There's an adage that a picture is worth more than a thousand words. If that is so then, how many words would hundreds and hundreds of such pictures be worth? Too numerous to calculate.
These and more imaginations ran through my mind as I sat there in the office of one "oga at the top" on my recent visit to Abuja, beholding pages upon pages of this coffee-table book with Nigeria emblazoned on its front cover.
There are just too many things that are enthralling about this book. First, its size: As books go, this pictorial document is a giant of a book. Made of the best and heaviest paper material for a book of its nature, and weighing about two kilogrammes, the 22 by 18-inch hardbound book is a challenge for one hand to lift.
Then the aesthetic quality of the book: Its 317 pages contain some of the most breathtaking pictures ever taken or seen of cultures, artefacts, natural endowments, images, and landscapes in Nigeria. Each of the about 400 photographs arrests the imagination and speaks to the soul.
They make you happy and sad at once. You cannot but wonder, is this truly Nigeria? Every photograph here leaps at you and challenges you to experience it. But just as soon, you are jerked awake by any of the myriad of horrors and disappointments besetting the country, from her NEPA-less-ness to the murderous state of the roads, from her uninspiring leadership to her asphyxiating and thieving system. You are reminded that nothing works, and nagged that these things in this beautiful book are but make-believe!
Yet it takes a different kind of person, some incurable patriot blessed with superlative talent to think this up, work this up, and deliver this up!
There are more amazing things about this book. One, it is the dream and work of one man and one man alone! Although he lists a ton of research sources for information he gathered and, in his acknowledgment, scores of people who helped along the way. But each and every one of the hundreds of photographs were taken by the author and photographer, 'DayoAdedayo, himself.
Two, this book was published in 2010, so how come I'm just coming across it now in 2013?
Surely, no greater evidence that I am not on the "scene" anymore! I apologise. Still, this book is for all times and so commands a review and an appreciation at all times – anew.
There are photographs in this collection that are simply works of art. Some, like the "Sand Dunes" of Damasak, Borno State, or "Dusk on Jabi Lake" in Abuja, or the "Ryom Rock Formation" in Plateau State, among many others, are of such haunting beauty that reminds one of some of the classics of an older generation photographer, my big brother the great Sunmi Smart-Cole.
Trained as a photographer at the Westminster College and the University of Westminster in the UK and specialising in landscape photography, Adedayo spent seven years travelling to all the 36 states and Abuja in the making of the book.
The blurb reveals: "Several thousand stills were edited into the images in this special edition." Awesome! "There are many firsts in the book: the Awhum Waterfalls in Enugu State have never been photographed, neither is the Jaffi Falls in Borno State."
No one can fail to be enraptured by the images in this amazing book. THE PUNCH Newspaper is quoted as saying, "Here is proof that Nigeria is beautiful." While former President OlusegunObasanjo, someone of abiding faith in Nigeria wrote with pride, "This work is both a graphic representation of the uncommon enterprise and the abundant endowments of Nigeria's diverse cultures. It is therefore a tribute to the Nigerian spirit as it demonstrates, in an eloquent way, the beauty of our civilization…"
University don and former Artistic Director of National Troupe of Nigeria, Prof. Ahmed Yerima, sums it up nicely: "The book takes one on a safari of pictures of a lifetime…(it) serves as an inspirational work of art for those who are yet to physically see the country and as a great resource handbook for scholars and tourists…(Dayo) prepares even the Nigerian for the ego trip, the sense of pride – that of patriotism to reclaim a motherland of greatness."
In a country filled with cynics, betrayals, intrigues, corruption, and put-him-down malice, I do wonder if this great book would ever have seen the light of day had 'Dayo based his calculations on government (at any level)'s sponsorship or even collaboration. As a consequence I can also only imagine the hurdles he would have had to scale, the mountains he would have had to climb, the rivers to cross in the seven years it took him to bring this great work to fruition.
This, then, is a monument to the creative and undying spirit of the Nigerian.
I started by saying I "beheld" pages upon pages of the book when I first saw it. Yes, it's not a book to flip through in a hurry; the pages demand to be handled with respect. Of the highest quality print to be found anywhere in the world, the book carries a beauty and a message, as Yerima said, "that of patriotism to reclaim a motherland of greatness."
I do not expect this heavy and voluminous book to be for the hoi polloi, but no establishment, no institution, no library, no "oga's" coffee-table, is worth its name if it does not have a copy of 'DayoAdedayo's NIGERIA!
NCC to the rescue – for once!
It's not often that you find a government department or agency act on behalf of the poor Nigerian consumer. Most times "the oga at the top" is one that is beholding to some "invisible" forces of capitalism, some foreign power, or the sheer greed of his pocket!
It was such a relief then to hear about the latest intervention of the Nigerian Communications Commission, the regulatory agency for the mobile telephony companies, demanding the portability of the consumer's GSM number from any provider to any other.
Over the years the GSM providers in Nigeria have earned themselves the unenviable reputation of being uncaring, even heartless exploiters of the poor consumers in what is unquestionably the biggest market in Africa; yanking billions of dollars to the bank at our expense.
One of the benefits in a competitive milieu is for improved services and cheaper products in the struggle for customers. The customer is "king." Not with our GSM providers here. The customer has consistently been treated with disdain; abused and raped. We are forced to get messages we do not ask for and get billed for it; the strength of their signals is abysmal, perhaps intentionally, the sooner credits get exhausted,the better for them; users are forced to carry several providers' SIM cards, edging their bets to make or get calls from place to place.
Nobody seems to care. The authorities seem to be powerless or conniving.
However, now with the Mobile Number Portability, subscribers are back in the saddle, even if with half a buttock. Being able to change from one provider to another and keep one's number is a huge advantage to the user and can only deepen competition and force better service.
Good job NCC, as we, the poor consumers, keep our fingers crossed!
