Damiete Braide
The second edition of the Nnimmo Bassey Colloquium, which held in Lagos recently, was educative, exciting and entertaining, as friends, associates, colleagues, well-wishers converged to celebrate the 61st birthday of Nnimmo Bassey with the theme “Arts, Humanity, and the Search for Social Justice”. Nnimmo Bassey is a renowned environmental activist, poet, architect and philanthropist.
Kickstarting the programme was a poetry performance by Evelyn Osagie entitled “This Is Not the Time to Grow Old”. She also thrilled the audience with another performance entitled “Imaging Niger Delta” where she laments the travails of people suffering in the region with the belief that the sun will rise again in our lives. Her third performance was “Eko Dance”, while Akeem Lasisi, poet cum journalist, did a poetry performance; and, later, the duo of Lasisi and Evelyn performed Udeme to the delight of the audience.
Akinbode Olufemi, one of the organisers of the event, in his address, said, “To some of us, Nnimmo means a lot of things. With our busy schedule, we hardly have the time of taking care of ourselves. Last year, we surprised him by giving him a surprise birthday colloquium in Abuja. By doing that, we want to celebrate his exploits because of the way he has mentored a lot of people.
“For those things that he represents, we need to find a way of preserving his legacy. We have to look at the synergy between the arts and the environment. It is also a tool for social justice. So many people have used their works to inspire people. We want to use our works to promote sustainable development, because art is a veritable tool for social engineering.”
In his lecture entitled “Arts and Humanity and the Search for Social Justice”, renowned poet, author and writer, Odia Ofeimun, enlightened the audience with his knowledge of Nigeria’s history. “It is the role of writers to write to improve the society.
“You write to improve the lives of people. Arts, indeed, create a sense of humanity. This humanity can be deployed to improve the society. Therefore, arts help us to create a world where we can live peacefully together. When the writer has written pointing out issues of environmental degradation, it is time then to take a collective action. This is where the issue of language comes in for proper communication.”
During the tributes session, Managing Director, Kraft Books, Ibadan, Steve Shaba, recalled how they met, “I remember the CLO days. I remember writers from the international community who wrote about our environment. Bassey is a man of many parts. He is also a man who does charity work in order to take care of the less privileged in the society. We have become very close ,especially the Abacha Days, despite the vicious regime. He was arrested by the military, and was how he wrote a poem ‘Intercepted’.” He promised to reprint some of Bassey’s books that are out of stock.
Equally, Kunle Ajibade read one of Bassey’s works, “Poems on the Run”, urging the audience to have a one-minute silence for Festus Iyayi, who introduced him to Bassey, praying, “May the soul of Iyayi continue to hunt those who killed him.
“Celebrating Nimo is what I will do all the days of my life. He is my mentor for life. Everyone that has one form of contact with Nimo, he has made them humble. If you are not humble, then you need to check your life after meeting him. You cannot give what you don’t have. You must be an embodiment to be able to the lives of people.”
Culture activist, Jahman Anikulapo, recalled that, when he was in the university, he belonged to a poetry group in Ibadan .One day, his teacher, Harry Garuba ,brought a collection of poems for the environment.
“You were my reference to the environment and may you live long for us,” he said.
The celebrant said, “Having this kind of gathering in my honour is very sobering. I will say that it is a time for deep reflections and understanding of where I am coming from is much longer than where I am going to. The time now that we live in is so complex and vicious that a lot needs to be done. This is not a time to get old ,because a lot needs to be done. To me, it is like a call to action and a notice that is not a time to rest.
“Art is life; environment is life; and, if the art does not capture what is going on in the environment, the environment cannot be adequately protected. Art is a tool for environmental protection and a protected environment ensures a vibrant workforce, citizenship and a healthy nation and a nation with a future.”