http://www.ngrguardiannews.com
THE GUARDIAN, SUNDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2011
ABOUT 30 workers in the various disciplines of the Literature discipline gathered in a function room of Eko Hotel & Suites, last Monday to review the state and status of the $50,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature with a mission to setting it on a more progressive and widely beneficial path for the creative writng community. the gathering was at the instance of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company, NLNG, which initiated the prize (as well as its $50,000 Science counterpart) and has been its facilitator over the years.
According to Siene Allwell-Brown, General Manager, External Relations, of the gas company, the forum was conve of making it the “best and the biggest for rewarding excellence” as well as one of the best administered prizes in the world. Said the ex-newscaster, “We believe it is time enough to ask some pertinent questions: in the eight years of its existence, would we say that the Prize definitely lived up to this billing? Has it presented a large enough canvas for writers, publishers, editors, book sellers, literary critics, and journalists to paint their dreams? Has it made excellence its prime guiding principle and have the aspirations, yearnings and dreams of the stakeholders in promoting excellence in writing and publishing been met? Has the Prize been administered in a fair and transparent manner?”
Former Vice Chancellor of te University of Ibadan, Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo, who chaired the session, noted that the Prize has been growing from strength to strength, and that the Stakeholders’ Forum would help in propelling NLNG on the best way forward. Banjo counselled that the Prize should remain a prestigious one that will “command the respect of Nigerians and one that can be a model for the rest of the world to emulate”. He advised that the interest of literature should be uppermost in the resolution of the issues that would arise at the forum.
Jerry Agada, ex-Minister of State for Education and now, President of Association of Nigeria Authors, ANA, who was deputy chair of the Forum, described the session as a necessary initiative to make the Prize more inclusive; and bring out the best for literature in general.
President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Prof. Ben Elugbe, recalled that the academy became part of the Nigeria Prize for Literature through invitation from the NLNG. NAL’s involvement is to ensure that literature Prize, like the Science prize, is better managed and better judged. He would want NAL to be seen as a fair judge in the issue of the management of the Prize money.
Ifeanyi Mbanefo Manager Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, NLNG reviewed the Prize from when it was conceived in 2003, stressing that now that the project is concluding its second phase of four years per phase, there is indeed the need to review its journey so far and position it for the next phase as well as greater accomplishment.
A consultatnt Strategist and Corporate Governance expert, Deji Toye of Lodt Governance Centre, Lagos, reviewed the management structure of the Prize, and recommended among others that:
• The Award should remain The Nigeria Prize for Literature as against Prize for Humanities
• In place of the current Literature Committee an Advisory Board should be constituted comprising a carefully selected group of stakeholders, appointed by organisations/institutions in the industry value chain to carry on the creative, scholarly and disseminative aspects of the project. The proposed organisations/individuals are: Association of Nigerian Authors, Nigerian Academy of Letters and National Library of Nigeria. In addition, a senior executive from the Corporate Affairs/CSR team of NLNG to serve as Secretary of the Committee and the head of the Secretariat; an eminent Nigerian of an iconic status well respected for his/her integrity to serve as the Chairman of the Committee. The reduction to five from 12, the Consultant said is in view of NLNG’s desire to reduce administrative costs.
• The Advisory Board should have the power to appoint Judges which membership should comprise the following:
Three scholars experienced in the genre under consideration for the year; one seasoned practitioner in the genre under consideration;
one iconic, public figure who is a proven enthusiast/connoisseur of literature, especially the genre under consideration. This is for common touch and popular appeal.
• The Judges be invited through public advertisement to serve for a year on the panel.
• The Stake holders Forum should be maintained and converted into a virtual General Assembly. This forum should hold at the end of each four-year cycle for review of governance framework and operational processes.
• The winner of the Prize should be announced through an interaction with the Press prior to a befitting Prize Presentation ceremony. In view of cost, the Grand Award Night Ceremony should be shelved.
• In a No-Award year, the Prize money should be donated to a charity that is active in the promotion of the literary arts or the money returned to source.
The Consultatant’s presentation and those of the Academy and ANA as well as other contributors from the various organisations present were reviewed, after which teh followuing resolutions were passed:
• Endowment: It was generally agreed that the NLNG should create a Foundation which will endow the Nigeria Prize for Literature and Nigeria Prize for Science for sustainability and perpetuity.
• Purpose: It was agreed that the strive for excellence must remain the core for award of the Prizes.
• Reading Culture: It was agreed that a National Book Tour and in case of Drama a National Play Tour be reintroduced to take the book and the author to the reader across country.
• Scope: The Award should remain restricted to Literature and not the Humanities.
• Book lists: It was agreed that the long list should remain an internal consideration of the Judges while a shortlist of three should be publicised.
• Stakeholders Forum: It was agreed that this should be convened annually.
• Judges: The recommendation that the position of the judges be advertised was rejected.
• Award of Prize: Announcement of winner should be on the Presentation Day.
Represented at the meeting Various organisations within the Literary and Creative writing community; including Association of Nigerian Authors; Nigeria Academy of Letters; Nigeria Publishers Association; Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists; Abuja Writers Forum; Arts Writers Organisation of Nigeria; Women Wriers Association; Committee for Relevant Arts, CORA; Literary Agents; as well as some notable workers in the creative and literary discipline including Odia Ofeimun; Tony Ujubuonu. Also four of the past laureates of the prize were in attendance: The poet, Dr.. Gabriel Okara ; The dramatist; Prof. Ahmed Yerima; The Prose writer, Prof. Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo. Nigeria Guild of Editors;
Living In Two Cultures: Story Of A ‘Prize For Excellence
BY IFEANYI MBANEFO
A poem,” Robert Frost once wrote in a letter to a friend, “begins as a lump in the throat … a homesickness.” Frost was an American poet highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life. His work frequently employed settings from rural life to examine complex social and philosophical themes. He won four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry.
This morning, I have a big lump in my throat that has nothing to do with poetry; it is for gratitude. I hope Frost and other poets in this hall will forgive me for appropriating this vital medical sign for purposes other than poetry.
Eight years ago, my company forged an immensely successful partnership with writers and scientists to reinvigorate and nurture learning and culture in Nigeria. The partnership was founded on the very simple idea that writers and scientists have important roles to play in the society and deserve public support and recognition. Creating awareness, stimulating competition, rewarding and recognising excellence in literature, science and technology will enable this country to provide meaningful existence for its citizenry and shore up standard of its education and literacy.
Permit me to share a secret with you. Meltwater News Inc., a global specialist in online media monitoring that keeps track of business critical information published online for 16,000 of the world’s most admired companies and organisations, has found that The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science, between October 2008 and October 2010 generated 511 online articles. You may say that is a few hundreds, but, wait for this: those articles were read by 139, 940, 496 people.
Seeing the size of the entries every year, the vast improvements in the writing value chain – editing, proofreading, publishing, etc – and the media attention these prizes are receiving, and feeling the drive, energy, and intellectual force flowing from this project, I believe the proof is undeniable: there is hope for science and literature in this country; this partnership has given science and literature a new lease of life.
I still have the lump in my throat. So, with your permission, I discharge it, presenting on behalf of my Board and management, a bouquet of our thanks: for everything you have done, so far, to make the project a resounding success. Individually and collectively, you have made this journey very exciting for us.
I also thank all of you who, forfeiting all else, have made it here this morning to join us in discussing literature and these prizes.
I am not exaggerating when I say that writers everywhere make great company; this is no doubt going to be a gorgeous day.
INTRODUCTION:
Companies don’t become model citizens overnight; it’s a long journey from corporate to model citizenship. And for this journey, there are no beaten paths.
The challenges of responsible business practices are huge and learning pathways are complex and iterative. Every company’s journey is unique. Some companies become responsible citizens by choice, others by circumstances.
Take Nike, for instance. A leader in responsible, ethical practices, Nike’s metamorphosis from the poster child for irresponsibility to a leader in progressive practices makes for an interesting reading. In the 1990s, protesters railed against sweatshop conditions at Nike’s overseas suppliers and made Nike the global poster child for corporate ethical fecklessness. Nike’s every move was scrutinised, and every problem discovered was touted as proof of its irresponsibility and greed. The intense pressure that activists exerted on the athletic shoes’ giant forced it to take a long, hard look at corporate responsibility faster than it might otherwise have.
Since the 1990s, Nike has raced through a bumpy road on this front, but has ended up in a much better place for its troubles. To become a model company, Nike cleaned up its processes, became an ethical company, but above all turned its attention to the society, to the people through corporate social responsibility programmes. Let’s take a roll call:
Nike is partnering with the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development to install and refurbish 25 basketball courts throughout New York City giving 10,000 children access to the game.
Through its N7 initiative, Nike has built an environmentally friendly performance shoe to address the specific width and fit requirements for the Native American foot. Diabetes is prevalent in this community, so this shoe will help combat it by encouraging and improving exercise
Nike supports the Homeless World Cup, a world class, annual, soccer tournament engaging players from 64 countries. About 71% of the participants significantly change their lives after competing in the Homeless World Cup.
In Soweto, South Africa, Nike built a football training centre, giving 20,000 young footballers access to a programme that includes high-end training facilities, top-level coaching and HIV education.
In 2007, South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius ran the 100 metres in 10.91 seconds. Without any legs. The first amputee to break the sub-11-seconds barrier. Some critics claim that the carbon fibre blades he ran on gave him an unfair advantage. Nike has helpfully pointed out that these critics have legs!
The lessons from the Nike saga will help other companies traversing this same ground.
Coming in the wake of Nike’s troubles and Shell’s scuffles with Ogoni and other communities in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria LNG Limited, was ready from Day One to be an exemplary corporate citizen ready for the new era of end-to-end responsibility.
In this new era, it’s no longer good enough to do your job well, satisfy customers, and generate financial returns. You are accountable for the supplies you use and where they come from, what your customers do with your products and whether it improves their lives, and the costs and benefits to the countries and communities touched along the way. This, perhaps, explains the public interest in Dangote’s business or Otedola’s empire.
Operating a fast-food franchise, for example, requires much more knowledge than how to cook, bake and serve. Where was the food grown? Is it organic? Does it lead to childhood obesity? Is it healthy food?
Companies and leaders are assessed not only on immediate results but also on longer-term impact—the ultimate effects their actions have on societal well-being. It is a trend, which although it came in small waves is now surging.
Signs of this trend are everywhere. Questions were constantly directed at Nigeria LNG Limited concerning shortage of cooking gas regardless of the fact that it was built and licensed only for export of natural gas and NGLs. The refineries were meant to supply the domestic market.
Hey, it’s a brand new world out there and Nigeria LNG Limited was quick to grasp and master it. Take the infamous Land Use Decree that has dispossessed millions of compatriots of their property. Realising sentimental attachments to land and the deep feeling of dispossession inflicted on communities by this law, immediately it acquired the pipeline routes, NLNG sought to make amends. It signed long-term contracts with land-owning families for grass-cutting and surveillance of pipeline routes to ensure that they continue to earn revenue from their property.
With land-owners protecting our gas pipelines, there have been minimal, almost negligible, cases of their vandalisation. The lesson in all these is that obsolete systems of territory mapping, of sequential processes, in which each group denies responsibility for what it was not directly responsible for, have given way to more integrated planning and management, with everyone bearing a share of responsibility for the products and processes and not just for its direct footprint.
On the corporate social responsibility sphere, NLNG realised early that hierarchical and transactional relationships should be replaced by circles of influence, business fortresses by collaborative business ecosystems. This is why NLNG initiated the Joint Industries Committee (JIC) in Bonny to pool resources and provide power, water and roads on the island. JIC is today responsible for providing and maintaining these infrastructure in Bonny. NLNG is the operator of the JIC projects and pays 50% of the bills.
Truth is: a new paradigm is afoot. Leading companies are beginning to find inspiration in an unexpected place - the social sector—in blighted public schools, orphanages, working with widows, and unemployed youths. These companies have discovered that social problems are, when carefully examined, economic problems, whether it is the need for skill acquisition, shortage of cooking gas or entrepreneurship training in poor villages.
Companies are learning that applying their energies to solving the chronic social problems powerfully stimulates their business development. Today’s better-educated children are tomorrow’s knowledge workers. Lower unemployment in the neighbourhood means higher security for life and property. Indeed, a new paradigm has emerged: a partnership between private enterprise and public interest that produces profitable and sustainable change for both sides.
It is in the spirit of this new partnership that The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science were conceived by Nigeria LNG Limited. In addition to numerous cogent reasons adduced for the establishment of these prizes there was a clear understanding that traditional solutions to recalcitrant social ills amount to very little.
Companies often just throw money at a problem and walk away. But the fact is that many recipients of business largesse often don’t need charity; they need change. Not spare change, but real change—sustainable, replicable, institutionalised change that transforms their business, their prospects, and their outlook. And that means getting business deeply involved in non-traditional ways.
The way to go about it is not in business making donations to the society, but treating community service as business. And for society to understand that a public trust cannot deliver public good over a long haul if it is not run on sound business principles.
So from the outset, the company embarked on a bold experiment in social innovation to demonstrate that a different way of investing in non-profits would generate demonstrably superior outcomes to drive change in the sector. The ultimate judgment of its faith and investment in public trusts will not be known for years, but its efforts have triggered a quiet revolution that must be sustained.
It is this policy that underpins the legendary power supply in Bonny driven by NLNG. Power supply on Bonny Island which has remained at a consistent 98% availability for over 10 years is paid for by users, although there is a margin to accommodate those who are unable to pay and those whose electricity bills are less than N2000.
It negates the principles of sound economic management to provide free utilities anywhere. It is impossible to sustain free utilities. This principle guides NLNG’s investments in non-profits.
THE NIGERIA LITERARY AND SCIENCE PRIZESRecognising, therefore, that the country’s education is in dire straits, NLNG sought to create conducive environment for learning and competition, reason why it promotes scholarship in tertiary institutions, entrepreneur training for youths and two major prizes — The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science.
These awards were entrusted to The Nigerian Academy of Science and The Nigerian Academy of Letters and some eminent writers. These bodies assess the worth of scientific discoveries and contemporary works of literature and, in so doing, consolidate the needs of the publishing and academic worlds: boosting sales of the award winner’s work and simultaneously effecting a change in the Nigerian canon.
SCIENCE PRIZE: The case for supporting science cannot be more urgent. Nigeria is a developing country with aspirations for joining the ranks of developed nations.
Only science and technology can make these dreams come true. And creating awareness, stimulating competition, rewarding and recognising excellence in these fields are conditions precedent, not only for realising these dreams, but also for providing meaningful existence for the citizenry. Some of the reasons proffered by experts seeking greater recognition for science include that:
It will provide leaders with answers to crucial issues such as food shortages, fuel shortages, electoral malpractice, poverty, health and environment;
It will encourage the authorities to take science-based decisions;
It will bring about improvements in the standards of living;
Support for science in a developing country will help resolve myths that tend to cripple development.
And by instituting a significant prize for science, NLNG seeks to bring science and scientists to public attention, save them from their current low rating in national estimation and avail the nation of their immense benefits.
Science can only be relevant if it is supported to play vital roles in the society. A major pillar of support for science comes through recognising and rewarding excellence in science and creativity.
LITERATURE PRIZE: The case for instituting a worthy prize for literature was more straightforward. For decades, Nigerian writers bemoaned their fate. They griped in newspapers, conferences, and workshops about the neglect their noble profession had fallen into. They were unhappy with the declining levels of education and literacy; unhappy with the loss of a reading culture; and for good reasons, sad that writing and publishing in a nation that gave the African Continent its first crop of literary giants had all but become lost art.
OUR BUSINESS MODEL FOR THE PRIZES
At about the time we intervened, the literary business was struggling, locally and internationally. It was not a business any investor would rush into. It was like investing in the stock market during the crash. Our research showed us what to expect.
Abroad, the great Booker Prize was in serious trouble. The original sponsors, the Booker-McConnell company, were bought out by a frozen-food concern called Iceland, which declined to continue sponsorship of the prize estimated at over £400,000. The prize went for an open bidding and was won by a firm called the Man Group, a London-based international stock broking firm, which agreed to take over sponsorship for an initial five years. That’s how come Booker became Man-Booker Prize.
The founders of the Orange Prize for fiction launched in 1996, had announced with fanfare that it had secured an anonymous endowment sufficient to provide for a £30, 000 annual award. It was a false start, because they immediately returned to the drawing board when Martyn Goff of the Book Trust fame and other experienced administrators pointed out that, for the prize to succeed in practical terms, the organisers would need a far larger budget to cover operating expenses, particularly the expenses associated with promotion and publicity.
The Orange Prize was rescued by Peter Raymond of the cellular phone service company, Orange PLC. By 1999, Orange Plc was spending £250,000 yearly minus the prize money. The real cost of organising the Orange Prize was 10 times more than its declared value!
Back home we had a potpourri of prizes, many of them not exactly exciting.
The Nigerian Academy of Science was running a prize for young scientists in partnership with the Third World Academy of Sciences (NAS-TWAS). The prize was instituted in Nigeria in 1995 to be awarded yearly on rotation. It has a cash value of USD $2000.
Another prize, The National Science Prize, was instituted by the Academy jointly with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria to reward outstanding research in science and technology, particularly projects with potential industrial applications. It was worth N30, 000.
Another was a postgraduate award instituted in 1993 to honour outstanding doctoral theses in the pure and applied sciences in Nigerian universities. And yet another prize was for best graduating science students in universities. This prize is very popular with companies and many of them have instituted chairs in the universities.
Shell has however done most for the universities, building multimillion Naira classroom blocks in many universities. Agip and Total have carried out similar projects but their generosity was restricted to universities in their catchment areas. African Portland Cement Company also instituted a prize for the best graduating geology student from Obafemi Awolowo University.
For Literature, there was the Association of Nigerian Authors’ prize which was then struggling. Its cash prizes were not promptly redeemed. There were other attempts to establish a decent prize, most of which failed.
We shall not forget The Nigerian National Merit Award, which is an order of dignity and distinct from the National Honours. It was instituted to accord proper and due recognition for outstanding intellectual and academic attainments and contributions to general development of Nigeria and is conferred on the recipients by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. It had a cash value of N500, 000 only. (Currently, it is worth N1million).
In setting up The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science, we were determined to take steps to change the chemistry and character of philanthropy, by incorporating not just money, but also moral character and commercial orientation. This is not entirely a new phenomenon; we were merely reprising and building upon the ground work laid by Tyler Cowen in his masterful piece: “In Praise of Commercial Culture.”
Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University had argued persuasively that free market unbridled by government produces the best environments for creative expression. And that business, by fostering alternative modes of financial support and multiple market niches, vast wealth and technological innovation is the best ally the arts could have.
Our intention was not charity; far from it. We were determined to deploy the skills of business, flexible corporate ‘philanthropy’, and the rigour of the marketplace to develop systems-changing solutions to rescue the ailing prize-awarding industry.
We believe that philanthropic capital, combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of our people. We also believe that our presence would lure other giants and blue chip companies to invest in the industry. Our ultimate vision is that this industry would change and grow if mega companies get involved; that the culture of philanthropy in Nigeria will change in the next few years strongly influenced by the ways of some multinational corporations because of the scale of wealth at their disposal and the sense of purpose they are expected to generate.
I confess, that we have not fully realised our dreams, but then The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science are work in progress. We need to take them to a level that allows them to become public trusts in fact and in deed.
Eight years on, The Nigeria Prize for Literature is turning our initial vision into a reality with tangible, compelling results and a clearer understanding of the truly formidable nature of this undertaking.
CURRENT STATUS
The following resolutions were reached with stakeholders (university teachers, writers, and journalists) at an exploratory meeting of 14th November 2003:
That high profile literary prizes of significance and commensurate prestige be set up to stimulate creativity and promote indigenous literary and scientific culture
Cash value at take off $20,000 (now $50,000) each to be reviewed regularly as occasion demands
Prizes awarded yearly to alternate amongst four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature and to the work of science that provides solution to a major national problem or one that breaks new grounds.
NLNG to provide logistics and administration services, pending the time a BOARD OF TRUSTEES will be constituted and the prize endowed.
There will be publicity, advertising, press promotion and national promotional tours to promote the award
Prizes will be awarded yearly at a prestigious ceremony to draw local and international attention to prize and winners
Only works published by Nigerians qualify to participate. This rule has been modified to accommodate Nigerians in diaspora.
CURRENT FUNDING
Prize Money : US$100,000.00
Logistics: US$436,044.03
Grand Award Night: US$241,691.92
Total: US$777,731.94
For sustainability, the Board and management of Nigeria LNG Limited think the administrative costs for these prizes are too high. That ways must be found to cut the costs without losing the essence.
FINAL NOTES
In his Rede lecture of 50 years ago, entitled The Two Cultures, C. P. Snow, a writer and a scientist said: “There is something wrong with a civilisation where knowledge is so compartmentalised that people can count as highly educated and yet be wholly ignorant of huge swaths of what other highly educated people know. How could scientists not read Shakespeare? How could literary people never have heard of the second law of thermodynamics?”
I will reprise Snow, but with some modifications. How can we continue this business of writing and literature writing thinking about economics? Why should the arts not work with business to find workable and lasting solutions to problems besetting the arts? Why are we not working more and more with business to find solutions to our problems? Why are we not paying more and more attention to sustainability of our programmes and projects? This is one of the reasons we called this meeting to re-examine this prize, ensure it is both sustainable and businesslike
The long and short of my mission, with the permission of Snow, is: let’s spend the next couple of hours, discussing literature and economics or economics and literature, as the case may be.
The ball, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, is now in your court. Please play it – with eyes on the Prize.
EniOlorutidakosefarawekosefenutembelekosebinukosena'kaiwosisiwiwolaawo
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
CELEBRATING TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT @ 70
The Committee for Relevant Art, CORA in collaboration with the African Movies Academy Awards, AMAA, present:
ARTHOUSE FORUM
in celebration of the 70th Birthday Anniversary of the veteran actress and stage matriarch, TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT.
Theme: STATE OF THE STAGE: CONVERSATION WITH, AND AROUND TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT featuring dialogue between TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT and two Sister Actresses -- TINA MBA and KATE HENSHAW.
Also, Q & A between the veteran actress and the audience.
Moderator: WOLE OGUNTOKUN (Director, Theatre @ Terra)
Date: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13
Time: 2PM
Venue: TRIBECA, Adetokunbo Ademola Street (opposite Eko Hotel, VI, Lagos
Gate: FREE
TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT, OON, FELLOW (SONTA)
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett was born in Lagos, Nigeria, on February 3, 1941. She was honoured with an OON (Officer of the Order of the Niger) in the 2006 Nigerian National Honours List by President Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Republic of Nigeria on October 1st – on Nigeria’s 47th Independence Day Anniversary. She was, also honoured in the same year, with a Heritage & Honours Award of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, for her services to the profession of Advertising in Nigeria, and as a former Executive Member of the Association. Taiwo is also a Fellow (SONTA) a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists.
Taiwo attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, City Literary Institute, (City Lit.) and the Dance Centre, Floral Street, Covent Garden, London, studying Acting, Music, Voice, Singing, Ballet, Modern and Contemporary Dance. She is professionally trained in front and behind the camera, qualifying as a Television Producer/Presenter at The London School of Television Production.
Taiwo has performed in many leading theatres in the UK, such as the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh International Festival; the Gaiety Theatre, at the Dublin International Theatre Festival; The Bristol Old Vic; The Hampstead Theatre Club; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in Richard Wagner’s Tannhauser; The Royal Court Theatre; The Palace Theatre, Westcliffe; and The Mercury Theatre, Colchester. She has also appeared in numerous UK Television drama productions for the BBC (TV & Radio Drama), ATV, Granada, COI, ILEA and Thames Television. She had a film appearance in the film A WARM DECEMBER starring and directed by iconic Oscar winner, Sidney Poitier.
She appeared recently, in July, 2007, at the Almeida Theatre in the Almeida Opera’s & Streetwise production, Critical Mass, directed by Emma Bernard and Composer Orlando Gough.
Her stage appearances in Nigeria and on Nigerian National Television include, Song of a Goat by J P Clark; Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman; The Lion and the Jewel; Wale Ogunyemi’s The Divorce; Fred Agbeyegbe’s The King Must Dance Naked; Wole Oguntokun’s The Inheritors; Arnold Weskers’ Shylock; Laolu Ogunniyi’s television series, Winds Against My Soul; Jab Adu’s The Young Ones; and Nigerian Television Authority’s The Honourable; For Better for Worse, Eyo Fancy and Rasheed Gbadamosi’s The Mansion; Wole Oguntokun’s The Inheritor
For her meritorious service to the cause of Creative Arts, Education, Business and Community Development, Taiwo has received several other Awards, among which are Outstanding Role & Enviable Accomplishment Award 1997 (Neimeth/Pfizer-CKC Partners); The REELS Merit Award (the Academy of Creative Arts in Nigeria) 1999; The Amazon Award – for Outstanding Contributions to Nation Building 2002; Award for Service as a Mentor in the FATE Programme for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, 2001; the Lagos State Government’s Merit Award in Recognition of Meritorious Service Towards the Advancement of Education in the Alimoso Local Government Education District of Lagos State, 2005; Tiwa ’n’ Tiwa – Lagos State Television & Broadcasting Corporation; Recognition – Main Frame Film & TV Productions; and Opal Awards, among others.
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett had her early school years in Lagos, Nigeria, and was a Pupil Teacher before proceeding to the UK in 1960 in search of the ‘Golden Fleece’! She worked as waitress/washer-upper at Lyon’s Tea Shop in the City and from 1960 to 1962, studied at night schools and at Pitman’s College, London. Taiwo combined working with further education, attending the Christine Shaw School of Beauty Science and Cosmetology, London; the North Staffordshire College of Technology (now Keele University) and graduated with the Higher National Diploma in Business Studies in 1969 at the Hendon College of Technology.
TINA MBA |
Tina Mba is a household name in entertainment industry both in Nigeria and Africa. Her performances over the years have earned her the respectable and envied position she now enjoys. She is an actress and Producer of over two decades and a mother of two kids. She has produced two majors plays namely, Williams Shakespare’s ‘AS YOU LIKE IT’ in 1989 and the return of ‘GOLDEN SWORD’ in 2008. Some of her works on stage are: Visit of Bishop Alaba (National Troupe of Nigeria); Women of Owu (National Troupe of Nigeria); Lion and the Jewel (Dir. Felix Okolo); Aetu (Dir. Ahmed Yerima); Midnight Hotel (Dir. Femi Osofisan); One Legend Many Sessions (Dir. Osofisan); The Return of the Golden Sword (Dir. Niji Akanni); Toy Soldier Boy Soldier (for Coja 2003); Ipheginia finds Aiyelala (Dir. Ben Tomoloju for Afrika Projekt/German Cultural Center); Asylanten (Dir. Ben Tomoloju for Afrika Projekt/German Cultural Center). She is currently involved in Wole Soyinka’s Beatification of an Area boy. Some of her works on TV are:- Everyday People (Dir. Tajudeen Adepetu); Magnate (Dir. Taiwo Ogundipe); Living Next to You (Dir.Opa Williams); Behind the Siege (Dir. Tade Ogidan); Tides to Fate (Dir.Royal Roots); Shadows (Dir. Dunfex Produnctions); Foot Prints (Dir. Isichei Productions) Her works on Film include: Baba Zak (by Ladi Ladebo on 35mm); Metamorphosis (by Royal Roots on 16mm); Tango with me (by Brick wall (Mahmod Balogun) 35mm); Some of her works on Radio are: Inspector Joe (Prod. Ihria Inkhimio); Sisi Clara (Prod. Bimbo Manuel). |
KATE HENSHAW Henshaw-Nuttall is the oldest of four children. After completing her primary and
secondary school in Lagos and Calabar, she spent one year at the University of
Calabar reading remedial studies, and then majored in Medical Microbiology
at the School of Medical Lab Science, LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital)
in Lagos. Henshaw-Nuttall worked at the Bauchi State General hospital.
secondary school in Lagos and Calabar, she spent one year at the University of
Calabar reading remedial studies, and then majored in Medical Microbiology
at the School of Medical Lab Science, LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital)
in Lagos. Henshaw-Nuttall worked at the Bauchi State General hospital.
Her career began In 1993, when she auditioned for an acting job in the movie
When the Sun Sets and was handed the role. This was her first appearance
in a major Nollywood movie.
When the Sun Sets and was handed the role. This was her first appearance
in a major Nollywood movie.
Kate Henshaw-Nuttall has starred in over 40 Nollywood movies.
In 2008 she won the African Movie Academy Award for Best Actress
in a Leading Role for the film Stronger than Pain.[2] She is presently "The Face of Onga".[1] Her work on Screen include: Broken Tears 1 & 2 (2008); River of Tears;
Take Me to Jesus 1 & 2 (2008); Tears in My Eyes 1 & 2 ; A Brighter Sun 1 & 2;
(One Life (2007); Show Me Heaven (2007); Stronger Than Pain;
To Love and to Hold 2 (2007); A Million Tears 2 ; Blood on Ice 2;
Consequences (2006) ; Costly Mistake (2006);
Costly Mistake 2 (2006); Games Men Play 2 (2006); My Little Secret (2006);
She 2: You Must Obey (2006); The Search (2006) (V) [Actress];
Diamond Forever (2005); Diamond Forever 2 (2005); Emotional Hazard 2 (2005);
Girls in the Hood 2 (2005); The Bridesmaid (2005) (V) [Actress] ;
The Carcass (2005) Inheritance (2004) ; Negative Influence (2004) ;
Sleeping with the Enemy (2004/I); The Legend 2 (2004);
The Stolen Bible 2 (2004); The Substitute (2004) ; Domitilla (1996);
Silent Night 2 (1996).
On Stage: She has featured in The Other Side; and in
The V-Monologue (2008 & 2110 (Nigeria); also in Ghana) directed by Wole Oguntokun, among other plays.MODERATOR:
WOLE OGUNTOKUN
Wole Oguntokun, a trained lawyer is a playwright, stage and film director, theatre administrator and columnist. His written and directed plays include:
"Who's Afraid of Wole Soyinka?", "Rage of the Pentecost" (August 2002),
"Ladugba!" (September 2002), "The Other Side" (November 2002). In 2003,
he produced his adaptation of 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' titled "Piper, Piper"
(March 2003), and "Gbanja Roulette” in May and July 2003. In December 2003,
he featured the matriarch of Nigerian Drama, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, in his play,
"The Inheritors". Other plays of his produced at the Muson Centre include
"Prison Chronicles" in March 2004, "The Other Side" starring Kate Henshaw-Nuttall
(November 2005), "The Sound and The Fury" (April 2006), "The Inheritors"
featuring Joke Silva (August 2006), and "Anatomy of a Woman" featuring
Stella Damasus-Aboderin (March 2007). Plays by other playwrights Wole
produced at the Muson Centre include "The Trials Of Brother Jero" by
Professor Wole Soyinka (July 2 and 3, 2005) and Professor Femi Osofisan's
"Once upon Four Robbers" in December 2004. He directed Aime Cesaire's
"A Season in the Congo" for the Lagos State Government-sponsored
"Black Heritage Festival" in April 2010. Early in 2010, Wole was commissioned
to write and direct a play on the life and times of Bishop Samuel Ajai Crowther,
the first Black African Bishop of the Anglican Church, titled "Ajai The Boy Slave"
made up of cast members from Britain and Nigeria.He is currently Assistant
Director to ProfessorWole Soyinka in the production of the Professor's
"The Beatification of Area Boy," which also has Tima Mba in the cast.
Monday, February 7, 2011
ARTHOUSE FORUM FOR TAIWO AJAYI-LYCETT @ 70
The Committee for Relevant Art, CORA in collaboration with the African Movies Academy Awards, AMAA, present ARTHOUSE FORUM in celebration of the 70th Birthday Anniversary of the veteran actress and stage matriarch, TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT.
Theme: STATE OF THE STAGE: CONVERSATION WITH, AND AROUND TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT featuring dialogue between TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT and two Sister Actresses -- TINA MBA and KATE HENSHAW.
Also, Q & A between the veteran actress and the audience.
Moderator: WOLE OGUNTOKUN (Director, Theatre @ Terra)
Date: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13
Time: 2PM
Venue: TRIBECA, Adetokunbo Ademola Street (opposite Eko Hotel, VI, Lagos
Gate: FREE
NATIONAL & PROFESSIONAL HONOURS
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, OON, Fellow (SONTA), was born in Lagos, Nigeria, on 3 February 1941. She was honoured with an OON (Officer of the Order of the Niger) in the 2006 Nigerian National Honours List by President Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Republic of Nigeria on October 1st – on Nigeria’s 47th Independence Day Anniversary. She was, also honoured in the same year, with a Heritage & Honours Award of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, for her services to the profession of Advertising in Nigeria, and as a former Executive Member of the Association. Taiwo is also a Fellow (SONTA) a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists.
For her meritorious service to the cause of Creative Arts, Education, Business and Community Development, Taiwo has received several other Awards, among which are Outstanding Role & Enviable Accomplishment Award 1997 (Neimeth/Pfizer-CKC Partners); The REELS Merit Award (the Academy of Creative Arts in Nigeria) 1999; The Amazon Award – for Outstanding Contributions to Nation Building 2002; Award for Service as a Mentor in the FATE Programme for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, 2001; the Lagos State Government’s Merit Award in Recognition of Meritorious Service Towards the Advancement of Education in the Alimoso Local Government Education District of Lagos State, 2005; Tiwa ’n’ Tiwa – Lagos State Television & Broadcasting Corporation; Recognition – Main Frame Film & TV Productions; and Opal Awards, among others.
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett had her early school years in Lagos, Nigeria, and was a Pupil Teacher before proceeding to the UK in 1960 in search of the ‘Golden Fleece’! She worked as waitress/washer-upper at Lyon’s Tea Shop in the City and from 1960 to 1962, studied at night schools and at Pitman’s College, London. Between 1962 and 1970, she worked with the United Kingdom General Post Office (GPO/HQ), Gresham Street Headquarters, at different levels, for a period of eight years, as the Personal Secretary to the Director of Personnel, the Director of Research & Development and as Senior Personal Secretary to the Chairman, Lord Hall, and in the Private Office of the Postmaster-General, Mr John Stonehouse, at the General Post Office Headquarters, London.
Taiwo combined working with further education, attending the Christine Shaw School of Beauty Science and Cosmetology, London; the North Staffordshire College of Technology (now Keele University) and graduated with the Higher National Diploma in Business Studies in 1969 at the Hendon College of Technology.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Upon leaving the UK Civil Service, in 1970, Taiwo had a brief spell as the Personal Assistant to the Chairman/CEO, Compound Sections, UK, fabricators of component parts for the UK automotive assembly plants. She was also a Secretary to the Personnel Director, Young & Rubicam Advertising Agency, UK.
JOURNALISM
In 1975, Taiwo joined Africa Magazine, an Economic, Political, Social journal, based in London, as an Associate Editor. That same year, she became the Editor and Launched AFRICA WOMAN, a political, economic and social magazine for Black and African men and women in the Diaspora.
In 1975, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett covered the inaugural Conference of the International Women’s Year in Mexico and the then Germany’s East Berlin, as a photojournalist, for both AFRICA MAGAZINE and AFRICA WOMAN.
COMMUNITY SERVICE & MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS
She was the Secretary to the UK Organising Committee for FESTAC ’77; the Secretary Women’s Organisation of Nigeria (WIN/UK); a Member and Secretary of the Commonwealth Countries League; a Roving Lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute, London, at various institutions of Higher Education, and Teacher Training Colleges in Britain, on African, Art, Music and Dance and lectured on African Arts and Craft and on African Theatre for the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA).
Taiwo is a member of several professional bodies in Nigeria and abroad, including the Black Programming Consortium, USA; The British Actors’ Equity; The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON); The National Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP); The Nigerian Institute of Management; The Governing Council, Nigeria-Britain Association.
LEADERSHIP ROLES
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, herself the Proprietress and Rector of TALHOUSE PRIVATE SCHOOL, was the President, The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Alimoso Local Government Education District, Lagos State; Member, Advisory Board of the National Council of Women’s Societies; Member, Board of Trustees of the Media & Development Centre; The Millenium Pictures for Development Trust; Member, The African Network for Book Development; Mentor, and Member of The Strategies Board of the National Academy for Future Leaders (Nigeria); Mentor since 2001, for FATE FOUNDATION’S Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme.
She is a Member of the Editorial Board of Nigeria’s Media Review, and has been for the last fourteen years, a Member of the Award Nominating Panels of both The Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA) and the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME).
Taiwo started her acting career at the prestigious Royal Court Theatre, Sloane’s Square, London, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). (1969-76). During this stage of her professional life, she combined acting on the UK stage, television and films with print and electronic journalism.
BROADCASTING CAREER
She was for years the weekly Presenter for the BBC’s magazine programme, CALLING NIGERIA – broadcasting from Bush House, London, produced by Florence Akst. She was produced in many Radio productions by John Gordon and Gwenneth Henderson. She was also regularly seen on the popular children’s programme, PLAY AWAY for the BBC. She was co-founder, joint Artistic Director, with Pat Amadu Maddy and Louis Mahoney of the GBAKANDA THEATRE.
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Taiwo attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, City Literary Institute, (City Lit.) and the Dance Centre, Floral Street, Covent Garden, London, studying Acting, Music, Voice, Singing, Ballet, Modern and Contemporary Dance. She is professionally trained in front and behind the camera, qualifying as a Television Producer/Presenter at The London School of Television Production.
Taiwo has performed in many leading theatres in the UK, such as the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh International Festival; the Gaiety Theatre, at the Dublin International Theatre Festival; The Bristol Old Vic; The Hampstead Theatre Club; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in Richard Wagner’s Tannhauser; The Royal Court Theatre; The Palace Theatre, Westcliffe; and The Mercury Theatre, Colchester. She has also appeared in numerous UK Television drama productions for the BBC (TV & Radio Drama), ATV, Granada, COI, ILEA and Thames Television. She had a film appearance in the film A WARM DECEMBER starring and directed by iconic Oscar winner, Sidney Poitier.
She appeared recently, in July, 2007, at the Almeida Theatre in the Almeida Opera’s & Streetwise production, Critical Mass, directed by Emma Bernard and Composer Orlando Gough.
Her stage appearances in Nigeria and on Nigerian National Television include, Song of a Goat by J P Clark; Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman; The Lion and the Jewel; Wale Ogunyemi’s The Divorce; Fred Agbeyegbe’s The King Must Dance Naked; Wole Oguntokun’s The Inheritors; Arnold Weskers’ Shylock; Laolu Ogunniyi’s television series, Winds Against My Soul; Jab Adu’s The Young Ones; and Nigerian Television Authority’s The Honourable; For Better for Worse, Eyo Fancy and Rasheed Gbadamosi’s The Mansion.
BUSINESS CAREER
In 1978, in Lagos, Nigeria, Taiwo and her late husband, Thomas Aldridge Lycett, a former Shell marketing communication executive, founded Partnership Advertising Limited and Taiwo Ajai Communications (Public Relations) – marketing communications consultancy outfits. After her husband's death in 1993 she founded Talhouse Private Schools and Talhouse Worldwide Limited for the promotion of the Arts and the training and nurturing young artists.
SOCIAL COMMENTOR & MENTOR
A social commentator, Taiwo Ajai Lycett, is a regular on the Nigeria lecture circuit, speaking on topics such as Relationships, Motivation, Health and Ageing, Stress Management, Sex and The Single, Fidelity, Loyalty, and Cohesion, Youth Development and Social Orientation; Positive Thinking, Mental Focus – arguing that the only value which can attach to any principle is in its application; Gender Emancipation and the Pursuit and Attainment of Political Leadership by Women; Service – as the secret of success – the possession of power is contingent on the proper use of the power already in our possession
VOLUNTEER WORK
Taiwo Ajai Lycett has over the years attended many Seminars and Workshops including the Black Programming Consortium (a film-making, distribution and networking convention) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Personal Development Seminar; Energy Champion Workshop; the Pre-Volunteer Programme for the London Olympic Games 2012; Business Development Workshop; Communication Workshop; Writing Skill Workshop; Child Care Business Workshop; and Workshops in Understanding Equality & Diversity; Understanding Effective Customer Relations; Emergencies & Basic Fire Awareness; Public Safety; Conflict Resolution in a Public Setting; Developing Team & Interpersonal Skills; and Prepafring for and Reflecting on Volunteer Work.
Theme: STATE OF THE STAGE: CONVERSATION WITH, AND AROUND TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT featuring dialogue between TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT and two Sister Actresses -- TINA MBA and KATE HENSHAW.
Also, Q & A between the veteran actress and the audience.
Moderator: WOLE OGUNTOKUN (Director, Theatre @ Terra)
Date: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13
Time: 2PM
Venue: TRIBECA, Adetokunbo Ademola Street (opposite Eko Hotel, VI, Lagos
Gate: FREE
TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT, OON, FELLOW (SONTA)
(Sourced from http://taiwoajailycett.co.uk)
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, OON, Fellow (SONTA), was born in Lagos, Nigeria, on 3 February 1941. She was honoured with an OON (Officer of the Order of the Niger) in the 2006 Nigerian National Honours List by President Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Republic of Nigeria on October 1st – on Nigeria’s 47th Independence Day Anniversary. She was, also honoured in the same year, with a Heritage & Honours Award of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, for her services to the profession of Advertising in Nigeria, and as a former Executive Member of the Association. Taiwo is also a Fellow (SONTA) a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists.
For her meritorious service to the cause of Creative Arts, Education, Business and Community Development, Taiwo has received several other Awards, among which are Outstanding Role & Enviable Accomplishment Award 1997 (Neimeth/Pfizer-CKC Partners); The REELS Merit Award (the Academy of Creative Arts in Nigeria) 1999; The Amazon Award – for Outstanding Contributions to Nation Building 2002; Award for Service as a Mentor in the FATE Programme for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, 2001; the Lagos State Government’s Merit Award in Recognition of Meritorious Service Towards the Advancement of Education in the Alimoso Local Government Education District of Lagos State, 2005; Tiwa ’n’ Tiwa – Lagos State Television & Broadcasting Corporation; Recognition – Main Frame Film & TV Productions; and Opal Awards, among others.
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett had her early school years in Lagos, Nigeria, and was a Pupil Teacher before proceeding to the UK in 1960 in search of the ‘Golden Fleece’! She worked as waitress/washer-upper at Lyon’s Tea Shop in the City and from 1960 to 1962, studied at night schools and at Pitman’s College, London. Between 1962 and 1970, she worked with the United Kingdom General Post Office (GPO/HQ), Gresham Street Headquarters, at different levels, for a period of eight years, as the Personal Secretary to the Director of Personnel, the Director of Research & Development and as Senior Personal Secretary to the Chairman, Lord Hall, and in the Private Office of the Postmaster-General, Mr John Stonehouse, at the General Post Office Headquarters, London.
Taiwo combined working with further education, attending the Christine Shaw School of Beauty Science and Cosmetology, London; the North Staffordshire College of Technology (now Keele University) and graduated with the Higher National Diploma in Business Studies in 1969 at the Hendon College of Technology.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Upon leaving the UK Civil Service, in 1970, Taiwo had a brief spell as the Personal Assistant to the Chairman/CEO, Compound Sections, UK, fabricators of component parts for the UK automotive assembly plants. She was also a Secretary to the Personnel Director, Young & Rubicam Advertising Agency, UK.
JOURNALISM
In 1975, Taiwo joined Africa Magazine, an Economic, Political, Social journal, based in London, as an Associate Editor. That same year, she became the Editor and Launched AFRICA WOMAN, a political, economic and social magazine for Black and African men and women in the Diaspora.
In 1975, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett covered the inaugural Conference of the International Women’s Year in Mexico and the then Germany’s East Berlin, as a photojournalist, for both AFRICA MAGAZINE and AFRICA WOMAN.
COMMUNITY SERVICE & MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS
She was the Secretary to the UK Organising Committee for FESTAC ’77; the Secretary Women’s Organisation of Nigeria (WIN/UK); a Member and Secretary of the Commonwealth Countries League; a Roving Lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute, London, at various institutions of Higher Education, and Teacher Training Colleges in Britain, on African, Art, Music and Dance and lectured on African Arts and Craft and on African Theatre for the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA).
Taiwo is a member of several professional bodies in Nigeria and abroad, including the Black Programming Consortium, USA; The British Actors’ Equity; The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON); The National Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP); The Nigerian Institute of Management; The Governing Council, Nigeria-Britain Association.
LEADERSHIP ROLES
Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, herself the Proprietress and Rector of TALHOUSE PRIVATE SCHOOL, was the President, The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Alimoso Local Government Education District, Lagos State; Member, Advisory Board of the National Council of Women’s Societies; Member, Board of Trustees of the Media & Development Centre; The Millenium Pictures for Development Trust; Member, The African Network for Book Development; Mentor, and Member of The Strategies Board of the National Academy for Future Leaders (Nigeria); Mentor since 2001, for FATE FOUNDATION’S Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme.
She is a Member of the Editorial Board of Nigeria’s Media Review, and has been for the last fourteen years, a Member of the Award Nominating Panels of both The Nigerian Media Merit Award (NMMA) and the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME).
Taiwo started her acting career at the prestigious Royal Court Theatre, Sloane’s Square, London, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). (1969-76). During this stage of her professional life, she combined acting on the UK stage, television and films with print and electronic journalism.
BROADCASTING CAREER
She was for years the weekly Presenter for the BBC’s magazine programme, CALLING NIGERIA – broadcasting from Bush House, London, produced by Florence Akst. She was produced in many Radio productions by John Gordon and Gwenneth Henderson. She was also regularly seen on the popular children’s programme, PLAY AWAY for the BBC. She was co-founder, joint Artistic Director, with Pat Amadu Maddy and Louis Mahoney of the GBAKANDA THEATRE.
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Taiwo attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, City Literary Institute, (City Lit.) and the Dance Centre, Floral Street, Covent Garden, London, studying Acting, Music, Voice, Singing, Ballet, Modern and Contemporary Dance. She is professionally trained in front and behind the camera, qualifying as a Television Producer/Presenter at The London School of Television Production.
Taiwo has performed in many leading theatres in the UK, such as the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh International Festival; the Gaiety Theatre, at the Dublin International Theatre Festival; The Bristol Old Vic; The Hampstead Theatre Club; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in Richard Wagner’s Tannhauser; The Royal Court Theatre; The Palace Theatre, Westcliffe; and The Mercury Theatre, Colchester. She has also appeared in numerous UK Television drama productions for the BBC (TV & Radio Drama), ATV, Granada, COI, ILEA and Thames Television. She had a film appearance in the film A WARM DECEMBER starring and directed by iconic Oscar winner, Sidney Poitier.
She appeared recently, in July, 2007, at the Almeida Theatre in the Almeida Opera’s & Streetwise production, Critical Mass, directed by Emma Bernard and Composer Orlando Gough.
Her stage appearances in Nigeria and on Nigerian National Television include, Song of a Goat by J P Clark; Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman; The Lion and the Jewel; Wale Ogunyemi’s The Divorce; Fred Agbeyegbe’s The King Must Dance Naked; Wole Oguntokun’s The Inheritors; Arnold Weskers’ Shylock; Laolu Ogunniyi’s television series, Winds Against My Soul; Jab Adu’s The Young Ones; and Nigerian Television Authority’s The Honourable; For Better for Worse, Eyo Fancy and Rasheed Gbadamosi’s The Mansion.
BUSINESS CAREER
In 1978, in Lagos, Nigeria, Taiwo and her late husband, Thomas Aldridge Lycett, a former Shell marketing communication executive, founded Partnership Advertising Limited and Taiwo Ajai Communications (Public Relations) – marketing communications consultancy outfits. After her husband's death in 1993 she founded Talhouse Private Schools and Talhouse Worldwide Limited for the promotion of the Arts and the training and nurturing young artists.
SOCIAL COMMENTOR & MENTOR
A social commentator, Taiwo Ajai Lycett, is a regular on the Nigeria lecture circuit, speaking on topics such as Relationships, Motivation, Health and Ageing, Stress Management, Sex and The Single, Fidelity, Loyalty, and Cohesion, Youth Development and Social Orientation; Positive Thinking, Mental Focus – arguing that the only value which can attach to any principle is in its application; Gender Emancipation and the Pursuit and Attainment of Political Leadership by Women; Service – as the secret of success – the possession of power is contingent on the proper use of the power already in our possession
VOLUNTEER WORK
Taiwo Ajai Lycett has over the years attended many Seminars and Workshops including the Black Programming Consortium (a film-making, distribution and networking convention) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Personal Development Seminar; Energy Champion Workshop; the Pre-Volunteer Programme for the London Olympic Games 2012; Business Development Workshop; Communication Workshop; Writing Skill Workshop; Child Care Business Workshop; and Workshops in Understanding Equality & Diversity; Understanding Effective Customer Relations; Emergencies & Basic Fire Awareness; Public Safety; Conflict Resolution in a Public Setting; Developing Team & Interpersonal Skills; and Prepafring for and Reflecting on Volunteer Work.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
We Are What We Read
Alas, this worthy cause is also a tall order to fill, threatened, in the present state of our country and its people, by social, economic and attitudinal impediments. Nigerians live in hard times; basic concerns of life- food on the table, roof over the head, bills to pay - dominate the thoughts of most. It is understandable then that book matters, and reading, may be far from the mind if many citizens. As Bertolt Brecht would say, “Food is the first thing; morals follow” And I agree, partially. Times like this demand even more that we read in order to know, understand, and be able to respond wisely to what we go through personally, and the events our society in general. It is said that to know more is to be more. To this end, we cannot but read. “We are what we eat”, is a popular saying. But in line with the Christian teaching that ‘man shall not live by bread alone…’ we are also what we read- and what we know. Indeed, what we know can, and do determine what and how we eat, drink, dress, and speak. If we do not read, the mind suffers atrophy and the spirit operates at the level of pedestrianism. This, to me is a sure way to personal perdition. By extension, a country of ’non-reading’ citizens is set on a course of regression, nay, self-abolition.
It is also a cause for regret that, the dominant values in Nigeria today are primitive accumulation and conspicuous consumptions by the adults, obsession with the utmost trivialities by the youths, and of mindless materialism by both young and old. The desire to cultivate the mind, to develop the intellect, - in sum, to be more - is neglected, even disdained? The consequence is that Nigeria today is as ridden with crises as can be imagined. It is my opinion that the conflicts that rage in this land and elsewhere, be they domestic, communal, social, even conflict within the self, can be resolved if we nurture the triune of body, mind and spirit. Reading is the instrumentality to achieve this. The benefits of reading are many; I shall state only a few in this essay. But first, reading in what sense?
Reading, in this context, is the voluntary education (we read for education, we are educated by reading) that we give ourselves after the classroom teachers have gone home for good. Although it is voluntary, it is more pleasurable even as we do it with more seriousness. But, make no mistake, it is of immense value because, like Sir Richard Steele: says, “[it] is to mind what exercise is to the body”.
Nigerians should therefore constantly ask themselves, and one another: What are you reading? I am convinced that this is the most relevant question of this information-centered, knowledge-driven age; it is one question that those who would survive the intellection-driven challenges of a twenty-first century global society must constantly ask themselves. Sadly, it is a question far from the consideration by most Nigerians and Africans. So, as things stand now, Africa is among the losers in this unstoppable and inescapable process called globalization said Prof. Ali Mazrui in his Du Bois-Padmore-Nkrumah Lecture some years ago. The reason for this, obviously, is the poverty of (developmental) ideas in the land. Of course, a lack of education (from reading) is the first cause of the poverty of ideas.
A nation blessed with all the natural resources in the world, but bereft of ideas cannot make up for this lack because, as succinctly put by former UN secretary-general U-Thant, it is not the resources that make the decisions; it is the decisions that make the resources. Knowledge then is a key decider of the quality of decisions – and in turn, resources. Again this is why E.F. Schumacher in his book Small is Beautiful wrote that there is no such thing as a viable nation, only a viable people. Modern Japan and Israel evidentially support this assertion.
Reading is the building block of education, and education, in its holistic form, determines the quality of the man. Aristotle, asked how much the educated was superior to the uneducated replied, as reported by Diogenes Laertius, “as much as the living is to the dead”. If he lived in our age, he might say: “as much as the First World is to the Fourth World”.
If for selfish reasons alone, we must constantly seek to know both the what and the why of things. From reading I understand that both are important because, the man who only knows what ends up working for the man who knows why. If for selfish reasons alone, we must constantly seek to know both the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of things. My reading tells me that both are important because, the man who only knows what ends up working for the man who knows why. To not read is to deny oneself a place among the cognitariat in the emerging global knowledge society wherein, to quote Taichi Sakaiya “… increased weight is given to knowledge value in the pricing of things”. Therefore to deny oneself the pleasure and the gains of reading is not only ‘stupidity’ as defined by James F. Welles, it is mentacide. According to James F. Welles’ “epistemological” definition, ‘stupidity’ is “the failure to gather and use information efficiently”. So, we do ourselves a favor to read because, armed with relevant information, (knowledge), we out-think- and out-perform - competition. This is true for every area of human endeavor that I know. Furthermore, “By reading,” wrote Joseph Wood Crutch, “ you learn to read, become more and more capable of receiving more and more completely more subtle and complicated communications…”
Reading, like travel, expands the frontier of our mind. But we can never travel enough to experience the world, meet people, share our thoughts with them and learn from one another other. Yet there is so much to learn, this is why, argued T.S Eliot, we must read, taking thus, a shortcut to meet and hear authors on the bridge of books, to adapt the phrase of Harold Shaw. Indeed, by reading the really good authors of enduring literature, we rub minds with them to nurture our own and, who knows; we may even ‘out-write’ them. Charles Lamb said “We gain nothing by being with such as ourselves; we encourage each other in mediocrity. I am always longing to be with men more excellent than myself”.
Tony Lane, writing on the importance of reading History opined that, like foreign travel, (again that comparison) it shows us that ours is not the only way to do things, that our grasp of the truth might be less than perfect, and that it is possible to learn from those with a different perspective. This much can be said too for reading in general: it tells us the stories of other peoples and from these we learn that ours are neither the worst nor the best of situation. Said Nadine Gordimer, in an interview “Books, I think saved me, perhaps from growing up, thinking that the way that people among whom I lived [in a little segregated mining town South Africa] was the only way to live”. Furthermore, reading teaches us – or should I say trains our mind – to ask and to ponder deep and important questions: Can things be done better? Is this the best I can be? Is this all there is to life? Why am I here?
Reading refines us. Do you observe that widely read (not merely well read) people are generally more humble, more polished, more cultured and more confident of whom they are in terms of character, values and other characteristics? Whereas they know too well that the Self is the true worth of a man, the others derive confidence only from what they have. So we are what we know.
Because it equips us with a large body of information from which to cross-refer facts and weigh issues, reading deepens our understanding and equips us with the analytical power to perceive hidden meanings and to detect motives. Because study equips us to think deeply and broadly, and judge more finely, we take more intelligent decisions, make wiser choices, and act from what I would term ‘inclusive thinking’ that sees the larger picture of issues.
Reading broadens our perceptions such that we refrain from narrow-mindedness, hasty judgment, and stereotyping. We are saved thereby from the disease –and sin - of bigotry or something worse. The French king, Louis IV, is quoted to have said, somewhat dismissively, “I see no point in reading”. It is a pity indeed that he failed to see such an obvious point of life. No wonder that he was an embodiment of monarchical absolutism, one who would feel threatened by an educated, and therefore a questioning, citizenry. And for good reason.
The well and widely read person is inevitably a questioning mind because, according to Goethe, “we know accurately when we know little; with knowledge, doubt increases”. So the questioning mind sees things differently, asks the why and the why not of things, thinks differently and, acts differently, or, as some might say, un-usually. But, every time the motive is to do things better; the aim is to do better things. Indeed, un-usual thinking – call it ‘thinking out of the box’ or in the words of Thinking expert Edward de Bono, ‘lateral thinking’ - often leads to new discoveries. Needless to say, this is the way of science.
Students of the Bible would appreciate how much St. Paul was a reading man from the incomparable explication of the Christian faith. In 2 Timothy 4:13, Paul told Timothy to bring along “… the books, but especially the parchments”. Does it surprise that the Pauline writings are, arguably, the most intellectually dense in the New Testament?
Reading counsels too; and I have in mind the spiritual texts as well as motivational books widely on sale today. A sober and careful reading of, say, the wisdom books in the Holy Bible, say, Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, the Book of Job, Ecclesiasticus, offer immeasurable counseling on life’s vicissitudes. The book of Ecclesiastes teaches : “For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense,/ But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it” (NKJV)’.the excellent writings of John C. Maxwell Stephen Covey, and others are quite inspirational.
Education, in the opinion of William Durant, is the progressive discovery of our ignorance. As we read more, we are humbled us to the fact that we know so much that is so little in comparison to just how much remains to know. In the words of William Harvey, “All we know is infinitely less than all that still remains unknown”. This may have caused Francis Bacon, the philosopher I mean, not the painter, that “I have taken all knowledge to be my province”. Just as well for, as Pope put it, “A little learning is a dangerous thing… [and] shallow draughts intoxicate the Brain…”
Now, it should be emphasized that to read only for knowledge would make a man merely clever, and equip him for intellectual deviousness employed, for example, to rationalize mis-governance by bad leaders; but it would not make a man wise. Surely, no one would want to live in a world of clever devils. Francis Bacon [the philosopher, I mean] therefore, counseled that we read “not to confute and contradict… but to weigh and consider”. We should do our reading then as a humble striving for Knowledge and Understanding that leads to Wisdom. And to act, repeat, act, accordingly. “The great purpose of education”, says Herbert Spencer is not knowledge, but action”. By action, I cannot imagine but that he means action for the Common Good.
It is said that knowledge is power. Not quite so. It is what you do with knowledge- call it education if you will, that earns you power. After all, the world is full of men of knowledge – professors in all sorts of disciplines - , but who do not command as much power to make things happen the way they would want, like do those who obviously know much less. Therefore, we must read and, like men of knowledge and wisdom, improve the world wherever we find ourselves. It seems to me that our country is in the present sorry state , importantly because its affairs have for long been run by a non-reading leadership. Nearly half a century after independence is Nigeria is being led for the first time by a university graduate. And these little things make a big difference. Indeed, see now who is pushing the reading agenda.
Philosopher Martin Buber wrote -and I am fully at one with him – “Books are pure, men are mixed; books are spirit and word, pure spirit and purified word; men are made up of prattle and silence, and their silence is not that of animals, but of men”. Besides, to borrow from Buber again, purely delightful books are easier to come by than purely delightful men.
Are we then to prefer books to men? I do not think so. Only, that books will converse with us in their peculiarly silent way, neither interrupting our thoughts nor arguing with us; hardly can we find men like that.
Now, although it is good to read, it is even better to study. “Reading gives us breadth, but study gives us depth” said Jerry Bridges. But beyond this and in line with Francis Bacon’s thinking, it is best to write. Reading”, he wrote, “maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man”. One other reason that we should write it that there would be nothing to read if people didn’t write, and add thereby to the universal pool of knowledge that drives human progress. But again, we cannot write unless we read, and we cannot write well unless we read incessantly an opinion of Ziauddin Sardar that I share.
But writing isn’t easy, this I know and so William F. Buckley Jr. a full time writer admits too. Hear him: “I do not like to write, for writing is extremely hard work, and I do not like extremely hard work”. He writes nonetheless, and for a living too- as columnist, editor and author. Even George Orwell, a writer of no mean stature, opined that “writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness”. And yet, he too wrote such books as influential Animal Farm and 1984, and the deeply engaging, perennially relevant essay ‘Politics and the English Language’.
Nonetheless we must, like one in search of excellence, or perfection, read - and write -, to upgrade ourselves, to raise the total quality of our being so that like a man with a lantern in a dark place, (and believe me, literally and metaphorically, darkness abounds thickly in this Nigeria) share the light of our discoveries with, and touch the lives for the good of whomsoever we meet on the journey of life. In this process, reading deepens us spiritually, and raises our personal values to a higher plane. As we become what we read, we become more excellent.
In fine, I read somewhere that if you want to know, read; but if you want to be known, write. I agree.
Onaiyekan is a a visiting member of The Guardian editorial board
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