunde raised and tackled 30 years ago when the military junta were in power, still prevail today. It is as if they are all alive and breathing and staring the people in the face with renewed vigour and profusion as time goes on. Not even this era of democracy has tended to change anything. Where then, lies the future?

    The author had warned in an article entitled: Adieu! The middle class, in the 1980s that the middle class was on its way out. And if that was allowed to happen, Nigeria would never be a pleasant place to be. And so it finally happened and the author is vindicated. With the exit or demise of the middle class which Omotunde blamed for parts of the ills of the time, gap now exists between the super rich and the nascent poor. Poverty rings with ignominy in the society and no one has got the nerve to challenge the status quo. And so poverty continues abated and the leadership is happy to see it so!

    With the advent of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which the author aptly nicknamed Stomach Adjustment Programme in 1988, and with the bastardisation of the Naira by Ibrahim Babangida, Omotunde promptly raised an alarm to alert the nation. These two issues nailed the hopes of the people and dashed their driving zeal to remain focused ever since.

    Hear the author: “So, if 1988 which initially promised so much, especially with the inflationary budget which was so heartily hailed by all those economic analysts, gurus, wizards, et al, could go kaput so soon after its take-off, what are the chances for a 1989 that has already been threatening us that it will not pretend to wear any face similar to those of the gaunt masses? I am already trembling.” This was in 1989 and one wonders if the situation is any better today.

    As the author progressed in his bemoaning of the fortunes of a society so blessed and well endowed by God, so do his many articles. There is no single write-up in it that harps on hope; none either shows that the leadership of the country have any clear vision of how to make the country better. As the gloom and bleak state of affairs increased, so do the pen of Nigerian journalists and social critics who do not even escape the ire of the people in power. So where is the salvation? asks the author.

    Divided into three periods in the troubled life of the nation, 1986 – 1989, 1990 – 1999, and 2000 – 2006, each section dwells on the tropical issues prevalent at that moment. A title like The Wobbling Goliath demystifies a nation that only assumes larger – than – life status without recourse to its myriad of failures.

    Today it is from grace to grass and no one knows where the nation is headed. The articles are deep and provocative and historical in their assessment of a turbulent country. There are errors in the book but they are few and far and between. An example is on page 11 where Westerhof was, and he is right. The repetition of ‘and’ gives certain level of sluggishness to the statement. Besides all that, the author’s many years in the journalism profession gave him the needed expose to do justice to the problems of a nation in deep sea of confusion, crises and the like.

  • Amateur Photographer names Oluwatobi Adelaja, Don Barber, others as judges

    Amateur Photographer names Oluwatobi Adelaja, Don Barber, others as judges

    The Amateur Photographer competition has named ace photographers Oluwatobi Adelaja, Don Barber, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, and Moussa Moussa as judges for its photography competition.

    The competition is the brainchild of Replica Digital Photo Centre.

    The organisers said it would provide opportunities for raw talents to express themselves creatively in photography, helping them realize their potential and recognise the value of creating outstanding works. Replica stated that it is using this platform to redefine photography in Nigeria.

    Replica Digital Photo Centre Co-Founder/CEO Ayoola Gam-Ikon said Adelaja and the other judges were chosen because “their exceptional work and contributions to the photography field have inspired many and significantly advanced the art form in Nigeria.”

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    The competition, according to Gam-Ikon, aims to provide a platform for emerging talents to express their creativity and realise their potential.

    Speaking about Adelaja, they added: “By participating as a judge, you will play a crucial role in nurturing these raw talents and helping to redefine photography in our country.

    “You will have the unique opportunity to work alongside esteemed professionals like veteran photographer Don Barber and distinguished individuals such as Kelechi Amadi-Obi and Moussa Moussa. Your expertise and vision will greatly enrich the judging process and inspire the participants.

    “We believe your involvement will add immense value to the competition, and we are eager to have you on board.”