The play and Abuja violence
Our house was a train station today: one person after another coming and going. I like living in a place where there's constant circulation of people with thoughts and projects and stuff happening to them, but my work suffers from all the juicy distractions. In the evening we went to see the Odia play (see the flyer below). I wish I could say we enjoyed it, but alas, there were multiple issues. I found myself coming up with ideas for better plays while watching it. There's something dramatically uncontemporary about the Nigerian theatre I've seen while living here - its out of touch with present-day experience. Maybe I'll sit down with someone and write out the idea I had...
At the play, I caught up with a doctor friend. There had been a shooting last night - an Abuja uni student took an unintended bullet and died, her boyfriend's chest was ripped open by a pump-action shotgun (I think it was 'cult' activity, whatever that might really mean). Dr _ usually looks exhausted, but this evening, he looked as tired as a man still standing can look. I'm worried he's going to burn out. He was counting his blessings: although he could save neither of the people shot yesterday, he undertook a successful bone graft (from leg to face) recently - without ever having witnessed this procedure before.
Thinking of gun crime: what on earth is going on in South London these days?
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9 comments:
Mr J. It is not just south london. It is England as a whole. Something is happening. There is a report that says that England has the worst record in Europe for child welfare. I hate to say it but it feels like old quaint England, this green and pleasant isle, is dying.
Having not gone to uni in Nigeria i still struggle to understand this cult thing. From what I have read it sounds more like gang warfare for supremacy??
Regarding the cult thing
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/20/wcult20.xml
"Gun" crime? You mean crimes committed by criminals in which guns were used or crimes committed by inanimate guns pulling their own triggers? ;-)
Don't you understand that when guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns? Then guess who suffers?
Hey Fred,
Thanks for the R wing Yankee knee jerk. If S London gets to being as bad as downtown Washington or some of the LA suburbs we'll be ringing for advice.
As to the question, I am afraid we are getting more and more like the USA - atomised self-obsessed users of the consumer culture.
Sadly some of the most alienated people are children of African Immigrants. I do not know enough to say why.
3 shootings in 2 weeks is not exactly an epidemic, I'm sure more people die in Abuja from gun Crime every few hours.
The cult thing is no joke. I went through OAU in Ife, and watched it destroy some lives. Watch out though. A lot of cults are now opening 'branches' in the UK. Of course, they can't be as brash as their counterparts in Nigeria, but who knows what they get up to?
Haha, Semper, you simplistic lout! Who'd ever have thought there'd ever be any "gun crime" in England? Ever?
Well, guess what, you aren't too far off from downtown Washington or LA as it is now. I'll keep watch with considerable amusement as more of you dimwit tossers die.
For some reason i thot Abuja was safer and calmer than any other cities in Naija. I guess like everything else in Nigeria, it eventually gets infiltrated into. It only takes time. Thats a sad thing to read.
As for the state of Theatre arts in Nigeria, i think they still have a LONG way to go. In addition to comming up with good scripts, we need up dated equipmenets and technology, infact everything needs revamping.
But anyways, have a fabulous weekend.
Just passing thru.nice blog...would be back to read properly.
A good take on the issue by a Londoner herself.
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