Tag: celebrates

The vibrant cultural and artistic endowments of Nigeria and China will shape conversations and performances on October 1 as Heritage Africa Village Square (HAvis) Abuja, marks independence anniversaries of the two giants of African and Asian continents. Nigeria and China share October 1 as their National Day; and this informs the theme of the event: ‘’China-Nigeria: Shared Legacy of Culture and Humanity’’.

The event will hold at the sprawling HAvis facilities  at Plot 1633, Cadastral B09, Beside AA Zauro Plaza, Ahmadu Bello Way, Kado, Abuja, and including a 1000-seater Amphitheatre and a 5-floor gallery cum studio building, named The Whitehouse.

Top-rated performers, troupes, visual artists and craftsmen will treat art lovers, culture patrons, members of the diplomatic circle and the general public in the nation’s capital to exquisite African and Chinese dance, music, poetry and drama performances. The culture fest will also feature poetry readings, moonlight-like storytelling and an African-themed fashion runway featuring designs by The Silhouette.

Headlining the programme is a lecture titled: Global Diffusion of Chinese Culture: Case Study of the Confucius Institute in Africa (Nigeria) to be delivered by Professor Duro Oni, former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, and founding director of the Confucius Institute at the university.  To be chaired by Professor David Ker, a culture scholar and former Vice Chancellor of Benue State University, the lecture will lead to a panel discussion featuring four eminent scholars and experts on the blossoming Africa-China relationship. They will explore possible influence of the legendary Chinese philosopher, Confucius’ philosophical thoughts on the socio-cultural development of Africa.

The highpoint of the October 1 feast is a special exhibition featuring collections from Nike Art Gallery, which is curated by the international artist and iconic African culture advocate, Madam Nike Okundaye. Featuring over 100 pieces of paintings and sculptures, the works will remain on display in the Whitehouse gallery for the rest of the year. There will also be art and craft workshop for about 100 students and youths drawn from around the Federal Capital Territory. The sessions will be directed by Madam Okundaye herself, reputed to have trained over 1000 women and youths in adiirefabric making, African body adornments and related accessories.

To further spice the robust celebration, a film, Africans in Yiwu, which is themed around the shared humanistic values and virtues between Nigerian and Chinese peoples, will be screened. It was produced by the Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang University China, which last June in Abuja, signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding on cultural and educational exchange programmes with the Heritage Africa and the University of Abuja.

HAvis is conceived as a one-stop pan-African centre for the conception, production and expression of the cultural resources of all the peoples of African descent. It was founded on a vision to assert the creative sector as a massive opportunity for Africa to harness the huge potentials inherent in the creativity of its peoples.

Aside the Amphitheatre and the Whitehouse comprising a gallery, a language institute, a library, a multimedia studio, a terrace/rooftop space; HAvis, which sits on the famous Jabi Lake, also houses a 9-hole golf course, a proposed boat club, a hotel and, a leisure among other facilities.  Future development plans also include a setting up a tertiary institution dedicated to helping young Nigerians and Africans hone their natural talents, acquire skills and build their professional capacities and personality profiles.

The HAvis vision was motivated by the avowed policy commitment of the Federal Government in its readiness to tap the huge potentials of the creativity industries in pursuance of the inevitable diversification of the Nigerian economy. “We share in the values that the government, especially through deeply inspiring statements by the Vice President Professor YemiOsinbajo, has placed on the Creative Industry as being capable of helping in the economic emancipation of Nigeria from its decades of dependence on oil”, stated Moses Ayom, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the HAvis.

It was a patriotic gathering of the descendants of Yewaland, Ogun West District of Ogun State, as Yewaland Development Forum (YDF) celebrated one of its illustrious sons, the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Rahmon Bello.

The forum, impressed about his sterling achievements in the public sector, hosted him to a colourful reception graced by distinguished personalities such as Ogun State former Deputy Governor, Alhaja Salmon Badru and Senator Felix Bajomo, among others.

Bello’s outstanding performance brought to fore the question of resourcefulness of Yewa people and their seemingly systematic marginalisation in the scheme of Ogun State political and administrative affairs.

The event served as an ample avenue for YDF, a more bonded union, to challenge the perceived injustice and inequity suffered by the Yewa people.

“The sectional marginalisation of Ogun West has long been anchored on unequal Yewaland resource distribution and opportunities, with its roots from the imbalanced political structuring of the state,” said the guest speaker, Senator  Bajomo in his address titled: “Ogun State Project: Stemming the Erosions of Economic and Political Agitations of the Underdeveloped West District”.

This structure, he said, successfully gave the impression that the zone was a minority group, leading to limited opportunities for its teeming population, wondering why a state endowed with foremost nationalists and democrats cannot serve as an example of true equity, fairness and justice.

“Since inception of the creation of Ogun State, inequalities were seen in the number of local governments and constituencies allocated to Ogun West, limited number of our people absorbed in the state civil service and the few infrastructures, which made the masses in the area to continue to live in poverty and unsanitary conditions with the merest fragments of education that continue to make Ogun West educationally disadvantaged and least developed area,” he said.

Bajomo feared that if the politics of marginalisation continued, it might result in systematic and comprehensive denial of human rights, generate public outrage or youth restiveness.

He urged political activist and technocrats from the Yewa not to “fold their arms and watch events unfold in a manner that deprive them of equal opportunity with their contemporaries from other senatorial districts”.

Former Deputy Governor, Badru in her address said the struggle for the development of the Yewaland would only materialise with the commitment of passionate indigenes like Prof Rahmon.

She said his honour was well-deserved as he was actively involved in the leadership affairs of Yewaland despite professional commitment.

She said: “Now that he is retiring he should even be more involved even though in retirement he might become more engaged with many national and international appointments. l want to plead with him that Yewaland affairs need his attention more now than before.”

She further noted that the organisation will continue to make positive contributions to the development of the Yewland, adding that Yewa Unity Games, regular interaction with political office holders from Yewa, among other impactful initiatives, would be brought forth.

YDF President, Alhaji Ayo Adeyemi however, enjoined people to support its drive to execute development projects for long neglected indigenes.

According to him, plans were underway to develop a data base for Yewa indigenes, youth and women empowerment, establish a computer and internet hub in separate towns in Yewaland and Yewaland TV.

He noted that the forum will not hesitate to provide leadership base and support for Yewa citizens in various sectors.  He said: “In these days of economic diversification and cultural regeneration, we plan to promote the development of Yewaland arts and culture to the level of economic gains and human capacity training.”