WEST AFRICA REVIEW ISSN: 1525-4488 Issue 9 (2006)

Benjamin Njoku

The event was double-edged. One, it was meant to celebrate the life and achievements of one of the gifted literary scholars of our time, Professor Biodun Jeyifo who turned 60 years of age on January 5, and secondly, it was also packaged as a platform to critically appraise the state of the arts during the past one year. But for whatever reason the event last Sunday was packaged, the memories of the 55th Art Stampede, organized quarterly by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), which has been at the head of art advocacy in the country for nearly two decades, will not be forgotten in a hurry.

The event held at the main auditorium of the newly established Art Centre, Terra Kulture, situated in highbrow Victoria Island was a specie of sort. Observed under a mild atmosphere, it had in attendance, artists of all ages; art critics, writers, journalists and art connoisseurs who took time off to pay homage to one of their own, Professor Biodun Jeyifo who has distinguished himself in all ramifications in his chosen career as an art critic, literary scholar, consummate journalist and University teacher. For the art house, the event was a celebration of life, a quick flip into the past and a re-ordering of events to move the sector forward.

Biodun Jeyifo, as many would describe him is one of the most engaging literary scholars of our time who stands tall in the literary horizon of the country. Having migrated from the Ife-Ibadan radical school of literary criticism, Jeyifo belongs to the second generation of Nigerian writers in the mold of Femi Osofisan, Odia Ofeimun, Niyi Osundare, Ahmed Yerima, Kola Omotosho, Ben Okri, Buchi Emecheta and host of others. He has through his creativity affected the life of so many Nigerians who would not hesitate to roll out drums to celebrating the man and his work.

The celebration train, however taking off at the exhibition hall of the Jazz Hole Art Centre, on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi on the evening of Thursday, January 5, the actual birthday date, continued unabated to Sunday, January 8, at the instance of CORA. At the informal gathering, the audience took a critical look at the place of BJ in the annals of contemporary Nigerian literature. Several speakers agreed that Jeyifo occupied a veritable space in the literary filament of the country. For Kunle Ajibade, the Executive Director of The News Magazine , who was the first to lead the floor, BJ is synonymous with Nigerian literature after Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. Trying to prove what BJ meant to his generation, Ajibade cited the lecture delivered last year, by BJ himself at the 70th birthday of Professor Wole Soyinka, where he raised a puzzling issue, bothering on whether the society has what it takes to recreate or re-generate another Wole Soyinka. According to the Executive Director of The News, the question of reproducing another Wole Soyinka is as disturbing as it is equally relevant in our contemporary time.“What BJ represents in the Nigerian literature and the future lies in the numerous literary works, he has produced over the 60 years of his life.”remarked Ajibade.

For Reuben Abati, social commentator and Chairman, The Guardian Editorial Board, Jeyifo is one literary scholar that means many things to many people. According to him, the place of Jeyifo in the annals of contemporary Nigerian literature is indispensable. “There is no one that can claim not to have encountered BJ even as a literary scholar or as a journalist. BJ is an admirable figure and a literary giant who holds society in high esteem” said Abati.

Also paying tributes to the big masquerade, were poet, Odia Ofeimun, Femi Osofisan and Kayode Komolafe, Managing Editor, ThisDay Newspapers amongst others. Attention was soon to be diverted when elder Steve Rhodes, firebrand Promise Okekwe and again, Reuben Abati, descended heavily on the decision of the present administration to convene the maiden edition of the Abuja Carnival, which they described as “a jamboree of sort” in the bid of promoting the arts. According to them, the essence of the carnival was totally uncalled for, and as a matter of fact, a heavy waste of money and resource. “When we talk of carnival in Nigeria, Abuja appears to be the last place to be considered.” Abuja, remarked Elder Rhodes has no soul, no culture and absolutely nothing to showcase to the world. He asked rhetorically, “Who shall constitute the audience of the carnival, civil servants, diplomats, or traders?”

Elder Steve Rhodes, a musicologist and retired culture administrator argued that, as far as promoting the nation’s art and culture is concerned, Abuja has little or nothing to contribute to that effect. “Talking about carnival, government should have looked at a state that has a cultural face, Abuja does not have one.” Being a product of society, Rhodes said his contention lies in the fact that, government instead of investing the money in “one massive jamboree,” should have considered the option of building a national calendar of cultural events that will promote unity in Nigeria. “Rather than building a national calendar of cultural events that takes us round the country, while highlighting the things that happen in different parts of the country. Out of the these events, which could then, be put together, we look at what is strong enough to represent the carnival of Nigeria. And that carnival is then staged wherever that event came from. That means , a carnival that moves around the round, talking to the people and not one that will be situated in one soulless city .” Elder Steve Rhodes posited.

For Duro Oni, Director, Centre for Black African Arts and Culture(CBAAC), the Abuja carnival should be viewed from the angle of government determined effort to move away from depending on the oil economy to investing in the arts. “The government said they want to go beyond the oil mono-economy, what can we do to realize the dream. Rightly or wrongly, the government said let us invest in our culture. That is how the Abuja carnival came about. I believe in the carnival and it is something that is on the right course” said Oni.

Meanwhile, attention later was returned to the chief celebrant, Jeyifo who described his 60th birthday as something that has helped to renew his spirit. “I feel renewed, I feel re-energized. I feel deeply gratified.” He reacted to the critical poser, regarding the statement attributed to him by Ajibade as having doubted whether the society can re-produce another Wole Soyinka, saying “I did not mean only exceptional literary icons in the lecture ignited the poser but also, how the society can reproduce creativity at all level, including the science, technology, art, philosophy and even in religion.”

Jeyifo remarked that one of the interesting things, he has found in the popular evangelism in Nigeria today despite all the shortcomings is the amount of creativity that goes with religion—the incredible creativity in the musical idiom. For BJ, despite the odds, his only source of hope for the country is tied to the study of the book, he introduced as American Cabral, which according to him, is easily one of the finest minds that this continent and indeed, humanity produced in the 20th century. “It says one thing, which is a permanent source of hope for me. It says no matter at what level of devastation, given the fact that our country and indeed, Africa is going through the turmoil of political mismanagement . . . Cabral said no matter how devastated human community is, at any point in time, it has culture. And with your culture, you can always start afresh.” BJ, who later gave his words to be home always is a Professor of English at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Originally appeared in Vanguard Thursday, January 12, 2006

Citation Format:

Benjamin Njoku. “At Terra Kulture, the Clime Celebrates Jeyifo and Appraises Itself,” West Africa Review: Issue 9, 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Africa Resource Center, Inc.