After delivering her heart-rending prose on the ordeals of the Chibok girls, who are still trapped in the Sambisa forest, Gift Elaigwu of Aunty Ayo Junior Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Keffi, Ikoyi, broke down in tears.
She was one of the finalists who, in the jungle of Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC), delivered literary lines – prose or poetry – at the fourth edition of Vision of The Child (VoTC) competition, part of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival (LBHF) that will take place from April 18 to 25, 2015.
The LBHF was initially billed for April 3, but was postponed due to the shift in the general elections, according to Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Affairs, Disun Holloway.
VoTC 4 tasked pupils between the ages of nine and 12 from Lagos schools on painting and literary arts on the theme, ‘The Road to Sambisa’.
Having been subjected to about 30 minutes endurance trek into the LCC jungle, the participants seemed to have been empowered to exhibit extraordinary talent as well as emotions. Skilful fingers, eloquent renditions, oratorical skills and dramatic gesticulations were on display.
According to the organisers, the facilitator of the festival, Prof. Wole Soyinka, chose the jungle, to give the children a feel of what their colleges from Chibok, a town in Borno State, North East Nigeria, must be experiencing with their captors.
LBHF Secretary/Programme Manager for the VoTC, Foluke George, added that Soyinka had wanted the kids to stay in the jungle overnight, as the Chibok girls had stayed in the Sambisa forest for over 300 days; but for logistics.
This year is the first time literary arts in being injected into the VoTC. George told TheNiche that participants in the literary arts gave the judges headache because most of them came with excellent skills. She added that since participants in this year’s painting are more matured, more beautiful art works are expected.
From the makeshift ‘broadcast’ studio in the LCC jungle, the Chibok girls’ story took different hues: optimism for victory as efforts have been doubled, wake-up call for Nigeria, campaign against child abuse, and comparison of the girls’ ordeal with the Slave Trade.
TheNiche learnt that the participants wrote the stories themselves. For instance, Adeola Agunbiade, a teacher at Aunty Ayo (Keffi), corroborated Miss Elaigwu who insisted that she wrote her own story.
On the theme, the commissioner told TheNiche that Soyinka chooses the theme every year from goings-on in the country. “But when we have change as being clamoured and things go on as expected, the professor will also search through his databank to choose a befitting theme, subsequently.”
