Organizers of Songs of Nigeria Festival (SONIFES) have urged Nigerians and the Nigerian government to deploy culture beyond entertainment to elevate Nigeria’s democracy and engender a cultural revolution in the country.
President of SONIFES, Dr Lizzy Ben-Iheanacho, and co-president, Mallam Denja Abdullahi disclosed this at SONIFES 2024, a songs, drama and dance event held June 11, to commemorate Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
A cultural organization, SONIFES, is committed to celebrating great minds of the country, Nigeria’s democracy and independence via arts and culture.
According to Abdullahi cultural dances, songs and drama, possess elements, beyond entertainment that bring people together and promote unity in diversity. Nigerian cultures and their plethora of dances, songs, and dramas – tell stories that often promote unity, peace, forgiveness, tolerance etc.
“You can use culture (songs) to project new philosophies for the country among other things. Cultural elements speak with one voice. Good examples are our age groups, royal fathers etc. They preach unity, hard work.
“Similarly, culture can be used to indoctrinate Nigeria’s philosophy to the younger generation. They should be made aware of our cultural histories, via their documentation in texts.
“For something to become a culture, it has to be repeated severally, in order to be ingrained in minds. We must use these elements of unity, peace, forgiveness, tolerance, intrinsic in our various cultures, in our songs, dance, dramas, as building blocks for Nigeria’s democracy, and achieve cultural democracy, as we saw in China.
“China declared a cultural revolution saying, “China is us. We are going to talk China. We are going to eat China.” That is how the country got to where it is today. We need something like that in Nigeria. When we do this repeatedly, it will stick, and after sometime, our people will have one voice.”
However, Abdullahi stressed that for culture to be able to elevate Nigeria’s democracy and bring about a cultural revolution, government must ensure the provision of basic amenities to all Nigerians. “Until we have settled the basic needs of the people, that we can talk of philosophy, serious development, IT revolution. All these things are built upon basic amenities.
Beyond using cultural activities to promote our democracy, Dr Ihenacho said songs and dance are not only used to inspire hope, but censure people to become better citizens and leaders.
“Songs and dances always unite people. They motivate. They inspire. They also censure and satirize people’s wrongdoings. They call for correction because a lot of people don’t want to be satirized in songs or dramas, or to be the butt of communal jokes. They also call for correction because the creators are hopeful of a better nation.
Urging Nigerians to celebrate the nation’s 25th year of undisrupted democracy, Ihenacho said, “That we are here today, and that the ship Nigeria hasn’t capsized in spite our challenges is reason to celebrate. There is no nation without its peculiar challenges. The important thing is to ensure that the ship Nigeria does not sink,” concluded Iheanacho.