* ‘Young Africans are the most technologically literate people, the world is competing for your minds’
By Anote Ajeluorou
THE maiden edition of Edo International Book and Art Festival (EdIBAF) 2023 kicked off in grand style at the Sir Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub on Airport Road, Benin City on April 26, 2023, with Governor Godwin Obaseki and some of his cabinet members in attendance. It was part of Edo Education Week designed to celebrate the educational innovations the Obaseki-led administration has wrought, particularly EdoBest, a World Bank recognised educational programme, and the impact it has made in the lives of learners and educators alike in the state.
The Commissioner for Education, Dr. Joan Oviawe, was on hand to direct affairs as chief host. The festival was part of the weeklong Edo Educational Week designed to celebrate the artistic and cultural life of Edo people and its array of creatives scattered all over the world.
Attention was, however, on the maiden edition of Edo International Book and Art Festival that had as theme ‘Every Child a Reading Champion’, designed to stimulate a reading habit among pupils, students in Edo schools and Edo citizens at large. Guests artists from as faraway as South Africa (Lebo Mashile), Ghana (Nana Asaase), Dubai (Anisa Daniel-Oniko) and Lagos, Nigeria (Jahman Anikulapo, Olu Ajayi, Victor Ehikhamenor, Jude Idada, Dr. Eghosa Imasuen) were on hand to make the festival a memorable one for attendees. Also, primary school pupils, secondary school and university students poured in from every part of the state to participate at the festival.
Festival Director Samuel Osaze had really worked hard to pull off a great festival in what appeared an unchartered terrain. The over 1,000 capacity hall was filled to the brim with others outside. An exhibition pavilion was set up in the vast carpark where booksellers and craftsmen and women displayed their attractive wares for sale. Edo State Government also distributed many books it purchased from authors to the pupils and students who were present.
The hall exploded when the debates started, with primary and secondary schools’ debates, with Mr. Michael Ipogah and Mr. Anote Ajeluorou serving as judges. Okhoro Primary School squared up with Olua Primary School while in the secondary schools’ category, two students from Idia and Edo Colleges squared up with a pair from lmaguero College to convince the audience on the topic: ‘Has Digital Technology Done More Harm Than Good’ in the education sector? Okhoro Primary School and Imaguero College came tops and were gifted school bags and books by one of the festival’s sponsors, the German cultural centre, Goethe Institut-Nigeria, Lagos.
After the debates, South Africa’s star performer and spoken word artist Lebo Mashile spoke to the festival theme ‘Every Child a Reading Champion’ in a keynote address, and took her young audience on a rapturous journey on their prime place in the universe, urging them to see themselves as the most important young people on planet earth. She said a lot of people and forces were jostling for their minds which they must guide from being influenced negatively. Mashile reminded the youngsters the enormous powerful they wielded and why they must guide it jealously from forces jostling to hijack it for purposes that may not be for their own good.
“You are the most important young people in this world,” Mashile told her young audience. You are the most technologically advanced people in the face of the earth. You are the most vibrant, artistic, rich people. You belong to the future. Right now, here in Africa the population of young people is huge. So you’re the future not only of Nigeria, not only of Africa, but you are the future of the entire planet earth. Every time you open your phone, every time you open your tablet, or switch on the TV, you see different people competing for space in your brain, telling you what to think about yourself, telling you how to feel about the world, telling you how to see yourself, what to think, who to be, how to talk and how to say your mind. You are very important.
“If you were not important, they wouldn’t all be a competition for space in your mind, because you have it in you as a cause, as a collective; you are a treasure house. As young Africans, you have the power to shape the trajectory of the world. And it’s important that you do not serve other people’s agenda, people trying to control you. People believe that it’s important to control you; they won’t do so if you’re not important. They won’t do this to you if you don’t have the power. And this is why education is important, because your mind is the resource that you have. No one, absolutely no one, can take control of your mind unless you allow them. What you feed your mind with is your own decision. The content that you expose yourself to on social media, the books that you read, the people that you interact with, the opinions that you take in and decide that you are going to go through, you have control of that.”
Mashile told her audience how technologically and digitally literate they were, the first such young people in history, and why they should use the technological and digital tools at their disposal diligently. She assured them that young Africans were the future of the world and advised them to maximise that unique opportunity to be better global citizens. She praised the debaters, who she said showed uncommon intelligence and brilliance, saying they should embrace education, as the right tool to rule their world.
“These young people are absolutely brilliant,” the South African confessed. “It’s an absolute pleasure to be able to see your confidence, your intellect, your bravery, your creativity; these are the things that are nurtured in you. And you have the power to decide what is nurtured and cultivated in you. That is your power. The inspiration that you feed yourself with, the words that you meditate on. What you decide to become, that’s your power.
“All these speak to every child being a champion of reading. There are different kinds of literacy in the world. There’s literacy that enables us to read books. My 3-year old can do with my phone in five minutes what I cannot do with it in two years. That’s technological literacy. You are the most technologically literate people to ever exist in the world. Being technologically and digitally literate means that there’s so much that you can do. Being literate in a technological and digital space also means being on your guard. Who is lying to you? Who is manipulating you? Who is telling you the truth? You should be able to decipher the truth about any information and the lies out there. Trust that instinct, and cultivate that instinct and do not allow anyone to take it away from you. That’s your power.”
Mashile rounded off her keynote address with a scintillating performance that sent the audience into wild frenzy. She dedicated the piece to young people, urging them to embrace reading and education as the right tools to unlocking the future. Also, guest artist from Ghana Asaase also gave a good account of himself with his performance, saying he’d brought greetings from the land of gold. The Edo anthem was also a major feature of the events at the Edo Education Week and its component book and art festival. It was rendered lustily in Edo and English by school children. Although fairly long, the anthem spoke to the dignity of Edo as a land whose greatness has stood for centuries and will continue to stand tall for a long time.
A fellow teenager and writer Anisa Daniel-Oniko, author of 2019 longlisted children’s book for The Nigeria Prize for Literature, Double ‘A’ for Adventure, joined the festival via Zoom all the way from Dubai and made a heartfelt presentation to her fellow teens in the hall. She spoke about her writing and all the things that should interest teens like her and why paying attention to their education is a big deal. The home-tutored teenage writer endeared herself to her fellow teens who plied her with questions after her presentation to underscore how immersed they were in her presentation even though it came from faraway. Another teenager that blew the mind of the audience was Deborah Omorodion of Imaguero College, whose captivating piece ‘Edo’ threw the audience into rapturous ecstasy. It wasn’t just the content of the piece that also conjured the majesty of the Edo and its ancient history, but her electrifying performance, nuance and cadence all combined to give her performance five star quality.
A panel session focused on ‘Making Books Inviting for Children and Adult Readers’ had the author of Fine Boys and co-founder of Narrative Landscape Press, Dr. Eghosa Imasuen, child development activist and Deputy Programme Director of Step Up Nigeria, Oluwaferanmi Iyanda, and author of Igho Goes to Farm and Libations for Africa, Mr. Anote Ajeluorou as discussants. The three were agreed that the visual presentation of a book from the cover to the content inside needs to have the right mix of required ingredients. First, the cover must be colourful with visually pleasing illustrations inside for children’s books. Next is the content that must be captivating, well edited and presented in legible prints. Finally, the pricing is key especially in an economically challenged environment like Nigeria and most of Africa, where parents find it difficult to meet the basic needs of families. Government and publishing firms were therefore called upon to work in synergy to make books readily available for readers across board, but especially young people. Pupils, students and parents expressed excitement when Edo State Government distributed various titles to them as festival mementos.
BY evening of the same day, Wednesday, April 26 Edo International Book and Art Festival got to its peak with the ‘Open Mic Poetry Slam’ that had secondary and university students vying against each other for the top prize. Indeed, it was a revelation, as the young people outdid themselves to impress the jury panel made up of Idada, Asaase and Mashile, with Imasuen moderating. Twice Idada overruled Imasuen and insisted that the audience had a say in who was to remain or be booted out of the show. This added spice and excitement to the contest. Out of the 17 contestants, Friday (Voice) Osarodion of Faculty of Law, University of Benin, Benin City, took home the coveted N100,000 prize money. Imoisi Happiness, his secondary school counterpart, took second position.
Open Mic Poetry Slam winner, Osarodion spoke about his joy in winning the contest and how more of such opportunities should be available for young poets as often happened in Lagos and his desire to be a guest poet in next edition of the festival, among other things.
“Of course, everybody will feel happy. I mean, that’s what victory brings—joy and fulfilment. I didn’t feel anything different. Winning the slam earned me the title – First Poetry Slam Champion of Edo International Book and Art Festival. Of a truth, it was my first slam participation. But not my first poetry title. I was the champion of ‘The Goodluck Osama Ogbeide Poetry Competition’, an online poetry contest on the pandemic, organised in 2020 by the then Chairman of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Edo State chapter.”
Friday Voice recalled his initial disinterest when a colleague brought the contest to his attention, but he would later change his mind, and the rest, as they say, is history, “This thing cracks me. Sincerely, when Pastor Ivan, a friend of mine, sent it (flyer) to me, I had no interest. When it was about a week to the competition, a course mate (Peace Hezekiah) asked me to coach her and I was happy to (do so). But on the audition day, she felt she was ready. She was the one who persuaded me to go for the competition. Hence, it was on the audition day I started writing my spoken word on the theme. The poems I did in the first two rounds were actually one. I cut it in half when I learned it was two rounds on the theme. And, of course, I blended them with a few new lines.”
Friday Voice recalled how tough it was to compete with the others who had come with flaming poetic swords to do battle. For winning the contest, he has reserved a portion for tithe to his God for seeing him through, and also expressed appreciation to his church that gave him wings to soar. Friday Voice is yet to publish, but he’s working on it, he says.
“This cracks me again!” he reminisced. “Like I wrote to the host commissioner, all poets came with their swords flaming and armours on. Even the seemly younger ones were not ready to bow out. I must confess, we all knew our onions. God! I don’t know how you see it, but I told him, “if I win, your ten percent (10%) is yours…” And I won. Since I was a child – shout out to Church of God Mission (Oka Provincial headquarters) – they gave me the chance to write and perform my poetic quotes and rhymes. But standard poetry started when I was in SS2 at Niger College. Not as good as Happiness and company anyway.
“No collection yet. One discouraging factor is that people rarely buy poetry collections, except it is recommended for schools. My thoughts anyway. The winning poems are in the process, of course. From the government, never! No slam in the state that I have heard of. But Lagos has it all, Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPFEST), War of Words, etc. We need more of this here.
“I just can’t wait for another edition. I mostly likely will not compete, because I will be in Law School, other things being equal. Nonetheless, I would love to perform as a guest poet. I think I have earned that (laughs).”i
CAPPING up the festival experience is the director Osaze, who went through thick and thin to deliver a world class festival in a new terrain. But he wasn’t new to the nuances of festivals, having assisted in making many festivals successful such as UNESCO World Book Capital 2014, organised by Rainbow Book Club, Port Harcourt, and the longest running festival, Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) over the years. He was able to pull off Edo International Book and Art Festival (EDIBAF) 2023 to the admiration of officials of Edo State Government and its teeming local and global audiences.
“Like the saying goes – getting started is the most difficult part of any journey,” Osaze said philosophically. “So, it was with the inaugural outing of EdIBAF 2023. But today, we’re all happy that the festival has come and gone. It’s a resounding success, by my estimation. Preparations were tough but special thanks to the Edo State Ministry of Education under the leadership of Dr. Joan Oviawe – the Commissioner for Education. I was saddled with putting the festival together by the ministry and pretty much glad it turned out fine.
“We are looking at a much improved edition next year when all lapses would have been adequately covered. I believe the festival, living up to its name, will continue to attract both home and international talents thereby creating a watering hole where meaningful dialogue and other engagements take place.”
AN excited festival fan, writer and mother of festival participant, Esosa Daniel-Oniko, who participated virtually, gushed about how impactful the festival was on her Facebook wall. For her the panelists, the school children and the audience generally had a feast of words, and prayed for the festival’s longevity for its impact in the state to continue.
“So it was with excitement I received the news of the Edo International Book and Arts Festival… I was ecstatic that such a tradition (I pray) was being established. That the fine people of Edo State would have this festival to enjoy. My family and I discussed the benefits, the modalities and the possibilities for its future. But nothing prepared me for just how much I would enjoy it. For how awesome the panelists, keynotes, poets, spoken word artists, workshops, authors, performers, organizers, and speakers would be.
“But as utterly amazing as they all were, it was the children in attendance that blew the event out of the water for me. They debated, they sang, they recited, they listened, and some, like my daughter, spoke. I have never seen a group of children listen with such rapt attention. And for so many hours too. It was beautiful, and filled me with hope.
“When the time came to ask questions, their questions were so well thought out, curious and intelligent. Confidently delivered, and carefully worded. They weren’t asked for asking’s sake. The star of the show, for me, being the eight year old girl that wanted to know the difference between reading and studying. It melted my heart, I tell you.
“And again, I was struck by the necessity for these events and initiatives. Again, I smiled for hours. And again, I was filled with gratitude for words, and the gift thereof. For writers, artists, and creatives of all kinds. Words will always have my heart, but I see you all.
“There is hope. There is. Embedded in the spirits and souls of these children, and in the work of those who are true to their gifting. And faithful to their craft. The ones who have chosen to tread paths of grace and glory. Who don’t just throw things together, or rely on sensationalist muck, purely to make a buck.
“Or for fame.
“The ones who pour themselves into their work, and care about its quality, message and ability to change lives. Even when it is unfashionable to pursue excellence, wholesomeness, and value. I am proud and humbled – all at the same time. Thank you for having us.
“Thank you to all the organizers of EdIBAF 2023. The first Edo International Book and Arts Festival.
“And may God breathe on it.
“Long may it live.
“Ise!”
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