A Christmas Message From Solution

Thou it’s coming a bit late but we are wishing all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Christmas is a time of the year we get to enjoy ourselves not just by buying ourselves the best of things, but also give to people either fortunately or vice-versa to show that we also care about them.

Tomorrow is another day to give…… everyday is a day you give to others but the Holidays make it more special. Make someone’s day brighter, help shine more light to the world.

Adenuga Solution

Ajagun NLA hits the stage

Ajagun Nla, a play written by Ladepo Duro-Ladipo is on the 19th century Yoruba wars fought between Ibadan and the combined forces of Oyo and Ile-Ife. It was staged during the Easter period to draw attention to the numerous problems bedeviling the nation at the moment, writes Edozie Udeze

The scenes created by the 19th century Yoruba wars can never cease to amaze the world. The wars have generated lots of drama and theatre pieces that each time they are shown on stage, there are usually new things to learn and glimpse from them. The play Ajagun Nla written by Ladepo Duro-Ladipo which was shown during the Easter holiday is also one of those striking features of what theatre can do to make a historical event register in the minds of thespians.

Even though the play opened with the actors and actresses appearing from different angles of the stage, pouring encomiums on some Nigerian and African people who did their best to make the society better, the play itself essentially dwelt on the role of Ibadan warriors in the 19th century Yoruba wars.  Oyo Empire was under siege. The people were daily being tormented by Ibadan warlords. The market places had been shut down. People were being strangled to death on their ways to their farms, to the streams. Even at home, most of the people were not safe. Fear; great fear of the unknown that ruptured the community became a greater albatross. What then could they do?

At this point, Oranmiyan, the Alaafin of Oyo summoned his chiefs and soldiers. “What is the option now?” he asked them all. With one voice, they all agreed to send for Ajagunla , one of Oranmiyan’s brothers in Ile-Ife. A brave warrior, tall and fearless, Ajagunla was known for his great exploits.  He was feared by his friends and foes alike. He never embarked on an unfinished battle.

His charms and war tactics spoke volumes.  And so on arrival, Oranmiyan did not waste time in telling him why he was summoned.  “But why did you allow the situation to get so bad, brother?” he asked Oranmiyan. As he was handed over the staff of authority and power to prosecute the war, Ajagunla immediately became possessed. He raised the staff and shouted; “here, death to our enemies; to the enemies of Ile-Ife and Oyo. I will pursue them until there is no more life left in them,” he vowed.

With intermittent sounds of drumming and dances, the play showed the combined forces of Ile-Ife and Oyo routing Ibadan forces. The fierce battle produced death on both sides, but in the end Ajagunla triumphed. As he did so, he also created enemies within. Some of his trusted chiefs began to plot his downfall. One of them gave his daughter to him as wife. It was the same woman who attempted to ruin Ajagunla. Even though she did not succeed, she was nonetheless able to usher in moments of fear, mistrust, doubts, suspicion and loss of moral amongst the ranks and files of

Ajagunla’s soldiers.

In the meantime, Ibadan devised a more dubious style to torment Ajagunla. By now, Ajagunla’s war prowess, his strong charms and so on had begun to lose their potency. With assortment of masquerade spirits placed in uncouth forms in the warfront, Ibadan people were able to demystify Ajagunla .  As he made to pass, they stabbed him in the back. Even though he finished them all, the poison in the spear penetrated his system.  He struggled in vain to overcome the pain. As he did so, his wives appeared on the stage to beg him not to die.

“A hero, a warlord, does not die in the warfront,” he echoed.  “Neither does he go back home. He only disappears to join his ancestors”.  As he moved out into the inner part of the stage, he raised his staff to disappear into the world of the unknown.

Done in English and Yoruba languages,

Ajagunla demonstrates the story of one man who loves his people; a man who volunteers to abandon his own cozy lifestyle in a settled kingdom to save others. The zeal with which he fought the war showed that a leader can always emerge in the midst of confusion and crisis to liberate his people.

In order to make the play more engrossing on stage, the director, Sina Ayodele used dances and drumming to embellish it. The drumming zeroed into the nuances of the people. The dances also showed a Yorubaland of the 19th century when people were not as civilized as they are today. More so, the costumes depicted typical rural people of the period in question. From very rudimental designed fabrics, the costumes were done to suit the exigencies of the show. Each artiste was made to fit into an old scene where and when people hardly left their domains. As they sang and danced, people’s minds flashed back into time when fear ruled the lives of many.

This was why also the stage was designed to synchronize with the play. Done by Biodun Abe, the artistic director of Abuja Carnival and one of Nigeria’s foremost stage designers, the stage was rolled back into the 19th century rural environment. The rocks were made prominent. In the deep background, were footpaths leading to the farms and to the streams. They were also footpaths used by soldiers to trace their enemies and consequently made the wars possible.

Indeed the beauty of the stage design helped to drive home the message. On the elevated platform sat the Kabiyeisi (Oranmiyan).  On both sides of him were his trusted chiefs.  The rest of the stage was made available for the main body of the play. On no account did any artiste invade or interfere with the platform meant for the Oba. This is usually how it goes with a traditional stage setting done by someone who is truly at home with his people and what they stand for. Abe is gifted in this manner and so as always, he sticks to this traditional style to give his stage designs that aura and euphoria that distinguishes him from the rest.

The play showed the sense in presenting a story that harps on the need to have committed leaders in present-day Nigeria. Ladepo, son of the legendary Duro Ladipo who wrote the play was careful in selecting scenes that represent some on-going events in the society. The wars or the reasons for the crisis of yester year, can also be the reason for the confusion or the mistrust of today.

In making it a two-hour piece, Ayodele, the director of the play, opined that it was necessary in order to make the message more elaborate. “The message has to stick so that the audience would have something to go home with.”  Also the large cast was to show the total symbolism of the story itself and what ought to be done to eliminate wastes and build on the foundation of trust and commitment and love.

Held at the National Theatre, Lagos, Ajagunla attracted theatre lovers from far and near. The play brought out the roles Obatala, Orunmila, Sango, Ogun and Esu play in the lives of the people.  Even when the Ifa priest warned that the people should remain united in love to avoid the role of Esu, he was not taken serious. And it was the same Esu that put a knife in the midst of the people and divided them into different camps and groups. As he did so, hatred and undue rivalry became permanent in the lives of the people. The lesson to be learnt here is enormous. Even now, Esu still goes to where there is peace to sow seeds of disharmony, mistrust and death. Some of the artistes in the play include Tunji Sotimirin, Yemi Solade, Seyi Fasuyi and others.

​We must never forget our culture, heritage, says Olabanji-Oba

“We must never forget our heritage. It is who we are; it is our pride. Without history, we don’t have so much to look up to for the future, because we are all our history of where we are from,” says Hon. Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba, one of the leading female voices for the girl-child empowerment and community development in Lagos, especially in Ikorodu. She noted that culture is imperative for development, adding that it is what defines us as a people.

“If you don’t celebrate your heritage, you truly have no identity. What is there about you to celebrate? For me, every day I wake up, I thank God for my heritage.

I am proud to say this is my history, so aligning myself with that history gives me greater hope for the future and to say: ‘My forebears did it to this level, I am also contributing this; my children and children’s children tomorrow, will also say, my grandma and my great-grandma did this.

So, life is like a baton you pass on, but you must put it in a positive way. And that is why I am very passionate about Ikorodu,” she said. According to her, as a person, you are a living testimony.

“Most times, people don’t have to follow you to your house. Your way of life, the standard that you set, speak a lot about you if you have that real family values and orientation. Some of my friends, they tease me, before they say anything they won’t even call my name, Princess, they will say ‘Ikorodu.’ I laugh, and say so Ikorodu is my name? Their responses are:

You, everything, Ikorodu, Ikorodu Oga, Ikorodu Unlimited. And when they say that, once I hear Ikorodu Unlimited, it puts a smile on my face, because it is saying, I am this, and I am not ashamed of where I come from. I love my people so much from the bottom of my heart.

And no one is an island; it is not something that only one person can do. It is something for which we all have to join hands and be true ambassadors of our home land.”

A real estate and brokerage expert, and founder of an NGO ‘Shelter of Grace Foundation’ (SGF), Olabanji-Oba, who is seeking election as chairman of Ikorodu Central Local Government Area on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), also stressed the need for teaching of history in our schools.

“It is very important that we teach our children history. That is one thing I celebrate my grandma for, she had a lot of influence on me too. She taught me a lot. Now, my children, before I say two things, I tell them proverbs, I tell them about our culture.

And I am proud to say so many things to them because I took time to learn; and those things I learnt in my formative years have helped me a lot.

“The technology that we have today should be major enhancer, not things that can expose us to dangers that are out there. So, history is very important.

When we learn who we are, how we were, it helps realize where we are today. And it makes us plan even better in regard to how tomorrow can be greater. Also, the language is a must.

And, I know even my husband will say I am an Igbo woman in Yoruba body, because I was raised to see Nigeria as one. I speak the three major languages – Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa.

So, that Wazobia attitude needs to be imbibed also in our children,” she said. On her love and passion for community development, helping the less-privileged, promoting peaceful co-existence, industry among others, she said:

“I am a child that was raised with so much love, and so giving love is all I really know how to do. I thank God for the lives of my parents of blessed memory, they are both gone.

My mother was one very strong factor in my life. She taught me that ‘you’ve got to prioritize, give your best diligently, in any community you find yourself.’ And she will tell you, ‘a good name is priceless above rubies and diamonds. And living a life of integrity is sacrosanct.

There is no excuse. She wasn’t privileged to go to school so much, but she was somebody that believed so much in education, and also believed that whether you are a boy or a girl, it doesn’t matter.

I am her first daughter, and I know that my father at that time was like ‘he needed a boy’ and so on. I just thank God that before he died I proved him wrong, that boy-child, girl -child, it depends on what you put into that child.

Before my father died, he used to call me ‘Okurin mewa’ not even ‘Obirin’ (girl) anymore, because he saw the heart that I have and he was ever so proud of me.

“And now that they are gone, I know t h e i r spirit lives on; and I want them to be so proud of me, wherever they are, to say: ‘I have left a good child that will also bless their world tremendously.

And I think that is what life is all about. We are here for all of us; we should be our best brother’s, our best sister’s keeper; watch out for each other; and know that nobody is an island.

And whatever you do, give it your best; and also invest in yourself. The ‘you’ of today must be better than the ‘you’ of yesterday; so your ‘you’ of tomorrow must also be better than your ‘you’ of today.” She stated that she was born in Lagos Island, Isale Eko, and had beautiful experience.

“My orientation like I said, comes with a big smile every time I think about my parenting, the love and support from my parents. I went to school in Adeola Model School, Offa, Kwara State.

I went to Federal Government Girls College, Owerri in Imo State for my ‘O levels’. I had my ‘A levels’ at King Language School, and then the American College for my first degree. I took some courses in business and marketing at West London College, before going on to the United States of America.

And I was in insurance first, from insurance into real estate. And before I relocated to Nigeria in 2006, I was licensed as a mortgage broker and banker in California and Texas to do mortgage and real estate. Coming back to Nigeria, I set up a real estate firm, Pacific Capital. That is pretty much what I do. I have a foundation, called Shelter of Grace Foundation that takes care of women and youths.

I believe in training, empowerment; so far we have trained over 5500, in different vocations and skills. I am doing this not because I am rich but I believe that at whatever level the society has nurtured you, now it is about you giving back. “My going into politics also stems from that. I just believe that politics means relevance.

If I am able to help my people more to influence things, to create a better enabling ground for them, I think I can be a happier person.

So, for Ikorodu, the love of my mum, the love that my mum also had for this community, Ikorodu, who even before she died made me promise her to take care of her people, yes my people.”

Anatomy

How to create a museum — wherever you are

Courtesy of Design Museum Dharavi
How the setting for Slumdog Millionaire became the location for a unique and vibrant pushcart museum.

By 2030, some two billion people — or nearly a quarter of humanity — will be living in informal settlements like Dharavi, the dense and intense home to one million residents in Mumbai, India. As more of the world’s rural poor move to urban centers in search of opportunity, such makeshift neighborhoods will play a major role. But please don’t call them slums, say two Amsterdam-based creative partners: curator Amanda Pinatih and artist Jorge Mañes Rubio, a TED Fellow (TEDxMadrid talk: Souvenirs that reimagine the world around us). “By continuing to call the communities ‘slums,’ these areas and their inhabitants are being cast as a problem to be excluded,” they say, “rather than a group to be supported as part of society’s fabric and future.”

Earlier this year, the pair co-founded a design museum in the heart of Dharavi, which was the setting for the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire. Pinatih and Mañes Rubio wanted to overturn, as they put it, “the western idea of a museum, which tends to be associated with gigantic buildings, star architects and a big dose of glamour and sterilized culture.”

The Design Museum Dharavi became a showcase for local makers’ work, featuring everything from chai cups and bowls (front) to water containers and brooms (rear). Courtesy of Design Museum Dharavi
By contrast, their museum was a gently lit pushcart that opens up into a mini-gallery filled with colorful objects like chai cups, water filters and cricket bats, all created by makers from the community. “We want to use design as a tool to promote social change and innovation, challenging the negative perception of informal settlements and reimagining the museum of the future,” says Mañes Rubio. Here, he and Pinatih give a step-by-step playbook to building a museum that showcases a neighborhood’s vibrant art (and spirit).

Find the person who knows everyone
When Mañes Rubio first went to Dharavi in 2011, he was impressed by the artistry and entrepreneurial spirit of the residents. “Families who had mastered the same craftsmanship for generations lived next door to those who were using modern manufacturing technologies, like laser-cutting,” he recalls. He met Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava, co-founders of urbz, an experimental urban research and action collective based in India and South America. Later, they began talking about creating a museum in the settlement, and in early 2016, Mañes Rubio and Pinatih were introduced to Shyam Kanle, who works part-time for urbz.

Born and raised in Dharavi, Kanle comes from a family who have been masters in the crafts of basketry and broom-making for generations. “When walking through the streets with Shyam, you’d think he was a Bollywood star or a well-known politician, because he shakes hands with everybody!” say the founders. “He knows everyone in Dharavi. He helped us find makers to work with and got them to trust us.” More than 60 of the settlement’s artisans, tradespeople and small-business owners ended up as part of the museum.

At the museum, Dharavi artisans demonstrate the skill and labor that goes into their pieces. Courtesy of Design Museum Dharavi
Make your museum mobile
“One of the most important characteristics of the museum is that it’s nomadic, to cope with the ever-shifting use of space in that dense environment,” say the founders. All over Dharavi, people use pushcarts to sell different goods, resulting in a user-generated market that keeps reinventing itself. “This inspired us to create a pushcart-based, nomadic exhibition space that works both as a venue and as a meeting point for cultural exchange and innovation. Moving from place to place lets the museum interact and engage with different neighborhoods and their communities, too,” they explain. In its nine months, the museum occupied three different sites in the three-square-kilometer area of Dharavi.

Makers were encouraged to rethink their products. One of the results: beautifully hand-carved cricket bats. Courtesy of Design Museum Dharavi
Coax makers to leave their comfort zones
Pinatih and Mañes Rubio wanted to give the makers — who were largely accustomed to making everyday, functional products — the freedom to experiment with their pieces for the museum: “We pushed ourselves and them to think of brand-new products to make using their traditional techniques, of creating new ways to make objects, or of recasting or reforming their products into impossible shapes.” While Design Museum Dharavi was intended to serve as a community showcase rather than as a shop, one beneficial result of the project is that some of the tradespeople have incorporated their new methods and products into what they sell to the public.

The museum held a cricket tournament where the bats got a workout. Dharavi tailors made the players’ shirts, which were also embellished by local embroiderers. Courtesy of Design Museum Dharavi
Encourage aesthetics that reflect local identity
It may not be apparent to visitors quickly passing by, but Dharavi — like most of India — has a vibrant visual culture. “From outside, informal settlements may seem gray and dusty, but inside Dharavi, every corner is decorated in bright colors,” say Mañes Rubio. “This is part of the community’s identity, and we wanted to represent that freedom in the pieces we showed.” For example, water containers are a common household object in Dharavi and are usually red (the color of the clay). So the founders asked the potters to design them as exuberantly as their homes, where doors, courtyards and walls are a riot of hues. “The result were completely new and eye-catching artifacts,” says Mañes Rubio.

Dharavi is a densely settled neighborhood, with one million people living in three square kilometers. Courtesy of Design Museum Dharavi
By putting pieces like these in the museum, the founders were hoping to give people a different perspective on the settlement, one they might not get by walking through it. “Sometimes visitors would say: ‘I can’t believe these are made in Dharavi!’” say Pinatih and Mañes Rubio. This, in turn, inspired curiosity — and conversations with the makers about their work. “If objects are carefully made, people will get interested in the stories behind them,” they add.

Some of the colorful chai cups created for the museum. Courtesy of Design Museum Dharavi
Think about the bigger picture
The museum closed at the end of October, but the founders are trying to turn it into an ongoing, sustainable institution in Dharavi. They’d also like to launch similar initiatives around the world. Of course, they’d be thrilled if other people are inspired to do the same. (They recently published a limited-edition book documenting the project.) Their advice to would-be curators: “Create a museum where the walls are transparent — a museum that encourages a greater diversity, not only in the pieces exhibited but in the audience that it attracts — and make sure it has a socially relevant role in your community.”

This handmade book documented the Dharavi project, including a manual of lessons learned. Courtesy of Design Museum Dharavi
Above all, people brainstorming the museums of the future should not forget the importance of delight. Puzzled at first by Design Museum Dharavi, the children in the settlement eventually came to describe it as “a magic show without the tricks.” Perhaps someday every neighborhood — large and small — will be home to its very own magic show.

For me, art is life –Momoh

What informed your interest in art? The idea of sponsoring art or my interest and passion in art comes from collecting habit of appreciating art works. I have always appreciated art; and I can tell you that I am one of the major collectors of African arts in Nigeria and also a patron of art.

I can say that art for is life. I feel complete when I am in any art environment; any environment where art is being displayed, I feel highly complete and alive.

I am also a very big ambassador of creativity; anything that has to do with skills and talents, I support it heavily. So, art for me is something I have grown to appreciate and to love.

At what point did this your passion for the art started? What really inspired it?

I am not from an art family. My parents were not artists; they were not collectors. I don’t have any sibling who collects artworks; I don’t have any sibling who is an artist.

The passion and the love for art actually started because of my love for creativity, like I said. Anything that is creative, I see as art. Even good photography for me is art.

I always appreciated good and creative things. And that point at which I caught the bug, was when I see very beautiful art piece that I appreciate and I can’t go to sleep without thinking about it, actually started about 10 years. Somewhere in England, I went into a gallery and the attendant was very vast in and understood arts.

He made me to understand the different benefits of arts. So, since then I have grown to love it; I have researched it, I read it. I go to exhibitions, auctions, even when I didn’t have money, I go to exhibitions just to view; go to auctions just to view.

And then, with the kind of energy the people in the room exhume you will have no choice to catch the bug; it’s like a virus.

What motivated Frot Foundation commitment to sponsor the art exhibition titled ‘Insanity’?

The exhibition ‘Insanity’ is just part of it. The exhibition is an offshoot of our resolve to encourage arts in Nigeria and beyond the shores of Nigeria. From what I understand, from what I have seen in the arts and culture sector in Nigeria, there is a huge gap between the masters and the young ones.

So, I kept asking myself, when are we going to fill this gap? By the time these masters are getting too old to paint, what are we going to appreciate? Who is going to remind us of our heritage? Who is going to remind us of our purpose in life, which is appreciating creativity?

So, I decided that youth development is always the key to any vacuum. Like in sports, we focus on youth development; in art, we focus on youth development.

So, ‘Insanity’ actually started from a programme we did, called ‘Artists Connect’, where we invited artists from all over Nigeria; and we had about 250 attendees, and they came with their works.

It was a fantastic event; they knew each other, exchanged ideas; we enjoyed the works. And we did a shortlisting of about 20 artists and a further shortlisting of about 12 of them.

The whole idea of doing that was to focus on a small group and use it as a pilot programme to create a platform that talented youths can leverage on and have hope and grow, and launch themselves into the art world. So, Insanity came for the purpose of creating that platform and exposing these artists to the world.

Going by how involved you are by your interest in the sector, have you sponsored any exhibition before? And what are the criteria you use in picking the exhibition you sponsor?

This is our third exhibition this year alone. The recent solo exhibition Kolade Oshinowo, held at Terra Kulture, was partly sponsored by Frot Foundation.

Then the people I call the ‘12 disciples’ – Abiodun Olaku, Reuben Ugbine, Bunmi Babatunde, Edosa Ogiugo, Duke Asidere, Alex Nwokolo, Fidelis Eze Odogwu, Olusegun Adejumo, Sam Ovraiti, Diseye Tantua, Mufu Onifade, and Segun Aiyesan – they had a group exhibition titled Infinite Treasures II which was held at Terra Kulture recently. It was 100 per cent sponsored by Frot Foundation The criteria we use in picking the exhibition you sponsor, is value creation.

What do think about the lack of support from private sector for the arts, especially here in Nigeria?

The truth of the matter is I am not going to use the phrase ‘lack of support’, because we have a lot of the companies in the private sectors that are actually support art.

So, at the end of the day, it is about our value system; it depends on the values that these companies place on arts. I can tell you that it could be better. I expect a lot more, but I totally s a y t h e y don’t sup-port.

I know a lot of companies that do support arts heavily; they sponsor exhibitions, they attach their names to exhibitions and auctions. That is encouraging, but, like I said, I expect a lot more from the private sector.

But then again, the awareness is gradually increasing; even the appreciation of arts in Nigeria is gradually increasing. We have a lot of young people, and people under the age of 50s that are beginning to be art lovers in Nigeria.

What is the next stage for Frot Foundation in terms of sponsorship for the art sector in Nigeria?

We can only get bigger. Like I said, ‘Insanity’ was created as a platform for future events like this. We have a lot of young talented Nigerians who saw the works featured in Insanity, and said to themselves: ‘I can even do better.

Thank God there is a platform I can showcase my talent and my work’. So, there is going to ‘Insanity’ 2017 and ‘Insanity’ 2018. So it’s now a platform that every young artist will be looking forward to, to showcase as an opportunity to see what they can do.

My biggest role in this whole art scenario is to see private museums springing up, and will be open for the public to see how deep and rich our cultural heritage is. Your support for the arts appears to be tilted more in favour of the visual art.

Does the foundation also support other areas of the arts, like the performing art for instance? Yes of course. Like I said, anywhere help is needed as little as we can, as much as we can, we always lend a hand because we believe in our mantra which says: ‘every little counts.

It does not matter the amount; it is about the principle behind it. So, for the performing arts, of course we have a hand in that. For us art is art, as long as it promotes our cultural heritage.

The foundation is focused on four cardinal areas which is water, education sports and arts.

Fort Foundation tends to be there when help is needed, but our major focus, like I said, is water, education, sports and arts. Education in the primary education, providing infrastructure, providing the right learning environment for primary schools, because I believe that is the foundation of education.

The foundation provides infrastructure like tables and chairs, learning materials, and a conducive environment. Outside these four cardinal areas enumerated, Fort Foundation has been very vocal and very supportive in helping the health sector.

The foundation partners Noah’s Ark Foundation for Sickle Cell, also a partner to Cancer Aware Nigeria. We have sponsored several events, promoting awareness in sickle cell and also providing their monthly drugs.

For Cancer Aware Nigeria, our aim is to continue to educate the Nigerian public because we realised that women are dying by heavy numbers every day. We also realised that the major reason is ignorance; they don’t even know what to look out for.

So, with this education and this campaign, we are doing right now from this leaflets you are seeing we believe and hope that the education will spread far and wide even to the rural women; so that prevention is going to be better than cure.

Outside that we have a passion for providing a hand in any work of life that needs help – personal medical attention for people with illness who cannot afford medical attention, we sponsor that. We are also strategic partners with the Lagos Motherless Babies Home in Lekki.

Right now we are working heavily on providing boreholes – 10 boreholes – for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-East. And our slogan is very simple: ‘Every little counts’. So every little we can,we will always be there

Recession hits Lagos cane village

In this season of goodwill and exchange of gifts, Dorcas Egede visits the popular Cane Village in Lagos and reports about the low patronage

Coming from either Ikeja or Ikorodu Road as you descend the bridge at Maryland, Lagos, and walk towards the area popularly called Odo Iya Alaro, you will walk right into the Cane Village. The sight that greets you as you approach the village is one of simplistic beauty. Weavers and sellers of baskets, chairs and other household furniture, made from cane, are lined up on all sides.

The first person the reporter came in contact with was a middle aged woman, who gave her name as Blessing. Together with her mum and sister, Blessing sells baskets of all shapes, sizes and colours at the village. Beautifully crafted baskets of varying colours and hues are seen dangling on wooden stakes. If one had hitherto not felt the aura of the season, a visit to the cane village instantly reminds you that Christmas is just around the corner.

Low patronage But unlike what it used to be like during the festive periods, the cane village had very little traffic on this day the reporter visited. The first words Blessing blurted out when she was approached by the reporter were, “Business is bad, no market.” After a little persuasion, she continued, “Buhari is the cause of this. See how the whole place is filled with unsold baskets.”

How has the patronage been in recent times? The reporter asked. Blessing’s reply was a near retort. “Isn’t it obvious? If people are really patronising us, our wares would have reduced by now. Before, by this time of the year, I will not have the time to even talk to you because I would be attending to at least 10 people at the same time, so will my mum and sister be busy, but see how we’re sitting, practically idle. Since Buhari came in, there has been hardship everywhere. When you can’t sell your wares how can you even feed?”

Asked who their customers are, Blessing said customers cut across the society. “Our customers vary from bankers to private individuals, the police force too used to come and buy baskets from us to package hampers, and we even used to help our customers to package hampers. The way things are now, customers who used to buy up to 1,000 baskets now buy like 300, even 50, and they’ll be telling you they’re taking a risk by doing so. The truth is that they actually don’t just want to package the hampers at all, but because they can’t avoid giving few of their big customers, they reluctantly package a few hampers.”

Lamenting even more, Blessing added, “See everywhere is still full and we have only a few days before Christmas. There is nobody that isn’t affected by this change; everywhere is tight. And you see, of all the things needed to package hampers, I can say that the cheapest is the basket, yet people are still not buying; everything is just at a standstill.”

Other attempts to speak with more basket weavers and sellers was met with rebuffs, Chibueze, a weaver, who this reporter met arranging canes for weaving, bluntly refused to speak after he was told the reporter’s mission. He, however, said he will only speak on the ground that the reporter pays him for speaking.

Moving further into the village, another weaver, who gave her name as Victoria also refused to say much after she found out that the reporter wasn’t a potential buyer. “Business worse pass dry. Na Sai Baba hold everything” was all she offered in pidgin. Claiming that she will be disciplined by the chairman of the cane village (a convenient excuse to get the reporter off her back) she asked the reporter to go and speak with him instead.

Business hasn’t been this bad The chairman was working on a basket when the reporter approached him. Without looking up from what he was doing, he greeted the reporter in return. He soon raised his head however, when mention of The Nation newspaper was made. “Have you come to interview us so that you can send the message to Buhari?” he asked, suddenly interested. With a nod of agreement from the reporter, the chairman, who later introduced himself as Prince Idowu Adesoji continued eagerly, “Because Buhari has to hear that we are suffering hard times.”

Before the reporter finished the question of how business has been, Adesoji’s response was, “Business is not booming. We are working still because we are hanging our faith on hope. If business is booming you will see the signs, but we thank God we are surviving.” What about their regular customers? Adesoji said, “We are not seeing all our customers, they are all complaining. Even when you call them, they don’t take your calls. So, we have to apply wisdom; when you call once or twice and they don’t pick, don’t push it, so that you won’t hear what you don’t want to hear. I’m not joking; I’m being sincere with you.”

Asked who their regular customers are, Adesoji said, “Our customers are banks, individuals, who have stores; they come and buy baskets, package the hampers and sell in their stores for others to come and pick up. So, when they sell, they come again and pick up more. We also have those who get orders from companies, come to us, and package hampers for those companies. For some of those people, they know that every year, they will get orders from the companies they supply, so they book baskets ahead of the festive season to avoid delay. I have about three customers like that, but till now I haven’t even seen them.”

What is it usually like yearly? “In previous years, we start production from September because orders start coming in from that time; and everybody is happy. You’ll see it on their faces that there is money. Even our neighbours selling food and drinks enjoy us during those times, because our patronage increases. Now, they say it’s economic recession; we don’t know when we are going to get out of it. But we can only trust God that it won’t be too long. But, I won’t lie to you, things have been so bad.”

Adesoji, who said he has been in the cane weaving business for 31 years, first as an apprentice and then a boss, said in the 31 years, business has never been this bad. “It has never been like this before. I have been in this business for 31 years; things have never been this bad. I was trained here in Maryland, and I have taken my trade to the northern part of the country. But since I have been in this industry as an apprentice and as a boss of my own, I have never had it this bad. I was in Abuja, Kaduna and many other states, but things have never been this bad,” he said.

Isn’t it possible that since the cost of production may have increased, their customers are discouraged by the hike in the prices of their wares, the reporter asked, curious. “Who is talking about price now? In fact, we are even selling below the cost of production, so that people will even come and buy, yet we are not seeing anybody. We need money as a means of exchange; at least I won’t get on a commercial bus or buy meat in the market and give the conductor or meat seller a basket in exchange. If we even see customers, we will sell. As I am now, if I see someone who will pay N2,000 for a basket of N3,500, I will sell it, let me just have a little money in my hand. See, our products have alternatives. If people can’t afford our baskets, they can choose to buy plastic baskets, or even use coolers to package their hampers. That is why our market cannot be so high. It’s money we need to meet other needs. I borrowed money from cooperative to produce, I produced to some level and couldn’t continue because I looked at the market and saw that there was no need to continue producing.”

How about cane materials for weaving of the baskets, how do they get those? “We get materials from the Niger Delta, and now they are even agitating for an increase. You can’t blame them because the cost of everything in the market has increased.”

If baskets are not selling, how about other furniture being produced by these weavers, the reporter asked. “Even the chairs we sell are not moving either. Now, we make chairs and they can stay for up to five or six months before a buyer comes along, and most times, they price below the cost price. Is that how I’m going to feed my family? I have three children in the higher institution, two of them did project this year, do you know what length I went to ensure that those children are happy? I made that chair you’re seeing there because I wanted to use the money as part of expenses for my mother-in-law’s burial, but the chair is still there, even though mama has long reached heaven. In fact, even if she were crawling, she would have long reached heaven.”

Itching to go back to what the reporter met him doing, Adesoji, as if to reiterate what he had been saying all along, said, “Everywhere is dry, a lot of people are complaining, but what can we do? We will not steal, we will keep doing what we know is best and keep trusting God. If we’re unable to sell now, we’ll treat the ones on ground with chemicals in preparation for next season; peradventure things would have gotten better then.”

Misha Kahn’s Scrappy Cabinet is made from trash and woven grass

Misha Kahn worked alongside basket weavers in Swaziland,Africa to create this cabinet made from grass, trash and stained glass found on a beach.
Kahn’s cabinet featured among a collection he showed at Design Miami, where

maximalist design “for apocalyptic times” was a recurring theme.

The New York artist based the Scrappy cabinet on the “sense of a treasure hunt”, using a number of unusual materials to create the abstract form.

“The process of weaving a basket makes everything feel so precious to me because it’s so methodical and slow,” he told Dezeen. “In a way weaving with trash felt like a nice way to disrupt that, but also make the trash very precious.”

Working with a collective of basket weavers in Swaziland, a landlocked area in southern Africa, Kahn used grass to form the main woven structure.

However, as the country is facing a severe drought and grass is scarce, Kahn had to find a second material help shape the cabinet and introduced pieces of rubbish.

The trash was then incorporated into the weave, with larger parts forming the cabinet doors and smaller parts adding colour and decoration.

Pieces of stained glass found on a beach were used to add further decoration to the two semicircular doors.

The Scrappy cabinet is the latest piece by the artist, who describes his aesthetic as “uncomfortable”.

“If I know I like something it won’t keep my attention to finish it – so things that strike me as a little cheesy, like stained glass, provide a nice challenge to keep working against,” he said.

Kahn presented his Scrappy Cabinet alongside an installation of chandeliers made from blown glass and metal at Friedman Benda gallery’s stand during Design Miami.

His designs mirror others in the collectible design fair, which for the last few years has been dominated by mid-century French and vintage furniture but was this time filled with more experimental pieces.

“There’s a big push back against the era of good taste,” he said. “I do think there’s an apocalyptic zeal in the air and people are kind of saying f*ck it – why not buy something insane and put it my house.”

Somto Ajuluchukwu: African comic culture

Vortex Inc is a Nigerian creative content company, founded in 2015 by Somto Ajuluchukwu. The company’s aim is to help change the perception of Nigeria and Nigerian culture through the medium of comic art.

“Vortex Inc is a creative content company, keen on exporting African culture through comics and cartoons,” says Ajuluchukwu.

Ajuluchukwu had noticed a lack of diversity in the comics available when he was young. Kids in Nigeria grow up with Superman and Spiderman, but with very few heros who looked like them or lived in cities that reflected everyday life in Nigeria. Vortex is trying to create a counterculture with comics that reflect the people and myths of Africa.

“We’re trying to tell them that there are comics and cartoons that are more relatable to you. There are comics and cartoons that tell your story,” says Ajuluchukwu.

The stories and characters created by Vortex exist within The Spirit Universe. Unlike Marvel and DC, where the plots are often based on science and technology, African tradition is more rooted in spirituality and the characters are therefore more inspired by religious beliefs than science laboratories. For example, one of their heroes – Strike Guard – is the reincarnation of an African deity and has the powers of thunder and lightening.

The comics aren’t only important for helping change the perception of Nigeria. History isn’t a subject in the Nigerian national curriculum, so it is through stories and comics – like the ones produced by Vortex Inc – that Nigerian children can learn the myths and legends of their homeland.

Ajuluchukwu says that the biggest challenge faced by Vortex in Nigeria is that of funding. Investors, he says, keep looking for new tech companies to invest their money in, instead of looking for creative content. But now is the time for creative content.

Unilag Law Student Makes ties with Ankara

Buraimoh Kikiope, a 200l Law student, University of Lagos , UNILAG has said that the current economic situation drove him into making corporate ties with Ankara fabrics for clients both home and abroad.

Speaking to Quadlife, Kikiope said it was high time Nigerian youths became creative rather than continuously languish in despair and alter helplessness.

His words, “I am known as EkAfricanclassic. What inspired me into creating ties with Ankara is the present situation of joblessness among the youths of Nigeria.

I feel it is time we the youths become creative and come up with ideas. “Okikiope said the success story of business mogul, Aliko Dangote made him to task himself with business ideas.

In the process, he found love in the use of fabrics to make fancy ties. “ I had started reading of Dangote and this spurned me to believe that I can make a difference with my ideas; “I could make 50 ties in the middle of the night.

I am aiming to be the number one distributor of Ankara ties in the continent,”

The young undergraduate said since October he started showcasing his products, he has garnered patronage inside and outside the shores of Nigeria through his use of the social media platform such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram etc.