Putting Benin culture on the path of profitability

Being excerpts of a speech delivered by the chairman of the occasion, Chief Lugard Aimiuwu (Osayuwana of Benin Kingdom), at a symposium on the Socio-Cultural Implications of Igue Festival, at the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre, Benin, Edo State, recently.

Think big! If you think small, you remain small. In a rat race, the winner is still a rat! Even if it sets a world record, it is still a rat, setting a rats’ world record! May the great Benin people never become rats!

But we were ‘rats’ all through history. Great Benin was so-called, even before ‘great’ was appended to Britain. Whilst Benin was acknowledged and named ‘great’ by foreigners enthralled by the magnificence of the empire, Britain christened itself ‘great’ and then, worked hard to make itself great! Benin was acknowledged as world-best or world class in social order, law and order, hard work and industry, ethics and integrity, sanitation and hygiene, engineering (road network, moat), town planning, military skills, administrative competence, logistics efficiency, carving and casting, fine arts, music and dance, drama, astrology, philosophy e.t.c. These achievements were propelled by the strategic vision of our ancestors expressed in three key statements which I captured in the song Edonimose to remind us constantly of our strategic purpose as a people. They are Edoisiagbon, Edo-Okaro and Edo-Odion. This, certainly, is not the strategic vision of rats, but of world beaters. Any wonder, therefore, why Benin became ‘great’? Our ancestors worked hard at it and achieved one of the greatest civilisations that Africa and, indeed, the world has witnessed.

Culture defines a people’s mileposts in the journey to the promised land. It is both ‘the mark and marker of civilisation’. It expresses the collective personae of a people, defines their values, lubricates their habits and attitudes, demonstrates their collective will, structures their enforcement processes and their systems of reward and sanction. In my view, culture is the totality of the expression of their way of life. Culture is also the permanent bridge in life’s time continuum. It links the past with the present and illuminates the future. It is my view that to know the leaders of tomorrow, you will need to look at today’s culture.

Culture is the branding and the brand of a people. Technically, a people without culture do not exist. They are just human beings; mere commodity. Benin, as a name, is one of the strongest brands there is. No wonder, therefore, that our brothers of Dahomey are making full capital of the name to such an extent that in a dictionary, Encyclopedia Encarta, or even in the mass media, the word “Benin,” today, almost invariably first refers to Republic of Benin, before the kingdom and city of Benin. All well and good because the republic will employ state machinery to keep the name “Benin” alive. However, we must claim and retain the patent right and fully exploit it to build business patents and franchise to cover Benin bonze, Benin ivory, Benin carving, Benin music, Benin dance, Benin moat e.t.c.

Culture requires continuous updating and renewal to ensure that the march of civilisation is constantly lubricated. You do not hold on tenaciously to the town crier’s gong in the name of culture in a world now dominated by the mass media. Human civilisation is on forward march and those who refuse to board the vehicle of progress simply get left behind! Just what is progress? Even if the rest of the world stand still and we keep moving backwards by damaging our institutions and destroying ourselves, that won’t be progress. This also applies if the rest of the world is progressing exponentially and we progress arithmetically.

The emerging scenario is a world where no advantage is permanent and where competitors are constantly creating new value to attract value. The first can quite easily become the last.

•Cross River, with a few monkeys, has been able to build better tourism credentials than Benin with a large tract of virgin rain forest still intact and where there have been recent sighting of forest elephants plus, of course, even more variety of monkeys.

Benin has, in its extensive military moats and mounds, described in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest earthworks in the world ( in the pre-mechanical era), a major tourism potential. Yet, a new creation Tinapa, is much better known not only abroad but also at home. It will most certainly become tomorrow’s money spinner because of purposeful management. Action: (a) rehabilitate the moats; (b) canvass for and secure UNESCO World Heritage Classification; (c) create and promote an annual tourist-attracting international event. Build pathways and driveways along the works and have Great Benin Moat Marathon, Great Benin Trek and perhaps African Grand Prix. There are so many possibilities; (d) also exploit the domestic potential by networking them into new canal system to help de-flooding and promote inland transportation.

On national television and cable television stations, which culture is most likely to be displayed in drama, home movies, theater and entertainment in general? Most likely, Benin’s, Africa’s culture capital. What is Benin’s share of Hollywood and total entertainment market?

The future belongs to the strong. Is Benin strong? Can it be strong or stronger? It is one of the greatest ironies of our times that people who sit atop such great wealth are afflicted with such great poverty and deprivation! If we are incapable of creating new wealth, should we also be incapable of tapping from the wealth bequeathed to us by the legacies of our ancestors? Can’t we jointly explore the following?

Igue can be re-positioned not only as a national event, but also as the must-see African event of the year! First, we must properly define it as both a festival and a carnival. It is a two-in-one event that is akin to both American thanksgiving and Brazilian and Caribbean carnival. But it predates both. This heritage has its root in a time span than includes three era in history of Great Britain Action creates parks like the South African National Park. The people historically bound together over those glorious centuries would be networked as interested stakeholders and allowance made for their participation on slots and days in the programmes without diluting the main core traditional content in quantum and quality. Dedicate days or slots to Beninois, Ghana (Accra), Lagos, Ondo Oyo/Osun, Onitsha, Idah, Owerri, Rivers (Ogba) plus our immediate kith and kin of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and involve our traditional, histroric allies and trading partners at home and abroad — Portugal, Holland, Britain e.t.c. It won’t happen overnight but with strategic focus, networking all direct and remote stakeholders, it can become the African event of the year.

Urgent action is required to liberate Benin from its economic disaster-zone status) - rehabilitate roads and drains; build access roads and fly-overs. Things will not happen over night, but let us start by exploring the power of ideas, because of the potential of result. Tourism is the world’s largest employer. Let us exploit our advantages to create new advantages. We must think big or be ready to become rats.

Chief Lugard Ehimatie Aimiuwu