Colloquium discusses appreciation of Nigeria’s art and culture

The event which took place at the International Conference Centre, Garki, Abuja brought together Africans in the Diaspora, scholars on African issues as well as relevant Pan-African and cultural agencies around the world. Declaring the colloquium open, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Abubakar S. Mohammed said the event was timely given […]

The event which took place at the International Conference Centre, Garki, Abuja brought together Africans in the Diaspora, scholars on African issues as well as relevant Pan-African and cultural agencies around the world.
Declaring the colloquium open, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Abubakar S. Mohammed said the event was timely given the wave of independence anniversary celebration across Africa, a time he said should be for stock-taking and self examination.
He urged participants to revisit the ideology that drove the struggle for independence in the first instance, with a view to turn the ill fortunes of Africa; low life expectancy, high infant mortality, violence and its resultant wars, and genocide around, and emphasizing that these were not the dreams and desires of our founding fathers.
He also assured that Africans could deploy the tenets of Africanism to creating the much needed enabling environment for viable and sustainable economic growth and development.
Welcoming participants to the event, Director-General of CBAAC, Prof. Tunde Babawale, said the colloquium “Is one of the major programmes through which the centre gathers views, opinions and impressions of scholars and practitioners in various fields on Black and African affairs on a regular and sustained basis. These views are further collated, documented and disseminated in line with our mandate of preserving, propagating African culture in its totality.”
Babawale went on to say that, “The theme of this year’s edition was informed by our firm belief in the unity of all continental and the Diaspora Africans as espoused by the founding fathers of Pan-Africanism.”
While noting that the movement was founded in the 1900s he said it was conceived in a bid “To secure equal rights, self government for Black and African peoples; Pan-Africanism has expectedly moved beyond some of the issues that led to its emergence.”
The CBAAC helmsman, however, stated that despite the attendant gains of the movement, “Decades of independence have not translated into appreciable development for many African countries and the political logjams and persistent social crises in some parts of the continent still remain a source of worry.”
The gathering which was tagged ‘Global Africans, Pan-Africanism, Decolonisation and Integration of Africa, Past, Present and Future’ aimed at highlighting the contributions of Africans in the continent and Diaspora Africans to post-independence Africa. It also tried to identify, assemble and document the contributions of Africans all over the world for proper preservation as well as create a platform for the proper coordination of Pan-Africanist vision, mission, ideals and activities.
Sub-themes discussed included Creativity and the Arts: Popular Culture, Music and Folklores; The Death of Writing Versus the Duty of Memory: the Afro-Colombian Experience;  Pan-Africanism: Spiritual and Cultural Foundation. Discussants included Prof. Ade Ayo; Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr, former Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities (AAU); former Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Law of the University of Ghana; and Chinweizu Chinweizu, journalist and advocate of Black Power Pan-Africanism.
A major issue raised by Prof. Ayo which was in line with the thoughts of others present was the fact that Nigerians and Africans as a whole need to accept the reality of who we are and not let go our cultural values, languages and art. “When we understand this, we are half way solving our problem.” He added that, “Our problem is our inability to articulate our problem before tackling them.”
The event which is CBAAC’s third colloquium is in commemoration of the 50th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria, ended yesterday.