AMAOPUSENIBO Shedrack Fubara Blog

Bro Tony Elumelu, Kudos for the powerful and thought provoking presentation. While diligently reading through your lecture, a part of it jumped at me and I quote "So the sad fact is that despite valiant efforts by the government over the last 30 years ‘Austerity’ to the ‘Structural Adjustment Programme’ to ‘MAMSER’ to ‘SURE-P,’ poverty is on the rise in Nigeria". I beg to disagree with your assertion that govt have been ‘’vigilant’’ in their efforts at eradicating poverty over the last 30yrs. As a matter of fact, government has been the problem rather than solution. You cannot continue to give a sick man the same dose of medicine that has not cured him after 30yrs. The various attempts by govt to stamp out poverty have been political, hurriedly thought-out, reactionary and unsustainable hence they yielded no positive results. The question govt and citizens must begin to ask is what has the western world done differently that Nigeria isn't doing? Over the years Nig...

Background: Nigeria is made up of four major tribes namely - Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo and Ijaw. The Ijaws dominate the Southern part of Nigeria & in this tribe they have multiple ethnic groups and the prominent group are the Ibani people (Bonny & Opobo) as its known to Westerners. One of the traditional ceremonies recognized in Bonny and Opobo for women is the IRIA ceremony, which symbolizes a "coming of age" time for young girls and is used to launch them into society and proclaim adulthood. Further on in her life her husband may perform the second stage of the ceremony for her called BIBITE. Traditionally an Ibani girl is not allowed to dress in the traditional attire of two wrapper cloths unless she has performed the ceremony and those who do are met with a penalty or fine. The IRIA and BIBITE ceremonies include all three functions of art- ritual, integrative and display of cultural values or aspects unique to that culture. These ceremonies have proved to ...