Category: Sports

A conference on the relationship between African Diaspora and Africans at home organised by the university of Missouri, USA, and the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) just ended in Missouri recently. Prof. Tunde Babawale of CBAAC spoke to Edozie Udeze and Joe Agbro Jr., on the imperativeness of that outing and more

Over time, you’ve been pioneering conferences and colloquia on the culture scene about Africa, both home and in the Diaspora. After seven years or thereabout, do you think you have been able to create reasonable impact commensurate to the efforts you have put into it?

I think to a large extent, we have made very appreciable and remarkable impact, not just in Africa but in the African Diaspora as well. Why I’ve said that is that we have received a lot of commendations from reputable institutions and scholars within and outside the African continent and leading to situations where we have developed partnerships and signed memoranda of understanding with institutions of repute. I cite examples in many parts of Africa. We worked with CEEDETORA as you know in Cameroun. We we worked with Centre for the Advanced Studies of African Society in South Africa as well as the African institute of South Africa. We organised a programmed with the African Institute of South Africa. We’ve just concluded the first phase of our language project in partnership with the Centre for Advanced Studies of the African Society. We’ve signed an MOU with the University of Missouri, and we’ve just concluded the education of an aspect of the programme contained on that MOU through the international conference of Africans and Africans in the Diaspora in the new millennium, which we just held there between October 30 and November 2, this year. And I can tell you with all sense of responsibility that CBAAC is awash with requests from Africans and Africans in the Diaspora, offering hands of fellowships and partnerships because of the quality of work that they think we have done. At the last conference, we had another organisation which is preparing to send a proposal to us from Brazil based on what they think we have been doing very well. I had an invitation from the University of Georgia in Athens in the US. In fact, they proposed an MOU and I was a bit reluctant, though, excited about it. But I knew the implication of having to stretch myself when I was just concluding one with Missouri. So, I’ve asked them to take some time that I want to do it one step after the other. And there are numerous other requests from institutions, agencies, and organisations from many parts of Africa. We’re in partnership with the Observatory of cultural policies in Africa. And just recently, we just made a breakthrough at the recently concluded meeting of African ministers of culture in the Republic of Togo. Firstly, CBAAC was unanimously conferred with an observer status at the AU by the AU itself – by the council of ministers. Secondly, a promise was made to our honourable minster who is the outgoing chairman of the council of ministers of culture that they were going to favourably consider CBAAC’s application for endorsement and adoption as a Pan-African cultural institution. And by every indication, that will be accorded us in the coming year. And even though, I was unable to attend the AU ministers of culture meeting because I was in Missouri, I had one of my directors in attendance, who said that CBAAC was given due recognition at that particular conference. And thankfully, even the honourable minister made it clear to their fellow ministers that CBAAC has done tremendous job. If you see a copy of the speech read by our minister, he made it clear that everything he said that Nigeria achieved in the area of culture, not everything, but a large quantum of what he presented before the ministers of culture were actually accomplished at CBAAC.

What is the lesson from the Missouri outing?

The major lesson from the Missouri outing is that first, we have done quite a lot and we have had some extensions in our network, but we still need to reach out more to more scholars and to more regions, just like areas like Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, like Columbia which you have mentioned. There are close to 30 million black people, people of African descent in Columbia and we have not been able to reach them. We need to get to such people. So, that means there’s still a lot of work to be done. Secondly, I’ve also discovered from the Missouri experience that we need to still pull in more scholars of repute into our network. This is a challenge that I’m facing now, which that Missouri thing has shown. And that is one lesson that we have learnt from it. And lastly, that there is always an advantage in long-term planning and starting early. Many things fell in place in Missouri. It’s a miracle that we had elections in America at the same time and we had an unexpected natural disaster. And that particular conference, ironically, was one of the best attended conferences we have held in spite of cancellations by few of our participants. Thankfully, the areas that were affected largely were just Washington and New York but many of them came through Miami, through Atlanta, through Houston, Texas, some from Brazil, and the rest of the Diaspora, and Africa. And those who came from Africa who didn’t have to go through New York came. Ironically, some even came later, maybe a day or two days to the (end of the) conference to tell you the impact that we have made. The immediate past director of the African Institute of South Africa, (Matlou) came in, I think, a day before the conference ended. He was stranded in Johannesburg. The airline had to put them in hotel until after the hurricane had subsided before they came. And many of them still came. We had our colleague, Professor Bewaji, from Jamaica. Although, he was stranded in Nigeria but he came. We want to thank God for thee few achievements we have recorded. And I want to specifically mention that the press have contributed to this feeling of enthusiasm, this go-getter spirit we have developed.

As plans are underway to celebrate the 50 years of the German Cultural Centre, Edozie Udeze writes on the activities of the centre, and why it is time for artistes to make the celebration worthwhile

The art community in Lagos will on the 6th of December begin a four day celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of Goethe Institut, the German Cultural Centre. Goethe is the cultural arm of the German Foreign offices all over the world. It was established in 1962 to promote culture and use it to permeate the society and encourage local artistes to do their best in their professions.

Goethe, after whom the institute was named, was an artiste, one of the best the German society has ever produced. The total aim of the cultural centre is to enter into working cultural relationship between the German foreign offices and the host nations. So far, the centre which is now located at the City Hall, Lagos, has trained, encouraged and promoted a lot of artistes in Nigeria.

The centre began at Igbosere Street, Lagos Island in August 1962. Since then it has experienced gradual but steady growth, touching lives and involving Nigerian artistes in both local and international cultural exchange programmes and art exhibitions. In fact, it has so far emerged as the most notable art and culture promoter in Nigeria.

Goethe has also stimulated and organised workshops, conferences and seminars to create public awareness about the cultures of the two nations. A lot of Nigerian artistes have equally been made more popular and globally accepted by the Goethe Institut.

This is why Nigerian and some German artistes have made comprehensive preparations for the 50th anniversary, which will be kickstarted on the 6th and end on the 9th of December. The venue of the events is the Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos. Stage artistes will be on hand to entertain visitors. Also to be involved are dancers, singers and visual artists who will mount their works for public viewing and patronage. Everybody will have enough space to showcase his or her own brand of the art.

Over 30 artistes from Germany, Nigeria and other African countries will be performing at the shows. It is aimed primarily at giving the celebration global clout and to show the world how relevant the centre has been in the areas of art and culture world-wide.

Some Nigerian artistes who spoke on the issue thanked Goethe for being of help all these years, but also reminded the management about doing more in the area of international cultural friendship. “That area has been neglected in recent times,” they said.

When Parresia publishers was founded by the duo of Richard Ali and Azafi Omoluabi Ogosi at the beginning of the year, not too many people gave them the chance to make it in the precarious book industry in Nigeria.  Today, Parresia has taken up the issue of royalties and advance payment to young authors.  In this interview with Edozie Udeze, Ogosi explains the business sense behind Parresia and more

What is the nature of your publishing outfit?

The name of the establishment is Parresia Publishers, located at Okota, Lagos. It is co-owned by Richard Ali and I. And so it is basically made up of two imprints. We have the traditional arm, where we look out for fictional works or accept submissions from writers and novelists. In this way we pay them royalty advance and take up the cost of printing.

This is the normal traditional way of publishing, once a manuscript is good and it is accepted for such purpose. After publishing, we engage in the distribution, pay royalties and all that. Then we have the other arm for self-publishers. Here we have writers who will bring in their money for us to do the whole publishing process for them. Thereafter, we hand over to them to sell or we reach an agreement to do so for them. If the agreement is right, we do the distribution for them.

What kind of prose fiction do you normally accept?

One, we are looking for really good writing. We have not boxed ourselves into one particular genre yet. What we do is that once we get the submission, we first read it and then we consider what we call the top prize. From top prize, we whittle down again. So, after that we look at the quality of the writing. For now, it is the quality of a manuscript that occupies our time most.

Just as it is now, it is fiction, very good prose fiction that will get the attention of the public when it is out in the market. We also go for short stories. In fact, our first book was a collection of short stories by Abubakar Ibrahim.

How many books can you accept in a year based on what you have on ground?

Well, really… Right now, we have just started full operation this year. We have two books under Parresia, and we have two more books coming up before the end of the year. So, at least for the first year of our operation, that will be four books, coming under the traditional form of publishing.

The model for Parresia basically is to look out for new authors. We then pay advance once it is good for publication. For us, it is to encourage young and new authors to keep working and writing more in the future. It is to make them write well, enjoy part of what they’ve been able to do as writers. It is to encourage them, yes, you have tried and you deserve to have something in your pocket.

How do you get sponsorship to do all this?

Yes, so far, our finances have come in-house. We fund what we do. We have not got external funding yet. This is because we want to do this project and we pulled resources together to do it. So far, we have been doing the best we can.

So, how do you make up for the royalties you pay to writers?

How will we make up for it? Ah, we know that eventually we will make up for it. Yes, we will. We know we cannot make money immediately, but we will do so from marketing, sales and all that. Yes, we will certainly get there with time.

Distribution has always been the bane of book industry in Nigeria. How do you wish to overcome it?

Okay, what we have been doing is to discover our own grounds in Nigeria first. We have been looking for key reliable people in different regions to be involved in the distribution of our works. Not only bookshops, though. Like in Kaduna, the book is given to one person. That person will then use his own people to distribute and market the products. That way, it is not only effective, we have only one person to deal with who is answerable only to us.

It is one person we can trust. It is not when you have too many people to deal with, people who will take your book and it is difficult to get your money back. No, we do not want that sort of situation. So the people we have were recommended based on trust.

Is there any way you can accept all writers?

Well, we are still growing. But one of the books we have for the later part of the year belongs to Helon Habila. Now we are publishing Helon because we already have a partnership with him. The book is Oil on Water. We want to come up with crime series which is where Helon comes in. So, we publish him not as a writer, but as a partner. For now, we do not want to take on too many people. We have to come on carefully and slowly, you know. We also intend to start the reading the book campaign next year. This is to ensure that Nigerians purchase and read books. It is going to be part of what we do to promote the book industry in Nigeria.

By next year, how many books do you intend to publish?

Oh, we are not pegging it. For now, we have many on grounds and we intend to do as many as we can. But it is for us to see how things will be by next year. All we do is that we have a window period. It is still an unfolding thing and we hope to follow it so.

Over the years, women and activists have helped to refocus the vision of women through political , social and economic empowerment campaigns. In their quest for survival and charting a better future they have found issues revolving around discrimination, suppression, oppression and harmful traditional practices as some of the challenges to contend with.

To address some of the difficulties women are faced with in their families and communities, Barrister Nneamaka Moudline Mojekwe Chikozie put her findings on the way forward for women in a book which was launched recently in Lagos.

“All this years we have been making progress in some areas. Don’t forget that less than 60 years ago education was a big deal. Things have changed, there is still a long way to go especially when it comes to science education,” she said.

In the book you would, therefore, find a number of case studies and these issues are no longer in the realm of the abstract. She backs her stories with facts and statistics.

“What I discovered is that tradition has done a lot of harm to African Women and that is why I titled the book African women sentenced by tradition.”

Now you ask if Chikozie was ever a victim. “Not really. I came into this through the information I got about property rights as a woman in Igbo land. When I did some comparative studies, I made a number of discoveries that were unpleasant. Women were going through this in different forms and I found that some traditions were more severe in dealing with women than others.”

Discrimination and the many frustrations that women passed through made her take a keen interest. The fact that discrimination was inherent in other communities and clime also made her ask some pertinent questions as well as seek for solutions to the myriad of problems affecting these women.” What also spurred me was the passion of the former First Lady, Maryam Babangida, during the better life days. That was when I got the inspiration to write the book and I liked her ideas and the zeal to carry every woman along in the development process.”

You also want to know the role Chikozie played at this time and she replied this way: “I was a student reading law at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). At the moment, I am a lawyer with Damak Chambers in Lagos. When I am not practicing, then you can be sure that I am working on my research, and it has taken me about two decades to churn out this particular book.”

Did it have to take so long to write the book or was she slowed down by marriage and other family pressures, you asked? “I don’t think that marriage would disturb anyone who has a strong dream or vision. If you are focused and you know what you want, then you would plan to achieve it,” Chikozie tells you matter of factly.

She adds that: “The volume of the book explains it all, it was something I was passionate about and I took my time to get all the information I wanted. I had the voice of the different people I targeted in it and they provided answers to some of the problems women experience.”

Happily Chikozie goes down memory lane to recall some of the issues raised in the 90’s and how they gave flesh to the issues portrayed. “One of such is the case of child marriage in the north, where you had the Hauwa must die case. Also the issue of property rights and women is x-rayed and likely solutions are proffered.”

Now, you tell her women are working and they should have their own assets and not rely on inheriting from men, and Chikozie replies this way: “Are men not working too. Why must they be the only beneficiary when it comes to inheritance law in some parts of the country? If your father has property and he dies, he is your father and your brother’s father.”

The issue of inheritance had been discussed in the past and you almost thought it had been trashed out in these communities but she says this is not the case everywhere. “Well, it actually depends on the families involved. A lot of communities are still not as liberal as they should be. Personally, I would say that my family was normal, not the liberal setting everyone is imagining.”

Asked challenges, she replied: “It was mainly finance and research. The person who helped to edit the book, Adikankwu was with the Newswatch. I started with women generally and she asked me to narrow the scope down to Igbo women to have a better focus. We also looked out for how they deal with women in ten different Igbo tribe.” Chikozie informed.

Should there really be a problem now that we are in the jet age? She was asked: “I strongly believe that no matter the age, if you are not empowered, you would not get anywhere. You have to make yourself relevant in whatever you are doing.”

What next? “I am writing another book but it is not on women. It’s an x-ray of certain things about the Igbo people. My role model is the late Maryam Babangida’. You would have thought that she would have an Igbo role model but she answers this way: “It is the understanding and not the tribe that matters. I am not actively involved in politics.”