17062019 - Parents now afraid to send children to school — UNICEF

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2019 — 37
When arts met
environment for
Nnimmo Bassey
By Osa MbonuAmadi, Arts Editor
The lands, forests, wildlife, oceans,
rivers, streams, ozone layer,
genetic capitals and bio-diversity
must have nearly choked in fits of bliss
on the night of June 11, 2019, for it was
a night when friends and lovers of the
revered environmentalist, Nnimmo
Bassey, organised a colloquium for his
61st birthday at VIP Restaurant, King
Size, Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, Lagos.
The keynote address delivered by Odia
Ofeimun, poet and polemicist, was titled
“Arts, Humanity and the Search for Social
Justice”. Odia, who in the course of
treatment of the topic, strayed into the
history of the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War;
saying strange things never heard of
before such as that Igbos did not occupy
high offices in Nigeria because of their
brilliance, but as a result of negotiation
with the north which excluded other
Nigerians.
Odia Ofeimun also accused the late
warlord, Odumegwu Ojukwu of planning
secession even as early as 1964: “…in
1964, the NPC won the federal
election… Nnamdi Azikiwe refused to
call Balewa to form a government. The
day he refused to call Belewa to form a
government was the day Ojukwu went
to Nnamdi Azikiwe to demand that they
should cut off. Zik refused. Ojukwu went
to Effiong, Effiong refused. He went to
Gowon…Gowon refused. But you see,
from that day, the basis for a coup was
already there…”
However, the keynote speaker
exonerated Igbos from the usual
accusation always leveled against them
by other Nigerians to justify their
massacre: that the January 1966 coup was
an Igbo coup. Ofeimun, a former political
secretary to late Chief Obafemi Awolowo,
author of the starvation policy that
claimed millions of lives of Biafran
children, said the coup was planned by
northern, western and eastern naïve
officers whose aim was to bring Awolowo
out from prison and install him as Prime
Minister.
In connection with the arts and
reference to the prevailing insecurity in
the country, Odia Ofeimun said one of
the roles of an artist in society is to help
create an environment in which people
relate. “We have not been able to design
a society in which we do not hurt one
another; society has to create order before
it begins to think about social justice.”
On the environment, the keynote
speaker said we are destroying and
abandoning plants that save life, and
that doctors have become very expensive
after being trained. He condemned the
northern hegemony saying “what
happened in Northern Nigeria – a case
of minority taking over a large majority”
is very dangerous and will never stand,
regardless of how long it lasts. “If we
want to live in a common society, we
must create a common citizenship.”
In a remark by the celebrant, Nnimmo
Bassey said: “It is true that if you don’t
know your history you will be
condemned to live it over and over again
until you learn about it. And Nigeria’s
history has been rapped and kept as a
secret for young people, so that many
young people today don’t know who their
leaders are. Now we keep recycling the
same people over and over again and
people say it doesn’t matter. It is a big
challenge. We need to be more critical
than we are.
“The theme of this meeting (Arts,
Humanity and the Search for Social
Justice) is really something as Odia
spoke. I took notes, and I will think a bit
more about some of those things (Odia
said) because each statement was like a
seed. And every seed contains a whole
plant, and every plant has a capacity to
turn into a forest. Every seed that is sown
in our heart tonight will go to fertilize so
that we have to watch over them,
interrogate them, and let them grow.
“The environment is one thing that can
actually unite this nation and make our
people rise and hold our leaders to
account, because there is no part of this
land you go that you will not have a
specific environmental issue that will
make you angry. Is it gully erosion in
the east? Is it desertification in the north?
Is it the pollution in the Lagos Lagoon,
deforestation across the south, or oil spill
In commemoration of this year’s Africa
Day, the Art of Living, a nongovernmental
organisation, made a
call for guidance through its founder, H.
H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The event was
conducted across over 25 African countries
via a webcast with over 50,000 people in
attendance.
During the program tagged “Voice of
Africa”, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, popularly
known as Sri Sri, led his audience to
meditate for the peace and prosperity of
Africa.
The webcast which would be its 6th in
Nigeria had participants of both Nigerian
and Indian decent. The participants who
had a large youth population were
inspired by the meditation to do good for
their country. Meditation, breathing
exercises and yoga play important roles
in inculcating a sense of wellbeing and
happiness in an individual. When one is
happy, one will not resort to violent ways
in life.
Since its inception in 1981, The Art of
Living has been able to reach out to over
155 countries and has spread this message
of love and peace. The founder, Sri Sri,
has been involved in mediating between
From left: Poet and keynote speaker, Odia Ofeimun; Renown environmentalists,
Nnimmo Bassey; and wife of Nnimmo, Evelyn Bassey, at the 61st birthday
colloquium organised for Nnimmo in Lagos
or gas flares in the South-South, the
mining that goes on in the middle belt
without any control? We are living in a
poisoned environment – eating poisoned
food, breathing poisoned air, drinking
poisoned water…and I believe it is time
for us to wake up and challenge the
system and change our thinking; to
question every move.”
Akeem Lasisi and Evelyn Osagie, two
journalists-turned performance poets,
repeatedly entertained the guests with
assorted dishes of spoken poetry
hybridized with music drama.
Cross-Cultural Wisdom & Africa Day:
The Art of Living for World Peace
…most relevant to the orgy of violence across Nigeria
H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
government and Farc leaders in
Colombia and was instrumental
in brokering the peace pact
after 50 years of turmoil in
Colombia.
During the live webcast, Sri Sri
mentioned that “outer peace can
only come from inner peace. We
only give what we have. A rich
man has money so he can give
money. You can’t ask a poor guy
to give you money. It’s only a man
who has knowledge that can give
knowledge. Similarly, a person
who has peace can bring peace
to others. So we need to find
peace within. Inner peace is the
key for world peace. And
meditation leads to inner peace.
“If individuals are not at peace
they will bring disturbance in
their families. Even if one
member of a family is disturbed,
the entire family will be
disturbed and many such
families make a colony in a colony. If one
family is disturbed, they go crazy, they go
violent; it disturbs their neighbours; it
disturbs everyone around that individual.
A disturbed family creates fear among
other people living in that same colony.
And it goes on and on.
“Then, when the same people get to
power; when they are afraid of the others;
when they are not peaceful; when they
are not happy, they also make their
neighbors unhappy. Consequently, the
country also suffers; the economy goes
down because they are ruling the country
out of fear and anything based on fear
can only bring more disaster, more fear.
“Peace between nations is only possible
when communities are peaceful; when
religions are at peace; when families are
at peace with one another. The root of all
these is individual peace, inner peace.
Inner peace is possible through
meditation, through broadening one’s
vision of life through wisdom. Learning
what life is all about is very important.
Once we have that wisdom, all the human
values, all those values which we consider
as human values which we know are so
important for a society to be at peace, for a
world to be at peace, will follow.
“So on this day, we pray to the almighty
to lead us from darkness to light and bring
us the inner strength. Inner strength can
come through meditation. let us hope for
a very prosperous forward-thinking and
peaceful African continent.
“Africa is covered by different continent
on all the three sides and ocean on the
other side. So there is technology, science
from West and there is wisdom, human
values from the East. There are resources
from the north. So, African continent can
really benefit from its neighbors.
“Africa has the big five. What is it that
Africa does not have? It has great natural
resources. It has people who are in
rhythm; beautiful people of Africa with
kind heart, big heart. But unfortunately
the whole continent has suffered a lot of
oppression and infighting. On this
occasion, I appeal to the people in Sudan,
in Congo, Mali and all other nations
where there is conflict between religion,
between communities, to drop the past
and move on with the great spirit of
oneness and with the great vision for a
more prosperous and happy Africa.
Siyabonga, Africa”
Art of Living has been teaching
Happiness and Youth Leadership Training
Programs in Nigeria for more than 10 years.
In those years, the art has been taught in
Lagos, Port Hartcourt, Kano, Kaduna,
Abuja, Enugu and a few cities in Delta
state. Inmates at Ikoyi Prison have also
been given these workshops and these
have had very positive impact on the local
populace.
In association with the University of
Lagos, The Art of Living has launched
the Drug Free Nigeria campaign which
focuses on creating awareness amongst
youth on drug abuse and helps them get
rid of addiction.
The guests of honor in Nigeria included
Prof. Pat Utomi, Chairman, CVL Nigeria
and Mr. Ramesh Subbu, 2nd Secretary to
Indian High Commission.
In his remark, the special guest of
honour, Prof. Pat Utomi, while
acknowledging the great works of Sri Sri
said he is a beneficiary of Sri Sri’s
meditation exercise.