Category: Sports

John Edokpolo who began to collect art works since 44 years ago, gathered contemporary artists and stakeholders together last week in Lagos to celebrate and exhibit some of his rich collections.  Edozie Udeze, who attended the show which had 58 works on display, reports

Art collection in Nigeria has since become a booming business. And for this singular reason, visual artists in the country have come to realise that big time art collectors have a lot to do to encourage the profession to prosper. This and more were some of the reasons why artists, art patrons, stakeholders and lovers of the art, gathered at the premises of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Onikan, Lagos, last week to be part of a show tagged Ambassadors’ Nite 2.

Ambassador’s Nite was packaged by Eko Modupe Limited and curated by Mufu Onifade, the Araism exponent, to showcase some of the age-long art collections of Chief John Edokpolo. In the art exhibition which featured the works of some of Nigeria’s foremost visual artists, Edokpolo proved that he is indeed a collector who goes for the best. This was why the theme of the exhibition was properly built around the size of the works he is fond of buying from artists.

Rare and Large indeed depicted some of the most revered art works in Nigeria. Edokpolo who has been a dedicated art collector for 44 years now, described his coterie of collections as one of the richest around. So far, he has developed a pool of sophisticated art works produced by the best and most creative hands in contemporary Nigerian art industry. His eyes for oil on canvas are truly extraordinary.

Onifade said that the Ambassadors’ Nite was begun in 2009 as a platform to showcase some of the collections of art patrons. “It is an ongoing thing.” he explained, “It was begun in 2009 as a way of bringing to public glare some of these rich works and for the public to show interest in them too.”

Edokpolo has over 400 works in his repertoire but only 58 were showcased. Apart from a few tusks representing antiquities and some aged traditional art pieces, his rich collection comprises pure contemporary works in the genres of paintings. These paintings come in various media and sculptures which encompass woods, bronzes and metals. What makes Edokpolo far and above his contemporary art collectors is that he goes for the biggest, the most bizarre and the most expensive.

Edokpolo, who is in the oil and gas sector of the economy, does not spare money when he wants to procure any art work that catches his fancy. Not only that, most of his works throw more light on the person behind the art collection. The works equally research into some sensitive themes that penetrate into the psyche of the society and show the way forward.

In Inheritance Menu by Toyin Alade which is oil on canvas measuring 364cm by 175cm and done in 2005, the issues of social phenomenal imbalance were highlighted. It is not only a spoken and voluminous work, it is one of the largest oil on canvas ever done by an artist. To Edokpolo the choice of that work is to show the totality of a society on the threshold of love, peace, progress, squalor, and unity. Yet what Alade did on it is synonyms with the sprawling nature of Nigerian society ready to see the art prosper and blossom.

Among the artists whose works were on display are Bruce Onobrakpeya, Erhabor Emokpae, Abayomi Barber, Bisi Fakeye. Others are Kolade Oshinowo, Amos Odion, Mufu Onifade, Chika Idu, Smart Owie and many others. Indeed some of the works date back to the 1970s when Edokpolo’s love for art collection was still in its embryonic stage.

Onifade in curating the works also considered their relevance in contemporary times and the messages inherent in them. “This was why we have Ekasa as the star art work here. Done by Bimbo Adenuga, it talks about the myth and traditions of Benin people. It is the cynosure of all eyes in this show,” Onifade explained.

Penultimate Thursday, at the Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba, the crowd that gathered was very different from the one that usually filled the hall. This time, secondary school students drawn from different parts of the states were in attendance for the maiden edition of the Delta State International Literary Session organised by the office of the senior adviser on foreign relations.

Also in attendance were the state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the deputy governor, Prof. Amos Utuama, SAN, former minister of Information, Prof. Sam Oyovbaire Mr Odia Ofeimun, former president of the Association of Nigeria Authors (ANA), and Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo, poet, activist, lawyer and literary icon.

According to Oma Djebah, senior adviser on foreign relations to the Delta State government, the session was to inculcate good morals in youths as well effective deployment of their talents while shunning all forms of social vices. The event also highlighted strides of Delta State and Deltans in the literary communities in Nigeria, and around the world.

The programme included drama sketches and renditions by students. This preceded the recital of poems by Dr. Ifowodo, who lectures in Literature and Poetry at Texas State University, USA.

Uduaghan gave a car to the teacher and iPads to students who gave outstanding performance at the event. The governor’s participation was indicative of the government commitment to the growth and sustenance of Arts in Delta state.

At the end of the session, a communiqué produced recommended a revival of the arts in schoolss across the state. Participants also asked that the International Literary Sessions should not be a one off programme but should be maintained as a project for reaching out to and inspiring youth in Delta state.

Participants agreed with the Governor that study of the Arts is very important as it will enable the people to recall the past, properly place the present and reposition the future.

They commended the governor for his contributions, gifts to teacher and students as well as his active participation at the event. They also commended Ifowodo Ogaga for his quick and positive response when called upon to participate at the first Delta State International Literary Session. Members of the Literary Community in Delta State have agreed to work towards improving the study of Arts in Delta State schools and to also use the existing platforms to create more awareness about the crucial role of Arts in the society.

In Fynecountry, anything is possible. This is the notion everyone has about this certain country used by Ethelbert Okere in highlighting the depth of corruption in the aviation industry in Nigeria. Even though certain strange names and characters which the author deliberately invents to give the book its own special blend and colour, the story is a well-known one.

It takes only an author who has been in government, someone who has followed rather meticulously the events in the aviation sector as an insider to do the kind of story Okere did in No Trace of Zakki.

When some domestic airlines were grounded by the government, there arose the urgent need to license new ones to augment the services of the sector. Government saw the need to do so. But a lot of intrigues came to the fore. Government was not certain of what step to take to correct the imbalance and help the public.

In the midst of that, the Aviation minister is hooked on an unnecessary politics of bad blood typical of Fynecountry. Not even the claims of NASA, a company that wants by all means to fit into the system is capable of swaying the situation. Then the intrigues and backbiting continue unabated. Even the presidency is equally culpable.

The author uses the situation to build a story around corruption in the system. To him, corruption is so endemic in Fynecountry that nothing matters any more. Everybody wants to be involved in the dog eat-dog imbroglio which is the bedrock of the system.

The story builds gradually and gets to a point where the overflow of sentiments can even throw the reader into confusion. The emotional hiccups, the dare-devil habits, the grab all the money syndrome and all those negative tendencies characteristic of the system stare the reader in the face. It is a book studded with facts and fictions.

The story is so moving and convincing that one can truly classify it as a faction – a combination of facts and fiction. Yes, for in it, one sees a true society in the deep shit of corruption, in the clutching embrace of backwardness.

The issue of the role of Asians in the economic set up of the country is also raised. The role of Nigerians as directors and collaborators is equally brought to the fore. The whole emphasis is on the need to see why no sector in Nigeria works or can not even begin to work in the nearest possible time.

Then the Aviation minister wangles himself through to obtain the license to operate the new airline. Not only that, he is not qualified for it, his intention is to fulfill his wanton desire typical of a Nigerian. That pays him handsomely but in a very negative way.

His son, Zakki, who does not want to follow due process obtains his flight ticket but not in a way to identify who he is. He is a ghost passenger somewhat. The plane crashes and he is one of the victims. How does one then rationalise this sort of waste. Okere provides the answer in this slim but provocative novel. Although it has its flaws in terms of printing style, presentation and inconsistent spellings of some names, No Trace of Zakki shows Okere as an insider in this never ending game of intrigues.

This is a comprehensive and reliable guide for those in need of jobs. Job Search Guru’s Job-hunting Manual was purposely written by Olu Oyeniran to guide and sensitise people in search of employment. Oyeniran did not mince words when he stated that most people fail to get a particular job not necessarily because they are not qualified, but because they did not prepare for it very well. This manual leads you well into the heart of the matter.

So for you to get a job, for you to be in the position to attract a good job to yourself, there are many essential stages to take. You need to know what employers need from you as a job-seeker and then tailor your Curriculum Vitae to suit that purpose. Oyeniran describes this as the very first important step towards a successful job hunt. It is a process that needs to be mastered and followed conscientiously.

This is why he includes how to write what he prescribes as a powerful C.V and also discovering yourself, skills, aptitudes and interests as the first bold steps. In reading the manual, a prospective job seeker needs to master the following:

How to uncover hidden opportunities in the job market. For, to him, the motion that there are no jobs is an illusion; preparing for an interview and negotiating the pay and so on. These are very essential issues.

Therefore, the central point here is not just to read the manual. The total import of it is to study it, master the ingredients therein and discover truly how to get to that level you desire for yourself. Although the manual is not meant to create jobs per se, yet it is structured to serve as a leeway in many plausible ways.

To make the manual easy to read, the author divides it into many sections. Each section handles and simplifies the subject-matter it handles. They are: A vital background, Getting a job is a job, Who are you? Powerful C.V/Resume, face to face interview and lots more.

Each segment of the process of getting a job, in the reckoning of the author, is as important as the job itself. It thrills the employer when a job-seeker truly knows what he wants. Not only that, a job-seeker who is poised for the best ought to be at his best in the process of moving around for the job.

On page 30, Oyeniran says: You probably know this fact. 85% of available jobs are never advertised. So to really get a good job, you need to be proactive. Follow these suggested steps. First analyse the economic and business environment of the society”. Then go into details to master what happens in the different sectors of the economy and the market sectors. In which area of it do you really fit in or are interested in your job-hunt? Study this very well and then convince yourself of what you desire or deserve.

After you have done this, try to develop special interest in certain areas where you can then become proficient. Read relevant journals and document thereto. Then open your horizon in terms of attending workshops and seminars and so on. Where necessary, study beyond your scope to be able to know more.

Even though the manual is total and comprehensive in this subject, there are avoidable errors in some pages. These errors though minor in certain respects should have been avoided in the first place. The printing is not clear on some pages because the quality of the paper is low. The author needs to guide against these few errors in the next edition.

Moreover, if these strategies and tactics highlighted in this manual are effectively followed by those who need them, more than 60% of the problem if job-hunt would have been solved. It is a manual that needs the total attention of teeming Nigerian youths in search of employment.

Book: Let’s Paulse a Little
Author: Tosin Akande, 2012
Previewer: Olakunle Abimbola

Just imagine: a 21st century Martin Luther smashing Catholic icons, an Immanuel Kant, though a Christian convert, subjecting his faith to the logical rigour of his Categorical Imperative, a contemporary Amos, the Biblical prophet of doom, serving dire notice to dollar-for-miracle pastors, or a neophyte to the Kingdom of Grace, having the temerity to review the gospel of St. Paul, a key plank on which his Christian faith is erected and a Biblical personage credited to have written no less than half of the New Testament!

That is the prospect of reading Tosin Akande’s new book, Let’s Paulse a Little, a rigorous yet not irreverent critique of St. Paul, a small yet big book: small in size but big by audacity of its scope and the incisiveness of its analysis; and a revolutionary book, but not at all rebellious to the tenets of Christianity.

The book asked a lot of hard questions: how many in the booming Pentecostal assemblies, booming nationwide like fungi growing in the wild, can pass the scriptural muster? How many pastors can pass the test of not misdirecting their flock? How many of the zestful and frothy congregation understand the nugget of their faith, even if the curtains draping off the Old Testament Holy of Holies had been rent by Christ’s divine sacrifice, epitomised by his crucifixion and resurrection, which in turn birthed the New Testament, the body of divinely inspired works which St. Paul, the arch anti-Christ turned supreme Christian proselytiser, reportedly wrote more than half of?

The title itself is an arresting salute to pun: Paulse, being a suggestion of pause, and linked to Paul, simply means pausing (and mulling) over the message of Paul! The author exquisitely did that, even charging the great St. Paul with “initial gra-gra” (coinage, the previewer’s), the irreverent Nigerian-speak for zestful rush that may well end up in a crash. He posits that because Saul turned Paul did not wait for a divine call before blundering into his new Christian proselytising, he nearly ended up in disaster. But the moment Paul’s call came, it was easy going – as the same people that nearly nailed him later banded together to hail him to no end. Moral: never in zestful haste blunder into ministration until you have been called by God.

At the turn of the 20th century in Lagos, Mojola Agbebi, a radical cultural nationalist and Baptist convert, decried European missionary cultural infiltrations into the gospel – “surpliced choir, the white man’s style and white man’s names.” He insisted that these “many non-essentials, so many props and crutches,” affected “the religious manhood of the Christian African.” That protest later led to a schism in the orthodox missionary churches, and led to local variant of churches that fused African cultures into Christian worship.

Now, early in the 21st century, Tosin Akande is lamenting the many needless props in Nigeria’s Pentecostal Assembly, no doubt the fastest growing bloc in Nigeria’s Christendom – pastors, superstitions, additions, embellishments, etc – which block the way for many a convert to develop a personal affinity with the Almighty.

What the result would be is buried in the womb of time. But to avert any untoward disaster in spreading the gospel and promoting salvation, the author suggested Christians get rid of all secular props and barriers – not the least the unbearable conduct of some pastors who assume the airs of infallible spiritual sovereigns rather than humble servants in the vineyard, as Jesus Himself effaced – and discover an intimate personal relationship with God.

Tosin Akande has especially harsh words for money-for-miracle pastors, naming names locally and internationally, and playing Amos in the prediction of their doom. “Unfortunately for such,” he roared, perhaps with flashing eyes, not leaving behind prosperity-reeking pastors who zoom about in private jets while their congregation grind in poverty, “I have a heavenly mandate to tell them their time is up!” Can you imagine the Amos of Old Testament Israel, roaring that every ear that heard the fate of the recalcitrant Israel of his day would tingle?

This is an extremely well-written book – novel, analytic, fresh, fearless and daring, in flowing but rigorous prose. The author also gave full play to his training as a lawyer, his vast reading – and, it would appear, deep understanding of the letter and spirit of the gospel; his deep understanding of Yoruba culture and why Christians must be nuanced enough, not to imbibe cultural imperialism posing as Christianity; with the worrying penchant in Nigerian Christendom that anything foreign is good but anything African is bad – even age-old African norms.

The book’s defect would appear its excessive didactics, with the author often citing his own personal conduct and experience as exemplar. Also, many would find galling the author’s penchant to claim exclusive and intimate divine revelations, as he admirably and brilliantly marshalled his points. The snag is though nobody can prove his claim is untrue; he himself cannot logically prove it is! But then, the forte of faith is belief – uncritical belief – and never questioning logic!

It is on this score that the writer is lucky to have written in the 21st century and not during the Medieval Ages. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) wrote in theocratic, medieval Rome that the sun, not the earth, was the centre of the universe. For that, even if later proved to be true, Pope Urban VIII disowned him and, in 1633, he was tried and doomed for alleged heresy. However, Pope John Paul II would, in 1992 (359 years later), restore Galileo’s honour and apologise for the injustice the Catholic Church did to him.

Tosin Akande in this book not only critiqued the works and person of St. Paul, he also hit hard at Pentecostal prosperity pastors who, mouthing scriptural cant, spare nothing to develop their share of the church market. Were he to write in the Medieval Ages, scriptural purists would have got him if combatively ignorant theocrats did not.

That, in a nutshell, is the exciting audacity of Paulse.