Without getting devitalised about the excruciating realities in the environment, the CORA collective has continued to push the frontiers by resoundingly drumming home the point that culture fests like LABAF are direly needed to humanise society and tame the bestial tendencies, which undermine the quest for social justice and an egalitarian society. Eyes fixed on the bigger picture of consolidating the gains, LABAF 2025 barrelled on towards the sumptuous feast of books, conversations, and performances
WHAT level of conviction, grit and resilience drives a festival of books, culture and ideas from infancy to its 27th year? What overarching strategic goals motivated this consistency and staying power? Which critical and rational elements of the decade’s long collaboration between idealistic culture activists and hard-nosed corporate bodies produced the phenomenal culture and creative brand that currently stands as the undisputed crown jewel of culture convening on the African continent? Does this resounding success not present a template for institutions in government to explore the goldmine, which is Nigeria’s culture scene in line with the long-talked-about ambitions to diversify the economy away from oil, and unleash the immense potentials of Nigeria as a cultural powerhouse? When shall Nigeria see the decisive move in line with the whole of society strategy capable of packaging and exporting Nigeria’s unique outpouring artistic expression, which a determined group of individuals have shown to be something doable, year on year for the last 27 years. Those were some of the fundamental, but unanswered questions as one immersed himself in the firmament of ideas and intellection that defined the 2025 edition of the Lagos Books & Arts Festival (LABAF).
After over two and a half decades of massive outputs and impacts, the organisers, the Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA), are taking no time out to “make some noise” about the monumental achievements recorded in the time. Not much of a breather either to celebrate, ingratiate or self-adulate. As it stands, the oaks of artistic and cultural expressions churned out relentlessly in the period appear sufficient on their own to communicate the impact. The books, performances, debates, narratives, visual expressions, dance, intellectual controversies and the sheer diversity of artistic outputs stand as a testament to the labour of grit and love. It would seem that the harder the CORA team worked the deliver a festival pushing the boundaries year after year, the sweeter the triumph to be savoured when it is finally delivered to continental and global aplomb. No excuses given for the externalities exemplified in the challenges which hobble the design and production of cultural festivities in an extremely challenging Nigerian terrain. There is also no blame game in an environment where many of those occupying the governing spaces sneer at advocates who insist that artistic expressions, culture and creativity constitute fundamental tools in the historic task of shaping and reshaping society towards realising a shared sense of justice, inclusion and community.
Without getting devitalised about the excruciating realities in the environment, the CORA collective has continued to push the frontiers by resoundingly drumming home the point that culture fests like LABAF are direly needed to humanise society and tame the bestial tendencies, which undermine the quest for social justice and an egalitarian society. Eyes fixed on the bigger picture of consolidating the gains, LABAF 2025 barrelled on towards the sumptuous feast of books, conversations, and performances. Held in the same month as the ongoing Conference of State Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Belem, Brazil, environmental considerations were also topmost in organisers’ minds with taglines and sessions reminding that it is a “green festival.” Interestingly, the key question of how the CORA team has, over the years, been able to apprehend the vagaries of the external environment became quite relevant in the context of the challenges encountered during the trip to attend the festival. For this writer, the road to the 2025 edition of LABAF was long and torturous. The trip to this highly anticipated annual culture fest was disrupted by a five-hour flight delay caused by a Nigerian domestic carrier.
THE airline, despite the “peace” it loudly tries to evoke in its branding, appears to have evolved a business model which thrives on literally delaying passengers for hours on end at airports across the country. This business model, apart from dissipating the precious time of travellers, makes a nonsense of their travel plans, leaving them with a tale of misery and disappointment. In my own specific case, after repeated delays and rescheduling, the 7 pm flight eventually arrived in Lagos at 2 am! As the first officer’s voice crackled from the cockpit to announce arrival, I managed to drag my exhausted frame off seat 19F. Luggage retrieved, I made myself comfortable at the backseat of the Toyota Camry “muscle” for the 15-minute drive to the hotel. At that odd hour, the streets of Lagos felt eerily dark and dingy. Lights flickered from some of the “privileged” houses, likely running on generators or having paid the initial high price of solar options. The effect was swathes of darkened spaces and a few sparsely lit spaces that faltered in the near-impossible task of vanquishing the expanse of darkness. It appeared those governing West Africa’s centre’s economic and cultural nerve centre, do not subscribe to the injunction: “let there be light.”
Notwithstanding, the driver expertly gunned the Toyota “muscle” through a pitch-dark maze. We drove past a police patrol van, a big reassurance, even though the snail pace of the patrol team gave the feeling that the vehicle was challenged. Beginning to recede was the ordeal of being an airline’s “prisoner” for five hours. The mind was now poised to explore the expansive bouquet of the LABAF conversations, which I had tried to catch up with on Zoom and Instagram. No doubt, the digital options expanded the scope and possibilities for participation all over the globe. However, there could be no mistake about the fact that the virtual connections and conversations will never be able to take the place of the physical and visceral human interaction.
From the point of view of youth inclusion and ownership of the festival, LABAF not only ticked the relevant boxes. It demonstrated the possibilities and scope of the inter-generational debates, experience and knowledge sharing. For any close observer, this commitment to creating a healthy space for the perspectives of all generations in the sumptuous feast of arts and culture is the first marker of the festival’s conscious steps to ensure a diverse array of voices resonate in the conversations on art and culture
INSIDE the crisp-looking JRandle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History at Onikan, and at the iconic former Broad Street prison, now repurposed and named Freedom Park, one could share post-event reflections with old friends, and debate emerging ideas with people newly connected. Very much apparent was the effort LABAF organisers put into ensuring youth participation in the festival. These efforts paid off in the refreshingly high number of Gen Z voices, reviewing and reflecting on books, and providing critical discourses about literary texts, which were robustly engaged during the festival.
One of the standout sessions on Day One was the panel conversation involving young men and women writers and literary enthusiasts who shared their perspectives on the works of Ngugi wa Thiong’o. The Gen Z panellists had apparently voraciously read Ngugi’s works, including Weep Not Child, and Petals of Blood. They demonstrated mastery of the text and the capacity to connect the dots in the thematic preoccupation of the writer. This youth panel was quite engaged as it explored issues like female representation, economic survival in a postcolonial state where impunity and elite conspiracies against the majority of the people produced abysmal human development indices. The panellists were also quite adept at finding nexuses in the fictional narratives and linking them to real-life examples exemplified in the current crisis of human development and rights violations.
Panel sessions illuminated ...colonial realities driving vexed social issues such as forced eviction, humanitarian crisis and the displacement of citizens. Readings of literary works like Unfinished Business and Easy Motion Tourist by Leye Adenle and non-fictional works like Abdul Oroh’s Demonstration of Craze and Babafemi Ojudu’s Guerrilla Journalist were texts that tested the analytical rigours and capacity of the younger elements at the festival, and they acquitted themselves well. These young literary interlocutors, particularly the refreshing voices of Kehinde Folorunsho, Olakunle Fadiaro, Mercy Kelani, and Oyindamola Olatokun, were quite effective in exploring the themes and showing practical perspectives.
From the point of view of youth inclusion and ownership of the festival, LABAF not only ticked the relevant boxes. It demonstrated the possibilities and scope of the inter-generational debates, experience and knowledge sharing. For any close observer, this commitment to creating a healthy space for the perspectives of all generations in the sumptuous feast of arts and culture is the first marker of the festival’s conscious steps to ensure a diverse array of voices resonate in the conversations on art and culture.
- To be continued.