‘How I climbed 2000ft mountain bare-footed’
After defying his father’s instruction never to climb the rocky mountain of Idanre, 10 year-old Sunday Akinwunmi, a JSS 11 student emerged the winner of the maiden Mare mountain climbing festival in Idanre. That feat has won him a state-sponsored scholarship up to university level. Little Sunday spoke with Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME how he achieved the feat.
From answering the call of nature on the rocky mountain of Idanre to participating in the Mare mountain climbing festival, ten year old Akinwunmi Sunday, a JSS II student of Methodist High School, Idanre last Friday emerged the winner of the maiden Mare mountain climbing festival in Idanre, Ondo State. The fifth child of a family of six, climbed to the top most part of Idanre Mountain within a record time ahead of others from the community that participated in the mountain climbing festival. Young Sunday was immediately received on the hill top by the professional mountaineers from Europe who got there before all others.
Speaking shortly after emerging winner, Master Sunday who wore a Chelsea Football Club’s regular blue T-shirt on a dirty white short said he did not undertake the mountain climbing purposely to contest but that he went up the hills to answer the call of nature. "I went up there to ‘shit’ when I saw people climbing the hill. I later joined them in the climbing which I did with my bare hands and feet because some parts of the hill are slippery. I had to move in between holes, trees and shrubs to overtake the older people who were also climbing. I met some monkeys and squirrels on the way up. At first, I was scared of encountering other dangerous animals because no body had climbed that far on the hills in recent time.
"Before the festival, I used to climb the hills regularly to make traps for rodents and hunt for snails. But I have never gone this far in climbing. I will continue to climb the hills in future festival so long as God spares my life," Sunday told The Nation. Few hours after, Sunday’s name became a household name in the rocky town of Idanre, as visitors, especially journalists sought to interview him.
In appreciation of his gallantry performance and courage, the Ondo State government awarded him a state-sponsored scholarship up to university level, and an all expenses paid trip to Europe for future exposure. Governor Olusegun Mimiko described Sunday as ‘exhibiting the traits of gallantry and courage of an average Ondo state youth.’ He said ‘Mare is about culture, tourism but Mare is also about scaling new heights, Mare is about doggedness, creativity, and courage; that is the new Ondo state.’
To his old father, Pa Akinwunmi Joseph, 70, who is a prophet with the C &S Church, Oke-Isegun, Idanre, Sunday’s feat was the handiwork of God because he has always warned his son never to go up the hill. "It is the work of God. Before he left for the hills, he was with me and I asked him to get me some water. Later, I heard the news that Sunday has been declared winner of the mountain climbing exercise. At first, I did not believe it because I have warned him many times never to go up the hill because of the danger. But now I am happy for him because God actually did it for him," Pa Akinwunmi said smiling.
According Ondo state commissioner for culture and tourism, Mr. Tola Wewe, the scholarship is awarded Sunday to enable him realise his potentials by first providing him free education up to university level. He said the sponsored trip to Europe is also to expand his horizon in order to make proper choice of career in life.
The maiden edition of Mare festival which ran from 17 to 19 December 2009 was initiated by ministry of culture and tourism in collaboration with a private tourism outfit, Motherland Beckons, to promote the assets of Idanre town and its scenic hills as a tourism destination. Mare is a coinage from (Mare Bo), a Yoruba word meaning don’t fall off. The festival also exhibited the local customs and traditions of the people through a carnival of dancing and drumming that drew participants from across all local councils in the state.
Speaking at the festival, the commissioner said the festival has opened various opportunities for Idanre people apart from being a rallying point for the celebration of mountain climbing.
"We are all here today for several reasons; there are those who are here to do business; to meet their loved ones, friends and to see the beautiful mountains surrounding Idanre. There are those who are here for the fun of it, they just want to be here to enjoy the music, dance, float that we are going to witness today. There are even those who are here to sell pure water; even some cynics are here, they just want to see what is happening, what we are doing here. All these summed up is tourism; this is what tourism is all about," he noted.
Wewe stressed that the era of oil is gradually fading-off; as the whole world is now investing on tourism and Ondo state cannot be left out. According to him, this is the time for Ondo State to invest on tourism. "What we are seeing today is a part of investment. As a matter of fact, it is like a farmer sowing some seeds. Investors, economists and business men will refer to what we have put into today’s programme as seed capital. So, whatever the amount we have spent on today’s programme is an investment and by the grace of God we shall reap it. Idanre is unique in terms of the physical structure and historically; there is no two cities like Idanre in the whole world. The history of Idanre too, is unique and it is on this note of its uniqueness that we have decided to partner with Motherland Beckons to organise this project called Mare. So, we are today investing on tourism, let us build Ondo state, and unite to invest on tourism," the commissioner said.
Netherlands honours legendary El Anatsui
•Wins Prince Claus Fund laureate for 2009
Four months after he was selected as one of the eleven recipients of this year’s Prince Claus Fund laureates, Prof. El Anatsui last Friday in Lagos received a cash prize of 25,000 Euros at an award ceremony, two days after the principal prize of 100,000 Euros was awarded to Colombian architect, Simon Velez in Amsterdam, Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports.
A few minutes before seven in the evening, guests were already seated in the reception hall of House 14 a/b, the Netherlands Embassy on Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos. And the occasion was the Prince Claus award presentation by the Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Arie van der Wiel. It was a well-attended ceremony that attracted diplomats, arts enthusiasts, collectors, artists, top government officials and art writers.
For Prof. El Anatsui, last Friday night was like harvest time for his exceptional contributions to visual arts as he received a cash prize of 25,000 Euros courtesy of Prince Claus Fund Award 2009. The award though funded by a foreign culture agency, further confirmed the great contributions many African arts scholars are making towards the growth of the global art culture.
Speaking at the ceremony, he said awards are not only what they represent or do, but are for the marketing of artists’ works. He noted that while awards are laudable they don’t alter the course of global aesthetics as Picasso and Vincent van Gogh did. Accordidng to him, some awards serve as public event while many create a new order in public space. To him, art is not only the joining of man and materials but about originality that points to new future.
The Ghana-born art scholar is a board of trustee member of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos.
He was honoured for the outstanding aesthetic and intellectual qualities of his creations; for his innovative use of materials to highlight the dialogue between culture and nature, and for his dedicated and inspirational role in the development of the visual arts in Africa.
Each year, individuals, groups, organisations or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to culture and development within the Prince Claus Fund’s area of interest receive the prize. The awards are given to individuals, groups and organisations around the globe, but primarily in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The principal award of 100,000 Euros was awarded to Colombian architect Simon Velez whilst 10 others received 25,000 Euros each. They included Santu Mofokeng (South Africa) Sammy Baloji (DR Congo) and Doual’art, an independent, non-profit organisation founded in 1991 that has revolutionised the art scene in Cameroon.
El Anatsui, born in 1944, is a beacon in contemporary African art. Graduating from Kumasi University of Science and Technology with art and art education degrees that focused on European traditions, he turned his attention to African aesthetics. Each year, the Prince Claus Fund invites an expanding network of colleagues, partners and experts in fields relevant to the fund’s mission to nominate candidates, offer insights and give second opinions on the proposed candidates. Nominations were received for this year’s awards. Documentation and research on the nominations were considered at a meeting of the awards committee on December 4, 2008, A shortlist was established and the staff of the fund’s bureau then carried out further research and gathered extensive second opinions from advisors in the fund’s network. On May 27 and 28, 2009, the awards committee met again for an in-depth assessment of the shortlisted candidates and the jury selected eleven recommended recipients for this year’s Prince Claus awards.
El Anatsui: His work, life
In 1998, a book, EL ANATSUI: A Sculpted History of Africa was co-authored by John Picton with Gerard Houghton, Yukiya Kawaguchi, Elisabeth Lalouschek, Simon Njami and Elizabeth Péri-Willis. Highly regarded in Africa, where he is considered to be one of the leading sculptors of his generation, El Anatsui is rapidly establishing a wide international reputation. Chosen to represent the African continent at the 44th Venice Biennale in 1990, he has since participated in many exhibitions abroad – in England, Germany, Japan, the United States and Brazil – and is a leading contributor to a number of international workshops for artists. While there have been numerous articles that deal with his impressive body of work, this book represents the first attempt to draw together, under a single cover, the many aspects of El Anatsui’s singular career. The book offers those interested in the expanding field of modern art, as well as readers particularly interested in contemporary African art an overview of El Anatsui’s career and an analysis of his work to date. The various texts are complemented by carefully selected colour reproductions of his work. Just as El Anatsui is concerned with the hidden histories of different cultures, so too this volume is a composite tissue woven from different sources and written in different languages. The contributors are John Picton, Reader in African Art at SOAS, University of London; Gerard Houghton, writer and linguist at the October Gallery; Yukiya Kawaguchi, Curator at the Setagaya Art Museum of Tokyo; Elisabeth Lalouschek, Artistic Director of the October Gallery; Simon Njami, Editor of Revue Noire, Paris, and Elizabeth Péri-Willis, an expert on West African visual artistic practices.
Anatsui on materials
"About six years ago I found a big bag of liquor bottle tops apparently thrown away in the bush. At the time I was searching for a pot monument (pillars of stacked pots, each of which represents bereavement in the village) that I had seen decades before in that locality. I kept the bottle caps in the studio for several months until the idea eventually came to me that by stitching them together I could get them to articulate some statement. When the process of stitching got underway, I discovered that the result resembled a real fabric cloth. Incidentally too, the colours of the caps seemed to replicate those of traditional kente cloths. In effect, the process was subverting the stereotype of metal as a stiff, rigid medium and rather showing it as a soft, pliable, almost sensuous material capable of attaining immense dimensions and being adapted to specific spaces.
"To me, the bottle tops encapsulate the essence of the alcoholic drinks which were brought to Africa by Europeans as trade items at the time of the earliest contact between the two peoples. Almost all the brands I use are locally distilled. I now source the caps from distillers around Nsukka, where I live and work. I don’t see what I do as recycling; I transform the caps into something else. If there is a direct link between the bottle tops and the fabric cloths, it is probably the fact that they all have names linked to events, people, historical or current issues. Take Ecomog gin: this refers to the regional military intervention force which brought the wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia to an end. The brandy called Ebeano (meaning ‘where we are now’) references a popular electioneering slogan from the last political polls in the state in which I live. Similarly, kente cloths are given names like takpekpe le Anloga (conference at Anloga) or can be named after a personality. Fading cloth is more of a formalistic name, with the full blooded reds at the top and bottom of the cloth yielding to creams and other pale colours in the centre. Flattening and stitching the caps is laborious and repetitive – a very different process to my earlier work using power tools on wood. I have several assistants working with me, and we start with strips and eventually assemble them into the final composite results. The process of stitching, especially the repetitive aspect, slows down action and I believe makes thinking deeper. It’s like the effect of a good mantra on the mind."
Developing culture workers for improved productivity
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Tourism, Culture and National Orientation Minister, Senator Bello Jubril Gada, has charged culture workers to be properly educated on the national cultural agenda vis-a-vis their roles as important stakeholders in the nation’s desire to make culture a key sector for economic growth. He said culture could contribute significantly to national wealth creation, job creation, and poverty alleviation, if the nation’s resources are effectively mobilised.
The minister, who was represented by a director in the ministry, Chief George Ufot, spoke at a recent workshop organised by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), on repositioning Nigerian culture workers for improved productivity held at the Hamdala Hotel, Kaduna. He stressed that the culture and tourism sector of the economy is critically relevant to the achievement of President Yar’ Adua’s seven- point agenda and the realization of vision 20-2020. He noted that as professionals in the sector, workers have a critical role to play in harnessing the cultural resources for economic gains. "We are fully convinced that if our cultural resources are adequately and effectively harnessed they will be a credible alternative to crude oil," he added.
In his address, the executive secretary of NICO, Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma, said the three-day workshop was conceptualised as a platform where professionals in the culture sector at the federal, state and local government levels meet annually to be kept abreast of developments and trends in the sector so as to enhance their productivity.
He noted that there are problems professionals have to grapple with, which he said, include wrong perception of culture by policy makers and top government officials, degeneration in values, growing decline in the use of indigenous languages, formidable threats to cultural identity and national pride posed by globalisation and the urgent need to make culture responsive to the clarion call for a diversified economy.
The workshop which featured eight speakers, resolved in a communiqué that ‘culture should be properly repositioned to its central role in national development; Nigeria should embark on cultural revolution before economic revolution like China, Japan and Korea to bring out the best values in her citizens; the government should undertake well-funded researches and documentation of all aspects of our culture to preserve it for the education of the future generation.’
It also resolved that ‘Nigeria’s cultural tourism potentials should be adequately harnessed through proper exposure of festivals, fiestas and sites, continuous interface of internal/domestic tourism that generates the inflow of international tourists and the adoption of the one village, one product strategy; culture should be placed at the centre of development; and that Nigeria can advance its image and relationship with the rest of the world through cultural diplomacy by promoting the positive aspects of things that are distinctively Nigerian in music, sports, art works, movies, clothing, cuisine and literature.’
Among speakers at the workshop were Prof. Olu Obafemi, Dr. Elizabeth Ben-Iheanacho, Prof. A. Adelakun, Prof. Barth Oshionebo, Dr. A. Olaoye, Dr. Mohammed Inuwa Buratia, Dr. Abba Gana Shettima, and Dr. Douglas Anene.
The Woman of Calabar goes on screen
The myths and misconceptions surrounding The Woman of Calabar will soon be uncovered for many Nigerians in their living rooms when the TV adaption of the Elechi Amadi’s play, The Woman of Calabar comes on air. Beyond that, the TV drama will bring to the fore issues of unity and love in a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria, reports Assistant Editor Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME.
After years of stage presentations, Elechi Amadi’s The Woman of Calabar is being adapted for television in the second quarter of next year. The adaption of the play is being carried out by Bode Alao of the Kaymouzo Productions, a Lagos-based company. The production of the 13-episode TV serial, set in Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Calabar, has since commenced. It will feature popular artistes, such as Ngozi Nwosu, Tina Mba, Toyin Osinaike, Omobogogo Ombo, Emmanuel Ozzi, Ify Omalicha, Charles Iluluodu and Egechi Elechi Amadi.
Produced by Mrs. Victoria Emamouzo Ajayi and directed by Jide Alli, the serial brings to mind the erroneous beliefs and misconceptions about certain ethnic groups and people in the post-colonial Nigeria. It tells the intriguing story of a young Nigerian graduate surveyor, Eme, who falls in love with Adia, a ravishing beautiful girl of Efik extraction in Calabar, Cross River State.
But Eme’s mother, the over-protective Debo Akrika, would not have her only son get married to a Calabar girl. Mrs. Akrika’s anxieties are not unconnected with the age-long perceptions, which ascribe witchcraft and fetish inclinations to the average Calabar maiden. Worse still, the sad memory of Debo’s brother who suffered a cruel fate, allegedly in the hands of a Calabar lady, lingers. The above are the undercurrents that set the stage for a confrontation between Mrs. Akrika and Adia.
Despite the confrontation, two botched attempts to separate the lovers (Eme and Adia) set the stage for the final showdown between the Calabar woman and her estranged would-be mother-in-law. The Woman of Calabar is filled with romance, suspense, and a display of wits. Interestingly, the encounter between Mrs. Akrika and Adia culminates in a revelation that fosters a quick resolution of the conflict. The drama explores the theme of love and ethnic hatred.
Speaking on location in Lagos, Mrs. Ajayi said there is always a message in Elechi Amadi’s works and that the author is her role model. She noted that he plays around the many myths about a Calabar woman in the play.
Ngozi Nwosu (Mrs. Akrika) observed that the quality of the script spurred her interest in featuring in the production, saying the cast is equally very good and committed. She, however, warned the young producer to be passionate about the job otherwise she would be frustrated by many obstacles, especially funding.
On the message of the TV drama, Nwosu stressed that in these days of global village everyone should follow his or her heart and let love be no respecter of ethnic, religion or race.
Seventeen-year-old Egechi, daughter of Elechi Amadi, who is appearing on TV drama for the first time, said she was scared at first when given the script of the play. "But I was excited too to be part of the play because I enjoy the play. However, being Elechi Amadi’s daughter is a lot of burden for me because people expect a lot from you in terms of morality, behaviour and intelligence," she added.
For Ify Omalicha, at first, acting the role of a 19-year-old girl was her biggest challenge in the production of The Woman of Calabar. She has, however, overcome that after a series of researches on the Calabar woman and her myths, especially her memories of her father’s short stay in Calabar as a bachelor.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Giving hope to the hopeless, SONTA in fresh drive, Bamako encounter, Nollywood
Giving hope to the hopeless
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
It is common knowledge that activities of most non-governmental organisations are targeted at city dwellers to the detriment of the rural communities who are the most deprived of the basics of life. This trend was recently reversed at Igarra in Akoko Edo local council area of Edo state when Ningim Hope Alive Foundation organised a three-day free medical (cancer and health life style) campaign for the people. With the theme; Community health our concern, hundreds of old men, women and children from Igarra and its environs were treated of different ailments ranging from appendicitis, to eye defects, hernia, as well as screenings for HIV/AIDS, cervical and breast cancer for free. The 18- man team of medical staff that attended to the people during the campaign held between November 10 and 12, 2009 was led by Dr. Okey Okoroji, an ophthalmologist, and supported by Dr. R.E Bello of the Igarra General Hospital.
It was the first in recent time that the people of Igarra and its adjoining communities in Edo, Delta, Ondo and Kogi states would be privileged to such a comprehensive free health services courtesy of an NGO.
President of Ningim Hope Alive Foundation, Dame Tumini Akogun, said as a result of the increasing demands and huge turn out of people from the communities, the campaign was extended by another day in order to attend to every complaint. She said moving around with the first lady, Hajia Turai Yar’ Adua influenced her a great deal especially on medicare. “I saw the zeal and responses of the people and their need for the treatment. But when I started, I did not know how much it would cost me. But the more I continue, the more the zeal to do. Many of the rural people have been carrying and living with the diseases for years without any hope for cure. And because some could not afford fifteen thousand naira, they could not get treated. I am happy that I did the programme, she added.
Ningim Hope Alive Foundation is not only concerned with health of women and children. It is equally concerned with reducing mortality rate among youths, children and women as well as empowering them because they are mostly affected by poverty. Through the awards of scholarship to indigent students, it is also promoting literacy among these people.
She said every individual deserves to be empowered in order to achieve his true potentials and that her foundation is set to impact on the life of the people by promoting community health. She added that the fight against cancer cannot be overlooked as many of the people especially the rural women are falling prey to the deadly scourge.”Cervical cancer is today one of the leading causes of death amongst our people. It is stated that every year half a million new cases and a quarter of a million deaths are experienced and Sub Saharan Africa bears over 80 percent of the burden. The most effective way to curb this is by early detection and treatment, Akogun noted.
She therefore urged all women to partake in the free medical exercise because early detection saves life and could only be if women submit themselves to screening at every given opportunity. She said it was with the realization that most women could not afford the screening that made her NGO underwrite the cost thereby delivering the services free of charge.
Continuing, she said: “I encourage you to take advantage of the free medical delivery that is taking place. Our partners are here to give treatment to the sick, eye check up, eye glasses, drugs and even surgeries. I decided to bring this programme home to give you the opportunity to be well without going to spend your meager resources going to native doctors or living in fear all your life or even blaming your relations and in-laws for attacking you with witchcraft meanwhile you could just be suffering from cancer or any other disease. But I felt satisfied that people got treated but unhappy that many are yet to be attended to. So, my zeal to do more keeps me going on.”
Among dignitaries that attended the campaign include wife of senate president, Mrs. David Mark, who represented the first lady, HajiaTurai Yar Adua, the minister of health, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin represented by Mr. Greg Izuwa, the director-general of Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Ify Omenyi, who was also represented and representatives of several women organizations, Peoples Democratic Party women leaders in the state and local council.
SONTA in fresh drive for professionalism
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
The newly elected executive of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA), led by Prof. Emmanuel S. DanDaura rose from a recent interactive session with arts writers in Abuja more determined on the need to reposition theatre practice, make its abundant human resources available for national development as well as initiate a regulatory framework for the practice of the profession in the country. The gathering that was attended by some past and present executive members of SONTA and senior theatre art scholars from various universities unanimously agreed that the association, which is the umbrella body for theatre practitioners in the country, is perceived to be asleep except during its convention.
Worried by this erroneous impression, the current president of the association, Prof. DanDaura said its executive would soon embark on networking and consultation with other theatre practitioners across the country with a view to come up with a bill that would be presented to the National Assembly for the regulation and promotion of standard practices in the profession. He said the association is long overdue for a regulatory framework and a proper instrument for the regulation of the practice, which is why the National Endowment for the Art (NEA), has been elusive these past years. “As a professional body, there are lots of talents in our fold that are being under-utilised. Sixty professors of theatre arts are with SONTA who are grossly under-utilised. We need to make them available to tap from. This is part of the philosophy of the new executive,” he added.
Prof. Ayo Akinwale observed that despite the wrong notion that the association has been inactive SONAT has not only been publishing journals that cover news on current research findings but working hard to uplift the profession. He cited the prompt response of the association to the rumoured sale of the National Theatre complex in Lagos and the split of the National Troupe of Nigeria and National Theatre management boards by federal government. He however warned that if SONTA must make impact on government, ‘we must talk with one voice so long as we are ready to face the challenges confronting the association.’ This was corroborated by the deputy vice chancellor of University of Jos, Prof. Dauda Enna Musa, who disclosed that Nigerian theatre journal is one of the Educational Trust Fund listed journals for publication on indigenous researches. He noted that more than ever before, art would face more challenges because of sciences.
In his contribution, one of Nigeria’s leading theatre scholars, Prof. Kalu Uka, enjoined the practitioners to make the profession visible at the post primary school level in order to have a steady and continuous flow of interest from that level of academic training. He regretted that SONTA lost out in the struggle to realize this objective saying, ‘I hope SONTA will not fail in this effort again.’
He stressed that the concern of the association is not the quacks but the need to have an academy that would lift the profession because Nigerians love entertainment. He described Nollywood phenomenon as gap filler that was very necessary at the time it came.
Continuing, he said: “It is time we started honouring our own stars deliberately so. What is happening in Nollywood is because there is no alternative. We need independent sources of funding for SONTA to thrive. We can’t let theatre die.”
‘Poor funding bane of cultural development’
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
Executive Secretary of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma has blamed the seeming failure of some government’s programmes on inability of the initiators to take cognisance of the cultural relevance of such programmes to the peoples’ need. He said for any development to be meaningful and impactful, the implementation must take into consideration the cultural background of the people adding that in global economy, the place of culture is very vital to human and physical development. He observed that unfortunately, government is yet to appreciate the vital role NICO could play in orientation projects.
Ayakoroma who assumed office as executive secretary of NICO early last month for a first four year tenure explained that NICO is not all about training culture workers but to change peoples’ orientation towards dress culture, food and language as a well as making people accept government policies and programmes.
He therefore assured that all NICO programmes are carried out to further bring NICO to the reality of Nigerians noting that what comes to minds of Nigerians when NICO is mentioned is orientation and it still sounds new.
“We are alive to our responsibility. We have the personnel to get the result. All we need is give directions. There are many programmes on ground and we are going to ensure that all are carried out to bring NICO to the reality of Nigerians. In fact, there are many areas we can key into. The dredging of the lower Niger River is one of such programmes and there are many ways to enlighten the communities in that region. We will continue to enhance our visibility in national and international levels. Also, we would explore the various opportunities in UNESCO for effective performance and growth,” Ayakoroma said.
He stressed that his new management team are reading up what is on ground and building on them for continuity citing the recently concluded workshop, Repositioning culture workers for greater productivity held in Hamdala Hotel, Kaduna featuring both state and federal government culture workers as one major events for the year ending.
Commenting on the recurring complaint of poor funding of national arts events like NAFEST and Abuja Carnival by some states, the former executive director at Bayelsa Council for Arts and Culture recalled that over the years, resources accruing to Bayelsa State continued to dwindle thus affecting the level of funding of cultural events. He however noted that that is not an excuse for failure or poor funding of culture events adding that it is possible to work ahead of time in order to prepare well. According to him, since preparations are always adhoc, states must assist culture directors so that they are not overstretched.
“For this year’s zero budget allocation for Abuja Carnival, the plight of the carnival is that they are victims of circumstances. Holding the carnival is like squeezing water out of stone,” he noted.
The author Dance On His Grave and A Matter Of Honour, who led Bayelsa to this year’s NAFEST in Minna Niger State, is full of praises for his state art council saying ‘they gave me the leverage to be at NICO.’ He said he would miss the council but that though he might not be there in person, he would be with them in spirit. Little wonder he pledged the cooperation and support of NICO to the Bayelsa Council for Arts and Culture in the areas of research and documentation of cultural materials when the council management team paid him a visit in Abuja recently. He said he was ready at all time to support the state council in ensuring that it achieved its objectives especially being its immediate past executive director.
In her response, the acting executive director of Bayelsa Council for Arts and Culture, Mrs. Payeboye Festus-Lukoh also pledged support of her council in assisting NICO achieve its objectives noting that NICO should see her council as an extension of NICO in Bayelsa.
Bamako Encounters artistic rebirth
Unlike the Europeans who in 1989 disengaged themselves from the old principle of border intangibility, Africans are still enmeshed in the dilemma of geo-political borders that were created at the Berlin conference in 1884 among colonial powers. Today, the Bamako Encounters 2009, the African photography biennale is attempting at moving beyond those treaties and conventions by using visual art-photography, video and installations by 40 artists from across Africa and the Diaspora to address the many border-related issues on the continent. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME who was at the biennale reports
For every passing day since the formal opening of the Bamako Encounters 2009, the eight edition of the African photography biennale on November 7, more artists, arts writers, curators and collectors of contemporary African art have continued to converge on the city of Bamako, Mali to consciously examine the multiple issues surrounding borders (complex realities or imagined) as they affect the life of Africans. And their tools are cultural products like photographs; video and installations produced as either documentaries of personal experiences, realities of time and or imagined scenarios. This year’s biennale with the theme, Borders, is holding mainly at the Musee National, Bamako and other centers across the city and for the next one month (November 7 to December 7).
Featuring symposia and conferences, post-production workshops, portfolio readings and public screenings, the annual biennale, which started in 1994 has acted as catalyst for creativity in photography as well as helped pushed many African photographers to international market. Importantly, this year’s biennale that is being directed by the duo of Michket Krifa and Laura Serani, both female artistic directors, is expected to open a fresh page in a world that appreciates the shared wealth of its cultural diversity and an art market of equality.
With these, the theme is approached from different angles by the participants in order to measure the scope of the border issues in Africa in particular and across the globe. “At times transfigured and interpreted by artistic views that combine imaginary and real, personal witness and narrative, this topic always arouses ethical concerns and reflects the deep conscience and commitment that are manifest in all the artists, which we are happy to share,” according to the artistic directors.
Square Rocks by Kader Attia, an Algerian/France photographer appears to be one of the favourites. It is on the cover design of the biennale brochures, posters and banners. It is a photograph of Bab El-oued beach, a poor district in Algiers where youths spent summer vacations watching the coming and going of ships that link Algeria and Europe. The beach has huge rock constructions that separate them from the continent of their dream as well as imprison them in their reality. Beyond that, the photographs reveal lust for the unknown, anxiety, hope and dream of the youths sitting atop the rocks. And the endless horizon of the sea which forms the background and depth of the pictures, illustrates the fantasy and uncertainty on the other side of the borders.
Also striking and touching are two works; A sense of common ground and A camel for the son by Fazal Sheikh displayed at Musee du Bamako. The two pieces recount the life of the inhabitants of refugee camps in Kenya following the political crisis in Somalia. The photographs done over a period of ten years are the artist’s denouncement of the living conditions of the refugees. In A camel for the son, Sheikh captures the aerial view of the hundreds of camps housing over 45,000 Somali refugees including under nourished children and their mothers.
Of all the exhibits at the main exhibition hall of Musee National, Bamako, World mosaic by a Burkina Fasso photographer, Saidou Dicko, which shows a mosaic of miniature blurred pictures of human and animal figures arranged in linear format in ten layers stand out both in concept and presentation. Symbolically, the piece depicts a world without borders, ‘a travel diary wherein people will be able to travel without visas in an imaginary world of pictures’ that shows viewers what they want to see. While Dicko’s piece might be focusing on physical border challenges, that of Nigerian artist, Andrew Esiebo, Living queers in Africa, a video presentation on homophobia and its consequences attempts at drawing attention to internal discriminations among people living under one roof. Esiebo’s video presentation is enhanced by a soothing Afrobeat music backed by a fluent narration by the child victim. But the poor visual, almost erases the impact and relevance of the video. Like the other two video works, there are no enough elements to engage viewers other than the documentary format. The real art in them seems to be lacking, which makes the content unchallenging to the viewers.
Perhaps on the extreme, Majida Khattari’s Veiled, Unveiled is a strong illustration of the increasing threat of suicide-bombers in some parts of the globe, a development that also relates to border issues. But in fashion format, Khattari shows photographs of women covered and partially covered as a reflection on how lace and backdrop were used when Algerian elders paint Parisian women models on one hand and their use by suicide bombers on the other. According to the artist, ‘each pose becomes a face-to-face encounter with a mirror where the other’s impurity face dwells. Erasing impurity and regaining the illusion of purity: this is how the suicide-bombers in the last two pictures jump out at us.’ The two pictures Handbags and Women martyrs, show two ladies covered with veils, but behind their lace is what looks like a green hand grenade.
Again, human trafficking and prostitution, which are recurring social problems among many African nations, find space at the biennale. London-based Nigerian
photographer George Osodi shows in his photographs the extent many youths, especially girls go to migrate to the West, even at the risk of crossing the desert on foot or the Mediterranean with old small boats.
In Benin City, Osodi chronicles the rituals of blessing and cleansing some desperate girls go through in their homeland preparatory to searching for the greener pastures in Europe. Unfortunately, they knowingly undertake the journey to become companions of men in foreign lands, which of course is not without big price. Osodi shows in his collection, a blow by blow account of the series of rituals that start from consulting Ifa oracles, to bathing by the river bank, offering sacrifices to water goddess for blessings and returning to the cold street of Europe waiting for customers at night. All these are in the name of making money to break the poverty boundary.
For installations, there is a conspicuous one mounted opposite the entrance to the main exhibition hall. It is a commercial lorry made from found objects and loaded with personal effects both within and atop the vehicle that has become cynosure of eyes. The passengers inside are sculptural pieces of human figures reflecting a typical overloaded commercial lorry that are common place in most cities in Africa. From the loading pattern, there is total disregard for order, balance and safety of the occupants of the vehicle. Perhaps it is to depict what many go through when crossing borders either as traders or as refugees.
All through the exhibiting halls at the different venues, the works were well curated except for some few like the video. Also lighting of the halls was adequate thus enhancing the illumination and viewing of the works.
But while major players in world art market are focusing attention of the Bamako Encounters, the local public appears apathetic showing little or no interest in the various activities going on in the city. From one venue to another each day, you see the same group of guests, mainly from France and a handful of other Africans and those from the Diaspora. Even on the opening day, the Musee National premises were overrun by Europeans making observers to wonder for whose interest the biennale is being organised. Ordinarily, one expects to see apart from the few government functionaries, a good representation of the art community in Mali, especially the student’s artists and the general public at the opening. Granted sponsors and partners should be visible at such programmes, but the overall essence of the event will be lost if the man on the streets and students in schools are not showing enough interest.
Little wonder the managing director of the biennale, Mr. Samuel Sidibe, agreed that mobilizing the interest of the local public has been a big and difficult challenge to the biennale. “This challenge is one that many biennales on the continent have to face. It is a difficult question, the solution of which can be found in multiple long and mid term approaches,” he said. Sidibe however identified the search and development of local partnerships to finance the biennale as part of mobilizing the local audience. “Partnership with the local press and the reinforced presence of the continental press should contribute to giving the biennale a stronger visibility on the national and international scenes,’ he noted stressing that while the mobilization is still modest, it represents a veritable hope if the biennale is to take roots.
In terms of representation of the African regions, the organisers might have featured the size of participants their budget could accommodate. However there is room for improvement in future editions. The eight biennale is organised by the ministry of culture in Mali in collaboration with Culturesfrance, Paris, with financial, technical and media supports from many local and international corporate bodies.
A group of ten Nigerian photographers, Invisible Borders 2009 added extra spice to the biennale as they opened fresh windows to the issue of border, especially between Lagos-Bamako. They completed their road travel from Lagos to Bamako in six days as against a projected three days. The group left Nigeria on Tuesday and arrived Bamako the sixth day. The photographers include Uche James Iroha, Lucy Azubuike, Emeka Okereke, Amaize Ojiekere, Uche Okpa Iroha, Ray Daniels Okeugo, Unoma Geise, Chris Nwobu, Nike Ojeikere and Charles Okereke.
At a video presentation of their experiences, the group summed up that the objective of ECOWAS appears defeated given the multiple hindrance created by immigration officials at each border. “To us the essence of ECOWAS is rubbish going by happenings at the borders,” Emeka Okereke, said on behalf of the group.
Nollywood takes centre stage at Bamako biennale
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
In Bamako, Mali many people claim to know and appreciate the phenomenal growth of Nigeria’s Nollywood. From the guest participants at the on-going Bamako Encounters 09, the African photography biennale, to the local artists and the public they can conveniently recall many names of popular Nigerian movie stars with ease.
But at one of the opening exhibitions at the Palais de la Culture in Bamako, the myths and archetype that characterise the Nollywood were recreated in Pieter Hugo’s photographs, Nollywood, that tell more of horrifying scenes than entertaining while attempting to erase the boundary between fiction and documentary. The South African is featuring under Michael Stevenson Gallery as guest gallery at the biennale.
The exhibition is also featuring photographs by Angele Etoundi Essamba’s Mother Earth and Jean Depara’s Les annees Kinshasha among others. Expectedly, Hugo’s Nollywood shows the most explicit and obvious examples of how he as a photographer directly engages with fictions rather than facts. The work is the result of his exploration of the Nigerian film industry, and all of the photographs were purely make-up with the help of others. Where, if not pure fiction, will you find a man in a suit stands barefoot over a bleeding bull? Like the Hollywood space movies, the power of make-belief is the key instrument, but unfortunately, the bizarre is what fascinates Hugo.
The questions many are asking are: What is the artistic essence of the works, what are the messages contained for viewers and how contextual are these fictive and negative imageries?
According to a critic the ‘images are both surreal and disconcerting, but allude to their own falsity so overtly that the viewer can immediately decipher their fictive nature, and can clearly understand that these are ‘subjects imagined’ rather than documented. That said, the pictures remain incredibly provocative, at least to a Western eyes, expressly because they present graphic, violent and unnerving myths and symbols, which are deeply embedded in our understanding of contemporary Africa itself.’
To a large extent, Hugo has simply reaffirmed that photographs are simply the realisation of the photographer’s own prejudices and preconceptions, because these works on Nollywood are collective imaginings, shared by both the so-called ‘actors’ portrayed and the intended audience. Nollywood, like Hyena series, provokes questions, demands attention and is a bundle of controversy.
But there lies a potential window for Nigerian photographers to look beyond commercial photography and tap into the abundant issue based documentaries that will educate Nigerians as well to make the world understand and see us through our own lenses.
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
It is common knowledge that activities of most non-governmental organisations are targeted at city dwellers to the detriment of the rural communities who are the most deprived of the basics of life. This trend was recently reversed at Igarra in Akoko Edo local council area of Edo state when Ningim Hope Alive Foundation organised a three-day free medical (cancer and health life style) campaign for the people. With the theme; Community health our concern, hundreds of old men, women and children from Igarra and its environs were treated of different ailments ranging from appendicitis, to eye defects, hernia, as well as screenings for HIV/AIDS, cervical and breast cancer for free. The 18- man team of medical staff that attended to the people during the campaign held between November 10 and 12, 2009 was led by Dr. Okey Okoroji, an ophthalmologist, and supported by Dr. R.E Bello of the Igarra General Hospital.
It was the first in recent time that the people of Igarra and its adjoining communities in Edo, Delta, Ondo and Kogi states would be privileged to such a comprehensive free health services courtesy of an NGO.
President of Ningim Hope Alive Foundation, Dame Tumini Akogun, said as a result of the increasing demands and huge turn out of people from the communities, the campaign was extended by another day in order to attend to every complaint. She said moving around with the first lady, Hajia Turai Yar’ Adua influenced her a great deal especially on medicare. “I saw the zeal and responses of the people and their need for the treatment. But when I started, I did not know how much it would cost me. But the more I continue, the more the zeal to do. Many of the rural people have been carrying and living with the diseases for years without any hope for cure. And because some could not afford fifteen thousand naira, they could not get treated. I am happy that I did the programme, she added.
Ningim Hope Alive Foundation is not only concerned with health of women and children. It is equally concerned with reducing mortality rate among youths, children and women as well as empowering them because they are mostly affected by poverty. Through the awards of scholarship to indigent students, it is also promoting literacy among these people.
She said every individual deserves to be empowered in order to achieve his true potentials and that her foundation is set to impact on the life of the people by promoting community health. She added that the fight against cancer cannot be overlooked as many of the people especially the rural women are falling prey to the deadly scourge.”Cervical cancer is today one of the leading causes of death amongst our people. It is stated that every year half a million new cases and a quarter of a million deaths are experienced and Sub Saharan Africa bears over 80 percent of the burden. The most effective way to curb this is by early detection and treatment, Akogun noted.
She therefore urged all women to partake in the free medical exercise because early detection saves life and could only be if women submit themselves to screening at every given opportunity. She said it was with the realization that most women could not afford the screening that made her NGO underwrite the cost thereby delivering the services free of charge.
Continuing, she said: “I encourage you to take advantage of the free medical delivery that is taking place. Our partners are here to give treatment to the sick, eye check up, eye glasses, drugs and even surgeries. I decided to bring this programme home to give you the opportunity to be well without going to spend your meager resources going to native doctors or living in fear all your life or even blaming your relations and in-laws for attacking you with witchcraft meanwhile you could just be suffering from cancer or any other disease. But I felt satisfied that people got treated but unhappy that many are yet to be attended to. So, my zeal to do more keeps me going on.”
Among dignitaries that attended the campaign include wife of senate president, Mrs. David Mark, who represented the first lady, HajiaTurai Yar Adua, the minister of health, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin represented by Mr. Greg Izuwa, the director-general of Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Ify Omenyi, who was also represented and representatives of several women organizations, Peoples Democratic Party women leaders in the state and local council.
SONTA in fresh drive for professionalism
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
The newly elected executive of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA), led by Prof. Emmanuel S. DanDaura rose from a recent interactive session with arts writers in Abuja more determined on the need to reposition theatre practice, make its abundant human resources available for national development as well as initiate a regulatory framework for the practice of the profession in the country. The gathering that was attended by some past and present executive members of SONTA and senior theatre art scholars from various universities unanimously agreed that the association, which is the umbrella body for theatre practitioners in the country, is perceived to be asleep except during its convention.
Worried by this erroneous impression, the current president of the association, Prof. DanDaura said its executive would soon embark on networking and consultation with other theatre practitioners across the country with a view to come up with a bill that would be presented to the National Assembly for the regulation and promotion of standard practices in the profession. He said the association is long overdue for a regulatory framework and a proper instrument for the regulation of the practice, which is why the National Endowment for the Art (NEA), has been elusive these past years. “As a professional body, there are lots of talents in our fold that are being under-utilised. Sixty professors of theatre arts are with SONTA who are grossly under-utilised. We need to make them available to tap from. This is part of the philosophy of the new executive,” he added.
Prof. Ayo Akinwale observed that despite the wrong notion that the association has been inactive SONAT has not only been publishing journals that cover news on current research findings but working hard to uplift the profession. He cited the prompt response of the association to the rumoured sale of the National Theatre complex in Lagos and the split of the National Troupe of Nigeria and National Theatre management boards by federal government. He however warned that if SONTA must make impact on government, ‘we must talk with one voice so long as we are ready to face the challenges confronting the association.’ This was corroborated by the deputy vice chancellor of University of Jos, Prof. Dauda Enna Musa, who disclosed that Nigerian theatre journal is one of the Educational Trust Fund listed journals for publication on indigenous researches. He noted that more than ever before, art would face more challenges because of sciences.
In his contribution, one of Nigeria’s leading theatre scholars, Prof. Kalu Uka, enjoined the practitioners to make the profession visible at the post primary school level in order to have a steady and continuous flow of interest from that level of academic training. He regretted that SONTA lost out in the struggle to realize this objective saying, ‘I hope SONTA will not fail in this effort again.’
He stressed that the concern of the association is not the quacks but the need to have an academy that would lift the profession because Nigerians love entertainment. He described Nollywood phenomenon as gap filler that was very necessary at the time it came.
Continuing, he said: “It is time we started honouring our own stars deliberately so. What is happening in Nollywood is because there is no alternative. We need independent sources of funding for SONTA to thrive. We can’t let theatre die.”
‘Poor funding bane of cultural development’
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
Executive Secretary of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma has blamed the seeming failure of some government’s programmes on inability of the initiators to take cognisance of the cultural relevance of such programmes to the peoples’ need. He said for any development to be meaningful and impactful, the implementation must take into consideration the cultural background of the people adding that in global economy, the place of culture is very vital to human and physical development. He observed that unfortunately, government is yet to appreciate the vital role NICO could play in orientation projects.
Ayakoroma who assumed office as executive secretary of NICO early last month for a first four year tenure explained that NICO is not all about training culture workers but to change peoples’ orientation towards dress culture, food and language as a well as making people accept government policies and programmes.
He therefore assured that all NICO programmes are carried out to further bring NICO to the reality of Nigerians noting that what comes to minds of Nigerians when NICO is mentioned is orientation and it still sounds new.
“We are alive to our responsibility. We have the personnel to get the result. All we need is give directions. There are many programmes on ground and we are going to ensure that all are carried out to bring NICO to the reality of Nigerians. In fact, there are many areas we can key into. The dredging of the lower Niger River is one of such programmes and there are many ways to enlighten the communities in that region. We will continue to enhance our visibility in national and international levels. Also, we would explore the various opportunities in UNESCO for effective performance and growth,” Ayakoroma said.
He stressed that his new management team are reading up what is on ground and building on them for continuity citing the recently concluded workshop, Repositioning culture workers for greater productivity held in Hamdala Hotel, Kaduna featuring both state and federal government culture workers as one major events for the year ending.
Commenting on the recurring complaint of poor funding of national arts events like NAFEST and Abuja Carnival by some states, the former executive director at Bayelsa Council for Arts and Culture recalled that over the years, resources accruing to Bayelsa State continued to dwindle thus affecting the level of funding of cultural events. He however noted that that is not an excuse for failure or poor funding of culture events adding that it is possible to work ahead of time in order to prepare well. According to him, since preparations are always adhoc, states must assist culture directors so that they are not overstretched.
“For this year’s zero budget allocation for Abuja Carnival, the plight of the carnival is that they are victims of circumstances. Holding the carnival is like squeezing water out of stone,” he noted.
The author Dance On His Grave and A Matter Of Honour, who led Bayelsa to this year’s NAFEST in Minna Niger State, is full of praises for his state art council saying ‘they gave me the leverage to be at NICO.’ He said he would miss the council but that though he might not be there in person, he would be with them in spirit. Little wonder he pledged the cooperation and support of NICO to the Bayelsa Council for Arts and Culture in the areas of research and documentation of cultural materials when the council management team paid him a visit in Abuja recently. He said he was ready at all time to support the state council in ensuring that it achieved its objectives especially being its immediate past executive director.
In her response, the acting executive director of Bayelsa Council for Arts and Culture, Mrs. Payeboye Festus-Lukoh also pledged support of her council in assisting NICO achieve its objectives noting that NICO should see her council as an extension of NICO in Bayelsa.
Bamako Encounters artistic rebirth
Unlike the Europeans who in 1989 disengaged themselves from the old principle of border intangibility, Africans are still enmeshed in the dilemma of geo-political borders that were created at the Berlin conference in 1884 among colonial powers. Today, the Bamako Encounters 2009, the African photography biennale is attempting at moving beyond those treaties and conventions by using visual art-photography, video and installations by 40 artists from across Africa and the Diaspora to address the many border-related issues on the continent. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME who was at the biennale reports
For every passing day since the formal opening of the Bamako Encounters 2009, the eight edition of the African photography biennale on November 7, more artists, arts writers, curators and collectors of contemporary African art have continued to converge on the city of Bamako, Mali to consciously examine the multiple issues surrounding borders (complex realities or imagined) as they affect the life of Africans. And their tools are cultural products like photographs; video and installations produced as either documentaries of personal experiences, realities of time and or imagined scenarios. This year’s biennale with the theme, Borders, is holding mainly at the Musee National, Bamako and other centers across the city and for the next one month (November 7 to December 7).
Featuring symposia and conferences, post-production workshops, portfolio readings and public screenings, the annual biennale, which started in 1994 has acted as catalyst for creativity in photography as well as helped pushed many African photographers to international market. Importantly, this year’s biennale that is being directed by the duo of Michket Krifa and Laura Serani, both female artistic directors, is expected to open a fresh page in a world that appreciates the shared wealth of its cultural diversity and an art market of equality.
With these, the theme is approached from different angles by the participants in order to measure the scope of the border issues in Africa in particular and across the globe. “At times transfigured and interpreted by artistic views that combine imaginary and real, personal witness and narrative, this topic always arouses ethical concerns and reflects the deep conscience and commitment that are manifest in all the artists, which we are happy to share,” according to the artistic directors.
Square Rocks by Kader Attia, an Algerian/France photographer appears to be one of the favourites. It is on the cover design of the biennale brochures, posters and banners. It is a photograph of Bab El-oued beach, a poor district in Algiers where youths spent summer vacations watching the coming and going of ships that link Algeria and Europe. The beach has huge rock constructions that separate them from the continent of their dream as well as imprison them in their reality. Beyond that, the photographs reveal lust for the unknown, anxiety, hope and dream of the youths sitting atop the rocks. And the endless horizon of the sea which forms the background and depth of the pictures, illustrates the fantasy and uncertainty on the other side of the borders.
Also striking and touching are two works; A sense of common ground and A camel for the son by Fazal Sheikh displayed at Musee du Bamako. The two pieces recount the life of the inhabitants of refugee camps in Kenya following the political crisis in Somalia. The photographs done over a period of ten years are the artist’s denouncement of the living conditions of the refugees. In A camel for the son, Sheikh captures the aerial view of the hundreds of camps housing over 45,000 Somali refugees including under nourished children and their mothers.
Of all the exhibits at the main exhibition hall of Musee National, Bamako, World mosaic by a Burkina Fasso photographer, Saidou Dicko, which shows a mosaic of miniature blurred pictures of human and animal figures arranged in linear format in ten layers stand out both in concept and presentation. Symbolically, the piece depicts a world without borders, ‘a travel diary wherein people will be able to travel without visas in an imaginary world of pictures’ that shows viewers what they want to see. While Dicko’s piece might be focusing on physical border challenges, that of Nigerian artist, Andrew Esiebo, Living queers in Africa, a video presentation on homophobia and its consequences attempts at drawing attention to internal discriminations among people living under one roof. Esiebo’s video presentation is enhanced by a soothing Afrobeat music backed by a fluent narration by the child victim. But the poor visual, almost erases the impact and relevance of the video. Like the other two video works, there are no enough elements to engage viewers other than the documentary format. The real art in them seems to be lacking, which makes the content unchallenging to the viewers.
Perhaps on the extreme, Majida Khattari’s Veiled, Unveiled is a strong illustration of the increasing threat of suicide-bombers in some parts of the globe, a development that also relates to border issues. But in fashion format, Khattari shows photographs of women covered and partially covered as a reflection on how lace and backdrop were used when Algerian elders paint Parisian women models on one hand and their use by suicide bombers on the other. According to the artist, ‘each pose becomes a face-to-face encounter with a mirror where the other’s impurity face dwells. Erasing impurity and regaining the illusion of purity: this is how the suicide-bombers in the last two pictures jump out at us.’ The two pictures Handbags and Women martyrs, show two ladies covered with veils, but behind their lace is what looks like a green hand grenade.
Again, human trafficking and prostitution, which are recurring social problems among many African nations, find space at the biennale. London-based Nigerian
photographer George Osodi shows in his photographs the extent many youths, especially girls go to migrate to the West, even at the risk of crossing the desert on foot or the Mediterranean with old small boats.
In Benin City, Osodi chronicles the rituals of blessing and cleansing some desperate girls go through in their homeland preparatory to searching for the greener pastures in Europe. Unfortunately, they knowingly undertake the journey to become companions of men in foreign lands, which of course is not without big price. Osodi shows in his collection, a blow by blow account of the series of rituals that start from consulting Ifa oracles, to bathing by the river bank, offering sacrifices to water goddess for blessings and returning to the cold street of Europe waiting for customers at night. All these are in the name of making money to break the poverty boundary.
For installations, there is a conspicuous one mounted opposite the entrance to the main exhibition hall. It is a commercial lorry made from found objects and loaded with personal effects both within and atop the vehicle that has become cynosure of eyes. The passengers inside are sculptural pieces of human figures reflecting a typical overloaded commercial lorry that are common place in most cities in Africa. From the loading pattern, there is total disregard for order, balance and safety of the occupants of the vehicle. Perhaps it is to depict what many go through when crossing borders either as traders or as refugees.
All through the exhibiting halls at the different venues, the works were well curated except for some few like the video. Also lighting of the halls was adequate thus enhancing the illumination and viewing of the works.
But while major players in world art market are focusing attention of the Bamako Encounters, the local public appears apathetic showing little or no interest in the various activities going on in the city. From one venue to another each day, you see the same group of guests, mainly from France and a handful of other Africans and those from the Diaspora. Even on the opening day, the Musee National premises were overrun by Europeans making observers to wonder for whose interest the biennale is being organised. Ordinarily, one expects to see apart from the few government functionaries, a good representation of the art community in Mali, especially the student’s artists and the general public at the opening. Granted sponsors and partners should be visible at such programmes, but the overall essence of the event will be lost if the man on the streets and students in schools are not showing enough interest.
Little wonder the managing director of the biennale, Mr. Samuel Sidibe, agreed that mobilizing the interest of the local public has been a big and difficult challenge to the biennale. “This challenge is one that many biennales on the continent have to face. It is a difficult question, the solution of which can be found in multiple long and mid term approaches,” he said. Sidibe however identified the search and development of local partnerships to finance the biennale as part of mobilizing the local audience. “Partnership with the local press and the reinforced presence of the continental press should contribute to giving the biennale a stronger visibility on the national and international scenes,’ he noted stressing that while the mobilization is still modest, it represents a veritable hope if the biennale is to take roots.
In terms of representation of the African regions, the organisers might have featured the size of participants their budget could accommodate. However there is room for improvement in future editions. The eight biennale is organised by the ministry of culture in Mali in collaboration with Culturesfrance, Paris, with financial, technical and media supports from many local and international corporate bodies.
A group of ten Nigerian photographers, Invisible Borders 2009 added extra spice to the biennale as they opened fresh windows to the issue of border, especially between Lagos-Bamako. They completed their road travel from Lagos to Bamako in six days as against a projected three days. The group left Nigeria on Tuesday and arrived Bamako the sixth day. The photographers include Uche James Iroha, Lucy Azubuike, Emeka Okereke, Amaize Ojiekere, Uche Okpa Iroha, Ray Daniels Okeugo, Unoma Geise, Chris Nwobu, Nike Ojeikere and Charles Okereke.
At a video presentation of their experiences, the group summed up that the objective of ECOWAS appears defeated given the multiple hindrance created by immigration officials at each border. “To us the essence of ECOWAS is rubbish going by happenings at the borders,” Emeka Okereke, said on behalf of the group.
Nollywood takes centre stage at Bamako biennale
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
In Bamako, Mali many people claim to know and appreciate the phenomenal growth of Nigeria’s Nollywood. From the guest participants at the on-going Bamako Encounters 09, the African photography biennale, to the local artists and the public they can conveniently recall many names of popular Nigerian movie stars with ease.
But at one of the opening exhibitions at the Palais de la Culture in Bamako, the myths and archetype that characterise the Nollywood were recreated in Pieter Hugo’s photographs, Nollywood, that tell more of horrifying scenes than entertaining while attempting to erase the boundary between fiction and documentary. The South African is featuring under Michael Stevenson Gallery as guest gallery at the biennale.
The exhibition is also featuring photographs by Angele Etoundi Essamba’s Mother Earth and Jean Depara’s Les annees Kinshasha among others. Expectedly, Hugo’s Nollywood shows the most explicit and obvious examples of how he as a photographer directly engages with fictions rather than facts. The work is the result of his exploration of the Nigerian film industry, and all of the photographs were purely make-up with the help of others. Where, if not pure fiction, will you find a man in a suit stands barefoot over a bleeding bull? Like the Hollywood space movies, the power of make-belief is the key instrument, but unfortunately, the bizarre is what fascinates Hugo.
The questions many are asking are: What is the artistic essence of the works, what are the messages contained for viewers and how contextual are these fictive and negative imageries?
According to a critic the ‘images are both surreal and disconcerting, but allude to their own falsity so overtly that the viewer can immediately decipher their fictive nature, and can clearly understand that these are ‘subjects imagined’ rather than documented. That said, the pictures remain incredibly provocative, at least to a Western eyes, expressly because they present graphic, violent and unnerving myths and symbols, which are deeply embedded in our understanding of contemporary Africa itself.’
To a large extent, Hugo has simply reaffirmed that photographs are simply the realisation of the photographer’s own prejudices and preconceptions, because these works on Nollywood are collective imaginings, shared by both the so-called ‘actors’ portrayed and the intended audience. Nollywood, like Hyena series, provokes questions, demands attention and is a bundle of controversy.
But there lies a potential window for Nigerian photographers to look beyond commercial photography and tap into the abundant issue based documentaries that will educate Nigerians as well to make the world understand and see us through our own lenses.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
grand house reception
Grand House reception is no commercial affair, says Guv’nor Olumese
By OzoluaUhakheme
Niteshift Coliseum’s Guv’nor Ken Caleb Olumese has described as unfounded the reports making the rounds that his outfit demanded eight million naira gratification from Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole to be featured on the Grand House Reception (GHR). The governor eventually failed to attend. Olumese, who was reacting to a newspaper publication on the failed reception, said there was no time the issue of money was raised or discussed in any of the correspondences exchanged between the club and Edo State government on the planned reception. He stressed that GHR is never a commercial affair.
On the other hand, Edo government have reacted, saying the nonappearance of the governor was not to spite the organiser of GHR but that the governor had a some urgent issues to attend to at the time. The statement was made by the Special Adviser to the governor on Media, Mr. Tony Iyare who spoke with The Nation on behalf of Edo State governor.
On October 11, Oshiomhole was expected to be the guest at the GHR of Niteshift Coliseum, but he declined to honour the reception that was shifted to date on his request. Olumese said he had sent a letter to the governor asking what informed his last minute non-appearance but there has been no response from him.
The failed Grand House Reception will for long remain indelible in the annals of Africa’s number one nite club. It was the first time since the inception of GHR, the flagship programme of the club, that a special guest would refuse to honour the event thus sending patrons, guests and members of the public home disappointed.
Reacting to this, Iyare said: "As you know Olumese is a prominent son of Edo State and owner of one the most prestigious nite clubs in the country. The non-attendance of the governor was not an attempt to shun Olumese. You must know Governor Oshiomhole is very busy. He had some pressing state issues to attend to."
Olumese, who recalled that the GHR has been held in honour of 76 dignitaries including Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, Justice Chuwudifu Oputa and Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said though hurt, he was not bothered because one could not satisfy everybody.
He explained: "There is always a protocol for invitation. I went to Benin and the governor received me and accepted the invitation. From there we started preparation. Two weeks to the event, he wrote to shift the reception to October 11, and never asked for the cost of the inconveniences as a result of the shift.
"But on October 9, an official from the Edo State liaison office in Lagos came to request for 15 additional invitation cards, which I obliged him. Everything was set and intact, only to be told by a friend that the governor would not make the reception. I have written, asking what happened; but up till now, there is no word from him. I have also called him on phone and sent sms, still no response. If we have done anything wrong, we are sorry that is how we are. But at his level, he should have gotten back to us," he said.
The Edo State-born entertain guru wondered why the GHR invitation assumed another dimension such that people were sending sms messages about the non-appearance of Oshiomhole at the reception from their mobile phones and crediting there to the coliseum. "I am not a politician, so why are people tainting this matter to this level? By 3.45 pm on Sunday, October 11, I got a message on my mobile phone from a friend that the governor would not attend the reception. And it was purported to originate from the coliseum. So, you can smell rat in the whole matter, which makes it look like a deliberate plan to smear my name," he said. But he assured the public that the club’s activities for the last quarter of the year are on course.
On this, Iyare said: "I cannot respond to rumour. Accusations as these would do anybody any good. I have told you the governor had some pressing state issues to attend to. Do you expect the governor to go clubbing when there are issues of state to attend to?"
On the impact of the global economic meltdown on show business, Olumese said the coliseum is managing the situation like any other corporate body. He said the club is making the best of the situation and helping to salvage the economy by hanging on there. He however noted that in depression, entertainment gets the first blow, because the basic needs of life would take the front burner. "The recession is global, but the Nigerian case before now has been unstable. Power generation, especially, is added overhead cost," he said.
Film making is beyond bread and butter
By Ozolua Uhakheme
UK-based Nigerian film maker, actor and artistic director of Ritual Theatre Arts in Education, Mr. Rufus Orisayomi, has described the Nigerian film industry as a vital sector capable of revamping the nation’s ailing economy life if properly packaged for the global market. He said there are abundant opportunities in the sector that could be used to launder the nation’s image without unnecessarily highlighting those seemingly negative aspects of the people’s ways of life.
Orisayomi, who was among the pioneer artistes at the famous Ori Olokun art experiment at the then University of Ife, Ile-Ife, enjoined committed Nigerian investors to look beyond instant rewards and rescue the sector for real development because the government, according to him, does not have the political will, commitment and sincerity to turn the sector around.
"If we must do it right, we must go through all the necessary processes. Also, we should as a matter of duty give glory and honour to our fatherland in the story lines of our films. In fact, to be a film maker is beyond bread and butter affair. Investors should rescue the sector because there is no government input for now. What we can use film to achieve is more than what we can say about ourselves to the world," he said, adding that a quality film could be screened simultaneously in 15 viewing centres across the country for profit.
The Bradford College and Middlesex Polytechnic, UK- trained film maker decried people’s apathy towards vanishing arts; saying religion has continued to keep many Nigerians away from their roots. He observed that preservation of works of art is unfortunately non-existent, except through the intervention of foreign agencies like UNESCO.
He said instead of leaving the preservation of the nation’s heritage in the hands of foreign agencies, individuals should show interest through setting up of archives. This, he said, had became relevant as most youths now find virtues and norms useful to learn from. "Many young ones are now picking the virtues of some of our sages like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe, who unfortunately they do not know. But it will make better impact if they have visuals to back the literature they can get. Unfortunately, the negative aspect of our culture is what we always showcase in movies. And this brings the nation to disrepute. Instead of dwelling on the negative side of our life, why not concentrate on creating rich archives for our heritage?" he wondered.
Orisayomi identified apathy and religious influences as challenges confronting appreciation and archiving of the country’s heritage.
The film maker, who has worked with Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka since the 70s as a teacher at the University of Ife, then at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and University of Benin, observed that youngsters across the world are becoming less interested in their culture and as such must be given an educational package that is adapted to the format that would sustain their interest. Only through this approach, he added, would Nigerian kids especially be interested in the nation’s heritage.
According to him, the size of his archive is richer than what German historian Uli Biere has in Osogbo. ‘What I have in my collection are enough materials to solve Nigeria’s problems.’ How? "With what I have in my collection, Nigeria can train its citizens well that they will be independent – minded and equipped to face the challenges of the society. In fact, the dichotomy between ethnic groups will be broken," he stressed.
To him, the establishing of Ritual Theatre Art in Education in London was aimed at promoting African arts in universities in the UK, using film as a medium, because many Africans in the Diaspora are in dire need of accurate information and materials about their roots.
Interestingly, Orisayomi is not unmindful of the need to contribute his quota to the promotion of his heritage on the home front. Currently, he is one of the resource persons in the hosting of the Black Heritage Festival in Badagry in April 2010 by the Lagos State government. He is also considering areas of collaboration with the newly opened UNESCO’s Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo, Osun State. A documentary on the relationship between traditional rulers and the government is one of his on-going projects.
But in the UK, his recent programme is a 15-minute documentary on Thirty years of African Dance in UK, featuring Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana among other African countries
By OzoluaUhakheme
Niteshift Coliseum’s Guv’nor Ken Caleb Olumese has described as unfounded the reports making the rounds that his outfit demanded eight million naira gratification from Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole to be featured on the Grand House Reception (GHR). The governor eventually failed to attend. Olumese, who was reacting to a newspaper publication on the failed reception, said there was no time the issue of money was raised or discussed in any of the correspondences exchanged between the club and Edo State government on the planned reception. He stressed that GHR is never a commercial affair.
On the other hand, Edo government have reacted, saying the nonappearance of the governor was not to spite the organiser of GHR but that the governor had a some urgent issues to attend to at the time. The statement was made by the Special Adviser to the governor on Media, Mr. Tony Iyare who spoke with The Nation on behalf of Edo State governor.
On October 11, Oshiomhole was expected to be the guest at the GHR of Niteshift Coliseum, but he declined to honour the reception that was shifted to date on his request. Olumese said he had sent a letter to the governor asking what informed his last minute non-appearance but there has been no response from him.
The failed Grand House Reception will for long remain indelible in the annals of Africa’s number one nite club. It was the first time since the inception of GHR, the flagship programme of the club, that a special guest would refuse to honour the event thus sending patrons, guests and members of the public home disappointed.
Reacting to this, Iyare said: "As you know Olumese is a prominent son of Edo State and owner of one the most prestigious nite clubs in the country. The non-attendance of the governor was not an attempt to shun Olumese. You must know Governor Oshiomhole is very busy. He had some pressing state issues to attend to."
Olumese, who recalled that the GHR has been held in honour of 76 dignitaries including Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, Justice Chuwudifu Oputa and Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said though hurt, he was not bothered because one could not satisfy everybody.
He explained: "There is always a protocol for invitation. I went to Benin and the governor received me and accepted the invitation. From there we started preparation. Two weeks to the event, he wrote to shift the reception to October 11, and never asked for the cost of the inconveniences as a result of the shift.
"But on October 9, an official from the Edo State liaison office in Lagos came to request for 15 additional invitation cards, which I obliged him. Everything was set and intact, only to be told by a friend that the governor would not make the reception. I have written, asking what happened; but up till now, there is no word from him. I have also called him on phone and sent sms, still no response. If we have done anything wrong, we are sorry that is how we are. But at his level, he should have gotten back to us," he said.
The Edo State-born entertain guru wondered why the GHR invitation assumed another dimension such that people were sending sms messages about the non-appearance of Oshiomhole at the reception from their mobile phones and crediting there to the coliseum. "I am not a politician, so why are people tainting this matter to this level? By 3.45 pm on Sunday, October 11, I got a message on my mobile phone from a friend that the governor would not attend the reception. And it was purported to originate from the coliseum. So, you can smell rat in the whole matter, which makes it look like a deliberate plan to smear my name," he said. But he assured the public that the club’s activities for the last quarter of the year are on course.
On this, Iyare said: "I cannot respond to rumour. Accusations as these would do anybody any good. I have told you the governor had some pressing state issues to attend to. Do you expect the governor to go clubbing when there are issues of state to attend to?"
On the impact of the global economic meltdown on show business, Olumese said the coliseum is managing the situation like any other corporate body. He said the club is making the best of the situation and helping to salvage the economy by hanging on there. He however noted that in depression, entertainment gets the first blow, because the basic needs of life would take the front burner. "The recession is global, but the Nigerian case before now has been unstable. Power generation, especially, is added overhead cost," he said.
Film making is beyond bread and butter
By Ozolua Uhakheme
UK-based Nigerian film maker, actor and artistic director of Ritual Theatre Arts in Education, Mr. Rufus Orisayomi, has described the Nigerian film industry as a vital sector capable of revamping the nation’s ailing economy life if properly packaged for the global market. He said there are abundant opportunities in the sector that could be used to launder the nation’s image without unnecessarily highlighting those seemingly negative aspects of the people’s ways of life.
Orisayomi, who was among the pioneer artistes at the famous Ori Olokun art experiment at the then University of Ife, Ile-Ife, enjoined committed Nigerian investors to look beyond instant rewards and rescue the sector for real development because the government, according to him, does not have the political will, commitment and sincerity to turn the sector around.
"If we must do it right, we must go through all the necessary processes. Also, we should as a matter of duty give glory and honour to our fatherland in the story lines of our films. In fact, to be a film maker is beyond bread and butter affair. Investors should rescue the sector because there is no government input for now. What we can use film to achieve is more than what we can say about ourselves to the world," he said, adding that a quality film could be screened simultaneously in 15 viewing centres across the country for profit.
The Bradford College and Middlesex Polytechnic, UK- trained film maker decried people’s apathy towards vanishing arts; saying religion has continued to keep many Nigerians away from their roots. He observed that preservation of works of art is unfortunately non-existent, except through the intervention of foreign agencies like UNESCO.
He said instead of leaving the preservation of the nation’s heritage in the hands of foreign agencies, individuals should show interest through setting up of archives. This, he said, had became relevant as most youths now find virtues and norms useful to learn from. "Many young ones are now picking the virtues of some of our sages like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe, who unfortunately they do not know. But it will make better impact if they have visuals to back the literature they can get. Unfortunately, the negative aspect of our culture is what we always showcase in movies. And this brings the nation to disrepute. Instead of dwelling on the negative side of our life, why not concentrate on creating rich archives for our heritage?" he wondered.
Orisayomi identified apathy and religious influences as challenges confronting appreciation and archiving of the country’s heritage.
The film maker, who has worked with Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka since the 70s as a teacher at the University of Ife, then at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and University of Benin, observed that youngsters across the world are becoming less interested in their culture and as such must be given an educational package that is adapted to the format that would sustain their interest. Only through this approach, he added, would Nigerian kids especially be interested in the nation’s heritage.
According to him, the size of his archive is richer than what German historian Uli Biere has in Osogbo. ‘What I have in my collection are enough materials to solve Nigeria’s problems.’ How? "With what I have in my collection, Nigeria can train its citizens well that they will be independent – minded and equipped to face the challenges of the society. In fact, the dichotomy between ethnic groups will be broken," he stressed.
To him, the establishing of Ritual Theatre Art in Education in London was aimed at promoting African arts in universities in the UK, using film as a medium, because many Africans in the Diaspora are in dire need of accurate information and materials about their roots.
Interestingly, Orisayomi is not unmindful of the need to contribute his quota to the promotion of his heritage on the home front. Currently, he is one of the resource persons in the hosting of the Black Heritage Festival in Badagry in April 2010 by the Lagos State government. He is also considering areas of collaboration with the newly opened UNESCO’s Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo, Osun State. A documentary on the relationship between traditional rulers and the government is one of his on-going projects.
But in the UK, his recent programme is a 15-minute documentary on Thirty years of African Dance in UK, featuring Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana among other African countries
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Gelele
Gelegele: Ancient Benin port lost to history
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Pa Wilson Kororo is frail and weak. He is one of the few remaining elders in Gelegele. He could not hide his joy on sighting the reporter who was surrounded by some youths. Like the blind man in the Holy Bible begging Jesus Christ to regain his sight, he said to the reporter: "My pikin, add my matter for your report. I am dying gradually from the pollution in this village. And it is everywhere. See, the roof of my small house is rusted and it is falling off because of gas flaring and other toxic gases in the air. Tell our government make them hear." Pa Kororo’s case is only the tip of ice berg in the degradation plaguing the residents of Gelegele.
Like every other oil community in the Niger Delta, Gelegele, a small riverside village that lies at the bank of the Edo axis of River Niger, is a graphic contrast to its economic and historical significance. Despite hosting the oil flow station of Dubri Oil Company since 1979, social economic activities in Gelegele are seemingly non-existent. Accessing the community that is mainly populated by the Ijaw by road is one adventure not many will want to undertake. But for kidnappers, the Ekehuan-Gelegele axis is an escape route to Delta and Bayelsa states through the sea. Little wonder the Edo State government deployed an anti-crime mobile police squad, Thunderstorm, along the route to checkmate the kidnappers’ atrocities.
During the rainy season, many travellers to Gelegele either end their journey at Ughoton Village, where an oil well is located, or trek the remaining distance. Vehicles only bring people from Benin to Ekehuan, a journey of about 27 kilometres and thereafter motorcycles ferry people for the next 18 kilometers. Sometimes, one can stay at the Ekehuan junction for hours, waiting for a motorcycle going to Gelegele. And it costs as much as N600 per trip, depending on the weather and time. Yet, thousands of barrels of crude oil are ferried from Gelegele to Chevron in Escravos, Delta State, for refinement abroad.
The village is situated near a large expanse of tropical rain forest with a network of rivers, creeks, streams, canals and springs linking up to the River Niger which flows into the high seas. Pockets of jetties and shrines being patronised by the people keep the area alive. Expectedly, low level fishing and trading in condensate (mistaken by the local people as diesel) go on in the area and serve as the major sources of revenue for the people. The easier link to communities like Ekehuan in Edo State, Escravos in Delta State and other adjoining villages is through the waterway because the only road to the place is under construction and work has since stopped.
Apart from the Police and Customs’ posts that are not functioning, the community is literarily another Siberia, with no government presence - not even for revenue collection. The day-to-day affair of the community is run by an executive of the village union as well as the youth wing. Health and education facilities are jointly provided by the community and the local government. At the only primary school in the village, Osa Primary School, the village and council provided two teachers each. But the story is different at the health post, where Mrs. Priscilla Nonekhuone is the only staff serving as health officer, attendant, gardener, security and cleaner.
Since resuming office in November 2007, she has been alone at the health post that has two beds and a table containing few drugs. According to her, the gardner and cleaners were withdrawn by the council chairman when he visited the community sometime ago.
"The chairman came here and asked the unskilled workers to step aside for a while and that they would be called back later. This was after he took an inventory of skilled and unskilled workers. I was the only skilled worker around. Later, we heard that they were asked to step down till further notice.
"Since then they have not been called back."
She disclosed that the health post gets water from the river except when the generator attached to the borehole is on, that water from the tap can be fetched.
"There was a time the community wrote a letter to the council calling for the reinstatement of the people they told to step down but there was no answer. Each time we hold our meetings at Okada I always talk about the health workers in my department and that I am alone. It was as a result of my pressure on them that they sent one health worker, a woman to this post. They sent her last week and she has come twice. Sometime last week she was here. Two days ago, she came back to tell me that she is going on leave and that when she comes back she will resume formally.
Nobody is guarding the post, it is God that guards the place," she said.
The community PRO, Mr. Monday Donyegha and vice chairman of youth wing, Mr. Fineboy Oferejo, who conducted this reporter round the village were also full of lamentations about the neglect of the village.
"There is nothing to show that Gelegele is an oil producing community. And unfortunately, our governor has not found it necessary to visit us. After all, this is the only oil producing community in the state. Gas flaring has killed many of our old men and women and the air is constantly hot. Our roofing sheets have become rusty because of the pollution in the air. And if more wells are opened at the flow station, the noise will drown everybody in the village.
Farming or fishing has become impossible as the environment is all polluted too," Donyegha said in an angry tone.
In between the thatched mud houses in the village are standing pipes without water while the NNDC built single-shop market is but a shanty, which the villagers describe as inadequate. Another project that is on-going is the new secondary school located on the outskirt of the village on the way to Ughoton. Though completed, it is yet to be equipped with chairs, tables and other facilities.
But beyond the conventional school, the villagers are yearning for the take-off of the skill acquisition centre being built by the NDDC. Unfortunately, the project, according to the community spokesperson, seems to have been abandoned. Since its foundation stone was laid last year, nothing has been done to the project and the place has been overgrown by weeds. "We need the training at the centre because some of us can read and write, and can add little trade to it in order to earn a living,"
Unfortunately, a lot of activities that are very vital to the history of the ancient Benin kingdom are linked to Gelegele. It is in history that the slave trade and trade in cocoa, cowries and other precious items with the Germans, Portuguese and later Britons were all done through this port as the major seaport in the region. Today, the famous Gelegele seaport has been reduced to a mere waterside where only fishing by the local people takes place. Also, the Portuguese and British government used the Gelegele sea port extensively for more than half a century before the 1897 infamous British punitive expedition. In an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2005, the Benin Youth Congress lamented that the ancient Gelegele sea port is neither a seaport in practical term nor a cultural monument as it is in the case of advanced democracies. The congress noted that the Federal Government since 1960 has done little or nothing about the dredging of the port for ships to berth and for associated services. It therefore observed that the sustained patience and of the Binis have been taken for granted for so long or how ‘else do we explain the little or no concern of the Federal Government even in a democracy to this all important project?" The port, it added, when attended to would boost the employment opportunities for the youths as well as enhance the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which is a major policy–thrust of the administration.
"We do hereby state unequivocally that the call for government intervention towards the dredging of Gelegele sea port is a cardinal struggle, which cannot be negotiated in our resolve to pursue the struggles or concerns of the Benin nation. Towards this end, the Congress shall not hesitate to employ any reasonable action to drive home our cry for the dredging of the historic Gelegele sea Port. All energies and ideas at the disposal of the Congress members at home and abroad shall be resolutely mobilised for the realisation of this set goal. Interestingly, Gelegele is famous in many regards to students of history and those who want to know more about the black race. Gelegele is, no doubt, one of the ancient seaports which existed even before the coming of the colonial masters and far before the birth of Nigeria as a country. Apart from the British expedition in Benin, it is one of the seaports through which the colonial masters on exploration and partition of Africa had access to the ancient Benin Kingdom. However, there is an uneasy calm at Gelegele over the right to the land.
On September 3 and October 21, the group led by Pastor Festus Osa Egharevba Izeomo made presentations to the Oba of Benin at the palace seeking a lasting end to the assaults and abuses on the Binis. Izeomo said the group’s visit is necessitated by the communal crises that have persisted between the Binis and other ethnic stocks in Benin kingdom, especially the Ijaws, which has left a sour taste in the mouth.
"That Gelegele is a Benin community is a long settled issue. There are established, verifiable administrative inquiries by the then Midwest state government and judgments from the High Court up to the Supreme Court in Lagos giving authority and power to the Binis over the land occupied by our forebears for centuries," he added.
He observed that the Ijaws who settled and are dotted along river banks in Benin Kingdom in spite of openness and acceptance of Benin, have become a thorn in the flesh of Binis constituting themselves as malfeasance, aggressors, instigators and violators of civilised norms. He alleged that the Ijaws have severally attacked, invaded and occupied Benin villages without provocation and retaliation for too long. He recalled that the house being erected by the Okao, Chief Joseph I. Iyonmahan in 1985 was allegedly destroyed adding that the newly installed Odionwere, Mr. Amos Enaigbe was also severely beaten when he attempted to build the Ogue-Edion in Gelegele.
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Pa Wilson Kororo is frail and weak. He is one of the few remaining elders in Gelegele. He could not hide his joy on sighting the reporter who was surrounded by some youths. Like the blind man in the Holy Bible begging Jesus Christ to regain his sight, he said to the reporter: "My pikin, add my matter for your report. I am dying gradually from the pollution in this village. And it is everywhere. See, the roof of my small house is rusted and it is falling off because of gas flaring and other toxic gases in the air. Tell our government make them hear." Pa Kororo’s case is only the tip of ice berg in the degradation plaguing the residents of Gelegele.
Like every other oil community in the Niger Delta, Gelegele, a small riverside village that lies at the bank of the Edo axis of River Niger, is a graphic contrast to its economic and historical significance. Despite hosting the oil flow station of Dubri Oil Company since 1979, social economic activities in Gelegele are seemingly non-existent. Accessing the community that is mainly populated by the Ijaw by road is one adventure not many will want to undertake. But for kidnappers, the Ekehuan-Gelegele axis is an escape route to Delta and Bayelsa states through the sea. Little wonder the Edo State government deployed an anti-crime mobile police squad, Thunderstorm, along the route to checkmate the kidnappers’ atrocities.
During the rainy season, many travellers to Gelegele either end their journey at Ughoton Village, where an oil well is located, or trek the remaining distance. Vehicles only bring people from Benin to Ekehuan, a journey of about 27 kilometres and thereafter motorcycles ferry people for the next 18 kilometers. Sometimes, one can stay at the Ekehuan junction for hours, waiting for a motorcycle going to Gelegele. And it costs as much as N600 per trip, depending on the weather and time. Yet, thousands of barrels of crude oil are ferried from Gelegele to Chevron in Escravos, Delta State, for refinement abroad.
The village is situated near a large expanse of tropical rain forest with a network of rivers, creeks, streams, canals and springs linking up to the River Niger which flows into the high seas. Pockets of jetties and shrines being patronised by the people keep the area alive. Expectedly, low level fishing and trading in condensate (mistaken by the local people as diesel) go on in the area and serve as the major sources of revenue for the people. The easier link to communities like Ekehuan in Edo State, Escravos in Delta State and other adjoining villages is through the waterway because the only road to the place is under construction and work has since stopped.
Apart from the Police and Customs’ posts that are not functioning, the community is literarily another Siberia, with no government presence - not even for revenue collection. The day-to-day affair of the community is run by an executive of the village union as well as the youth wing. Health and education facilities are jointly provided by the community and the local government. At the only primary school in the village, Osa Primary School, the village and council provided two teachers each. But the story is different at the health post, where Mrs. Priscilla Nonekhuone is the only staff serving as health officer, attendant, gardener, security and cleaner.
Since resuming office in November 2007, she has been alone at the health post that has two beds and a table containing few drugs. According to her, the gardner and cleaners were withdrawn by the council chairman when he visited the community sometime ago.
"The chairman came here and asked the unskilled workers to step aside for a while and that they would be called back later. This was after he took an inventory of skilled and unskilled workers. I was the only skilled worker around. Later, we heard that they were asked to step down till further notice.
"Since then they have not been called back."
She disclosed that the health post gets water from the river except when the generator attached to the borehole is on, that water from the tap can be fetched.
"There was a time the community wrote a letter to the council calling for the reinstatement of the people they told to step down but there was no answer. Each time we hold our meetings at Okada I always talk about the health workers in my department and that I am alone. It was as a result of my pressure on them that they sent one health worker, a woman to this post. They sent her last week and she has come twice. Sometime last week she was here. Two days ago, she came back to tell me that she is going on leave and that when she comes back she will resume formally.
Nobody is guarding the post, it is God that guards the place," she said.
The community PRO, Mr. Monday Donyegha and vice chairman of youth wing, Mr. Fineboy Oferejo, who conducted this reporter round the village were also full of lamentations about the neglect of the village.
"There is nothing to show that Gelegele is an oil producing community. And unfortunately, our governor has not found it necessary to visit us. After all, this is the only oil producing community in the state. Gas flaring has killed many of our old men and women and the air is constantly hot. Our roofing sheets have become rusty because of the pollution in the air. And if more wells are opened at the flow station, the noise will drown everybody in the village.
Farming or fishing has become impossible as the environment is all polluted too," Donyegha said in an angry tone.
In between the thatched mud houses in the village are standing pipes without water while the NNDC built single-shop market is but a shanty, which the villagers describe as inadequate. Another project that is on-going is the new secondary school located on the outskirt of the village on the way to Ughoton. Though completed, it is yet to be equipped with chairs, tables and other facilities.
But beyond the conventional school, the villagers are yearning for the take-off of the skill acquisition centre being built by the NDDC. Unfortunately, the project, according to the community spokesperson, seems to have been abandoned. Since its foundation stone was laid last year, nothing has been done to the project and the place has been overgrown by weeds. "We need the training at the centre because some of us can read and write, and can add little trade to it in order to earn a living,"
Unfortunately, a lot of activities that are very vital to the history of the ancient Benin kingdom are linked to Gelegele. It is in history that the slave trade and trade in cocoa, cowries and other precious items with the Germans, Portuguese and later Britons were all done through this port as the major seaport in the region. Today, the famous Gelegele seaport has been reduced to a mere waterside where only fishing by the local people takes place. Also, the Portuguese and British government used the Gelegele sea port extensively for more than half a century before the 1897 infamous British punitive expedition. In an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2005, the Benin Youth Congress lamented that the ancient Gelegele sea port is neither a seaport in practical term nor a cultural monument as it is in the case of advanced democracies. The congress noted that the Federal Government since 1960 has done little or nothing about the dredging of the port for ships to berth and for associated services. It therefore observed that the sustained patience and of the Binis have been taken for granted for so long or how ‘else do we explain the little or no concern of the Federal Government even in a democracy to this all important project?" The port, it added, when attended to would boost the employment opportunities for the youths as well as enhance the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which is a major policy–thrust of the administration.
"We do hereby state unequivocally that the call for government intervention towards the dredging of Gelegele sea port is a cardinal struggle, which cannot be negotiated in our resolve to pursue the struggles or concerns of the Benin nation. Towards this end, the Congress shall not hesitate to employ any reasonable action to drive home our cry for the dredging of the historic Gelegele sea Port. All energies and ideas at the disposal of the Congress members at home and abroad shall be resolutely mobilised for the realisation of this set goal. Interestingly, Gelegele is famous in many regards to students of history and those who want to know more about the black race. Gelegele is, no doubt, one of the ancient seaports which existed even before the coming of the colonial masters and far before the birth of Nigeria as a country. Apart from the British expedition in Benin, it is one of the seaports through which the colonial masters on exploration and partition of Africa had access to the ancient Benin Kingdom. However, there is an uneasy calm at Gelegele over the right to the land.
On September 3 and October 21, the group led by Pastor Festus Osa Egharevba Izeomo made presentations to the Oba of Benin at the palace seeking a lasting end to the assaults and abuses on the Binis. Izeomo said the group’s visit is necessitated by the communal crises that have persisted between the Binis and other ethnic stocks in Benin kingdom, especially the Ijaws, which has left a sour taste in the mouth.
"That Gelegele is a Benin community is a long settled issue. There are established, verifiable administrative inquiries by the then Midwest state government and judgments from the High Court up to the Supreme Court in Lagos giving authority and power to the Binis over the land occupied by our forebears for centuries," he added.
He observed that the Ijaws who settled and are dotted along river banks in Benin Kingdom in spite of openness and acceptance of Benin, have become a thorn in the flesh of Binis constituting themselves as malfeasance, aggressors, instigators and violators of civilised norms. He alleged that the Ijaws have severally attacked, invaded and occupied Benin villages without provocation and retaliation for too long. He recalled that the house being erected by the Okao, Chief Joseph I. Iyonmahan in 1985 was allegedly destroyed adding that the newly installed Odionwere, Mr. Amos Enaigbe was also severely beaten when he attempted to build the Ogue-Edion in Gelegele.
Gelele
Gelegele: Ancient Benin port lost to history
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Pa Wilson Kororo is frail and weak. He is one of the few remaining elders in Gelegele. He could not hide his joy on sighting the reporter who was surrounded by some youths. Like the blind man in the Holy Bible begging Jesus Christ to regain his sight, he said to the reporter: "My pikin, add my matter for your report. I am dying gradually from the pollution in this village. And it is everywhere. See, the roof of my small house is rusted and it is falling off because of gas flaring and other toxic gases in the air. Tell our government make them hear." Pa Kororo’s case is only the tip of ice berg in the degradation plaguing the residents of Gelegele.
Like every other oil community in the Niger Delta, Gelegele, a small riverside village that lies at the bank of the Edo axis of River Niger, is a graphic contrast to its economic and historical significance. Despite hosting the oil flow station of Dubri Oil Company since 1979, social economic activities in Gelegele are seemingly non-existent. Accessing the community that is mainly populated by the Ijaw by road is one adventure not many will want to undertake. But for kidnappers, the Ekehuan-Gelegele axis is an escape route to Delta and Bayelsa states through the sea. Little wonder the Edo State government deployed an anti-crime mobile police squad, Thunderstorm, along the route to checkmate the kidnappers’ atrocities.
During the rainy season, many travellers to Gelegele either end their journey at Ughoton Village, where an oil well is located, or trek the remaining distance. Vehicles only bring people from Benin to Ekehuan, a journey of about 27 kilometres and thereafter motorcycles ferry people for the next 18 kilometers. Sometimes, one can stay at the Ekehuan junction for hours, waiting for a motorcycle going to Gelegele. And it costs as much as N600 per trip, depending on the weather and time. Yet, thousands of barrels of crude oil are ferried from Gelegele to Chevron in Escravos, Delta State, for refinement abroad.
The village is situated near a large expanse of tropical rain forest with a network of rivers, creeks, streams, canals and springs linking up to the River Niger which flows into the high seas. Pockets of jetties and shrines being patronised by the people keep the area alive. Expectedly, low level fishing and trading in condensate (mistaken by the local people as diesel) go on in the area and serve as the major sources of revenue for the people. The easier link to communities like Ekehuan in Edo State, Escravos in Delta State and other adjoining villages is through the waterway because the only road to the place is under construction and work has since stopped.
Apart from the Police and Customs’ posts that are not functioning, the community is literarily another Siberia, with no government presence - not even for revenue collection. The day-to-day affair of the community is run by an executive of the village union as well as the youth wing. Health and education facilities are jointly provided by the community and the local government. At the only primary school in the village, Osa Primary School, the village and council provided two teachers each. But the story is different at the health post, where Mrs. Priscilla Nonekhuone is the only staff serving as health officer, attendant, gardener, security and cleaner.
Since resuming office in November 2007, she has been alone at the health post that has two beds and a table containing few drugs. According to her, the gardner and cleaners were withdrawn by the council chairman when he visited the community sometime ago.
"The chairman came here and asked the unskilled workers to step aside for a while and that they would be called back later. This was after he took an inventory of skilled and unskilled workers. I was the only skilled worker around. Later, we heard that they were asked to step down till further notice.
"Since then they have not been called back."
She disclosed that the health post gets water from the river except when the generator attached to the borehole is on, that water from the tap can be fetched.
"There was a time the community wrote a letter to the council calling for the reinstatement of the people they told to step down but there was no answer. Each time we hold our meetings at Okada I always talk about the health workers in my department and that I am alone. It was as a result of my pressure on them that they sent one health worker, a woman to this post. They sent her last week and she has come twice. Sometime last week she was here. Two days ago, she came back to tell me that she is going on leave and that when she comes back she will resume formally.
Nobody is guarding the post, it is God that guards the place," she said.
The community PRO, Mr. Monday Donyegha and vice chairman of youth wing, Mr. Fineboy Oferejo, who conducted this reporter round the village were also full of lamentations about the neglect of the village.
"There is nothing to show that Gelegele is an oil producing community. And unfortunately, our governor has not found it necessary to visit us. After all, this is the only oil producing community in the state. Gas flaring has killed many of our old men and women and the air is constantly hot. Our roofing sheets have become rusty because of the pollution in the air. And if more wells are opened at the flow station, the noise will drown everybody in the village.
Farming or fishing has become impossible as the environment is all polluted too," Donyegha said in an angry tone.
In between the thatched mud houses in the village are standing pipes without water while the NNDC built single-shop market is but a shanty, which the villagers describe as inadequate. Another project that is on-going is the new secondary school located on the outskirt of the village on the way to Ughoton. Though completed, it is yet to be equipped with chairs, tables and other facilities.
But beyond the conventional school, the villagers are yearning for the take-off of the skill acquisition centre being built by the NDDC. Unfortunately, the project, according to the community spokesperson, seems to have been abandoned. Since its foundation stone was laid last year, nothing has been done to the project and the place has been overgrown by weeds. "We need the training at the centre because some of us can read and write, and can add little trade to it in order to earn a living,"
Unfortunately, a lot of activities that are very vital to the history of the ancient Benin kingdom are linked to Gelegele. It is in history that the slave trade and trade in cocoa, cowries and other precious items with the Germans, Portuguese and later Britons were all done through this port as the major seaport in the region. Today, the famous Gelegele seaport has been reduced to a mere waterside where only fishing by the local people takes place. Also, the Portuguese and British government used the Gelegele sea port extensively for more than half a century before the 1897 infamous British punitive expedition. In an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2005, the Benin Youth Congress lamented that the ancient Gelegele sea port is neither a seaport in practical term nor a cultural monument as it is in the case of advanced democracies. The congress noted that the Federal Government since 1960 has done little or nothing about the dredging of the port for ships to berth and for associated services. It therefore observed that the sustained patience and of the Binis have been taken for granted for so long or how ‘else do we explain the little or no concern of the Federal Government even in a democracy to this all important project?" The port, it added, when attended to would boost the employment opportunities for the youths as well as enhance the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which is a major policy–thrust of the administration.
"We do hereby state unequivocally that the call for government intervention towards the dredging of Gelegele sea port is a cardinal struggle, which cannot be negotiated in our resolve to pursue the struggles or concerns of the Benin nation. Towards this end, the Congress shall not hesitate to employ any reasonable action to drive home our cry for the dredging of the historic Gelegele sea Port. All energies and ideas at the disposal of the Congress members at home and abroad shall be resolutely mobilised for the realisation of this set goal. Interestingly, Gelegele is famous in many regards to students of history and those who want to know more about the black race. Gelegele is, no doubt, one of the ancient seaports which existed even before the coming of the colonial masters and far before the birth of Nigeria as a country. Apart from the British expedition in Benin, it is one of the seaports through which the colonial masters on exploration and partition of Africa had access to the ancient Benin Kingdom. However, there is an uneasy calm at Gelegele over the right to the land.
On September 3 and October 21, the group led by Pastor Festus Osa Egharevba Izeomo made presentations to the Oba of Benin at the palace seeking a lasting end to the assaults and abuses on the Binis. Izeomo said the group’s visit is necessitated by the communal crises that have persisted between the Binis and other ethnic stocks in Benin kingdom, especially the Ijaws, which has left a sour taste in the mouth.
"That Gelegele is a Benin community is a long settled issue. There are established, verifiable administrative inquiries by the then Midwest state government and judgments from the High Court up to the Supreme Court in Lagos giving authority and power to the Binis over the land occupied by our forebears for centuries," he added.
He observed that the Ijaws who settled and are dotted along river banks in Benin Kingdom in spite of openness and acceptance of Benin, have become a thorn in the flesh of Binis constituting themselves as malfeasance, aggressors, instigators and violators of civilised norms. He alleged that the Ijaws have severally attacked, invaded and occupied Benin villages without provocation and retaliation for too long. He recalled that the house being erected by the Okao, Chief Joseph I. Iyonmahan in 1985 was allegedly destroyed adding that the newly installed Odionwere, Mr. Amos Enaigbe was also severely beaten when he attempted to build the Ogue-Edion in Gelegele.
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Pa Wilson Kororo is frail and weak. He is one of the few remaining elders in Gelegele. He could not hide his joy on sighting the reporter who was surrounded by some youths. Like the blind man in the Holy Bible begging Jesus Christ to regain his sight, he said to the reporter: "My pikin, add my matter for your report. I am dying gradually from the pollution in this village. And it is everywhere. See, the roof of my small house is rusted and it is falling off because of gas flaring and other toxic gases in the air. Tell our government make them hear." Pa Kororo’s case is only the tip of ice berg in the degradation plaguing the residents of Gelegele.
Like every other oil community in the Niger Delta, Gelegele, a small riverside village that lies at the bank of the Edo axis of River Niger, is a graphic contrast to its economic and historical significance. Despite hosting the oil flow station of Dubri Oil Company since 1979, social economic activities in Gelegele are seemingly non-existent. Accessing the community that is mainly populated by the Ijaw by road is one adventure not many will want to undertake. But for kidnappers, the Ekehuan-Gelegele axis is an escape route to Delta and Bayelsa states through the sea. Little wonder the Edo State government deployed an anti-crime mobile police squad, Thunderstorm, along the route to checkmate the kidnappers’ atrocities.
During the rainy season, many travellers to Gelegele either end their journey at Ughoton Village, where an oil well is located, or trek the remaining distance. Vehicles only bring people from Benin to Ekehuan, a journey of about 27 kilometres and thereafter motorcycles ferry people for the next 18 kilometers. Sometimes, one can stay at the Ekehuan junction for hours, waiting for a motorcycle going to Gelegele. And it costs as much as N600 per trip, depending on the weather and time. Yet, thousands of barrels of crude oil are ferried from Gelegele to Chevron in Escravos, Delta State, for refinement abroad.
The village is situated near a large expanse of tropical rain forest with a network of rivers, creeks, streams, canals and springs linking up to the River Niger which flows into the high seas. Pockets of jetties and shrines being patronised by the people keep the area alive. Expectedly, low level fishing and trading in condensate (mistaken by the local people as diesel) go on in the area and serve as the major sources of revenue for the people. The easier link to communities like Ekehuan in Edo State, Escravos in Delta State and other adjoining villages is through the waterway because the only road to the place is under construction and work has since stopped.
Apart from the Police and Customs’ posts that are not functioning, the community is literarily another Siberia, with no government presence - not even for revenue collection. The day-to-day affair of the community is run by an executive of the village union as well as the youth wing. Health and education facilities are jointly provided by the community and the local government. At the only primary school in the village, Osa Primary School, the village and council provided two teachers each. But the story is different at the health post, where Mrs. Priscilla Nonekhuone is the only staff serving as health officer, attendant, gardener, security and cleaner.
Since resuming office in November 2007, she has been alone at the health post that has two beds and a table containing few drugs. According to her, the gardner and cleaners were withdrawn by the council chairman when he visited the community sometime ago.
"The chairman came here and asked the unskilled workers to step aside for a while and that they would be called back later. This was after he took an inventory of skilled and unskilled workers. I was the only skilled worker around. Later, we heard that they were asked to step down till further notice.
"Since then they have not been called back."
She disclosed that the health post gets water from the river except when the generator attached to the borehole is on, that water from the tap can be fetched.
"There was a time the community wrote a letter to the council calling for the reinstatement of the people they told to step down but there was no answer. Each time we hold our meetings at Okada I always talk about the health workers in my department and that I am alone. It was as a result of my pressure on them that they sent one health worker, a woman to this post. They sent her last week and she has come twice. Sometime last week she was here. Two days ago, she came back to tell me that she is going on leave and that when she comes back she will resume formally.
Nobody is guarding the post, it is God that guards the place," she said.
The community PRO, Mr. Monday Donyegha and vice chairman of youth wing, Mr. Fineboy Oferejo, who conducted this reporter round the village were also full of lamentations about the neglect of the village.
"There is nothing to show that Gelegele is an oil producing community. And unfortunately, our governor has not found it necessary to visit us. After all, this is the only oil producing community in the state. Gas flaring has killed many of our old men and women and the air is constantly hot. Our roofing sheets have become rusty because of the pollution in the air. And if more wells are opened at the flow station, the noise will drown everybody in the village.
Farming or fishing has become impossible as the environment is all polluted too," Donyegha said in an angry tone.
In between the thatched mud houses in the village are standing pipes without water while the NNDC built single-shop market is but a shanty, which the villagers describe as inadequate. Another project that is on-going is the new secondary school located on the outskirt of the village on the way to Ughoton. Though completed, it is yet to be equipped with chairs, tables and other facilities.
But beyond the conventional school, the villagers are yearning for the take-off of the skill acquisition centre being built by the NDDC. Unfortunately, the project, according to the community spokesperson, seems to have been abandoned. Since its foundation stone was laid last year, nothing has been done to the project and the place has been overgrown by weeds. "We need the training at the centre because some of us can read and write, and can add little trade to it in order to earn a living,"
Unfortunately, a lot of activities that are very vital to the history of the ancient Benin kingdom are linked to Gelegele. It is in history that the slave trade and trade in cocoa, cowries and other precious items with the Germans, Portuguese and later Britons were all done through this port as the major seaport in the region. Today, the famous Gelegele seaport has been reduced to a mere waterside where only fishing by the local people takes place. Also, the Portuguese and British government used the Gelegele sea port extensively for more than half a century before the 1897 infamous British punitive expedition. In an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2005, the Benin Youth Congress lamented that the ancient Gelegele sea port is neither a seaport in practical term nor a cultural monument as it is in the case of advanced democracies. The congress noted that the Federal Government since 1960 has done little or nothing about the dredging of the port for ships to berth and for associated services. It therefore observed that the sustained patience and of the Binis have been taken for granted for so long or how ‘else do we explain the little or no concern of the Federal Government even in a democracy to this all important project?" The port, it added, when attended to would boost the employment opportunities for the youths as well as enhance the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which is a major policy–thrust of the administration.
"We do hereby state unequivocally that the call for government intervention towards the dredging of Gelegele sea port is a cardinal struggle, which cannot be negotiated in our resolve to pursue the struggles or concerns of the Benin nation. Towards this end, the Congress shall not hesitate to employ any reasonable action to drive home our cry for the dredging of the historic Gelegele sea Port. All energies and ideas at the disposal of the Congress members at home and abroad shall be resolutely mobilised for the realisation of this set goal. Interestingly, Gelegele is famous in many regards to students of history and those who want to know more about the black race. Gelegele is, no doubt, one of the ancient seaports which existed even before the coming of the colonial masters and far before the birth of Nigeria as a country. Apart from the British expedition in Benin, it is one of the seaports through which the colonial masters on exploration and partition of Africa had access to the ancient Benin Kingdom. However, there is an uneasy calm at Gelegele over the right to the land.
On September 3 and October 21, the group led by Pastor Festus Osa Egharevba Izeomo made presentations to the Oba of Benin at the palace seeking a lasting end to the assaults and abuses on the Binis. Izeomo said the group’s visit is necessitated by the communal crises that have persisted between the Binis and other ethnic stocks in Benin kingdom, especially the Ijaws, which has left a sour taste in the mouth.
"That Gelegele is a Benin community is a long settled issue. There are established, verifiable administrative inquiries by the then Midwest state government and judgments from the High Court up to the Supreme Court in Lagos giving authority and power to the Binis over the land occupied by our forebears for centuries," he added.
He observed that the Ijaws who settled and are dotted along river banks in Benin Kingdom in spite of openness and acceptance of Benin, have become a thorn in the flesh of Binis constituting themselves as malfeasance, aggressors, instigators and violators of civilised norms. He alleged that the Ijaws have severally attacked, invaded and occupied Benin villages without provocation and retaliation for too long. He recalled that the house being erected by the Okao, Chief Joseph I. Iyonmahan in 1985 was allegedly destroyed adding that the newly installed Odionwere, Mr. Amos Enaigbe was also severely beaten when he attempted to build the Ogue-Edion in Gelegele.
Gelele port
Gelegele: Ancient Benin port lost to history
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Pa Wilson Kororo is frail and weak. He is one of the few remaining elders in Gelegele. He could not hide his joy on sighting the reporter who was surrounded by some youths. Like the blind man in the Holy Bible begging Jesus Christ to regain his sight, he said to the reporter: "My pikin, add my matter for your report. I am dying gradually from the pollution in this village. And it is everywhere. See, the roof of my small house is rusted and it is falling off because of gas flaring and other toxic gases in the air. Tell our government make them hear." Pa Kororo’s case is only the tip of ice berg in the degradation plaguing the residents of Gelegele.
Like every other oil community in the Niger Delta, Gelegele, a small riverside village that lies at the bank of the Edo axis of River Niger, is a graphic contrast to its economic and historical significance. Despite hosting the oil flow station of Dubri Oil Company since 1979, social economic activities in Gelegele are seemingly non-existent. Accessing the community that is mainly populated by the Ijaw by road is one adventure not many will want to undertake. But for kidnappers, the Ekehuan-Gelegele axis is an escape route to Delta and Bayelsa states through the sea. Little wonder the Edo State government deployed an anti-crime mobile police squad, Thunderstorm, along the route to checkmate the kidnappers’ atrocities.
During the rainy season, many travellers to Gelegele either end their journey at Ughoton Village, where an oil well is located, or trek the remaining distance. Vehicles only bring people from Benin to Ekehuan, a journey of about 27 kilometres and thereafter motorcycles ferry people for the next 18 kilometers. Sometimes, one can stay at the Ekehuan junction for hours, waiting for a motorcycle going to Gelegele. And it costs as much as N600 per trip, depending on the weather and time. Yet, thousands of barrels of crude oil are ferried from Gelegele to Chevron in Escravos, Delta State, for refinement abroad.
The village is situated near a large expanse of tropical rain forest with a network of rivers, creeks, streams, canals and springs linking up to the River Niger which flows into the high seas. Pockets of jetties and shrines being patronised by the people keep the area alive. Expectedly, low level fishing and trading in condensate (mistaken by the local people as diesel) go on in the area and serve as the major sources of revenue for the people. The easier link to communities like Ekehuan in Edo State, Escravos in Delta State and other adjoining villages is through the waterway because the only road to the place is under construction and work has since stopped.
Apart from the Police and Customs’ posts that are not functioning, the community is literarily another Siberia, with no government presence - not even for revenue collection. The day-to-day affair of the community is run by an executive of the village union as well as the youth wing. Health and education facilities are jointly provided by the community and the local government. At the only primary school in the village, Osa Primary School, the village and council provided two teachers each. But the story is different at the health post, where Mrs. Priscilla Nonekhuone is the only staff serving as health officer, attendant, gardener, security and cleaner.
Since resuming office in November 2007, she has been alone at the health post that has two beds and a table containing few drugs. According to her, the gardner and cleaners were withdrawn by the council chairman when he visited the community sometime ago.
"The chairman came here and asked the unskilled workers to step aside for a while and that they would be called back later. This was after he took an inventory of skilled and unskilled workers. I was the only skilled worker around. Later, we heard that they were asked to step down till further notice.
"Since then they have not been called back."
She disclosed that the health post gets water from the river except when the generator attached to the borehole is on, that water from the tap can be fetched.
"There was a time the community wrote a letter to the council calling for the reinstatement of the people they told to step down but there was no answer. Each time we hold our meetings at Okada I always talk about the health workers in my department and that I am alone. It was as a result of my pressure on them that they sent one health worker, a woman to this post. They sent her last week and she has come twice. Sometime last week she was here. Two days ago, she came back to tell me that she is going on leave and that when she comes back she will resume formally.
Nobody is guarding the post, it is God that guards the place," she said.
The community PRO, Mr. Monday Donyegha and vice chairman of youth wing, Mr. Fineboy Oferejo, who conducted this reporter round the village were also full of lamentations about the neglect of the village.
"There is nothing to show that Gelegele is an oil producing community. And unfortunately, our governor has not found it necessary to visit us. After all, this is the only oil producing community in the state. Gas flaring has killed many of our old men and women and the air is constantly hot. Our roofing sheets have become rusty because of the pollution in the air. And if more wells are opened at the flow station, the noise will drown everybody in the village.
Farming or fishing has become impossible as the environment is all polluted too," Donyegha said in an angry tone.
In between the thatched mud houses in the village are standing pipes without water while the NNDC built single-shop market is but a shanty, which the villagers describe as inadequate. Another project that is on-going is the new secondary school located on the outskirt of the village on the way to Ughoton. Though completed, it is yet to be equipped with chairs, tables and other facilities.
But beyond the conventional school, the villagers are yearning for the take-off of the skill acquisition centre being built by the NDDC. Unfortunately, the project, according to the community spokesperson, seems to have been abandoned. Since its foundation stone was laid last year, nothing has been done to the project and the place has been overgrown by weeds. "We need the training at the centre because some of us can read and write, and can add little trade to it in order to earn a living,"
Unfortunately, a lot of activities that are very vital to the history of the ancient Benin kingdom are linked to Gelegele. It is in history that the slave trade and trade in cocoa, cowries and other precious items with the Germans, Portuguese and later Britons were all done through this port as the major seaport in the region. Today, the famous Gelegele seaport has been reduced to a mere waterside where only fishing by the local people takes place. Also, the Portuguese and British government used the Gelegele sea port extensively for more than half a century before the 1897 infamous British punitive expedition. In an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2005, the Benin Youth Congress lamented that the ancient Gelegele sea port is neither a seaport in practical term nor a cultural monument as it is in the case of advanced democracies. The congress noted that the Federal Government since 1960 has done little or nothing about the dredging of the port for ships to berth and for associated services. It therefore observed that the sustained patience and of the Binis have been taken for granted for so long or how ‘else do we explain the little or no concern of the Federal Government even in a democracy to this all important project?" The port, it added, when attended to would boost the employment opportunities for the youths as well as enhance the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which is a major policy–thrust of the administration.
"We do hereby state unequivocally that the call for government intervention towards the dredging of Gelegele sea port is a cardinal struggle, which cannot be negotiated in our resolve to pursue the struggles or concerns of the Benin nation. Towards this end, the Congress shall not hesitate to employ any reasonable action to drive home our cry for the dredging of the historic Gelegele sea Port. All energies and ideas at the disposal of the Congress members at home and abroad shall be resolutely mobilised for the realisation of this set goal. Interestingly, Gelegele is famous in many regards to students of history and those who want to know more about the black race. Gelegele is, no doubt, one of the ancient seaports which existed even before the coming of the colonial masters and far before the birth of Nigeria as a country. Apart from the British expedition in Benin, it is one of the seaports through which the colonial masters on exploration and partition of Africa had access to the ancient Benin Kingdom. However, there is an uneasy calm at Gelegele over the right to the land.
On September 3 and October 21, the group led by Pastor Festus Osa Egharevba Izeomo made presentations to the Oba of Benin at the palace seeking a lasting end to the assaults and abuses on the Binis. Izeomo said the group’s visit is necessitated by the communal crises that have persisted between the Binis and other ethnic stocks in Benin kingdom, especially the Ijaws, which has left a sour taste in the mouth.
"That Gelegele is a Benin community is a long settled issue. There are established, verifiable administrative inquiries by the then Midwest state government and judgments from the High Court up to the Supreme Court in Lagos giving authority and power to the Binis over the land occupied by our forebears for centuries," he added.
He observed that the Ijaws who settled and are dotted along river banks in Benin Kingdom in spite of openness and acceptance of Benin, have become a thorn in the flesh of Binis constituting themselves as malfeasance, aggressors, instigators and violators of civilised norms. He alleged that the Ijaws have severally attacked, invaded and occupied Benin villages without provocation and retaliation for too long. He recalled that the house being erected by the Okao, Chief Joseph I. Iyonmahan in 1985 was allegedly destroyed adding that the newly installed Odionwere, Mr. Amos Enaigbe was also severely beaten when he attempted to build the Ogue-Edion in Gelegele.
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Pa Wilson Kororo is frail and weak. He is one of the few remaining elders in Gelegele. He could not hide his joy on sighting the reporter who was surrounded by some youths. Like the blind man in the Holy Bible begging Jesus Christ to regain his sight, he said to the reporter: "My pikin, add my matter for your report. I am dying gradually from the pollution in this village. And it is everywhere. See, the roof of my small house is rusted and it is falling off because of gas flaring and other toxic gases in the air. Tell our government make them hear." Pa Kororo’s case is only the tip of ice berg in the degradation plaguing the residents of Gelegele.
Like every other oil community in the Niger Delta, Gelegele, a small riverside village that lies at the bank of the Edo axis of River Niger, is a graphic contrast to its economic and historical significance. Despite hosting the oil flow station of Dubri Oil Company since 1979, social economic activities in Gelegele are seemingly non-existent. Accessing the community that is mainly populated by the Ijaw by road is one adventure not many will want to undertake. But for kidnappers, the Ekehuan-Gelegele axis is an escape route to Delta and Bayelsa states through the sea. Little wonder the Edo State government deployed an anti-crime mobile police squad, Thunderstorm, along the route to checkmate the kidnappers’ atrocities.
During the rainy season, many travellers to Gelegele either end their journey at Ughoton Village, where an oil well is located, or trek the remaining distance. Vehicles only bring people from Benin to Ekehuan, a journey of about 27 kilometres and thereafter motorcycles ferry people for the next 18 kilometers. Sometimes, one can stay at the Ekehuan junction for hours, waiting for a motorcycle going to Gelegele. And it costs as much as N600 per trip, depending on the weather and time. Yet, thousands of barrels of crude oil are ferried from Gelegele to Chevron in Escravos, Delta State, for refinement abroad.
The village is situated near a large expanse of tropical rain forest with a network of rivers, creeks, streams, canals and springs linking up to the River Niger which flows into the high seas. Pockets of jetties and shrines being patronised by the people keep the area alive. Expectedly, low level fishing and trading in condensate (mistaken by the local people as diesel) go on in the area and serve as the major sources of revenue for the people. The easier link to communities like Ekehuan in Edo State, Escravos in Delta State and other adjoining villages is through the waterway because the only road to the place is under construction and work has since stopped.
Apart from the Police and Customs’ posts that are not functioning, the community is literarily another Siberia, with no government presence - not even for revenue collection. The day-to-day affair of the community is run by an executive of the village union as well as the youth wing. Health and education facilities are jointly provided by the community and the local government. At the only primary school in the village, Osa Primary School, the village and council provided two teachers each. But the story is different at the health post, where Mrs. Priscilla Nonekhuone is the only staff serving as health officer, attendant, gardener, security and cleaner.
Since resuming office in November 2007, she has been alone at the health post that has two beds and a table containing few drugs. According to her, the gardner and cleaners were withdrawn by the council chairman when he visited the community sometime ago.
"The chairman came here and asked the unskilled workers to step aside for a while and that they would be called back later. This was after he took an inventory of skilled and unskilled workers. I was the only skilled worker around. Later, we heard that they were asked to step down till further notice.
"Since then they have not been called back."
She disclosed that the health post gets water from the river except when the generator attached to the borehole is on, that water from the tap can be fetched.
"There was a time the community wrote a letter to the council calling for the reinstatement of the people they told to step down but there was no answer. Each time we hold our meetings at Okada I always talk about the health workers in my department and that I am alone. It was as a result of my pressure on them that they sent one health worker, a woman to this post. They sent her last week and she has come twice. Sometime last week she was here. Two days ago, she came back to tell me that she is going on leave and that when she comes back she will resume formally.
Nobody is guarding the post, it is God that guards the place," she said.
The community PRO, Mr. Monday Donyegha and vice chairman of youth wing, Mr. Fineboy Oferejo, who conducted this reporter round the village were also full of lamentations about the neglect of the village.
"There is nothing to show that Gelegele is an oil producing community. And unfortunately, our governor has not found it necessary to visit us. After all, this is the only oil producing community in the state. Gas flaring has killed many of our old men and women and the air is constantly hot. Our roofing sheets have become rusty because of the pollution in the air. And if more wells are opened at the flow station, the noise will drown everybody in the village.
Farming or fishing has become impossible as the environment is all polluted too," Donyegha said in an angry tone.
In between the thatched mud houses in the village are standing pipes without water while the NNDC built single-shop market is but a shanty, which the villagers describe as inadequate. Another project that is on-going is the new secondary school located on the outskirt of the village on the way to Ughoton. Though completed, it is yet to be equipped with chairs, tables and other facilities.
But beyond the conventional school, the villagers are yearning for the take-off of the skill acquisition centre being built by the NDDC. Unfortunately, the project, according to the community spokesperson, seems to have been abandoned. Since its foundation stone was laid last year, nothing has been done to the project and the place has been overgrown by weeds. "We need the training at the centre because some of us can read and write, and can add little trade to it in order to earn a living,"
Unfortunately, a lot of activities that are very vital to the history of the ancient Benin kingdom are linked to Gelegele. It is in history that the slave trade and trade in cocoa, cowries and other precious items with the Germans, Portuguese and later Britons were all done through this port as the major seaport in the region. Today, the famous Gelegele seaport has been reduced to a mere waterside where only fishing by the local people takes place. Also, the Portuguese and British government used the Gelegele sea port extensively for more than half a century before the 1897 infamous British punitive expedition. In an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2005, the Benin Youth Congress lamented that the ancient Gelegele sea port is neither a seaport in practical term nor a cultural monument as it is in the case of advanced democracies. The congress noted that the Federal Government since 1960 has done little or nothing about the dredging of the port for ships to berth and for associated services. It therefore observed that the sustained patience and of the Binis have been taken for granted for so long or how ‘else do we explain the little or no concern of the Federal Government even in a democracy to this all important project?" The port, it added, when attended to would boost the employment opportunities for the youths as well as enhance the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which is a major policy–thrust of the administration.
"We do hereby state unequivocally that the call for government intervention towards the dredging of Gelegele sea port is a cardinal struggle, which cannot be negotiated in our resolve to pursue the struggles or concerns of the Benin nation. Towards this end, the Congress shall not hesitate to employ any reasonable action to drive home our cry for the dredging of the historic Gelegele sea Port. All energies and ideas at the disposal of the Congress members at home and abroad shall be resolutely mobilised for the realisation of this set goal. Interestingly, Gelegele is famous in many regards to students of history and those who want to know more about the black race. Gelegele is, no doubt, one of the ancient seaports which existed even before the coming of the colonial masters and far before the birth of Nigeria as a country. Apart from the British expedition in Benin, it is one of the seaports through which the colonial masters on exploration and partition of Africa had access to the ancient Benin Kingdom. However, there is an uneasy calm at Gelegele over the right to the land.
On September 3 and October 21, the group led by Pastor Festus Osa Egharevba Izeomo made presentations to the Oba of Benin at the palace seeking a lasting end to the assaults and abuses on the Binis. Izeomo said the group’s visit is necessitated by the communal crises that have persisted between the Binis and other ethnic stocks in Benin kingdom, especially the Ijaws, which has left a sour taste in the mouth.
"That Gelegele is a Benin community is a long settled issue. There are established, verifiable administrative inquiries by the then Midwest state government and judgments from the High Court up to the Supreme Court in Lagos giving authority and power to the Binis over the land occupied by our forebears for centuries," he added.
He observed that the Ijaws who settled and are dotted along river banks in Benin Kingdom in spite of openness and acceptance of Benin, have become a thorn in the flesh of Binis constituting themselves as malfeasance, aggressors, instigators and violators of civilised norms. He alleged that the Ijaws have severally attacked, invaded and occupied Benin villages without provocation and retaliation for too long. He recalled that the house being erected by the Okao, Chief Joseph I. Iyonmahan in 1985 was allegedly destroyed adding that the newly installed Odionwere, Mr. Amos Enaigbe was also severely beaten when he attempted to build the Ogue-Edion in Gelegele.
Gelele port
Gelegele: Ancient Benin port lost to history
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Pa Wilson Kororo is frail and weak. He is one of the few remaining elders in Gelegele. He could not hide his joy on sighting the reporter who was surrounded by some youths. Like the blind man in the Holy Bible begging Jesus Christ to regain his sight, he said to the reporter: "My pikin, add my matter for your report. I am dying gradually from the pollution in this village. And it is everywhere. See, the roof of my small house is rusted and it is falling off because of gas flaring and other toxic gases in the air. Tell our government make them hear." Pa Kororo’s case is only the tip of ice berg in the degradation plaguing the residents of Gelegele.
Like every other oil community in the Niger Delta, Gelegele, a small riverside village that lies at the bank of the Edo axis of River Niger, is a graphic contrast to its economic and historical significance. Despite hosting the oil flow station of Dubri Oil Company since 1979, social economic activities in Gelegele are seemingly non-existent. Accessing the community that is mainly populated by the Ijaw by road is one adventure not many will want to undertake. But for kidnappers, the Ekehuan-Gelegele axis is an escape route to Delta and Bayelsa states through the sea. Little wonder the Edo State government deployed an anti-crime mobile police squad, Thunderstorm, along the route to checkmate the kidnappers’ atrocities.
During the rainy season, many travellers to Gelegele either end their journey at Ughoton Village, where an oil well is located, or trek the remaining distance. Vehicles only bring people from Benin to Ekehuan, a journey of about 27 kilometres and thereafter motorcycles ferry people for the next 18 kilometers. Sometimes, one can stay at the Ekehuan junction for hours, waiting for a motorcycle going to Gelegele. And it costs as much as N600 per trip, depending on the weather and time. Yet, thousands of barrels of crude oil are ferried from Gelegele to Chevron in Escravos, Delta State, for refinement abroad.
The village is situated near a large expanse of tropical rain forest with a network of rivers, creeks, streams, canals and springs linking up to the River Niger which flows into the high seas. Pockets of jetties and shrines being patronised by the people keep the area alive. Expectedly, low level fishing and trading in condensate (mistaken by the local people as diesel) go on in the area and serve as the major sources of revenue for the people. The easier link to communities like Ekehuan in Edo State, Escravos in Delta State and other adjoining villages is through the waterway because the only road to the place is under construction and work has since stopped.
Apart from the Police and Customs’ posts that are not functioning, the community is literarily another Siberia, with no government presence - not even for revenue collection. The day-to-day affair of the community is run by an executive of the village union as well as the youth wing. Health and education facilities are jointly provided by the community and the local government. At the only primary school in the village, Osa Primary School, the village and council provided two teachers each. But the story is different at the health post, where Mrs. Priscilla Nonekhuone is the only staff serving as health officer, attendant, gardener, security and cleaner.
Since resuming office in November 2007, she has been alone at the health post that has two beds and a table containing few drugs. According to her, the gardner and cleaners were withdrawn by the council chairman when he visited the community sometime ago.
"The chairman came here and asked the unskilled workers to step aside for a while and that they would be called back later. This was after he took an inventory of skilled and unskilled workers. I was the only skilled worker around. Later, we heard that they were asked to step down till further notice.
"Since then they have not been called back."
She disclosed that the health post gets water from the river except when the generator attached to the borehole is on, that water from the tap can be fetched.
"There was a time the community wrote a letter to the council calling for the reinstatement of the people they told to step down but there was no answer. Each time we hold our meetings at Okada I always talk about the health workers in my department and that I am alone. It was as a result of my pressure on them that they sent one health worker, a woman to this post. They sent her last week and she has come twice. Sometime last week she was here. Two days ago, she came back to tell me that she is going on leave and that when she comes back she will resume formally.
Nobody is guarding the post, it is God that guards the place," she said.
The community PRO, Mr. Monday Donyegha and vice chairman of youth wing, Mr. Fineboy Oferejo, who conducted this reporter round the village were also full of lamentations about the neglect of the village.
"There is nothing to show that Gelegele is an oil producing community. And unfortunately, our governor has not found it necessary to visit us. After all, this is the only oil producing community in the state. Gas flaring has killed many of our old men and women and the air is constantly hot. Our roofing sheets have become rusty because of the pollution in the air. And if more wells are opened at the flow station, the noise will drown everybody in the village.
Farming or fishing has become impossible as the environment is all polluted too," Donyegha said in an angry tone.
In between the thatched mud houses in the village are standing pipes without water while the NNDC built single-shop market is but a shanty, which the villagers describe as inadequate. Another project that is on-going is the new secondary school located on the outskirt of the village on the way to Ughoton. Though completed, it is yet to be equipped with chairs, tables and other facilities.
But beyond the conventional school, the villagers are yearning for the take-off of the skill acquisition centre being built by the NDDC. Unfortunately, the project, according to the community spokesperson, seems to have been abandoned. Since its foundation stone was laid last year, nothing has been done to the project and the place has been overgrown by weeds. "We need the training at the centre because some of us can read and write, and can add little trade to it in order to earn a living,"
Unfortunately, a lot of activities that are very vital to the history of the ancient Benin kingdom are linked to Gelegele. It is in history that the slave trade and trade in cocoa, cowries and other precious items with the Germans, Portuguese and later Britons were all done through this port as the major seaport in the region. Today, the famous Gelegele seaport has been reduced to a mere waterside where only fishing by the local people takes place. Also, the Portuguese and British government used the Gelegele sea port extensively for more than half a century before the 1897 infamous British punitive expedition. In an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2005, the Benin Youth Congress lamented that the ancient Gelegele sea port is neither a seaport in practical term nor a cultural monument as it is in the case of advanced democracies. The congress noted that the Federal Government since 1960 has done little or nothing about the dredging of the port for ships to berth and for associated services. It therefore observed that the sustained patience and of the Binis have been taken for granted for so long or how ‘else do we explain the little or no concern of the Federal Government even in a democracy to this all important project?" The port, it added, when attended to would boost the employment opportunities for the youths as well as enhance the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which is a major policy–thrust of the administration.
"We do hereby state unequivocally that the call for government intervention towards the dredging of Gelegele sea port is a cardinal struggle, which cannot be negotiated in our resolve to pursue the struggles or concerns of the Benin nation. Towards this end, the Congress shall not hesitate to employ any reasonable action to drive home our cry for the dredging of the historic Gelegele sea Port. All energies and ideas at the disposal of the Congress members at home and abroad shall be resolutely mobilised for the realisation of this set goal. Interestingly, Gelegele is famous in many regards to students of history and those who want to know more about the black race. Gelegele is, no doubt, one of the ancient seaports which existed even before the coming of the colonial masters and far before the birth of Nigeria as a country. Apart from the British expedition in Benin, it is one of the seaports through which the colonial masters on exploration and partition of Africa had access to the ancient Benin Kingdom. However, there is an uneasy calm at Gelegele over the right to the land.
On September 3 and October 21, the group led by Pastor Festus Osa Egharevba Izeomo made presentations to the Oba of Benin at the palace seeking a lasting end to the assaults and abuses on the Binis. Izeomo said the group’s visit is necessitated by the communal crises that have persisted between the Binis and other ethnic stocks in Benin kingdom, especially the Ijaws, which has left a sour taste in the mouth.
"That Gelegele is a Benin community is a long settled issue. There are established, verifiable administrative inquiries by the then Midwest state government and judgments from the High Court up to the Supreme Court in Lagos giving authority and power to the Binis over the land occupied by our forebears for centuries," he added.
He observed that the Ijaws who settled and are dotted along river banks in Benin Kingdom in spite of openness and acceptance of Benin, have become a thorn in the flesh of Binis constituting themselves as malfeasance, aggressors, instigators and violators of civilised norms. He alleged that the Ijaws have severally attacked, invaded and occupied Benin villages without provocation and retaliation for too long. He recalled that the house being erected by the Okao, Chief Joseph I. Iyonmahan in 1985 was allegedly destroyed adding that the newly installed Odionwere, Mr. Amos Enaigbe was also severely beaten when he attempted to build the Ogue-Edion in Gelegele.
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Pa Wilson Kororo is frail and weak. He is one of the few remaining elders in Gelegele. He could not hide his joy on sighting the reporter who was surrounded by some youths. Like the blind man in the Holy Bible begging Jesus Christ to regain his sight, he said to the reporter: "My pikin, add my matter for your report. I am dying gradually from the pollution in this village. And it is everywhere. See, the roof of my small house is rusted and it is falling off because of gas flaring and other toxic gases in the air. Tell our government make them hear." Pa Kororo’s case is only the tip of ice berg in the degradation plaguing the residents of Gelegele.
Like every other oil community in the Niger Delta, Gelegele, a small riverside village that lies at the bank of the Edo axis of River Niger, is a graphic contrast to its economic and historical significance. Despite hosting the oil flow station of Dubri Oil Company since 1979, social economic activities in Gelegele are seemingly non-existent. Accessing the community that is mainly populated by the Ijaw by road is one adventure not many will want to undertake. But for kidnappers, the Ekehuan-Gelegele axis is an escape route to Delta and Bayelsa states through the sea. Little wonder the Edo State government deployed an anti-crime mobile police squad, Thunderstorm, along the route to checkmate the kidnappers’ atrocities.
During the rainy season, many travellers to Gelegele either end their journey at Ughoton Village, where an oil well is located, or trek the remaining distance. Vehicles only bring people from Benin to Ekehuan, a journey of about 27 kilometres and thereafter motorcycles ferry people for the next 18 kilometers. Sometimes, one can stay at the Ekehuan junction for hours, waiting for a motorcycle going to Gelegele. And it costs as much as N600 per trip, depending on the weather and time. Yet, thousands of barrels of crude oil are ferried from Gelegele to Chevron in Escravos, Delta State, for refinement abroad.
The village is situated near a large expanse of tropical rain forest with a network of rivers, creeks, streams, canals and springs linking up to the River Niger which flows into the high seas. Pockets of jetties and shrines being patronised by the people keep the area alive. Expectedly, low level fishing and trading in condensate (mistaken by the local people as diesel) go on in the area and serve as the major sources of revenue for the people. The easier link to communities like Ekehuan in Edo State, Escravos in Delta State and other adjoining villages is through the waterway because the only road to the place is under construction and work has since stopped.
Apart from the Police and Customs’ posts that are not functioning, the community is literarily another Siberia, with no government presence - not even for revenue collection. The day-to-day affair of the community is run by an executive of the village union as well as the youth wing. Health and education facilities are jointly provided by the community and the local government. At the only primary school in the village, Osa Primary School, the village and council provided two teachers each. But the story is different at the health post, where Mrs. Priscilla Nonekhuone is the only staff serving as health officer, attendant, gardener, security and cleaner.
Since resuming office in November 2007, she has been alone at the health post that has two beds and a table containing few drugs. According to her, the gardner and cleaners were withdrawn by the council chairman when he visited the community sometime ago.
"The chairman came here and asked the unskilled workers to step aside for a while and that they would be called back later. This was after he took an inventory of skilled and unskilled workers. I was the only skilled worker around. Later, we heard that they were asked to step down till further notice.
"Since then they have not been called back."
She disclosed that the health post gets water from the river except when the generator attached to the borehole is on, that water from the tap can be fetched.
"There was a time the community wrote a letter to the council calling for the reinstatement of the people they told to step down but there was no answer. Each time we hold our meetings at Okada I always talk about the health workers in my department and that I am alone. It was as a result of my pressure on them that they sent one health worker, a woman to this post. They sent her last week and she has come twice. Sometime last week she was here. Two days ago, she came back to tell me that she is going on leave and that when she comes back she will resume formally.
Nobody is guarding the post, it is God that guards the place," she said.
The community PRO, Mr. Monday Donyegha and vice chairman of youth wing, Mr. Fineboy Oferejo, who conducted this reporter round the village were also full of lamentations about the neglect of the village.
"There is nothing to show that Gelegele is an oil producing community. And unfortunately, our governor has not found it necessary to visit us. After all, this is the only oil producing community in the state. Gas flaring has killed many of our old men and women and the air is constantly hot. Our roofing sheets have become rusty because of the pollution in the air. And if more wells are opened at the flow station, the noise will drown everybody in the village.
Farming or fishing has become impossible as the environment is all polluted too," Donyegha said in an angry tone.
In between the thatched mud houses in the village are standing pipes without water while the NNDC built single-shop market is but a shanty, which the villagers describe as inadequate. Another project that is on-going is the new secondary school located on the outskirt of the village on the way to Ughoton. Though completed, it is yet to be equipped with chairs, tables and other facilities.
But beyond the conventional school, the villagers are yearning for the take-off of the skill acquisition centre being built by the NDDC. Unfortunately, the project, according to the community spokesperson, seems to have been abandoned. Since its foundation stone was laid last year, nothing has been done to the project and the place has been overgrown by weeds. "We need the training at the centre because some of us can read and write, and can add little trade to it in order to earn a living,"
Unfortunately, a lot of activities that are very vital to the history of the ancient Benin kingdom are linked to Gelegele. It is in history that the slave trade and trade in cocoa, cowries and other precious items with the Germans, Portuguese and later Britons were all done through this port as the major seaport in the region. Today, the famous Gelegele seaport has been reduced to a mere waterside where only fishing by the local people takes place. Also, the Portuguese and British government used the Gelegele sea port extensively for more than half a century before the 1897 infamous British punitive expedition. In an open letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in March 2005, the Benin Youth Congress lamented that the ancient Gelegele sea port is neither a seaport in practical term nor a cultural monument as it is in the case of advanced democracies. The congress noted that the Federal Government since 1960 has done little or nothing about the dredging of the port for ships to berth and for associated services. It therefore observed that the sustained patience and of the Binis have been taken for granted for so long or how ‘else do we explain the little or no concern of the Federal Government even in a democracy to this all important project?" The port, it added, when attended to would boost the employment opportunities for the youths as well as enhance the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which is a major policy–thrust of the administration.
"We do hereby state unequivocally that the call for government intervention towards the dredging of Gelegele sea port is a cardinal struggle, which cannot be negotiated in our resolve to pursue the struggles or concerns of the Benin nation. Towards this end, the Congress shall not hesitate to employ any reasonable action to drive home our cry for the dredging of the historic Gelegele sea Port. All energies and ideas at the disposal of the Congress members at home and abroad shall be resolutely mobilised for the realisation of this set goal. Interestingly, Gelegele is famous in many regards to students of history and those who want to know more about the black race. Gelegele is, no doubt, one of the ancient seaports which existed even before the coming of the colonial masters and far before the birth of Nigeria as a country. Apart from the British expedition in Benin, it is one of the seaports through which the colonial masters on exploration and partition of Africa had access to the ancient Benin Kingdom. However, there is an uneasy calm at Gelegele over the right to the land.
On September 3 and October 21, the group led by Pastor Festus Osa Egharevba Izeomo made presentations to the Oba of Benin at the palace seeking a lasting end to the assaults and abuses on the Binis. Izeomo said the group’s visit is necessitated by the communal crises that have persisted between the Binis and other ethnic stocks in Benin kingdom, especially the Ijaws, which has left a sour taste in the mouth.
"That Gelegele is a Benin community is a long settled issue. There are established, verifiable administrative inquiries by the then Midwest state government and judgments from the High Court up to the Supreme Court in Lagos giving authority and power to the Binis over the land occupied by our forebears for centuries," he added.
He observed that the Ijaws who settled and are dotted along river banks in Benin Kingdom in spite of openness and acceptance of Benin, have become a thorn in the flesh of Binis constituting themselves as malfeasance, aggressors, instigators and violators of civilised norms. He alleged that the Ijaws have severally attacked, invaded and occupied Benin villages without provocation and retaliation for too long. He recalled that the house being erected by the Okao, Chief Joseph I. Iyonmahan in 1985 was allegedly destroyed adding that the newly installed Odionwere, Mr. Amos Enaigbe was also severely beaten when he attempted to build the Ogue-Edion in Gelegele.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sustaining Wenger saced art, SPAN raises alarm, Uniben art school,
Sustaining Wenger’s sacred art
Even in death, Susanne Wenger, the Adunni Olorisa, and her phenomenal contributions to art in Nigeria continue to open fresher windows of appreciation and relevance of contemporary Nigerian arts to the globe. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME writes on New Sacred Art, an on-going group art exhibition featuring her works and those of her disciples.
“On a personal note, during my time in Nigeria and my tenure as managing director of Guinness Nigeria, I have come to appreciate the great talent that resides in this country and the richness and variety of the culture. All of these factors come to play in our decision to support the documentation and cataloguing of the work of Susanne Wenger and the New Sacred Arts Movement. She has given her special talent for many years, almost a lifetime, to demonstrate how arts can be borne out of the culture of their environment. Anyone who has visited the site will appreciate the magical qualities it possesses. Although there are many fascinating and historical places throughout this heritage-rich country, I know of no other, in contemporary times, that has given birth to such a rich vein of artwork.”
These were the remarks of the former managing director of Guinness Nigeria, Mr. Keith T. Richard in the foreword to Susanne Wenger: Her House And Her Art Collection, which capture the cultural depth and relevance of the on-going group art exhibition, New Sacred Art at Quintessence Falomo Shopping Complex, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Leading the pack of exhibiting artists is Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala, a batik artist and high priest. Other artists for the exhibition include, Buraimoh Gbadamosi, a stone and wood carver, Ojewale Amoo, sculptor in cement and wood, Kasali Akangbe Ogun, a wood carver, Rabiu Abesu, a wood carver and Adebisi Akanji, a sculptor in cement. These artists according to the organizers of the exhibition are distinct and separate from the popular Osogbo art school that comprises of contemporary artists.
Sangodare is a representative of traditional Yoruba culture and the last son of a Sango priest who was later raised by Susanne Wenger after the death of his father. He did not only filled the role of Wenger’s eldest son, but has many different vocations: highest initiated Sango priest, traditional herbalist and healer and batik artist. His batik paintings are concerned with his religious experience, as his art builds a bridge between traditional Yoruba wisdom and the ever changing world of today.
Sangodare though worked with Wenger on batik, but his art is being described as ‘most inventive and successful.’ Interestingly, his work is always perceived as keeping the spirit and quality of batik at alive. As an Osogbo-based artist, his exhibitions have not been restricted to the local circuit as he has exhibited across Europe, North America, Brazil, and Cuba. In Wenger’s words, “The art of Sangodare embodies and radiates that quality which makes and keeps him a Sango priest.”
Gbadamosi is one of Wenger’s closest friends (‘soul brother’) and artistic collaborators who along with Akangbe and Abesu created most of the wooden carvings in the Osun Groves. He is best known for his magnificent stone sculptures, which are displayed throughout the Sacred Groves as well as inside and outside of Wenger’s house at Ibokun road, Osogbo. On his artistic expression and inspiration, Gbadamosi said: “My mind, heart and soul are the secret of the inspiration to produce my work. They are working together to tell me what to do at the right time just immediately I handle a stone.” Like Sangodare, he is equally widely exhibited in Europe, North America and Canada.
For Akangbe Ogun, a carpenter by training later joined Wenger erecting scaffolding and iron reinforcements for her large scale sculptures in Osun Groves. But Wenger soon recognized and encouraged his talent as a wood carver and sculptor. Along with Abesu and Gbadamosi, his distinctive carved pillars and large wooden sculptors are a dominant feature of the New Sacred Art in the Osun Groves. He is also responsible for erecting magnificent roofs, many shaped like birds with parted wings, which protect the shrines.
The artists of the New Sacred Art Movement are without exception, non-academic artists who work mainly in batik, wood and cement. Although form and style are largely flexible in the works, techniques are generally those of Yoruba tradition, thus making most of their artistic representations exclusively those of the orisa, or gods. Also dominant are the human or animal figurative sculptures.
The exhibition will run till October 24 at Quintessence Falomo Shopping Complex, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Adunni Olorisa Trust
Susanne Wenger, who was born in 1915 in Graz, Austria and dedicated her life to traditional Yoruba religious practice for over four decades, died on January 12, this year. Until her death, she has collected many works of art by the artists of the New Sacred Art Movement and other collectible pieces of traditional art at her residence on Ibokun Road, Osogbo, Osun State. As part of efforts to immortalize the name of Wenger as well as preserve her legacies, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in collaboration with the Adunn Olorisa Trust (AOT), embarked on the documentation of the collection for posterity.
The first stage of the documentation began with the numbering of the works, mapping of their locations, and photographic documentation. Over four hundred items were listed. The outcome of this is the publication of a book, Susanne Wenger: Her House And Her Art Collection, edited by Nichola Saunders and Augustine Mrezeder-Taylor. Last April, Osogbo was alive with various activities to mark the final burial of the late Susanne Adunni Olorisa Wenger. The people of Osogbo led by the Ataoja, Oba Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III, in collaboration with the Osun State government, have dedicated the period to commemorate her. There were other artistic and cultural exhibitions to celebrate her legacies. The week-long event witnessed a lecture titled Culture and Development: The Role of Mama Susanne Wenger in the Development of Osogbo delivered by Ambassador Segun Olusola and Dr. Oyeronke Olademo of the University of Ilorin. It climaxed with an art exhibition tagged: Susanne Wenger, Her House and Her Art, and the launch of a book by Adunni Olorisa Trust (A O T) at WOCDIF Centre.
SPAN raises alarm over uncertified dance instructors
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
Worried by the inherent risks children are exposed to when taught by uncertified dance instructors the founder and president of the Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria, Mrs. Sarah Boulos has called for an effective standardization in the teaching and practice of contemporary dance in the country. She said many of the dance instructors operating in schools and communities across the country do not have the training and skills necessary to teach Nigerian children the dance foundations they require to build on for a future profession of international standard in the art of dance. She noted that certification in various genres of dance is an avenue to help theses instructors empower the children in the right way.
Mrs. Boulos who spoke on the Risks, Opportunities and the Right Move at a media briefing in Lagos, explained such deficiency in instructor could affect the bones development of children because ballet dance requires the expansion of muscles and bones unlike traditional African dances.
She however assured that SPAN in collaboration with Dance Dynamics, Nameless Dance Academy of the Middle East and Dance Guild of Nigeria is committed to empower and train the dance instructors that desire to become successful in their careers by certifying them with two programmes. She therefore charged potential dance instructors to sign up with SPAN’s certification programmes in order to enrich the children for better professional performances. “From our environmental analysis and experiences over the last three years, we have realized the need and importance to address the community on the short-comings rampant in the at education programmes of our schools especially in the art genre of dance,” she added.
Mrs. Boulos stressed that the essence of the association’s programmes is to bring dialogue together between traditional Nigerian dance and contemporary dance in order to make Nigerian children richer in dances. Nigeria dances, she said, are well known to the globe but ‘all we need is to expose Nigerians to the level where they can appreciate all the ramifications of dance without forgetting their roots.’
One of the recently certified ballet dance instructors with the SPAN is Academy, Lebanon. SPAN is a non-governmental organization that aims to set a world-class standard for performing art education and services in Nigeria, and to offer opportunities in dance, music, theatre and visual arts to talented Nigerians. As part of its activities to discover talent, the association is embarking on a special project to raise a selected team of instrumentalist and vocalist who will be groomed to become one of the best in Nigeria by renowned personalities in the arts industry. Audition is October 23, by 12 noon at Guiding Light Assembly, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Again, Uniben art school in fresh rebirth
After two major unsuccessful attempts at regrouping as disciples of an art school, some fine arts graduates of University of Benin are back on the block. This time, they are emerging as the University of Benin Trained Artists (UBTA), a platform for the sharing of artistic productivity of its members. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME writes on the group’s maiden art exhibition, Treasures of Benin opening at the National Museum, Lagos on October 31
Unlike other art schools (Zaria, Osogbo, Auchi, Ife and Nsukka), the Benin art school has been unable to bring its graduates together under one formidable and broad based forum to project their artistic skills despite several attempts in the past. Yet, the Uniben art school is no doubt, a distinct and unique school, which has produced many great artists. But the non-existence of such group can be traced to the elasticity of freedom and openness granted arts students by its founding father, the late Prof. Solomon Irein Wangboje who believed strongly that artistic endeavours must not be boxed up by stylistic tendencies.
Today, that liberal approach of Prof. Wangboje is seemingly being reviewed by a group of arts graduates of the school, University of Benin Trained Artists (UBTA), who is reawakening the consciousness to carve a place for Benin art school among other existing art schools. To this end, a maiden a group art exhibition, Treasures of Benin, is being organized by the group to announce its entry into the art exhibition circuit. Treasures of Benin will open at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos on October 31 and runs till November 6 featuring 20 artists who are expected to present either three paintings or five sculptures each depending on area of specialisation.
At a preview session in Lagos, the chairman of the group, Kenneth Njoku said the art exhibition is aimed at showcasing the artists’ views on burning issues of the day ranging from politics, to social, religion, economic and cultural. He explained that at the close of the exhibition, Uniben art school would have gotten a formidable group that would regularly share her views through exhibitions.
“Due to non-existence of a well articulated forum to project their artistic voices collectively, the University of Benin Trained Artists was formed by well meaning graduates of the great Benin art school. It was initiated by Kenneth Njoku, Ekwueme Edison, Ejeh Louis, Evans Imafidon, Edozie George and Ifeoma Anyaeji,” he said. Njoku explained that the emerging group would stand the test of time because the structures are on ground to forestall collapse. He noted that UBTA is an answer to yearning of studio practicing artists of the Benin art school, who saw the need for a formidable and broad based forum to share their artistic productivity. He added that UBTA is a group of artists who obtained their first degrees from the University of Benin and who have remained steadfast and dedicated to their chosen career. On the membership of the group, he stressed that any intending member must have five years post graduation studio practice.
Akin Onipede, a member of the group observed that though there were groups like Ekenwan art grads and AWANSCA, that went under, the latest attempt is a reawakening to carve a place for Uniben art school not with the intent of forming of stylistic traits but to make strong statement. Ames ofong exhibiting artists are Bolaji Ogunwo, Akin Onipede, Evans Imafidon, Kenneth Njoku, Okezie Okafor, George Edozie and Olojo….
The group’s aims include the promotion of research and innovation in studio practice, to contribute to knowledge and encourage upcoming artists on the gains of studio practice and to protect and promote the ideologies of her alma matter.
Even in death, Susanne Wenger, the Adunni Olorisa, and her phenomenal contributions to art in Nigeria continue to open fresher windows of appreciation and relevance of contemporary Nigerian arts to the globe. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME writes on New Sacred Art, an on-going group art exhibition featuring her works and those of her disciples.
“On a personal note, during my time in Nigeria and my tenure as managing director of Guinness Nigeria, I have come to appreciate the great talent that resides in this country and the richness and variety of the culture. All of these factors come to play in our decision to support the documentation and cataloguing of the work of Susanne Wenger and the New Sacred Arts Movement. She has given her special talent for many years, almost a lifetime, to demonstrate how arts can be borne out of the culture of their environment. Anyone who has visited the site will appreciate the magical qualities it possesses. Although there are many fascinating and historical places throughout this heritage-rich country, I know of no other, in contemporary times, that has given birth to such a rich vein of artwork.”
These were the remarks of the former managing director of Guinness Nigeria, Mr. Keith T. Richard in the foreword to Susanne Wenger: Her House And Her Art Collection, which capture the cultural depth and relevance of the on-going group art exhibition, New Sacred Art at Quintessence Falomo Shopping Complex, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Leading the pack of exhibiting artists is Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala, a batik artist and high priest. Other artists for the exhibition include, Buraimoh Gbadamosi, a stone and wood carver, Ojewale Amoo, sculptor in cement and wood, Kasali Akangbe Ogun, a wood carver, Rabiu Abesu, a wood carver and Adebisi Akanji, a sculptor in cement. These artists according to the organizers of the exhibition are distinct and separate from the popular Osogbo art school that comprises of contemporary artists.
Sangodare is a representative of traditional Yoruba culture and the last son of a Sango priest who was later raised by Susanne Wenger after the death of his father. He did not only filled the role of Wenger’s eldest son, but has many different vocations: highest initiated Sango priest, traditional herbalist and healer and batik artist. His batik paintings are concerned with his religious experience, as his art builds a bridge between traditional Yoruba wisdom and the ever changing world of today.
Sangodare though worked with Wenger on batik, but his art is being described as ‘most inventive and successful.’ Interestingly, his work is always perceived as keeping the spirit and quality of batik at alive. As an Osogbo-based artist, his exhibitions have not been restricted to the local circuit as he has exhibited across Europe, North America, Brazil, and Cuba. In Wenger’s words, “The art of Sangodare embodies and radiates that quality which makes and keeps him a Sango priest.”
Gbadamosi is one of Wenger’s closest friends (‘soul brother’) and artistic collaborators who along with Akangbe and Abesu created most of the wooden carvings in the Osun Groves. He is best known for his magnificent stone sculptures, which are displayed throughout the Sacred Groves as well as inside and outside of Wenger’s house at Ibokun road, Osogbo. On his artistic expression and inspiration, Gbadamosi said: “My mind, heart and soul are the secret of the inspiration to produce my work. They are working together to tell me what to do at the right time just immediately I handle a stone.” Like Sangodare, he is equally widely exhibited in Europe, North America and Canada.
For Akangbe Ogun, a carpenter by training later joined Wenger erecting scaffolding and iron reinforcements for her large scale sculptures in Osun Groves. But Wenger soon recognized and encouraged his talent as a wood carver and sculptor. Along with Abesu and Gbadamosi, his distinctive carved pillars and large wooden sculptors are a dominant feature of the New Sacred Art in the Osun Groves. He is also responsible for erecting magnificent roofs, many shaped like birds with parted wings, which protect the shrines.
The artists of the New Sacred Art Movement are without exception, non-academic artists who work mainly in batik, wood and cement. Although form and style are largely flexible in the works, techniques are generally those of Yoruba tradition, thus making most of their artistic representations exclusively those of the orisa, or gods. Also dominant are the human or animal figurative sculptures.
The exhibition will run till October 24 at Quintessence Falomo Shopping Complex, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Adunni Olorisa Trust
Susanne Wenger, who was born in 1915 in Graz, Austria and dedicated her life to traditional Yoruba religious practice for over four decades, died on January 12, this year. Until her death, she has collected many works of art by the artists of the New Sacred Art Movement and other collectible pieces of traditional art at her residence on Ibokun Road, Osogbo, Osun State. As part of efforts to immortalize the name of Wenger as well as preserve her legacies, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in collaboration with the Adunn Olorisa Trust (AOT), embarked on the documentation of the collection for posterity.
The first stage of the documentation began with the numbering of the works, mapping of their locations, and photographic documentation. Over four hundred items were listed. The outcome of this is the publication of a book, Susanne Wenger: Her House And Her Art Collection, edited by Nichola Saunders and Augustine Mrezeder-Taylor. Last April, Osogbo was alive with various activities to mark the final burial of the late Susanne Adunni Olorisa Wenger. The people of Osogbo led by the Ataoja, Oba Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III, in collaboration with the Osun State government, have dedicated the period to commemorate her. There were other artistic and cultural exhibitions to celebrate her legacies. The week-long event witnessed a lecture titled Culture and Development: The Role of Mama Susanne Wenger in the Development of Osogbo delivered by Ambassador Segun Olusola and Dr. Oyeronke Olademo of the University of Ilorin. It climaxed with an art exhibition tagged: Susanne Wenger, Her House and Her Art, and the launch of a book by Adunni Olorisa Trust (A O T) at WOCDIF Centre.
SPAN raises alarm over uncertified dance instructors
By Ozolua Uhakheme
Assistant Editor (Arts)
Worried by the inherent risks children are exposed to when taught by uncertified dance instructors the founder and president of the Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria, Mrs. Sarah Boulos has called for an effective standardization in the teaching and practice of contemporary dance in the country. She said many of the dance instructors operating in schools and communities across the country do not have the training and skills necessary to teach Nigerian children the dance foundations they require to build on for a future profession of international standard in the art of dance. She noted that certification in various genres of dance is an avenue to help theses instructors empower the children in the right way.
Mrs. Boulos who spoke on the Risks, Opportunities and the Right Move at a media briefing in Lagos, explained such deficiency in instructor could affect the bones development of children because ballet dance requires the expansion of muscles and bones unlike traditional African dances.
She however assured that SPAN in collaboration with Dance Dynamics, Nameless Dance Academy of the Middle East and Dance Guild of Nigeria is committed to empower and train the dance instructors that desire to become successful in their careers by certifying them with two programmes. She therefore charged potential dance instructors to sign up with SPAN’s certification programmes in order to enrich the children for better professional performances. “From our environmental analysis and experiences over the last three years, we have realized the need and importance to address the community on the short-comings rampant in the at education programmes of our schools especially in the art genre of dance,” she added.
Mrs. Boulos stressed that the essence of the association’s programmes is to bring dialogue together between traditional Nigerian dance and contemporary dance in order to make Nigerian children richer in dances. Nigeria dances, she said, are well known to the globe but ‘all we need is to expose Nigerians to the level where they can appreciate all the ramifications of dance without forgetting their roots.’
One of the recently certified ballet dance instructors with the SPAN is Academy, Lebanon. SPAN is a non-governmental organization that aims to set a world-class standard for performing art education and services in Nigeria, and to offer opportunities in dance, music, theatre and visual arts to talented Nigerians. As part of its activities to discover talent, the association is embarking on a special project to raise a selected team of instrumentalist and vocalist who will be groomed to become one of the best in Nigeria by renowned personalities in the arts industry. Audition is October 23, by 12 noon at Guiding Light Assembly, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Again, Uniben art school in fresh rebirth
After two major unsuccessful attempts at regrouping as disciples of an art school, some fine arts graduates of University of Benin are back on the block. This time, they are emerging as the University of Benin Trained Artists (UBTA), a platform for the sharing of artistic productivity of its members. Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME writes on the group’s maiden art exhibition, Treasures of Benin opening at the National Museum, Lagos on October 31
Unlike other art schools (Zaria, Osogbo, Auchi, Ife and Nsukka), the Benin art school has been unable to bring its graduates together under one formidable and broad based forum to project their artistic skills despite several attempts in the past. Yet, the Uniben art school is no doubt, a distinct and unique school, which has produced many great artists. But the non-existence of such group can be traced to the elasticity of freedom and openness granted arts students by its founding father, the late Prof. Solomon Irein Wangboje who believed strongly that artistic endeavours must not be boxed up by stylistic tendencies.
Today, that liberal approach of Prof. Wangboje is seemingly being reviewed by a group of arts graduates of the school, University of Benin Trained Artists (UBTA), who is reawakening the consciousness to carve a place for Benin art school among other existing art schools. To this end, a maiden a group art exhibition, Treasures of Benin, is being organized by the group to announce its entry into the art exhibition circuit. Treasures of Benin will open at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos on October 31 and runs till November 6 featuring 20 artists who are expected to present either three paintings or five sculptures each depending on area of specialisation.
At a preview session in Lagos, the chairman of the group, Kenneth Njoku said the art exhibition is aimed at showcasing the artists’ views on burning issues of the day ranging from politics, to social, religion, economic and cultural. He explained that at the close of the exhibition, Uniben art school would have gotten a formidable group that would regularly share her views through exhibitions.
“Due to non-existence of a well articulated forum to project their artistic voices collectively, the University of Benin Trained Artists was formed by well meaning graduates of the great Benin art school. It was initiated by Kenneth Njoku, Ekwueme Edison, Ejeh Louis, Evans Imafidon, Edozie George and Ifeoma Anyaeji,” he said. Njoku explained that the emerging group would stand the test of time because the structures are on ground to forestall collapse. He noted that UBTA is an answer to yearning of studio practicing artists of the Benin art school, who saw the need for a formidable and broad based forum to share their artistic productivity. He added that UBTA is a group of artists who obtained their first degrees from the University of Benin and who have remained steadfast and dedicated to their chosen career. On the membership of the group, he stressed that any intending member must have five years post graduation studio practice.
Akin Onipede, a member of the group observed that though there were groups like Ekenwan art grads and AWANSCA, that went under, the latest attempt is a reawakening to carve a place for Uniben art school not with the intent of forming of stylistic traits but to make strong statement. Ames ofong exhibiting artists are Bolaji Ogunwo, Akin Onipede, Evans Imafidon, Kenneth Njoku, Okezie Okafor, George Edozie and Olojo….
The group’s aims include the promotion of research and innovation in studio practice, to contribute to knowledge and encourage upcoming artists on the gains of studio practice and to protect and promote the ideologies of her alma matter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)