In other climes, people collect things seriously. It could be stamps, coins or works of art. But in Nigeria, collectors of works of art are more popular. But that is not to say that there are no collectors of other things.
Enter the image historian, Amanda Okoye, a mother of three and lawyer who runs a Public Relations (PR) agency. She has been collecting for four years.
“I have actually been going to different auctions for about three years, but I have been doing this (collecting) for four years,” said Okoye who explained that it all started with her trying to discover herself.
She explained that she came to Nigeria at 14 after being misinformed.
“Somewhere along the line, I had been told that the west of Africa had natives running around naked with mud huts; so when I came to Nigeria at 14, I was pleasantly surprised. I felt let down too; I felt I had been told so many negative things about my country and only for me to come to Nigeria and discover that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Things are bad, but it wasn’t as bad as that,” she said.
Okoye collects photos, videos, magazines, newspapers and memorabilia, including one from the first flight of Nigeria Airways in 1958.
“That was given to the first passengers and I bought it at an auction,” stated Okoye, who goes to colonial auctions to buy these things.
She has in her collection passports, cheque leaves, the amalgamation documents, treaties and private letters from which she said she has learned so much. She also has Flora Shaw’s personal notes, including the magazine in which she announced her engagement to Lord Frederick Lugard in 1902.
“When I go to auctions, I would buy a box from somebody that has passed on and, in that box, I would find things of historical significance,” said Okoye.
She sees herself as a Nigerian with the intention to live in Nigeria because she wants to make a change with more reading of history and to also live it.
She told TheNiche that when she buys these things, it gives her a better insight “because there are some things about the Aba Women’s Riot in history, but you will find it here – in the personal notes of a participant – and because it is written by somebody that was part of it, probably in a negative sort of way, you will see that what we were taught in history wasn’t all perfect”.
Okoye also intends to, in time, get the kind of history she gleans from her collectibles out there in a place where people can come to.
“People have heard so much about Nigeria only lasting for 100 years, with no opportunity to see the amalgamation documents. I want a place where people can come and have a look at those amalgamation documents, and instead of arguing on false history, you can argue based on facts. So, my aim is to educate and empower,” she said.
The collector, who now lives in Nigeria and in the United Kingdom, said she keeps everything she collects and has even re-mortgaged her house because of that.
“It’s a calling. When I started doing this, I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand why I was doing it. I didn’t understand why I felt compelled to buy. The day I found myself on a plane going to Australia to pick up a magazine, I knew I was in trouble because I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. So, I consider it a calling. I have not made money from it, so it is a hobby. I have now started focussing the skills I acquired from it, so it’s now a business. It has jumped from hobby into a profession,” she said.
Okoye, who runs other businesses to sustain this one, said she is in it for the long haul, explaining that she sees herself as being part of the change that will happen in Nigeria.
“I think among the things that needs to be changed in Nigeria is our mindset. If you know your history, where you have come from, that change will happen. I want to be there; I don’t want to be a critic in England,” she said.
