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  • The Pan-African Nation: Oil and the Spectacle of Culture in Nigeria
  • Bolaji Campbell
Andrew Apter . The Pan-African Nation: Oil and the Spectacle of Culture in Nigeria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. 334 pp. Map. Illustrations. Graphs. Table. References. Index. $60.00. Cloth. $24.00. Paper.

This is a penetrating if scathing critique of unfulfilled expectations and lost opportunities in the wake of Nigeria's march toward a modern nation-state, buoyed by the economic potentials of her vast oil reserves. In his brilliant analysis of the political, economic, and social dynamics of Nigeria, Andrew Apter turns to FESTAC as an appropriate metaphor for a critical review of the prodigious problems, challenges, and ills facing Africa's most populous country.

The staging of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in Nigeria in 1977 provides Apter with a lens through which to examine the multifaceted hurdles standing in the way of Nigeria's advancement toward leadership in the present century. FESTAC, in fact, revealed a society gone haywire. The festival was conceived as an arena for bringing together peoples of African descent to celebrate their shared heritage, while at the same time exploiting Nigeria's recently attained economic strength and muscle for political advantage on the global scene. That lofty ideal soon fizzled under the strain of ethnic affiliations and regional loyalties, to say nothing of corruption and cupidity. FESTAC quickly became an avenue for looting and the siphoning off of money, for corruption, perfidy, and waste in a society in urgent need of economic reform and political redemption. It was also the story of grand betrayal and exploitation of the weak, the vulnerable, and the defenseless, orchestrated in large measure in collusion with Western industrial capital.

Apter invokes key signifiers in his rigorous analysis of the ramifications of FESTAC. He begins with the choice of the festival logo, the ivory mask of Queen Idia, and the diplomatic imbroglio between the Nigerian government and the British Museum over the repatriation and use of the object. This incident offers an intriguing perspective into the dynamics of power between modern states, demonstrating the slippery relationship [End Page 132] between former colonial powers and their former colonies. The fragile ivory mask is emblematic of this highly contested terrain, but the full significance of the choice of the object in reinforcing black identity and pride against political and psychological domination and economic exploitation appears to have been lost on Apter, given the fact that the mask was forcefully appropriated during the infamous punitive expedition and destruction of Benin that heralded the British conquest of Nigeria.

The second metaphor pertains to the display of royal paraphernalia and costumes of power as they reflected ethnic inequities in Nigerian society. While it is true that the Ayorinde Committee in charge of organizing the festival may have hijacked the presentation and subverted the goal of equitable presentation of these regalia, Apter's argument becomes highly problematic when he attributes this to a Yoruba-centric agenda. In reality, colonial interference had destroyed so many of the traditional institutions in the Niger Delta that one could not realistically find truly authentic Ijaw or Ibibio costumes. In their place were hybrids or at best bad copies of European period costumes, which were the object of derision and parody even in the heyday of colonial occupation. The committee therefore opted for commonalities that existed among the dominant ethnic groups in precolonial Nigeria: hence the flowing gown, agbada, which has been adopted as a national dress for men.

Much of the literature cited by Apter will serve as a treasure trove for cultural historians in illuminating the past while shedding light on the contentious terrain of cultural diffusion, migration history, and ethnic hegemonies in Nigeria today. Particularly informative is the very detailed description of the flowing gown, referred to above, used by the Yoruba and the Hausa, and the conically shaped royal regalia used by the obi of Onitsha and its contributions to a pan-Yoruba identity.

In spite of the fresh perspectives and powerful arguments Apter offers, one shortcoming of the book lies in its overarching attempt to seek external influences for the...

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