African Art/Art from Africa

African Art: Interrogating an assumption

Being introduction to an art exhibition at teh Air Gallery,London by seven Nigerian artists in 2003
AFRICA PASSAGE: AN INTRODUCTION
By Jahman Anikulapo
Passage throws up imageries of motion, movement, dynamism; a ritual of transiting from one position to another; one status to a newer status; space to space; ethos to ethos. And yet this is the story of Africa, which has for centuries being in perpetual passage; journeying from one social, political and cultural experience to another. Particularly, the dynamics of its being has been most eclectic; sometimes defying regular rhythm of action; at other times confounding logicality and seemingly incoherent in temperament. Yet, this inconstant mood of motion is what has frustrated most observers of the passage of the continent and its people. To most critics, especially in the West, Africans lack capacity for logic and cultural sophistication to be able to master their space in its entire connotation. They may never be able to master their environment. This conclusion perhaps, explains the attitudinal approach to the cultural - material and non-material - emanating from the continent. It is one of the reasons African culture producers have been eternally dumped in the age of (as popularly propounded by some critics) primitivism in ideation and production. However, recent attitudinal shift in some more patient and objective critics have begun to liberalise understanding of the dynamism of Africa's cultural space.
The Western intelligentsia can see Africa Passage as an exhibition concept from the perspective of the currency of shift in attitude; and relaxation of the shackles of perception noosed around the being of Africa. The exhibition is thus, another major attempt by the Western elite to interrogate the fundaments of the dynamic cultural experience of Africa. The success of a delicate venture such as this, premised conceptually, on debunking certain mindset and entrenched sensibility about the continent, will depend on a set of paradigms. Prominent among these is sincerity of vision and purpose of the sponsors of the project and, thorough grasp of the missionary undercurrent of the project by the participating artists.
The collective of artists itself is reflective of the very idea which Passage as a word-concept represents. These are six individuals from same country that is deceptively culturally homogenous. Also, the artists in their divergent perception of passage and stylistic rendition of the thematic objective of the show, have explicated the authenticity of the vast cultural milieu of Africa that cannot be strait-jacketed into one linear concept. In other words, does there exist the concept African Art? Isn't the term a convenient description of a confoundingly expansive experience that is beyond easy comprehension to a non-initiate? Some critics have indeed argued that the idea African Art is an illusion. Perhaps, indeed, it is a fraud. Maybe, a floating reality. This, however, is a subject of on-going discourse.
Africa Passage connotes dating as in the passage of a given period of time. It also tends to blow stress Africa as a mono cultural entity. It is indeed, a fact that outside the shores of Africa, many people including anthropologists, art critics, historians, and curators still see the continent as a unitary cultural tendency.
Although findings and facts of history have proved this view wrong, their counter arguments are documented mainly in textbooks and research journals.
But the consequences of the critical misconception about the correct status of arts from Africa, are more felt in contemporary arts practice where inadequate research, colonial hangover and insufficient participation of post-colonial African artists in global meet, help perpetrate the notion that not much quality art happens within the continent.
That is how much the title African Passage gives in to an aberration. The error here is that archeological findings have made ancient African artifacts special treasures in many of world's public and private art collections.
Since the later half of the 20th century, many experts, especially Africans have argued (though without much weight) that the phenomenal fame of those rich treasures have largely overshadowed other arts coming out of the continent. In other words, not much is recorded or acknowledged of modern artists' works.
The tendency heads in the direction of old argument that the looted and acquired ancient African artifacts represent the permanent visual art experience of Africa. And these works are preponderantly spread around world's collections.
The experience of most modern African artists in the quest for global acceptance has been sometimes traumatic albeit, killing self to assume an expected character that bothers on the stereotypes. The artist either apes the ancient forms, contents and styles and win instant acceptance or, deviate and dare to win critical opprobrium for having been so sucked into western techniques that he lacks authenticity of vision and production.
The African artist who is successful on the global stage is quickly seen as having been civilised by his encounter with colonialism and Western (art training) institutions. The result is a profusion of productions of paintings, potteries, and sculptures, designs and installations that regurgitate the aesthetics of the past (in order to be relevant to so-called Western aesthetic taste). This explains why in many of the world's collection or shows, what often features in the African art section are mostly sculptures, because they easily capture the aesthetic properties in antique pieces as well as fall into the expectation of global art viewer-ship.
Artists who appear to challenge these status quos are seen as rebels. They are rebels because they seek to capture contemporary realities of modern Africa. Why would they paint landscapes of skyscrapers, boulevards and sports cars in a continent assumed to be a jungle of huts, camel rides and footpaths?
Western Art historians tend to ignore such artists. This may explain why many writers tend to box the history of African art into two over-bloated confines: Ancient African Art and Contemporary African Art.
The allusion to existence of modern, postmodern, traditional, prehistoric art in the continent, to some critics, is abnormal.
But what else could justify the exclusion from history books of the phenomenal developments in art movements than the theme of the current show? The dynamism of trends and epochs in the art of each of the over 54 nations of Africa are buried in the definitive tag - Africa Passage?
The 'Passage' thus needs explication.
Hopefully, this is what this show has set out to do. This is a delicate subject, compounded by the word 'Africa'. Indeed, for example, why not another word for 'Passage'?
If every artist from the continent inserts Africa in his exhibition title, the position of researchers and historians who discuss African art as a one-headline-subject might eventually be legitimised. It may also justify the assumption that there is one way African art must appear - resembling the artefacts in Louvres and the British Museums.
In spite of its lofty objectives, there is a sense in which Africa Passage sounds a conceptual error, when viewed in the context of divergent orientation and character of African treasures. For instance, the Ethiopian Obelisk in North Africa and the Benin bronze heads in West Africa do not bear any semblance. And the Crypts on Egyptian tombs and the rock paintings in Zimbabwe are different in aesthetics and cultural context. Even the artifacts from neighbouring geographical locations are different in aesthetics. The Nok teracotta found in areas within the Middle Belt region of Nigeria and the Igbo Ukwu findings from the East of the same country, bear little visual correlation.
In spite of its seeming contentious philosophical base, Africa Passage is however, a reality. It is a major statement in the current argument. The artists believe (see appendix) they are participants in the dialogue on the dynamism of the cultural milieu that define their essences and being.
Significantly, the artists perceive themselves as the voices of Africa at the Globalisation forum, seemingly already appropriated and annexed by the scientific, technological, industrialised-muscled West with its huge economic wealth.
What the artists want to bring to the table is their identity, which though not homogenous in contents and forms and techniques are shared values and ideas. It should, therefore, be understood when each of the works, each of the artists displays here reaches deep into the innards of sensibility of each guest at this show.
The idea is to interrogate sitting perceptions, open up closed prejudices and radiate new vision in our individual understanding of the mystery that is Africa.

PREVIEW
Harvest Of Statement
The six artists in African Passage share a coincidence of circumstances in many respects. But the most germane to this discourse is the circumstance of their birth. They were born either a few years before or after the surge of Independence for colonised nations of Africa. Nigeria, their country of birth only became an independent state in October 1960.
The artists were thus born into an atmosphere of hope, an era of unfettered imagination when the former 'slaves' (colonialism was itself a sort of moderated slavery) began to emerge from the shackles of debasing psychological, moral and cultural impositions and, notched up to being 'real' human beings by taking up the driving of their own destiny. It was a time of high hope for socio-cultural and economic boom.
Even if they were minors at the time of the oil discovery and wealth of the late 60s and 70s, the artists participated by accessory in the petro-naira boom of the mid 70s to 80s that was finally aborted with the advent of the International Monetary Fund, IMF in 1985. And they had then been unwilling witnesses to the waste of the political and economic fortune of the nation in the last two decades and half. Thus the undercurrent of forlorn hope and despondency in their visioning process can be understood. Otherwise, the artists are vibrant in their forms, colour schemes and stylistic deportment. They are of course, products of the Western art institutions, hence their approach to techniques.
Notably, however, each of the artists is competent in experimentation, thus offering a tapestry of harvests of studies and daringness.
However, in an exhibition of this nature, 'visual appeal' cannot suffice as the only standard of assessment. The aesthetics is as significant as the content and title, theme, technique and other factors chosen by the each artist count.
The artists -- Nsikak Essien, Ndidi Dike Onyema Offoedu-Okeke, Obi Ekwenchi, Sam Ovraiti and Tony Enebeli -- are all professionals with good degree of accomplishment. They belong to a generation that can unequivocally be branded the 'modernists`. Yet they have always sourced their materials and inspiration from the indigenous cultural properties and ideas. They have always been challenged to interpret these indigenous ideas and inspirations in the context of modern forms and techniques.
Though trained at different institutions thus acquiring divergent practical orientations, they share similar objectives, techniques and themes.
Essien, perhaps the oldest in the group, was a founding member of the phenomenal AKA Group of (13) artists, which since the late 80s has manifest as a key tendency in the determination of the direction of the current art production in Nigeria.
The group was reputed for unpredictable experimentation with the media and, Essien was about the most eclectic of the lot, which also include the internationally renowned sculptor, El-Anatsui and Obiora Udechukwu.
Essien's experimentation is sometimes eccentric but mostly expansive in scope. He would fold rigid wooden panels into scrolls, lay thick pastes of colour rings on his board, and indent his pieces with layers of strange motifs. These are evident in such titles as Heritage, Mirage, Nostalgia, and Eternity, featuring in this show. In Sovereign National Conference he brings these attributes into his commentary on the contemporary political question in Nigeria.
Ovraiti is reputed for his brilliant colour scheme and beautiful pictures. He belongs to a group of young idealist painters that emerged in the late 1980s. Known as 'The Colourists', the group's hallmark is expressive use of pigments. Ovraiti in particular, however, blurs the edges of the 'colourist' movement by presenting pictures that are as impressionistic as they are expressionistic. His works sometimes combine the aesthetic virtues of watercolour and oil paintings.
In Ovraiti's Portrait of Kano City, Rising Generations is representative of this approach. In The Call, Defaced by Incision and Two Musicians, he employs elements of cubism that create illusion of multitude from the few figures on the canvas.
Enebeli is a product of the famous master printmaker Bruce Onobrakpeya, reputed to have invented the Plastograph form of printing. Enebeli`s Ipu Afia series (a set of three pieces narrating the tale of a princess going to the market), Ikpu Ite, Egwu Ukwata III among others, are sourced from his folklore heritage. Like his master, Onobrakpeya, Enebeli's prints and their blocks are produced in a way that both can be served as art pieces. Every of his works is like a script with many chapters of motifs and stories.
Dike and Offoedu-Okeke are products of the Uli art movement later domiciled at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Uli art uses principally cryptic insignia and motifs with philosophical (and sometimes mythological) meanings.
The only female in the group, Dike has over the years extended the experimentation frontiers of the Uli design concept. She has taken the form beyond its mere decorative functionality to technical experimentation. In producing Totem Poles and Staffs, she locates the Uli in part of its traditional domain - shrines and palaces. But she implants certain modern elements like metal and deft colour patterning.
Though Offoedu-Okeke's seeming predilection for blues and the purple appear strange to African pictures (indeed an error of conception by some critics), he engages symbols and signs that celebrate the mask tradition, totems and festivals in the deep of Africa.
His titles - Maiden Dancers, Oracular Gisting, Throngs of Expectation explicitly indicate his direction - homeland. Yet he paints Morning Cloth and Evening Weather which reflect his vast repertory of inspiration. But his colour scheme, which taps design motif from pointillism, exposes the infinite possibilities of his style.
Ekwenchi's antecedent is in producing awesome public sculptures. This pins him in realism. But in his paintings, the artist is capable of variegated stylistic dimensions. His paintings often very simple without being simplistic come in rich, fresh colours and are laden with symbolic figures and motifs. These attributes are proficient in Rhythm, From the Spirit and Nomadic Life, which feature in the current show. As usual, he celebrates the African (often women) anatomy showing the poise, grace and elegance of the figure in an elegant picture. His sculptures often bear complicated and distorted forms. Benediction and Dialogue are just two examples.

o Research Assistance: CHUKA NNABUIFE
ARTISTS FORUM
OUR MISSION ON AFRICA PASSAGE
As part of preparation for the current show, the artists mounted a forum to dilate ideas on the theme and concept of the exhibition. For reasons of logistics (mainly location of individual artist), only Onyema Offoedu-Okeke, Ndidi Dike, Tony Enebeli and later Sam Ovraiti made the informal forum. The session however served to explore the perception of individual artist, as regards the current show as well as examine certain existing conceptions about Arts and Artists in Africa.
The session was moderated by Jahman Anikulapo.
How do you perceive the theme of the exhibition?
ONYEMA: I think of the theme in terms of features of the African society -- the lifestyle of the people, the festivals, languages, dance and other such authentic symbols and materials. To me, Africa Passage presents images that remind viewers abroad where Africans are and how they got there. I believe that even as we embrace the so-called western civilisation, we should still retain that Africanese, especially our cultural values. In my works, I intend to show those authentic African values and how they have passed through the various phases of human development.

ENEBELI: I see the theme as encapsulating the way we are: living, dress, walk, and work cultures that are peculiar to the African people. I shall show that African art today has changed in the sense that people are beginning to be fed up with the same kind of arts we met or have seen in the past years. Art today has changed for the fact that we are now using it to correct the mistakes of yesteryears. I see this exhibition therefore as a way of promoting our traditional heritage and its various transformations over the years to the outside world.

NDIDI: We shall use this show to help correct some of those stereotype views of the African art through the parameters of Western aesthetics, criticisms and history, which are written by the people I prefer to call 'outsiders'. We should make bold statement for instance, that there is indeed contemporary art coming out of Africa or Nigeria. We should use this opportunity to tell our own story. Africans have not done enough research, enough writings on what we consider to be our own kind of aesthetics. We should begin to provide answers from our own perspectives, when people ask the question: what is African art? Is there African art?
We cannot deny the fact that we are Africans and therefore, we are aware of certain characteristics that define our contemporary art; that signify this is African art or Nigerian art.

MODERATOR: You spoke about challenging certain stereotypes; I thought this has been done overtime by African scholars, researchers and artists…

ONYEMA: Yes, much has been done but there is a lot more in terms of uprooting the idea that African art is still primitive.
Besides, most of the books on African art are on the antiques, the arts of old Africa. But today, we we ought to be talking about African renaissance just like the Italian renaissance. I think with what we have today, we have more than enough to inspire us. We are going to challenge the stereotypes by raising arguments on how far we have adapted what we have to modern artistic culture; how differently we have adapted the same old tradition through different means and methods to modern expectations.
They ask us how do we relate the African inspirations to the western products forgetting that even aspects of western (modern) art today were inspired by African art. So today, we are very free to use whatever products we come across as ours.

MODERATOR: How effectively can you challenge a culture that is so deeply etched in Western sensibility through a single show in Britain?
ONYEMA: This is just a part of a long-debate that has been on for a long time. We want to contribute our voices to the discourse. But we are a bit different in our approach. We are more interested in raising questions. We want to raise questions such as: who we are? What are our visions? What are our perceptions? How do we look at ourselves? How do we look at our art? We intend to start the process of challenging these stereotypes with this show. We know that it is not going to change overnight, because we are fighting an existing institution but this is just the beginning of a challenge to change those perceptions of Africa. We know that we do much of that challenging of status quo a lot regularly in Africa, in Nigeria but how much of that information gets outside of Nigeria?
We've been doing it for quite sometime but now that we are on international stage, where our art is going to be the focus of an international gathering, we can begin to hopefully, change that perception of how the West think Africa ought to be.

NDIDI: The status of our Art has changed; we are beginning to assert ourselves. And the West is beginning to recognise who we are, appreciate our lifestyle, so we need to consolidate on this new consciousness. We don't need to wait until an Oyinbo (Westerner) man comes to tell us that what we have here is good. What I mean by that is that the artist has to go beyond repeating the same thing that his public had seen in the past years. There is need to change his perception of his role in the society.
We are now trying to change the system. By allowing our immediate environment to influence our creativity and perception, using what we experience daily to influence our creative work, we are going to correct the wrong impressions of the gone years.
(SAM OVRAITI JOINED THE FORUM)

MODERATOR: But certain critics even Africans, have indeed, argued that some of the so-called African cultural symbols, materials, ideas, do project certain negative values about the heritage of the black people.

ONYEMA: They are not negative. Rather, it is the perception of those viewing them because they subject them to their own cultural experiences and standards of valuation. And much of this deliberate wrong interpretation of those materials and ideas is what the older artists tried to change. And we the younger artists, of the moment, we recognise these facts; it is not that we are writing off the efforts of the older artists; it is a continuation; we are continuing from where the older artists have stopped.

OVRAITI: We have to be sensitive to how we put this across. We don't want to be antagonistic but at the same time we want to challenge or correct misconception that has been put out about us maybe in the past.
In fact, I thought that when Onyema used the word challenge - the way I understand the word challenge - he was actually referring to perception of Western people.
Let me say something here; you know we're talking about international politics, international art perspective, and politics, there are so many things that come into play.
We know that even some of our people -- researchers, and historians have not been sincere and thorough in their vocation. Some of them have had to misrepresent or deliberately distort information about what is going on here so that they can get the acknowledgement from their Western colleagues and sponsors.
They now want to come to Africa to make certain statement so that they will make their papers, their qualifications and their PHD. Again, most of people who write these things are scholars, they are not even artists. They only came in to study African culture and the only things they have to look into are the wood carving, the stone carving and maybe, metal works that our forefathers produced.
I think with this show, we should be looking at redirecting the understanding of the history of African Art. When you say African art, there is one direction they always look at - mask, shrine designs, body adornments etc, but a contemporary artist has gone beyond that level. It does not mean that we don't have spirit; we have the same spirit and experience, but our focus has changed. We are now creating arts, not for the use in the shrine, but art that are both functional and aesthetically relevant to our contemporary experience. This is what we have to stress in the current show.
NDIDI: Even in terms of practice, we are expanding our space of operations. We are looking at the various opportunities available to exhibit in the right place, to make a point. That is why this show is very important.

MODERATOR: There is a very important point we have to also stress. How do we want to be placed in the global art discourse? Are we trying to place ourselves as modern artists, post modern artists, artists in Nigeria… because there is a difference between Nigerian art and artists from Nigeria? So if we are going to place ourselves we should know where we want to place ourselves and we should be very focussed in our presentation.
Where do you want to place yourself?

OVRAITI: I wrote a poem in 1998 that I am not an impressionist yet I am. I am not a realist yet I am. I am part and pieces of all these things that have been before my experience and me. This question of labeling or categorization is sensitive, so the question is very germane.
ONYEMA: I would rather we stress that we are artists from Africa and not African artist.
NDIDI: Oh yes, the term 'African Artist' is sometimes used in derogatory terms at global forums. You are either an Artist or you are not. So, we would like to be seen at this show as Artists from Africa.
ENEBELI: The only difference between us and any other artist from any other part of the world is the matter of where we come from.
I detest labeling as Nigerian or African Artist. I am an Artist. That is what I am.
MODERATOR: Could we say we as artists, that we still transiting or…?
NDIDI: There is a sense in which we can say we are still transiting, yes, because we are still exploring new ideas, new forms…
OVRAITI: Transition is the period of instability as in government. In the life of a person whether in social or business life, any time of transition is a time of upheavals. It is not steady. For anyone to aspire to the fact that he is part of development in transition is to bow to instability. Transition is instability. I don't believe we are transiting.

ONYEMA: I believe that transiting is not instability; it is part of a process of growth; it's part of the evolution!

Hopeful at 40

Hopeful Hoping at 40

Interview conducted by Danielle Badagry of METRO FM in January 2003 to mark my 40th birthday
NIGERIA WILL RULE THE WORLD - Jahman Anikulapo
Daniella: . It is my pleasure to bring to you Jahman Anikulapo, the editor of The Guardian on Sunday. How are you?
Jahman: I'm fine, but … eh… . that was very heavy.
Daniella: Well, having you here with me defies monetary quantification, I can tell you that. How has it been since you took over the helm of affairs of The Guardian on Sunday. What are the challenges and prospects?
Jahman: Well, it's a challenge. It was offered to me a long time ago but I didn't want to take it because I thought I was just made to write on arts and culture. But when it was represented always by my M.D., I decided to take it up and I think it has been very challenging. The first one is the fact that on the arts desk, I was used to training my own reporters. For the first time, I had to work with reporters that had been cast. I used to mould my reporters in line with the kind of vision I had for my department. But this time around, I've had to work with several visions that had been cast already. It's working out and we're grateful to the almighty.
Daniella: Okay. So far, would you say it has been a successful journey?
Jahman : Well, I think the public should be left to decide. But when you go out and you meet some elderly fellow in the society and they tell you that you are doing a good job but you can do this and this better, I think it is a measure of some acknowledgement, and for me, it goes a long way.
Daniella:It's a lot of praises when people above you tell you what you are doing right and what they want you to do better. You were at the arts and book fair held a couple of months ago in Lagos where some of the participants complained of low attendance which they of course attributed to the decline in our reading culture. What do you think can be done to stimulate good reading habits among Nigerian populace considering our literacy level?
Jahman: I think the 5th Lagos book and arts festival organised by the committee for relevant arts in September to mark the National Creativity Day, for this year, was a lucky one because there was a larger participation by the public which had been the bane of the festival since its inception five years ago. I think that the reading culture in Nigeria is a very complex situation. I would not say that people don't read. People read, but I think what we should ask ourselves is what are they reading?
Daniella: (chuckles). That's a good one. What are they reading? So, what would you like to see Nigerians read?
Jahman: I said that people read considering the volume of religious tracts that come into the country and the facts that virtually everybody that goes to church reads a Bible and virtually everybody that goes to mosques reads a Quran. If you take a good look at these, you will agree with me that people actually read. But the extent to which you read and apply this information is what we are talking about because if you are so committed to the holy books and read them religiously, you are expected to learn some lessons from them. But I keep on wondering why the society, in spite of all these readings, continues to go down in terms of crime, immorality, and even leadership questions and the rest of them. And we are just insisting that creative books and writings have a way of elevating the mind. So, that is the argument that we are on now, that people should endeavour to read creative books. Many of us were students of Herbert Lawrence, John Keats, John Don, and the rest of them, and some of the things we learnt from those classicals are what we are applying. We are very afraid for the younger generations that are not reading these books. Where do you begin to form your own philosophy of life if you have not read other peoples' experiences?
Daniella: So, what kind of music do you love?
Jahman: If I'm permitted, I'll say that I'm crazy about jazz, especially trado-modern jazz. I don't mind the classical jazz. I am also very much impassioned by classical music. Then I'm in love with highlife and I check the beat of ragga.
Daniella: In modern times, there has been a growing relationship between science and culture, and I hear that in countries like India, China, and even the U.S., they are exploring ways of expanding this relationship to the maximum, bringing the two together. One begins to wonder why Nigeria, with her large cultural menu, is failing in this regard. Or is it that our culture can not be propagated through the medium of science?
Jahman: I'll tell you that we missed the chance to behave like an intelligent society in 1988 when the UNESCO launched the World Decade for Cultural Development (WDCD). The objective of the WDCD then was to use culture as the basis for development. What they were saying was that we should look at the examples that are moved from near derelict state to admirable states in terms of development. If you look at the way the Asian countries, Japan in particular, have progressed over the years, you'll discover that they used culture - what they had. They faced this war situation and they decided that okay, we'll start from where we are, and that's our culture. So they were not dreaming of transferring technology, but they were thinking of building technology from its base. And when UNESCO came with that ten-tear package, 1988 to 1997, Nigeria was actively participating. That was when we started the crafts development and the rest of them. But everything would start and drop, start again and also drop again, so we missed that chance. It's very sad when you're discussing bit because you'll then begin to wonder if we have people who are capable of intelligent reasoning in terms of development in running some of our affairs in this country, because when technology is not transferable, then it's going to be useless. That is why so many facilities are abandoned no sooner had they been built. You know the case of incinerators, and even cars that have been brought into this country only to stop functioning after just one month and so on. Everybody is adapting technology to his/her environment, but we are bringing technology from other places. We just plant them there and they mess up the whole system. It is not as if our culture is non-compliant with technology, it is the fact that management has always been our problem, and management comes even with planning. So I am talking about planning and its application. After all, when you talk about arts, you talk about “fine” and how it is applied to arts. So what do you apply from your cultural resources?
Daniella: so how do you think we can get to the place where your vision is going? What do you think we can do? Get the people who know how, in the right offices, or change our orientation totally?
Jahman: Well, I will say it will take a blend of all. We need to change our orientation, then we need to get the right people. You see, there is no need going to look for materials anymore because all these things have been studied and packaged. All they need to do is to open up the shelves, take those materials, and change the orientation of the civil servants who are applying these developmental projections and will manage it because the documents have been there. In 1989, immediately after the launch of the cultural policy, there was a seminar that was held at the ASCON in Badagry. All the experts, scientists, culture workers, artists, and everybody were brought together in a hall to decide how to use the letters of the cultural policy to develop a development model, and they did a very comprehensive report that is still there. Up till now, I don't know what happened. Pharaoh is the only thing that we brought out of that place because pharaoh was re-engineered in terms of ideas from that workshop. I was just starting my journalism around that time and exciting to me that we could bring culture and science into the same pot and get very delicious soup.
Daniella: There is problem with journalism in Nigeria. The brown envelope issue has assumed a large proportion almost to the point of eroding the credibility of journalists who are in turn complaining of either low wages or unpaid salaries. As an editor, how do you think that our standards can be elevated? How can we uphold the essence of journalism in journalists to push this allegation aside?
Jahman: I think you are a troublemaker, you want me to offend a lot of my friends.
Daniella: (Laughs). No, definitely not.
Jahman: But I'll do. I don't mind stepping on toes especially if it will get all of us on the right track. Brown envelope? I think I have said it somewhere before that brown envelope is not peculiar to journalism, but that does not mean that it is accepted. I am just saying that the society is in a state of flux, and there are so many impurities that have come into the system, and everybody seems to be going into that room where we have impurities and just take his own share. So when you talk about bribery, you are still dealing with a case of bribery in our parliament, you know. So it is a continuous thing. But for journalists, it is very dangerous because they are people who influence and shake public opinions, and who make certain decisions for the public. The public rely on them before making their resolutions on issues. The brown envelope syndrome became more pronounced, I'd say, from about 1985 after the Structural Adjustment Policy. Actually, most of our problems are usually dated back to that policy. That was when some people came into the media profession and started media houses without a plan of even how to pay the salaries of their workers five years ahead. And somebody came up, Ben Tomoloju, when he was still at The Guardian, and said that anybody who was coming in to start a newspaper or broadcast house should be made to deposit the salary of his workers for five years ahead.
Daniella: (Chuckles)
Jahman: Yeah. So that the reporter is sure that at least there is something at the end of the month. Now you have media houses that are not paying their reporters for ten months, one year, and so on. How do you expect such reporters to cope? Of course, they will be looking for Communique. You know what they call Communique?
Daniella: of course, last paragraph and the rest of them.
Jahman: it is not just last paragraphs alone, when they come to your event, they ask for Communique. You know, it used to be “ oga wo ile mi”, and they will say it so many times. But now, it's we are waiting for Communique. And if you don't communicate them, the story would die. I think it is first of all the responsibility of media owners to decide if they really want to run a media house or not. I saw an advert recently in one of the national dailies. They owed their workers for almost two years, and they were yet advertising for new reporters, and I asked why. It means that you bring in young people, you use them, and waste them. Then when you see that they begin to ask for their salaries, you quickly send them off and get new people to replace them. There is a newspaper house too that is trying to expand internationally, but their workers are not being paid and are complaining all the time. When such reporters go out there, why won't they collect bribes, after all they have families to feed. So you see, it is a moral question. But I'm very happy that I work in a place where it is strongly discouraged. If you are caught, or even if there is a sign of it, you are gone. I am not saying that people will not try to cut corners, but at least, every media should make laws that would prohibit such acts.
Daniella: Yes, I think that if the law is promulgated that reporters' salaries should be in the bank five years ahead.
Jahman: (Cuts in). It is only a suggestion.
Daniella: it is a suggestion and I think we should take it to the National Assembly where we can make it work so that those journalistic ethical and moral standards can be upheld. Have you always wanted to be a journalist or was it something you found yourself doing and decided to stick to it?
Jahman: Well, I was rescued from being a lay about, an “area boy”, by a character called Ben Tomoloju. He came to my secondary school to conclude his youth service. In school then, I was one of the people who disturbed the dramatic society. He called me one day while I was playing pranks and said you come in and play that role. I did and he said there is some kind of talent there. So against my will, he pushed me into joining the dramatic society and from there to the literary and debating society. There, his own dramatic society was such that one had to write a review everyday as a member. Then we found the “kakaki” in 1978/1980. So we kept on writing. When I got to the university, I studied theatre and directing, but I made sure I specialised in dramatic theory and literary criticisms. So I had to be writing constantly under professor Adepegba. We were made to write reviews everyday, so there was virtually no day I never held a pen. That was why I went into journalism. If not, I could probably have been at Obalende now, harassing people and snatching vehicles.
Daniella: People wonder for instance when I said that my guest is Jahman Anikulapo. People must have stopped in their tracks to say “Anikulapo”, is he Fela's cousin or where did he get that name from? Where were you born? Where did you school? Just tell me about yourself.
Jahman: Well, there is a joker I always give that “Jahman takes this thing, Anikulapo takes the other”. Anikulapo is my family name. I know from a story that my Dad told me that the Anikulapos were like warriors from Abeokuta, and that the real Anikulapo man was the chief warrior. And you know that in the Yoruba culture, when you have gone to war and saw so much blood, you are banished from the city so that you don't threaten the stability of the state by confronting the king. So he was pushed out and he moved to a place called Temidire, that's on the outskirts of Lafenwa in Abeokuta, and that was where he formed his own clan. I tried to make a research into Fela Anikulapo because I believe that he didn't just pick the name, and once he told me that its actually a name from his mother's lineage. So I reckoned that his mother must have come from that lineage. “Jahman” is just one of the names I was given, because I have up to twenty names.
Daniella: Are some of them “orikis”? (Chuckles).
Jahman: I was named Oladejo, Olasubomi, and a host of others. There is a place where I wrote them down. But Eniolorunda is one of the names, and if you shorten it, it means “man of God'. So when we formed the kakaki in1979, we were kind of trying to live in utopia. I mean we were saying that we don't belong to this society, we want to create a cult for ourselves and in fact, we called it the Kakoki axe cult. So we gave ourselves names. But we gave one of us who seemed to be prophetic in terms of his projections the task of giving us the names. He stayed in Abuja then, and called himself “spark”. I don't know what he means by that. You know Antar Laniyan, he had been Antar, but was reinforced as “Antar of fire order” or so. Then he just looked at me and said: “you are Jahman”. I had never used that name “Eniolorun” anywhere before, and I just told one of them that I have aname called “Eniolorun” which means “man of God”. I have always told myself that I don't want to be called man of God, or Godman, or Godson. I don't want those English names. So when he said “Jahman”, well, everybody started calling me the Jahman.
Daniella: (Interrupts) quite unique.
Jahman: and it really defines my person. The two names “Jahman Anikulapo”, I'll say define my person. I've got death in my pocket.
Daniella: Let's talk about your life now. Where did you grow up? Where did you school?
Jahman: We started in Lagos Island. My dad decided that we were getting too much into the Island culture. You know what I mean by that. So he moved us to Agege. But I think it was a further mistake on his part because Agege turned out to be the worst of it all. So, I was brought up in Agege area, but I left home early, at about fourteen because I was playing football and then into theatre arts. So I kept on returning, you know the way women are, my mum. So I was brought there, but one significant note for me about my upbringing is the fact that many of the people I grew up with in that environment have turned out to be what I said I could have been if I had not encountered the man who rescued me. They've not really gone further in their education and they have been more of lay abouts, and it is recurring in my system so I am working, fighting and struggling so that no young person will ever get into that kind of trap. I'll rather do something to bring them out which probably defines my involvement with the arts so deeply. That is why my work in journalism embraces developmental programmes that would bring young people out of that kind of situation. This is because anytime I see what we call “area boys”. I look at myself and say I could have been there. I went to school, of course, in Agege. I started with St Peter's primary school and then an Anglican college that is Niger City College in Agege area towards Ota. Then when Obasanjo's Government took over the running of schools, we were transferred to Muslim School, Saka Tinubu, which is the second arm of Ahmadiya College because the school had to be broken down into two. For my H.S.C., I went to Ahmadiya College, and then the University of Ibadan. I have done courses in German culture and language. I have undergone so many training in journalism and... that's all.
Daniella: In the days of Lade Boluola, Femi Kusa, and Sony Abu at The Guardian, the paper was generally regarded as the flagship of the Nigerian press. But these days, some people are reneging on that assertion. In your own estimation nurtured by truth, do you think The Guardian is still the flagship of the Nigerian press?
Jahman:Do you have any other one?
Daniella: (Cuts in with laughter).
Jahman: I think The Guardian still remains the flagship. You will see that it has suffered the same problems that many institutions have suffered in Nigeria. You know there has been a destination of the intellectual class in the Nigerian society. The society has gone anti-intellect. It is more of how big your car is, or how flamboyant your dress is. So The Guardian itself had had to go through that. Don't forget that the more you change your workers, the more you bring in new influence. So some of the young people who eventually came into The Guardian did not probably come with the kind of intention that the earlier reporters and the people you mentioned (some of them are still there) and so many others came with. They did not come with the intention of really coming to work in an intellectual institution. They came to make a living, and there is a difference between act and merchandising. Coming to make a living is different from really coming to make, to express yourself. Those who came earlier came to express themselves. But you'll still find out that it is still a good training ground. Go to any media house now, most of the editors, line editors, and even reporters have been trained by The Guardian. And The Guardian keeps on regenerating itself. And of course, they are still winning the awards - newspaper of the century, newspaper of the year and so on, so which one is the flagship?
Daniella: But would you say that the quality of reporters that come in now is a fall out of the kind of education we have in the country right now?
Jahman: Of course, of course Daniella. I mean, you can't imagine that there were students who once came to me for research and were asking me for the questions, they didn't have questions. Somebody came to talk to Mr Benson Idenude from radio Nigeria at a time. She wanted to do somethimg on Fela and they asked her what have you learnt about Fela that you want usto help you develop, and she had nothing to offer. Look, she was writing a project on Fela and she had never heard of the words “quintet” and “quartet”. I am not castigating her here, but that is just an example. Sometimes, you read write-ups of some graduates and you know…….. I mean, it is a function of the present quality of education. And like I said, the educational institution too is not insulated from the wrath that has come into the system. But I can assure you that we are cleaning up the system. The fact that we are discussing it means that we want a change. Supposing we aren't discussing it at all, then there is a problem.
Daniella: In the next ten years, where would you like to be? What would you be doing? You want to be a minister, senator, or publisher? How do you view yourself in the next ten years.
Jahman: I want to run a little perpetrate theatre with a Library, okay. I want to run a place where young people can come and express themselves. Where I cannot force them to read, but where I can engineer them in order to produce some models that can then go out to spread the gospel and teach other people. I am not too ambitious about making money, but I just want to run a place where I can sit down, relax over drink, and watch young people express themselves, the way I had been opportune to.
Daniella; In essence, you want to make a difference, a very positive difference.
Jahman: If God assists me, that is exactly what I want to do.
Daniella: I pray he does, because we need more of you. Well, aside from the vast issues of arts, music, and culture, what other interests do you have?
Jahman; I enjoy been on stage, that is performing, and I enjoy watching other people perform to my delight. That was the first time I'll be on holidays in the sixteen years I've spent at The Guardian, that I'll sit down and watch other people perform. I had been used to performing for others. I was at a dance festival in Madagascar. I sat down and people were dancing and I said so this is what it takes to just sit down…… that's the passion. Then reading of course. I don't get to read as much as I used to, but I love to read even though I am not doing enough of that at the moment. Again, I'll like to work, not in an N.G.O. situation now, but a situation where i am just doing programmes and bringing people together. Yoruba people will say “akoyanjo”, just bringing people together and watching them have fun, that's what we do with the Committee for Relevant Arts. Let them bring their families and all have fun. Heaven will fall, but it won't fall on only one person's head, so I just like everybody to have fun
Daniella: That's great. What we seem to be having in the Nigerian music industry right now is music hastily concocted in the computer while leaving out the experience of seasoned men. Do you think that is good for our music industry or would you rather call for an equal blend?
Jahman: In fact, it's really very dangerous. When we read the thing about the death of philosophy, some of us were screaming that it isn't possible. But with what we have seen coming from some of out artistes, you may tend to believe that philosophy may actually have died. Maybe we are just trying to bring it back. If you look at the lyrics of the musicians of old and look at what musicians of today are doing, you'll ask yourself what happened to thinking. Why should you think you could just rush into a studio and produce a work. The call it Afro-hip hop, rap, and all those stuffs, although some of them have actually come up. I was surprised about what Baba fryo did in “notice me” and “denge pose”, because it is capturing the philosophy of the current. He might not have expressed it in such depths as you might want, but he has captured the soul of it. And I think what an artiste like Seyi Solagbade is trying is okay. There are so many young others like Seun Olota, and they are bringing in new ideas. But my greatest disappointment is in my friend, who is the musician I thought would be the voice of my generation. He left that and started doing “show your colour”. I have not been able to reconcile myself to it. We've not been as close as we used to be. I am talking about Lagbaja, because he is an icon. Whether we like it or not, Lagbaja is an icon. He is the major artistic musical character that has come unto our stage in the last ten years. But I think we will need to ( I am being selfish now) get him to go back to what he did in 1993 and just review it against what is going on now. Are you an entertainer or are you an artist? They are two different things.
Daniella: Well, I believe that if anybody can get him to do that, you'll be one of those people who can.
I know your modest nature would not want this, but I have seen you a lot of times and you always come to me as a study in humility - something you will not find in other practitioners who probably have not even been as successful as you are. Tell me, what keeps you on the ground?
Jahman: I think it is the willingness to respect and serve man, because I believe that you cannot respect and serve God if you cannot respect and serve man. It's my upbringing that you must give respect to that next person because you have no choice, because if you don't respect him, you cannot respect yourself. That is it . it's just willingness to show maximum respect for the other person's interest.
Daniella: it's a pleasure having you for this interview. But before we go, do you have any word for Nigerians? Just a word!
Jahman: Like my president told us, I see hope. I believe that no matter the problems we are currently facing, no matter how darkly the lane seems to look, there is light out there for us at the end of the tunnel. We are going to get there, this country will rule the world, I believe that.

The Woman

What a Woman is

Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 10:28 PM WAT
Courtesy Nike Adesuyi, Poet
By the time the Lord made woman
He was into his sixth day of working.
An angel appeared and said,
"Why are you spending so much time on this one?"
And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec. sheet on her?
She has to be completely washable,
but not plastic, have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable
and able to run on diet coke and leftovers,
have a lap that can hold four children at one time,
have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a
broken heart-and she will do everything
with only two hands."
The angel was astounded at the requirements.
"Only two hands!? No way! And
that's just on the standard model?
That's too much work for one day.
Wait until tomorrow to finish."
But I won't," the Lord protested.
"I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my
own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick
AND can work 18 hour days."
The angel moved closer and touched the woman.
"But you have made her so soft, Lord."
"She is soft,"
the Lord agreed,
"but I have also made her tough.
You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish."
"Will she be able to think?", asked the angel.
The Lord replied, "Not only will she be able to think,
she will be able to reason and negotiate."
The angel then noticed something,
and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek.
"Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this
model.
I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one."
"That's not a leak," the Lord corrected, "that's a tear!"
"What's the tear for?" the angel asked.
The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy,
her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love,
her loneliness, her grief and her pride."
The angel was impressed.
"You are a genius, Lord.
You thought of everything!
Woman is truly amazing."
>>>>>
And she is!
Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear
about a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you toshow how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is
what makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideals.
They give moral support to their family and friends.
Women have vital things to say and everything to give.
HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH. PLEASE
pass this along to all your sisters, mothers,wives, grandmas, friends and relatives
to remind them just how amazing a woman is.

Unselfishness

FAIRMINDEDNESS


PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS
BY TOSYN BUCKNOR
There are books I know I will hate even before I read them. Maybe it is because they are critically acclaimed, or maybe I just won't like the style of writing. I put off reading them for as long as possible but sometimes, the persistent one will occasionally, call my name (a la Styl Plus). So I give in. And read them. But more often than not, as I am reading the last line, I realize that I hated the book just as I thought I would.
No, I am not a literary critic, nor is this the speech from a book club; the only reason this article started like this was so I could say, PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS LEAVE YOU JUDGEMENTAL AND ON THE DEFENSIVE.
This is not limited to literary works, it extends to life. Once you make your mind up about something, it is really hard for you be objective and consider the finer points with a clear mind. Unfortunately, with a closed mind, there's a lot that can be missed and when it comes to people, preconceived notions will prevent you from seeing the person beneath the mask.
(I am into masks aren't I?)
What happens though when you're on the receiving end of the preconceived notions? You know, when you're the one people whisper about when you enter the room or the subject of discussion, but not in a good way? The truth is, no matter how nice or popular you are, you can't be loved by all of the people all of the time (to re-phrase a phrase), and it can be hard when you're the only one on the playground that nobody wants to talk to. In situations like that, you feel like screaming at the top of your lungs, “Yewande is wrong, I am NOT a snob!”, “Neither am I a push over!” and the best one? “Speak of me as YOU find!”
It is very easy to get tagged at some stage in your life and with some people, that first impression will never go away. In my secondary school, that happened a lot; once someone erred in some way, they had an unwritten tag that followed them throughout their stay; unless they were really brave enough to make people see the new them.
University wasn't any different, the tags where there but some people had learned to develop a really tough skin so they pretended it did not matter while they cried themselves to sleep at night. Well, the tough outer skin usually helps though in the end, the owners of those skins have to admit that those who act like they are bothered the least actually hurt the most.
Preconceived notions also lead to stereotypes, you know, beautiful girls can't have great personalities, short men are troublesome, people that wear glasses are nerds… The list is endless and I would just like to state for the record that QUEENS COLLEGE GIRLS ARE NOT SNOBS!
And as with all other types of prejudice, it's simple, if you practice it, expect it to be practiced on you! If you, without meeting people and taking time to discover what really goes on in their heads, assume or accept some notions about them, then, the next time someone says, “I thought you were nasty”: show that you're not(unless you really are in which case, this article may not be for you) and stop pre-judging.
So, I'm off to pick up one of those books again, maybe this time, I'll read it without any expectations and then ill fall in love with the style and theme.
'Preconceived notions flying over my head
A handshake comes with opinions formed ahead
But if you are to be true, just and kind,
Speak of me as YOU find'

What Has Religion Got To Do With It 3

University days at the University of Ibadan were, of course, most accommodating of all religious and ethnic persuasions. As a matter of fact, if any organization attempted to be over-zealous or overreach itself, there were many organisations without affiliation or sympathy for any primordial sentiments on the campus to neutralize such conflicts. I recall the widespread shock that attended an attempt in the mid-eighties by two students organisations representing the two dominant religions on the campus of the University of Ibadan….
The Muslim students had complained that the location of the huge cross depicting the crucifixion of Jesus, which belong to the Chapel of Resurrection church, was discomforting to them. They claimed that the cross usually obstructed their views of the East where they are mandated to face while praying. They wanted the cross relocated. However, the Christian community countered that, well, the cross had been there before the mosque was built and so it was the Muslims that should move their praying centre.
Now this was a conflict never heard of in such a liberal community of academics. The anger of the rest of the university community was so huge that it eventually drowned the contentions of the two aggressors. This neutral position was instrumental to a quick resolution of the brewing crisis. In fact, it influenced the character of a panel that was quickly set up by the University authority to intervene in the crisis. The crisis was nipped.
A similar crisis had become a regular occurrence in higher institutions in other parts of the country. At times, something as trivial a matter as the mode of dressing by female students had sent a university community on fire in such parts. However, over time, religious differences have become more sharply emphasised in the academic communities of Nigeria, even in the South West. But none of the conflicts had assumed the status of a conflagration to cause the type of mayhem that had been witnessed in other parts of the country.
****
While taking part the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in Kafanchan, in the Je'maa Local Government Council area of southern Kaduna State in 1987, perhaps the most damning of such a religious conflict in an academic environment occurred. The conflict was recorded to have taken its inspiration from the 1985 Maitatsine Riots in some parts of the north, where a Muslim sect unleashed mayhem on those who profess to other faiths, including Muslims of a different persuasion.
On this day, in cosmopolitan Kafanchan, which by virtue of its being a Railway town was populated by people from different parts of the country, the College of Education campus was bristling with activities marking the Students Week. In the courtyard of the school, there had been mounted a carnival of performances. Two of the key events of the week was a congregation of the Christian students association and the presentation of the play "The Gods Are Not to Blame" written by Prof. Ola Rotimi and directed by the head of the English department of the school, Mr. Joab Bonat, with assistance by me.
On the day the riot broke out, the play was billed to be staged. At about 2 pm, the cast and crew of the play, all students of the English department with a sprinkle of those taking elective courses in the department. Just as a member of the crew mounted a stool to fix an electric bulb in the center of the social hall at the extreme end of the school, a group of students in long robes walked in. They demanded to speak with the head of the department. He was not around, they were told. But his assistant, Mr. Anikulapo, the youth corps member was. One of the students mouthed certain statements about the corps member being an infidel. The hall fell into a shock. However, the aggression was suppressed. Some of the drama crew demanded the mission of the intruders. It was a demand that two of the cast members, who were Muslim girls and members of Muslim Students Association, be withdrawn from the play. According to one of the students, drama performance is idolatry and no genuine believer should be engaged in the vocation.
Particularly irksome to the intruders was the fact that the female students were part of a particular scene in the play which mandated that the women are dressed in a wrapper tied around their waist while leaving their upper part bare in accordance with Yoruba maidens' dress mode. The targeted girls were the first to raise protestation. It was their affair, shouted the more outspoken of the two, Mairo. One of the transgressors charged at her and attempted to slap her. He was restrained. But his comrades soon seized the two girls by the wrist and dragged them out of the hall. Of course, this act instigated a pandemonium as other members of cast attempted to challenge the intruders. There was much argument and fisticuffs and the scene of the latest morbid drama had gradually shifted towards the courtyard where a congregation had been seated and were in the midst of preachment by a young clergy.
Perhaps it was the tension imported from the social hall, for in no time, another argument had begun, all of a sudden, where the congregation was seated. There were shouts of obscenities and angry words. In no time, chairs and other items of seating were flying in the air. Many of the students had dangerous weapons such as daggers and broken bottles in their hands and many students already bore wounds as smell of fresh blood filled the air. At the other corner of the school, the little Mosque neighboured by the library was in flames. The campus had turned to a battlefield and there were wounded bodies sprawled all over the place.
Fleeing towards the town where the Corpers' Lodge was located, I could observe that some houses, especially belonging to people from other parts of the country were already on fire; and a popular businessman in the town, said to be the leader of one of the ethnic groups from other parts of the country, had been felled by an arrow shot into his head. He was reportedly attacked by one of those he had engaged for more than five years as a maiguard (security guard.)
The businessman had been known to be the main financier of the Muslim community in Kafanchan, having built mosques and served many years as patron of the Muslim Students Society of the College of Education. to which in 1987 one of his sons was serving as an officer. Yet those who burnt his property and killed him were alleged to be members of the same student society! This would indicate that much of the killings that occurred during the Kafanchan riot were not necessarily based on ethnic differences but purely the inexplicable thirst for blood by Religious Profiteers.
The news of his death only fuelled the riot. The so-called foreigners in Kafanchan launched a reprisal attack on the community of the Hausas and not even the palace of the Emir was spared the violence. Notably, the Emir had been in disputation with the indigenes of Kafanchan and suburbs, otherwise called the Kaje people over the alleged perennial imposition of a monarch on them by the Emirate in Zauzzau. The riot was thus a mere vehicle for expression of certain political angst and discontentment with the status quo.
This was the first time that the extent of religious dichotomy in Nigeria first dawned on me and it might have helped to erode substantially my confidence in the capability of modern man and especially Nigerians to safely wade through the murky waters of religious contentions and overcome the machinations of Religious merchants who are growing daily.
This fear is perhaps complicated by the advent of globalization and its emphasis on competition between the various strata of society, races of the world and economic classes.
Again Ms. Irene has noted: "Most of today’s tensions and conflicts are bound up with complex issues, with concepts of ethnicity, religion, identity, nationalism and globalisation. And the latest of these terrorism".
For as noted by James V. Spickard "Why is there a simultaneous growth of both religious divisiveness and quasi-religious unity? … Increased globalization and the growth of an international division of labour have fostered both trends. Such structural characteristics of our global late-modern social order have made plausible key themes of the human rights discourse, specially its universalism. The same characteristics have spurred religious and ethnic particularism as an anti-systemic counter-trend".
In fact the questions that many people have asked is that if Globalisation is that major platform where every component or group of component of the world go to negotiate the\ bases of their interaction and contract with other stakeholders, what is the identity that Africa or the Africans would be taking there? Is it that identity that is rooted in this conflictual religious ideologies or cultural dislocations ? Or an identity of polytheism that belies the conception of homogeneity that the West has always foisted on its cultural experiences?
The answer is not clear even in my mind.
****
Ten years after the Kafanchan riot, in 1997, I was opportuned to work on an anti-conflict theatre project of the International Committee of The Red Cross, ICRC in collaboration with the Nigerian Red Cross,NRC. Under the theme A Vote For Relevance, the project was designated the Red Cross Theatre Project and it was designed top produce a multi-lingual and multi-format theatre package that would campaign against the rising wave of religious and ethnic conflicts in Nigeria as well as in other parts of the world.
The drama package to which I was Assistant Director/Producer was titled Askari and was written and directed by Ben Tomoloju. The package was to tour at least two-third of Nigeria’s 36 states with three versions of the play produced in three centres — West, East and the North. Each of the Centres was to compose its own cast and crew and conduct its own rehearsals to stress the cultural peculiarities of each centre. But there was provision for the overall supervision of each centre and its production by the national crew led by Tomoloju assisted by me.
In all there were 22 performances in 20 states of Nigeria.
The project of course, had a hitch-free proceedings in the South West and safe for inadequate facilities in the East recorded success. However, the experience at the North Centre was another eye-opener for me and it only reinforced my conviction that Religious Conflicts often arise simply because certain human selfish instincts and mercantilist spirit come in to play in decision taking process by leaders in most human endeavours.
In the composition of the cast there were certain extra-artistic factors that were forced on the production by public officials who had been drafted to give the project political backings by the host state governments. They insisted that the lead actor to play Askari had to be not only an indigene of any of the northern states but practicing Muslim.
All appeals to them that theatre lays emphasis on talents, skill, competence and merit was rejected. They contended that a Christian actor who is from Christian-dominated Southern Kaduna was not suitable to play the role as according to them, he was a kaffir and could draw the anger of the local population in the ten northern states that would see the play.
Insistence by the national Crew to impose meritocracy and insist on professional judgement only aggravated the conflict as they threatened to distrupt the show and mount public protest. They were indeed adamant and held the production up for at least three weeks before the National Crew succumbed to the blackmail. A certain percentage of the 10 performances in the centre was allocated to the untrained but imposed actor. These were to be in core northern states with infamous records for religious volatility.
Needless to say that the performance of the actor was chaos. Interestingly however what drew the ire of the various audiences peopled by the youths and students, even in the so-called core northern states, was the inability of the actor to carry the role and speak loud and intelligibly enough for the comfort of the audience.
****
Again the Religious Entrepreneurs had won. They were guided neither by the genuine interest of Islam nor the will of the Northern people whose needs they professed to protect.
This same fraud is well entrenched in the Nigeria national polity and has been responsible for the inability of the country to attain its full potentials politically and economically. Merit has always been slaughtered on the altar of such retrogressive considerations as Federal Character, State of Origin and Quota System.
****
The second phase of the Red Cross Project had had to be cancelled by the ICRC based on the various obstacles placed on the path of the project by such primordial sentiments as experienced at the North Centre. This experience in recorded in A Vote For Relevance, a booklet on the project co-authored by Ben Tomoloju and Jahman Anukulapo.
And eight years after the Askari experience, Tomoloju faced a similar obstacle in the course of preparation of a theatre project for the on-going Eighth All African Games, Abuja 2003.
He had been billed by the Wole Soyinka-led Creative Task Force set up to produce the Ceremonies of the games, to produce a play on the legends of the heroine Queen Amina, a northern matriarch of anti-female oppression.
In the course of researching into the legend, a Professor of language who had worked on the material and wrote a script began a campaign which was to the effect that Tomoloju being a Christian, and from the South, was not qualified to handle the production. It took the adamant posture of Prof. Soyinka and the COJA officials to ensure that the production was handled as originally conceived.
****
CULTURAL JOURNALIST
I started work formally as a Journalist in 1987 shortly after Youth Service. My special interest has been in Cultural Affairs and I particularly loved the festivals.
My experience has been that aside of Sports which always as in many other societies break down the barriers between all men, even if only temporarily, Culture remains the most potent weapon to counter conflicts of all dimensions. In cultural expressions all differences dissolve as a dance like music, painting, architecture, drama is only an expression of man’s innermost sense of aesthetics. And the expression appeals to the positive segment of a man’s emotions.
Having reported and participated in the many editions of the yearly, NAFEST otherwise called Feast of Unity, I have come to the conclusion that for the Nigerian nation, to quicken its pace towards sitting peace, needs to invest much interest, energy and resources in its cultural materials and ensure frequent expressions of same. There may be over 400 ethnic nationalities (and may be as so many religious sects)in Nigeria, they all as had been proven, share so many cultural ideas and attributes that are easily identifiable even if they all met at a single forum.
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Indeed, it is not as if the Nigerian political elite is blinded to the place of culture in creating a less-conflict prone society, it is just that there is a pall of lack of political will and honesty to do that which is right for the common good. And this tendency has been witnessed in the approach of consecutive governments to the various religious conflagrations that the nation has witnessed.
As a matter of fact, the 2002 editions of the National Festival of Arts Culture had focused on the Culture of Peace as a contribution of the Culture intelligentsia to the discourse on finding a stratagem for resolution of the frequent religious conflicts in the country.
Among others the Communique of the conference had observed
oThat elite have distorted various forms of cultural processes that make for peace in the polity and;
o That causes of conflict in the Nigerian state include non-physical visit between peoples of different backgrounds, ignorance, linguistic barriers, intolerance, corruption, non accountability, insecurity, injustice, sensational and sectional journalism, poverty, hunger, dysfunctional educational system, manipulation of the youth by the elite in the prevailing political, economic and moral environment.
The conference thus recommended
continued and improved funding of cultural sector to empower it to discharge its responsibilities and render quality service as a broker of peace in the nation.
inclusion of culture studies in all levels of formal educational system.
use of time-tested cultural imperatives and paradigms in ameliorating, diffusing and resolving conflict situations and tensions in the nation.
Empowerment of the culture sector, artists, craftsmen and other professionals in the arts by inaugurating and launching the National Endowment Funds for the arts and culture.
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My proposal, even if it sounds simplistic, is that Culture and the Arts given a well-defined operative environment and honest administration and foundation, remain the key to solving many of the conflicts of today and that was the essence of Ms Nasa’s postulation that for culture workers and those working in the sociological fields, designing a model for resolution of the various conflicts including religious must place emphasis on respect for the individual cultural norms and practices of the people.
We must stress that Europe and the West, the civilizations from which Africa taps its current political and ideological orientations have shown that developmental objectives must take off from the cultural foundation.
This is where their national aspirations derive from and that is why aside from their diplomatic missions, they have insisted in maintaining strong cultural presence in Many parts of the world. That is the mission of the Goethe Institutes, British Councils and the United States Information Services among others.
Unfortunately, the African nations which really need these cultural paradigms are the least interested in harnessing their cultural resources and intellectual potentials as well as services of their intelligentsia to tackle the many contradictions of their existence including religious contentions.
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CONCLUSION
Due to the continued deterioration in the economy and social infrastructure of the country, many more Nigerians are seeking solace in Christian and Muslim organizations. With swollen membership, these organizations have gained visibility and are exerting pressure to play increasingly crucial roles in the society, for good or for bad. Managing these will be crucial too.
It is necessary to constantly remind ourselves of the various submissions on the precariousness of Religious Conflicts and as well the extent to which our current world is prone to incessant conflagrations fuelled by differences in convictions and faiths.
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Contended a religious scholar: It will serve us all better if we realise that truth is dialectical in nature. When extremes are emphasised, divisions occur. Consensus rather than authority or arbitrary majority coercion is the best atmosphere in which understanding is facilitated, but such dialogue usually slows and temporises group action. The same basic truth issues tend to be raised century after century.
The greatest degree of unity and cooperation is achieved when ideals, purposes, and goals are emphasised rather than theological agreement or polity conformity. Theological balance along with broad freedom of opinion and action is most conducive to constructive relationships. The conflicts of evolutionary religion are most effectively transcended by epochal revelation.
And Pickard continues, "If this battle between universalism and particularism – the theological battle of our age – is as much social as intellectual, then democratic governance of pluralistic societies can only succeed by paying attention to such underlying social correlates.
And we conclude thus:
In addition to Promotion of dialogue, the state must ensure that the space of social interaction – the vast field of cultural experiences… where everyman drops his burden of religious and racial convictions is protected and made inviolable.
References
* G.O. Gbadamosi, The Growth of Islam Among The Yoruba 1841-1908, (London: Longman, 1978.
*The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 49 verse 13.
*Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, (London: Longman 1962).
*. James Pickard, Ph.D. (Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of Redlands, Redlands, California) "Human Rights, Religious Conflict, and Globalization: Ultimate Values in a New World Order"

What Has ReligionGot To Do With It 2

Religion and The Sanctity of Space of Social Interaction: A Personal Narrative On The Situation In South West Nigeria
By Jahman Anikulapo
NARRATIVE: Social (Childhood) Orientation:
The years of childhood were, of course, spent ignorant of the demarcation between the various belief systems. Every religious festival was a feast and we as children partook of all. In December we visited the homes of the Christians in the neighborhood and feasted on the famous Christmas rice that always appeared specially prepared and had a flavour that was distinct from the usual that we were used to at home. And after the month of Ramadhan, the Odun Kekere (Eid-Fitri), was our time to visit Muslim homes for the rice and ram and occasional amala and ewedu soup.
Soon it would be Odun Ileya, Id-el-Kabir or the big Muslim festival and again, the children would be there to savour the offerings. At this time, we were children of the entire community, and so we had to be fed by whoever’s turn it was to celebrate a religious festival. Only few parents would try to dissuade their children from participating in the feasting.
It was a feeling of camaraderie, which the entire community shared; the closely-knit bonds which the sociologist of renown, Emile Durkhiem, spoke about. There is a subtle social sanction for the parent or guardian who attempted to stop his children or wards from being part of the feast — and this had to do with winning the scorn of the other members of the community. In any case, it was difficult to even claim to be the child of one’s parents alone. Not with the aphorisms among the Yoruba that Oju Kan ni’ nbimo, igba oju ni nwo (You are born of only your parents, but weaned by 200 (the entire community)". This translates to the child being a property of the entire community or the neighborhood.
Of course, it was the responsibility of all the adults in the community to effect discipline on any erring child. And such an adult had no need to explain why he had to discipline the child. This was a measure of social control. With this kind of setting, it was possible for one, just as many other children, who grew up in similar circumstances, to have imbibed a liberal attitude to matters of religious differences.
The fact was we never knew the difference. The children of Muslim parents and those of Christians lived, ate and played together. The social interaction space was ruled by collective will for survival of the people rather than by primordial sentiments of race, faith or ethnic background. My father lived and worked in the northern part of the country, specifically in the very heart of Islamic community of Zaria. He worked as a building contractor, constructing residences for many of the rich people in that part of the University City. He had been there since 1958, some five years before I was born in 1963. My childhood memory recorded faintly this bearded fellow who always showed up in our family house in Agege, in the suburb of Lagos, about twice or thrice a year, and showered us, the children with many gifts particularly of Donkunu and Kuli kuli — two popular Hausa snacks.
I also recall that he had a funny (at least then to my little mind) accent that was indeed very strange. He spoke as if he was rolling some consonants on his tongue or sometimes over-stretching his vowels. But then I noticed that he always slept in my mother’s room and that the bigger room in the foremost part of the house, which usually remained close for most part of the year, was always opened anytime he visited. It was very much later that I came to realise that he was my father.
Much later, I was to be told that some of the little ones in the household were not his children but those of other people who had been in the house. I recall that on one occasion, when the bearded man was visiting, he came with about eight strange people dressed in long robes who spoke a very, very strange tongue. They were given a little feast at which a ram was slaughtered and that certain other bearded fellows came to the house, sat on a mat, and proceeded to give us names that one later understood to be Muslim names. We were told that the man with the beard had become a Muslim.
Perhaps pressured by the exigencies of the needs of his new friends, the strange talking ones he brought from his adventures in the north, the bearded fellow had gone ahead to convert the piece of land by our house to an open-air praying ground, where he and his friends prayed. The manner of prayer, which appeared as a game, soon drew the curiosity of the young ones in the neighborhood as we joined them to pray.
The praying ground gradually soon had a covering with corrugated sheets and an Arabic School started. We were enrolled. Thus in the morning we went to the Catholic School and we came back in the early afternoon to attend the Arabic school only to return to the school compound in the evening, to the St. Peter’s seminary, to partake of the bible study. These activities in our young minds were fused… one continuous experience of studying. We had no cause to interrogate the content or context of the two contra-distinctive experiences.
Thus we read the Holy Bible with as much fervour as we studied the Holy Qur'an. We could recite the Suras just as much as we could do the psalms and passages from the bible. And the status of every child was possibly judged by his adeptness at the recitation of excerpts from the two books. In fact, the elderly youths at night would hold tablets of Goody Goody sweet in the evenings at playtime and summoned the kids to recite from the two books. The ones who won in the competitions got a prize of the sweet. In all this, there was no knowledge of who was the child of whom in the neighborhood. Particularly the young ones were not supposed to know. Or so it seemed.
To one’s young mind then, every child who lived in the house was a child of the bearded fellow whom we had been told was the Bale-Ile (head of the household). I recall in particular distinctly my horror the day I was told that my favorite playmate, the oval-faced boy Eyinayan, whose name I could hardly pronounced well, whom I had always taken to be from my mother’s womb, was the child of another woman who had come from a distant land. This time I was already in Primary five in 1973.
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EDUCATIONAL ORIENTATION
Papa Eyinayan, I was later told, was only a tenant in my father’s house. Yet this was the first patriarchal figure in my childhood mind. He was the figure that stood as my father as far as I was concerned and he played the role well.
Papa Eyinayya was a Catholic by faith. And at the time we were ready to be enrolled in school in 1969, he was the one who took me and other children of my age in the house and perhaps, the entire neighborhood, to the nearest school to us — St. Peter’s Primary School to be registered for the beginning of our educational journey. At the Catholic school, we went through all the rituals of baptism, of church attendance, Holy Communion and the rest. And the full account of all these activities we related to our mother whenever we returned home.
Eventually, I was one of the few people chosen by the only white priest at St Peter’s to live in his house and serve as ‘special server’ at the church. Of course, by the grace of this circumstance, one could remember having started life as a Catholic, as we attended mass every Sunday and none of our parents ever raised an eyebrow.
Later our neighborhood became expanded, especially with the movement into our house of a set of twins, who were Christians no doubt. They were always dressed in white shirts over a black pair of trousers and in one's memory they seemed to be permanently attired in this dress. On Sundays and most evenings, they could be seen carrying a bulging bag. We were later told that they were members of a Kingdom Society and that what they carried in their bags were tracts and pamphlets that contained excerpts from the Holy Bible. Even at that, one could notice that they were not really so much interested in discussing the contents of the bible with one. They did not seem to share of the content of our religious learning in the Catholic school either. They seemed to have a different view of so many of the teachings in the bible. But what did it matter to such impressionable minds as ours. We loved them both as th ey were always neatly dressed and had handsome faces. Our generous father was soon so enamoured by the depth of the twins' knowledge of the way of the world, that he hired them as home teachers for us.
Thus after the Arabic classes that usually ended shortly before the sun finally set, we would converge in the passage of the Boys' Quarters for home lessons. While we learnt the secret of Mathematics and Additional Maths, we also learnt more of the doctrines of the Kingdom Society (KS) and got to know the fundamental difference between the KS, the Jehovah Witnesses and the Foursquare Church. The surprise was that these three appeared fundamentally the same, save a few variations in the beliefs.
However, when the population of the children in the twins class increased, the passage became grossly inadequate; and so another piece of land on the left side of the household was given to the twins by our father for the purpose of the evening classes. Thus began the emergence of a church on the street. Our household inevitably became sandwiched between a church and a mosque. Yet, we as kids had no problems traversing the two worlds. At most times, even the adults joined us in the classes.
Eventually, it was one of the twins who registered us in an Anglican School, United City College, when it was time to attend Secondary School. He was a teacher in the school and he had, one afternoon, brought the forms of the school home and asked us to register. The surprise was that we were registered at the school with the consent of our father who had only less than two years before, caused us to adopt Muslim names in cognizance of his new found faith. Though also a Christian school, United City College had a different orientation from the Catholic school. The ritual was less intense and the atmosphere was less regimented. There was much more songs and games and drama in the school and social life was freer. We were in the boarding school, and every Friday, we were allowed to go home at least for two hours. Sometimes, we took excursion to other schools and on some occasions we were allowed to stay the night during which we shared social activities. Of course, we were now older than when we attended St. Peter's. We were mature and so trusted with more freedom.
A shock find. In the curriculum of the Anglican United City College, there was the Islamic Religious Knowledge, IRK, which was made compulsory for all Form One Students just like the CRK -- Christian Religious Knowledge. The residual knowledge from the Arabic school was of great advantage here as our unformed tongues relished the singsongs of the surahs. Most of the teachers in the schools were Christians, but there were about three that were indeed Muslims; and every Friday afternoon there were special Jumat services, which the students were made to attend. It became fashionable for almost all the students to attend them as the service was always followed by the special meal of Tuwo and Gbegiri (millet meal and bean soup). On Sunday, it was the tasty rice and chicken stew. The foodstuffs came always from the large farm at the back of the school where every student had a little portion of land and was allowed to plant variety of crops. At the end of every school term, harvest from each student's farm, which had been recorded at end of every week, were adjudged and awarded marks for the Agricultural Sciences class.
However, the romantic feel of United City College was short-lived at the end of our first term in Class two when then General Olusegun Obasanjo's Government abolished private ownership of schools. The students of the school were relocated to some other schools that had earlier been taken over from the missionaries by the military government.
We were relocated to Progress College, which though had a Christian background, was not so pronounced in the profession of allegiance to any Christian denomination. However, we would not even attend classes for a day at Progress as yet another circumstantial occurrence would intervene. A stocky elderly fellow, who was later to be identified by me as Baba Friday, had taken it upon himself to intervene. He would not allow his son Friday to attend Progress College, a school already labeled as peopled by miscreant-like youths who were known to play pranks around town when their mates were in school. Being perhaps the most educated in the neighborhood -- he was a supervisor in one of the factories owned by the Asians on the other side of town and only came around at weekends -- Baba Friday's opinion was highly respected in matter of schooling. He had decreed that none of the young ones relocated to Progress College would attend the school.
Next morning he herded the young ones into a file and marched us to a school some five kilometers from the neighborhood. This was Saka Tinubu Commercial School in Orile Agege. The school had an Islamic background, being the commercial arm of the famous Ahmaddiyah College (later Anwar-ul-Islam College) that had been founded in the early 1940s by some radical Muslim missionaries. Saka Tinubu, like most schools in the South West, accommodated diverse human experiences. The student population was something akin to a rainbow coalition. Students from various schools had been relocated to the school and so there were indigenes of various ethnic groups in Nigeria. Also, people of different beliefs and persuasions could be found in the school.
The principal of the school, Olukunle, was a Christian of Baptist persuasion, while his deputy, a woman from eastern Nigeria was a Catholic. But the head teacher, a Yoruba like Olukunle, was a Muslim and the Mathematics teacher, otherwise called Mastilo, as well as his Fine Arts counterpart, were never known to be identified with any particular religion. In fact, every Wednesday, during the time for religious activities, they were known to be engaged in the game of scrabble or Ayo, while the French teacher would twang away on his guitar with a sizeable number of students forming his audience. I recall that he later joined the famous juju music band of King Sunny Ade and toured many parts of the world with the international musician. Notably also we had Mr. Kodjo, a Ghanaian as English Teacher and he was probably a Protestant as he was always to be found in scriptural debate with the headmaster during the Physical Education period later in the afternoon.
The school, as a matter of fact, harboured a mosque next door to the junior staff quarters on the southern part of the vast compound. Few metres away, where the long block of classrooms for the junior class land marked by the famous footpath to the football pitch, was the little prayer house which served as the church. It was in the same room that the music lesson took place because of the organ that had been mounted in it. It would not be a surprise that much of the content of the music class was based on liturgical hymns and themes. But almost, or so it seemed, the entire student population participated in the activities in the room. This was evident by the fact that the Muslim-dominated student populace had to be organized into groups so the activities of the little rooms could accommodate them.
Besides, the students met in other extra-curricular activities that defined the social life of the school. The drama society was as strong as the literary and debating society. There were the Man O' War, Girl's Guide, Boys Scout, Junior Scientists, Farmer's Club, Home Science club, the Red Cross, the First Aid team as well as the various sporting clubs led by the Winsome Football Club for which I was the ruthless Number 6.
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There were few elite schools in Lagos of the late 70s and they were mostly to be found on the Island, which harboured the Central Business District as well as the residences vacated by the former colonial administrators and currently occupied by the Nigerian elite most who had been educated abroad but had come home to relieve the expatriates of the posts they were leaving in the aftermath of Independence. The children of these elites attended those schools spread around Lagos and Victoria Island, Ikoyi and its suburbs. However, located in the far-flung Agege outskirts of Lagos was the Ahmadiyyah College. Outside of its location, the school, which later became known as Anwar-ul- Islam, shared every attribute that the St. Gregory College, Ikoyi; King's College, Lagos; Methodist Boy's Missionary School and the very few others in their category had. It had a huge reputation in academic and a good profile in sports. It was the breeding ground of young stars and future leaders in various human endeavours. And Nigeria's current political, economic, cultural and scientific professions are filled with products of the school. It was the dream of many parents that their children or wards attended the school. Of course, our parents were no less ambitious. But there was the scare. Ahmadiyyah was known for its strict admission policy, especially with the claim that there usually existed only very few spaces after they had reserved a third of such admission spaces for candidates from other African countries, the West and Mid-East who usually come on exchange programmes.
To secure admission to the Ahmadiyyah College for the Higher School Certificate (HSC) studies, the lot once again fell on Baba Friday, the educated hero in our neighbourhood. He insisted that all the Secondary School graduands in our area obtain application for the school. He also undertook to pay for the special coaching of all the applicants towards the entrance examination which, indeed, was a nightmare of many aspiring applicants to the school. The exams came and at least four of the six that applied were successful -- two for the sciences and two for the arts.
Ahmadiyyah, though a well-rooted Muslim school, was even more adept at stressing ‘meritocracy’. There was no marked programme to stress the differences in religion, ethnicity, class or even the more mundane state of origin as primordially indented in the Nigerian polity. In fact, it was at Ahmadiyyah that one had a full opportunity to study Christian Religious Knowledge, not as part of programme for the HSC but as one of the three optional classes that an HSC student could take from the School Certificate Classes. We had fellowship just as much we had the MSS -- Muslim Students Society programmes. As boarders, we observed every Friday for Jumat services and Sundays for Church activities. Above all, sports and cultural programmes coordinated by the Drama and Literary Society were the greatest weapon of unification in the school.