Sola Osofisan
06-08-2008, 03:54 PM
Obasanjo, Soyinka, Ulli Beier, Trade Words
From Laolu Akande (New York)
CONTROVERSY over the siting of the proposed UNESCO institute in Nigeria persists, with renowned arts archivist, editor, writer and scholar, Ulli Beier refusing attempts to locate his art collections anywhere else except Osogbo, where he lived and practised for the better part of his long stay in the country.
Informed sources said there was the perception that the Obasanjo Presidential Library was being considered to receive and house Beier's archives while the Federal Government paid for the cost of transferring the ownership of the collections from the Beiers to Nigeria.
Indeed, sources said the Beiers - Ulli and Georgina, his wife - did not only reject offers from the Federal Government and the Obasanjo Presidential Library.
They also refused an alternative arrangement to get Western universities to pay for the collections as against the government paying for them on behalf of the Obasanjo Library.
Similarly, Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, had warned that there were efforts by the Obasanjo Presidential Library to receive the collections with the Federal Government funding and on that basis, the Library was seeking the location of the UNESCO institute on its premises in Abeokuta.
Prof. Soyinka staunchly opposes the citing of the UNESCO institute in the premises of the Obasanjo Presidential Library, arguing that the former President is not deserving of such an honour.
UNESCO sources also revealed that the plans of the UNESCO Executive Board to finalise the siting of the UNESCO institute in Nigeria in April, was deferred mainly because of Soyinka's international influence and well-stated opposition.
The 1986 Nobel laureate for Literature wants the UNESCO institute to be sited in either the University in Ife or Ibadan, but not in the Obasanjo Presidential Library.
A source said the world-reputed professor is committed to ensuring that UNESCO does not finalise plans to locate the institute in the Obasanjo Library, including launching an intensive international campaign against the idea.
Besides, he plans a possible legal action against the Obasanjo Presidential Library - an establishment he has argued in the past as having been illegitimately established with public funds forced out from State governments and other public agencies.
However, early last week, former President Obasanjo came out publicly to reject claims that his Presidential Library was begging UNESCO to situate the institute in its premises.
Rather, he argued that his Library was, in fact, doing UNESCO a favour hosting the institute in a whole floor of the Library in Abeokuta.
Nonetheless, with the payment of the $680,000 by the Osun State government, the Beier collections are going to belong to the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo with a condition by the Beiers that the Centre must be independent of any government control.
Until the Osun State governor wrote to correct the impression, the belief in UNESCO was that the payment for the Beier's collections were made by the Federal Government - an impression, which the Osun State government strongly debunked.
It actively sought to clarify the impression, insisting that UNESCO records should reflect the true facts that the state government and not the federal government paid for the collections.
Ulli Beier rejected both payment offers from a set of Western universities and the government but eventually opted to transfer the huge collections to the proposed Osun State-promoted Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding based in Osogbo.
The Beiers reportedly accepted a deal to receive $680,000 to have their collections returned to Nigeria and housed only in Osogbo. It was not clear why they rejected the offer put together by some Western universities especially US-based ones, but a source said, "no other offer could match that of the Osun State government."
Not only were the Beiers more interested in their works returning to Osogbo where they had lived for a long time, but they also had friendly relationships with the father of the incumbent Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was a king in the Osun area.
Interestingly, the Osun State Governor will be traveling soon to Australia to receive the collections personally and arrange for their transfer to Osogbo.
Although he is German, and a non-practising Jew, Ulli Beier is reputed as playing a pioneering role in developing drama, poetry and visual arts in Nigeria.
After retiring and leaving Nigeria to resettle in Australia, the Beiers took with them their arts collections, which UNESCO sources described as "very huge and rich with training manuals on different artforms among several others."
Ulli Beier, according to his online biography, "is known for his effort in translating African works. He emerged as one of the scholars who introduced African writers to a large international audience; and for his works in translating plays of dramatists such as Duro Ladipo and publishing 'Modern Poetry', an anthology of African poems, published in 1963."
But his works and arts collections formed a central focus of the international controversy over the proposed UNESCO institute in Nigeria.
The UNESCO General Conference had given a green light last October to Nigeria's proposal to host the institute at the Obasanjo Presidential Library, in Abeokuta and at the new Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo.
The UNESCO team that completed its mission Wednesday, June 4, according to sources, is also well aware of the dispute over the siting of the Institute at the Library. Exclusive UNESCO documents, however, reveal that what will be crucial is for the institute to be independent and autonomous of the Library.
According to the source, "it will be important for legal documents - MoU - that transfers to the said institute the rights of ownership and management of the said floor," be put in place - referring to the floor the Obasanjo Presidential Library has promised to set aside for the UNESCO institute.
The source added that it is necessary for the "Federal Government to agree with the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Foundation on the final terms of this MoU."
The UNESCO documents, authored by the UNESCO team that visited Nigeria recently, then noted that "it is our belief that donation - (of the space) will resolve the political debate surrounding the hosting of the institute."
On how and when a final decision on the siting of the institute would be taken, the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Francoise Riviere, has assured that the Federal Government thus:
The UNESCO Secretariat would do its utmost to facilitate the Executive Board's consideration of Nigeria's proposal to host the UNESCO category 2 institute at its 180th session in Paris in September later this year.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=080608&ptitle=Obasanjo,%20Soyinka,%20Ulli%20Beier,%20Trad e%20Words
From Laolu Akande (New York)
CONTROVERSY over the siting of the proposed UNESCO institute in Nigeria persists, with renowned arts archivist, editor, writer and scholar, Ulli Beier refusing attempts to locate his art collections anywhere else except Osogbo, where he lived and practised for the better part of his long stay in the country.
Informed sources said there was the perception that the Obasanjo Presidential Library was being considered to receive and house Beier's archives while the Federal Government paid for the cost of transferring the ownership of the collections from the Beiers to Nigeria.
Indeed, sources said the Beiers - Ulli and Georgina, his wife - did not only reject offers from the Federal Government and the Obasanjo Presidential Library.
They also refused an alternative arrangement to get Western universities to pay for the collections as against the government paying for them on behalf of the Obasanjo Library.
Similarly, Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, had warned that there were efforts by the Obasanjo Presidential Library to receive the collections with the Federal Government funding and on that basis, the Library was seeking the location of the UNESCO institute on its premises in Abeokuta.
Prof. Soyinka staunchly opposes the citing of the UNESCO institute in the premises of the Obasanjo Presidential Library, arguing that the former President is not deserving of such an honour.
UNESCO sources also revealed that the plans of the UNESCO Executive Board to finalise the siting of the UNESCO institute in Nigeria in April, was deferred mainly because of Soyinka's international influence and well-stated opposition.
The 1986 Nobel laureate for Literature wants the UNESCO institute to be sited in either the University in Ife or Ibadan, but not in the Obasanjo Presidential Library.
A source said the world-reputed professor is committed to ensuring that UNESCO does not finalise plans to locate the institute in the Obasanjo Library, including launching an intensive international campaign against the idea.
Besides, he plans a possible legal action against the Obasanjo Presidential Library - an establishment he has argued in the past as having been illegitimately established with public funds forced out from State governments and other public agencies.
However, early last week, former President Obasanjo came out publicly to reject claims that his Presidential Library was begging UNESCO to situate the institute in its premises.
Rather, he argued that his Library was, in fact, doing UNESCO a favour hosting the institute in a whole floor of the Library in Abeokuta.
Nonetheless, with the payment of the $680,000 by the Osun State government, the Beier collections are going to belong to the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo with a condition by the Beiers that the Centre must be independent of any government control.
Until the Osun State governor wrote to correct the impression, the belief in UNESCO was that the payment for the Beier's collections were made by the Federal Government - an impression, which the Osun State government strongly debunked.
It actively sought to clarify the impression, insisting that UNESCO records should reflect the true facts that the state government and not the federal government paid for the collections.
Ulli Beier rejected both payment offers from a set of Western universities and the government but eventually opted to transfer the huge collections to the proposed Osun State-promoted Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding based in Osogbo.
The Beiers reportedly accepted a deal to receive $680,000 to have their collections returned to Nigeria and housed only in Osogbo. It was not clear why they rejected the offer put together by some Western universities especially US-based ones, but a source said, "no other offer could match that of the Osun State government."
Not only were the Beiers more interested in their works returning to Osogbo where they had lived for a long time, but they also had friendly relationships with the father of the incumbent Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who was a king in the Osun area.
Interestingly, the Osun State Governor will be traveling soon to Australia to receive the collections personally and arrange for their transfer to Osogbo.
Although he is German, and a non-practising Jew, Ulli Beier is reputed as playing a pioneering role in developing drama, poetry and visual arts in Nigeria.
After retiring and leaving Nigeria to resettle in Australia, the Beiers took with them their arts collections, which UNESCO sources described as "very huge and rich with training manuals on different artforms among several others."
Ulli Beier, according to his online biography, "is known for his effort in translating African works. He emerged as one of the scholars who introduced African writers to a large international audience; and for his works in translating plays of dramatists such as Duro Ladipo and publishing 'Modern Poetry', an anthology of African poems, published in 1963."
But his works and arts collections formed a central focus of the international controversy over the proposed UNESCO institute in Nigeria.
The UNESCO General Conference had given a green light last October to Nigeria's proposal to host the institute at the Obasanjo Presidential Library, in Abeokuta and at the new Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo.
The UNESCO team that completed its mission Wednesday, June 4, according to sources, is also well aware of the dispute over the siting of the Institute at the Library. Exclusive UNESCO documents, however, reveal that what will be crucial is for the institute to be independent and autonomous of the Library.
According to the source, "it will be important for legal documents - MoU - that transfers to the said institute the rights of ownership and management of the said floor," be put in place - referring to the floor the Obasanjo Presidential Library has promised to set aside for the UNESCO institute.
The source added that it is necessary for the "Federal Government to agree with the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Foundation on the final terms of this MoU."
The UNESCO documents, authored by the UNESCO team that visited Nigeria recently, then noted that "it is our belief that donation - (of the space) will resolve the political debate surrounding the hosting of the institute."
On how and when a final decision on the siting of the institute would be taken, the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Francoise Riviere, has assured that the Federal Government thus:
The UNESCO Secretariat would do its utmost to facilitate the Executive Board's consideration of Nigeria's proposal to host the UNESCO category 2 institute at its 180th session in Paris in September later this year.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=080608&ptitle=Obasanjo,%20Soyinka,%20Ulli%20Beier,%20Trad e%20Words