By Prisca Sam-Duru

Who would dare to tell what the future holds for a nation? It becomes more difficult when the country in question is Nigeria, with all her complexities, political upheavals, menace of terrorism, high rate of unemployment, etc. Predicting in visual form, the future histories of Nigeria, is the herculean task before the 12 finalists of the National Arts Competition, NAC, who were unveiled penultimate week at the Lagos Bar of the Nigerian Breweries Plc, Lagos.

Some of the finalists during a retreat at AAF HQ, lagos

Interestingly, NAC which is sponsored by Nigerian Breweries and coordinated by African Artists’ Foundation, is for budding artists only. And this kind of makes one wonder how on earth this category of artists will cope with the huge responsibility of foretelling, what the histories of Nigeria’s future will look like.

But then, workshop facilitators in the likes of Oliver Enweonwu, Fidelis Odogwu, Theo Lawson, Victor Ehikamenor, Uche Uzorka, Wura Oguniji, Uche Okpa Iroha, had during the NAC retreat, imparted in the finalists, everything needed to mould them into world class artists.

Thus, the herculean task of utilising their innovation and creativity as tools to shape and mould the future histories of Nigeria, becomes job made easy. After all, Dudu Emmanuel, Erasmus Onyishi, Modupeola Fadugba, Yegwa Ukpo,who are all past NAC winners, turned into internationally recognised artists, courtesy of NAC.

Out of over two hundred strong and conceptually sophisticated proposals received from across the country, the panel of judges led by Professor El Anatsui considered each proposal on the grounds of its originality, creativity and clarity in relation to the theme. The process birthed, Adetunwase Adenle, Funmi Akindejoye, Michael Ametuo, Chinenye Emelogu, Maryam Kazeem and May Okafor. Others on the list are; Komi Olafimihan, Ngozi Omeje, Babatunde Oyeyemi, Folami Razaq, Sebastine Ugwuoke and Stacey Okparavero.

Consequent upon their selection, the finalists proceeded on a week long retreat which focused on placing emphasis on the process of artistic creation as part of the effort at developing the artists. Following the end of the retreat, the finalists are given up to November to execute their final project.

This 8th edition is unique in that women dominated the list,  it has a provocative theme-–Future Histories; and now, NAC enjoys the support of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) and Samsung Electronics West Africa. This only means that the competition is gaining strong reputation globally.

Unveiling the 12 finalists, Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Kufre Ekanem said that “Over the last eight years, his company has sponsored the National Art Competition organised by the AAF with the aim of promoting the conceptual development of contemporary art in Nigeria and to raise awareness on relevant social issues through the use of diverse creative artistic expressions.” adding that “Future Histories, provokes the artists to creatively design and narrate a future for the nation based on experience and knowledge of the past.”

As the country eagerly awaits the crowning of the winner of the 2015 National Arts Competition in a grand event in November, it isn’t clear yet who wins the prize of 2 million naira from the treasury of the Nigerian Breweries Plc, and other benefits such as solo exhibition and of course, a fascinating and exploratory trip to Dubai. Also, the 1st and 2nd runners up will each receive cash prizes of a million naira each. All other finalists will be provided with a convenient platform to lunch their careers as future greats in the arts.

AAF Director, Azu Nwagbogu commended NB for rewarding artists all over Nigeria stressing that their contribution is not only about rewarding artists but impacting values and professionalism into the competitors.

Narrating his transition from nothing to fame, 2008 NAC winner, Dudu Emmanuel said his story as a wandering artist changed into a well sort for talent from across the globe since winning. After a successful group art exhibition at the Gallery 23 in Dubai, he has moved from being a local artist to an international artist being sorted after by foreign and local art galleries.