NIGERIAN WATCH

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a creative revolution is
underway in Nigeria
The arts has always played
second fiddle to academia
in Nigeria but that may be
changing judging from the
over 150 people who
attended the All Party
Parliamentary Group on
Nigeria on
Considering this was the
second APPG meeting in as
many weeks it clearly shows a
piqued interest in the creative
industries, which was the
topic of debate.
The session was held in
conjunction with the British
Council (BC) and presented
the arts in Nigeria in a new
light; as the catalyst for
challenging dialogue,
community regeneration and
international collaboration.
And, as a key economic
driver, with the creative
industries sector forecast to
double in size by 2019.
Ojoma Ochai, Director Arts
Nigeria, BC – the UK’s
international organisation for
cultural relations and
educational opportunities –
gave a brief snapshot of the
seismic shift taking place in
NIgeria.
She started off with the
observation that it used to be
said in Nigeria, "if you want to
hide something put it in a
book". But the recently
released Born on a Tuesday by
Elnathan John, published by
Casava Press, sold out its first
print run. Meanwhile, Fifty,
the film made by Brixton
based Nigerian Biyi Bandele,
opened across Nigeria in 24
cinemas and sold out for over
four weeks. There has been a
70% increase in cinematic
releases across the country,
presaging the arrival of the
new Nollywood.
Just halfway through the
UK/Nigeria season, which the
BC launched last August, the
Elnathan John
Biyi Bandele
statistics are phenomenal.
Forty events have been staged
involving 46 partners from
Nigeria and the UK, 32,000
people have engaged face-toface,
1.6m have tuned in to
broadcasts of events, and the
hashtag (#ukng) has had over
80m impressions.
Meanwhile, global auditing
and consultancy firm PWC in
its Entertainments and Media
Outlook, said Nigeria's
entertainment industries are
the fastest expanding major
market globally with an
annual growth rate of 15%
and by 2019 it forecast will be
twice as large – meaning it
will be contributing around
5% of Nigeria's GDP. 82% of
that growth the report said
will be fuelled by the Internet.
Against this backdrop Ms
Ochai said, "Nigeria is clearly
open for business already and
the next few years presents an
opportunity for global
networking and collaboration
greater than we can imagine,
because the internet breaks
down barriers."
Marion Wallace, who was
the manuscript curator
behind the British Library's
celebrated West Africa: Word,
Symbol, Song, confirmed the
growth in literary publishing,
observing that “Nigeria is
especially fruitful in
producing writers". There is
now a greater diversity of
writers, with more women
and ethnicities represented,
and a greater breadth of
subject matter and genres.
Both Hadrian Garrard,
Director, Create London, and
Glasgow Nigerian Dele
Adeyemo, Co-founder and
Director, Pidgin Perfect,
spoke of delivering
community arts projects in
Lagos designed to build
bridges and show how culture
is used to transform
communities.
Mr Adeyemo, whose
organisation has developed a
cultural hub called Create
Lagos, told the meeting,
"There are a lot of good people
to engage with in Lagos, form
trend analysts, fashion design,
video curation, film and
publishing to name a few."
He said the hub was
"charting the creative
revolution in Lagos as more
and more creative spaces
emerge where the most
urgent and challenging
subjects are being discussed".
He concluded by saying,
"Create Lagos is a state of
mind" because more and more
people are being drawn to the
city from across Nigeria and
the world to engage in that
conversation.
When it comes to the arts,
it may well be time for us to
think again about their value.
festival of black writing
The UK’s first books festival dedicated entirely to
writers of colour, Bare Lit, debuts later this month.
The event has been launched as a riposte to the
‘white out’ at literary festivals across the UK and the
shameful omission of any BAME authors among
those to be celebrated on World Book Night.
This came in the wake of Spread the Word, a report
into diversity in publishing released last April,
which found that “an old mono-culture prevails in
publishing” and that less than five per cent of writers
appearing at the three big literature festivals in the UK
were BAME authors.
At that point “it seemed imperative to do something”,
said Samantha Asumadu, one of the organisers
of Bare Lit. Ms Asumadu, founder of Media
Diversified, said the current representation of writers
of colour at UK festivals was “abysmal”, and accused
publishing of “institutional discrimination”.
She added, “That writers of colour are invited only
to speak about diversity is a damning indictment of
both the publishing industry and literary festivals
themselves. By curtailing them in this manner, readers
are missing out on the full range and beauty of
their work.
“If we don’t value writers of colour and they are
not seen and heard with their white peers, they are
even less likely to get published. I can’t imagine my
life without having read Buchi Emecheta and Toni
Morrison as a teenager. That future titans of writing
may not get their chance to be read widely because
of institutional discrimination in publishing is heartbreaking.”
The Bare Lit Festival, takes place on Feb 27-28 at The
Free Word Centre and The Betsey Trotwood pub in
Farringdon, London. For more details visit
www.barelitfestival.com