BY JAPHET ALAKAM

For the first time since the history of black history month, Nigeria as a country will this year official identify with this important black celebration, courtesy of the Lagos  Theatre Association. The Black History Month is a month set aside to remember all important people in the history of Africa and the entire black world. The occasion also celebrates the important events  like the infamous slave trade that ravaged the black world for centuries. The event was first celebrated at Kent State University in February 1970 .

Speaking at a media parley  in Lagos put together by the Lagos Theatre Associates in collaboration with Ajo productions, Fred Agbeyegbe, grand living legend of Nigerian Theatre disclosed that Nigeria will join the rest of the world  in celebrating this year’s black history month with the stage of  The Human Cargo, a play about slave trade in Africa.

Harping on the importance of the celebration and Nigeria’s inability to be part of  event since inception,  renowned lawyer and elder statesman, Agbeyegbe stated that Nigeria’s joining of the league of celebrants of Black History Month in the world is long over due.
He pointed out that since the beginning of the Black History week in 1926 in the United States of America  which  later metamorphosed into the Black History Month in 1976, Nigeria one of the countries that produced over 3.5 million slaves to America during the Slave trade era has not participated in the celebration because according to him, “we are a very misfortune people, governed by a government that pretends to serve the people but end up serving themselves.”

Continuing, he observed that apart from the efforts of the likes of Centre for Black African Art and Civilization (CBAAC) that marks it every year, Nigeria has not formally declared nor participated in the month long celebration. But this year, the Lagos Theatre Associates/Ajo productions led by Fred Agebeyegbe will officially represent the country for the first time as they join the rest of the world in the celebration of the Black History month.

Highlighting on the programme for the celebration, Muyiwa Oshinaike  stated that the celebration is to make people know about the devastating effects of man’s inhumanity to his fellow human especially now that the West have declared economic slavery through the visa lottery that is taking Africans back to the States for another slavery.

According to him, the celebration will kick off on the 1st  of February with a Jumat Service at Folawiyo Mosque Surulere followed by an interdenominational service at 1st Baptist Church Surulere on 3rd.

Continuing, he added that on 4th, there will  also be a declaration of the Black History Month by Ndubuisi Kanu at Freedom Park, Lagos, while the celebration proceeds to the University of Lagos on the 5th February under the support of Centre for Black African Arts and Civilisation( CBAAC).

The play which was commissioned by UNESCO  for the Black History month will begin in Nigeria and end up  in US as a climax of Nigeria’s contribution to the Black History Month. It will be staged at the National Theatre, Iganmu from8-10th February and at Muson Centre, Lagos from 15th to 17th before traveling to Atlanta, USA  from the 23rd to 25th of February, 2013.