Nigeria @ 54: A periscope of milestones recorded in arts sector in one year

ADA DIKE

 

From left Omotola , Koko Kalango and Joke Silva, awardees at the National Award Sept 29, 2014

From left Omotola , Koko Kalango and Joke Silva, awardees at the National Award Sept 29, 2014

Last Wednesday, October 1, 2014 Nigeria celebrated her 54th anniversary as an independent nation. Normally, stakeholders in every sector of the economy in one way or the other roll out their drums in celebration because Nigeria has come a long way.

In arts domain, there is every cause for its stakeholders to celebrate because there has been tremendous achievement recorded in the sector within one year.

In fact, arts sector has become a place where Nigeria is recording positive image and where many young Nigerians have created employment opportunities for themselves and others.

For instance, for the first time in the history of Africa, a state in Nigeria, Port Harcourt in Rivers State became the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Book Capital in 2014 and the official handover ceremony took place on the UN World Book and Copyright Day -Wednesday, April 23, 2014.

At the event, the former holders, Bangkok officially handed over the World Book Capital title to Port Harcourt at the event chaired by former President of the Republic of Nigeria, Gen. (Dr.) A. A. Abubakar (retd), GCFR, while Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka delivered the keynote address.

Meanwhile, through a campaign tagged “Celebrities Read” aimed at using popular role models to inspire children to develop a reading culture, many Nollywood actors and actresses read to school children in Port Harcourt. Some of the actors among others included: veteran Olu Jacobs, Patience Ozokwor and Chinedu Ikedieze popularly known as Aki.

Also, Some of Nigerian’s finest artistes such as MI, Timi Dakolo, Burna Boy and Waje, performed the World Book Capital 2014 theme song at the World Book Capital handover ceremony in Port Harcourt .

The song which was produced by the Chocolate City Music label is derived from the World Book Capital 2014 theme: “Books, Windows to our world of possibilities”. The artistes also read to school children.

After the handover, there have been series of events that aimed to spur both young and adult Nigerians to cultivate the habit of reading, such as an international literature and culture exhibition, book of the month, readings with authors, drama performances, video of the month and panel discussions, among others.

As part of its Library Support programmes, the UNESCO Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014 recently called on well-meaning citizens to donate new or fairly used books still in good condition for distribution to indigent communities within Port Harcourt.

Eight Nigerians made Africa39 authors’ list

Still in the literary art section, eight Nigerians namely: Chimamanda Adichie, Tope Folarin, Chika Unigwe, Lola Shoneyin, Chibundu Onuzo, Ukamaka Olisakwe, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Rotimi Babatunde were selected as part Africa39 authors.

Africa39 authors are internationally acclaimed writers below 40 years of age who have won awards that distinguished them from others.

We gathered that Africa39 will bring to worldwide attention the best work from Africa south of the Sahara and its diaspora. “The selected writers will be invited to the Port Harcourt Book Fair this month as part of the celebrations of UNESCO’s World Book Capital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where the book will be launched.

Society of Nigerian Artists celebrated 50th anniversary

From July 7, 2014, members of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) rolled out drums and celebrated the society’s 50th anniversary. The event began with Exhibition Preview followed by opening of the exhibition which began on July 8, 2014 and ended on August2, 2014 at Omenka Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos.

With the theme: “The Role of Art in National Development,” SNA’s third convention featured a two-day conference that took place on July 7, and 8, 2014, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos.

The SNA stakeholders at the convention, evaluated Nigeria’s 100 years of existence through the performance of the visual art sector and the engine of technological growth of any nation. Also, they explored the role of the arts in causing desirable changes in a society while enabling practitioners compared favourably with their colleagues in other sectors of the economy.

In his remarks, the President of the Society of Nigerian Artists, Mr. Oliver Enwonwu, said the 50^th Anniversary of the Society of Nigerian Artists coincides with an important period in the global appreciation of modern and contemporary African art.

These global shifts, according to him, have been marked with increasing prices for art works from the continent on the domestic and international art markets, the inclusion of African artists at seminal exhibitions and art fairs and most importantly the inclusion of African art and artists in contemporary discourse.

He shared the history of SNA and revealed that: “In 1964, our founding fathers’ objective was to create a new visual language that merged indigenous traditions with Western techniques. 50 years on, you will agree with us that the events marking this special occasion underscore the SNA’s role in determining the direction and development of Nigeria art, while highlighting art’s contribution to shaping society.”

Enwonwu however, highlighted myriads of challenges facing SNA:  “In Nigeria, there still remains poor government funding for the visual arts including numerous endowment funds that are given lip service, a problematic and outdated art curriculum, the absence of a befitting National Gallery of Art to house our rich cultural  heritage, the non-deployment of works by Nigerian artists as embellishment for public building, and not to mention, the absurdity of a white paper that merges the National Gallery of Art with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments!”

National Merit Awards 2014

Founder of the Rainbow Foundation and Programme Director of the UNESCO Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014 project, Mrs. Odo Claire ‘Koko’ Kalango, ace movie producer Kenneth Nnebue, who is famed for his 1992 movie, Living in Bondage, popular actresses, Joke Jacobs and Omotola Jajalde Ekeinde and Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, the 77-year-old designer of the national flag, were on September 29, 2014 awarded  the prestigious national honours by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.

Though Nnebue was absent at the ceremony, he, Ekeinde and Silva were honoured with the Member of the Federal Republic (MFR), Kalango was awarded the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), while Pa Akinkunmi was honoured with Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic and placed on a salary scale of Special Assistant to the President for life.

Entertainment Industry

Movies producers have increasingly churned out many films this year including October 1, A Place in the Stars, Half of A Yellow Sun, Mr. and Mrs. Ukwa and many comedy movies that featured popular actors such as: Mercy Johnson, Ini Edo, Chika Ike, Nkem Owoh, Patience Ozokwor, Chika Ike, Michael Godson, Funke Akindele, John Okafor and many others.

In terms of music, many Nigerian artistes have been invited in many parts of the world to perform and also collaborate with foreign acts. Some of them have won many international awards in different categories. For example, after winning the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards, Davido also won the coveted Best International Act (Africa) award at the BET awards 2014, which held in the United States.

Also, D’banj was crowned the Best Selling African Artiste at the World Music Awards 2014 held in Monaco, France on Tuesday, May 27, 2014.

Many of them have released albums this year and they are: P’Square’s Double Trouble, 2Face’s Acension and Dammy Kranes’ Enterkraner, among others.

Dorobucci, a track produced by the Mavin Group is a song almost every Nigerian is singing which critics queries its meaning.

With the achievements recorded within one year, art professionals, enthusiasts, writers, analysts and critics expect more successful outing in the coming years.