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We attended most of the Lagos parades and shows in which Nigeria lavished great hospitalities on visitors from all over the world. At the end of it all, we said to ourselves that there will never be another FESTAC of that magnitude in Africa, at least in our life time. We seem to be proved right, because recently our President - Olusegun Obasanjo - donated the Festac Mask to UNESCO. If another Festac is in the offing, the Mask which was the symbol of the Festival would have been retained and preserved in the country. Tunde Oladunjoye, writing from Paris in The Guardian of Friday, May 27, 2005, tells the story behind the mask and its recent donation to UNESCO.>>> |
President Olusegun Obasanjo, last Wednesday made a unique donation of the FESTAC 77 mask to the United Nations Educational Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) at a well attended ceremony held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. The Queen Idia mask, which was the symbol of the second festival of arts and culture hosted by Nigeria in 1977, has its deep roots in ancient city of Benin in the present Edo State of Nigeria. It symbolises the expansive conquest Queen Idia was famous for. The figurines at the back of the mask depict the protective ambience of the community that homage to Queen Idia. According to the statement from the Federal Ministry of Culture, "the mask cast in bronze, represents the esoteric beauty of the Queen underlined by royal solemnity. It serves as constant reminder of the richness of the past, the quest for excellence of the present and the vision of the future of Nigerian people". The original Queen Idia mask which is made of ivory is one of the thousands of artifacts that was taken by Britain in 1897 during the invasion of Benin. The mask is still withheld despite several attempts by Nigeria to recover it from the British museum. |
In 1977, when I was working
with the Federal Government, Elizabeth and I watched with interest the frantic
preparations in Lagos for the second and biggest Festival of Arts and Culture
(FESTAC) ever held in Africa. Actually, the full name of the event was 2nd
World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture. The first Festac was
hosted by Senegal in Dakar in 1966.