Art scholars and collectors gathered in Calabar, Cross River State, last weekend for the yearly lecture of the National Gallery of Art. They examined topical issues affecting the sub-sector, Asst. Editor (Arts) Ozolua Uhakheme reports.
Three years after the planned rebranding of the country by former Information and Communication Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili, with the slogan; Good People, Good Nation, failed to fly, the artists’ community is charting a new course for the project. The art, according to visual artists, is the tool for rebranding the nation.
Leading the fresh campaign in Calabar, the Cross River State capital the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, who said the arts provide ready-made materials for rebranding the nation. He said Nigerians needed a brand that would project the country’s image as many countries ride on brands that are unique to them.
He spoke at the fifth national symposium on Nigerian art organised by the National Gallery of Art (NGA), with the theme: Rebranding Nigeria Through Arts.
Igwe Achebe said NGA has a critical role to play in the development of visual art as an instrument for the promotion of Nigeria. According to him, the nation’s arts should be a major element in the rebranding.
He advocated that public buildings and spaces should be adorned with art works by Nigerians, noting that it is important that the best of Nigerian arts are protected as recent developments have made it imperative that Nigerians take interest in their works.
“We need a new brand for Nigeria. Branding a nation is not new as many countries have their brands. China is noted for cuisines; France for wine, England for football, while Brazil is noted for beaches and football. There is a common thread in all of this, which is making of money. Here in Nigeria, Calabar for example is branded as a clean and welcoming city while Lagos is branded as the commercial hub of Africa. Nigerian art provides readymade materials for the rebranding of our country,” Achebe added.
He observed that the challenge before the symposium was to identify how to place Nigeria on a high pedestal using the arts.
On the implications of Nigerian works that litter foreign museums and private galleries in Europe and America, the monarch warned that Nigeria is experiencing a variant of what led to such development because foreigners in the country place more values on Nigerian art. “It is important that the best of our works are protected,” he said.
He praised collectors, such as Sammy Olagbaju, Femi Akinsanya, Onyema Ofoedu and Prince Yemisi Shyllon, for publishing books on arts. He, however, urged the NGA to do more in this regard, adding that “we need a comprehensive list of practicing Nigerian artists which must be updated regularly and will serve as reference material.”
In his lead paper, Prof Ola Oloidi of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said arts has been rebranding the nation but the public was yet to acknowledge this effort. He called for the rebranding of the arts as a first step to rebranding the nation.
“From the 60s to 70s, it was a period the country was rebranded by the art and artists but only a few understood what it meant then. Rigorous branding started in the 80s but still the society never acknowledged it. Unfortunately, other forces emerged to celebrate the art, and distorted its progress. NGA should be the first institution to be rebranded for this project. If it is an institution within the periphery of sciences, there would have been a befitting structure on ground,” Oloidi said.
Other participants who presented papers at the symposium were Prof Jacob Jari, Prof Frank Ugiomoh, Prof Osa Egonwa and Dr. Peju Layiwola.
When in March 2009, the rebranding Nigeria project was launched in Abuja, the then Information Minister, Professor Dora Akunyili, said: “Nigeria cannot wait until it solves all her problems before it can stand to give serious thought to re-branding its battered image. This is because our development is tied to our image. This negative perception has had destructive effects on our people and stymied our growth and national progress.” Former Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, who represented the late President Shehu Musa Yar’Adua at the occasion, said: ‘Let us resolve that we would no longer be held ransom by the fraudsters that give Nigeria and all of us a bad name and image.”
…As arts scholars talk on relevance of Phd
The ongoing debate on the appropriateness of Phd as a minimum pre-requisite for teachers in the university, especially in the art schools, raped at the symposium.
Prof Dele Jegede of Miami University, Ohio, US and Prof Ola Oloidi of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, expressed reservations on the functionality and relevance of the Phd earned by arts teachers in Nigerian universities. They wondered what are the goals of the doctorate curriculum in the studio? In what ways is a doctorate in studio art different from the Master of Fine Art? They said as much as the doctoral degree is a desired feat, it should not be tied to the growth of professional artists with terminal degree such as Master of Fine Art.
Oloidi said it is a calamity to the art and artist when Phd is a criterion for promotion of art teachers, noting that the tragedy of the matter is that more than half of Phd holders in art are not making the degree functional. He noted that such lecturers still dwell more on studio practice and less of scholarship. Oloidi lamented the sciencetification of art pointing out that research methodology in art project is incongruent with the need and relevance of art.
Prof Jegede, who presented a paper earlier at the distinguished lecture organised by NGA, said the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) mandate poses an important question that has not been tackled by the academic community: what is or will be the status of the MFA in the new order? Is it simply an advance degree that is on a lower level to the doctorate, as Nigerian institutions now seem to have regrettably acquiesced? Or is it a terminal degree at par with the doctorate, as it truly is?
According to Jegede, the debate about the relevance of the doctoral degree in studio art in the country might become circumlocutory in due course, unless ‘we have mechanisms that mandate that, ultimately, any home-grown degree is good only to the extent that it is not incestuous; does not cannibalise; extends the frontiers of knowledge; and is sufficiently rigorous to meet not only national but also global standards.
“NUC in my opinion, does not and should not have the last word on what terminal degrees belong to which field…We owe it to our country to ensure that rather than emphasise acquisition of prefixes without fixes, our degrees are competitive with the best that similar institutions have to offer,” he noted.
Prof Osa Egonwa of Delta State University, Abraka, said the NUC regulation on Phd degree is a blessing for the art teachers.
