National Troupe offers ‘Rhythm of the Nation’ for 2011 Easter

national troupe of nigeria chorale

As part of its mandate of producing theatrical works that meets national aspiration, the apex performing institution in Nigeria, the National Troupe of Nigeria will this Easter stage  a musical chorale concert titled ‘The Rhythm of the Nation’.  The concert will be directed by Dapo Omideyi with the ethnomusicologist Femi Ogunrombi providing support.

However a public performance scheduled for April 28 and 29 at 5pm each day will precede the command showing of the choral concert which the management of the troupe also say is being staged in line with the promise of the newly confirmed Artistic Director Mr. Martin Adaji to reinvigorate the music department of the troupe.

The musical which will be performed by the newly recruited artiste of the National Troupe with support from a few freelance artistes will be the first production to be staged since Mr. Adaji was confirmed as Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Troupe on March 8, 2011. A similar concert was staged by the troupe last year. Adaji however disclosed that the concert this year will be different because according to him ‘outside the song of the Easter season that will be performed, the concert will feature a compilation of songs from the six geo-political zones so it can be enjoyed by everybody and so it can appeal to non-Christians alike’.

Also, Adaji stated that the performance was to test the ability of the artistes of the National Troupe who have been under training for about 12 weeks now. He said: ‘You will recall that we call new artistes into camp in March and since then they have been in training. They were trained in the three art forms—dance, music and drama. We got Tosan Edremoda Ugbeye to handle them in drama; got Dr. Chris Ugolo of the University of Benin to drill them in Dance and Femi Ogunrombi to work on their singing abilities. So this performance is a test case for the artiste’ he said.

Onuoha picks Omenka Gallery for maiden solo exhibition

Abuja-based full-time studio artist, Mr. Donald Onuoha, will from Friday, April 29 and through to Thursday, May 5 show his recent works in a solo  exhibition billed for the Omenka Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Packaged by Thought Pyramid Art Gallery, Abuja in partnership with Synergy Capital and Canton Concourse, the  exhibition titled: Conversation With My Conscience, is Onuoha’s maiden showcase and is expected to attract such dignitaries as Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman, MFR, who will be as Guest of Honour.

Onuoha, born in Lagos in 1971, studied Art at the Institute of Management Technology, Enugu and graduated in 1999 with a Distinction in Painting. He is a very gifted artist with a unique outlook and painting style derived from Cubism and  makes use of roller brush with oil or acrylic on canvas. In addition, Onuoha is able to convey his thoughts simply and objectively.

Onuoha has previously shoed his works in group exhibitions such as the World Bank Art Exhibition, New York; Minaj Talent, Obosi, Talent of Palette, Lagos; Emerging Culture, Abuja; Donald and Ayoola, Signature Gallery, Lagos; Abstract Artistic License, Time and Places, City Mall, Lagos; and the Generational Statement, Abuja.

Remarking, Mr. Jeff Ajueshi, Creative Director, Thought Pyramid Art Gallery, Abuja, said Onuoha’s psychological excursions result in images which represent his stream of consciousness and ultimately invites the audience to participate in his exhibition titled; Conversation with my Conscience, just as he further describes the Onuoha as an artist with ‘incredible skill and talent has gift of art.’

On his part, Ovie Omatsola, Director, Thought Pyramid Art Gallery, Abuja, commented: “Through his work, Onuoha argues that the presence of virtue and vice in society is clearly evident and underscores the significance of the human conscience in guiding away from wrongful conduct. In “Two Sides of a Coin,” he acknowledges the Hegelian and Blakian marriage of contraries; that, beside anything that tends to be good, is that which is evil in any given environment. As stated by Chinua Achebe, “It is the very nature of creativity, in its prodigious complexity and richness, that it accommodates paradoxes and ambiguities. But this, it seems, will always elude and pose a problem for the uncreative, literal mind. The literal mind is the one-track mind, the simplistic mind, the mind that cannot comprehend that where one thing stands, another will stand beside it.” This is the hall-mark of Onuoha’s creative genius – the seamless integration of paradoxes and ambiguities. He believes this conversation is divine,” the inspiration surrounding this conversation cannot be neglected. It comes from above and has been borne by happenings below.”

According to Omatsola, knowing that listening ears and even eyes will be held captive by this conversation, the artist Onuoha wishes that a third party could be involved and therefore invites the public to join the conversation, using his art as a communicative medium. “Onuoha’s works on display, engage in an ongoing dialogue with the source of divine inspiration, with societal realities, and with us.The themes developed in this conversation sustain a thought provoking and intriguing dialogue.”

Curator of the Omenka Gallery, Mr. Oliver Enwonwu, while expressing pride on the decision by his gallery to support Onuoha, assured of his gallery’s continued support to encourage ‘exciting and wonderful artists.’

“We all have conversations with our consciences, struggling to do the right thing and fighting urges to take the easy way out. Not all of us are blessed with artistic talents that are able to physically capture our inner most thoughts. Donald Onuoha uses his unique skills with the roller brush to add form and clarity to his thoughts and feelings. Onuoha’s cubist style, simplification of natural forms and subtle use of earthy tones perfectly reflect the often surreal thoughts and images which pass through our minds,” said Enwonwu.

I spent 5 months on the road photographing the President — Esiri

(Blurb): It was a photo exhibition like no other as seen in the art circle for a very long time. A photo exhibition that had the president of the country as special guest was rare, just as one that had him as the subject was even rarer. Such was the atmosphere of enthusiasm as art lovers and curious individual squeezed through tight security mounted by a plethora of security operatives  enroute the Shehu Yar’Adua Convention Centre venue, Abuja last Tuesday, April 5, for what had been dubbed; A Photo Exhibition on President Goodluck Jonathan.

The exhibition of 52 photographs on exhibition by ace photographer George Esiri, younger brother of Nollywood icon, Chief Justus Esiri, who in turn is father of Afro Hip Hop star Dr Sid, were  essentially a documentation of the personality of President Jonathan as interpreted by George Esiri in his five-month long journey trailing the campaign train of the PDP presidential candidate.

In this interview with VICTOR NZE, Esiri narrates his ordeal in his pursuit of a dream he strongly believes in that had led him through the states in Nigeria as he sought to document President Jonathan.

Can we meet you sir?

I am George Esiri, photographer by professional who has travelled the length and breadth of the is country and some parts of the world in my line of work. This exhibition being witnessed is a result of that work which essentially is a graphic documentation of the life of President Goodluck Jonathan as it is captured while on his just concluded political campaign train as well as those with his predecessor the late Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua.

How would describe your experience travelling from state to another on the campaign trail of the President?

It’s been hectic, harrowing,  it’s tough because at times I’ll just travel with a trouser and t-shirt with my bag, laptop and camera. I’ll be going from state to state. In fact there are some state I’ll get to and I won’t even have a hotel to stay in. In particular, I remember when I got to Katsina there was no hotel. I had left Zamfara State to Katsina State. They directed me to a pub where people drink and I had to go there with the cab which I hired because I always did that. I was putting my resources to it because I believed in what I was doing. So in this case I had to wait there till about 3 in the morning when they had all finished drinking before I could find a space to sleep.

In some instances I would travel same day from state to state like Akwa Ibom from Calabar because they were having the rally there. That same evening I left for Benin, got to Benin after 12 midnight, checked into an hotel and in the morning I went to the stadium. When they finished I flew into Lagos thinking I’ll get a flight to Sokoto because the next day’s campaign rally was in Sokoto. I couldn’t get one and so early next morning  was able to get one to Sokoto but when I got to Sokoto I was told the next day’s rally was instead in Gombe.

At times they’ll bring a list and you’ll find out that overnight they’ve changed the itinerary. So when I got to Sokoto I asked them what was the proximity from there to Gombe State and they told me that I had to go to Kano first and then from there to Gombe. So from Sokoto there to Kano is six hours. So I left for Kano and got there about 11 pm and checked into an hotel and next morning headed off to Gombe. So it was stressful but I thank God for one thing that in any state I go to any food I see I eat.

How long have you been a professional photographer?

I’ve been a professional photographer since 1986 when I started with the Vanguard newspapers. I was with the Vanguard till 1988 when I left for the Guardian newspapers till 89/90 when I left for the Prime People where I won the NUJ photographer of the year award in 1990. I went to Denmark . I was invited as the only African photographer to go and document some event there.

I came back and went back to Guardian one thing led to another and then I said No I’m through with all this and I went to Reuters. When I got there they said they didn’t want a Nigerian photographer because they had tried everybody an d they all failed. So they flying in photographers in and out of the country.

However, after they tried me for the next two weeks they were convinced they had finally gotten somebody to I was there for 10 years covering the creeks, the Niger Delta to the militants. When there was crises in the North I was always there. Sometimes they’ll send me to South Africa to cover assignments for them. Then in 2002, I was chosen among the best 100 photographers in the world to document Africa. A Day in the Life of Africa, the book is out now. I was the Nigerian to be chosen and one of only three West Africans in the list. Others  were from America, United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, everywhere. It was a successful project.

In 2008 I decided to leave Reuters. But while I was there other foreign media were looking for me to work for them. Till now I am freelancing for European Press Photo agency in Germany and I also personally documenting Nigeria.

Will this exhibition open in other parts of the country?

Anyway, like the party chairman said to me, this exhibition has to go round the country. I’ve never even asked them for funds. I left my family in Lagos for five months. I’ll go and spend few days for almost four or five times. I’m just happy this had come and I’m even happier the president was here.

You said you took over 10, 000 photographs while on the campaign trail of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential campaign train, how did you arrive at the 52 works on exhibition?

Well I would not lie to you it took me five days just to decide on which ones should go on show. There are some strong pictures I would want to choose but I would really take a harder look. In fact I was confused at a point just selecting these ones you see here. So at the end I left it to guess work and pure luck. Nobody chose them for me.

What price tag would you place on these photos on exhibition?

It’s going for N300, 000 for one.

Babawale upbeat on AU’s recognition as CBAAC fetes staff

Director General of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), Professor Tunde Babawale has expressed optimism on the much sought after recognition for his agency as an organ of the African Union(AU), nearly a year since the initial move and necessary documentations were presented to the regional body.

The CBAAC director general allayed any fears over a negative outcome on his federal government-backed request to the AU during the annual awards and recognition ceremony  by his agency for deserving members of staff.

The event which held Thursday, at the National Theatre complex annex office of the agency and saw members of staff carting home plaques and electrical and electronic appliances, has become a long standing tradition of the CBAAC to reward diligent, long serving  and retiring staff.

“The AU which was supposed to have ratified our request based on the submission of necessary documentations by us and the federal government, was incidentally handicapped to do so by some challenges. But its hoped that at its meeting in Congo this year, that decision to recognize CBAAC as a cultural organ of the African Union would be ratified,’ said Babawale.

The ratification of CBAAC as an organ of the African Union would in effect therefore confer on the centre the same status that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization (UNESCO) enjoys with the United Nations body.

Recalling, Babawale said the African Union had noted last year that the federal government’s request to the AU for CBAAC to be conferred with the status of a Pan-African body  could only be adopted if it was able to assess the entire presentation fully.

According to the CBAAC chief, therefore, the Congo general assembly meeting of the regional body presents a better and veritable platform for the assessment and further ratification needed to recognize CBAAC as an organ of the AU charged with the mandate of monitoring and regulating cultural matters on the continent.

Earlier in the awards ceremony, Babawale, assured that with the awards tradition the centre would continue to invest in staff development  through training and welfare programmes, saying: “This way, we are sure that our dreams and aspirations will be kept afloat.

“The centre’s investment is not limited to awards and get together party alone as we also intend to realise plans of staff owning their homes under a carefully thought home ownership scheme for staff upon their retirement from the centre. We have also made sure staff promotion is considered and taken as and when due.”

CBAAC is a parastatal in the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation responsible for the preservation, promotion, propagation  and documentation of Nigerian and African cultural and heritage materials, as well as articulating positions for the enhancement of culture on the continent.

Jonathan’s Bring Back The Book campaign trail hits Uniben

President Goodluck Jonathan’s Bring back The Book campaign hit the University of Benin campus, Benin City, Edo State last Thursday with the theme ‘Jonathan: The Future of the Book’ at the Main Auditorium of the university that was packed with students eager to be part of Mr. President’s book revolution.

It had two of Nollywood star speakers as models to help propagate the book culture amongst students of Nigerian universities. Comedian MC Casino made the event memorable with his deft performance along with other campus music stars.

The arrival of Senior Special Assistant to the President on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas and his team, which included two of Nollywood’s actors Kanayo O. Kanayo and Stephanie Okereke, created excitement amongst the students. On the team, too, was Mr. Ken Saro-Wiwa (Jnr), son of the late minority rights activist, also from the Presidency.

In his introductory remarks about the book mission of Jonathan’s team to the campus, Student Affairs Assistant Dean. Mr. F.O. Osadolor, recounted the struggles Nigerian students had previously embarked upon to entrench the book culture in Nigeria. He disclosed that in the 1980s, and as a politically conscious student himself, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) had been at the forefront of agitation for a free and qualitative education for all Nigerians. He praised Mr. President for establishing nine Federal Universities, saying it was the mark of an educated President, who knew the importance of education, an educated man himself, and the first to be a PhD holder among Nigerian leaders.

Osadolor praised the project’s initiator President Goodluck Jonathan for establishing nine Federal Universities as a measure of reducing admission headaches as more students would be admitted in the face of inadequacies of the existing universities and the large numbers of applicants usually left without admission every year. Moreso, he said the universities would create jobs and take many Nigerians from the crowded labour market and ensure that more Nigerians received knowledge. He premised these on Jonathan’s insistence that every Nigerian had access to education having struggled himself to get one as an indigent student. He assured his students that with Jonathan, Nigeria’s educational problems would being solved so as to make learning fun for them.

Then Tamara of Naija Sings obviously wooed the student audience as they gently rocked along with her.

Douglas said he was a bonafide citizen of Benin and recalled his student days with Osadolor and their exploits in ousting military dictatorship that started the deterioration in Nigeria’s educational system with their anti-educational policies, especially their aversion to knowledge acquisition that tended to challenge their authority and aversion to university autonomy. He told them, “Educational system today is not the best that we can get. It is ten months since Jonathan has been President and he has restated education as one of his priorities. It is important that for Nigeria to be a great nation, you here who will be governors, senators, engineers, doctors, lawyers and presidents should be properly educated and made to understand the value of the book to the great Nigerian project that Mr. President wants to evolve.

“Jonathan is the man who has said he is going to fix the educational system; he has said that every Nigerian that comes from a humble beginning must have opportunity of aspiring to the best that he can, even the Presidency. He believes in the unity of Nigeria, of a system that has to change for the better.

“We chose Uniben to Bring Back The Book because if its uniqueness and its dynamism. The books being given here are symbolism of the book campaign. You have to decide what your future will be. Jonathan is emphasising to you today the need for excellence, brilliance, unity and togetherness as virtues that must be entrenched in all of you to achieve the Nigeria of our dream”.

Douglas played into the students’ fantasy when he told them they were the most unique and dynamic. The auditorium exploded in wild jubilation in response.

On his part,  Kanayo said: “We need to receive that consciousness about the book for our collective development. Jonathan has not claimed that he owns all the intelligence, but he means well. He is a story of hope. Being a stakeholder and former teacher, still a teacher, he knows the problems in the university system like no electricity, poor hostels, as you are saying. We owe Nigeria a fresh breath, and this is a new dawn”.

Saro-Wiwa (Jnr) told them the story of his father, his agitation for the rights of minority people of Nigeria and his campaign for an educated citizenry and how he was hanged for them. He said he was in Oakland, New Zealand, when his father was killed. He explained how his father encouraged his Ogoni people to use their brains to stop the guns trained at them by the oil companies and the complicit Nigerian state.

He told them, “You are the future of Nigeria in the various individual roles you will play in your chosen courses here. Jonathan is going to transform Nigeria for good and for you, the youths. Use your brains to change Nigeria for the better. Students, stand up for your future!”

But it was screen idol Okereke that cast the most powerful spell on the students. While they had been a bit restive and making side comments while the other speakers had the podium, Okereke simply subdued them; they were so star-struck and seemed to breathe in every of her being into themselves. She told them that although they weren’t on campus to campaign, a new era had come, which every Nigerian needed to embrace. Jonathan, she said, had brought government closer home to Nigerians as against what previously obtained, saying Jonathan had opened the doors of governance for all Nigerian to access.

When Nigerians were trooping out to foreign lands, Okereke said she took a personal stand to stick it out at home and be treated like a king rather than as a dishwasher abroad. She tasked the students to make similar determined decision for the country’s best interest. She asserted, “Nollywood is the biggest branding thing we have apart from oil. Right from his days as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Jonathan has said these people (in Nollywood) need to be recognised as the biggest branding people we have.

“Now, he also understands that education is key; that it is what makes a man go far in life. He is going to concentrate on education because education builds our confidence. This is the time for all of you. I ask myself, What’s the legacy I’m going to leave behind? It is that Nigeria moves forward! I’ve never registered to before until now. Jonathan has made us have hope. Don’t let this transformation process pass you by. The future is in your hands; use it wisely. The next country that will be reckoned with in the world is going to be Nigeria”.

In a sense, Jonathan’s Bring Back The Book campaign campus launch would seem to have come at the right time: it would enable the President’s right hand man Douglas to get firsthand information on the state of things on university campuses although no student was given a chance to respond on behalf of the students on the true state of things. This was an anomaly that should be addressed in their next stop so the students could directly address Mr. President about the challenges they face on campus and how they could be resolved for effective learning to take place.

Mudi Yahaya shows The Ruptured Landscape at CCA

Artist Mudi Yahaya will Friday, April 8, officially unveil his recent works in a solo exhibition titled: The Ruptured Landscape: On the Construction of Difference, at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Yaba, Lagos.

Yahaya’s solo exhibition will present several new bodies of work that explore interpretations of African hybrid identities and their varied visual dialects, currencies and vocabularies.

It also explores the aesthetic imagery that connects postcolonial African identities in spaces mediated by still photography and cinema linked with violence, intolerance, gender and race matters. The body of work interjects with semiotic symbolisms that gesture to religious iconography, indigenous cultural signifiers and socio-cultural manipulation.

Mudi Yahaya is a cultural activist whose photography has evolved from social documentary essays to critical conceptual photography. Mallam Mudi, works largely on long term, self-assigned projects, that focus on the aesthetic relationship between images and post- colonial deconstruction of the African identity in syncretic African spaces.

Educated as an electrical engineer, Mallam Mudi, began his photography career in 1995 at Dexter Lucian Studios. His work has been featured in several publications such as the book Lagos: A City At Work, 2005 as well as the London Times.

He recently exhibited in A Perspective of Contemporary Nigerian Photography (2009) and Reconstruction In Reverse (2010) both at the Omenka Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The Ruptured Landscape: On The Constructions Of Difference is collaboration between Mudi Yahaya Studios and CCA, Lagos.

The exhibition, organised by CCA, Lagos Project Co-ordinator/Artist, Jude Anogwih, ends on Saturday, April 23.

13 authors jostle for Man Booker International 2011 Prize

Thirteen writers have made it on to the judges’ list of finalists under serious consideration for the fourth Man Booker International Prize, the £60,000 (N15million) award which recognises one writer for his or her achievement in fiction.

However, less than two days after the list was announced one of the writers, John le Carré requested for his name to be removed from the shortlist on the grounds that he does not compete for literary awards.

The Man Booker International 2011authors come from eight countries, five are published in translation and there are four women on the list. One writer has previously won the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction and two have been shortlisted. Famously, another, John le Carré, asked that his books should not be submitted for the annual prize to give less established authors the opportunity to win.

The Finalists’ List is announced by the chair of judges, Rick Gekoski, at a press conference held at the University of Sydney, Wednesday, March 30.

The thirteen authors on the list include:  Wang Anyi (China), Juan Goytisolo (Spain), James Kelman (UK), John le Carré (UK), Amin Maalouf (Lebanon), David Malouf (Australia), Dacia Maraini (Italy), Rohinton Mistry (India/Canada), Philip Pullman (UK), Marilynne Robinson (USA), Philip Roth (USA), Su Tong (China), and Anne Tyler (USA).

The judging panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2011 consists of writer, academic and rare-book dealer Dr. Rick Gekoski (Chair), publisher, writer and critic Carmen Callil, and award-winning novelist Justin Cartwright.

Announcing the list, Rick Gekoski said: ‘The 2011 List of Finalists honours thirteen great writers from around the world. It is, we think, diverse, fresh and thought-provoking, and serves to remind us anew of the importance of fiction in defining both ourselves and the world in which we live. Each of these writers is a delight, and any of them would make a worthy winner.’

The Man Booker International Prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel; there are no submissions from publishers.  Alice Munro won in 2009, Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe in 2007 and Ismail Kadaré the inaugural prize in 2005.  In addition, there is a separate award for translation and, if applicable, the winner may choose a translator of his or her work into English to receive a prize of £15,000.

The Man Booker International Prize winner will be announced at the Sydney Writers’ Festival on 18 May and the winner will be celebrated at an awards ceremony in London June 28.

Meanwhile, coming on the heels of the announcement of the thirteen finalists of the Man Booker International Prize 2011, literary agents, Curtis Brown, have issued the following statement on behalf of John le Carré:

“I am enormously flattered to be named as a finalist of 2011 Man Booker International Prize.  However I do not compete for literary prizes and have therefore asked for my name to be withdrawn.”

Rick Gekoski, Chair of the Man Booker International Prize 2011 judges comments in response: “John le Carré’s name will, of course, remain on the list. We are disappointed that he wants to withdraw from further consideration because we are great admirers of his work.”

Without properly handling piracy, I fear we have a long way to go — Jonathan

The venue was the auspicious New Expo Hall of the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos and the occasion was as novel as it was interactive.

It was novel in that it was perhaps the first time Nigerian artistes, other than those who branched out into the political clime, had come close to the seat of power; the very first time the sector’s practitioners were gifted the power to reshape their battered industry.

These are indeed the best of times for the arts sector as since the past four months or thereabout, it appears the present administration has developed a rather soft spot for the culture industry beyond the mere lip service and dress rehearsals that its practitioners have become accustomed to.

First it was the surprise $200 million intervention for the art and entertainment facilitated by the administration, followed by the book reading promotion initiative by President  Goodluck Jonathan, then the various stakeholders conferences, and now the all stakeholders parley with the President aimed at evolving a framework for the industry’s growth.

To therefore submit that the artistes seized the august opportunity presented by the Eko Hotels parley with both hands would have ventured the obvious because that chance hugged by all who mounted the rostrum to address President Jonathan on the peculiar challenges faced by their genre.

It was so interactive that even footballers were not left out of the clamour to air their grievances to which spokesman Austin Eguavoen did justice to after the President noted that football too involved some level of creative and was in his words ‘also an art’.

Before now practitioners in the creative sector in Nigeria have been slammed with the talkers’ tag, that had sadly become their lot by virtue of the fact that neither the government at all tiers nor the corporate sector have reckoned with them or their opinions in policy formulations or implementations even in matters concerning their own development and welfare.

For a sector believed to employ the biggest workforce outside of the public service as well as having placed the country on the global map of recognition, the arts in Nigeria has suffered systematic neglect or would be appropriately termed serial abandonment perpetrated by successive regimes in the country.

It was joked around in the sector that ministers that were not considered suited for any portfolio were drafted to the culture sector to while away the time and those considered good enough were still drafted to the culture ministry only temporarily to learn the ropes.

It is against this backdrop of previous happenings in the art industry that the Monday, March 21 gathering of stakeholders in the various genres of the art in Nigeria is highly commendable.

For as some artistes commented, it is an Obama-like occurrence that has only happened once in a lifetime of most if not all the artistes present that a Head of State of Nigeria is in the midst of artistes not to be entertained but to hear their problems and challenges.

“(Sic)This na the first time in my life wey I see a President siddon with artistes for the same house, na wao,” remarked Comrade Victor Asaolu, of the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTAP).

The Monday event tagged: An interactive evening with President Goodluck Jonathan, was intended as a platform for  the practitioners in the various genres of art through their umbrella bodies to present papers highlighting peculiar challenges faced by either their own genres or the arts in general which would be collated to form or articulate government’s policies as it affects the industry.

And President Jonathan may well have been overwhelmed by as much the level vexation conveyed by the speaker after speaker as the multifarious problems enumerated by the practitioners; some he probably assumed did not exist  going by the feedbacks his ministers and parastatals‘ heads brought back to him.

Indeed, it could aptly have been described as a no-holds barred meeting with the number one citizen of the country by the supposedly and previously assumed lowliest of sectors. And, the artistes did not mince words in presenting their own side of a story that had been wrongly told by appointed government officials.

As much as every umbrella body in the art and entertainment industry was fully represented in the hall, spokespersons were the very top notch in the industry, thus, there may not be any case of under-representation or suppression of opinion, just as it was also observed that Jonathan did take down notes during every presentation by the speakers.

Mr. Bond Emeruwa director of the Nigerian Guild of Directors, representing the film industry in opening the floor cited the case of the non passage of the Revised Nigerian Film Policy which according to him if implemented was meant to address some lapses in the film industry and also the need for a Nigerian Film Village, just as Busola Holloway of the Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN) lamented the rate at which indigenous production firms were daily losing jobs to their foreign counterparts in the country urging the President to intervene and correct the anomaly as Nigerians in turn were losing their jobs.

“Even adverts and commercials about local products are given to foreign when we have the capacity to do an even better jobs. Nigerians are losing their jobs on a daily basis to these foreign firms and it is not acceptable. If they say we are not good enough to produce their commercials then they may as well take it somewhere to air instead on our own television,” the industry’s spokesman submitted.

On their part,  the motion picture producers stressed the need to channel the intervention into supporting infrastructure already on ground with the practitioners rather than wholly funding films production, while the National Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners  (NANTAP) through its president Mr. Greg Odutayo chose to revisit the moribund Endowment Fund for the Arts and the controversial fate of the National Theatre which dangles between privatization and commercialization to the detriment of theatre arts practitioners.

Talk show host, Ms. Mo Abudu on her part and to the wild cheers of the audience urged the President to look into the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) as the parastatal ‘may have lost focus from the original ideals setting it up.

“Mr President we want you to look at the NTA. Because all it does is sell airtime. It does not buy programmes or encourage the production of programmes by independent  producers. Do something with the NTA  to make it work,” said Abudu.

The Society for Nigerian Artists, the umbrella body of visual artists in the country asked the President for a befitting national gallery that can hold the works of great Nigerian contemporary artists, while also urging Jonathan to appoint artists into positions of authority to properly develop the sector, such as preventing the exploitation of artists at the national Theatre with high rents which he posited was supposed to be an infrastructure of the artists.

For the literary genre, the clamour was for the completion of the much hyped writers’ village, which the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) national vice chairman, Mr. Sunday Ododo, maintained would position Nigeria as the literary capital of Africa.

African Movie Academy Awards initiator Peace Anyiam Osigwe wondered before the president why a film producer is charged exorbitant fees to shoot before landmark sites in the country, as she believes the films made with the shots tended to promote the country in the long run, while also asking the President to compel the corporate sector to buy into the Brand Nigeria theme by endorsing products from the country’s indigenous firms, which according to her they had been shirking away from.

The Coalition of Relevant Arts (CORA) highlighted its demands as the need for a book commission, clarification of the true beneficiaries of the intervention fund, making budgetary allocations based on the economic relevance and revenue generation by sectors which would see, according to spokesman, Mr. Ben Tomoloju, the culture getting ,more in terms of its high turnover.

However, in all the submissions, the issue of piracy as it affected intellectual property rights topped the evening’s presentations as most sectors blamed the anomaly for the impoverishment of the industry’s practitioners, with some speakers like comedian Ali Baba, calling prison terms for culprits.

Ali Baba was not alone in that school of thought as the Tony Okoroji, Stephanie Okereke, Emmanuel Isikaku, Zeb Ejiro, and Victor Asaolu, believed checking piracy would go a long way in ameliorating the lot of the Nigerian artist beyond any other demand being made on the evening.

And as if re-echoing the mindset of the audience, President Jonathan, responding, said the issue of piracy from what he saw appeared to have even overwhelmed the relevant agencies of government tasked with the responsibility of regulating it.

According to him, there may be need to create more agencies and parastatals to address some of the these challenges.

“We have alot to gain if government can support the sector. Sometimes we don’t take it seriously but every president needs to take it seriously. Probably I think the government is a bit too far from you people who are in the industry.

‘As  I am talking to you now I think government needs to be closer to you. I wonder who do you even talk to; is it the Information ministry, education ministry, culture and tourism ministry, which one? I totally agree with you that without handling the issue of piracy we have a long way to go. I’m not saying we should kill pirates, I believe we need to strengthen the law and set up a special body that can handle it,” the President stressed.

Adaji gets confirmation as National Troupe’s Artistic Director

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has formally appointed Mr. Martin Adaji as Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Troupe of Nigeria. Adaji has held the office but in an acting capacity for a year since the voluntary retirement of Prof Ahmed Yerima, the immediate past Artistic Director.

The National Troupe of Nigeria is a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation,  established by decree 47 of 1991, the same decree that established the National Theatre.

The appointment which was conveyed in a letter dated March 16, 2011 and signed by Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, is with effect from March 8, 2011. The appointment is for an initial period of four (4) years and thereafter for another three years subject to satisfactory performance.

Adaji will by this appointment formally succeed the former Artistic Director Professor Ahmed Yerima who voluntary left service in January 2010. Adaji has since then been holding forth in acting capacity.

Born in Ikanekpo, in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State October 21, 1954, Mr. Martin Ikani Adaji was until recently, the Acting Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Troupe of Nigeria.

Adaji, a play creation major of the University of Jos, Plateau State,. (M.A Theatre Arts) and a graduate of Theatre Arts of the University of Ibadan (B.A Theatre Arts), succeeds Professor Ahmed Yerima, who withdrew his services in January 2010.

An old boy of St. Charles College Ankpa, Mr. Adaji was appointed into the Federal Service as Assistant Director in Charge of Drama in 1991 from his position as Chief Cultural Officer with the Benue State Arts Council. Prior to his enlistment into the Federal Civil Service Mr. Adaji held several top management positions in the Benue State government including serving as Acting Head of the Department of Performing Arts of the Benue State Arts Council and Research cum Documentation Officer of the Benue State Council for Arts and Culture.

Adaji who has written and directed a number of plays including Ojomolami, Facts of Life, Ogani—a historical docu-drama of a major festival in Igalaland in Kogi State of Nigeria and The Way Forward, a play written for the World Decade for Cultural Development (WCDC) proposing the way out of our national dilemma; was elevated Deputy Artistic Director in 2001 and in 2008, following the merger of the National Theatre/National Troupe, he was re-designated Deputy Director in charge of Research, Documentation and Information Services of the then merged parastatal.

Upon the de-merger in August 2009, Adaji who is a member of so many professional organizations including the International Theatre Institute (ITI) and the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) was re-designated Deputy Director in charge of Administration and Finance of the National Troupe of Nigeria.

The maiden Coordinator of the National Troupe’s Children Theatre and the National Troupe of Nigeria Play Reading Session (PLS) for several seasons, Mr. Adaji who as Assistant Director in charge of drama of the National Troupe supervised the execution of a number of stage plays including Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine and Professor Dapo Adelugba’s adaptation of Moliere’s Les Fourberies de Scapin —That Scoundrel Suberu is married to Susan Memuna Adaji and their marriage is blessed with children.

His hobbies include Playwriting, reading plays, swimming and teaching French language which he speaks eloquently, to friends.

His vision as Artistic Director of the National Troupe run a travelling troupe that will promote the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria in dance, music and drama; facilitate national unity and integration, a troupe that will serve as a foreign revenue earner for the country and a troupe that will provide a platform for the practitioners especially the up-coming ones to showcase and exhibit their talents and potentials.

Nigerian writers plan international colloquium for Saro-Wiwa

ken saro-wiwa

Umbrella body of Nigerian writers and authors, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), has announced plans to celebrate its past National President, late Ken Saro-Wiwa in an International Colloquium scheduled for August, this year..

The late Saro-Wiwa, a poet,  environmentalist and human rights activist,  hanged on the orders of late military ruler General Sani Abacha, was also a former chairman of the association’s Rivers state chapter.

According to a release made available to M2A by the national publicity secretary of the writers’ body, Mr. Hyacinth Obunseh, who also doubles as Chairman, Organizing Committee, the move to celebrate Saro-Wiwa is  in line with its tradition of celebrating Nigeria’s literary icons.

“The ANA announces for the benefit of writers, academics, critics and friends of literature at home and in the Diaspora, that it will be celebrating this year, its past chairman of Rivers State Branch, National President, Environmental and Human Rights Activist, Ken Saro Wiwa,” said Obunseh.

According to the writers’ group, it is therefore putting together a five-day programme of activities which includes an international colloquium on the theme:  Ken Saro Wiwa: Literature and the National Question.

The yet-to-be-announced keynote speaker, the body promised, ‘will be a foremost scholar and specialist on Ken Saro Wiwa’s writings and life.’

The colloquium which is billed to hold at the University of Port Harcourt from Wednesday, 10   to  Sunday, 14 of August, will also feature plenary sessions (where scholars will present papers that will form the body of a book that will be published to commemorate the event), a competition on adaptations of his works of poetry and prose to stage, staging of the winning entry, exhibition of his manuscripts, his books, rare documents in his possession and books by other writers.

“There will   also be a visit  to  Ogoni Land,  where  a  ‘Literary Party will be held in his honour. The focus of the colloquium will be to interrogate what his contributions to African literature, in life and beyond,” the association stated.

Meanwhile, ANA has called on playwrights to submit entries of their choice of works expected to be adapted to the works of the late poet Saro-Wiwa.

“Playwrights are hereby invited to adapt any of the works of Ken Saro-Wiwa (apart from his plays) for stage.

The best adaptation of his works will win a cash prize of N150, 000, while the second and third will win cash prizes of N100, 000 and N50, 000 respectively,” the writers said.