Africa is faced with series of security challenges at present,which many believe there is no end to it, but it is also re-assuring to note that a number of people still believe solutions to many of the challenges are not as distant as they seem. Such people believe that if every individual especially the leaders do the right thing, the story will be a lot better.

Renowned art collector and founder of OYASAF, Yemisi Shyllon has lampooned Nigeria leaders for their general ineptitude towards the development and growth of visual art in the country. Adedoyin Shyllon made this call in a paper he presented at the 2012 AGM of the Society of Nigerian Artists recently held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

As part of its social and cultural responsibility to positively promote, through a wide range of academic, cultural, private sector, professional, and sports exchange programs thereby, encouraging the youths to engage in meaningful activities, the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has made plans to sponsor musicians from 21 countries, including Nigeria, who will travel to the United States to engage audiences in Main Street America through Cultural Diplomacy.

It was another excursion into the story of desert encroachment and its drastic effects of climate change as arts collectors, enthusiasts, Heads of corporate organizations and others gathered at the new DIDI Museum, Victoria Island, Lagos for a special event tagged Whispers from the Sahara, an auction of 15 selected shots of over 5,000 photographs captured by Kelechi Amadi-Obi during the Third Expedition across the Sahara by Dr. Newton Jibunoh, who led a team of dessert warriors.

One of the most challenging things to do by anybody is to write death tributes for one’s beloved ones. Unfortunately, I have been saddled to do this ugly job even against my will. But what can one do when confronted with this kind of task ? keep silent in the face of such troubling emotion? It is unthinkable.