The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Spectacle

  • World Cup:  Spectacle of waste?

    Former Catholic pontiff, Pope John Paul II, once said: “Among all unimportant subjects, football is by far the most important”. Without any doubt, football is a global crowd puller, and presently the game’s most amazing spectacle, the FIFA World Cup, is on-going in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

    Since Uruguay hosted the first edition of the World Cup in 1930, during the era of revered FIFA President, Jules Rimet, the competition has continued to grow in leaps and bounds. From a 13-team event with which it started in 1930, it grew to become a 32-team affair during the1998 edition in France. Today, the World Cup commands a global TV audience in excess of one billion.

    Beyond remarkable changes in terms of rules governing the game, the World Cup has equally recorded enormous growth in financial terms. For instance, World Cup sponsorship increased from $2,000 in 1984 to $16 thousand in 1996. At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, 65% of the entire money that was spent on sponsorship was in sports. Additionally, 63% of the sponsorship in Germany 2006 was in sports while 80% of money spent on sponsorship in South Africa 2010 was equally in sports.

    The USA ‘94 edition of the World Cup was spiced with several innovations. For the first time in the game’s history, football matches were hosted in various cities across the country. In terms of economic benefits, the USA ’94 edition equally marked a huge turning point in the history of the event. In Los Angeles, where the final match between eventual winner, Brazil and Italy took place, the city’s economy benefitted to the tune of $623 million. The cities of New York, San Francisco and Boston equally made combined revenue of one billion and forty-five million dollars in the course of the competition. In terms of job creation, over 1,700 part-time jobs were created in the city of California alone during the preparation and duration of the tournament.

    The 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany was also a massive economic success. For instance, German tourism sector reportedly recorded a revenue increase in excess of over $400 million over the month of the World Cup alone. Similarly, about $3 billion was further injected into the German economy, in merchandise such as jerseys and other stuffs regarding the cup. Equally, over 500,000 new jobs were created before, during and after the competition. Hotels, restaurants, tourists’ centres and bars were full to capacity at all hours of the tournament, while over 15 million more spectators arrived in Germany than was initially anticipated.

    Without a doubt, football has become a money spinning sport across the globe. The organisation and management of football in Europe, for instance, is a multi-million dollars venture with all the teams running other sports related businesses. Indeed, all sorts of professionals-doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists, grass men, scouts, etc. are employed by the various teams in their drive for soccer glory. Therefore, football, in Europe, has gone beyond the mere recreational activity that it is in Nigeria. As a result of the excellent manner it is managed in Europe, youths across the continent have found in football a means through which they could use their talents to escape poverty. Thanks to football, players such as Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, among others, have become multi-millionaires before they clocked age 21.

    However, some critics have labelled the World Cup as a misplaced event that showcases unnecessary opulence in the face of abject poverty across the globe. Before the 2014 World Cup hosted by Brazil, opponents of the World Cup claimed that the over $14.5 billion spent by the country to host the competition could have been used to address the country’s rising poverty situation, education, healthcare and transport.  Prior to the event, a survey revealed that 61 percent of Brazilians were of the belief that hosting the World Cup was a “bad thing because it takes money away from public services.” Only 34 percent saw it is a “good project because it creates jobs.” The National Court of Auditors of Brazil concluded that public spending on the World Cup would be “enough money to pay the entire country’s annual Bolsa Familia [social welfare] bill twice over”.

    There are multiple revenue streams that exist for organizers, including gate receipts, merchandise sales, sponsorships and licensing agreements, but by far the biggest income flow comes from television rights. However, the governing bodies behind sporting events are taking an increasing share of these spoils, making it harder for even the most efficient local organizers to make money.

    According to experts, hosting the World Cup or any other major sporting event can boost a nation’s economy by attracting tourists, initiating important infrastructure projects and showcasing countries and cities as good places to do business. But the costs of achieving those noble goals appear to outweigh the economic benefits they produce. Before South Africa 2010 World Cup, around 450,000 tourists were anticipated to be in the country for the tournament.

    In the end, only two thirds showed up. Despite the reduced numbers, visitor spend increased by almost a quarter, but at a cost of acquisition to the South African government of up to $13,000. For roughly the same amount, the country could have paid the wages of the entire working age population for a week.

    In a book titled Soccernomics (2009), Professor Stefan Szymanski and Simon Kuper assessed the economic impact of hosting the World Cup and concluded that it is more of a waste. The duo revealed that Japanese and Korean governments expected that the 2002 Korea /Japan World Cup, which they co-hosted, could enhance their economies by a stunning $26 billion and $9 billion, respectively. However, after the event, there was slight mark of any such increase. The pair, therefore, concluded that hosting sports event does not really translate into prosperity for the people.  Rather, fortunes are spent to maintain the facilities, which sometimes give way to decay.

    This coupled with several allegations of shady deals between FIFA officials and soccer administrators from countries bidding to host the World Cup, cast serious doubt on the credibility of the competition as a worthwhile event.  Indeed, it has been alleged   that soccer administrators and politicians in some countries often use the World Cup project to enrich themselves at the expense of the sufferings masses.

    From whichever way it is viewed, the World Cup and indeed, football in general, remain a major rally point for youths across the globe. One only hopes that FIFA would look inward to address various administrative issues that could undermine the credibility of the game. In the meantime, we continue to savour the splendour and excitement of the beautiful game by joining the rest of the world a month of scintillating soccer artistry.

     

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa-Ikeja.

  • Parable of the press and the Nigerian spectacle

    This minute, the fable persists of Nigeria’s ‘crooked’ press. The incumbent government conceals the true nature of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ailment ‘to prevent the press from twisting the truth into lies’ and sensational news, it claims. In turn, a disenchanted public accuses the press of unpardonable rot and indolence.

    On radio, TV, social media and the newspapers, ‘critics of note’ berate the nation’s press. At the backdrop of this entitled rage, the public bemoans the descent of the press. Neighbourhood pubs pulsate with howls of liquor-smashed folk bemoaning the dearth of ‘investigative journalism.’ Pastors, Imams, labour leaders and self-styled activists mount the soapbox to bewail and flay the press. Political, corporate, intellectual and spiritual hoodlums weave a discordant melody of scorn and syndicated hatred.

    This gory imagery of the press however, reveals the core of the Nigerian persona. The press is crooked because it serves and hails from an infinitely corrupt, dishonourable and uncivilised society.

    The press afflicts Nigeria so because it is peopled by men and women sired by debauched tribes, degenerate communes and lineages. Show me a corrupt reporter and I will tell you captivating stories of ancestral filth and decadence, communal muck and insolence, institutionalized greed and selfishness.

    Were our families, communities, religious temples and other social institutions untainted by filth, the nation’s press would be free of unscrupulous characters – after all, they are every journalist’s bastions of socialisation.

    By its press, Nigeria suffers rebirth of degenerate image, an explosion of tarnished persona. The incumbent press fulfills our institutionalised tendencies, glorifying the rough edges of primordial vice and giving it a trendy tone.

    The Nigerian press painstakingly redefines journalism in society’s besmirched image because failure to do so is tantamount to career suicide or economic hara-kiri. Those who attempt to be ‘professional’ or ‘ethically different’ become unbidden martyrs on the nation’s altar of smut.

    Remember Dele Olojede, the Pulitzer-prized journalist. Having earned international acclaim for doing good journalism, he ventured into the nation’s amoral swamp with the swagger of an idealist. Olojede sought to create a professional medium as fabled Peter Pan sought purpose in mythic Neverland. NEXT, his brainchild was certainly imperfect, but it was a welcome alternative in a swamp of caged, commercialised media.

    Olojede’s dream suffered stillbirth; NEXT, for all its cheek and vaunted splendour, espoused the tenets of fragile fiction. Little wonder Nigeria flipped to ‘Epilogue’ one sheet after NEXT’s preface. Forget Olojede and his defunct NEXT, several ambitious professionals and ethical journalism have been interred on the famished paths, where tall dreams fade to snide realism.

    Yet Nigeria craves Renaissance Press. Government and the governed bemoan the dearth and  death of good journalism even as they plot and effect the murder of the journalist in the street. Need I recall the willful murder by society, of brilliant men and women by whose spark, journalism attained honour and a pride of place among most honorable callings?

    Society thwarts good, ethical journalism wherever it finds its random sprouts. Driven by varied, selfish interests, politicians, so-called ‘corporate titans,’ activists, NGO-entrepreneurs, clerics and several other classes of refined thieves and criminal masterminds, bemoan the death of a vibrant press at the backdrop of their frantic, coordinated struggle to tame and enslave the press.

    You must know that companies’ expend a large fortune via their Corporate Affairs Departments to ‘kill negative stories’ and ‘befriend the press.’ In the mix, big business endow the academia with massive funding to create and implement academic theories and experiments geared to tame and emasculate the press.

    And if you would look beneath the smokescreen of Public Relations’ ridiculous, dandy theories, you would find a devious, criminal and contemptible plot to hinder socially responsible, public service journalism.

    But while businesses exert sinful influence on the press, politicians own the press. Government departments, functionaries and  agencies ply the press with intimidating advertisements; governors, senators, council chairmen, the presidency among others, keep the press on a leash of ‘carrots’ and intimidating largesse, in desperate bid to ‘own the editors’ and ‘determine the news.’

    Lest we forget the journalists playing dumb to degenerate, vainglorious, overbearing Mullahs and ‘General Overseers (G.Os)’ or ‘Spiritual Daddies’ if you like. Nigeria should never forget how the nation’s Christian leadership goaded former President Goodluck Jonathan with deceptive, currency-activated prophecies to fulfill their decadent lust for mammon and hatred for Buhari, who they claimed would ‘Islamise Nigeria.’

    And marching in virtual lockstep with these shades of despicable characters is the country’s amoral, impoverished citizenry. Driven by greed and inexplicable malice, large sections of the citizenry foster and fulfill the savage lusts of the nation’s leadership. Hence their inclinations to serve as duplicitous pawns and cannon fodder to the ruling class’ firestorms.

    The humiliation of the journalist persists in the hands of his employer. Salaries still range from N15, 000 per month at entry level to N70, 000 per month at managerial level across most media. Just three media houses may claim exceptionality in this respect and this reality is known to the government, big business, advertisers and general public that the Nigerian journalist is an endangered species, haunted by his employer and tormented by the public he serves.

    These sad realities lead to daily exodus of skilled and promising hands from journalism and hourly influx of quacks, fortune hunters and blackmailers into the profession.

    Yet Nigeria demands a free and effervescent press, peopled by flawless professionals, inured to the ethics of investigative, public service journalism. Even as such admirable traits and unimpeachable character are rarely attributable to every segment of society.

    Nigeria’s critical mob, like the fabled treacherous rabble, seeks fulfillment of tyrant fantasies: the fantasies often vary between the destruction of an unpopular government, despot or worn-out civilization by the press. Reality however, affirms the duplicity of Nigeria’s critical mob.

    The latter is continually tamed and kept on a leash by a ruling class that capitalizes on its obvious handicaps: its impulsiveness, insensibility to reason and judgment, poverty of soul and intellect, its irritability and overt sentimentality – which are undeniably characteristic of beings belonging to inferior forms of evolution, like savages and carnivores.

    I stand corrected given the penchant of the citizenry to flout traffic rules, moot imprudent plots and decapitate one another driven by religious, ethnic bigotry.

    The Nigerian press won’t fulfill the society’s utopian fantasies. No. The press will continue to subvert Nigerians’ noble expectations of it in perfect understanding the society’s cultural shift from uncompromising morality to unbridled amorality and hedonism. The press won’t give society honest, developmental news because every segment of the society strives to unmoor the journalist from his role as a crucial appendage of the nation’s conscience.

    This minute, the press feeds society biased definitions of reality as determined by big business, government, looters, lobbyists and other civil society. Contemporary Nigeria embraces the emotional pageant that has turned news into paid publicity and mindless entertainment. The journalist in response, kowtows to lusts and vanities of modern society. The press understands that the call for good journalism is mere spectacle and display, a fulfillment of Nigeria’s lust for pagan ostentation. The press is you get is the press you deserve.

  • Spectacle as Owo celebrates Igogo festival

    Spectacle as Owo celebrates Igogo festival

    The men wore traditional attires. The women danced and sang the praise of their king. There was exchange of gifts. It was a rich display of culture as Owo indigenes thronged the town from within and outside the country for this year’s Igogo Festival. TAIWO ABIODUN reports.

    THERE was a loud ovation as he came out in his royal regalia. Clad in a beaded regalia, Ewu  Okun, the monarch had four white feathers (Urere Okin) attached to his  plaited hair.

    With coral royal beads on his neck, ankles and wrists, he danced skilfully to the admiration of his subjects. He also had with him his traditional sword (uda maloore), his shining metal gong and a retinue of his chiefs.

    It was the 2015 Igogo Festival and the Olowo of Owo, Oba David Victor Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi III, came out to be part of it all.

    Some climbed trees and rooftops. Others stood on brick fences and on vehicles as they struggled to have a glimpse of their monarch.

    It was a spectacle to behold as the monarch led traditional chants, with his chiefs chorusing. At intervals, High  Chief  Adeniyi Adewole, the Chief  Eminiken  of Owo,  would  raise his  voice in praises, chanting  panegyrics, such as Ologho! Baba o!  Orisa  ma  dimi s’Ologho,  tu wa pe hin waaa!”, meaning “Long  live  our  King!” The crowd would  respond “Baba O!”.

    Some titled  chiefs – both male and female – plaited their hair. Dressed in women  attires, they danced round the town visiting  their  friends and family members.

    Other chiefs wore wigs and  decorated their necks  and  ankles  with  coral  beads. There was no beating of the leather drum, or gunshots. Caps and head ties were forbidden, only the clanging of iron was allowed.

    Though it lacks the entertainment condiments used in spicing up most festivals, the traditional fiesta continues to feature diverse spectacles and a growing crowd. The yearly festival has become a season of union for the people of Owoland; this year’s edition was no different. It drew many from across the country and abroad.

     

    Festival history

     

    “The Igogo Festival has been in existence for over 600 years. It shows the cultural values that we have for our town. We call it a festival of love. During the period, we exchange gifts. It is an opportunity for those who are far and near to come home and see their parents, friends and beloved ones, and spread love,” the Olowo of Owo said.

    According to the him, the festival began during the reign of Olowo Regenjen. It was held in remembrance of Queen Oronsen, a mysterious woman who was loved by the king more than his other wives because of her beauty and her contribution to the progress of the town. Oral tradition has it that she used to excrete expensive coral beads of which the king used and even sold and which made the town to progress.

    As instructed, men are not to wear caps or women head-ties during the period. There is no shooting of gun and no beating of leather drums also.

     

    Dance at the market

     

    One of the rites of the festival is dancing in market by the monarch. This year, the Olowo danced to the Oja Oba (King’s Market), followed by a huge crowd. He danced seven times with the Akowa, a High Chief and spiritual leader of Iloro Quarters. During the ceremony, market women came out en masse to honour the king. In the evening of that day, a big ram was offered for sacrifice in replacement of human sacrifice used in the days of yore.

    According to Oba Olateru-Olagbegi, Igogo is a festival of peace. A few weeks before the festival, there were rumours that the monarch had jettisoned the festival because of his strong Christian faith.

    The monarch said there had been no attempt to stop the festival, saying:  “Igogo is part of our culture and we pray for the progress of everybody during the festival. It is a period when we preach peace because it is a festival of love.”

    On his part, Prince Lanre Olateru–Olagbegi said they were working on modalities to make the Igodo Festival one of Nigeria’s largest, like the Osun and Calabar festivals.

    One of the side attractions of the festival was 93-year-old Chief Fehintola Famulagun, who, despite her advanced age and health, said she would not miss celebrating the festival with her family. Even though she could no longer go out and dance round the town, Chief Famulagun said: “The festival is important and has to be observed. This is my 54th year I am celebrating it. I have vowed that it must be done. I have never missed the festival since I became chief in 1964. I am among the oldest chiefs that partake in this festival.”

    Like Chief Famulagun, the festival is dear to the hearts of the indigenes, especially those in Diaspora. Mr Tunde Onibode, who  flew  in from  abroad  and  facilitated the Omega  Schnapps sponsorship whereby drinks were offered freely at the palace,  called for government’s support. This, he said would make it richer and bigger.

     

    Dance of bare-chested men

     

    Another attraction at the festival was the display by the Iloro  Quarter  men, called the Ighares.  Half-naked  with  white  caps  on, they danced  round some  areas  in  the  ancient  town. Some held two dried horns of buffalo with which they struck each other. In  place  of  leather  drum,  they clung iron metals,  sang   songs  of  love   laced  with  proverbs  and  chanted  panegyrics  as  they  wriggled  their  waists.

    During their performance, a goat  that  strayed into the exclusive zone, crossed past  them was  chased, caught and became their delicacy. According  to  one  of  the  participants,  any  animal  that  passes during their performance would  be “arrested”  and  slaughtered as  their  sacrificial meat.

    The  aged  chiefs with feeble legs who  could  no  longer go  out celebrated in their homes.  They  cooked food and entertained visitors. Infact, some chiefs who were sick managed to participate. One of them, Chief Olusesi Osenepen, in his royal dress, said he left the hospital bed immediately he was discharged to  participate  in the  festival.

    His words:“I am happy that I am celebrating with Kabiyesi. I was sick but now I’m better.“

     

  • Easter Spectacle at National Theatre

    Easter Spectacle at National Theatre

    Remember Baba Sala (Moses Olaiya Adejumo) of the Orun Mooru fame? His large-size bow tie and bogus frame eye glasses? All this stood out last Sunday when his son, Emmanuel (Boy Sala), featured in a musical folk theatre performance Spectacle, reports Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME 

    Call it a truly rich musical folk-theatre you are correct. But if you also describe it as total theatre that speaks to all, you are not wrong. And true to its conceptual framework, National Troupe of Nigeria’s Spectacle offered Lagosians, especially fun-seekers another refreshing theatre performance that further promote unity among Nigerians fusing different artistic elements harmoniously to pass the timely message- unity and peace. From music to songs, dance, narratives, masks, chants and drama the Sunday bouquet witnessed seem less flow from one artistic element to another, thus offering a relaxed setting for the Easter celebration. Expectedly, the 90-minute four-part production attracted mostly teenagers, children, men and women including reverend fathers and sisters from the Catholic churches in Lagos. Venue was the Cinema Hall 2, National Theatre, Iganmu Lagos penultimate Sunday.

    Despite starting one hour behind schedule, the production took off with the presentation of 20-minute folk songs drawn from the East and Southsouth regions of Nigeria. Emmanuel Adejumo led 10-man musical ensemble was not only a thriller, but a flash back to old school music and dance steps. His attire also brought back memories of his father’s dress code: giant bow tie, bogus frame eye glass and a tobacco pipe to match.

    A slice of contemporary dance performance by couple dancers sent the audience into frenzy as the dancers thrilled everyone to a breathtaking aerobic show. In between performances such as contemporary music, duets and traditional music ensemble were rib-cracking jokes by Mallam Spencer.

    But the final part- Ajodun, which was the main menu of Spectacle did not fall short of the essence- colourful celebration laced with drumming, singing and dancing. At the centre of the stage is a giant Sator drum from Badagry that serves as common instrument for the drummers.

    Apart from the harmonious blend of diverse cultural heritage, Spectacle enjoys rich costumes and smooth rendition of the different songs.

    Artistic Director National Troupe of Nigeria, Mr. Akin Adejuwon, who was reacting ostensibly to the political situation in the country, said government has no space for vacuum and that Nigeria must move forward. He noted that National Troupe of Nigeria would continually improve the content of its programme in order to serve Nigeria better. “We hope to take some iconic theater performances outside for presentation,” he added while commending the audience for their support over the years.

    Spectacle is a musical folk-theatre in four parts. The thematic thrust is a national unity. However, the conceptual framework does not lie in the exposition of lyrics paying lip service to the unity of the people, but in the unification of dissimilar artistic backgrounds and materials into harmonious art form within real-time creative space.

    The two-fold concept of the creative unity lies in the fusion of the different artistic elements in performance- the unity of the elements of the African performative stage on one hand and on the other hand, the wholesome representation of our diverse cultural heritage on the national stage through the use of music, songs, dance, narratives, masks, chants etc.