Nigeria - Special Supplement and Advertisement

Ebony, Feb, 1990 by Yinka Craig, Sonala Olumhense, Remi Oyo, Tanoloju, Pat Utomi

NIGERIA

THE RENAISSANCE

On February 25, 1989, in Damman, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria's youth soccer team, the Flying Eagles, was locked in a FIFA World Cup quarter-final match with the Soviet team. With only 30 minutes left, the Nigerian team was down 4-0. Reaching for great reserves of spirit and imagination, Nigeria drew level before full time, and went on to defeat the bewildered Soviets.

In September, the nation's permanent representative to the UN, Joseph Garba, became President of the General Assembly. Four weeks later, Chief Emeka Anyaoku defeated former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser to become the new Commonwealth Secretary-General.

Early in October, President Ibrahim Babangida announced a new political party structure that could usher in a lasting two-party democracy in Nigeria.

All over the land, in every field, eloquent new strides confirm the destiny of this giant of Africa. From Nigeria's coastal borders, through the rain forest all the way to the fringes of the Sahara desert where the country's northern boundaries lie, the surge of national pride in the Nigerian renaissance is palpable.

The following pages are a journey through these attributes that make Nigeria deserving of the label - first used in an international news magazine in 1974 - The First Black Power.

POLITICS

AND

GOVERNMENT

Modern Nigeria is the fascinating story of a people's determined and sustained hunt for an enduring democratic system. This hunger has never been as intense as it is today, as the country embarks on surgical measures to establish a democratic two-party system. The current effort, which terminates in October 1992 with the return to civil rule, began in June 1987 when President Babangida, who came to power in 1985, announced the government's transition program.

Last October, the program reached a key point when the government embarked on the building of a grassroots two-party system.

Power, in the new system will be truly vested in the people, not in the small but powerful urban political elite that had monopolized power in Nigeria since independence and had largely longed to this period, which is dated at about 500 B.C.

In the 9th century, the intricately-patterned Igbo-Ukwu masks were sculptured in the east of the River Niger. Three centuries later, the Ife bronze-casters of the Yorubas, whose tradition is still being jealously preserved in the Americas asserted their creative prowess.

From NOK in the Early Iron Age down to the periods of the great Kingdoms, utensils in metal were produced with increasing sophistication. Ife paved the way for the classical objects of art and utilities produced in the Benin Kingdom from the 15th to the 19th century and also the Tsoede on the northern bank of the River Niger from the 16th century.

The pace of development in the old societies was altered by slavery and colonization, but not until they had claimed a prime-position on the chart of cultural advancement. This is borne out by the accounts of European visitors in those days.

For instance, the capital of the Benin Kingdom in 1602, as recorded by historians Roland Oliver and John Fage, was regarded by European visitors "not only as a great city, but also as one which might quite fairly be compared with major European cities of the time".

One of the reports read: "The town seemeth to be very great; when you enter into it, you go into a great broad street, not paved, which seemeth to be seven or eight times broader than the Warmoes Street in Amsterdam".

Seventeen years after the Benin massacre, in which the rich artistic treasures of this great kingdom were looted by the British invaders, the protectorates north and south of the Rivers Niger and Benue were merged and the modern state of Nigeria created. It would remain under colonial domination until independence was attained in 1960.

Even now, traditional art forms convey a sense of social consciousness. Oshogbo still blossoms with satirical masque on Europeans of the days of slavery and colonization. The Kwagh-Hir Puppet Theatre of the Tivs, has a full repertoire on the exploits of the white man. But culture, says Prince Tony Momoh, Nigeria's Culture Minister, (see interview) is not just artifacts. These aspects of life are seen in an organic relationship so effectively simulated in art.

It is needless to repeat the fact that the late Orlando Martins featured in the film, Hasty Hearts, with former American President Ronald Reagan. But it is more significant that the Nigerian veteran, along with the late President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, belong to the early generations of black actors.

Chief Hubert Ogunde, now consultant and artistic Director of the Nigerian National Troupe, was not formally trained in theatre arts when he launched his concert party 45 years ago. He merely transferred his experience from the masquerade tradition to church drama. He later used his plays in the 40s and 50s for nationalist causes, followed by a series of highly successful performances in London in the 1960s.