Tuesday 31 January 2012

Ghariokwu Lemi, dreaming of a new Lagos: the Paradigm Shift


(First published in November 2008)
For those who are so passionate about Lagos, every effort is needed to support the ongoing redevelopment by the state government. TAJUDEEN SOWOLE meets one of the state's enthusiasts, painter, Ghariokwu Lemi, who spoke on using art to transform Lagos.
  LIKE a river which gets its source from waterfall, the satire artist and music sleeve designer, Lemi gives Lagos the credit for making him discover his art.    

  Most artists give such accolades to Lagos, anyway. So, what’s new? In Lemi's situation, the fact is that his specialised area of art, over the decades, has contributed in no little measure to the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s image. Also, his art, generally plays around the city.
From Ghariokwu Lemi's Lagos: the Paradigm Shift

  What is however new about Lemi is that he thinks Lagos has given so much to his art such that it’s time for payback.
  "I was born and bred in Lagos, and now passionate about contributing to the redevelopment of this city, using art because art represents Lagos."
  On November 22, at the Harmattan Workshop Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos, Lemi, with the support of Lagos State Government opens an art and design exhibition titled Lagos: the Paradigm Shift. The exhibition, he says, closes with a command performance at the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre, Onikan and expected to have the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola present. This show, the artist explains, is aimed at adding art contents to the on-going beautification exercise and megacity projection of the government: the overhauling of the transportation system as in the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) example as well as dream for Eko Atlantic project, among others.
  Infrastructure, Lemi argues, has deteriorated so bad in Lagos that efforts to return the city to its glorious days of the 60s and 70s should be the concern of the government alone.
   He recalls: "Lagos as I used to know it in the 70s was a city we were proud of. these included the days of New Lagos, Obele Odan in Surulere for example. There used to be decency. For example, we had Love Garden where you could take a walk anytime of the day; Lagos, when there used to be traffic-light for pedestrian crossing-you just press a switch, the light is on and vehicles stop for you. I feel sadden when I hear people say that Ghana retains some of these social values while that of Lagos have disappeared. I remember that there were some similarities between Lagos and Accra each time I traveled to Ghana with Fela in 1976."
   Having had a very strong relationship with Fela for about 20 years before the death of the maverick musician, music has always been part of Lemi's life. He has an album to show for it.
  However, Lemi’s idea of using art to sell Lagos remains within the scope of visual arts. Lagos, he stresses, has given so much to art, not just his art, but other artists’ too, performing or visual arts. He argues that artists have had enough, criticising the leaders. "It’s time for constructive contribution from the art for social re-engineering."      He recalls his recent visit to a show held about the role of art in restoring the value and development of France of the 1960s. The exhibition, Parisian Art, Lemi notes, further motivated him to use art as a tool in contributing to his environment.
  Lemi is arguably one of the most prominent Nigerian artists to have featured in major exhibitions in U.S and the U.K., in the last few years. He probably didn’t realise how strong was the link between his art and Lagos until he traveled abroad. Even though his debut show at the French Cultural Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos, in 2001, was titled Lagos State, the term, ironically has stuck to the artist’s image, courtesy of his foreign admirers. 
  That was the  stimulant that added to his love for Lagos. "Most publications abroad refer to my art as ‘Lagos art.’ This encouraged me to keep my focus on Lagos. There is something about a city, an artist, and his art. For example, you can’t separate Lagos from Fela’s music because he sang so much about Lagos. Remember the track in one of his albums, ‘Eko Ile’, when Fela sang that there is no place like Lagos, irrespective of one’s sojourn abroad. The same goes to Bob Marley whose image is closely linked with Kingston and Jamaica. You can imagine the volume of traffic – in tourism – which Marley’s image brings to Jamaica, every year.  What this means is that art is a very strong factor in attracting tourism. Two factors are crucial here: human or monuments of
iconic representation."
Design piece 'Enterprise', by Lemi

  Projecting that his art could serve as a support in re branding Lagos, one of the works meant for the exhibition is a futuristic kind that suggests a New York-look-alike concept for Lagos, within  the context of monuments as factor in tourism.
  Another one also has the potential to promote Lagos colour of red, blue, yellow and green.
  Although a self-appointed crusader for the proposed art-for-Lagos project, it is not surprising that a project of this nature is coming from Lemi, given the fact that he is a slippery artist – quite a number of styles and techniques rolled in one artist.
  "This show offers me an opportunity to show different types of my art as a free stylist."
  The involvement of Lagos State in this show, he discloses, does not go beyond the fact he needs a platform to contribute to the development of the state.
 
  "I am apolitical, but recognise good intention of any government. I don’t care who the governor is or which party he belongs to, so long there is prospect in the air, I give my support. More importantly at my age, I need to contribute my quota as fast as possible because time is short. Gradually I am losing all my friends;  shortly after Sunny Okosuns died, I lost Oliver de Coque. I was waiting here in the studio for Oliver, but he didn’t come on that day. The next day, I got the information that he died on the day I was waiting for him."
  Quietly, Lemi has been using his art to promote the nation abroad, subconsciously.
  The world's leading publisher of books on visual arts, Phaidon Press, based in the U.K with branches in five cities in Europe, New York and Tokyo, listed Lemi in its last edition of a publication, Area 2. The book is a compendium of the world’s 100 graphic designers, 10 curators and 10 design classics. 
 
   The selection of artist, according to the publishers, was done through a process that had 10 of the world’s foremost designers and critics, each, selected 10 most influential contemporary designers. In the book, four pages is given to each artist.
  Text in the preface states the mission of the document: "It pays a  little attention to politics and genre, traditional Dutch design runs shoulder with emerging movement from Japan and Nigeria."
 Also one of the world’s leading T-shirt designers, Stussy, recently commissioned Lemi to design a visual for the brand’s 25th Anniversary.
  Shortly after the much-talked about post-Fela art exhibition titled Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, held at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, in New York, another top brand, Puma had the artist to design a piece for an event.
  Lemi was recently awarded the prestigious honour of the membership of Museum of Modern Art (MOA), New York. "I have just been given a dual membership of MOA Life." Perhaps the only Nigerian to have been so honoured, he enthuses that his work which is part of the collection of the museum also has a Nigerian identity.    As part of his conscious effort of Africanism, he deliberately titled the work, Anoda Sisitem. I could  have called it Another System, but I preferred the Yoruba flavour. The work, he adds, was earlier in the private collection of a U.S.-based art collector, Judith Roschild Foundation, who donated it to the MOA.
  On icons as crucial factor in tourism, the artist believes that Fela is one icon whose potential is yet to be utilised.

'Vision', Lemi's painting impression of a working Gov of Lagos State Babatunde Raji Fashola

   Lemi’s thoughts on the legendary Fela: "Fela remains alive in emerging non-racial Afrobeat band in the U.S. called Antibalas; Fela, Off Broadway, which showed for over two months in New York was a major event; he is a subject of research in music in Europe and the U.S. All these show that this is one brand that is yet be recognised at home.
   "Fela as a brand name could help the tourism industry in in Nigeria; imagine people coming to Lagos from different parts of the world to see Fela’s tomb at his residence in Ikeja and visit his home town in Abeokuta, Ogun State. It’s possible, all it takes is packaging, promotion."
  No doubt, Lemi is a  very eclectic artist, but his art is so synonymous with Fela’s image that one wonders if there would be anything left in his art without a Fela-related subject. Can we have Lemi’s art without Fela, in the future?
  He responds spontaneously: "Impossible. I am a Pan Africanist, and Fela as my mentor plays an important role in my choice of ideology. Also, Fela is people’s icon, a great man, an institution. There is so much yet to be done on Fela. We are yet to fully make the best use of the potential he left behind in his legacy. For example, Bob Marley has a public holiday in his name observed in Jamaica, well recognised by the government. This is so because Marley left behind a Jamaica made popular all over the world through his music. There is no way I would have my art devoid of Fela subjects in the future. I want Fela’s legacy to
be sustained, not through the revolutionary mindset, but another approach, which I call 'evolutionary'. I always believe in evolution, I am not a revolutionary person."
  With Lagos: A Paradigm Shift, Lemi may just be the artist that would change the face of Lagos as artists do in other parts of the world.





Monday 30 January 2012

American prof revisits museum at 5th Enwonwu Lecture

(First published Tuesday, December 02, 2008)        
 By Tajudeen Sowole
 PRESERVATION and conservation are the two areas visual arts practitioners, and government in particular, must take as priority for  the art of a nation and culture to be relevant in development.
 These two factors were the nucleus of the paper delivered during the 5th Ben Enwonwu Distinguished Lecture, organised by The Ben Enwonwu Foundation and held at the Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos, recently.
  The event also showed that somewhere in Lagos, art treasures of the nation's pioneer artist, late Aina Onabolu were on the verge of destruction.
  By Prof. Freida High of the University of Wisconsin, U.S.A, the lecture is based on the theme of the event, Positioning Arts and Culture for Sustainable Influence in Nigeria. The paper, which focused on the museum as a major outlet for arts and culture advised, among other subjects, that museums would truly serve their purposes if the International Council of Museums (ICOM)'s codes and recommendations are adhered to.
  With the aid of slides, High showed her audience what it takes to protect works of art in a museum. From oil paintings, antiquities, pastels – carefully protected in glass – to more fragile and huge works of canvas kept in rolls, she explained that protecting valuable works of art is as important as the mastery of creating these works.
 On culture, using the museum to educate children, she explained, is part of the functions of a museum, hence the need for specialised  museums. Again the slides provided information, using the example of teaching children the culture of milking cow in the U.S. Specialised museums of this kind, High advised, could be established within the regular museums.
  At the end of High's presentation, it was obvious that tons of works in Nigeria's national museums and galleries need to be urgently rescued from decades of neglect. Lamentation in this regard was expressed by the chairman of the occasion and former Secretary of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, CFR, who called the attention of the gathering to the good old days of Nigerian art. He recalled an event which took place, over two decades ago.
  According to Anyaoku, about 25 years ago, under the leadership of former director of the National Museum, Ekpo Eyo, there was an international tour art exhibition titled 2000 Years of Nigerian Art, held in London and Nigeria. He said the show was described by the British press "as a side of Africa that was unknown in Europe."
  Today, Anyaoku appeared to be apprehensive about the preservation of those works and other museum objects as his recent experience of Nigerian museum led him to describe the state of things as a "national disgrace." He however urged the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation to do everything possible to rescue the situation, adding that, "art and culture are important parts of every nation."

Agbogbho Mmuo, one of the masquerade paintings of Ben Enwonwu

  Not too long ago, through Anyaoku's intervention, the Federal Government, during the administration of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, set up a committee, under the leadership of Eyo to rehabilitate the national museum. But at the point of funding, of which about N700 million was declared to have been approved by the presidency, the exercise ran into a hitch.
  Revisiting what led to that committee, Anyaoku recalled how he ran into the decaying state of the national museum in company of his foreign visitors, three years ago.
 He explained: "Three years ago, I had visitors from Canada, and I thought it would be right to take them to the Nigerian Museum. I took them there and what I saw was a shock to me. It was in my view, a national disgrace. When I got home, I called the President, and he reacted immediately by setting up a committee. He called Ekpo Eyo to head the committee saddled with the responsibility of rehabilitating Nigerian museum. That committee produced a report, which before the end of the tenure, gave a budget for the rehabilitation of the museum."
 That was three years ago. But Anyaoku however informed the gathering that he had met with the Honourable Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Adetokunbo Kayode. The minister, he disclosed, assured him that President Yar'Adua was interested in seeing that the state of the museums improves.
  Speaking through Joop Berkout, his representative, the special guest of honour of the event and former Head of State, Ernest Shonekan noted that artists live much longer after their demise on earth and therefore charged the BEF on using the image of Enwonwu to stimulate more interest in art.
  He stated: "Artists don't die because art speaks volume. Culture indicates the totality of a people, so we must appreciate our culture and preserve it. The real challenge of BEF is to regenerate the interest of young people in art."
  If the observation of Shonekan that artists don't die would become a reality in this part of the world, an urgent rescue-mission is required to save the works of Onabolu from destruction. The anchorman of the event and a leading art gallery operator, Olasehinde Odimayo used the occasion to inform the art community about the state of Onabolu's works. He disclosed that during his visit to the residence of the artist in Ebute Meta, Lagos, he was shocked to see the state of his works. Such works, he argued, should be preserved in better condition.
  Few days before the lecture, a photo exhibition of black and white works on the life and times of Enwonwu opened at The Art Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos, on November 21, 2008.
  On the legacy of the artist, BEF stated: "Enwonwu's pioneering role essentially defined the modes and structures of modernist art practice in Nigeria and he is rightly regarded as a major personality in the history of modern African art."
  For High, a painter and an art historian, her antecedence on African art must have convinced the organisers to choose her as the lecturer of the event. Her recent work, The High Report: The National Gallery of Art, Nigeria, A General Condition Assessment, funded by the Ford Foundation of West Africa, was published in 2007. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Illinois University and holds a Masters in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Doctorate from the University of Chicago.
  Ben Enwonwu was born in Onitsha, Nigeria, in 1918. His earliest training as a sculptor was with his father. He studied under Kenneth Murray at the Government College, Umuahia. With a scholarship from Shell Company of West Africa, Enwonwu traveled to England. He studied at Goldsmith College, London 1944 Ruskin College, Oxford 1944-46 Slade School of Fine Art, London 1946-48.
  Upon his return to Nigeria in 1948, he was appointed the first Nigerian art adviser to the colonial government. He was appointed Professor of Fine Arts, University of Ife 1971-76.
  Although he died in 1994, his significance to the discourse of contemporary African art continues to increase as time passes.

Enter IDAN, association for interior decor artists

By Tajudeen Sowole
(First published Tuesday, December 09, 2008)       
VISUAL artists, architects and others who have found love in interior decoration sub-section of art and design, may heave a sigh of relief as an umbrella for professionals of that breed makes its entry.
 On Thursday, December 4, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, some professionals in the field of interior decoration came together to launch what they called, Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN). The new group, they said, came as a result of the need to regulate the practice of interior decoration in the country.
  Under the theme, Focus On Interior Design, 2008, the event also included what could be described as Nigeria's first interior design and decoration magazine, Essential Interiors.
  The group must have been attracting attention and getting recognition at the international level, even before its take off here. This much was seen as the president of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers, IFI, Mr. Shrikant Nivasarkar was present at the event.
  And before anyone concluded that IDAN could be just another group of people seeking relevance, just for the sake of it, one of the conveners, Titi Ogunfere stated that the basic reason for the formation of the association was to help provide a platform for the "regulation" of design profession in the country.
   She explained earlier before the event: "IDAN was established to promote the value of professional design by providing the appropriate platform for design professionals to lend a collective voice to government and industry initiative. The association also engendered the highest standards of practice through providing professional and educational training and networking for design practitioners."
Representatives of IDAN, Titi Ogunfere (left) and Moni Shonibare during a briefing, in Lagos

  Sandwiched between visual arts and architecture, really, this new association could have crisis on its hand, for example, in recommending standards for non-IDAN members such as visual artists and architects who do interior decoration. Also, codes of practice of each of these other older professional bodies such as Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) and others, which deal with areas of interior design, could bring about conflict of interests.
  Responding to this possible fear of identity crisis, the Chairperson of IDAN, Mrs. Moni Shonibare argued that artists and architects, who feel that there is something to benefit being a member, would rather belong. The bottom line, she explained, "is to gain credibility, which is what every professional would not compromise."
  Ogunfere who is also the Editor of Interior Essential, stressed that before the emergence of IDAN, there was no professionalism in the practice of design, noting that the situation was compounded by lack of regulation and legal frame works to enhance the profession. She also decried lack of interests by higher institutions of learning in the country towards interior design professions.
  To make the profession more attractive, a national network, Ogunfere said, is part of the group's priorities. "IDAN therefore stands to network the designers and decorators in each state of the federation while advocating support for the design community. IDAN also acts as a corporate contact point between the design profession and government to facilitate industry-wide initiatives. It fulfils other functions such as providing an organisational structure for networking of designers, linking Nigerian design professionals with international design organisations. And supporting the mentoring of students and new designers to create a solid foundation for the future strength of the profession"

With opulent collections, OYASAF takes on the world




By Tajudeen Sowole
(First published Tuesday, December 09, 2008)            

  Within the art and culture sector, a project aimed at using visual arts to promote Nigeria's culture at the global front may have taken off in Lagos, during the weekend, courtesy of Omoba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation, OYASAF. 
  On Saturday, December 6, 2008, at its home of contemporary art and antique splendour in Maryland, Lagos, the foundation hosted selected members of the diplomatic community in what it called a Parley with Diplomats. In attendance were delegations of the U.S, Italian Embassies and Ford Foundation.
  According to the founder and Chief Executive Officer of OYASAF, Yemisi Shyllon, an engineer, the event was meant to inform the rest of the world about the preparedness of the foundation to assist the international community in tapping from the huge cultural heritage of Nigeria.
Inside OYASAF Garden, Lagos, Nigeria

  Shyllon explained to the gathering: "We want to use this parley to facilitate the attraction of international scholars seeking to further their discovery of the mysteries and beauty of Nigerian art, with the aim of improving the image of the country in the international arena.
  "We look forward to this parley generating possible contacts for OYASAF to engage in international collaborative exhibitions, seminars, workshops, talk shows, presentations, travel shows, exchange programs and other related visual arts and culture activities with schools, universities, important galleries and museums in your countries."
  The relationship, he added, is expected to have OYASAF included in the diplomats' list of "prime art sites available in Nigeria, which visiting important dignitaries from your countries can patronise and enjoy to savour the hospitality of OYASAF."
  As part of this initiative, three members of OYASAF, he disclosed, would be travelling to six states in the U.S., late January 2009 and continue much later in the year, in Chicago to promote the mission of the foundation and by extension, Nigerian art. And within Africa, the journey to take the nation's art to a higher level, he said, would include the foundation's participation at the next Dak' Art, in Dakar, Senegal, in 2010, for a major exhibition. The parley, he stressed, would also afford the international community to assist OYASAF in the area of preservation of the collections.
  Listening to Shyllon, one wondered what gave him the confidence that OYASAF, truly, has what it takes to embark on such a mission.
  Really, so much has been said about the volume of art pieces; traditional and contemporary African works in the collection of Shyllon, who is a member of International Council of Museums, ICOM. These collections of various mediums and from artists of several generations, runs into several thousands in numerical strength. A tour of OYASAF complex on Saturday revealed such collections of artists like the renowned master surrealist, Abayomi Barber; multi media veterans, David Dale and Isiaka Osunde; leading carver, Lamidi Fakeye; pioneer painter, Aina Onabolu.


Programme Officer, Media, Art and Culture, Ford Foundation, West Africa, Margie Reese (left); Founder of OYASAF, Prince Yemisi Shyllon; U.S Public Diplomacy Officer of the Public Affairs Section, Lagos, Marylou Johnson-Pizarro; Mrs Shyllon and one of the guests



  Others were Ugorji, Shainumi Agbonbiofe; prolific painter, Kolade Oshinowo, sculptor, Adeola Balogun as well as traditional artists like Olowe of Ise. And coming so recent to artists as as young as up-and-coming one like 23 years old Olawunmi Banjo, among others, Shyllon's passion for collection is legendary.
  He must have been awed by the opulence of his own collection and resolved to put in place a structure to manage the resources, hence the setting up, in October last year, OYASAF.
  In August this year, the foundation made its first public display when it showcased "just a fraction" of its collection. The National Museum Gallery venue of the show was filled to the brim of works  from Nigerian artists of all ages, living and departed. Even though that show was linked to another group, of which Shyllon is a foundation member, Visual Art Society of Nigeria (VASON), it provided the art community a peep into his collections. Syllon's collections have been described in some sections of the art community as 'the largest in Africa.'
  "For me, it started as aesthetics; to decorate my walls. Later it became an addiction after traveling abroad and visited many museums. And now it's becoming to make some commercial sense. I didn't set out collecting for the purpose of investment, anyway," he said.
  But art, for him should be seen, first and foremost in terms of the beauty, cultural history behind it. "In 200 years or more people are going to be told how we lived now, what we were wearing, etc. So, the works of artists would tell the coming generations how we lived. That is the whole essence of it: for the humanity."
  From the several thousands of works in OYASAF's collections, a tip of the iceberg adorned the garden of the foundation-cum-residence of the founder in his aesthetic taste. The sculptural works on the lawn seemed to have found better habitation outside the studios of their artists as the serenity and sounds of peacocks, ducks and cranes communed with nature to give more life to the works.
Inside OYASAF Garden, Lagos, Nigeria
   Shyllon must have had enough of collections, isn't it? "It is not possible for a collector to stop collecting; it is a passion. And because the artists too are not static in their skills, you always want to collect more. For example, there are some artists you have been looking forward to collect, and once the opportunity comes, it is difficult to avoid it. I like to have more Onabolu, Akinola Lashekan, Olu Amoda, Ben Enwonwu and Fakeyes. I have these artists in abundance, but want more."
 Potentially, a museum beckons in OYASAF. But the apprehension over continuity in such a private initiative is real. Preventive measure for OYASAF, Shyllon argued, is as real too.
  "OYASAF is thinking ahead to ensure continuity. We have resource persons like Dr Ohioma Pogoson, a Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Oyo State; Nick Robertson, our program manager, who is going to draw up programmes; Dayo Davis, as our business development manager. I know that OYASAF, in future, will be too big for any of my children to manage when my wife and I have gone, that is why we are putting this structure in place which include trustees from my family and people outside."

Saturday 28 January 2012

NGA BILL



Four years on, NGA Bill gathers dust on legislators’ shelf 
By Tajudeen Sowole

The National Gallery of Art (NGA) Bill, which could not move beyond the first public hearing during the sixth National Assembly, is yet to be represented for consideration by the current legislative house. However, it appears that the proposed legislation may be on a tortuous journey to become an Act.


  SPONSORED by the former Federal Director of Culture who was then a member of the House of Representatives, Hon Tunde Akogun, the bill reportedly got to the lower chamber of the National Assembly in 2008. It had its first reading/public hearing on November 16, 2010 and it got stuck as there was no consensus on certain provisions of the draft document between the government officials as represented by the leadership of the NGA and visual arts practitioners.

  But the public hearing yielded certain fruits as the then Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Culture and Tourism, Hon. KGB Oguakwa facilitated the setting up of a committee that was saddled with the responsibility of harmonizing the divergent views that came up during the hearing. For three weeks, the committee had fruitful deliberations and a harmonized document emerged which was presented to the House Committee on Culture on December 21, 2010. Since then, nothing has been heard of the document.

  The Chairman House Committee on Culture and Tourism, Hon Ben Nwankwo disclosed recently that, “ the bill is not yet presented in the 7th Assembly.”

  But the prayer of the leadership of the NGA when the bill returns to the House for deliberation is for it to come as an executive bill.

  Director-General of NGA, Abdullahi Muku alluded to this few days ago saying, “I am already talking to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees,” as well as “discussing with the Hon Minister to present it as an Executive Bill.”

  Given the lack of strong will at which government treat culture-related issues, the warning of the former Chairman of the House Committee on Culture, Hon Kanayo G. B. Oguakwa may come to pass, after all. When stakeholders had an inconclusive section, amid heated debate, at the public hearing in 2010, Oguakwa urged stakeholders to harmonise their differences to avoid a carry-over to the Seventh National Assembly. Sadly, that warning was not adhere to, hence the failure to get the Bill passed into laws.

  Muku noted, “the good intention of NGA with regards to the bill is being misunderstood, but we shall not be discouraged at all.”

  It would be recalled that when the hearing held inside the 028 Conference Hall, House of Representatives (New Building), on November 16, 2010, representatives of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation and Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) made separate presentations. The deliberation on the proposed bill – which ran into sections – showed that the two sides were sharply divided on some vital issues.
Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke

  Such areas of differences debated were functions and powers of NGA, the right of artists to regulate art practice, membership of the board of NGA, embellishment of public building and contents of NGA’s collections.
 The most contentious area was the headship of NGA. The proposed bill, according to sources, had recommended that the D-G of NGA “must be an artist.” However, from the government’s argument, the sub-section of the document on the Staff of the Gallery now recommends that: “The Director General shall be a person with not less than fifteen (15) years experience in professional art practice or culture administration.”

  With this recommendation, the then Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq Muhammed, while presenting government’s position, argued, “we have our harmonisation of the issues and we hope that it is in the interest of all stakeholders.”
  Another contentious point was the request by artists to make regulation of visual arts the business of professional body and not government. The Joint House Committees of Justice and Culture said such request could be granted only if the professional artists’ body is chartered. 

  However, one of the aspects of the Bill, which may boost revenue for artist is the section on art in public buildings. It recommends thus:

“Every Public building and structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be embellished with contemporary visual works of art. Such work of art shall depict the purpose for which the building or structure was built or reasonably relevant thereof. What is relevant in this context shall be determined by the Embellishment Committee established under this Act.”

  Funding such embellishment is also made easy as it’s recommended “Every contractor engaged to build public building or structure shall pay 5 per cent of the gross contract sum to the embellishment Fund established under this Act.”

  The proposed document states further, “Any public building or structure on commencement not complying with the foregoing sections commits an offence which on conviction shall attract one year imprisonment or a fine of 10 per cent of the gross contract sum or both. (g) Non-compliance shall not be complete unless there is: (i) Evidence of embellishment from the National Gallery of Art Act, endorsed by the Chairman of the Embellishment Committee.”

  Basically, the proposed laws aim to “repeal and re-enact the NGA Act, Cap. N41 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and other related matters,”

  In 1993, the NGA was created by Decree No 86, which was later amended in 2004.

JELILI ATIKU ALSO OCCUPIES NIGERIA



Nigerian Fetish… Atiku’s protest against cabalisation of fuel subsidy
 By Tajudeen Sowole
 Sculptor and performance artist, Jelili Atiku, whose work, in the past, engaged the socio-economic challenges of Nigeria, finds a familiar terrain in the ongoing debate and protests over removal of fuel subsidy.

  While the ‘Occupy Nigeria’ protests were on, Atiku also had a performance titled Nigerian Fetish in his Ejigbo local community.

  His thoughts: “As an artist, the only medium which I know to be effective in expressing oneself is art. Therefore on Friday, January 13, 2012, I enacted a performance, titled Nigerian Fetish as a theatrical dimension to debate on the fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria. 

Jelili Atiku during the performance


  “In a carnival-like procession, I walked along with many youths and children who also carried placards in the streets singing.”

  According to him, “Joseph Beuys in his performance titled, Democracy is Merry (1973) projects the essences and aims of democracy, which are liberty,
participation in governance and dialogue. Hence, through democracy, peoples’ happiness is enhanced.  However, as Nigerians joined the confederacies of colossal prevalent uprisings such as Arab nations toppling autocrats through peaceful protests, Americans revolt against
capitalism; the essence of democracy is put to test.
  “The fuel subsidy removal, which was officially announced on January 1, 2012 by Nigerian government, brought out the revolt in us.
  “Majority of us are against the government decision but remains adamant. It appears people have resolved to participate in the execution of the policy.  We are out voicing our decisions, but is government listening?”

Atiku in Nigerian Fetish performance at Ejigbo.

  Atiku made reference to statements made by great philosophers —
Aristotle and Alastair Farrugia.
  “Aristotle said ‘If liberty and equality
are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost’. Similarly, Farrugia declared ‘Freedom is when the people can speak; democracy is when the government listens’. Here in Nigeria, democracy is not Merry!”

 In 2009, Atiku had a performance titled Agbo Rago. He recalled, “I did equate the sympathetic situation of human conditions to Ram In The Market, but since 2011, the situation has suddenly changed. We are talking, we are demanding, we
are protesting the ills in our world. It is revolution now!”

AFRICAN ART RESOURCE CENTRE (AARC) 2011


Olaopa’s art of the grassroots

BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE

Two decades of Oladele Olaopa-initiative in grassroots art promotion tagged Experience Nigeria has been making relative impacts, quietly.
 The convener, Olaopa, like his project is also a silent man behind the strength of promoting art of the grass roots as its beneficiaries set eyes on masterstroke of tomorrow.
In the past few editions, Experience Nigeria, organized under African Art Resource Centre (AARC), has empowered younger artists through art competitions, workshops and exhibitions.
Town Meeting by Lanke Silas
Also, it has added dynamic in expanding art beyond its regular space when, in the last two editions, the event took art to the golf court in Ikoyi Club 1938 where over 40 artists and golfers shared thoughts over an exhibition.
At 20, Olaopa’s Experience Nigeria has added a blend of young and old artists at a forum aimed at using the established artists help in the task of art awareness at the grass root.
For example in one of the works from the last edition, artist such as Lanke Silas’ stylized of faces titled Town Meeting is quite instructive, particularly, at this period of fuel subsidy removal crisis. One observed that, suddenly the abandoned African tradition of village square gathering suddenly surfaced under the tag, “town hall meeting,’ to resolve the oil subsidy removal crisis. This much is adduced from the work. However, the aesthetic value of Town Meeting is more stronger in a rendition that brings out the beauty of modern nativity.
Olaopa recalls that Experience Nigeria was established in 1991 as an annual art show to promote Nigerian art and provide opportunities for emerging artists to exhibit their works.
The event, he says, has grown since then to include-“art show-an art competition, an awards ceremony and a children’s creative camp.”
In fact the 20th anniversary edition, he explains “engage children-5-12year olds- in creative activities including painting, crafts, greeting card designs, jewelry, hair accessories and others.”
Empowering people in the grassroots, from the Experience Nigeria perspective, he says “also consider the underprivileged during our 20th anniversary as some of the children came from the Little Saints Orphanage while others came from various schools around Lagos.”
With four instructors such as Mope Fasanmi, Jane Omodojo, Al-Marouf Olusegun and Oyetoyan Adetoro the workshop, he notes was richer.
Also, about 25 artists from the past exhibitions “representing various years from 1991 -2011 were in the group show.”
For stronger impact on the younger participants, “U.S.-based painter and lecturer at Bowen University, Moyo Ogundipe offered inspirational session.”
The 20th edition was also about sharing works among the participants. “The best of the paintings were framed and given to the ‘artists’ as part of the experience.”
And in remembrance of late Emmanuel Inua, Olaopa states that one of his works was on display.
In its tradition of giving awards to artists and patrons, a recipient for the 20th anniversary edition is the MD of The Tent Event Ltd.-Mr Sholeye Hughes as Sponsor Of The Decade Award “for consistent support over the past decade. He expressed satisfaction at the progress of the show and promised to do even more in future.”
If the event has been so active, why is the seeming quietness on the surface? Olaopa agrees that the past 20 years have been event full, but the challenges, he discloses, is lack of adequate support. “Lack of sponsors cause despair of artists, even though the enthusiasm among the artists has kept us going.”

Saturday 21 January 2012

Adedayo, U.S. returnee says selling African fashion on canvas is a mission


BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE

 (First published October 2008)
Home coming for U.S.-based painter Afolake Adedayo promises to add more colour to the emerging visual arts business in Nigeria.
  A self-taught artist who acquired the skills of the canvas before he left the country, nearly ten years ago, her U.S. experience, she says, is something that strengthened her sense of cultural value.
   She recalls that a solo art exhibition, Fashion Statement Collection at the launch of a U.S.-based HauTe - Fashion Nigeria Magazine International, led to introduce her pet project, which is expected to challenge the western dominance of the fashion world.
   Known in the U.S. for her blend of western with African art forms in past group shows such as Real Party, Real Art "Inspire", Night Of A Thousand Drawings as well as the The Black Madonna, this pedigree was enough to take Adedayo's American collectors and audience alike to a fresh level of art appreciation.
   Before one begins to think that her idea of fashion across the Atlantic with a level playing field is a hard sell, she has a load of fashion thoughts to support her project. 

  "Fashion Statement is used as a metaphor for cultural uniqueness" and "cultural relativism which is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities make sense in terms of his or her own culture."
   The definition of fashion, its superiority and criteria, she argues, cannot be confined within a particular dominating culture.
  Her works, oil pieces on canvas, to a large extent, capture the beauty in African fashion nativity, using cover designs of known and top fashion magazines in the U.S., including the revered Vogue as background to communicate her thoughts.
  These are indeed odd combinations, one wonders. Adedayo, a graduate of Sociology from University of Ilorin, Kwara State, has no apology. "By creating these images in the likeness of the cat
walks, runway poises of Western fashion models, I bring to light my vision for the world."
  Superior culture, in Adedayo’s perspective is too obsolete, perhaps abstractive to have a place in her thoughts. A people’s identity, fashion, and other behavioural patterns must not be subjected to some "superior cultures."
  She asks: "Who defines which fashion and culture is superior or inferior to another? What are the criteria used to define superiority or inferiority, and why?" And superior argument or answer to these questions, she says lies in a people’s boldness to be themselves.
To this extent, she is "elevating the status of my subjects while at the same time challenging the ways in which African culture, particularly fashion, has been documented in crude, backward and always relegated to the background." 

  And now that she is home to contribute to the development of art here, she is taking her time to study the situation. 
  "It’s quite interesting to learn that art is moving forward here. I am still studying the scene here. I am sure I can blend easily because I used to be with the Universal Studios of Art, National Theatre, Lagos before I traveled"
  As ambitious as the Fashion Statements project seems, the artist however appears less radical. Adedayo believes that "art is life and life is art" and says that art is an inherent part of her soul in expressing and communicating feelings, thoughts and ideas.
 Her choice of project at any given time, she says, is determined by certain unique appeal and the specific emotion evoked at that given time.

  That perhaps explains her involvement in the Black Madonna group exhibition, which has been on tour of the U.S. since 2004 and continues till February 2008 at Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, Alabama.
  Before her relocation to the U.S. in 1998, Adedayo had two solo exhibitions, Facial Expressions at the Universal Studios of Art, National Theatre, Iganmu, in 1995 and The Durbar Man, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos.
  In the U.S., while building her career in art, she
studied Visual Communications at The Katherine Gibbs
School.
  Adedayo is an illustrator in book cover and
corporate designs in the U.S.

TEMITAYO OGUNBIYI IN BERLIN


In Berlin, Ogunbiyi’s Am I A Thief? interrogates unlimited access to Internet materials

 By Tajudeen Sowole

 As Internet facility continues to enhance exchange of intellectual content and social networking, the artist, Temitayo Ogunbiyi is worried about the unrestricted access to images as reflected in her debut solo exhibition titled Am I A Thief?

   THE exhibition, Am I A Thief?, which opened on Friday, January 13 at Freies Museum Berlin, Germany, is being put together by TS Art Projects. It runs till January 29, 2012.

  While Temitayo Ogunbiyi has nothing against people exchanging ideas and experiences through the platform of social networks as well as downloading music, films to get inspiration, through the web, however, she is not comfortable with what she termed “outright stealing in the name of surfing the web.”  She asked rhetorically: “Do we steal from each other or do we collaborate?”

  Ogunbiyi, until about one and a-half years ago, was based in New York. Late 2010, she made a debut exhibition, titled Broken Weaves, in Lagos. Since then, she has curated one exhibition and participated in several shows in Nigeria while shuttling between Lagos and New York.


Ogunbiyi's Mama's Cupboard to Uncle's (Fragmented Afro


  In two of the works she sent via the Internet, there appears to be a progression in the artist’s collage and print identity, some of which she has shown in Lagos, earlier. For example, in Regular Braid, Short and Long and Mama's Cupboard to Uncle's (Fragmented Afro), Ogunbiyi’s style and technique, which blur the line across the art disciplines, seem stronger. 

  She explained that the works “began as formal investigations of painting and sculpture,” from which she explores other ways of rendering her concepts, breaking away from the norms.

  This technique is exploited in Regular Braid, Short and Long, as she disclosed that the materials used include “bits of clothing purchased in Brooklyn and a tee-shirt I was given following my college graduation.”

   Ogunbiyi would not stop at bringing her private life into art. Like the Lagos show, in which she added parts of her mother’s wedding gown into a composite, in the Berlin exhibition, she has included “cupboards from my grandmother's house and planks from my uncle's floor in the piece, Mama's Cupboard to Uncle's (Fragmented Afro).” This composite, she explained, “represents moments, places, and people in my life.”  

  From her debut show in Lagos, the artist has sent a signal of conceptual and site specific themes. Am I a Thief?, she insisted, is strengthening this identity. “It’s site specific installation, which will become a temporary artist’s workshop in order to further develop select artworks.”

  In addition, the project, she disclosed “will be digitally documented and released on the web in the form of a short film for virtual posterity.”  

  Although, a solo show, two Nigerian fashion designers, Kate Williams and Ugoma Adegoke are presenting few fashion pieces. 

  And what is the significance of these two fashion designers' participation? The curator, Anastasia Stein who responded via email explained that “we regard this as an opportunity to show art and fashion audiences how visual artists and designers can collaborate by creating unique pieces of clothing that are also art works in their own right.” 
   She argued further that it’s also a medium to stress that creativity is one of the areas in which the diversity of human intelligence manifests. “The visual arts, fashion, design, architecture and other creative disciplines start from the same source.”

  On diversity, it has been argued that the dynamics of imagery – aided by the Internet to enhance artist’s content – may erode the essence of originality, within the conceptual art context. 

  Anatsansia disagreed, noting that the Internet does not affect originality. “The Internet gives us information that fosters learning and leads us to a better understanding of both the contemporary world and its history. The Internet is, at the end of the day, just a tool and it is an individual responsibility on how they use it. I do sincerely wish that every person in the world has instant access to a free,
uncensored world wide web.”

   In Ogunbiyi’s rendition and form, which collapse painting, craft, sculpture and design into one expression, the attraction seems a perfect match for the take-off of TS Art Projects.

  However, from the curator’s perspective, the choice of artist for the maiden project is “because she is a brilliant, young, international artist.”

  She hoped that the exhibition evolves into projects for the Havanna Biennale, in Cuba and the Contemporary Art Festival in Perm/Russia, holding this year.
Regular Braid Short and Long

  No doubt, the Lagos and Berlin shows share certain similarity as some of the works are making appearances in the two cities. “Yes, many of the works in the show have been previously exhibited at the CCA and S&S Hotels and Suites,” Ogunbiyi stated, disclosing that much of the print-fabric showed in Lagos “has been transformed into fashion pieces or stretched as canvas.”  

 One of the challenges in site-specific shows is space. For example, the complexity of tracking an artist’s work, retaining an identity – in case of a tour exhibition – may not be so flexible to sustain. “The project will change in every location and the partnering institutions have already agreed to this and are quite curious about the changes that are to take place over the course of each exhibition,” Ogunbiyi assured.

  Taking off with Am I A Thief ?, TS Art Projects, according to the organisers, “will start an international exhibition program applying the Flying Gallery concept to cities such as Berlin, Munich and New York.” They reasoned that rather than presenting content in a fixed space, every exhibition determines its environment. “In the future, one can expect, in addition to a classic exhibition format, visual and audio experiments that involve interdisciplinary collaborations, between musicians and artists.”

  Sub-events such as artist talks, dinner parties, concerts and fashion shows, would compliment the concepts to “assimilate the show into the host cities art scene whilst simultaneously enhancing it.”

  Aside Broken Weaves and New Paintings, which she showed in Lagos, Ogunbiyi has featured in group exhibitions such as A Kilo of Hope, at the Yusuf Grillo Gallery, School of Art, Design and Printing, Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Lagos; All We Ever Wanted, an all women, at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Sabo, Yaba, Lagos; grand finale of African Artists Foundation (AAF)/Nigerian Breweries (NB)-organised national art competition tagged Documenting Changes.


PROF YEMI OSINBAJO



The responsibility of privilege, by Osinbajo
Leadership challenge that has been confronting Nigeria reached its peak recently with one-week protest over the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). A lecture by the former Attorney General of Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, delivered in one of the past editions of The Distinguished Ben Enwonwu Lecture Series throws up certain postulations that can be explored to tackle this challenge. Excerpts:

THIS lecture does not attempt to critique the works of Ben Enwonwu, his place in art history or any matter of such great intellectual moment. That would be far too ambitious for a lawyer whose sole claim to knowledge of the arts is the acquisition of couple of inexpensive originals of largely unknown Nigerian artists who I hope will one day become known and justify my investment and foresight!
  Rather, we attempt to track a tangential but hopefully important issue: “The Responsibility of Privilege”. The obligation or burden which privilege places on an individual, group or indeed a generation. We attempt to quickly explore this subject using Enwonwu’s response in life and legacy as a “mask”-even as the great sculptor and painter himself would have done, to hopefully provoke the subject’s larger implications.
  What is privilege? We adopt a simple definition. It is a special advantage, right or benefit possessed by an individual or group as a result of birth, social position, effort or concession. In the context of a nation or community, the majority of whom are poor and illiterate, the educated and the accomplished, the wealthy, those in position of authority, leadership in government and its agencies, the legislature or judiciary clearly belong to a privileged class. They represent,  to use what is quickly becoming a colloquialism; the “elite” in that society itself defined as a dominant group within a larger society. That dominance evidenced in easier access to capital or patronage, political power and more rigorous education. They need not physically congregate or recognise their status as such but it is evident that  by birth, effort or concession they are better off than the vast majority of their peers. In many ways, in their individual or collective capacities they determine not only formal rules but also informal rules and vogues. What they respect is what is respected, what they say it is, is what it is. In sum they shape in many profound ways the state of their communities and ultimately their destinies.
In the context of our nation- that elite is found in the academia, in religion, government and business; the formal professional cadres and of course the arts.
  Responsibility on the other hand simply refers to that social or moral force which binds a person or group to their obligations and the courses of action or conduct demanded by that force.

Prof Yemi Osinbajo (left) and Dr Sunny Kuku during the lecture
It is my thesis, that the privileged, or the elite both individually and collectively have a responsibility, an obligation to society to plan it, organise it, order or reorder it and above all to make sacrifices for it, for the maximum benefit of all. This is the burden of privilege. It is their obligation individually and collectively to chart the course for the millions, they define and house the ethos and the public sense of the people. It is their expected role to find common cause across professions, vocations, ethnicities and faiths defining the minimum terms and conditions for the safety, security, growth and prosperity of the community. They define clearly what is lofty, what is noble, what is deserving of honour and how these values can be sustained, preserved and enforced. This is the burden of privilege. “Noblese oblige” nobility obligates or perhaps more correctly for our purpose, privilege obligates.
   Enwonwu’s life, his work and now his legacy have, as is to be expected, being subjected by art historians, critics and political commentators to that test, although expressed in different ways, of whether  the obligations conferred by privilege of such enormous talent ,pioneering advantage, extensive local and international patronage were discharged. In the particular context of his times- a frequently debated issue is whether his art was a significant voice in the challenges thrown up by colonialism and the African nationalist struggles leading up to independence.
  Enwonwu’s engagement with changing historical contexts is an important narrative in understanding how he perceived the obligations of his position of privilege and its constraints and challenges. In his early professional years and subsequently the illogic of prejudice,  andeurocentric control of art discourse ensured that his claim to modernist stature and more incredulously for his critics “an African modernist” was constantly challenged. But it was of course a deeper issue- it was the question of whether any African artist, outside of the well set out primitivist parameters of interpretation of African art ,could attain significance in modernist discourse. Enwonwu relied for his self-affirmation in the midst of the relentless assault on his relevance, on his nativity and pedigree. His father before him was a notable Igbo sculptor. His genius was not a donation of colonial power, even if his scholarships and patronage were. His elite British education was useful but in it inhered the notion that significance could only be attained in the context of European pedagogy. His answer- was the Igbo culture and aesthetics which undergirded his work.
   Had this pioneer mentally or intellectually succumbed to the notion that modernism could not be African or come from an African, the arguments about African art or artists in modernist discourse would either not occur or would have had to find a more auspicious historical locale. To quote Ogbechie in a piece titled in “Praise of Greatness, Memory and Meaning of Enwonwu’s art and life”:
“The meaning of Enwonwu’s art career and its implication for the discourse of art history in general thus lies precisely in the fact that it charts the sustained struggle of modern African art against the entrenched ethnocentrism of European discourses about modern Art.”
Enwonwu received  wide patronage from the colonial government and Euro- American audiences since his debut at the Zwimmer Gallery in London at the age of 16!, which sometimes led to charges of his having been appropriated by those constituencies and their mores. However in various writings and interviews Enwonwu repeatedly enunciated the African provenance of his art. His stubborn commitment to the use of adz- a sculpting equipment used by his father in Onitsha- being by itself a powerful affirmation of those origins. Enwonwu’sdiasporic status, his elite European training almost inexorably mandated a conflation of both European and African conventions in his art. Nevertheless, he cared for, advocated and articulated a distinctive ideological space which African artists had to create for themselves. In his own words:
“What concerns the African artist today is to find a new aesthetic creed or philosophy as a guide to his revolutionary ideas. Artistic revolutions do not occur merely by the capacity to adapt one form of art to another, but through revolutionary ideas.”
It is of course possible to interprete- Enwonwu’s interpretative attempts to target his divergent constituencies as betraying a political ambivalence- especially in post colonial Africa- as has for example been suggested by Ulli Beer and UcheOkeke. However a more nuanced reading of  theevidence suggests the contrary. Enwonwu affirmed and supported African nationalism in overt ways –aside from his artistic interpretations. His interaction and kinship with Leopold Sedar Senghor and AimeCesaire of course lent his  weight, as possibly the best known African artist of that generation, to the radical politics of negritude, African pride and nationalism which then sought to emancipate the black man mentally, culturally and physically.

   It is perhaps important to note that Enwonwu as quoted earlier quite clearly recognised the artists’ need for a “creed or philosophy” as a guide to the revolutionary ideas that would then become the substance of  anartistic revolution. He appeared to have found that platform in “Negritude”.
   It provided intellectual affirmation for his belief in the vitality and even superiority of African culture.     
  At the same time it provided a sound ideological platform to contest Euro- American pretensions to primacy and superiority in Modern Art.  Several of his works after his encounter with Negritude – show a bolder, cheekier experimentation with African derived imagery.   Probably his most important commission, the portrait sculpture of the Queen of England, received considerable indignant criticism in the British press for Africanising the facial features of the Queen.
  Enwonwu – in fact sharply criticised the racist tendencies evident in western representations of African culture. .
  Enwonwu’s art celebrated Nigeria’s diverse ethnicities, its contours, colours, and vibrance. By unifying disparate cultural tendencies yet maintaining the uniqueness of each, he pointed to the propitious direction that a critical mass of such diversity could go.
   For a man who literarily had no company at the peak of African art for so many decades, Enwonwu certainly demonstrated a commendable grasp of issues of his times and actively devoted his enormous talents and fame to addressing them.
   One of the great attributes which he possessed and perhaps it is to be expected of an artist of his ilk is continuous introspection. The ability to reflect deeply and to act subsequently as a fruit of such introspection, this is a matter to which we will return shortly.
  Our brief interrogation of Enwonwu’s discharge of the obligation of privilege leads to the wider question of how the Nigerian elite- a group to which he belonged fared and is faring? There are many who take the view that many of Nigeria’s intellectual, professional or religious elite are individual successes-but the collective is a failure. Unfortunately it is the failure or success of the group as a group that ultimately determines the successes of the community or nation. It is the ability to come together to reason clearly, with a view to finding enduring answers to difficult community questions that characterise a responsible elite. Invariably, the elite may proffer self serving ideas, but ultimately they would be wise enough to recognise that it is only where the policy seeks the ultimate good of the majority that it will stand.
  The framers of the American constitution and other great statements and charters of liberty were such an elite. Not all were noblemen, not all were of great learning, some  broke laws, some cheated on their wives, some were outright outlaws, but all agreed on minimum conditions for  efficient and just government and how these could be preserved. These documents which have endured centuries are some of the most eloquent testimonies to man’s ability for high thought and behaviour. Over the years despite travails of every kind the core of the American elite defended their constitution and insisted on its central values.
  But even earlier it was the Barons, the English elite at the time, sword in hand who forced King John, the then English monarch, to sign the Magna CartaLibertatum, The Great Charter Of Freedoms from which almost every other charter of freedom in the history of man has borrowed. From which also in later years the concepts of enforcement of rights such as the Petition Of Rights, and the Writ of Habeas Corpus were birthed. Britain’s representative institutions and its modern judicial processes derive from that charter. This was the work of land owning barons in 1215AD.  Hear some of the great thoughts written by these men so many centuries ago:
  No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or disseized, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way harmed--nor will we go upon or send upon him--save by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
  To none will we sell, to none deny or delay, right or justice.
  Now these elites whose great works we have described so glowingly were men and not spirits. They still frequently fell short of the high standards they set, they fought brutal wars and killed millions, they perpetrated slave trade, genocide and institutionalised racism but the gravity of the core values to which they subscribed, inexorably returned them or those after them to repair and restore, to make right what had gone wrong. And so slave trade, official racial discrimination, genocides and much later Apartheid were, challenged and defeated by the very same principles established by those elite groups so long ago. Again even the whole concept of orderly society, under law was the product of elite consensus in many societies.
  The recognition of the primacy of order itself led to founding of governments and the donation of powers to them.  By order, we mean security, law enforcement, and even such matters as landscaping, communal provision of water, power, control of traffic, mass transportation, and services that raise men and women from a brutish lifestyle.
The rule of law was a logical piece in setting the ‘order’ puzzle. Judges, juries, arbitrators who could be trusted with the responsibility of arbitrating disputes, imposing penalties and declaring laws without fear or favour were appointed. The rule of Law also ensured that the power of state, through its agencies was governed by law as espoused or declared by judges.  And laws were not arbitrary or ad hominem.  Yes, there were corrupt judges even then, and perverse application of laws, but the elite kept the focus on the core values of society.  The scholars, publicists, men of faith and politicians forcefully reminded, prodded and harassed all to towards the ‘core values’, so that corruption , arbitrariness, and impunity were not the norm. Why? The reasons were both self-serving and high- minded. The failure of order was dangerous for all, especially the elite themselves, all could be lost! Even all they had acquired.
  Taxation was also  the product an elite consensus. Taxation especially progressive, incremental taxation was a concession of the elite to the fact that the government to whom the responsibility for order had been given had to have the resources to do so. Without it, society was back to the chaos of might is right.  The principle, that those who earn more should pay more, also had to be accepted, even if hurt them. Order is not merely an altruistic aspiration – it is self preservation.
Soldiers brought in to crush protests
  So today, the reason a highly placed British citizen will balk at speaking to a judge or police about his case with a view to ‘seeking help’ is because he is part of an elite that has come to terms with the importance of judicial fairness, and integrity. He understands that his life and livelihood which may come up for adjudication someday are not worth much if the judge can be bought. But more importantly he realizes that if he can buy the judge someone else can. The reason why all over the world many trust the English judicial system is because it has consistently maintained its integrity and independence. So the choice of judges, again an elite consensus, is amongst the best legal minds in the profession, men of proven integrity, through a rigorous process of selection. Why do they not favour a nepotistic or quota system? It is clearly for the reason that the elite recognizes that justice upholds our system of order. Once the system is unreliable, society is at risk, everyone’s life and livelihood is potentially at risk.
 I have taken the time of this distinguished audience to consider a few examples of the way in which the privileged, the elite in a society must attend to the obligations of their status. It is evident from the examples I have given, that if the “elite” in the societies considered, had not come together  to act in the common good when they did, their civilisations would have either failed or been irreparably damaged.
  It follows therefore, that the present state of our nation- the poverty and misery of the people, the failure of law and order, the corruption of the electoral system, the legitimization of corruption etc, are consequences of the failure of the privileged to discharge the obligations of their status. If the Nigerian elite  wereeven sensitive enough to save itself as a collective not as individuals,  that consensus will probably save the entire national project. Unfortunately coming together for the common good appears far too onerous a distraction from the chronic selfishness that defines those of us who constitute that elite.
But the self-centeredness of our elite is greatly compounded by a seeming lack of deep reflection. That ability to think deeply, not about self-alone, but about community.
In any event, self is endangered or at risk if community is disorganized or prone to arbitrariness. What best serves all  is what makes sense, so that our lives may be lived in some measure of peace and happiness.  Introspection helps us all, it helps to remove selfishness.
Take a simple issue, the availability of power. If power is so crucial to the livelihoods of all, if it affects livelihoods of the lowest, the carpenters, tailors, battery chargers, hairdressers and the highest, professionals, industry, services ,why is it not so high a priority that all effort is geared daily towards solving it? Why for example did the Obasanjo regime so vehemently oppose the Lagos private power initiative?
Introspection may help answer the question – so if I have all the money and I have all the facilities but I cannot prevent robbers from plundering my house (some of who are my purported bodyguards) or kidnapping me or my children, what then is the point? As I ride around in my jeep, it is not to the adulation but the resentment of my immediate neighbours in all the slums around me, all believing that they too can become like me, rich anyhow, selfish and uncaring about the rest.
Introspection might help move us from the childish one upmanship that manifests itself in more money, more jewellery, and more cars, so that I can show off to my neighbours and I oppress them with my wealth.  In a society without power, water, healthcare, one which has the highest rates of malaria, tuberculosis and infant mortality, how can the conversation of our elite be :“”when are you going for mid-term? (mid term holidays of the children abroad) Or why do you prefer Virgin Atlantic when BA has the best first class seats? How can those of us who went to good schools here in this country now see how our schools now believe that they must have the token white headmaster or mistress regardless of real qualification, to answer our childish desire for the foreign.
  Introspection might help us to reflect on the state of education. An open sore.What to do about cheating in exams, fake results, and the desperately poor quality of teaching and teachers. We know of course thatknoeledge will determine the place of any community in the coming years. Where is the big investment in education? Who are the educators and policy makers? Are they thinkers, planners who know what needs to be done? Are we engaging the best minds to plan and plot or most significant resource – human capital? If not, then how do we get out of this educational rot? What sort of teachers do we need? How long will it take? How much will it cost? Surely we cannot afford the proliferation of fake graduates in every discipline emerging from our campuses and especially the so – called  satellite campuses – themselves, victims of a failed school system.
 Reflection will probably show why the insistence of our elite on “quotas” and ethnic balancing in public service appointments is usually not for altruistic or nationalistic reasons. Why would the advocates of ethnic balancing not apply the same principle in the choice of doctors who treat them when they are ill? I will not risk my life on a plane flown by a pilot from Ikenne, (my hometown) if I was told that the reason why he was hired  pilot was  not because he was the best but because the management of the airline was in search of an Ikenne man to fly the plane. But our public services, our vital government ministries have been known to be run by appointees whose main qualification for the particular assignment was “state of origin”.
  Why would anyone insist as is the case in state universities across the country- that their vice chancellors and heads of departments must be indigenes? Yet the same decision makers- dispatch their own children to foreign universities built on principles of universalism of knowledge and where the smartest men and women are sought to head their institutions regardless of race, colour or creed. 
Protesters retreat, but wont give up
 “Some reflection might help the privileged to insist as other civilisations have done, on the sanctity of the orders of courts and the rule of law. Unfortunately ,our elite, like the motley crowd, gets carried away in their thirst for the blood of the next victim in their class , they look away and even hail, when an overzealous agency of government  in the name of overriding public interest, ignore the orders of a court and violate the tenets of the rule of law.
  But soon enough, the wheels turn full cycle to hurt those who cheered when their guarantee of liberty and fairness was contemptuously ignored. For example I do not have to be a great friend of a Bank MD in detention or approve of Lamido Sanusi, to object strenuously to the Central Bank Nigeria or EFCC refusing to obey the orders of a court! 
Why are we innovative but unable to sustain innovation? Many of the countries even in Africa, are not nearly as creative as Nigerians can be but they outlast us in their capacity to keep what they have working. Maintenance. Thus what must be celebrated as a core principle is ‘sustaining innovation’ not necessarily innovation, the sheer number of abandoned projects clearly shows that innovation is not the problem.
Must we not establish integrity as a core principle.? How does integrity become a national ethic? What will it cost to appropriate honesty to our national ethos and how? Integrity of course here refers to basic honesty, commitment to one’s word, trustworthiness. Can we develop a system that rewards transparency, honest service and sanctions misbehaviour, a society based on cheating is rotten at its heart and will ultimately self destruct.
  An ‘elite’ consensus to destroy 419 before it ruined our image as a nation could have prevented or reduced the now phenomenal cost of winning back the confidence of the world. No nation in the world would watch itself destroyed without taking action, witness US and 9/11 and how nations react to threats against their livelihoods. Somehow we have not reacted in the same way to the 419 scourge or at least in the way that demonstrates our recognition of the fact that this vocation of obtaining by false pretences now defines us everywhere and threatens to ruin access to credit internationally and eligibility to do business with the rest of the world. An elite consensus could get everyone, including children, searching out 419ers and exposing them. At least making the enterprise extremely unattractive. 
President Jonathan and Senate Preisdent David Mark during the one week strike
   A failure of our criminal justice system to apprehend and punish offenders has legitimized stealing at every level. The pilfering in homes, offices, frauds in banks, stealing by drivers, to white collar criminality, all are hardly ever punished. Despite all the pilfering that goes on and on daily
  How many times in recent years has anyone been jailed for simple stealing? Despite the acknowledged high level of petty and grand criminality in our large population, Lagos alone, 16 -17 million, we have one of the lowest convicts per capita, in the world. The criminal justice system fails because we pretend not to know that it is not functioning right.
  Policing is a joke. The desire to feather individual nests makes it impossible to review our policing options. Every IG dishonestly claims that he would reduce crimes and protect the public. But is soon reduced to helping the government harass its perceived enemies. It is obvious of course that you cannot run a federal system of the size of Nigeria without community police. Posting a policeman of Sokoto origin to Anambra where he does not speak or understand the language and certainly does not know the neighbourhood is at best a cynical approach to law enforcement. Effective policing must be local.
  Can we not have state/community police and a federal police to deal with federal offenses, elections, etc as do other federal systems. Can we not set national minimum standards for police officers e.g at least first degree or HND for entry level policemen. Today, different state judiciaries can compete in justice delivery innovations and performance and best practices can be copied across jurisdictions. A national judiciary may have been attractive to some, but it certainly cannot beat a system where each state depending on its work load determines the number of its courts and judges such as is largely the case now. In the next few months the 2011 elections will come. All of us know that if there is no fundamental reform of the electoral process the robbery perpetrated in 2007 will seem like a Sunday school class. Faced with the horrible possibilities that ultimately will confront us, if the people are   again denied the option of free choice of their leaders, one would expect that the ruling elite would make the sacrifice as others have done to reform the electoral process even at the risk of losing power. That is the responsibility of privilege.
Ben Enwonwu working on the Queen Elizabeth sculpture

Conclusion
The incredible life and times of Ben Enwonwu, master  painter and sculptor, once described as Africa’s greatest artist, his prodigious talent and remarkable boldness in those pioneering years- reaffirms that bold, sometimes brash, but always optimistic Nigerian spirit. The resilience of his legacy- is evident across the nation , in his timeless sculptures and paintings. 15 years after his departure, new reviews, some complimentary, some critical continue. The inevitable aftermath of a life of significance.
 The work of the artist is of course never finished. His studio on the day of death, still strewn with sketches, busts of planned sculptures, ideas, and thoughts, awaiting execution. A metaphor, if you like, for the far from finished work of nation building, which all of us, especially those of us who have the privilege of education and some talent, are obliged to complete. What will you do, before you go?
  I leave you with a story. In 1994 (incidentally the year Ben Enwonwu died) I served as a United Nations justice sector expert in Mogadishu, Somalia. The country had failed then, after several years of misrule, corruption, neglect of social justice and disregard for the rule of law. The nation was now managed by warlords. (Area boys to use a more familiar expression) every part of the city and country had its own reigning warlord. There was hardly any food, chaos everywhere. In one of the camps where hungry men, women and children queued up for food in a long line with their bowls.  On the line were, former university professors, former senior public servants, former Supreme Court justices, former journalists, all hungry, waiting in line with their little bowls for food from the World Food Programme.
 Prof Yemi Osibajo delivered the lecture at the 2009 edition of the Ben Enwonwu Distinguished Lecture, in Lagos.
One of the soldiers sent to Lagos by Jonathan seen explaining government's position on the use of force to stop protesters