Another paradise lost

Paradise is not everywhere but I was once told one can be created by an individual regardless of where he is and the conditions he is surrounded by. But what do you do when those conditions are way beyond your power to overcome, especially when they are almost taking your last ounce of strength?

What do you do when you were once in paradise and suddenly lose it, like the one John Milton talked about in his poem, Paradise Lost? In that epic poem, Milton presents Satan as an ambitious and proud being who defies his creator, the omnipotent God, and wages war on Heaven, only to be defeated and cast down.

I was at an art exhibition some days ago and what I saw shocked me. In the place highlighted by the artist, there was actually a non-existent paradise; yet one could have been created if not for the greed of Nigerian rulers whom the artist portrayed as ‘satans’ and ‘vermins’ that continue to feed on the sweat and blood of innocent Niger Deltans.

Sometime in the 1940s when the nationalist movement was in progress in Africa, many people were made to believe that political independence would usher in a new life, solve all social problems and provide everyone a better life. So much was promised by black leaders but only a handful was realised. Most post-independence economic plans were based on expansive democratic principles which included the promise of equal opportunities and fairness in the standard of living. These promises fired the imagination of the black people. Unfortunately, though, within a few of independence, those hopes were dashed and disillusionment set in. The current issues across Africa are some of the post-independence disillusionments which many African writers and artists have talked about.

And so, the works at the exhibition revealed another angry voice in the person of the artist, the same angry voice in the character of Zilayefa in Kaine Agary’s ‘Yellow Yellow’. While Agary uses words to capture the suffering of Niger Deltans, the artist decided to employ the powerful medium of photography. He presented with great pathos and commendable realism the multifaceted situation of the Niger Delta region through the kind of photographs on display. The fortunes of the old and the young in the region whose hopes to get qualitative education, roads, pipe borne water, electricity are eventually dashed by the nature of the Nigerian political, social and economic system.

The images were very detailed and convincing, an analysis of the causes of juvenile delinquency, prostitution and big-time as well as petty crime which have spurred the so-called Niger Delta militants. There was a great depth of presentation, realistic images, psychological understanding and awareness of the implications of the issues raised.

And for me, the heroes were not the dictators who occupy the seat of power in Aso Rock or other government houses, but the innocent old men and women, children and adolescents who were victims of the greed and selfishness characteristic of Nigerian rulers. Many of the children were raised with the hope of a better future, but a combination of corruption, unfairness, nepotism, and more ensures that their hopes remain unrealised.

The experience was thus a paradigm, not just for the Nigerian situation, but for Africa as a whole, where hordes of youths educated up to the school certificate standard or university level discovered that despite their qualifications, the socio-economic situation ensured they have to roam the streets unemployed for years. The effect of this is not just a tremendous waste of potential but a loss of faith in the value of education and ultimately life.

The artist tellingly presented the utter despair of the Niger Delta people who are suffering in the midst of plenty - the misery and degradation of having to live in an environment virtually destroyed by gas flaring and crude oil. Most farmlands which were sources of livelihood for most of the inhabitants had been eroded by crude oil. The squalor in which the people live was contrasted with the opulence of Nigerian leaders and managing directors of oil companies, who deny them the right to basic social amenities. Through a series of evocative images, the destructive effect of gas flaring was vividly portrayed. The image that got stuck on my mind was that of a mother with her child firmly strapped on her back, and yellowish flames oozing from the gas flare in the background. It was a representation of the predicament of the people. The photographs were political statements about the impact of political activities and decisions of the leaders on the life and feelings of the people. It was a display of the anger and sympathy for a people’s suffering.