Soibifaa Dokubo is a dancer, photographer, actor and voice-over artiste. A staff of the National Troupe of Nigeria, he operates as the main photographer of the parastatal, where he handles both the stage and other photographic activities of the Troupe. He has been in the forefront of the efforts to give photography its pride of place in theatre practice in Nigeria. However, he is more piqued about the situation of theatre in the Niger Delta, more so in Rivers State, his home state where he said politicians and leaders of the people have relegated cultural matters and entertainment to the level where the youths can no more identify with their customs and heritages.
In an interview, he said, “I tell you, the Niger Delta, Port Harcourt, to be precise, while we were growing up, we were told was the hotbed of entertainment in Nigeria. Today, the contrary is happening. The political class in the Niger Delta does not have an iota of respect for the arts. As for theatre, this does not even exist at all. The leadership has stopped the Carniriv which was a yearly carnival that used to provide over a million jobs. Today, government says it is an uncivilized act. The political class does not have an idea of the political, social, economic and dynamic importance of the art in a society. This is bad enough.”
A social critic and someone who believes strongly that the cultural sector should be allowed to prosper and provide more jobs for practitioners, Dokubo said, “In Rivers State, one of the biggest employers of labour which is Carniriv has been suspended by the present administration. This is based on the wrong notion told to the governor that carnival is a form of idol worshipping. Can you imagine that in a society where people should hold on to their traditions and customs? For that reason alone, the government has jettisoned Carniriv thereby increasing the rate of unemployment. Today more youths are on the streets looking for work to do and their rich cultural elements are being allowed to die away.”
Over the years, some of the programmes of the Carniriv had been used to satirise events in the state. In this, people come from far and near to watch the cultural displays thereby attracting revenue to the state. At other times the people involved in the planning and execution of the event used the opportunity to create jobs for themselves and more people in the state. “Whenever this happened the little money the young boys and girls made from the show would keep them happy and satisfied for a long time. Government should leverage on people’s events for the good of everyone. This is the whole essence of culture as the bedrock of tourism promotion and as an alternative to oil. Before now, you know Rivers State had been good to theatre and entertainment, both formal and informal.”
Yes, he opined, more has to be done to revive some dying languages in the state and then bring back the rich cultural values of the people. “We have great writers like Elechi Amadi, Gabriel Okara, Ken Saro-Wiwa and others. And what did the government do to utilize the richness of their works to better this society? Now cases of insecurity, poverty, joblessness and more have tended to kill creativity in the region. We know, however, that there are some hiphop musicians coming up already. But that is not enough.”
An award-winning actor, Dokubo is often keen on how to elevate the status of photography to make it enviable. “Yes, my first award was Zafaa Noble film awards where I was voted the best male actor. This was in 2015. And in January this year, we attended the African Magic Choice Award where I had a nomination as the best supporting actor. The film is Stigma which has also won so many other laurels from different quarters. Presently, that film will be showing at the African film festival in Hamburg, Germany this year.”
Produced by Dagogo Diminas, Stigma is against all forms of stigmatization in any part of the world. Introduced into photography by the legendary Don Barber, Dokubo feels that this is one profession he finds his utmost groove and satisfaction whenever he is engaged in it. “When he met me, he said, ‘you dance, you act, but when old age catches up with you, photography can never fail you. And so began my love for photography which has made me the Chief photographer of the National Troupe of Nigeria.”
This was how he was taught by Barber to become a photographer. Even though he still acts, Dokubo is better known today as an ace photographer whose works are often unique, spectacular and colourful.
Although those periods were good for the National Troupe of Nigeria, where artistes truly excelled, Dokubo still believes that things can turn around with time. However, he wants the younger artistes to take photography more serious because this is the era of technology. This is an era when photography pays; when more people have more value for this form of the art.
