For three days, scholars, historians and thespians converged on Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, to chart a new pathway on how to use culture to drive development in Africa and the Diaspora, reports Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME.
If the calibre of Nollywood stars at the International Cultural Festival and Colloquium held in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, is a measure of success, the event can pass for grade ‘A’ performance. Expectedly, the stars led by humour merchant, Chika Okpala of the New Masquerade fame, (Chief Zebrudaya) backed by royal fathers–King Amalate Johnnie Turner, the Obanema of Opume Kingdom, (who was represented) and King Alfred Diete Spiff, the Amanayanabo of Twon-Brass, added colour to the festival that attracted historians, academics, Pan-Africanists, activists and other experts drawn from Africa and the Diaspora.
The theme of the three-day event (November 26 to 28) was: Using Culture To Drive The Transformation of Africa And The Diaspora in a New Global Order. It was organised by Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAC) and Bayelsa State Ministry of Culture and Ijaw National Affairs in collaboration with the University of Port Harcourt.
The hitherto serene Peace Park, Yenagoa, venue of the festival was literarily ignited by colourful parade by the Nollywood stars and Enugu masqueraders. Among them were Pete Edochie, Patience Ozokwo, Keppy Ekpeyong, Alex Osifo, Ajibola Dabo, Charles Inojie, Francis Duru, Yakubu Abubakar, Ejike Asiegbu, Ejiro Okurime and Chinedu Ikedieze (Aki). Pupils of St. Jude Secondary School, Amarata, Yenagoa, Women Affairs School, University of Port Harcourt Alumni, Ekpe masquerades and Enugu State cultural troupe also featured in the parade.
Bayelsa Governor Seriake Dickson, represented by Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw National Affairs, Dr. Felix Tuodolor said the time has come for African leaders to use culture for diplomacy and development, noting that CBAAC must be prepared to drive the efforts.
Director-General, Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) Sir Ferdinand Anikwe has identified music, video, fabrics and food as means through which African culture is being internationalised.
He said Nigerian home videos have become popular and a reference point of cultural and social influence all over the world. He noted that through home videos, Africans and the rest of the world are picking up vocabulary of Nigerian languages.
“Diaspora Nigerians and Africans should endeavor as much as possible to promote African fabrics and food. This, in a way, has endeared African foods and fabrics to the hearts of most foreigners, which have become strong factors in their way of lives. This development is in tandem with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) view, that social transformation generally comprises change in existing parameters of a societal system, including technological, economic, political and cultural restructuring,” he added.
According to Anikwe, such lofty attempts by the artists, actors and creative writers need to be institutionalised and strengthened for more effect. African States, he said, must continue to harp and invest on artists and actors that have become the continent’s great cultural ambassadors. “Please permit me to state unequivocally that we can only underrate our culture at our own peril. We are witnesses to the impact that western culture has had on the minds of our youths through music, movies, novels, football, religion, internet activities, costumes and fashions. It is in this wise that we must remain eternally indebted to the fathers of African Literature such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, J. P. Clark, Ngugu Wa Thiongo, Chimamanda Adichie, and a host of others for pioneering African writers series with its robust cultural background, that capture the minds and attention of our youths,” he added.
But he observed that it is of great significance that the Western world has started showing enormous interest in studying and promoting African culture and history. He stressed that there is the need for Africa to recognise its cultural uniqueness and potentialities, package it properly, with the conscious objective of using it to influence the ways of lives of other peoples.
Continuing, he said: “This will ultimately lead to more recognition and economic benefit for the continent. African States need to evolve both policies and programmes for the internationalisation of her cultures through art, music, science and technology, education, tourism and diplomacy. Achieving this requires doing all it takes to revamp the spirit of our various cultures. It is in African cultures that the oneness of her peoples could be found. We therefore appreciate that the task before CBAAC and other culture agencies is to pursue the sustained and possibly, the aggressive promotion and preservation of African culture.”
Nollywood star Pete Edochie described the movie industry as second employer of labour after government noting that Goodluck Jonathan will invite him for the celebration of his re-election next year.
The colloquium held at Ijaw House auditorium, Yenagoa, featured papers on culture and cultural regeneration in Africa and the Diaspora, Culture and national development in Nigeria, Using culture to fastrack African development, The Nollywood industry in the promotion of national development, Re-engineering Pan African cultural studies in the Black Atlantic among other sub-themes.
In a communiqué issued at the close of the colloquium, organisers recommended:
•That the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), should intensify its efforts in the preservation of African culture most importantly, the re-introduction of the teaching of History in Nigerian schools;
•That CBAAC canvass for the de-colonisation of the already colonised African cultures, as this is a challenge to all Africans. This is to be done in partnership with the intelligentsia, artists, non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) and all allied agencies in Africa. This will make for self-reliance, in socio-economic and cultural affairs of African State;
•That CBAAC should develop a pathway through which the book can be used for new value-system development, since the values of the past are continuously being eroded;
•That a national policy be established for use of Bibliotherapy in value-system re-orientation for behaviour modification, and change within the society;
•That the National Censors Board, in collaboration with CBAAC and allied agencies, aim at censoring music dramatization to ensure nudity is reduced at production – editing stage, before public viewing on air;
•That CBAAC canvass for the establishment of a Department of African Studies that would cater for a purely African culture and the handling of African Traditional Affairs;
•Explore the possibility of incorporating traditional models of conflicts resolution devoid of modern adulteration, and institutionalizing these for use, in Africa;
•That gender must emphatically, not be a determinant in apportioning responsibilities. When men and women render services from their natural areas of responsibilities without discrimination, development results, borne out of the exploration of potentials inherent in synergy;
•That, films are capable of being used as instrument for making peace, and managing conflicts when scriptwriter, actor and director chose to make films that espouse pure culture, and ignore money-making.
