NollyCulture: 2021

Friday, December 17, 2021

In Memoriam: bell hooks

“Popular culture is where the pedagogy is, where the learning is.”
bell hooks: foundational Black feminist, writer, professor, activist, and truth teller

(1952-2021)

Asaba: Nigeria's New Hub of Filmmaking

(By Sylvester Asoya) - Asaba: Nigeria’s New Hub of Filmmaking

Asaba, capital of Delta State is now Nigeria’s newest film hub. This development is not only exciting but also a great news to many young people, filmmakers, moviegoers, small business owners and even Delta State government that is already waiting in the wings. To many people, Asaba is a natural destination for movies, tourism and entertainment generally, and the reasons are not far to seek.

Before now, the Delta State capital showed promise with its location, growing infrastructural development, proximity to Onitsha, a major movie centre, and the relative peace and stability everyone living in Asaba, enjoys. But there is also the factor of geography, a bustling young population, the state’s new status as holiday haven and the changing landscape within the capital territory. This new standing of Asaba is therefore not only a welcome development but also a boost to social life, tourism and leisure. There is also the economic angle to this growth that is already attracting visitors and increasing employment opportunities in the arts and entertainment world.

It is already evident that very few smart and resourceful film directors and producers can resist Asaba’s alluring scenery and tranquility. This, in recent times, has been heightened by a booming real estate market that is decorating the beautiful capital territory and providing irresistible locale for shooting.

(By Chijioke Azuawusiefe) - Nollywood and Pentecostalism: Preaching Salvation, Propagating the Supernatural

CrossCurrents. 2020. 70 (3): 206-219

"Since the inception of cinema, religion has constituted an essential element of screen images. With the production of its inaugural film, Living in Bondage (1992), Nollywood —the cinema of Nigeria and the world’s second largest film industry—established itself within cinema’s tradition of enchanting the world. The supernatural (often explored in Nollywood films through the occult and witchcraft) has remained one of its staple genres and distinctive features, a hallmark that speaks to the quotidian beliefs of African Christians who navigate their everyday interactions in a milieu where religion not only permeates the daily social life but also the economics and politics of the continent. It constitutes a key factor for plumbing Nollywood’s constructions of popular religion or the understanding of religion in public space, given how Nollywood films position the occult as the force against which different religious traditions (Christianity vs. African Traditional Religions) and denominations (Pentecostalism vs. Catholicism) battle one another for supremacy.

Nigeria, which accounts for about a fifth of Africa’s population and a sixth of its Christian population, presents a significant site for the interrogation of religion.

Chijioke Azuawusiefe, SJ

(By Wamara Mwine) - An Interview with Father Chijioke Azuawusiefe, SJ

--Profiles in Catholicism (Published December 29, 2020; Updated January 26, 2021)

Wamara Mwine: Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, was known for his crusades with followers through harsh conditions to achieve a spiritual connection with others. What experiences have you had that resembles Ignatius' journey?

Fr. Chijioke Azuawusiefe: St. Ignatius of Loyola lived in a different time. He led a remarkable military life as a soldier prior to his conversion experience following the Battle of Pamplona (1521) where a cannonball shattered his left leg. However, although some aspects of his Spiritual Exercises, like the “The Call of the Eternal King” (93), might have a crusading flavor to them, Ignatius never traveled as a soldier post his conversion.

That said, I do not have any experiences that approximate his soldiery background. Nevertheless, as a Jesuit and following in the way of the Spiritual Exercises (a foundational prayer and spirituality text for Jesuits and many Christians, which evolved from Ignatius’s own prayers, meditations, and reflections), I bring the energy and the grace of the Exercises to my life and encounters with people, seeking, as St Ignatius put it, “to find God in all things.”

Rev. Fr. Ojefua: Making of a Saint

(By Sylvester Asoya) - Rev. Fr. Anselm Abraham Ojefua: The Making of a Saint

He is easily remembered by the older generation for always praying the Rosary in front of the imposing entrance to St. Patrick’s College, Asaba, Delta State. This regular ritual associated with Reverend Father Anselm Abraham Isidahome Ojefua held when students would have entered their respective classrooms after the morning assembly. After that customary prayer session, Father Ojefua would return afterwards to the classroom to teach. This priest and monk from Igueben, Edo State, was highly respected by his colleagues, students and parishioners.

For instance, in the early 1950s, this remarkable priest already had his first and second degrees, but he remained a classroom teacher at St. Patrick’s College, Asaba under Reverend Father O’ Rouke. An amazing polyglot, though Esan by birth, Ojefua spoke perfect Latin, English, Igbo and had a working knowledge of many local and international languages.

In the old Catholic Diocese of Benin, Ojefua was a well known intellectual and radical priest who left his mark on many institutions. He was also a prolific writer and a great editor who edited Catholic Life, a very popular magazine that was very critical of the then Western Nigeria government and the ills of society.

He was without doubt, an important Catholic priest who had a very positive impact on the lives of many people. Like his Irish, American and Italian predecessors and contemporaries, he mingled freely with his parishioners and host communities, and even spoke their languages.

Nollywood, Criticism, and the Critic's Candor

(By Olamide Adio) – In Praise of Criticism

There are two moments in my life that define me as an artist and critic. Although I am usually wary
of reducing the entirety of being into moments, but “moments”, for me, remain the most potent manner of seizing poignant, character-defining experiences. Both moments, womb-to-tomb important as they are, came when I was a child, proving that it is in childhood that the fire of life strikes us the hottest, every other burn later is afterglow. The materials from these two moments are important to me particularly because I now find them replaceable only by duplication—I have obviously encountered better materials since childhood, but with each encounter, I have found that I have been looking for the same materials essentially, only more sophisticated—to be burned but at different degrees, at different spots.

The first material is nameless and irrelevant to film. I grew up in a school under strict tutelage and this meant that I was always surrounded by books to read, that I saw the news on AIT every night, that I constantly overheard intellectual arguments on national problems, and that, choiceless, I had to know the meaning of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis at age nine. The purity of the arguments I heard—but didn’t understand—and the fervor with which these arguments were delivered, drew me to criticism early. I found flaws in the Punch newspaper cartoons; I found the popular 2000s American soap opera, Passions, too foreign, thus distasteful (but, suspiciously, I thought the 2001 animated series, Justice League, to be a masterpiece); and I was secretly sure that Yuen Woo-ping’s Iron Monkey was the greatest film ever made. Again, as with purpose, it appears criticism is present at all ages, only continuously redefined to suit sophistication—a baby will pinch its nose at bad milk—and every criticism, like the baby’s, is incontrovertibly subjective without the maturity of knowledge. But criticism by its nature is hardly ever agreeable.

Traditional Religions in Old vs. New Nollywood

(By Daniel Okechukwu) – Old Nollywood demonised traditional religions. New cinema says ‘No More’

A scene in Living in Bondage: Breaking Free
(Ramsey Nouah (L) and Kenneth Okonkwo)

Witches, gods, folklore take two.

In Narrow Escape, a classic 1999 Nollywood film, the embattled protagonist Reverend Emmanuel is facing a formidable enemy: his father. The two men are on either side of the well-known battle line of good vs. evil. Reverend Emmanuel is of the Christian faith, spreading the gospel. His father is a traditional worshipper.

“In the past twelve years, we have had fourteen Reverend Fathers in Umuaka. Six left here as corpses,” a concerned elder warns Reverend Emmanuel in one scene. The cause of death? Murder by a powerful cult of traditional worshippers.

This line exemplifies the specific religious theme of many films made in Nigeria at that time. Characters representing the Christian faith – pastors, deacons, reverends, believers – were inherently good and under attack by adherents of traditional faith – depicted as witches or ritualists – who were seen as full of evil.

Narrow Escape, with its all-star cast, was a hit as were other films with similar themes. End of Wicked depicted the wickedness of witches; Billionaire Club was about sacrificing loved ones for wealth; Festival of Fire followed the persecution of missionaries. It is not hard to see why these films were popular. They drew inspiration from the policies of colonial missionaries who saw traditional customs as evil and irreligious. This message found a receptive audience in one of the world’s most religious countries.

Yet today, the tides have turned. Filmmakers in Nigeria are now exploring previously-maligned traditional faiths and subverting how they have been depicted. What changed? The answer is likely to be found in Nigeria’s changing relationship with religion.

Lagbaja: His Music, Mask, and Legacy

(By Olamide Adio Olanrewaju) – Lagbaja, Something for You: The Legacy of Our Second Democracy Superhero

Lagbaja’s music is a symbolic bridge that connects the old to the new; the dangers, apprehension,
and injustices of the Nigerian military era to a new age of democracy and hope.

Costumed in statement traditional garb, and mysterious behind a signature mask, Lagbaja is a real-life superhero. As is the way of superheroes, after awakening to musical superpowers of Ayan (the talking drum), the saxophone, and the ways of the ancestors, Lagbaja embarked on a quest to fulfil the distinct purpose of musically restoring post-military Nigeria.

In order to understand and appreciate Lagbaja’s role as Nigeria’s second democracy superhero, one must return to another place and an earlier time, when people flocked to be entertained by another musical enigma—Fela (Fela’s musical influence on Lagbaja is clearest in the latter’s handling of the saxophone). However, while Fela’s political reality forced him to use music as a weapon against the Nigerian government, Lagbaja had the responsibility of easing society with his music. Fela’s music thrived against the military government in the 1970s, but Lagbaja’s music came to prominence at a time when the military rule in Nigeria had almost come to an end, and it climaxed during the democracy era from 1999 through the 2000s. While Fela’s music spurred the people to political anger, created the desire to protest in them, Lagbaja’s music, still as conscious, calmed and reflected a people appreciative of a battle well fought and won—both musicians being exactly what Nigerians needed at their respective periods.

'76: Nigeria, the Military, Coups, and Love Stories

(By Olamide Adio) - Movie Review: ’76’, Starring Ramsey Nouah and Rita Dominic

Today, there is a dearth of historical dramas amongst contemporary Nollywood output, but this hasn’t always been the case. One of the first epics of the industry, Ogbori Elemosho, released in the 80s, which starred Lere Paimo, opened a pathway to what a sprinkle of fiction could do to a historical figure and their story. Tunde Kelani’s adaptation of Akinwunmi Ishola’s novel, Efunsetan Aniwura (2005), more recent, better made, became an instant classic upon release; an efficient psychological breakdown on the infamous Iyalode of Ibadan. And even more recently is Kunle Afolayan’s October 1st, a historical thriller woven around the Nigerian independence nuptials. And today, under the Netflix auspice, Izu Ojukwu’s historical thriller, ’76, released in 2016, has been revived.

Captain Joseph Dewa (Ramsey Nouah), a soldier in the Nigerian army, has found himself in the middle of a military plot. The newly appointed, public-beloved Head of State, Muritala Muhammed, has been marked to be assassinated by top military officials, retired military officials, and civilian politicians. Captain Dewa has recently been assigned back to the barracks with his pregnant wife, Suzy (Rita Dominic). He is quickly coveted by his longtime friend, Gomos (Chidi Mokeme), to be recruited into the sinister plot against the Head of State. Captain Dewa refuses to the disappointment of his friend and the coup plotters. As we know, death visits the Head of State violently, and in its aftermath is a great military investigative ruckus. By affiliation with members of the coup plotters, Captain Dewa is promptly arrested as his wife delivers her baby. The crux of the film becomes the race to exonerate Captain Dewa or he gets executed with the coup plotters.

Rattlesnake: A Remake and Insights from the Ahanna Story

(By Olamide Adio) – Movie Review: Rattlesnake’s Ahanna isn’t the Genius the Movie Wants us to Believe He is

Rattlesnake opens strong. A voice over monologue is being delivered as the protagonist watches a man get burnt to death. The monologue declares this a defining moment in the child’s life. The caliginous voice delivering the monologue suggests tragedy at a later date. But this isn’t the only excellent thing about Rattlesnake’s opening. It also shows us that Ramsey Nouah knows what he is doing as a director. The framings are gorgeous and personal, the cuts are appropriate, and the editing is as precise as a brush stroke. It is a perfect opening scene. The first act rushes through exposition, introduces all the principal characters and presents the inciting incident. Meanwhile, the excellence remains consistent; if anything, it is added upon with the introduction of Stan Nze, who plays Ahanna Okolo.

In Prophetess, Stan Nze played the bumbling manager who speaks faster than his body can catch up, a comedic character, awkward on the actor, a role undeserving of mention. Something just wasn’t right with his acting, something “funny”. Fast-forward to Rattlesnake’s arrival on Netflix and the reason becomes clear. The coldness of his aura superimposed by his booming monologue and the overall calmness his role demands. No, it cannot be because he delivered a good portion of his lines in Igbo—he has done that elsewhere without equal success. It isn’t clear, or it could be because of all those things combined. Stan Nze commands the frame from the opening scene till his last appearance. (Or could it be because it is an Igbo material with a director who understands the culture at its helm?) This is credit, again, to Ramsey Nouah’s framings, which, because of its consistency, suggests a stylistic statement. The shots find Ahanna mostly in medium or close-up where he either looms in or his emotions are on full display.

Nneka the Pretty Serpent and Challenges of a Remake

(By Olamide Adio) – Movie Review: ‘Nneka the Pretty Serpent’ and the Conundrum of Remakes

Play Network Studios is leaving a trail of remakes. It opened with Living in Bondage, then Rattlesnake: the Ahanna Story, and now Nneka the Pretty Serpent. A remake of Tade Ogidan’s Diamond Ring has also been announced. Remakes are financial gimmicks, a knowing tug at nostalgia with a clear eye for newer, younger audiences, a larger reach of and for material; a new cash-flow from an old thing. When done well, the essence of the original materials is maintained even if more elements are added; a better narrative structure, a specific targeting of a newer demographic, and the continuance of a storytelling legend. It is not such a bad thing. It could even be termed a noble endeavor. And with Richard Williams (Ramsey Nouah’s character from Living in Bondage) recruiting the anti-heroes in each movie, there is a sense of world-building ambition.

A small problem. The remakes are beginning to look familiar and, although conspicuously, the essence of the originals isn’t wholly or properly transported into the remakes. The lead is usually true to the anti-hero nature, usually beset by tragedy, seeks a goal to rectify their problems, and does it nefariously. With a constant eye for globalization and multiculturalism, the remakes branch out—not too much, but enough—to accommodate new audiences. Finally, the demands of the new age do not usually align with the originals. Nneka (Idia Aisien) wants vengeance and while that would have been acquired, and Nneka herself sufficiently punished in the morality-obsessed Nollywood of old, it might not be enough in the modern world of moral ambiguities.

King of Boys: The Return and a Protracted Plot

(By Olamide Adio) - ‘King of Boys: The Return of the King’ Review: Protracted Plot Sullies Kemi Adetiba’s Mixed Bag

We must all agree that Kemi Adetiba has had an interesting journey. From directing music videos, to
The Wedding Party, then the acclaimed King of Boys and now a Netflix original for a King of Boys series. When one looks closely at the film projects, there are elements of directorial unifications. Sola Sobowale has been a recurring partnership, with her comes the vociferousness she perfected for her stock characters as a Yoruba actress; that need to marry culture with modernism, and to sell the mundane as extraordinary, seems important to Kemi Adetiba. For all the affluence in The Wedding Party, it is still a glorified ‘owambe’. And King of Boys itself is a Lagos thug to the world, homage to Hollywood mob films. There are unifying flaws, too. The constancy of plot holes must take front seat; followed doggedly by the anchor of questionable characters.

And while Kemi Adetiba knows her onions to some length, these strengths and flaws of the mercurial director are more glaring in the series. Perhaps, one independent, less glamorous, more ‘experimental’ film between the King of Boys and the King of Boysseries might have helped her shed some more flaws in her filmmaking. In this sequel, Alhaja Salami, disgraced kingpin and king of boys, has returned to the country after a governmental pardon. Upon returning, she promptly declares her political ambition to become the Lagos State governor, but old and new enemies, personal demons, and a new player from the press will stand in her way. There are seven episodes in this Netflix original series. Humour me. Let us write a seven-paragraph review, one for each episode, and with faster pacing than the series.

Saworoide Revisited

(By Olamide Adio) – Retro Review: ‘Ṣaworoidẹ’ and Timelessness

It would seem an overstatement to term Saworoide the most important political movie in Nollywood’s history. Released in 1999, more than two decades ago, with a portion of its cast either aged or deceased, our establishing sentence is bound to be met with umbrage. The film itself was scripted by the late Yoruba novelist, Akinwunmi Ishola, who also authored the material the film was adapted from; and it was directed by Tunde Kelani—a partnership that scored gold numerously until the novelist passed away. If the obvious reasons for the film’s greatness—two ingenious artists at its creative helm; a potent source material; an assembly of veteran, talented actors, if these aren’t enough reasons, then the polemical statement that the now-absent will to make something timeless by the film’s director should be put forward.

Saworoide transcends time. It is a film that speaks potently to our current political situation. On one end is the impressiveness of the material and on the other end is the tragedy of the Nigerian political situation—that a 1999 film still aptly comments on modern Nigerian politics correctly. And because time flows both ways, the film’s perpetual nature means it also chronicles Nigerian political history. Set in the fictional Jogbo, a place where it appears as though the characters are unaffected by time; only situation changes and their reaction to it; where the only markers of time are character declarations of it—usually not the characters benefitting from the political situation—and the two youths, Aresejabata (Kunle Afolayan) and Araparegangan (Kabirat Kafidipe), on whose juvenile shoulders the people of Jogbo’s future rest.

Sir Jude Nnam: The Prolific Cosmopolitan Christian Composer Extraordinaire

Jude Nnam on NTA Igboezue | Ndi Nwe Obodo

Of ATRs, Christianity, and Paganism

(By Chijioke Ngobili) – The Coming Ìgbò Spiritual Revolution

Take a look at the topic of this symposium these “learned” discussants are meant to tackle: “Return to Paganism by African Youths: Causes, Consequences and Solution”.

The keyword, for me, is “paganism”.

To each and everyone of these discussants who are Ìgbò (majority of them are Ìgbò by the way), for example, “paganism” is the indigenous Ìgbò Spirituality which is otherwise known as “Ịgọ Mmụọ” or more generically and recently as “Ime Omenaanị”. And, when the younger generations of Ìgbò have realized themselves in illumination and enlightenment, woken up from the many decades of brainwash and Christian indoctrination and returned to the unique and God-given Spirituality of their Ancestors which some missionaries ensnared them away from more than 100 years ago with all manner of means, they're returning to “paganism” and should be pulled back to be saved by these messiah discussants. Such a laughable and ignorant intervention!

I have once hinted at this: A spiritual revolution is building up and it's the younger Ìgbò generations who are leading it.

Of African Peoples, Histories, and Civilizations

"The fourteenth-century court artists of Ife made bronze sculptures using a complicated casting process lot to Europe since antiquity, and which was not rediscovered there until the Renaissance. Ife sculptures are equal to the works of Ghiberti or Donatello. From their precision and formal sumptuousness we can extrapolate the contours of a great monarchy, a network of sophisticated ateliers, and a cosmopolitan world of trade and knowledge. And it was not only Ife. All of West Africa was a cultural ferment. From the egalitarian government of the Igbo to the goldwork of the Ashanti courts, the brass sculpture of Benin, the military achievement of the Mandinka Empire and the musical virtuosi who praised those war heroes, this was a region of the world too deeply invested in art and life to simply be reduced to a caricature of 'watching the conquerors arrive.'"

Teju Cole, 2016, 10

Known and Strange Things: Essays

Monday, August 30, 2021

Nollywood Conversations: Swanky JKA, Living in Bondage Sequel, and Nollywood Today

Tuesday, August 03, 2021

Wole Soyinka: A Guide to His Body of Works

(By Ernest Ogunyemi) - 52 Books in 64 Years: Your Guide to Wole Soyinka’s Body of Work

The Nigerian writer and activist Wole Soyinka turned 87 this week. He was born on July 13, 1934, in Aké, Abeokuta, a town in southwestern Nigeria.

One of the greatest writers of his generation, Soyinka produced plays, novels, poems, and essays that explore African art and worldviews and serve as witnesses to sociopolitical issues in the world. The multi-talented artist, wrote the poet and academic Tanure Ojaide in Black American Literature Forum, “combines traditional African and Western influences so dexterously that he creates a personal authenticity.”

In 1975, Soyinka edited Poems of Black Africa, considered by many scholars to be the first anthology of poems that truly captures the abundant identities and realities of Black Africa. From 1975 to 1979, he was a Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. He has since taught at Harvard, Oxford, and Yale.

In 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first African and Black writer to be so honoured. In December 2017, he received the Europe Theater Prize’s “Special Prize.”

In his introduction to the Africa39 anthology, he wrote: “The primary function of literature is to capture and expand reality. It is futile therefore to attempt to circumscribe African creative territory, least of all by conformism to any literary ideology that then aspires to be the tail that wags the dog. It projects its enhanced vision of Life’s potential, its possibilities, narrates its triumphs and failures. Its offerings include empowerment of the oppressed and the subjugation of power. It will not attempt to do all of this at once—that will only clot up the very passages of its own proceeding.”

To celebrate Soyinka’s 87th birthday, here is a guide to his full-length published works, categorized by genre. It comprises 25 plays, 10 essay collections, seven poetry collections, five memoirs, three novels, and two translated works. (Publishers’ synopses appear in quotes.)

Before Obi Cubana: Performative Elitism, Nightlife, and Popular Culture in Nigeria

(By Saheed Aderinto) – Before Cubana: Performative Elitism, Nightlife, and Popular Culture in Nigeria

The incredible display of wealth at the funeral of the mother of Obi Iyiegbu, owner of Cubana Nightclub, is among the most sensational social media developments this week. Obi Cubana, as Obi Iyiegbu is informally called, mobilized insanely rich Nigerians to contribute to the “most expensive” funeral of 21st century Nigeria. The spectacle of honoring the dead began with the donation of 46 cows by another nightclub owner, Cubana Chief Priest. The visuals of the arrival of the animals is a reminder of how non-human creatures have historically been used to frame a unique image of progress and performative elitism. Most of the financiers or “bankrollers” of the funeral were also patrons of Cubana Nightclub. Their list is as diverse as their source of wealth.

Many have wondered how a nightclub owner was able to mobilize billions of naira for a private event. History has some answers. In 1996, socialite Ken Olumesi completed his multi-million naira club named Nightshift Coliseum in Ikeja, Lagos. Nicknamed “Mecca of Entertainment,” and voted as Nigeria’s most beautiful nightclub, the clients of Nightshift Coliseum included famous footballers, entertainers, military officers, and clean money businessmen and their 419 counterparts. A symbol of wealth, class, and status, Nightshift Coliseum was a badge of honor for most of the elites of the period. It was a rite of passage for old and young monies. Indeed, the eclipse of stardom for many artists was incomplete without playing at the Nightshift Coliseum.

Obi Cubana, Entrepreneurial Creativity, and New Model of "Igba Boi"

(By Moses Ochono) - THE CURIOUS AND INSTRUCTIVE CASE OF OBI CUBANA

As an economic historian who edited a well-received book on entrepreneurship in Africa, the introduction to which argues for the recognition of distinct African entrepreneurial traditions and innovations, I find the case of Obi Cubana (Chief Obinna Iyiegbu) quite fascinating.

Let me first get a few caveats out of the way. I do not endorse his vulgar, exhibitionist, and performative wealth, but I do not judge it either. To each their own. We all operate from different value and ethical scripts, but none is, in the final analysis, inherently superior to the other.

Besides, a person has a right to spend their money as they wish, and Cubana's exhibitionism cannot be analyzed or understood outside his business and brand, which are anchored by show business and entertainment, the lifeblood of which is performance, vulgar excess, and razzmatazz. In other words, his antics have instrumental and utilitarian logic in his line of business.

What appears to others as his vulgar exhibitionism and excessive self-indulgences are actually part of his business repertoire, part of the script, and aspects of a carefully, strategically organized spectacle to boost his brand. If I'm right then this is a type of genius.

Obi Cubana and His Economic Importance

(By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo) – The Economic Importance of Obi Cubana, Ike Nnobi et al.,

Until last week, I have never heard the name Obi Cubana. All that I knew of Cubana was all that lifestyle magazines say about the Cubana nightclub in Lagos. I had no idea who owned it. And then, Obinna Iyiegbu, aka Obi Cubana, held the funeral of his mother in Oba, Idemili North Local government of Anambra State.

As pictures and videos from the ceremony saturate social media, I placed a call to an Oba friend of mine in Boston. I asked a simple question. “Who is Obi Cubana?”

My friend did not know him. He told me Obi Cubana was a kid when he was at home. He also mentioned that Obi Cubana’s father was the principal of Merchant of Light, Oba, when he was a high school student there.

After high school at Dennis Memorial Grammar School Onitsha and obtaining a degree in Political Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the kid went out of Anambra state, to Abuja, Owerri, Enugu, Lagos and did well for himself.

Every town or village in Eastern Nigeria has one or two Obi Cubanas. They are the often-misunderstood children of our wobbling Nigeria. They are kids who, despite the odds, have plowed through the rivers of injustice, the stench of corruption, and the air of insecurity to set up businesses, build networks, and climb to the top of the social strata of Nigeria. They are kids who, even when they were sitting in the deepest valley of despair, say to themselves that the world is theirs. In some weird ways, packed in them are the metaphors of what could have been in Nigeria.

A New Generation for Nollywood

(By Azuka Ogujiuba) - A New Generation for Nollywood

We are at a time where women are no longer asking for opportunities but calling their shots and claiming their seats on the table of success. And even when society mirrors their achievements or downplays their hard work, they keep evolving and setting new records.

Thus, women are more vocal now, than ever, about being who they are with no apologies. They are owning their stories and writing their scripts when it comes to making their marks in the sands of time. It’s again in this light, that we have featured these young amazons who are Nollywood’s New Generation.

Sharon Ooja, Lillian Onyinye Afegbai, Nancy Isime, Lisa Omorodion, Erica Nlededim, Maryam Ado Muhammad-Booth, Ini Dima-Okojie, Bimbo Ademoye, Beverly Osu and Linda Osifo grace our pages in this edition as they tell us about their chosen careers, how more women should participate in Politics, their challenges as artistes and of course, their achievements amongst other issues.

On Biafra and the Plight of the Igbo in Nigeria: Putting the World on Notice

(By Rudolf Okonkwo & Chido Onumah) - To the Most Senior Biafran in Buhari’s Government

…We think we should have you and the international community on notice.

Dear Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Jideofor Onyeama, We chose to write you instead of President Muhammadu Buhari because it is apparent from the president’s two most recent media outings that his cognitive impairment has greatly deteriorated, even though that is no justification for his murderous and genocidal rhetoric. From his utterances, the gap between things his innermost mind conjures and what his mouth utters has been completely erased. We also chose to write you because you are the most senior Biafran in Buhari’s government. We know that in your world, Biafra is the worst tag that anyone could put on you. Unfortunately, the people you work with, in and around Aso Rock, see you as a Biafran. You can keep running away from it, but in the deepest corners of their eyes, Biafra is like a shell on you. And like a snail, you cannot cast it off.

Over the last six years, we are aware of your hard work on the international stage to rescue this government’s reputation. As this government squandered both at home and abroad the enormous goodwill it received in 2015, you have worked hard to reassure the international community that the wheel of the Nigerian vessel had not come off and would not come off. Based on recent events, you do not need a soothsayer or us to tell you that the wheels came off a long time ago. What the international community was telling you in private weeks ago, they have made a tiny bit of it public following the debacle that is Buhari’s reaction to Twitter’s sanction of his genocidal tweet against the people of the South-East.

Decolonizing the Decolonizer in African Education

(By Saheed Aderinto) - Decolonizing the Decolonizer: Epistemic Liberation in 21st Century Africanist Scholarship

I gave the Plenary Lecture of the "Ife-Edinburgh Catalyst Workshop" on June 10 [2021]. The theme of the highly successful workshop was “(Re)imagining ‘Our’ Ways of Knowing: Decolonization and the Human Sciences.” ... Excerpts from [the] lecture titled, “Decolonizing the Decolonizer: Epistemic Liberation in 21st Century Africanist Scholarship.”

In September 2019, the social media was ignited when news broke that Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo, the current Chairman of the Lagos State Branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) was invited to give a talk at the University of Lagos. To many, MC Oluomo, a street thug and a political tout did not deserve to be invited to one of the strongholds of “normative” elite power in Nigeria. He doesn’t have a place in the university ecosystem where professors and highly educated people dictate the tempo of “conventional” intellectualism. To many, MC Oluomo’s character epitomizes the common spectacle of “curated chaos” that characterizes everyday life in the inner city of Lagos. The role of the NURTW in election violence and compromise of democratic ideals disqualifies him for talking on campus, where core principles of fairness and justice are installed in the heart of young people. The University community, many believed, must not be turned into the “street” -- the real and imaginative locale that crowned MC Oluomo the King of Violence and an assortment of unregulated indecency.

Days after the digital acrimony, the University of Lagos did the rightful by clearing the air on the circumstances under which MC Oluomo was invited to campus. Not only did they establish that the event was a Colloquium titled, “Transport Efficiency: Employing Lagos Terrain Alternatives” organized by the National Association of Geography Students, the university argued that “experts and relevant stakeholders with considerable knowledge and experience on transportation…are carefully selected and invited to come and share their thoughts with our students.”

Nollywood & Constructive Criticism: Whose View?

(By Stella Okemuo) - Is Constructive Criticism A Thing In Nollywood?

The Nigerian film industry Nollywood is Africa’s most prevalent film industry. It has survived on quantity rather than quality, and this has affected its global competition.

Apart from the infrastructural and financial barriers that hinder the industry from self-improving, there is a worrying habit of a backlash from film producers when criticisms of their films are made.

There is also an unhealthy habit of belonging to cliques and therefore, good actors may not be cast in films or nominated for an award if they don’t belong to a particular clique.

I have been a loyal fan of Nollywood since the 90s when films were released as video cassettes, to the CD era, and now the Cinema era. I have watched my favourite film veterans improve their craft; seen producers improve in the quality of their films and I’ve even seen Nollywood films screen at theatres abroad yet, something is missing, and that, for me, is the content (storyline) of the films.

Nation Building through History and Storytelling

(By Chigozie Chikere) - HISTORY AND STORYTELLING FOR NATION BUILDING: Getting the Youth Involved

I am a student of history even though the last time I sat in a history class was over three decades ago, when I was in JS3. Simply put, one does not always need the four walls of a classroom to learn about things that happened the previous day in his life, his immediate environment or the global community. Naturally, humans are endowed with the capacity to memorise facts, figures, and to recount past events even in chronology. Aside from the schools where pupils are expected at the end of each academic period to recount what they are taught by way of examination, other institutions like media houses and the courts of law are known to take advantage of this human phenomenon respectively in their interviews as well as their examination and cross-examination of witnesses. Thus, books and all forms of writing were invented primarily to assist mankind’s weak memory. But why do many Nigerians blame the government for what appears to be a poor grasp of history among the youth?

On many occasions, we have heard or read that the Federal Government of Nigeria abolished the study of history in schools; and the allegation has always been that the government does not want the upcoming generation to lay its hands on the dark pages of Nigeria’s history. How true is this claim? A brief survey will show that history was not at any point in time abolished from school curriculum in Nigeria. While some are of the view that Government as a subject was introduced to replace History, others say Government was rather introduced as an interventionist approach to provide a tonic for formerly history enthusiasts who before then were losing interest in History, possibly because it was becoming difficult to pass in the WAEC school certificate examinations. So, structurally, Government became History in a functional approach.

Nigeria and the Politics of Hijab

(By Abimbola Adelakun) - Hijab not about ‘religious discrimination’

A bill to end “hijab discrimination” has reportedly passed second reading in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Rep. Saidu Musa Abdullahi of Niger State, the bill, “Religious Discrimination (Prohibition, Prevention) Bill, 2021,” is supposed to protect hijab wearers from various forms of discrimination. Abdullahi was, of course, reacting to the ongoing hijab war in Kwara State that had degenerated into skirmishes. Just as it happened in Osun, Oyo, and Lagos states too, schools considered “Christian” are putting their feet down against their Muslim female students wearing hijab within their premises. Abdullahi managed to dredge up a few other instances of women who have been refrained from performing certain duties on account of their wearing hijab and added that the issue needs to be addressed once and for all.

Truly, Nigeria needs a definitive solution to this recurrent hijab issue but framing what is at stake as religious discrimination is a misdiagnosis. In countries where Muslims are a minority or migrants, religious discrimination might be a thing. In Nigeria, no honest person can allege that with a straight face.

In Nigeria, a Muslim can petition a whole Inspector-General of Police and threaten violence if an atheist whose opinions unsettle him is not dealt with, and the letter would be honoured in less than 24 hours. Even more shocking, the target of that attack has been indefinitely incarcerated without trial. In Nigeria, a Muslim would petition the Police IG saying that a woman who posted a photograph of herself on Instagram had blasphemed, and then threatened the issue could degenerate into violence. The woman in question almost went into exile even after she withdrew the photo, donned a hijab, and virtually begged for her life. In another country, those that threatened her would have at least been arrested, but not Nigeria. When a religion that can pull those kinds of stunts alleges discrimination, you want to take a closer look.

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