The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke last week commissioned cultural-industrial centre built in a bid to alleviate poverty.

Africa During the colonial period, a ‘priceless portion’ of the cultural heritage of many oppressed peoples was ‘robbed’, ‘plunder[ed]‘, ‘despoiled’ . Simultaneously, foreign, “civilising missions” destroyed non-Christian ritual objects.

The much coveted $100,000 prize money of the 2012 Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas NLNG will eventually get to the best author today as a winner out of the last three standing is announced at a world press conference in Lagos. The Prize which is in its 8th year running was instituted with a view to motivating Nigerian writers in four literary genres vis a vis, poetry, prose, drama and Children’s literature. The prize is rotated around the genres each year and this year focuses on prose fiction.

Sculptor Chidi Okoye was a lecturer at Federal Polytechnic, Oko before he left Nigeria for Canada on the invitation of Canadian Art Society in 1994. Today, his fame in sculptural art has spread to America, Canada and Europe and his works speak volumes about his creativity and excellence. In this online interview, the Institute of Management and Technology Enugu trained artist talks about his art.

It is a deeply felt knowledge that the death of a truly great man is akin to the burning down of a library. Most notable Africans of the past died without putting down their multiform activities into bound books. Succeeding generations could not therefore tap into their experiences that would have helped a lot in the march of civilization.

The venue was the OYASAF conference centre and the event was an interactive forum on the current state of the visual arts in Nigeria. The forum which came up against the background of recent removal of art works mounted at strategic positions at the Murtala Mohamade International Airport, Ikeja , Lagos as a result of renovation works as well as the removal and destruction of art works and monument in some universities and other public spaces without the consent of the artist was put together by three stakeholders in the art industry.

PENULTIMATE week,two milestone events in Port Harcourt, River State contended for public attention. One was the general anger and despair that trailed the the gruesome murder of the University of Port Harcourt students by irate blood sucking mob of the University town of Aluu.

What we know today as Nigerian currencies did not just begin with naira and kobo. When looked back at history, one could vividly recollect that before the introduction of the British currencies: Pounds, Shillings and Pence (1959-1973) which preceded the introduction of naira and kobo on 1, January 1973, several local currencies were in use as means of trade and exchange.

Twenty one years ago when Greg Mbajiorgu staged his solo drama, Prime Minister’s Son, little did he know that his modest adventure into that theatrical path inaugurated in the Nigeria by late Funsho Alabi and Tunji Sotimirini would eventually stand him out as an important playwright to watch.

In some other communities, celebrating new yam eating is called yam festival. But in Owu Kingdom, where the veteran broadcasting journalist and unpretending evangelist, His Majesty Dr. Olusanya Adegboyega Dosunmu reigns on the throne as Olowu and the paramount ruler, yam festival has been encoded into a different brand.

OBI Nwaegbe’s, Tainted Vision 11 is another solo exhibition that projects the creative effort of the young and talented artist in the use of colors , palette knife and brush to evolving a diplomatic platform for mutual understanding among ethnicities, countries and institutions.

YAM is regarded as the king of crops among the Igbo people of South-East Nigeria. No wonder then that it is accorded so much respect and celebrated by the people every year. It is often believed that if a new yam is celebrated, the subsequent year will be more productive.

There Was A Country… A Personal History of Biafra by world literary icon, Chinua Achebe is no doubt, another tour de force from the master story teller, who in 1958 through the publication of his classic narrative; Things Fall Apart inaugurated the birth of what is today known as African literature. Besides being the mother and midwife of modern African literature according African American novelist, Michael Thelwel, Achebe is also an important essayist, poet, social commentator and cultural archivist.

Dr Chris Anyokwu teaches African Poetry, African literature and literary theory at the Department of English, University of Lagos. He is the author of A Parade of Madmen, Homecoming, Ufuoma, Termites and Ol’Soja and Other stories. In this interview, the seminal scholar and writer speaks about a number of disturbing trends in contemporary Nigerian literature. He talks about the function of literature in an environmentally changing and cyber redefined world, Niger delta and about the state of criticism in Nigeria. Excerpt:

Two recent African memoirs, both published in London and New York in 2012, reflect on the continent’s self-mutilation since the heady days when independence from colonialism was viewed as morning yet on creation day. What followed independence has been season after season of anomy, to use the phrase of Wole Soyinka.