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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 75-3207 SULEIMAN, Salihu, 1939- THE ROLES AND RELEVANCE OF ART IN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE DEVELOPING NIGERIA. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1974 Education, general

Xerox University MicrofilmsAnn , Arbor, Michigan 48106

© 1974

SALIHU SULEIMAN

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. THE ROLES AND RELEVANCE OF ART IN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

IN THE DEVELOPING NIGERIA

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

By

SALIHU SULEIMAN, B,A. (A .B .U .), D.A.E. (Leeds)

* * * *

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 1974

Reading Committee: Approved by:

Professor Arthur Efland Professor Robert L. Arnold Professor Ross Norris A dviser Professor Donald Sanders Division of Art Education ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the writing of this dissertation valuable help and assistance received from various sources are duly acknowledged as follows:

The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria for the study-leave which makes the study possible. In this connection special tribute must be paid to the thoughtful leadership of the Vice-Chancellor,

Professor Ishaya Audu, for originating and encouraging the idea of the specialized study in the field of Art Education (in both Leeds

University and here at the Ohio State University) and for his support at various stages of my stay here.

Mr. Brian Allison of Leeds College of Arts, England and Professor

J. D. Fage of the Institute of West African Studies, Birmingham

University, England — respectively for helping to develop and encour­ age the basic idea of this study.

My advisor, Professor Arthur Efland and the members of my disser­ tation committee — Professors Ross Norris, Robert Arnold, Donald

Sanders and Ojo Arewa — for their guidance and invaluable assistance in structuring and writing the dissertation; further, Professors Efland,

Arewa and Sanders for making relevant materials in their possession available to me; Professor Sanders for permission to use extracts from his published material in the appendixes.

i i Alhaji Abdulraheem Adebayo of the M inistry of Education, Ilorin,

Nigeria for his persistent encouragement and for collection of important materials in Nigeria. Also, Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Omotinugbon of the Schools Broadcasts, Kaduna, Nigeria, and Mrs. Alice Folayan of the Ministry of Economic Development, Ilorin, all for the valuable materials sent to me from Nigeria. Thanks are likewise due to

Dr. Ibraheem A. Gambari of New York City for lending me his personal m a te r ia ls .

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Harter — our international host family and friends — Mrs. L. A. Rankin, Dr. and Mrs. (Dr.) E. 0. Odita (all of

Columbus, Ohio) for their kindness and expense, in making my stay with my family the pleasurable experience it has been.

Miss Ruth Bailey and her staff of the International Students

Office, Ohio State University, for their understanding and kind con­ siderations in catering for our well-being in Columbus.

Ms. Thelma Hager and Mrs. Jane Burrows for their excellent and professional typing of the final dissertation.

Finally, my wife and children for their patience, understanding and co-operation.

S. S.

2453 Renwood Place

Columbus, Ohio 43211

J u ly , 1974 i i i VITA

August 10, 1939...... Born, Ilorin, Nigeria

1963 ...... B.A. (H ons.), Ahmadu B ello University, Zaria, Nigeria

1969 ...... D.A.E, Leeds University, England

1963-present ...... Graduate Assistant, Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer II, L e c tu re r I —Ahmadu B ello University, Zaria, Nigeria

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: Art Education

Studies in History of Art.

Studies in Curriculum Development and Evaluation, Educational Development, Educational Administration, Philosophy of Education and Comparative Education.

Studies in Public Administration.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i i

VITA iv

LIST OF FIGURES v i i

CHAPTER

I . INTRODUCTION...... 1

O b je c tiv e ...... 1 Statement of The Problem...... 1 Need For The Study...... 9 Definitions...... 13 Limitation and Scope of Investigation...... 17 Method, Sources and Procedures...... 18

I I . THE PEOPLES AND ISSUES IN NIGERIA: THE MAIN CULTURAL UNITS AND THE CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT...... 21

The Problem of Pluralism ...... 21 Religion as The Nucleus of African Values and World-View and Misconceptions About Them...... 27 The Pre-Colonial Cultures:...... 38 1. The Indigenous Cultures...... 38 2 . The Isla m ic C u ltu ra l In flu e n c e...... 60 The Christian Penetration and Colonial Era...... 68 The Growth and The Objectives of Western Education and Art...... 76 C onclusion...... 81

I I I . GENERAL AND ART EDUCATION IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT...... 82

The Goals of Education in National Development...... 82 Art, Aesthetics and The Social Basis of Culture...... 94 Art Education in National Development...... 98

v Page

CHAPTER

IV. CURRICULUM GOALS AND OBJECTIVES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR ART AND ART EDUCATION...... 108

The Concept of Goals...... 109 Specific Art Education Goals...... 113 Sources of Aesthetic Education Goals for Nigeria 116 Major Developments in Art Education in The United States and Britain...... 118 The Roles of Handicrafts in Modernizing S o c ie tie s ...... 127 The Development and Analysis of Educational Goals for Nigeria ...... 131 Needs of The Society...... 131 E v a lu a tio n...... 136

V. ART PROGRAMS AND CURRICULUM CONTENTS...... 153

The Purposes and Organization of Programs in Art Education...... 153 A. Art Courses and A ctivities in Higher E d u catio n...... 159 B. Art Courses and A ctivities in General E d u ca tio n...... 163

V I. REVIEW AND CONCLUSIONS...... 177

Recommendations...... 183

APPENDICES

I . NIGERIA'S NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS: EXTRACTS ON EDUCATIONAL POLICY...... 187

II. The Role of Education in National Development: Extracts from Donald P. Sanders, "Planning for Educational Development;" 1968...... 216

I I I . ADDRESS BY FEDERAL COMMISSIONER FOR EDUCATION ON GOVERNMENTS POLICIES TOWARDS THE ARTS...... 222

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 226

v i FIGURES

Page

FIGURE 1: The Dynamic Relationship of The Three Cultural Fields...... 22

FIGURE 2: The Principal Elements Involved in Art Education Goals...... 115

FIGURE 3: A Curriculum Model For General Education In N ig e ria...... 132

FIGURE 4: Organization of Programs In Art Education...... 156

v i i CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

O b jectiv e

The objective of this study is to examine the relevance of the arts in the contemporary environment of Nigeria and to identify the roles that art might play in her national and educational development.

Statement of the Problem

In the course of their history the peoples of present-day

Nigeria maintained some links with one another from time to time, but Nigeria as a single political entity had never existed prior to the unification brought about by British colonial power. And, as far as can be ascertained from sources in history and the social sciences, internecine strife, subjugation, trade, religion and sporadic move­ ments of people from one place to the other were the main ways through which the component ethnic units maintained any connections prior to the British rule.

The British unification itself was not based on the cultural homogeneity of the people but only one of a number of geographical territorial partitions agreed to among the colonial powers operating in Africa at the time. In respect to Nigeria, as well as many

African countries today, the delimitation of territorial boundaries

1 2

has cut across some ethnic groups—often leaving them in the hands

of different colonial powers. Indeed, the ostensible purpose of the

European colonization of Africa was to "open up" the continent for

trade and the intentions of the "dual mandate" of the Berlin and

Brussels Conferences (respectively in 1884 and 1890) sanctioning the partitions were:

1. To stop the slave trade and to bring in its stead the

material and moral benefits of European civilization;

2. To make the trade and resources of Africa available to

the rest of the world (Fage, J.D., 1957, pp. 152 and 166).

Central to her many national problems, therefore, is Nigeria's

cultural climate. The country today is a conglomeration of ethnic units with diverse religions, languages, customs, and history; and also of different ecological and demographic characteristics.

Because of the unusually numerous linguistic groups, it would appear that a basic consideration in the matter of Nigeria's national goals on development—whether educational, economic, or political—should involve an evaluation or survey of the cultural differences and sim ilarities. This survey of the national situa­ tion would be necessary for diagnosing and identifying sectional problems (among ethnic units) as related to one another, and for identifying sectional interests for use in synthesizing a national strategy and plan for education.

Furthermore, the subject of this investigation which concerns the roles and relevance of art in the educational development of 3

Nigeria, is essentially an art curriculum problem. Among other experts in the field, Hilda Taba has emphasixed the need for curri­ culum planners to relate curriculum issues to, among other things, the cultural environment:

. . . scientific curriculum development needs to draw upon analyses of society and culture, studies of the learner and the learning process, and analyses of the nature of knowledge in order to determine the purposes of the school and the nature of the curriculum. To evolve a theory of curriculum development and a method of thinking about it, one needs to ask what the demands and requirements of culture and society are, both for the present and for the future (Taba, 1962, p. 10).

The analyses of Nigeria's societies are complicated by the fact that there are numerous ethnic groups. Ajayi and Espie (1969) have shown that eight main language families exist with as many as ninety-three languages within the boundaries of Nigeria alone.*

As editor of "Africa," Colin Legum (1971, p. 211) cites the number of ethnic groups to be about one hundred and fifty, though conceding that no accurate classification of ethnic groups is available. In spite of these numerous groups, the main cultural trends are assoc­ iated with fewer population divisions. These consist mainly of

Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba, Fulani, Kanuri, Tiv, Ibibio-Efik, Nupe, Edo, and

Ijaw. (These have populations, by 1952 census, ranging from 6 million people for each of the first three named, to three hundred thousand people for the Ijaws—Colin Legum, ibid., p. 212).

"Map indicating Peoples and Languages of West Africa"—based on G. P. Murdock: "Africa: Its Peoples and Their Culture History," and Greenberg, "Languages of Africa." A problem arising from this multiple cultural situation is that there isn 't, at the present moment, as firmly rooted a concept of a single "Nigerian national culture" in the same sense that we can speak of, say, "French national culture," "British national culture,"

"American national culture," etc. Melville Herskovits (1955, p. 185) has, for example, made reference to a "Euroamerican cultural stream."

In Nigeria however the various cultural units are yet to develop common strands by which all of them could be identified as a unified cultural unit. On the other hand, the French, British and American cultures each has linguistic and ethnic m ultiplicity yet each has evolved strong political and cultural unity. For example, the

"American culture" includes the "white," "black," "Indian" cultures, and so on. The concept of "culture" does not, therefore, preclude the existence of multiple linguistic, racial or ethnic units, yet the concept of "Nigerian national culture," even in its broad, inclusive or loose context, does not yet exist. The terms "primi­ tive culture" and "African culture" are well known but "Nigerian national culture" is never used even among Nigerians themselves.

Only a reference to any of the component cultures or autonomous cultural system, which is self-sustaining, makes any sense—and this is probably why the term "the cultural heritage of Nigeria" is more often used and spoken about.

The underlying problem of the arts in Nigerian societies, in modern times, and their educational manifestations is the fact that the country had been subjected to the combined impacts of system­ atic religious proselytism, colonization and modernization. On a 5 cultural plane these are aspects of acculturation and the three cons­ titute powerful forces which have drastically changed the cultural atmosphere under which the various ethnic elements now constituting the nation live. They have influenced the nation's entire artistic situation as they precipitated changes in the established roles of the traditional arts while at the same time forcing efforts to sub­ stitute foreign art forms and foreign aesthetics for the indigenous ones. The misconceptions about the African cultures formerly held by the outside world led to efforts by the Islamic and Christian religions (and sustained by the British colonial power) to discredit

African arts and other traits of African cultures.

Today, the discernible effects, which are relevant to the developments in education and in the arts, of the acculturation pro­ cess on the nation as a whole are three-fold: First is the emergence of bicultural (or even m ulti-cultural) "external" communities where the same individual or individuals in a closely related group acquire more than one cultural value—including that of secularization—also see pp. 87-88. Such individuals are not encouraged to practice or patronize their own traditional art forms and may not fully understand or identify with the foreign ones. Second, there is an erosion of self-esteem which resulted in the tendency of the affected individuals to seek to ameliorate their condition by indulging in the acquisition of material or non-material products of foreign cultures; and third, is the breakdown of the rigid or traditional social structure.

In Nigeria the changes in the social, economic and political spheres, however benevolent their effects in other ways, are to be associated with the current problems that plague the arts: The contemporary arts and art education have acquired massive foreign traits of forms and contents and Western curricula dominate the entire system of education. Somehow the traditional arts, in a

sense truncated, manage to thrive, especially among the rural communities. Clearly both the traditional and the foreign forms of art as a whole have been unable to achieve a break-through in the process of re-adapting to the emergent bicultural or multi­ ethnic roles. There is also a growing frustration resulting from apathy toward and neglect of the arts, especially among the masses of the modernizing citizens—while the educated and social elites, the political leadership, and the educated youths continue to show a growing alienation from the arts.

Consequently, the tendency now in Nigeria is to push all art

forms to the background in the development efforts of the nation.

Much consideration has not been given to the possibilities that, within the context of her national goals, the art forms might indeed

constitute a desirable force in the national growth, pride and unity

and so to be fully integrated with these national aspirations.

While the arts as a whole are in this amorphous situation, art education still remains at its infant stages. Its most serious dilemma is, perhaps, its self-imposed, though probably not unfounded expectation to remain foreign in content as in structural framework

(i.e., British system) so as to stay in operation. This is so be­

cause the traditional art forms have been discredited under Islamic and Christian influence. But in Nigeria this dilemma has deep 7 historical roots for fields other than art education though the

degree they adhere to its principle may be different. Much of the

formal education system of Nigeria, like virtually all important

institutions of her contemporary culture, are an outgrowth of her

colonial history and of Christian and Islamic influences from which

these institutions still derive their impetus and which, as in the

case of art education, still aggravate their development.

The education of the artist and that of art educators is domi­ nated by a pervasive influence of foreign methodology and styles of

art, especially the British system—bearing little relationship to

the indigenous culture and not fully understood by the people.

Contemporary art itself has become an ivory tower phenomenon, having

only superficial relationship with the traditional art forms and with the current cultural environment. U lli Beier has given a vivid

description of the situation among the contemporary artists in the

following words:

The intellectual, university-trained Nigerian artist is chiefly concerned with establishing a new identity, with gathering the broken pieces of a tradition and building them—often self-consciously—into a new kind of collage in which the African renaissance is proclaimed. His problem is that he has to proclaim it to the European audience, that he establishes his newly gained identity in the art galleries of Europe more often than in the villages of Nigeria. (Ulli Beier, 1968, p. 109)

In the educational system very few primary schools teach art

and when the subject is taught at all it is almost invariably handled

by enthusiastic amateurs. Few secondary schools have art in their

curricula and the number of teacher-training colleges offering art is

very small in relation to the national total. 8

In many ways the position of art in higher education is, at best, uncertain. The Fine Arts Department of the Ahmadu Bello University,

Zaria, has remained the leading, if not the only, effective art school o serving the needs of the entire 79 million population of the country 3 in the training of artists, art educators, and designers. The other department at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, is relatively new and since its resuscitation after the Civil War, it has received little attention. And while we must welcome the current news to implement the long-standing plans to add two more to this grossly inadequate number— at Ife and at the new University of Benin—little consolation may be derived from this because the plan to establish them has long been generated out of the nationalistic consciousness of a pre-independence era and, therefore, previously a matter of prestige symbolic of an effort to emphasize the historic roles in the arts of these two great city cultures. Zaria's experience could still be said to have sub­ stantially underscored the problems which now represent a sort of

2 Preliminary population figures of the recent census given by the M ilitary Government in "West Africa," no. 2960 of 20th May, 1974, p. 590. The census figures are being submitted to further checks. 3 The troubles of the Art Department at the A.B.U. itself are well- known to those acquainted with the institution. Owing to criticisms about its roles and general dissatisfaction with its work three comm­ issions of inquiry were instituted to probe its activities in early 1969 but, unfortunately, their separate recommendations which favored expan­ sion and reorganization were turned down by the authorities. Instead, what the authorities proposed was an arrangement which might, for all practical purposes, disintegrate the department. In retrospect, it is perhaps fortunate for the survival of art education in Nigeria that these proposals were not implemented. 9 national cliche of the image of art education in Nigeria. In the past few years many outside the field have become so disillusioned with the developments in the art at the higher educational levels that some have been outspoken about calls for its eradication.^

But Nigeria is a big name among the traditional art producers in

Africa. She is the sane country which has turned out some of the old­ est, some of the best, and certainly the most diversified, of the best known of Africa's traditional art forms. Many specialized crafts and art objects are found in Nigeria, some of which date back to between

500 B.C. and 200 A.D. (Ottenberg, 1968, p. 25).

The current developments in the art scene, taken as a whole, point to one inescapable conclusion that Nigeria, with her long history of rich cultural heritage, is now trying very hard to bury this history and to modernize.

Need for the Study

As we have noted, the existence in contemporary Nigeria of aspects of foreign culture vis-a-vis the indigenous ones is not peculiar to the arts. As in any developing nation in Africa—particularly those that have previously experienced colonial rule—many other institut­ ions and products of foreign cultures have also been imported with the

^Among these, William Fagg, the prominent w riter on African art, called in a newspaper article, on all African countries to "scrap" the art schools because "... they have failed to preserve the living force behind the art diadem of Africa's past. . . instead of training African artists to study and revive the continent's traditional art pattern, (now) train people to be mere copyist of Henry Moore of Picasso" (Fagg, Article in the Sunday Times, Nigeria, 8th May, 1966— word in bracket is mine). arts: law, politics, religion, education, and technology are among the myriad of such foreign institutions that one might find. But in recent years, many of these former colonies have been re-assessing the relevance of their colonial heritage, though progress is being made more in such fields as agriculture, law and religion than in others like education and art. Concepts such as "negritude" (neo-

African culture), "Pan-Africanism," "African personality," or even

"education for self-reliance" of Nyerere are expressions of a senti­ ment seeking a reprieve from the domineering influence of non-African world (see Klineberg, 1969, pp. 60-64 and Presence Africaine 87:1973, p. 11). So far in Nigeria, artists and educators have been talking about the problem, but there are no indications yet of any concrete proposals being offered, nor has there been any detailed study of the problem on a national scale.

Unlike many other cultural importations, special problems of cultural assimilation arise in connection with the arts which relate to their nature and which tend to render them more vulnerable: while a developing country may have little problem in introducing and relating to foreign technological products like automobiles, computers, combs, plates, planes, trains, missiles, guns, etc., the situation would be vastly different if, say, T. S. E liot's poems, Marino Marini's statues, or Marcel Duchamp's paintings were involved. One explanation of the difference is that while the technological goods can be easily or readily copied, adopted, adapted, or assimilated for individual or group uses, generally the aesthetic uses of art forms such as painting are more restricted as they involve more intricate, delicate and slower 11

social, emotional and psychological interaction if full understanding, appreciation, response and assimilation are to occur. For instance,

some aesthetic values may be found to be transcultural: the internat- ional-style architecture, graphic or textiles materials could have

latent aesthetic values which may be readily assimilated without the psychological impact that painting might have.

However, depending on specific forms of arts, the graphic and textile arts, architecture, drama, dance and music, etc., are except­ ions to our tentative hypothesis. We might utilize their latent aes­ thetic attributes and/or their functional aspects or quality with little or no familiarity regarding their cultural content or basis. Their use, appreciation, or enjoyment w ill in this sense be spontaneous, however

lim ite d .

Also purely aesthetic objects might be introduced sometimes into another culture in an exotic sense, and the spontaneous demand assures their acceptance—though different interpretations from those of their culture of origin might be given to their aesthetic qualities or funct­ ional attributes.

We note that subtle differences exist between art forms which have been introduced into another culture for exotic purposes and those which have for some reasons been imposed. And when foreign aesthetics and arts are to become the de facto basis of art education in another culture at any level—especially the low age level of school children— the problem of appreciation and assimilation might be magnified. Contemporary Nigerians who have come to be associated with the task of projecting the arts in Nigeria soon discover their frustra­ tion in having to deal with or adopt foreign forms not for exotic purposes, but as the de facto substitutes for the indigenous arts.

Also, lacking the full understanding or the necessary social basis for what the artists are doing, others tend to interpret the artists' unsatisfactory achievement as further evidence of the irrelevance or the undesirability of the arts themselves in contemporary life. The results in Nigeria of taking forms (of art) indiscriminately out of their social context from foreign cultures to be used for local needs— whether in schools or for other aesthetic or social purposes—might, on the whole, be detrimental to the cause of all art forms and this w ill not serve the immediate or long-term national interests of the co u n try .

S till, there is the disturbing tendency, already indicated, among many w e ll-p la c e d N ig eria n s to adopt n e g a tiv e a t tit u d e s tow ards some art forms and other things that may have deep-rooted traditional derivation. This might be born out of a naive belief that all the premises of European or Islamic civilization are superior to their own, as suggested by some writers, or whether'it is part of a secular­ ization process.

There is evident need to assess the art needs of the nation and to synchronize findings in such evaluation with Nigeria's educational and economic development, otherwise an important source of national pride, long-term national identity and individual citizen's aesthetic needs may be overlooked. 13

The conclusions drawn from such problems as have been enumerated should indicate Nigeria's options in the matter of a realistic nation­ al policy on the arts as a whole and on the place of art in the educ­ ational system of the nation.

Finally, it is thought appropriate to conclude the considera­ tion of the needs for this study with the well-informed opinion of one of the well-known scholars in African art. In one of his more recent statements William Fagg (in Legum, 1971, p. 388) observed that if

Africa is to compete successfully in the modern world, the African leaders and people should stop throwing away their birthright and face up to the problem of developing the good aspects of their own heritage.

He then went on to throw a challenge: "A rtistic apostasy is a function of an unresolved inferiority complex which is both unnecessary and ill-founded. In the field of aesthetics it must be admitted that

European education, however well intentioned, has done far more harm than good, but Europeans could in any case make only a limited contri­ bution to the problem. 'The new Africa' has need of deep thinkers and not only of political leaders" (ibid., p. 389).

Definitions

The following are the definitions of the key terms used in this dissertation.

A rt

As suggested by June King McFee (see Pappas, 1970, p. 72) the word "art" can be used both to denote or identify and to qualify, as in the examples: "Cultural anthropologists tend to identify most 14 objects of visual symbolism and embellishment as art"; and "the work of

Wilhelm de Kooning, the abstract impressionist, is art but that of

'Betsy,1 the chimpanzee, is not art" (see also Chapter IV, p. 190).

In the first example the use of "art" is denotative and in the second

"art" is used to qualify. In this study the denotative concept of art w ill be used unless otherwise indicated.

Therefore "art" (in its singular form) would be used synonymously with "fine art" to denote one or more of the art forms which include painting, sculpture, drawing, textiles, graphics, ceramics, and the so-called "crafts"—to incorporate all these art forms, "pure" or

"applied." Collectively they w ill be referred to as "fine art" or

"fine arts."

In its plural form—"arts" or "the arts"—would mean the combinat­ ion of the above and other modes of expression which include music, literature, architecture, drama, or philosophy, i.e., the "liberal a r t s . "

"Craft" or "crafts" w ill not be used as a qualifying concept, though this is not to deny the narrow aesthetic approach often (but not always) associated with the process or product of craft.

Also, no aesthetic argument concerning superiority or otherwise between "pure" and "applied" arts or between "arts" and "crafts" would be advanced or implied in discussing their roles in national or educ­ ational development but only their uses (aesthetic, cultural, commer­ cial, educational, therapeutic, etc.) would be suggested. 15

Role and Relevance

Both words w ill mean their respective definitions as given in the Webster's New World Dictionary, 2nd ed., s.v. "Role" and

"Relevant"—i.e ., "role," a part; "relevant," bearing upon or relating to the matter in hand (syn.—relevant, implies close logical relation­ ship with, and importance to, the matter under consideration).

The study of the "roles and relevance of art in educational development in the developing Nigeria" w ill accordingly examine the part to be played by and relationship of art within the educational and national objectives (as dictated by the nature of the problems) of

Nigeria as a developing nation. (Also see p. 17 for limitations).

C u ltu re

Throughout the study Melville Herskovits1 definition of "culture" w ill be adopted. It is quoted as follows:

Culture is the man-made part of the environment. Implicit in this is the recognition that man's life is lived in a dual setting, the natural habitat and his social 'environ­ ment. ' The definition also implies that culture is more than a biological phenomenon. It includes all the ele­ ments in man's mature endowment that he has acquired from his group by conscious learning or, on a somewhat differ­ ent level, by a conditioning process—techniques of various kinds, social and other institutions, beliefs, and pattern­ ed modes of conduct. Culture, in short, can be contrasted with the raw materials, outer and inner, from which it derives. (M. J. Herskovits, 1948, pp. 17-18—words appear­ ing in italics in the original text are underlined.)

Herskovits recognized as one of the best earlier definitions that offered by E. Burnett Taylor (1874, p. 1), "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" 16

(Herskovits, 1948, p. 17). But the import of this and similar defini­ tions have come to bear heavily on individuals or class in a society— usually focusing on the value aspects—more often than on the whole society itself. Synonymous with "tradition" and "civilization,"

"culture" becomes a value-laden concept. The use of culture in the study w ill ordinarily preclude this kind of value association such as in the context of a "cultured person" which E. H. Gombrich (1969, pp.

47 and 4) has ascribed to its origin.

The conclusion drawn by T. S. Eliot has been noted that

. . . culture is one thing that we cannot deliberately aim at. It is the product of more or less harmonious activities, each pursued for its own sake: the artist must concentrate upon his canvas, the poet upon his typewriter, the civil servant upon the just settlement of particular problems as they pre­ sent themselves upon his desk, each according to the situa­ tion in which he finds himself" (T. S. Eliot, 1949, pp. 17-18).

This is to be seen as the aggregate of the entire way of life of a given society. The suggestion by Professor Margaret Read, the well- known British anthropologist, is also to be noted (without jumping to that conclusion) that the dominant culture "which is associated with political power and economic supremacy can gradually push aside another until, through successive stages, it either ousts the other culture or achieves a fusion in which it is the leading partner" (Read, 1955, p.

102).

Acculturation

We would use as our definition of "acculturation" that offered by the Social Science Research Council Seminar on Acculturation (American

Anthropologist, Dec. 1954, pp. 973-1002), i.e ., "... culture change 17 that is initiated by the conjunction of two or more autonomous cultural systems." (p. 974) (An autonomous cultural system is itself described as a cultural system which is "self-sustaining"—i.e., one that need not"

. . . be maintained by a complementary, reciprocal, subordinate, or other indispensible connection with a second system"—ibid). The concept of culture has been construed by this Seminar at the level of a "tribe" or of such unit of a particular society (i.e., a broadly inclusive unit) so as to avoid the error of treating cultural effects on individuals and families as acculturative. The Social Science Research Council Seminar

(ibid, p. 974) thereby have eliminated the incidents of socialization, urbanization, industrialization and secularization in individuals or families as acculturation processes per se unless these are also intro­ duced cross-culturally.

Limitations and Scope of Investigation

The study w ill deal with the broad issues of education in national development; its main focus shall be on art education in the national development—to investigate how the socio-economic and educational fact­ ors should influence orientation and development in art education and then use the conclusions so drawn to generate programs (curricula) for art education.

Also, the question of the relevance of the art forms within the context of national goals (i.e., in the light of contemporary develop­ ments as a whole) presupposes the emergence of aims, goals and uses of the arts which are consistent with the emerging socio-economic, polit­ ical and psychological transformation of Nigeria and her peoples. 18

Third, since the notion of national development as used here will

not be limited to economic development, the study may not seek a delib­

erate commercialism in national policy for the arts. Rather, it would

investigate what measure of economic advantage might accrue in an

economic policy which integrates the arts.

Method, Sources and Procedures

The literature pertinent to the research may be grouped under the

following broad headings:

1. Sources relating to background issues on cultural trends:

These consist of literature focusing on the influences which are

shaping the cultural situation of Nigeria as a nation—laying special

emphasis on how events affect the educational process and the arts.

Sources on social, historical, economical, anthropological, and educ­

ational development w ill be drawn upon.

2. Sources relating to present national goals:

These would represent the general national aspirations of the

peoples of Nigeria as a whole. Sources on declared national policies

include national and states' development plans as expressed in govern­ ment policy statements starting from the colonial administration to the

present times. But while policy statements or writings of influential

individuals or groups in government may represent some aspects of the

issues that may help in the assessment of the situation, there are

other aspects which these sources do often overlook (inadvertently or

by design or expediency) and it is therefore intended to supplement 19 statements by politicians, scholars, workers, and others with histor­ ical and social or other scientific analysis for elucidation.

3. Sources related to principles, strategies and policies:

This involves mainly curriculum issues as well as recommendations which might be put forward concerning the process of integration of the arts in the national development effort.

The analyses of the societies that Hilda Taba referred to w ill be carried out in respect to this study so as to identify the value orien­ tations, philosophies, and general characteristics of the various societies and also to identify the problems of the peoples of Nigeria as a whole.

An important issue in this kind of analysis is the contact made by the various peoples with other cultures. If none of the ethnic groups in Nigeria had had such contacts with outside cultures at some time in its history, then some form of indigenous culture might still be in vogue among all ethnic groups today. It is being borne in mind that in

Nigeria individual group attitudes to such things as formal or Western education, religion, or modernization are varied.

When we can identify the salient features as well as the current dispositions, culturally, of the major groups—based on history, modern­ ization, education and religion—it is intended to use these analytical inferences as a guide in the formulation of national policies and curri­ cula goals for art education.

Similarly, from the analysis of the national and educational goals and that of the various functions of the arts may lead to the identifi­ 20 cation of the cultural, national, educational, political and economic values of developing the arts. These should lead to suggestions of the roles of the arts in national development, in Chapter III. What will also emerge in the second half of Chapter III is the developmental and other uses of some art forms which might otherwise be denied accept­ ance in a particular cultural system or in the overall national policy. CHAPTER I I

THE PEOPLES AND ISSUES IN NIGERIA: THE MAIN CULTURAL UNITS AND THE CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT

This chapter attempts to describe and analyze the pluralistic nature of Nigerian societies: the study of the main ethnic groups and cultural patterns that make up the nation, and the review of their pluralistic impacts on the nation as a whole.

Though we have observed that there are more than 250 ethnic units within the boundaries of Nigeria, the prevailing dominant religious beliefs, values and world views can be classified broadly into three main fields of dynamic relationship groups—Indigenous, Islamic and

Christian. (See Trimingham, J. Spencer, 1955; and Figure I). But this classification is at best an oversimplification. The relationships among the main ethnic groups are very often more ethnic than religious.

For this reason a pluralistic strategy w ill be suggested as a means of solving the national problems of Nigeria and the distinct ethnic devel­ opment w ill be reviewed to underscore the pluralistic strategy.

The Problems of Pluralism

When the activities of the British colonial administration began in Nigeria early in the 19th century, Islam was already an established

force in the northern parts of the country. But one effect of the sub­ sequent colonial rule was the emergence of another foreign, i.e .,

Christian or Western culture.

21 22

(SLAM

THE DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP OF THE THREE CULTURAL FIELDS

(Adapted from: J. Spencer Trimingham: The Christian Church and Islam in West Africa. London: S. C. M. Press)

FIGURE 1 23

By the end of the British administration a complex field of dynam­ ic relationship among the Indigenous, the Islamic and Western cultures has been set into motion. (This relationship, as given by Trimingham, is shown in Figure 1). For a fuller understanding of the problems and characteristic dynamics of the cultural groups, we should survey the component ethnic units on an individual basis.

According to Trimingham in places where Islam is consolidated religion becomes a closed question. "Islam is accepted on authority, and to repudiate it is treachery to the community" (ibid., p. 19).

The indigenous faith, on the other hand, allows more diversity for it is confined to the narrower scope of family, lineage, clan or ethnic variations—in spite of many common concepts and practices found in the religious beliefs of many otherwise heterogenous ethnic units.

This cultural setting is essentially a pluralistic one. Accord­ ing to Pierre L. van den Berghe (in Honigmann, ed., 1973, pp. 959-977) pluralism as a concept in social sciences has two different uses. The first and earlier use refers to a property of a political system, as found in pluralistic democracies, with a wide variety of competing interest groups vying with one another for participation in and influ­ ence over the state machinery. The United States' democracy, with its lobby system and organized interest groups (political parties, labor unions, churches, etc.) interposing themselves between the power of the state and the masses of the people, is regarded an archetype of plural­ istic democracies.

The second and more recent usage of pluralism refers to: ". . .a property, or set of properties, of societies wherein several distinct social and/or cultural groups coexist within the boundaries of a single policy and share a common economic 24

system that makes them interdependent, yet maintain a greater or lesser degree of autonomy and a set of dis­ crete institutional structures in other spheres of social life, notably the familial, recreational, and religious." (van den Berghe, op. c it., p. 961)

Pluralism in this latter sense has been called a "sensitizing concept" as opposed to a theory. It is an analytical focus for the study of multiethnic society which have become politically and economically viable entity. Differentiation among ethnic groups is not merely a functional one (as in our first definition) but cultural. With refer­ ence to African and other former colonial territories, Leo Kuper

(Kuper and Smith, ed., 1969) has examined the social ani political implications of pluralism in these countries.

This latter concept of pluralism will be applied to Nigeria to focus on educational and artistic development as a reflection of the ethnic composition and the various local and foreign values involved in national development efforts.

On the question of ethnic diversity, the conclusion drawn by Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg with respect to the whole of Africa is relevant:

While it is true that there are elements common to the social life of many African groups, there are also differences. African societies range from small family groupings to large states and kingdoms, from societies that are almost complete­ ly self-sufficient to those with well-developed economic systems and extensive trade, from peoples whose art is crude or virtually non-existent to those whose work is of the fin­ est quality. Indeed, one of the essential problems facing African nations as they emerge today is that of cultural and linguistic diversity (Ottenberg, 1968, pp. 3-4).

The awareness of this background upon which the pre-colonial cultures operated is necessary if one is to perceive the scope of the colonial (or Western) influence, thus to put into proper perspective 25 the problems and solutions sought for the aftermath of colonialism and the era of modernization. Much as Islam, Christian Missionary efforts and British colonial activities drastically altered these background-cultural settings, many important aspects of their essent­ ial character continue to remain. In this respect the Ottenbergs have further noted that:

. . . Africa, like India, will probably never become wholly Westernized. Its characteristic social patterns, ideologies and customs are changing and w ill change in the future, but they w ill continue to play an important role. Western ideologies are being accepted by Africans, but not without change in their meanings and content (Ottenberg, 1968, p. 3).

It is in this perspective that we would focus on the range of the issues and problems confronting the contemporary Nigeria—the issues which also bear on her national policy and curriculum strategies in the arts and art education. These problems have already been indicat­ ed in the last chapter but to recapitulate, they include a lack of the concept of one single national culture, the emergence of bicultural or multicultural communities (who have acquired multiple cultural values), the breakdoxvn of existing social structures, the erosion of individual self-esteem (leading to tendency to "ape" other non-indigenous cult­ ures), and attempts to seek a reprieve from the domineering influence of non-African world—all of which are attributed to the aftermath of religious proselytism, colonization and modernization.

Post-colonial African problems in general are, perhaps, best approached on a pluralistic basis—drawing on the capacity of the individual African country to evolve some pluralistic goals from a cultural diversity. Paden and Soja have stressed the theme of 26

cultural pluralism:

The problems of creating and maintaining cohesive and productive pluralistic societies from an amalgam of heterogeneous peoples are woven through the entire fab­ ric of African history. Pluralism has characterized the pattern of interethnic relations for the full range of African societies from the relatively small non­ centralized ethnic communities to the large pre-colon­ ial states and empires, from colonial Africa to the contemporary mosaic of independent states. In pre-colonial Africa even the smaller scale non­ centralized societies did not exist in isolation but were constantly confronted with the need to adapt their ethnic identity to meet changes in the larger situation. (Paden, John N. and Soja, Edward W., 1970, p. xvi)

African pluralism is a value to be understood, retained and developed. Our contemporary problems and needs—including moderniz­ ation—therefore reflect the challenge of creating a pluralistic order in multiethnic society. In the arts we should thereby stress the sociological view of E. M. Rogers' five-point process of introducing any innovation, which requires that the programs involved be first tailored to fit the cultural values and experience of the peoples involved. (Rogers, Aug. 1964, pp. 278-84). 27

Religion as the Nucleus of African Values and World- View and th e M isconceptions about Them

Religious beliefs are central to traditional African values and

the entire world-view, including the arts. But African values had in

the past suffered serious misconceptions^ which affected the way the

Africans were treated in the hands of the Moslem and Christian pro-

selyters and the colonial power alike.

The subject of African indigenous religion has aroused a great

deal of interest and much controversy among sociologists, social anthro­

pologists, art historians, and the colonial administrators concerned with the general question of theology and African culture. Eric 0. Ayisi

in his book (1972) has devoted a chapter, "African Religion," to certain

aspects of this controversy. Also Leo Frobenius, Emmanuel Bolaji Idowu,

K. A. Busia, Father Kelvin Carroll, Janheinz John, Geoffrey Parrinder,

and M. J. Herskovits have tried to describe these religious beliefs in

their truly African context and to clarify the basic misconceptions regarding the African indigenous religion—part of the general misunder­

standing which has shaped the views and policies of those destined to mold the political and cultural orientation of Africa today.

^The following, for example, is a description of a section of Nigeria as contained in the "Report on the Amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria" as contained in Phelps-Stokes Report, Ca., 1921. p. 14&: "The south was, for the most part, held in thrall by fetish worship and hideous ordeals of witchcraft, human sacrifice, and twin murder. The great Ibo race to the east of the Niger, numbering some three millions, and their cognate tribes had not developed beyond the state of primitive savagery. In the west, the Kingdom of Benia—like its counterpart in Dahomey-—had up to 1897 groaned under despotism which revelled in holo­ causts of human victims for its fetish rites. Further west the Yorubas, Egbas, Jebus had evolved a fairly advanced system of government under recognized rules. ..." 28

The main difficulty in understanding African traditional religion

(especially for foreign scholars) is its mutual compatibility with other

elements of African cultures, civilization, or world-view.

In "Ntu: African Philosophy" Janheinz Jahn describes the "extra­

ordinary harmony" that is obtained in the traditional African view of

the world and suggests that the extraordinary nature of the harmony in

this world-view may not be easily appreciated or fully understood unless

it is recognized that the world-view is "extraordinary" only in the

European sense—because for the Africans "things that are contemplated,

experienced and lived are not separable" in the traditional African world-view (Janheinz Jahn, 1961, pp. 96-120). Jahn also argues that

though the word "traditional" is used the world-view is still alive

to d ay .

The import of the harmonious relationship of the African conception

of the world is demonstrated by the following passage by Adebayo Adesanya

(ODU, No. 5, pp. 39-40) as used by Jahn (ibid., p. 96):

This is not simply a coherence of fact and faith, nor of reason and traditional beliefs, nor of reason and contingent facts, but a coherence or compatibility among all the dis­ ciplines. A medical theory, e.g., which contradicted a theological conclusion was rejected as absurd and vice versa.

Adesanya then cites instances, in particular Yoruba thoughts, that com­

pare with Greek and Western thought to further demonstrate this unity

or mutual compatibility:

. . . God might be banished from Greek thought without any harm being done to the logical architecture of it, but this cannot be done in the case of the Yoruba. In medieval thought, science could be dismissed at pleasure, but this is impossible in the case of Yoruba thought, since faith and reason are mutually dependent. In modern times, God even has no place in scientific thinking. This was 29

impossible to the Yorubas since from the Olodumare^ an architectonic of knowledge was built in which the finger of God is manifest in the most rudimentary elements of nature. Philosophy, theology, politics, social theory, land law, medicine, psychology, birth and burial, all find themselves logically concatenated in a system so tight that to subtract one item from the whole is to paralyze the structure of the whole (ibid., p. 97).

This "tight system" has also been described by K. A. Busia as the concept of a world-view which consists of the supernatural, of nature, of man, and society, and of the ways by which these concepts form a system that gives meaning to men's lives and actions. It is also his contention that a people's "interpretation of the universe is shown in conduct: in day-to-day activities, in human relations, and in rites; in avoidances as well as observances" (Irving, S. H., and Sanders, J. P.,

1972, pp. 70 and 8 0 ).

Also in spite of the diversity within the African communities and their self-contained isolation, some aspects of the African world-view may be found common to the various African peoples. These include such beliefs as animism, the concept of ghosts and spirits, polytheism and magic, and, as Busia puts it, "all of which are common patterns which afford valuable guides for understanding particular communities in

Africa" (ibid., p .77).

Related to this unity and mutual compatibility is Bolaji Idowu's observation of the necessity for scholars in African culture to bear in mind th a t "... life is not divided artificially into the sacred and

*\j. Jahn has interpreted this to mean "Ancestor of the Yoruba" (ibid., p. 224) but as we shall see later in this chapter "Olodumare" refers only to the supreme God who is also believed to be the creator of all things. 30 the secular. . ,f~butjone in which reality is regarded as one. . . ."

(Idowu, E. Bolaji, 1973, p. 84; word in bracket is mine).

In addition to the unique need for mutual compatibility of African world-view, another source of misunderstanding concerning African relig­ ion is what the critics (both Christians and Moslems) thought to be a lack of liturgical worship or of systematized theological ideas such as found in Christianity, Islam or Judaism (see Eric Ayisis, 1972, p. 57). Associated with this is the fact that the Africans were not thought to have a belief in one God but, instead, see the world pervaded by the mystical, the non-logical^ and the supernatural) was the postula­ tion of a lack of concept of causality on the part of the Africans.

To be sure, the complete absence of any w ritten materials on

African religious beliefs was hardly helpful to any study or understand­ ing of their religious traditions and provisions.

The belief in the supernatural may be common to all cultures but what different cultures ascribe to the natural (that which can be explained in terms of a people's experience and empirical knowledge) might differ from one community to the other. Usually Africans would ascribe to natural causes on the basis of scientific knowledge which narrows the sphere of the supernatural and widens the knowledge of natural phenomena among the Europeans. "When the African offers an egg

^J. Hahn (ibid., p. 97) provides Levy-Bruhl (2, p. 60) as an example of those who described the attitude of the primitives as "pre- logical" (a term characterizing thought which does not refrain from inner self-contradiction) but who at the end of his life denounced his own theory of "prelogicism" saying that "the logical structure of the human mind is the same in all men." 31 to a tree," claims Dr. Busia, "or food to a dead ancestor, he is not expressing ignorance of material substances, or natural causes, but he is expressing in conduct a theory of reality, namely, that behind the visible substances of things lie essences, or powers which constitute their true nature" (oj>. cit., p. 78). This author also has drawn attention to the sim ilarity in this conduct with that of Western meta­ physics where the world is divided into two categories of mind and matter and the human being into soul and body. It is argued that the

Africans show a knowledge of natural causes in fishing, farming, stock raising, and in their other economic activities. But in spite of their beliefs in the supernatural the Africans believe in one Supreme God and Dr. Busia has drawn attention to the relationship between this be­ l i e f in one God and o th e r gods:

Africans believe in a Supreme Being, the Creator of the world and all the things in it. The ideas as to the attributes of the Creator vary, but all believe that He is charged with power, both beneficent and dangerous. This belief in a Supreme Being who is omnipotent is held along with belief in lesser deities who are also charged with power, both beneficent and dangerous. These super­ natural entities or gods are not always held to have bodies like men, but their values, attitudes and thoughts, i.e., their personalities, are like those of men. . . . The Supreme Being of the African is the Creator, the source of life, but between Him and man lie many powers and principalities good and bad, gods, spirits, magical forces, witches, to account for the strange happenings in the world (o£. cit., p. 78).

That the Africans have their own cosmological ideas and that they be­ lieve in one supreme God has also been claimed by Dr. Bolaji Idowu.

He says that in the Nigerian indigenous religions he has studied,

"God is not remote but immanent," so that in spite of the absence of liturgical worship they constantly refer to God and pray to Him (Idowu 32

Bolaji, 1964). In this connection Father Kelvin Carroll (1967, p. 40) has also observed:

Before I gained some experience with pagan, I often asked the following questions, "You know that God is the creator of all things; why then do you worship the spirits instead of God?" The answer was usually on the following lines: "But I do worship God, I pray to God as soon as I rise in the morning. I pray to Him before I offer sacrifice to the spirits. I worship the spirits because it is God who has sent them."

In his treatise on African religion, Dr. G. Parrinder (1953) has described polytheism as the basic canon of the African religious beliefs

—the belief not in one but many gods, and specifically in Yoruba myth­

ology as many as 401 gods and spirits are accounted for, though only

four categories are widely acknowledged. But this polytheistic theory has been challenged by another scholar, Bolaji Idowu, claiming that

since the ultimate reference is to God"... African traditional relig­

ion cannot be described as polytheistic. Its appropriate description is monotheistic, however modified this may be." (ibid., p. 168)

The African concept of man in the society is to identify an individ­ ual with the society so as to emphasize the individual's role in the membership of that society rather than his individuality—whether he is

living or dead. Thus, asserts Busia"... the dead, the living, and

the yet unborn form an unbroken family, and this concept is given emphasis

in institutions and ritual." (op. cit. p. 80).

Further, the words usually chosen for describing the peoples and

their religious beliefs—"pagans," "heathens," "idolatories," "animists,"

or "polytheist," etc.,—are inaccurate and derogatory, and so are those used to refer to African imagery. Such words as "fetish," "juju" and

"idol" observes Father Kelvin Carroll, "are pejorative and cannot be 33 applied to Yoruba imagery with precision" (K. Carroll, 1967). Also,

Melville J. Herskovits has noted and has analyzed the source of misuse of one of these words, "fetish": "One word," says Herskovits, "that has been applied to charms is 1 fetish ,' and no term has proved more trouble­ some than this and its companion 'fetichism." The derivation is from the Portuguese 'feitico ,1 'something made,' and was used by the early

Portuguese to denote the charms and images of African peoples"

(Herskovits, Melville, J., 1948, p. 368). According to Herskovits, such words are encountered in the literature, as when it is said that 'fetich­ ism is the religion of Africa.' Words like this, "When used at all," he warns, "should be employed in the sense of 'charm' and 'magic'; but they are far better omitted from any discussion of the means whereby man controls the supernatural" (ibid., p. 368 ).

People frequently refer to the African traditional religion as

'animism' or 'paganism' (note the small 'a' and 'p1). According to

Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College edition, S. V., animism

(again spelled with the small 'a') is simply "the doctrine that all life is produced by a spiritual force separate from matter; the belief that all natural phenomena have souls independent of their physical being; or a belief in the existence of spirits, demons, etc." Also pagan means

"a person who is not a Christian, Moslem, or Jew; heathen: formerly, sometimes applied specifically to a non-Christian by Christians; a per­ son who has no religion." Webster's also gives the synonyms—pagan and heathen are both applied to nonmonotheistic peoples, but pagan specific­ ally refers to one of the ancient polytheistic peoples, especially the Greeks and Romans, and heathen is applied to any of the peoples regarded 34 as primitive idolators" (words underlined are those written in bold ty p e s ) .

Until about 1850, Africa remained a "dark continent" to Europe and the rest of the civilized world and the objects of African art were thought to be no more than fetish idols. In the Western world, especially during the 17th century, the indigenous peoples of Africa 8 had been referred to as "savages."

Moreover, the activities of the European explorers, traders, the

Christian Missionaries, and the colonial administrators were all con­ centrated in Africa during the 19th century when the continent was supposed to be "one universal den of desolation, misery and crime"

(Eugene Stock, 1899, p. 45; in Nduka, o., 1964, p. 5) and when the myth of European racial superiority was widely held (ibid.).

Until the early 20th century African art had been contemptuously referred to as "primitive." The term "primitive" art was being used to embrace the art products of the various places in the world lacking the

"civilization" and the material development of the Western world.

Francis Hsu (Current Anthropology, Vol. 5. #3. June, 1964) has traced

"the connotation of inferiority and other difficulties" that have troubl­ ed many scholars and attempts to substitute other terms for the word

"primitive" (ibid, pp. 169-178).

g In 1659 the Swiss, Herport, used the word "savage" for the first time; later in 1680 Johann Christian Hoffman described the Hottentots as "huge monkeys rather than proper human beings" and Janheinz Jahn's anthology was given the title "Wir Hannten Sie Wilde"—i.e ., "we call them wild beasts" (Ulli Beier, 1968). "Primitivism" implied backwardness. The word also had the connota­ tion of simplicity, naivety, crudeness or even the grotesque. Applied to the products of those already known to be "savages," the word was capable of stigmatising the products and further prejudiced an evalua­ tion of their intrinsic qualities. This derogatory label hindered for a long time much understanding or appreciation of the art and cultures of the "primitive" peoples. "One wonders how African art would have fared if it had not been labeled 'primitive' and if, instead of being considered 'instinctive' it had been appreciated as the product of intelligent thought" (Leiris and Delange, 1968, p. 33).

Part of the cultural gap existing between Africa and Europe was a by-product of the Industrial Revolution, and in Beier's view as the

Western world moved towards industrialization in the 19th century, the gap between Europe and the rest of the world was even widened:

It was easy for Europeans to see themselves as a superior race because the rate of their "progress" and the power they wielded seemed to support such a view. . . . Man is at the top of the biological pyramid and the European civilization at the top of the cultural pyramid" (U. Beier, 1968).

The early scientific attitude towards the "primitive" cultures was at the same time rather unhelpful to the cause of African cultures.

Darwinism or the Darwinian theory of evolution contained the belief that art was part of the natural evolution and savage art was the low­ est form of art (R. Goldwater, 1967, p. 25). This led to the ethnolog­ ical study of the "primitive" objects and it was for this reason that the earliest "primitive" art products came to the European Museums.

Anthropologists also became interested in the problem. 36

The Western private collectors were at first interested in African art objects as a kind of curio. It was not until Paul Gauguin made his trip to the Pacific Islands and Eugene Delacroix painted his exotic pictures that aesthetic interest in "primitive" objects began. With

Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," African sculptures ceased to be regarded as curios and became serious objects of aesthetic endeavour.

Picasso's example was soon followed by three decades of intense European interest in African art. Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Maurice de Vlaminck and

Edward Munch were among the le ad in g European a r t i s t s to ex p lo re the formal contents of "primitive" art.

The question of comprehensive research in black Africa by foreign­ ers was attended by difficult and sometimes insuperable problems. Apart from the difficulty of language the foreign research worker had to face the fact that black Africa had no written records (before the Islamic contacts) to offer.

The diversity of African art, culture, language and religious pract­ ices make generalization almost impossible. In spite of the odds, how­ ever, the efforts of many foreign research workers are to be admired.

Remarkable contributions have been made by foreigners in the fields of history, archaeology, religion and languages, etc. K. Carroll said of

African culture that:

. . . firm conclusions about the deeper aspects of Negro culture are not yet possible, and we must wait for more detailed study of Africanists, especially African intell­ ectuals who can speak from the inside. . . . there has been too much writing on African art unrelated to the realities and personalities of African life (Carroll, 1967, p. 6). Numerous as the reasons that hindered a proper understanding

traditional African religious beliefs might be, suffice it to mention

at this stage that this misunderstanding was a key factor in prompting

people, especially during the colonial period, to adopt negative, if

not hostile, attitudes towards African traditional religions and some

other aspects of African culture. Horace Miner's warning in his

cultural anthropological description of American society of what he

calls the "excessively ritualistic, magic-ridden caricatures of other

cultures that may emerge as a result of viewing these cultures from

an exclusively Western viewpoint" might be seen as a culmination of

the concern that many contemporary scholars have on the matter (S. H.

Irvine and J. P. Sanders, eds., 1972, p. 27).

In his treatment of the main areas of conflict between African and

Western ideologies, Dr. Busia suggests that Christian ethics are not necessarily the panacea for societies undergoing rapid cultural change

and, significantly left a not of caution to the effect that Christian­

ity or other foreign religion would continue to "remain an alien and

superficial addition to more hospitable creeds" until such religions

come to grips with the problem of appreciating African peoples' interp­

retation of the universe (op. cit., p. 80).

In essence the African has subtle beliefs and cultural practices which can be worthy of their pride and pursuit and there is no reason why individual ethnic variations should not be developed as an original

contribution to a national pool. 38

The Pre-Colonial Cultures

Is this not Africa, the Continent of disillusionment; the Continent where the reverse of the expected always happens; the Continent certainly rich in results which must be toiled for, and never fall into one's open mouth; is this not Africa, where all great, ancient and lofty things are wrapped in shabby tatters which must be stripped off rag by rag before its soul be reached; is this not the abiding place of lies?. . . The moment one sets foot in the craftsmen's quarters of the City of Bida one is in another world. This is no longer that "dark Africa, the homeland of the carefree, indifferent negro, . . . One is face to face with men who have advanced to the highest point to which culture has attained, namely, voluntary labour." (Leo Frobenius, 1913, Vol. II, pp. 430-33).

What Leo Frobenius found in the Nigeria of 1910 were civilizations and products of civilizationswhich, while similar in their essential feat­ ures, were by no means the same. These civilizations are the indigen­ ous cultures whose norms and growth are studied in detail and analyzed in respect to the major ethnic groups in the following pages.

1. The Indigenous Cultures were, along with Islam, the two main cultural streams flourishing among the peoples within the boundaries of what later became the unified country of Nigeria when the colonial activities began.

The following identifies the major developments and salient characters o f the in d iv id u a l e th n ic u n it w ith in th i s c u ltu r a l stream . Benin, Yoiuba,

Ibo, Ibibio, Ijaw, Jukun, Tiv, Idoma, Igala and Nupe are the major ethnic groups that have been associated with the indigenous cultures at this period; the effect of Western culture on these groups is examined in the next p a r t.

The Benin and Yorubaland have had strong historical and ethnograph­ ical connections (see Idowu, 1973, p. 169). It has been suggested that 39 the people of Benin first settled at Ile-Ife before moving to Benin.

The Old Benin Kingdom consisted roughly of modern Edo, Afemai,

Ishan and Ika divisions of the present mid-West state but later expand­ ed considerably. Lester Brooks (1972, p. 262) has suggested that during the latter part of the 18th century the influence of Benin extended up to the Congo River in the south and to what is now Sierra

Leone in the west.

Benin dynasty was founded during the 10th century A.D. and under the second King, Oba Ere, when the kingdom started its expansion the development of the arts began. There was controversy over succession, about 1170 A .D ., and th e people o f Benin req u ested Oduduwa a t l i e I f e to send a ruler whereby Prince Oranmiyan was sent. After twelve years of his reign he abdicated the throne because, according to 0. Ojelabi

(1970, p. 55) "a child born, trained, and educated in the arts and mysteries of the Land" was better able to govern—leaving his son, Eweka, to rule. Oranmiyan later moved to Old Oyo to become the first Alafin

(King). In Oyo he left another son of his to be second Alafin while he moved to lie Ife to be the Oni (King). Oranmiyan thereby established the series of events which was later to enhance the inter-cultural relationship between the Benin and Yoruba people.

King Ewaka I (1200-1227) introduced many reforms and on his death his body was taken to lie Ife for burial and, until this custom was stopped in the 14th century, every other king was buried at Ife.

The reign of Oguola (1285-1295) saw the introduction of brass casting from lie Ife to Benin. The craftsman brought from Ife was

Iguegha. Among other things, brass casting was used for the preserva- tion of records of the kingdom, and up to the modern time, Iguegha had been a deified ancestor by the Benin brass-smiths.

Oba Ewuare (1440-1473) expanded the kingdom to include parts of

Yoruba and Ibo Land, including Ekiti, Oka, Ikare, Owo, and Asaba area of the Niger river. He developed work in wood and ivory and textiles and extended the influence of his kingdom up to Lagos in the west and

Idah in the east. The first European, Ruy de Sequeira, visited Benin during this period in 1472—before the famous Portuguese explorer

John Affonso d'Aveino came in 1485—thus opening Benin to the influ­ ences of the Europeans.

In the 17th century Benin became a commercial centre and a channel of trade between the Yoruba and the Europeans. Gradually it started to decline and was declining at the time of the famous British expedit­ ion of 1897 which marked the final chapter of Benin as an independent

Kingdom,

Many cults existed in Benin to foster unity among the people and to enhance the prestige of the king who occupied a deified position.

The indigenous religion of the people of Benin was similar to that of the Yoruba in its essential features, but it was widely believed that the chief spirit of Benin (whose priests also exercised much political power) was the strongest in West Africa. The spirit later developed a blood-thirsty appetite and in accordance with the demand of its priests, human sacrifices had to be offered. R. H. Bacon's book was aptly titled "Benin, the City of Blood" (1897), and according to

Lester Brooks, its accounts reflect the extent of human sacri­ 41

9 fice. But as Bacon was also the leader of the punitive expedition the British sent to revenge the killing of nine Europeans (traveling from the second city, Gwato, to Benin city in 1897) there is a doubt that much of the bones and skulls he reported were the remains of the massacre inflicted by his own troops rather than those of human sacrifice—though human sacrifice was a regular feature of worship of certain gods or spirits in Benin as elsewhere in the pre-colonial life in Nigeria.

Benin had some of the finest court arts in Nigeria, and these are now well-known in Western countries. Portraits and allegorical plaques had been made in terra cotta, wood, ivory, and bronze.

The Yoruba consisted of about two dozen sub or dialectic groups.

Though farming was their major occupation the Yoruba were also shrewd traders and skilled workers in various crafts like weaving, dyeing, leatherworks, and pottery.

In the past there were frequent civil wars among the various

Yoruba Kingdoms and wars with Dahomey, Benin and the Fulani. Of all the

Yoruba Kingdoms Oyo, perhaps, was the most important for the roles it played in Yoruba's political history and Ile-Ife for its spiritual leadership.

Old Oyo town was founded by a former king of Benin, Oranmiyan (see p. 39) who later became the first Alafin (king's title) of Oyo. Oyo was also the accredited home of Oduduwa, the great mythological ancestor of the Yoruba. The kingdom expanded during the 13th, 14th, and 15th

Q There is a good account of this phenomenon of human sacrifice by J. Jahn (1962, pp. 107-126) in relation to Dahomey. 42 centuries under the Kings Ajaka, Sango (the deified king), Ajagun,

Oluaso and Kori. At the height of its power Oyo became the capital of an empire which included the whole Yoruba-speaking land as well as

Nupe, Borgu, Dahomey and Ashanti in modern Ghana. The Alafin (a patri­ linear king-ship) became an absolute ruler and head of other kings in

Yorubaland.

Oyo devised an elaborate system of administration with checks and balances similar to those of the Hausa-speaking peoples but (also like the latter) making little distinction between the spiritual and the temporal in the system. Also, just as Sokoto assumed a center of religious pre-eminence in the 19th century in the North, so was, and s t i l l i s , I l e - I f e among the Yoruba in th e South.

However, during the 18th century Oyo declined and the empire it held disintegrated such that each of the constituent kingdoms went its own way—the way that led to ambition, war and disunity and to the partial penetration of the Fulani Moslem 'jihad.1

The Yoruba as a group were typically town dwellers often with a central town or city exercising political power over surrounding villages and hamlets. These towns were clusters of family compounds and Leo Frobenius has provided a succinct and comparative description of Yoruba towns:

. . . it may, I think, be said that no province in the western half of Africa can show finer lines in its general architecture than Yoruba. Every one of these towns resolves itself into a definite number of astonish­ ingly large compounds, all of which are generally built on a clearly organized system and in themselves again g-ive expression to an extended, powerful, systematic and social ideal (Leo Frobenius, 1913, Vol. I, p. 153). 43

Ojo (1966, p. 117) has also drawn attention to the unique nature of

Yoruba urbanization among the peoples of tropical Africa. On the subject of ancient Yoruba social and political organization, Carlston has also suggested that "the Greek and Italian city-states are suggest­ ive historical counterparts of the Yoruba kingdoms" (Carlston, Kenneth

S., 1968, p. 180).

While there may be possible over-statements regarding the compara­ tive strength of the Yoruba cultural systems as seen by the early

Western scholars relative to other linguistic groups in Nigeria or even in Black Africa, these impressions might be helpful in conceptualizing

Yoruba and other African cultures. Leo Frobenius has said of the general picture of Yoruba culture that:

. . . in spite of their painful proclivities fi n reference to deceptions and pilferings encountered^ . the Yorubans are, perhaps, the cleverest and most talented nation to be found in the whole of West Africa. It is impossible to des­ cribe otherwise than as "brainy" a people which, inheriting such a magnificent clan organization, has for centuries and tens of centuries(!) preserved it in the full consciousness of its significance, of which proof is to be found in the totem-theistic constitution of the Yoruban state. . . The mental endowment of the Yorubans is a fund of invaluable information for the scientist. (Leo Frobenius, 1913, Vol. I, pp. 148-49.) (Words in parenthesis are those of the present author.)

The basis of this clan-organization was the lineage group.^

The identity of the Yoruba lineage group were descendants of a common male ancestor and lineage (patrilinear descent) who were usually pre­ served in songs, their names, myths of origin and facial markings.

The "Bale" was the group head or head of the lineage group though "Bale" was the administrative head of a village and "Oba," the paramount ruler of a town or city and had temporal and often spiritual leadership. 44

Membership of a lineage group entitled an individual to live in the lineage compound, use lineage property and determined his occupation.

All members of the same family are descended from a godhead and are posterity of the same god. They return to this godhead when they die and the newborn represents the rebirth of previous deceased member of the family.

There is, therefore, a family deity who is the head of that family and has his temple, altar and priest in every compound. This god may be that of the river, tempest, earth, sky, forge, or other, as every god is assigned an office or jurisdiction.

The sky is regarded as the dwelling place of the other spirits of the living and souls yet to be reborn. The earth is the dwelling place of the ancestors and others deceased. These ancestors could give children health, prosperity and punishment to lineage members who transgressed the communal standard of behavior.

The 401 gods and spirits attributed earlier to the Yoruba have been classified into four categories: a supreme God or creator, lesser gods and spirits, spirits of the dead, and charms and magical medicines.

Leo Frobenius visited Nigeria from 1910 and was perhaps the earl­ iest Western ethnologist to give the inside picture of religion and other values among the Nigerian tribes, as his two-volume account shows. In what he called a "hierarchy of the coast-line 'God-lore,'" he also wrote of the Yoruba that "Olorun is the apex of the pyramid of divinity.

He is neither worshipped nor considered in any way but leads an entire­ ly platonic mythological existence" (Leo Frobenius, 1913, Vol. I, p.

198). Bolaji Idowu who has praises for Leo Frobenius' objectivity 4.5 has questioned only this notion of "platonic mythological existence"

(Idowu, 1973, p. 149). He claims that God is actually thought of and spoken o f.

The distinctive character of a person is determined by God prior to birth but thereafter the orisha takes charge. Eshu is the messeng­ er of the gods and Ifa reveals their hidden intentions. Oro is responsible for dealing with witchcrafts. Other gods are Obatala, or the second in rank to Olorun, the gods of lightning and thunder, of iron and war and of the farm and harvest. (See William Bascom,

American Anthropologist, Vol. 46. #63, Jan. 1944, p. 59)

To meet the social control needs for political and economic funct­ ions, there is the Ogboni cult which had the power of death penalty over all citizens, including the Oba (King) (Leo Frobenius, 1913, pp. 178-79; also see Bascom, American Anthropologist, Vol. 46. #63,

J a n ., 1944).

When there is a problem affecting the entire community, e.g., drought or pestilence, all members turn to the appropriate god regard­ less of his or her own private family god. Consequently every township keeps a temple for every great god of nature with a High Priest in charge in each case. All such priests have their specific name, e.g.,

Oluwo, or Araba for "Ifa," Ajorunbo for "Shankpanna," etc., and they are distinguished in the community by special "badges" that they are permitted to wear on all occasions.

The Yoruba are perhaps the most prolific producers of traditional art objects in Africa, mainly because of the demand of their culture and urban societies. The heads found in Ife show striking naturalism 46

and very high technical achievement—such that Leo Frobenius claimed

that ". . .h e had found traces of a Greek colony on the Atlantic

coast of Africa" (W illett, 1967). Most of Ife works are regal or

court art like those of Benin with which they had intimate connections.

The portraits are idealized and naturalistic. Also stone quartz stools,

shrine furniture, soap stone abstract shapes, granite monoliths—like

the 19 ft. Opa Oranmiyan—stone animals and human statues have been

found. But all these and similar finds (like those at Esie) now

belong to the pre-Islamic, pre-Christian era.

Wood carvings, deriving their source of content from Yoruba myth­

ology, philosophy,^ religion, etc., abound. Yoruba temples are often

decorated at the entrance with carved pillars and doors aid Leo

Frobenius wrote that "... in all these carvings the costume and

distinct emblems which are dedicated to their respective divinities

are prominently brought to view" (ibid., p. 196). Also connected with

Ifa are all kinds of ceremonial equipments, including a variety of ivory

or wooden sticks, staves, trays, caskets which are adorned, usually with

images of Esu (the Devil) in relief. Special implements, such as

"Adjelle-Ifa" (cups for keeping palm nuts) also have figures of found­

ers of Yoruba Empire on horses' backs or of women at work—weaving, washing, kneeling—or groups in the court-life of the nobles or with

animals, birds or just some forms of geometric or abstract decorations.

^The "African Proportion" that is heard about is carried out to give 1/3 to 1/4-life-size emphasis to the head. The reason for this is not known but the importance of the head as the determinant of destiny is also emphasized in Yoruba myths and songs. 47

Most of the figures or decorations on Ifa cups are carved in the space between the base and the raised cup at the top.

Other Yoruba art includes mural decorations, engraving, etc. Also ceremonial art includes masks, special staffs, etc.

Ibo, Ibibio (or Efik) and Ijaw were the most important of the ethnic groups around the Niger Delta area in terms of cultural influ­ ences, population and strength.

The Ibo lacked centralized political authority such as kingship or chiefship except in one or two communities such as Onitsha. The earl­ iest Ibo settlements were at Awka and Orlu but between the 14th and

17th centuries they waged a series of wars to expand east and westward across the Niger. At this time they also acquired the great Ebinopkabi oracle of Arochuku which was previously the Ibibio "Long Juju" and whose acquisition greatly enhanced the power and unity of the Ibo in the area. Ojelabi describes the importance of this "juju" in the area:

Its shrine was the final court of appeal in all matters, and it also served as the prime source of economic and political directions for the whole of Iboland. Replica shrines, such as the Agbala at Awka and Igwele Ala oracles at Umunora, also existed to serve the same purpose as the Arooracle in provincial Iboland (0. Ojelabi, 1970, p. 73).

Among the Ibo, the social organization consisted of the village group as the basic social unit. The family head "Ikpana" arbitrated in family disputes and communicated with the lineage ancestors. A number of families made up the village and a group of villages were linked together under the lineage head, "Okpana." The Okpana held the title called "ofo" and all such Ofo title holders formed the Council of Elders for the village group. The leader of this Council also held the big

Ofo title. Justice was executed by this Council and by the priests of 48

"Ala," the powerful deity who was supposed to have jurisdiction in major crimes such as murder. The age-grades settled minor disputes among themselves as well as enforced the law in their communities.

The Ibo placed strong emphasis on individual achievement and opportunities for such achievement and for leadership were kept open to all. An avenue for social intercourse was offered through access to age-grades, cooperative work groups, secret societies and men's societies, to which individuals could turn for land, political supp­ ort, and so on. An egalitarian attitude prevailed in all such groups so that leadership in any of them was not necessarily a matter of seniority but of individual ability, skill and industry. In the

Ibo system individual development was of paramount importance.

The Ibo recognized a supreme God and a number of lesser gods, 12 spirits and spirits of the ancestors.

Dr. E. 0. Odita, citing P. A. Talbot (see Vol. II, 1926, p. 259) and C. K. Meek (1937, p. 24) gives three crders of Superhuman beings that are distinguishable: "Chi, Higher Beings; Aka-Chi, Nature; and Mmuo, Spirits." These are similarly enumerated in Talbot (1964, pp. 40-60). The first are relevant to Almighty; the second are powerful but sub­ servient; and the third are innumerable with relative powers" (Odita, Unpub. Ph.D. Dissertation, 1970, pp. 35-36). The supreme God is "Chikwu" and "Chi-Igwe" the sky-God or son of Chi was supposed to live in the sky. "Chi-Ala," the Earth-Goddess or daughter of Chi. "Aka-Chi" is the messenger of Chi and includes "Anyanwu" (the sun god) and "Amadioha" (the thunder god) (see Odita, ibid., p. 36). God caused the growth of the crops and through Him men derived their "ci" (Chi) or spiritual self. God's messengers reported to Him on the happenings on earth. God was not worshipped directly and no sacrifices were made to Him. They also believed that some of their lesser gods were the sons of God, though He created all the spirits who had power over specific aspects of nature and over activities of men. 49

The main spirits were "Anyanwu" (the sun god, the source of good wealth and good fortune), "Amadi-Oha" (the god of lightning), and

"Ale," "Ala," or "Ani" (the god of the earth, the source of social

life, of fertility, the guardian of morals and law, and the overseer of farming activities in all the seasons—see Talbot, 1969, p. 43).

Offenses such as murder, theft, kidnapping, adultery and poisoning were supposed to be those committed against Ale and for such commit­ ment the offender had to observe ritual to her; failing this the spirit (Ale) might punish the offender with death. The priests of

Ale in some areas could order trials by the elders and he could partic­ ipate in them. This spirit (Ale) was so important that every Ibo village had a shrine for him.

In the hierarchy of gods there were others of lesser importance than Ale who were essentially spirits of ancestors whose worship const­ ituted a force forging group unity. These ancestors were regarded as guardians of morality and they could be displeased if people departed

from custom. The senior male member of the family made the necessary

sacrifices to the ancestral spirits.

An elder's symbol of authority, as well as the symbols of all ancestral spirits, was the staff "Ofo." This staff was handed down

from a tree supposedly grown in a sacred garden of Chukwu. An oath

taken on Ofo was regarded the most binding of all undertakings and

failure to comply with sworn declarations or conducts would lead to whatever consequences were included in the sworn declarations, includ­

ing d e a th . Oracles were kept and consulted and certain oracles functioned in court rooms of the highest authorities in the community whose individ­ ual or group disputes were referred.

Social control measures included various secret societies. One 13 such society was that of "Mmuo." It was a society whose members used masks like the "egungun" among the Yoruba people. These Mmuo masks were regarded as ancestral spirits and the Mmuo societies could impose sanctions in incidents of witchcraft and adultery and they could summon the village meeting to punish offenders.

The Ibe blacksmiths of Awka used the smelted iron from Abakaliki and Okpobo mines to make swords, cutlasses, axes, hoes, etc. Also textile work, carpentry, pottery and salt manufacture formed part of the traditional Ibo trade. Other Ibo art forms life-size statues like those found in Ala shrines (Mbari—lit. "earthenware"—houses) in

Owerri province and the bronze works found at Igbo-Ukwu. Masks are a ls o commonly made.

The Ibibio are collectively known as Efik and they consisted of six sub-groups—Ibibio proper in the east, the Annang in the west,

Enyong in the north, Eket in the south, and the Andoni-Ibeno in the delta. Their main towns are Old Calabar or Efik, Uyo, Ikot Ekpene,

Ikoheto and Abak.

13 There are conflicting reports on this "Mmuo" by K. C. Meek (Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe, London, New York, Toronto, 1937, pp. 53-58) and W.R.G. Horton, "God, Man, and the Land in a Northern Ibo Village Group," Africa. XXVI, 1956, p. 17. See Kenneth S. Carlston, 1968, pp. 191-92. However, Dr. Odita (op. c it., pp. 42- 43) has called them spirits which include "Ndichie" (ancestors), "Agbara" (the devils). 51

The Ibibio were believed to be the aborigines of the Niger Delta area and settled originally in Old Calabar before spreading out during the 13th century. During the 17th century the name (Old) Calabar was substituted for Efik and Afagha, both of which were the ancient native names.

As a group the Ibibio had not been united in the face of outside attacks and they even waged wars among themselves in the past.

The social structure of the Ibibio consisted of the "Home System" which again consisted of the trader, his slaves, his descendants, and the descendants of his slaves. Each city-state comprised a number of

"houses" and all interhouse arbitrations were carried out by the assemb­ ly of house-chief presided over by an elected member known as "Amanyan- ab o ."

Legislative powers were vested in the hands of a secret society known as "Egbo" (or Ekpo) and this organization was also responsible for keeping law and order in the community.

The Ibibio people used a device of symbolic picture-making or pic- togram known as Nsibidi or walls and tombs to tell a story about indiv­ iduals living or dead. (See P. A. Talbot, Vol. II, 1969, p. 23)

The Ijaw consisted of four main clans: Brass-Nembe, Kalahari,

Bonny, and Warri. Oral tradition gave the origin of the Ijaw people from Benin, Yoruba (lie Ife) and from the Ibo. Like the Efik, the

Kalahari were organized in "houses" system, and their judicial and administrative processes were similar.

Other strands of common background owing to contact relationship, are discernible. Aderibigbe has claimed sim ilarities in the custom of 52 the Urhobo, Western Ijaw, and the Western and Onitsha Ibo on the one hand, and that of Blni on the other. It has also been suggested that there is a tradition among these people to trace cheir origin as well as their forms of government to Benin. Both Aderibigbe (in Ajayi and

Espie, o£. c it., p. 191) and Ojelabi (op. cit., p. 55) have also drawn attention to the common cultural background brought about by contacts among the Benin, Ibo and Yoruba peoples as well. The former writer has drawn the conclusion that much as the separate history of these people

(Yoruba, Bini and Ibo) now constituting the main ethnic units of the southern half of modern Nigeria cannot be denied, "The point here is that the culture of each group, as we know it today, is the product of a long period of cultural contact and development in what we now call

Southern Nigeria" (op. c it. , p. 191). The Ibibio people also made masks which are worn on ceremonial occasions and cement statues in honor of important personalities and ancestors.

The Jukun (also known to the Hausa as Kwararofa) had been shifting their capital town first from Bepi or Apa or Kororofa to Puje and then to the present site at Wukari. The King, Aku, was believed to be a divine leader and having the power to interpret natural phenomena.

Before the 17th century the Jukun paid tribute to Zaria and was a satellite kingdom of Kano. Thereafter the kingdom became strong enough to wage many successful wars, in the process overrunning Bauchi plateau and Kano three times, exacting tribute from them. Igbira, Idoma, Sokoto,

Katshina and Bornu-Kanem were each once a victim of Jukun attack and, sometimes, invasion. Slave trade became the backbone of Jukun economy but later replaced by trade in palm oil as pressure was brought to bear 53

on them by the British abolitionists.

Dr. T. N. Tamuno (in Ajayi and Espie, o£. c it., p. 209) has also

asserted that the people of Jukun were also considered to be "expert magicians" whose spiritual influence spread to their neighbours, the

Tiv people.

The Tiv, like the Jukun people, were also mainly agricultural

people and skilled hunters. They were first living on hilltops before moving later to the lowlands where they encountered the Jukun and

later the Fulani. Unlike the other groups thus far considered, the

Tiv lacked any elaborate political or social organization (see Muddock,

1959, p. 90). Their religious beliefs as well as their traditional

costume (which consisted of one or two pieces of leaves tied around

the waist with a string) was, perhaps, the simplest in Nigeria. But

as we shall see later, they exhibited surprising aesthetic as well as utilitarian approach in their art objects.

By way of belief, the Tiv attributed misfortune, illness, deaths,

and such undesirable phenomena to witchcraft and other human enemy;

and good fortune, especially which raises a man above others, was

regarded with suspicion and attributed also to magical means. Conse­

quently, the Tiv had emerged an egalitarian people out of fear of

individuals rising above the others. (See Paden and Soja, 1970)

They had no belief in ancestor spirits but instead in the notion

of the heart to be the vocal point of the individual person and that a

substance called "tsav" grew in it whose color and shape indicated its

good or evil attributes on influence. This tsav was the source of witchcraft or other supernatural ability and of individual, people's 54 personality or ability to have wives, children, big farms, etc. They believed that everyone had a sort of reflected being or shadow which always accompanied the person and informed him of evil—though the same information would be transmitted through his ears and eyes to his tsav when asleep. The evil forces, they believed, could be repelled or bring into being with fetishes called "akombo."

Those who possessed exceptional tsav were called "mbatsav" and to many Tiv people the mbatsav were the only source of death. The mbatsav met as a group and had officers and ranks and file. Substances known as "swem" and sasswood were used, respectively, to repel mbatsav and to administer in trial by ordeal. An accused person dying as a result of this poisonous sasswood was believed to be guilty but one who merely vomited and survived was considered innocent.

Before coming into contact with the Jukun the Tiv peoples' system of administration was based on the secret society, the "mba tsav," whose top member was one of the two principal rulers of a Tiv community.

The "Tee" (spokesman) responsible for spiritual, as well as legislative, powers; he was believed to be gifted with magical powers which brought prosperity to the people. The non-member (of the mba tsav) leader was

"Shagba Or," ("man of Substance"). Both leaders were elected by a

Council which also advised the Shagba Or in the administration of his legal or judicial duties.

The Tiv retained a social system called "tar" which incorporated a lineage, their land and their other economic activities. They talked of "repair the tar," says Carlston (o£. c it., p. 215); what was meant 55

"is to govern and to ensure that all activities—political, social, economic, and mystical—of the people of the tar are in good running order." (Underlined word appears in italics in the source.) But

Carlston has also suggested that "there was no legitimate political authority for the Tiv people as a whole or for any division or segment of them to solve such issues on the basis of authority of office"

(ibid.)—which refers to the fact noted earlier of the lack of any elaborate political organization among the Tiv people.

After their contact with the Jukun, however, the "Drum Chiefs"

(so-called as the person was accompanied home by drummers after receiving recognition of and regalia of office from the Jukun king) replaced the Tee and the Shagba Or. These Drum Chiefs, however, were s till required to be members of the secret society, the mbsatsav.

Other and smaller ethnic groups around the area of Niger-Benue confluence, e.g., the Idoma, lacked neither elaborate political nor religious or social institutions of their own (with the exception of the Igala people); or they were tied by descent or administration to the bigger neighbours, the Jukun, Yoruba, Bini, or the other dominant group of this area—the Nupe people.

Hausa-speaking peoples. Since about the third millenium A.D. the Hausa have been concentrated mainly in the areas now occupied by the countries Niger, Nigeria, Dahomey, Togo, Ghana, and the Ivory

C oast.

The people of Hausaland worshipped the ancestors until the begin­ ning of the 13th century when they started to accept the Islamic religion which at that time first reached the Hausaland through the 56

Wangara traders from Mali. The ancient religion of the Hausa (still

being practiced, especially in the rural areas today—see A. Smith,

ibid., p. 196) resembled the traditional religion of Nigerians in

other parts of the country. This religion, as was seen earlier,

involves the belief in a supreme God (or "Ubangiji") not having direct

connection with the daily life of the people, but having control on

their destiny. The spirits or "iskoki" are worshipped through sacri­

ficial ritual; human beings possessed of spirits "bori" and sacrifice

by a priest (usually also the head of the family) are considered the

ones with powers to communicate with the spirits. (See Meek, C.K.

Vol. II., 1925 and 1969, pp. 12-131). There are also priests (bokaye) who, by virtue of their position play important roles in community

affairs. The widespread adoption of the Hausa language in West Africa

suggests high social m obility among the Hausa-speaking peoples.

The Hausa-speaking peoples lived in communities called "kauyuka"

or "unguwoyi" (sing. Kauye, unguwa) which are small hamlets organized

for crop production around the main cities called "birane" (sing.—birni).

These birane developed during the 10th century into the ten original

Hausa city states (called Hausa Bakwai).

The Hausa c i ty s ta te s came in to e x iste n c e around the 10th to 12th

century A.D. The people were mainly sedentary farmers and until the

beginning of the 13th century they were pagans. They had a tradition

of many craft works, including leather work, tanning, dyeing, weaving,

black-smithing, as well as trading.

The Nupe did not appear to have come into the limelight of history

until the emergence of the first "Etsu" (King Tsoede, around early in 57 the 16th century). Nupe oral tradition gives King Tsoede (the son of a Nupe wife of the Ata of Igala) as the first Etsu of an independent

Nupe kingdom. It should be noted that Tsoede's name frequently comes up in relation to the introduction of the Tada and Nupe bronze statues, now important works in the history of the traditional arts in Nigeria.

It is also of interest that the reputation later gained by the Nupe people (and others around this Niger-Benue basin) in the crafts of ornamentation has its roots in the reign of this king.

A renowned possessor of magical power, Tsoede, acquired his royal insignia, a bronze cannon, long bronze trumpets, long state drums with brass bells, and some unusually heavy iron chairs from his father and used these with his magical reputation to establish a divine monarchy.

In addition, the introduction from Idah of the arts of canoe-building, smithing, and human sacrifices into the Nupe area were attributed to

Tsoede.

The Nupe people also consisted of about a dozen ethnic units—Ebe,

Gbedegi or Gbedye, Beni, Dibo or Zitako, Kusopa, Benu, Ebagi, Batsoi,

Kupa, Kede or Kyedye, Cekpa, and perhaps Gwagba. Some of them were fishermen, traders, craftsmen, or agriculturalists. Of all of these units the Beni and Kyedye appeared to be the most important.

Etsu Tsoede settled among the Beni whose chief town included Bida.

The king made Nupeko (also called "Great Nupe") his administrative head­ quarters and later Gbara. He succeeded also in conquering some of the neighbouring groups, including the Yagba, Kakanda, and Bunu to the south and Kamberi, Ebe, and Kamuku to the north. Tsoede died about 1590 A.D., supposedly at the age of 120 years. 58

After 1796 Nupe kingdom was split between two rival Etsus, one with

the seat of government at Jimi (Gbara) and the other at Raba or Rabbah,

just south of Bussa. The latter was assisted by the Fulani people in

Nupeland but turned against these Fulani supporters and was defeated

with the help of Mallam Alimi of Ilorin—and their Fulani ruler. In

1836 Usman Zaki became the f i r s t F u lan i E tsu Nupe.

The religion of the Nupe people as reported by Leo Frobenius was

similar to that of the Yoruba—the belief in one God "Soko" but also in

the existence of other earthly spirits who exercise direct powers on man. The belief in the ancestors' spirits was evident in several myths

related by the Nupe in connection with the "Dako-Boea," the national

deity of the "Holy Father" of the Nupe. In many respects the observance,

and concept and purpose, of this twenty-foot-average, cylindrical masque­

rader was identical to that of the Egungun that we saw in Yoruba relig­

io n .

This benevolent spirit, the Dako-Boea, made public appearance to

repel evil sorcery, wizard, and witchcraft as well as to give the good

things of life to those of the people in need and who cared to ask.

The Dako-Boea stood at the head of every social-religious institution

to safeguard abuses of strength and is seen obviously as a symbol of

peace and security.

The Nupe kingdoms were also a centre of large-scale inter-bultural

commercial activities in Nigeria. The early European visitors had

reported the existence, early in the 19th century of large markets at

Raba, Komie, Egga, Funda (Panda), Bocquah or Ik iri (in the south of Raba)

and Igbegbe (south, around the Niger-Benue confluence). Traders of 59 various nationalities—Hausa, Yoruba and Nupe, met with others from

Bornu, Bonny, etc., as well as Arabs and Tuaregs from Timbuktu, Tripoli and other North African cities. Hausa language was used as lingua franca and a form of hoe known variously as akika among the Idoma and

Jukun, ibia among the Tiv and agelema among the Hausa as well as

Manillas or copper bars were used as forms of currency.

The principal items of trade included ivory, indigo, ostriches, camels, leopard skins, Ibo woven cloth, beeswax, grains, domestic animals, and slaves.

There were, therefore, substantial political, commercial and cult­ ural links with the associated cultural diffusion among these riverain p e o p le s. In th is r e s p e c t Dr. Tamuno has th e follo w in g g e n e ra l comment about this area:

The cultural unity of this area, with certain exceptions, is further exemplified in sim ilarities among the main languages spoken here and Dr. Greenberg placed Igala (Igara), Nupe, Igbiri, Idoma, Jukun and Tiv under sub-divisions of a common "family" called "Niger-Congo." We can safely conclude, therefore, that the Niger-Benue confluence from fairly early times was a cultural melting-pot and that it served as a meeting ground not only for the exchange of trade goods but also of ideas (in Ajayi, and Espie, oj>. cit., p. 216).

The seven well known Tada bronze figures, with the two at Jebba and one at the island of Ginagi are some of the best examples of representational art by any standard. But the Nupe also excell in metal and glassworks, carving and many ornamental works. Leo Frobenia^ obviously impressed with these works, said:

. . . glass smelting, bronze chasing and bead cutting have all attained summits of which even peoples of a higher civilization would have a right to be proud" (op. c it., Vol. II, p. 442). 60

The stylistic sim ilarities and high technical perfections in the work

of Nupe, Bini, Yoruba, Ibo and Nok suggest, in my view, at least a

closer cultural link among these peoples in the past than the present

state of historical information indicates.

In conclusion, the religious, social practices and experiences of

the various indigenous groups are not the same; their sources of art

contents, in particular, vary from court (as in Benin and Ife) to myth­

ological and allegorical (as in Yoruba, Ibo and Ibibio carvings).

Their styles, too, range from naturalistic to abstract. These are

subtle variations which underscore the desirability for multiple sources

of goals in any form of social or cultural development.

2. The Islamic Cultural Influence. Islam was the first non-indigenous

religion to be introduced into Nigeria, since about 1200 A.D., and by

about the mid-eighteenth century had become the official religion in

parts of present-day Northern Nigeria. Its growth and impact on the

peoples of Nigeria are studied and analyzed in the following pages.

The process of Islamization came through the Berbers to Songhai, Bornu-

Kanen, and Mali empires, and by the Fulani (see Ajayi, 1969, 1972 and

McCall, 1971). The main ethnic groups involved in this process are the

Kanuri, the Hausa-speaking proples, Fulani and the Nupe and Yoruba.

Generally, Islam was peacefully introduced into and readily adopt­

ed in Nigeria because, as Nehemia Levtzion puts it, ". . . of the

Africanization of Islam." Also, he goes on:

Islam proved its vitality because of its rational basis, simplicity, and adaptability on the one hand, and its tradition of scholarship on the other. . . . It is the compromising attitude. . . the symbiosis of Islam and 61

African traditional religion. . . which was typical of Islam in West Africa before the eighteenth century (in McCall and Bennett, ed., 1971, p. 32).

Islam in Southern Nigeria. Among the Yoruba-speaking peoples in southwestern Nigeria, the main stream of Islamic contact was intro­ duced by way of the sea, at about the same time as the Western influence was penetrating. But it was the Indian Ahmadiyya sect, a

Western-type Islam, that gained foothold. It adopted the methods of the missionaries and preached Islam as a faith without introducing a new civilization. The interaction of Islam with the indigenous religion was rather liberal compared to the effects in Northern

Nigeria of Islam and of Western culture later on the whole country.

The major manifestation of Islam on this region has been described by Trimingham as follows:

. . . in regions where Islam and Western culture penetrated at the same time a new attitude towards religion has made its appearance, Islam as personal religious adherence. Religion is not thought of as something permanently closed by birth, but an open question about which the individual may hold any opinion he pleases. Where Western secularist influence is strongest, as among the Yoruba, individual changes of religious allegiance can take place without under­ mining the fabric of society or menacing family solidarity, and many Yoruba families have Muslim, Christian and Pagan members (Trimingham, 1955, p. 19).

Geoffrey Parrinder (1953) had conducted a research into the religious beliefs of individuals in Ibadan, Western Nigeria, and his findings support Trimingham: Many Africans who profess to be Christians also indulged in secret visits to oracle priests; and some African Christ­ ian priests had charms in their houses and in many prominent Christ­ ians' and Moslems' shops he found "medicinal herbs" meant for warding 62 off evil spirits and for attracting customers.

Islam in Northern Nigeria. The Hausa-speaking peoples are among the most populous of the groups of people occupying the grassland areas of Nigeria. (Others include the Bolewa, the Ngizim, the Manga, the Margi, the Buduma, and the Kotoko). Because of what w ill become apparent later in this study, i.e., the blurring effect of lines of ethnic separation on account of linguistic and religious harmony, it is more convenient for our purpose to examine the general impact of

Islam on broad cultural groups rather than individual ethnic groups.

"Hausa" therefore refers to the Hausa-speaking peoples in the context that it w ill be used here.

We note (Ajayi, 1971 and 1972) that the Hausa states—Zaria, Kano^

Katsina and Gobir—were brought under the control of Songhai empire from 1335-1618 and that the empire itself was becoming increasingly dependent on rule through Islamic principles (the medieval Islamic tenets). During this time Bornu-Kanem included Kano in its territory, as well as places further south, up to the northern borders of

Kwararofa (or Jukun). The seed for Islamic growth had therefore been planted and was already germinating when the Fulani emerged during the

19th century to carry out the holy war ("jihad"). The Fulani empire su b seq u en tly in cluded Kano, K a tsin a , Z a ria , H a d e jia , D aura, Adamawa,

Bauchi, Gombe, Katagun, and as far south as Nupe and Ilorin.

It was, therefore, the contacts u-ade by the peoples of Northern

Nigeria with the medieval empires, states and trans-Saharan traders of

West Africa that produced the first wave of the spread of Islam in

Nigeria. Shonghai (or Songhai), Mali and Bornu-Kanem empires and the 63

Hausa states were the power groups through which the influence and the

religion of Islam developed and spread. The next phase and the more widespread penetration was forcefully carried out through the relig­

ious wars of jihad fought by the Fulani who had settled among the

peoples of Northern Nigeria.

One of the innovative effects of the influence of Islam was the

introduction of writing and its effects on trade, government and

diplomacy. Says Basil Davidson:

It opens the way to a literate bureaucracy, to effective diplomatic links with distant powers and to the inner re­ organization of power and authority along lines which cut across the separatist loyalties of traditional religion (Davidson, 1966, p. 155).

Thus, accompanying the spread of the Islamic religion was educa­

tion and also the changing roles in system of political administration.

The cities evolved a complex system of administration under the leader­

ship of the "Sarki" or King, who was assisted by the "Galadina"—the

head of the civil administration, who also assisted and acted for the

Sarki in his absence. "Maaji" or "Ajiya" was the treasury minister;

"Sarkin Yari" the head of prison; "Sarkin Yan Doka" was the Chief of

Police and "Sarkin Dogarai" was the head of the king's bodyguard. The

general staff in some states included a "madawaki" (chief of cavalry

officer), a "makama" and a "jarmai."

Koranic education was largely restricted to the aristocracy and

the merchant classes. The religion of Islam did not dominate the

traditional religion until after the jihad; so that in the 17th and

18th centuries, the traditional religion remained—until the advent of 64 the holy war of Usman dan Fodio in the 19th century when Islam became the dominant religion among the Hausa people (see 0. Ojelabi, 1970, p. 4 5 ).

Among other developments that accompanied the spread of Islam was the adoption of certain Islamic laws and administrative procedure.

The title "Emir" was substituted for "Sarkin," as the King was hitherto called. Mohammedan law of the Maliki school were administer­ ed by the judges called "alkalai." This is a law built on the doctrines of the prophet Mohammed as handed down in the Koran and by tradition, and includes the religions or canon law and the civil code (see Sir Alan

Burns, 1972, p. 54). Temporal or traditional laws were recognized in the new system if they did not conflict with those of Islam. Sir Alan

Burns made th e o b se rv a tio n th a t th e "Mohammadan judges are as a ru le very learned in the law they administer, and frequently have access to considerable libraries containing the works of eminent jurists. The

Emirs themselves exercised judicial powers in their own courts" (ibid., p. 55).

A standardized system of taxation was also evolved even prior to the advent of the Fulani jihad. Taxation was based on Koranic law.

There was the "zakat" or the fixed alms paid by the Faithful in pro­ portion to their property or income; "ushr" were the taxes levied on crops. "Jangali" was levied on livestock; and there was an estate tax generally paid by conquered tribes called "jizyah" (in Hausa "gandu").

Also, all kinds of handicrafts and professions (leatherworkers, hunters, fishermen, ferrymen, canoemen, saltmakers, dyers, and weavers, 65 etc.) paid special taxes. In addition, taxes were paid on liquor, bee­ hives, date-palms, prostitution, gambling, and by dancing girls.

Traders paid tolls at every town they passed. People selling things

in the markets also had to pay special sales tax on wares sold. In

addition, every individual going to see his superior, especially on an

occasional basis, had to offer "gaisua," a form of present. Finally,

there were irregular levies in cash, crops or forced labour whenever

any communal or the chief's work or project needed to be done.

About the early spread and early operation of Islam in the Hausa­

land, Professor Smith, in a reference to J. H. Greenberg, made the

following observation:

The spread of Islam in Hausaland appears to have taken the form of a gradual modification of the old beliefs and practices in which ubangiji became progressively of greater and greater significance in the affairs of men while iskoki became progressively relegated to the essentially subordinate and harmless position of jinn. Politically, the bokaye came to share power with the malami (the "ulama"), and the sarki to occupy the uneasy position of both groups (Smith, Abdullahi, in Ajayi, ibid., p. 197—words underlined appear in italics in the original text).

Carlston has reported three stages of transition of Islam as

suggested by Trimingham: the first was a stage in which aspects of

Islamic life were incorporated in the indigenous culture while retain­

ing the traditional religious rites untouched (see Figure 1, p. 22).

In the second phase there was a formal adherence to the outward forms

of Islam while the "fetishes" were discarded. During the third stage,

a genuine belief in the power of the sanctions of Islamic religion

accompanied marked change in social customs and conduct, was estab­

lished (Carlston, K. S., 1968, p. 147). 66

But the final phase, epitomized in the jihad (see p. 63) appeared

to be more radical and in the words of Leo Frobenius, "Islam is the foe

of race preservation principles. It knows only the Faithful and the

Infidel" (o£, cit., Vol. II, p. 442; see also Greenberg, 1946, p. 9).

The outcome of this diffusion was the distinct type of Islam marked by what Carlston calls "spiritual dualism." But it has been

pointed out:

Retention of seemingly conflicting loyalties, attitudes, and institutions does not necessarily signify conscious dualism in people's lives. The African Muslim is not torn between two warring forces. In everyday life, the two strands of religious inheritance are reconciled, for they are woven together like the warp and weft of differ­ ent textures into a cloth of complicated pattern. . . . (Trimingham, Islam in West Africa, p. 43, in Carlston, ibid., p. 148).

While Islam influenced the course of political, economic and social

organization, it did not fundamentally alter their original structure.

In its impact on the culture of the people Trimingham has hypothe­

sized that the parent cultures, i. e., Indigenous, Islamic and Western

(see Figure 1) qualify, modify and condition each other. This quotation

further demonstrates the point:

The function of the old and new is a natural process which becomes clear when we note the canalization of function of Muslim clergy who are divided into two classes, not of per­ sons, because the same person combines them both, but of function that the clerk (Chaucerian sense) and the medicine man. Islam in West Africa is a primitive religion to the extent that the Muslim clerk is the practitioner of both religion and medicine (Trimingham, 1955, p. 23).

Apart from its dualistic cultural effect on individuals and the

society, Islam also affected the vertical stratification of groups in

Northern Nigeria. As Basil Davidson puts it: 67

Islam may be seen as having acted as an effective solvent of traditional society, repeatedly blurring the lines of ethnic separation, displacing the old "tribal" equalities with new hierarchical structures and servitudes, and generally, with an impact increasingly noticeable after the 16th century, deepening the horizontal stratification of West African society (Davidson, op., c it., p. 155).

Furthermore, in social systems and practices, Islam, to quote

Trimingham, "... stresses the exterior manifestations of the cult

and the external aspects of Islamic civilization, from the adoption

of the gown to the mass ritual of the festival prayers" (op. cit.,

P. 23).

By demonstrating the omnipotence of Allah, says LewLtzion, "Islam made its earliest appeal in competition with the African traditional

religions, proving its superiority as a source of blessings" (in McCall,

1972, p. 33). This notion of the omnipotence of Allah also meant, unfortunately for the representational art (otherwise thought of as

"idols"), were forbidden practices as they were in medieval Arabia.

Only arabesques, decorative symbols or other abstract motifs were per­ mitted as forms of visual expression.

Finally the seemingly outward uniformity in its effects on various

ethnic units is deceptive. As Levitzion has suggested, Islam meant many things to many people:

Islamic influence reached the various social groups within a kingdom in different degrees. Because of its adaptability in compromising with traditional African ways of life, Islam could appeal differentially to a wide section of the popula­ tion. Commoners in the capital and near the courts of other chiefs may have been drawn into the orbit of Islam by attend­ ing official ceremonies in which Muslim prayers were said. . . indeed the professed pagans. . . are to be distinguished from other pagans not incorporated in an Islamized kingdom (op. c it., p. 3 7 ). 68

To summarize, Islam in the south was just another dimension in religious beliefs and social practices which did not fundamentally alter the status quo.

In the north, prior to the colonial era, wherever Islam gained a stronghold, it modified traditional practices and beliefs in varying degrees—from refinement to total destruction. The representational arts and some social practices associated with the indigenous relig­ ion were the first to fall victim of total destruction. But the

Islamic influences were minimal, if at all existent, in most rural areas and in cultures (such as Idoma and Tiv, Ibo, Ibibio, Ijaw, etc.) not penetrated. On the other hand, Islam offered many advantages of literacy, trade, improvement in local administration systems, and in reduction of ethnic heterogenity and hostility. Where Islam became the official or state religion it did, however, cause the inhibition and subsequent loss of some of the values associated with the indigenous f a i t h s .

The Christian Penetration and the Colonial Era

The missionaries' activities in West Africa began before those of the colonial administrators, going back to the 15th century, though no effective strongholds in cultural or religious matters were gained until the 19th century.

The Portuguese missionaries, as we saw earlier, who came to Benin about 1485 were the earliest Europeans to settle in Nigeria. They came on the invitation of the OBA of Benin who wanted to use them as inter­ mediaries for the purchase of firearms from Portugal. These Catholic 69 missionaries lived in Benin from 1516 to 1688 (Fage, J. D., 1957). In the bronze and ivory works produced at Benin at this period the Portu­ guese missionaries and warriors were depicted and William Fagg has attributed the prolific production of Benin sculpture at this period to the fact that the Benin artists were able to obtain more brass from the Portuguese.

During the 19th century, the British public opinion had grown against the horrors of slavery and the slave-trade, and some philan­ thropic and Christian bodies began to emerge in Britain, dedicated to their abolition. A series of missionary activities culminated in the founding of Fourah Bay College whose products were to make a great impact on missionary and educational work in Nigeria. The C.M.S. mission was headed by Rev. H. Townshead and Rev. Samuel Adjai Crowther and was in Abeokuta, Western Nigeria. Rev. Adjai was also one of the two C.M.S. missionaries who accompanied an earlier Niger Expedition in

1841. In Western Nigeria the Rev. Adjai played a leading role in lay­ ing the foundation work of Western education and he is better known for his work in translating the Bible into the Yoruba language. By 1853, the C.M.S., under the Rev. Adjai, had extended missionary work to Lagos and Ibadan. And in 1864 he became the first Bishop of Niger Territor­ ies—an area covering most of the present-day Southern states of Nigeria.

With the Rev. J. C. Taylor, Samuel Adjai was also sent by the C.M.S. to establish missionary work in Onitsha.

The Free Church of Scotland went to Calabar in 1847. The United

Presbyterian Church, later known as the United Free Church of Scotland, sent the well-known priestess, Mary Slessor, to look after the Scottish 70

Missionary interests in Calabar. The American Baptist Mission came in

1853 and the Roman Catholics followed later in 1868.

It is worth remembering here that the areas in which the mission­ aries were spreading the Christian faith, were entirely territories of people of indigenous faith. And if they were to succeed in their missions, they had to be able to prove to their converts that the new r e lig io n was in some ways the b e t te r one.

The Christian Missionaries were so eagerly accepted in the whole of the present-day Southern states of Nigeria that there is, today, hardly an important town without a church of its own. The missionar­ ies' motives were purely humanitarian and this had always been the case even if someof their methods had had some adverse effects on some aspects of the indigenous culture. The motives of the other Europeans were different.

"Almost without exception the other Europeans who had been in West Africa were concerned with the advancement of the material interests of themselves, their employers, or their countries. The missionaries, on the other hand, had gone to Africa to help the Africans" (Fage, J. D., 1957, p. 122).

The missionaries' enterprise was aimed at the fulfillment of moral and spiritual emancipation and the upliftment of the human dignity of the people. In the Southern states of Nigeria they were the pioneers of Western education. They saw education as the best weapon for the eradication of the evils in the society and they did not hesitate to build the necessary schools and institutions. Between 1859 and 1905, there were not less than two dozen secondary schools in the Southern

States of Nigeria. In the provision of social amenities (hospitals,

leprosy settlements, child clinics, etc.) the achievement of the 71 missionaries was also impressive. But it is not within the scope of this study to enumerate the material achievements of the missionary bodies; rather, the intention is to show how the fact of their unquest­ ionable character and operations and the resultant high prestige that facilitated the ready acceptance of the Christian faith and the Western way o f l i f e among N ig erian p eo p les.

Unfortunately for its educational advancement, Christianity could not easily penetrate the predominantly Moslem North and this region has been left behind in education al and other development activities.

It was not until 1902 that Dr. Walter M iller and other Anglican Mission­ aries were allowed to establish mission institutions in the non-Moslem parts of the North. Immediately afterwards the Roman Catholic Mission, the Sudan Interior Mission, the Sudan United Mission, the Dutch Reformed

Church, and the Primitive Methodist Mission followed. By 1923 there were about a dozen Mission schools in the whole of Northern Nigeria, and these were built in the non-Moslem parts of the region (Nduka, 1964).

The Northern Nigerian Moslems have never accepted the Western culture with the enthusiasm of the Southern States. The Koranic or

Arabic education, as we saw earlier, was already widespread in the North before the advent of the Europeans. The reply given to Lord Lugard's letter of 1902 by the Sultan of Sokoto epitomizes the Moslems' attitude towards the Europeans:

From us to you. I do not consent that anyone from you should ever dwell with us. I w ill never agree with you. I will have nothing ever to do with you. Between us and you there are no dealings except as between Mussulmans and Unbelievers, War as God Almighty has enjoined on us. There is no power or strength save in God on high. This with salutations (Sir Alan Burns, 1972, p. 189). 72

The Turawas (Europeans) were infidels insofar as they did not accept the Islamic faith. In Islam the brotherhood of man is a vital canon of faith, but a faithful believer is ordained to do all he can to get the infidels converted. For this reason, as we have already seen, the Jihad, or holy war, played an important part in the history of the spread of the Islamic religion in Nigeria.

The significance of the Jihad for the foundations of the adminis­ trative and social system laid in themodern history of Nigeria has been stressed by John 0. Hunswick:

The coming of the British to Hausaland at the turn of the twentieth century did not destroy the system, which had sufficient vitality to become the basis on which to rest a policy of indirect rule. The wave of deeper Islamisat- ion which that jihad set in motion proved to be solid and lasting and the tide of Islamic influence it sent out is s till a powerful influence in modern Nigeria (Hunswick, J. 0., in J. F. A. Ajayi and Ian Espie, 1969, p. 281).

Both Christian Missionaries and the Colonial administrators saw Islam as a more respectable religion than paganism. "Islam carries with it its own religious sanctions, while the Animism and Fetish of the pagan represents no system of ethics and no principle of conduct" (Lugard,

F. D., 1923, p. 437). The motives behind Lord Lugard's application of the Indirect Rule system in the Moslem North was partly the realization of the different and often conflicting Moslem and Christian cultures.

The cultural and political implication to an orthodox Islamic community is hardly reconcilable with the dynamic Christian concept of spiritual and m aterial improvement.

The inability of the North to assimilate the Western culture had rendered her the least developed part of the country. But there may 73 be other reasons why the North may be slow to catch up in matters of development:

On all levels considered, the Hausas are by far the least receptive to change. Looking at Hausa history during the past two generations and analyzing the attitudes of Hausa leaders to change and their policies designed to keep any agents of change out of Hausa territory, one may even state that they have been highly resistant to change. The differ­ ence between Yoruba and Ibo appears to be slight, if it exists at all. . . . (H. Dietel Seibel in Damachi, 1973, p . 61).

The work of the missionary bodies was the fundamental but not the only factor that influenced the course of the traditional arts of Niger­ ia. The radical imposition and acquisition of Western values through the Western system of government, technology, education and education­ al curricula was an important event whose impact, though beneficial in other respects, had effectively undermined the traditional values.

The introduction of the colonial system of government severely limited the powers of the kings, traditional chiefs and the various feudal aristocrats who were, hitherto, the important patrons of the arts and spiritual cum temporal leaders of their respective societies. The implication for art was the diminished demands for ceremonial sculpture^ court art, masks, staffs and shrine furniture, etc. The old practice of employing court artists was no longer easy for the traditional chiefs whose remuneration and powers were now strictly limited by law.

The Christian and Moslem celebrations came to be more openly observed, and where art objects were required, as in the Roman Catholic churches, it was always the imported mass produced ones that were used.

The democratic principles of freedom of speech, association, individual liberty, voting rights, etc., later altered drastically the 74 status quo—see Awolowo's comment on p. 81 . In the early years of colonial administration the people had no say in the government but they enjoyed the egalitarian benefits of English law and social behavior. No one was allowed to keep slaves or to organize forced labor or to indulge in human sacrifice. If the masses did not public­ ly rejoice over their newly acquired statute it was clear they welcomed

"the era of the white-man," to use the common Yoruba parlance.

The direct interference with local customs and tradition was another aspect of the colonial government.

At the time of the advent of the British, certain religious societies and customs were known to indulge in what many would con­ sider as obnoxious and inhuman practices. In parts of the Southern

States (especially in Yoruba, Benin and Ibo territories) for example, human sacrifice, cannibalism and the killing of twins were practised.

(Hoebel, 1466, pp. 154-155 gives an interesting explanation of this phenomenon) The colonial administrator promptly intervened however and stopped cannibalism in Nigeria. It is difficult to share the view of the eminent Nigerian educator who argues that the Colonial Govern­ ment ought to have condoned these barbaric practices even in the interest of preserving the indigenous culture (Nduka, o., 1964. p. 90).

However, interference in some other customs, such as the banning of the "Sonpanna" Cult, flourishing in the Western State, because of the allegation that the priests of this cult were responsible for the spread of smallpox, was, however, well-meaning, misinformed, and mis­ guided. According to Father Carroll, "many carvings for "Sonpanna" 75 were burnt by the Administrative officers. . . " (Carroll, 1967, p. 85).

The introduction into Nigeria of the products of Western technol­ ogy was another important factor in the Westernising process of the country. The British Government had to operate the "dual mandate" in

Nigeria in order to protect the trading interests of the Royal Niger

Company and the British oil trading companies, in addition to the government's avowed intention to abolish the slave-trade. Until this time Nigeria maintained a self-sufficient and a non-monetary economy.

The effect of British trade was the importation of manufactured goods which soon displaced the hand-made ones. In terms of quality of products and cost the hand-made goods could not compete successfully with the mass produced kinds. The general effect on the people's taste and on the local crafts was very much similar to that the British industrialization had in Britain during the 19th century in which the divorce between craft andmanufacture was manifest.

The local household goods like plates, bowls, and cooking uten­ sils, China wares, etc., were easily displaced by the imported rubber, plastic and metal kinds. The local embroidery works, leather, textile, brass and straw products like baskets, trays, bowls, etc., were being rejected in favor of their manufactured counterparts. The

European traders had created the needs and the Western technology was satisfying them.

In architecture, the old mud and thatch buildings were disappear­ ing in order to make room for the new Western styles. The change in building m aterials—ceiling rods, wooden poles, columns and carved 76 doors—had accompanied the changing styles of building and social behav­ ior. Furthermore, cement, corrugated iron sheets and slates were introduced, making it possible for the first time to build better, durable and more hygienic houses. The modern equipment and building materials were so eagerly adopted and adapted that some of the tradit­ ional suppliers (e.g., wood-carvers) were being put out of business.

The impressive tropical Hausa architecture of the Moslem North which hitherto employed decorative mural arabesques were increasingly being replaced by plain Western types.

The activities of the Colonial Administrator, the Missionaries and the European trading companies might have combined to undermine the indigenous religions, the traditional values and art, but they also opened up an era of unprecedented technical, education and political p ro g re s s .

The Growth and the Objectives of Western Education and Art

Perhaps the British system of education had had the greatest westernizing effect on the Nigerians. This was, perhaps, because

Government policy was oriented for the westernizing effect of education.

Lord Lugard said in his own writing:

The provincial school will be residential, in order that the boys may be detached from t h e i r home su rro u n d in g s, and come continuously under the influence of the staff. By this means only can character be formed and habits of dis­ cipline inculcated. For the same reason the school should be located a mile or two from the Native city. . . . The English Public School w ill form the model, and the British Headmaster and his Native Staff will reside at the school. . . (Lugard, 1913-1918, 3rd ed., pp. 138-39). 77

With the enthusiastic backing of the Missionaries, a remarkable progress was achieved in the general field of education during the

Colonial Administration, though the policy and aim of education were not sufficiently related to the background of the people. Lord Lugard outlined his aim in 1921:

The chief function of Government primary and secondary schools among primitive communities is to train the more promising boys from the village schools as teachers for these schools, as clerks for the local native courts and as interpreters (Nduka, 0., 1964, p. 21).

Lugard also said in his "Memoranda":

18. In Provinces where the population consists of primitive tribes, the object of the provincial school is: a. To train the more promising boys from the rural schools as Clerks for the local Native Courts and as Interpreters. b. To train teachers for the rural schools. No attempt w ill, at present, be made in such provincial schools, e.g., those in Provinces populated by backward tribes, to teach the higher standards (Lugard, 1913-1918, p. 141).

The subjects studied in Nigeria's early schools were the exact replicas of those of the British schools and even Lugard directed the primary schools to be headed by white men and each secondary school to have two British masters for every one hundred pupils as these teachers were the one who ". . .b y the stimulus of living example w ill set the standard of the school. It is their influence which w ill form the character and ideals of the boys and introduce the English Public

School code of honour" (ibid., p. 350). But it seems the people them­ selves should accept much of the responsibility for irrelevant curri­ cula. Lord Hailey argued the merits of imposing British standard and, in the w riter's view, correctly came to the conclusion that the reason 78 mainly was because the people themselves wanted it:

. . . Africans attached the greatest importance to tests which carried an English hall-mark; and almost all pro­ fessional qualifications to which an African might aspire could only be obtained by candidates who had passed a British school leaving examination or university matric­ u la tio n . This development imposed upon African secondary schools a curriculum which devised for English children, was unsuit­ able (Lord Hailey, 1956, p. 1253).

We also note that Lord Lugard supported the idea of sponsoring special schools of training in the indigenous crafts:

21. The industrial section of the original class at Nassarawa (Kano) has been retained as a Central Industrial School under the control of the Native Ad­ ministration, where Native arts and crafts are taught by the skilled craftsmen of Kano, and a British instruc­ tor paid by Government exercises supervision. The primary object of the school is the preserva­ tion of indigenous art unspoilt by foreigh designs, and the improvement of Native methods. To this school pupils from all Moslem Provinces are welcomed. . . . A similar school is being opened in Bornu. To th e se schools te a c h e rs and boys can come who desire to improve their knowledge of Native crafts and to learn new methods (Lugard, o£. c it., p. 143).

In view of U lli Beier's own observation concerning the African child's lack of motivation to learn these crafts, the conclusion to be drawn becomes obvious. However, the unsatisfactory nature of pervasive

Westernization through education became subject of British experts' concern after World War I, and the Phelps-Stokes Commission which visited West Africa in 1919 and East Africa in 1924 made interesting observation in their reports:

If the pupils were asked to sing a song they liked, the chances were strong that we would hear "The British Grenadiers". . . . when they were asked to sing an African song, a boat song, or any chant used in their own plays, a laugh invariably went through the whole 79

class. . . . Similarly if we asked about history, we soon discovered what happened in 1066, but their own— nothing (Hilliard, 1957).

Professor Margaret Read, a member of the E lliot Commission on Higher

Education for West Africa, called attention to the "disintegrating

results on tribal communities and tribal culture" that the educational

process posed (Read, 1955, p. 102). She also observed that the

"traditional songs, dances and folk-lore were put aside and hymns,

drill and 'readers' took their place." The objective of cononial

education was reviewed by the Secretary of State in 1923 and they

included "the need to improve what is sound in indigenous tradition,"

so that "education should strengthen the feeling of responsibility to

the tribal community; its aim should be to render the individual more

efficient. . . and to promote the advancement of the community as a whole" (Read, 1955, p. 104). The "broad principles" outlined by the

colonial government committee are of interest in their sections (3)

and (4 ):

(3) Education should be adapted to the mentality, aptitudes, occupations and traditions of the various peoples; care must be taken to avoid creating a hiatus between the educated class and the rest of the community. (4) The greatest importance must be attached to religious teaching and moral instruction, so that it may find expression in habits of self-discipline and loyalty to the community (H.M.S.O., March 1925, p. 3).

Moreover, the educational use of art is a comparatively recent innova­

tion in Britain. Art education in Victorian England was planned,

insofar as a comprehensive policy was drawn up at all, to meet the

industrial demand of the society. In 1888, for instance, the Cross

Commission which inquired into the working of the Elementary Education 80

Acts in England regretted that art was not taught in village schools

"notwithstanding the benefit a knowledge of it would be to boys who are

about to become carpenters and mechanics. . . The neglect on the

part of the government of the teaching of art in the colonies appears

to r e f l e c t t h e i r own a t tit u d e a t home as w e ll:

With art included so reluctantly in the average school curriculum at home, it was only to be expected that it would be largely ignored overseas (Carline, 1968, p. 115).

Carline also suggested that if the teaching of art was to be of any

value, it must derive its impetus "from the type of its style and meth­

ods of creation evolved and basically understood by the people. If we

sought to teach in British schools alien methods of painting, such as

those evolved in India or China, it would have been considered absurd,

yet this was precisely the course adopted, insofar as any art teaching was provided at all, in the schools in India and the British colonies"

(ibid., p. 114).

However, among the many European interests, the Christian mission­

aries' humanitarian objectives and achievements in Nigeria were never

in question. But European activities in general had the most profound effects on the acculturative changes that took place; and all must

share the responsibility for the diminished roles of the traditional

art forms and the European contents in education.

It must be stressed that while many Europeans soon started showing understanding and respect for the indigenous cultures, the tendency

among Nigerians was a reluctance to revert to their own cultural values.

On the general achievements of the British in Nigeria this is how

one of the leading Nigerian politicians had put it: 81

Leaving their motives aside, the good that the British did in Nigeria, in material terms, is considerable and cannot be obliterated. They brought peace, order, good government, and flourishing commerce to a territory be­ devilled and torn asunder by petty strifes and senseless wars. The credit belongs absolutely to them that Nigeria, as we know it today, was their exclusive and unaided creation. In other words, without British rule, there would have been no Nigeria (Awolowo, 1968, p. 61).

C onclusion

In Nigeria there is a divergence of ethnic groups and indigenous cultures with similar but distinct belief systems and values. Islamic penetration has modified many of these indigenous cultures; it did not destroy them completely and in some cases it was no more than another dimension to existing beliefs and practices.

Also much as some orthodox Christian practices have emerged, there is evidence that Christianity is gradually being adapted to suit the indigenous cultural environments.

The existence of so many and distinct cultures underlines the need for pluralistic approach to the problems of educational and economic development. Many countries that have advanced, like China and the

Soviet Union, have done so at the price of pluralism. One of the things that Africa may hope to prove is to move along the lines of modernizat­ ion without sacrificing its human and cultural values. CHAPTER III

GENERAL AND ART EDUCATION IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Goals for Education in National Development

This chapter w ill review the goals for education in the nation­ al development in Nigeria as a basis for establishing goals for art e d u c a tio n .

The overall national objectives for national development for

Nigeria have been issued by successive Federal Government in the

National Development Plans. The extracts (from the Second National

Development Plan 1970-1974 and the Guidelines for the Third National

Development Plan 1975-1980) of the national objectives pertinent to educational development are given in Appendix 1.

According to Frederick Harbison (see Anderson et al., 1965, 14 p. 229) notions of development itself vary with different experts,

^While the social and political scientists think of develop­ ment in terms of process of modernization and so analyze mainly the building of social and political institutions, the economists think of development in terms of economic growth and they primarily analyze such things as national income, productivity, trade balance, accumul­ ation of savings and investment. Harbison further identified education, modernization of agricult­ ure, rapid industrialization, encouragement of small industrial, comm­ ercial and financial establishment in the private sector, development of public health and planning function of government as some of the strategic areas of innovation for the newly independent developing countries (see Anderson et al., pp. 229-39).

82 83

but the concept that seems common to all is that development is change

that requires rapid innovation.

The Nigerian development plans are supposed to integrate regional

plans and explore possible inter-regional coordination and to incorp­

orate the regional program (see Wheeler, 1968, pp. 27-28).

Educational development involves objectives which address them­

selves to social and economic problems arising from the needs of indiv­

iduals and of the society. In Nigeria, as we shall see in the next

chapter, these needs concern those of the individuals, of the various

ethnic units (as we saw in the last chapter), and of the nation as a whole. Nigeria has officially recognized all these needs as part of

the task of development. From Appendix 1 we discern these needs in

part as follows:

Individual: The ultimate goal of economic, development is the welfare of the individual. The focus of our policy objective should, therefore, be on how the ordinary citizen is to be affected by the resulting set of action programmes and projects. . . . (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1970, p. 33).

Ethnic units: A just and egalitarian society puts premium on reducing inequalities in inter-personal incomes and pro­ m oting balanced developm ent among th e v a rio u s com munities in the different geographical areas in the country" (ibid.).

National: The five principal national objectives are to establish Nigeria firmly as (i) a united, strong and self- reliant nation; (ii) a great and dynamic economy; (iii) a just and egalitarian society; (iv) a land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens; and (v) a free and democrat­ ic society (ibid., p. 32).

However, the stated goals for educational development in Nigeria

(see Appendix 1) adopts only the economic needs of education for the

n a tio n . 84

In a recent paper (School as an Experimenting Institution: An

Approach to the Reform of Secondary Education—a paper presented at

The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association,

Chicago, Illinois, April 18, 1974) Professor Donald Sanders described the need confronting schools in many places in the world to adjust to the pressures of social change and modernization. The pressures taking the macro-scopic forms (as needs for high-level manpower, more extended and differentiated formal and informal education and the demand for equity in educational opportunity) and person-centered

form (o f in c re a s in g a lie n a tio n and f r u s tr a ti o n among th e young who

lack emotional security, support and social skills and for whom inst­ itutions are barriers to, rather than instruments for, realizing personal opportunity)—ibid., p. ii. This shows that needs for educ­ ation are manifest in both economic and social problems. Furthermore,

Sanders shows in another treatise (Sanders, 1968, p. 5) that since development in the context of national planning includes economic and

social dimensions, "... planning educational development exclusively on economic development terms is unacceptable to educationists, to economists and to governmental policy makers."

The social implications of the school itself and of the process of modernization on the individuals are the major areas to which educ­

ational development in a developing country should address itself.

The findings by the Harvard Center for International Affairs on the

Social and Cultural Aspects of Economic Development (see Inkles, 1964)

in Nigeria and five other developing countries (Argentina, Chile, 85

India, Israel and East Pakistan) confirm the social changes which educ­

ation brings to an individual, through the inculcation of values out­

side what is normally learned in the school subjects. Besides, these

school subjects in Nigeria and the method of teaching them are, as we

saw earlier, more often unrelated to the experiences of individual

students. Furthermore, Inkles and his team of researchers have found

that there is an impact on the individual of his exposure to and partic­

ipation in the process of national and economic development whether he

is a youth ("early socialization") or an adult ("late socialization").

The Harvard Center observed that education is

. . . perhaps the most important of the influences moving man away from traditionalism towards modernity in develop­ ing countries. , . . The school teaches ways of orient­ ing oneself toward others and of conducting oneself, which could have important bearing on the performance of one's adult roles in the structure of modern society. The effects of the school, I believe, reside not mainly in its formal, explicit, self-conscious pedagogic activity, but rather are inherent in the school as an organization. The modernizing effects follow not from school's curriculum, but rather from its informal, im plicit, and often unconscious program for dealing with its younger charges" (American Journal of Sociology, Sept. 1969, Vol. LXXV, No. 2, pp. 212-13. Words in parenthesis are those of the present author, the word underlined appears in italics in the original text.)

In the paper just referred to, Professor Sanders identified the

principal elements of modernization as industrialization and tech­

nological change, urbanization and population growth, and seculariza­

tion. These elements according to Sanders, unfold themselves in what

social scientists call "post-modern" or "post-industrial" societies.

The expected future conditions of highly modern societies (Known

variously as "temporary society," "future shock," "active society," 86 and the "identity society") make physiological and psychological changes in the individual without the earlier types of institutional arrange­ ments, such as the extended family, to provide the individual a focus of identity and self-esteem. What emerges from this is that in the post-industrial and in the pro-industrial society there are basic soc­ ial problems which the school as a social institution would be expected to fulfill.

The pluralistic society of Nigeria, the special needs of the indi­ vidual in modernizing society and the capability of the school itself to be an avenue of maladjustment are some of the reasons why social considerations are necessary aspects of planning. Besides, other prob­ lems call for special attention. Specifically, some of the problems of the Nigerian educational system which m ilitate against a healthy and balanced growth concern her national planning. The following are some of the undesirable results of education as deduced from the Second

National Development Plan 1970-74 and as indicated by Harbison (o£. cit.) and Curie (1970):

— Education alienates the schoolgoer from his culture.

(curricula are s till geared only to European or American concepts and the subject-matter of education, i.e., the curriculum content, are exact replicas of those of the British or American schools; children who finish primary schools especially in the rural areas are less fit to be­ come constructive and creative members of their own comm­ unity than if they had not gone to school at all.)

— Education is wasteful

(about 60-70% of primary school drop out; less than 10% of total secondary school enrollment are for vocation­ al training and only 10% from academic courses enter university; few of the graduates from vocational schools 87

become active in fields for which they have been trained, and even some university graduates in technical fields, such as architecture, engineering, etc., do little more than routine administrative jobs after graduating—a race for the white collar jobs; educational system is mainly an instigator of maladjustment and structural unemploy­ ment .)

— Education perpetuates social injustice

(because of proportionately small number of educated peo­ ple, the masses of population remain illiterate and ignorant.*5 Adam Curl (1970) has argued convincingly that it is only a crash program of mass education which would arouse the masses so as to transform the entire social structure that is to be preferred to merely training a small number to meet trained manpower needs. He went on to suggest that the societies' "... gross inequalities and stratifi­ cations, which bury talent and smother initiative, w ill not be eradicated simply by training the right number of doctors, engineers, and agronomists." (Curie, 1970, p. 2)

— Education and society overemphasize success at formal examinations

(This has the effect of encouraging a great number of schools to concentrate mainly on getting their students through these examinations and, in the opinion of Curie, "... started on the long trek from village to town, field to office, and hoe to the IBM typewriter—or, more probably, to 'educated' unemployment" (ibid., p. xv).

With reference to the developing countries in general, Frederick

Harbison has observed that "Inertia, lack of conviction, and politic­ al immorality are perhaps the main obstacles to accelerated growth"

(Harbison and Myers, 1964, p. 223). He has also referred to what he

The recent decision by the Federal Government as contained in the Columbus Citizen Journal of Mar. 12, 1974 to launch compulsory and free primary education for the whole country with effect from Jan. 1976 is in this respect a step in the right direction. But it is assumed that the Government is doing something to re-examine the goals of primary education so that primary school leavers are given the educ­ ation that prepares them to do more than white collar jobs. 88 calls the "leap-frog dilemma," i.e ., the tendency to put local nation­ als with very little education and experience in senior positions only because of considerations other than qualifications and competence.

Such people do acquire tenure in their positions and so frustrate other more qualified people. Harbison has correctly indicated that this may have the effect of ". . . tragic waste of precious talent, low morale, and undermining of the efficiency of the employing organi­ zation" (ibid., p. 61).

N igeria's Second National Development Plan (1970-74) is unequiv­ ocal on the objectives of educational development. While identifying two distinct approaches to educational development (i.e., "education for its own sake, as a means of enriching an individual's knowledge and developing his full personality. . . and education to prepare people to undertake specific tasks and employment functions which are essential for the transformation of environment. . ." (see Federal Republic of

Nigeria, 1970, p. 63) the Plan adopted only the latter concept of educ­ ation. In so doing it has likened "education" to a capital good.

Nigeria's educational development efforts have made little pretensions of doing other than use the process of education as a tool of economic development: to create and improve human capital formation. The government's concern is understandable though not justifiable. The policy makers have argued that experience of developing countries generally over the last three decades had indicated a shortage of talents and skills which these countries needed for development and which thus retarded their economic progress. 89

The available evidence in planning strategy indicates that, at least, there is a possible oversight.

Defining educational planning as . .a process whereby avail­ able means are allocated to desired ends in education in an explicit way in order to maximize the change that these ends w ill be achieved during the planning period" Professor Sanders identified the four basic 16 steps involved in methodology of planning. A methodology of planning which takes social values and needs into consideration is less likely to produce the same rationale, under the circumstances that now pre­ vail in Nigeria.

But the Federal Government had its opportunity to see the other side of the coin. Prior to the publication of the Second National

Development Plan, the government actively participated in the deliber­ ations of the national conference on reconstruction and development

(a) Educational System Assessment—-involving first the drawing up on a national level of a schematic diagram or "map" of all relevant educational services operating in the society. The second step is then to accumulate data and assess the internal relationships with the system under the categories of capacity, efficiency, effectiveness, and cost (see Appendix 2). (b) Analysis—"to specify concretely the dimensions of the system, its elements and the present values of variables, and to identify, and if possible to indicate the magnitude of major problems of its internal operation." (c) Target Setting—to identify targets for development, e.g., if pupil-teacher ratios found too high a major target for development will be their reduction; or social need for education may be found in reduc­ tion of illiteracy; or social and economic development requirements may be determined; in improved curricula changes required to meet health practices at home, etc. (d) Formulation of Educational Development Strategy—requiring quantitative and qualitative calculation of needs derived from the previous stages (Sanders, pp. 12-29). 90 which took place in March 1969—shortly before the end of the civil war which ended January 15, 1970. As to be expected, the conference dis­ cussed the various facets of national development and it would be rele­ vant here to review briefly some of the pertinent facts in the field of educational development so as to elicit and evaluate opinions other

than those finally adopted for the Second National Development Plans.

A well-informed paper, "Education and Manpower," presented by

Professor Ayo Ogunsheye of the University of Ibadan offered interesting suggestions on planning strategy and implementation. While he favored more attention to be given to the area of adult education, he put forward

five social functions of education that he attributed to the sociologists' point of view and which he thought might be a useful basis for objective analysis. These are:

(1) The transmission of the culture of society; (2) The provision of innovators; (3) The political function of providing leaders and the making of citizens; (4) The selection of the more able out of the popul­ ation as a whole; and (5) The economic function of providing the labor

force with the quantity and quality of educated manpower that matches

the needs of the economy (Ayida, 1970, p. 661). Professor Ogunsheye argued the case for a broader and balanced educational development, questioned the adequacy of previous policies, and suggested the four kinds of educational enterprise which a country would need for its devel­ opment purposes. These are:

1. Formal educational systems such as primary, secondary schools,

technical institutes, teacher-training colleges and universities. 91

2. Adult education or continuing education programs designed for the purpose of removing the educational deficiency of adults. Such programs are organized in such a way so as not to disrupt their produc­ tive activities of adults.

3. On-th-job training in which participants receive specialized training directly related to their jobs.

4. Community education devoted to the understanding and solution of community problems restricting socio-economic development. Professor

Ogunsheye argued that only in this way could Nigeria meet the broader objectives to use education to impart "... knowledge, skills and atti­ tudes which w ill promote adaptability (readiness to accept change), enterprise (initiative for improvement), rationality (critical analysis instead of blind acceptance), wide as opposed to narrow sentiments and loyalties, and labour commitment." Other speakers shared Professor

Ogunsheye's concern, especially on the issue of labor commitment, the absence of which permeates the society.

Though the question of artistic content of education was mentioned it was not exhaustively discussed at this conference. In particular,

J. A. Sofola felt that "education should aim at not only preparing the manpower that is needed for boosting the economy, but at the same time give people the opportunity to appreciate the cultural heritage of their society so that they could best adapt to the changing situation."

(Ayida—1971, p. 694). He also wanted to inculcate African moral and cultural values into education and stressed the danger of creating a society in which economic success would be the yardstick by which peo­ ple were judged. 92

Another important contribution was that of Professor E. A. G.

Robinson of Cambridge, England, who thought that there had been a somewhat euphoric attitude in relation to education and that some of the claims made for it as a factor in economic growth had been exagger­ ated. Professor Robinson advocated a new approach of seeking to create a society with a sense of change, adventure and initiative. He thought that the two major contributions which education could make to growth are the training of all grades of technologists and the changing of attitude in traditional societies.

It is impossible here to present all of the varied views expressed at this Conference for setting educational development policies. It should be noted that the human resource development aspect of education was not the only one which was discussed—though the economists dominat­ ed, as might be expected. Both Dr. Sofola and Professor Robinson urged consideration of the cultural aspects of education. But their voices were in the minority; no names from the arts fields appear in the list of participants. "Reconstruction and Development in Nigeria" was viewed only from a m aterialistic point of view—at least for the time being.

The Second National Development Plan (the out-growth of the Confer­ ence) recognized, however, what it calls the "ultimate" aim of education but it gives us little doubts about the present priorities!

Therefore, a country like Nigeria cannot afford to leave education to the whims and caprices of individual choice. Available resources for development are highly limited. Public policies in the field of education must therefore take full account of the need of the country in terms of developmental manpower and skills (Federal Min. of Inform­ ation, 1970, p. 235). 93

It might be that in her efforts to find solutions to her national devel­

opment problems Nigeria places disproportionate emphasis on science and

technology. The Development plans drawn up by the economists are domin­

ated by econometrics. No one denies the importance of economic aspect of development but that is not the only aim. The national development

included development along dimensions other than the economic. In this

latter case leading experts in key disciplines like education, health, and cultural studies should have a role. A realistic alternative pro­

cedure would appear to be one in which the economic experts coordinated proposals submitted by various bodies such as education, industry,

commerce, agriculture, transportation, communication, cultural studies, health, social welfare, etc. This is the point which Mr. A. A. Ayida himself probably had in mind when in the Conference on Reconstruction he noted in reference to Higgins' views:

We must, nevertheless, sympathize with the plea of Benjamin Higgins who "would like to see some of the tenets of traditional welfare theory" retained in devel­ opment policy. Development is for people and the curr­ ent wants of people should not be ignored for the sake of raising per capita output in the future. . . (Ayida, 1971, p. 3).

But, Mr. Ayida appears to circumvent the issue when he posited that

only the economic solutions would adequately diagnose the "future" needs

of the people and prescribe solutions. He went on:

. . . In practice, the familiar conflict is between "current" and "future" wants of the people; especially when the "future" wants include unfamiliar commodities and unknown services. In Nigeria, schools have been taken to local communities which cannot appreciate the value of, and the sacrifices demanded by, modern educ­ ation. Development in such a context entails "moderni­ zation" and socio-cultural changes w ill include "school­ ing" in the "current" wants of the people (Ayida, 1971. p. 3). 94

In the Guidelines for the Third National Development Plan, 1975-

1980, the Federal Government has come up with the admission that

. . the policy objectives stated for each sectoral programme, in some past plan documents are little more than expost rationalisations of the target mix. . . (Ministry of Econ. Development, 1974, p. 7).

In the Guidelines the Federal Government now plans new objectives which would include plans "to reform the content of general education to make it more responsible to the socio-economic needs of the country" (ibid.).

Finally, it is beyond the scope of this study to deal with the detailed objectives of education but from the analysis of the cultural background, the problem we have already identified in respect of general education, and the objectives of national development, the new set of objectives of general education will have to cater to the plural­ istic nature of Nigeria's society as well as the individual's needs for re-adaptation. The goals of general education should therefore deal with pressing social, as well as economic, needs of the nation.

In conclusion, while there are social and economic problems that confront educational development in Nigeria, the present objectives which cater only for economic aspects of development are inadequate.

Art, Aesthetics and the Social Basis of Culture

What the arts should contribute to the modern Nigerian society, especially in the educational process, depends largely on their social content, their relevance to particular cultural units and their applic­ ability to overall national goals. 95

While science and technology are universal commodities in the sense

that their basic principles can be duplicated among varied cultural

groups, with art the situation is different.

The question of the relevance of art in Nigerian society depends

on what that society wants to achieve through its education, and it also depends on the traditional relationship it has had with its art.

The relationship between the arts of a given society and the art

forms is demonstrated in Alan Merriam's argument that the social science and the humanistic aspects of man's life are universals in his culture and experience, and the question is not one of priority but rather one of unity—especially as man cannot live without both his social institu­

tions and his humanistic responses. The arts and the social institutions are, therefore, seen as merely two sides of the same coin. Without belab­ oring his argument, we need to emphasize the import. Merriam1s main

thesis is that the relative neglect of the humanistic aspects of culture derives in part from misunderstandings about the arts. He went on to say:

Through the humanistic elements of his culture, man seems to be making commentary on how he lives; he seems in the humanities to sum up what he thinks of life. In short, man lives as a social animal, but he does not live as a social animal alone. For his social life in itself seems to bring about conditions under which he is unable to restrain himself from commenting upon himself and enunci­ ating and interpreting his actions, his aspirations, and his values (Merriam, 1962, p. 14 in Sol Tax, 1964, p. 226).

In the traditional sense there is no distinction between "pure" and

"applied" art. Most objects of art are "applied" insofar as they are utilitarian, whether for religious, social, domestic, or political uses.

Even the bronze plaques, statues and ivory carvings have prestige

"utility" or value to their owner. 96

Mural paintings are not uncommon, especially in the religious shrines, though painting in the European sense was practically unknown.

Also plays and music, though common everyday activities, have religious u s e s .

In the day-to-day activities the traditional life of the Africans is so rich in aesthetic products that often it is not easy to know where to draw the line between purely social and aesthetic activities.

The traditional African would use every conceivable opportunity to use one form of art or another. It might well be that one of the effects of their acquisition of foreign religious and general way of life is an imposition of restraint in the use of art forms. One cannot agree more with Ottenberg:

The aesthetic life of the African is a rich one. It is rarely set off from other aspects of everyday existence; rather it is intimately bound up with social behavior and religious life. Of the major forms of art the best known and most characteristic are woodcarving, folklore, music and the dance (Ottenberg, 1968, p. 67).

Also the Ottenbergs have pointed out that aesthetics may or may not be associated with social controls. A song, a carving, dance form or a folklore may be used as agents of social control through religious practices though this is not necessarily the case.

. . . it would be a mistake to think that social control is the only area with which aesthetics is associated in Africa. There is an element of pleasure, of humour, of physical release in African aesthetics that relates to psychological and bodily needs. This aspect of aesthetics has never been explored to any great extent in Africa. What, precisely, is the pleasure in taking part in, or in watching an African dance? What makes one thing humorous, another fearful? How do the Africans themselves perceive 97

beauty, the shape and form of a mask? These are d iffi­ cult questions to answer but they are important for the understanding of African culture. (Ottenberg, 1968, p. 6 9 ).

The questions asked are also important for our inquiry on the relevance of art forms in Nigerian societies. Also from the point of view of this inquiry, knowing what these functions of art obtain is more import­ ant than knowing why.

We should recall, however, that the Ottenbergs made it clear that in any such issues in Africa it would be unsafe to generalize as beliefs and customs vary with ethnic or social groups. In the case of Nigeria it is also true that among the major ethnic groups, aesthetic apprecia­ tion, enjoyment or pursuit is not exclusive to religion. In the urban centres, in contemporary Nigeria, where a great deal of proselytizing has been ta k in g p la ce and where i t is in c re a s in g ly becoming uncommon to find very active adherents of the *pagan* religions, the art forms s till reveal themselves in pure aesthetic forms. But care should be taken to put the importance of the urban centres into proper perspective. As of

1970, only 20 per cent of the entire population (or about 12.9 million people) are estimated to be urban dwellers as compared to 51.6 million in the rural areas (see Federal Ministry of Information, 1970, p. 63).

But even in strong democracies, sheer numbers do not always te ll the whole story. The importance of the contemporary urban communities in Nigeria lies in the areas of political, economic and educational leadership that they provide the rural areas. While the political powers are leaving the rural areas, cultural activities remain. The main stream of traditional beliefs and cultural activities are concen­ 98

trated in the rural areas. Religious sanctions continue to dominate

social control and these are sometimes employed in political activities,

as for example when rituals are means of expression of solidarity of a

group. In Nigeria leaders of most political parties in states other

than those predominantly Islamic have been known to have intimately

associated themselves with strong traditional trends, social or relig­

ious organizations which enhance their respective power postures.

Magical techniques or charms are s till widely used among educated people

to ward off evil, repel wrong-doing by others for career advancement,

or even to cure or repel illness. The incidence of dualism in relig­

ious matters may have a bearing on dualism in other day-to-day activi­

t i e s .

Art Education in National Development

At the present time Nigeria lacks any coherent national policy in

art education partly because the various possible roles of the arts have

not been fully explored and exploited and partly because what used to

constitute the arts in the traditional sense are now largely discredited.

These views were also contained in the address of the Federal Commiss­

ioner for Education, Chief A. Y. Eke, to the National Art Seminar held

at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (March, 1972).

Chief A. Y. Eke outlined the Federal Government's objectives in

the arts and urged that appropriate steps be taken by all concerned to

give expression to the Federal aims to salvage the arts in the national

l i f e :

Twelve years after our political independence I think we should stop bemoaning the past. As a nation we should now struggle hard to revive our cultural identity and regain 99

lost ground in the world of art. The task of reviving our art and culture is one of the paramount roles art­ ists can play in our society and now is the time to start (Chief Eke, Federal Commissioner, unpublished speech at Zaria, March 23, 1972, p. 3 —Text of the speeah is given in Appendix 3).

It is clear from this speech that there is some concern by the Federal

Government for a cultural identity, though there might be some groping in the dark about finding the right kinds of answers or goals. It appears therefore that plans for positive action is what the Commis­ sioner had in mind. But Chief Eke clarified the Federal stand by giving some indications of the directions that development in the arts should follow:

Mistaken as luxury, culture is today regarded as essent­ ial for a people's social and economic development. It is the soul of a people and confers moral equilibrium on them, thus making it possible for them to absorb social and economic progress without being absorbed by it. We there­ fore have to adopt a progressive policy of re-discovery and re-identification and improvement of our cultural heritage to avoid having to seek identity elsewhere. . . . To live only on borrowed culture is like living some one else's life. To live on a culture borrowed entirely from the past is like cutting one's life off from the reality of to d ay . What I advocate i s a new s y n th e s is —o f p a s t, p re ­ sent and adopted cultures.

The Commissioner's address was a well informed diagnosis and guideline.

The main import of this important speech is:

1. The necessity to revive Nigeria's cultural identity;

2. The importance of art in social and economic development;

3. The need to evolve a synthesis of the modern and the tradition­

al in the arts—a new aesthetic philosophy;

4. The need for contemporary art to be understood and to be

appreciated by the general public; 100

5. The need for Nigerian youth to be familiar with, to

enjoy, and to appreciate Nigeria's cultural heritage;

6. The capability of art to reach "for higher ideals in

morals, politics and religion"; to influence public

outlook to promote common cultural standards among the

"tribal, religious and social groups" in Nigeria; and

7. Federal support of allocation of "sizeable percentage"

of grants for art teachers' training.

The relevance of art and art education as an instrument of national policy should be derived from (a) the cultural relevance as found among cultural groups; in the national need for preservation of cultural identity; in the social role as source of individual identity for

"early socialization" and "late socialization" in secularized communi­ ties; (b) the modernization roles in cultivation of individual and national taste aesthetically, to influence environmental and industrial products qualitatively (also see Chapter IV); the utilization of the commercial value of some art forms; and (c) the art needs of general ed u c a tio n .

These broad themes are broken down for elaboration and analysis as follows, and they are also embodied in the needs of the society goals as enumerated in Chapter IV.

1. Art as an agent of social improvement and welfare;

2. Art as a means of cultivation of national aesthetic taste;

3. Art as an instrument for preservation of national cultural

heritage and for projection of national identity and nation­

al image; and 101

4. Art as part of a national economic policy (including

to u ris m ).

Before expanding on these four-point uses of art education, I should, perhaps, make my premise clear. First of all, here "art educ­ ation" denotes the education in the arts or fine arts as defined in pages 13-16. The education includes those aspects that can be taught in the formal educational system as well as those which could be imparted through informal channels like on-the-job training or appren­ ticeships in design or crafts or in the "pure" arts (as defined on p. 13) themselves. It makes little difference whether the objective of this training is to emphasize the so-called "pure" or "applied" forms of any aspects of the arts. In general, wherever information in the concept of aesthetics applying anyone of the methods of the compon­ ent units of the arts is imparted we can say that art education is taking place. However, as Professor Donald Sanders has demonstrated in respect to education within the context of national development planning (Sanders, 1968, p. 3) our concern here is for those aspects of art education taking place in the national systems which are under the direct or indirect control of the state. This is so again as

Sanders has pointed out because only discussion of aspects of educat­ ion coming under the control of government bodies makes any sense in education within the context of development planning or policy.

Secondly, though the discussion of art education would be lim it­ ed to the fine arts, nothing would be said in this dissertation to pre­ clude other subjects in the so-called liberal arts (i.e., music, litera­ ture, architecture, drama, philosophy, etc.) in their relevance as "arts" 102

for national development. If it is true in the Western world, as

John Dewey has claimed, that the arts which have most vitality for the

average person—the movie, jazz music, the comic strip, e tc.,—are not

the things that are considered to be arts, it is evident that what is

at stake is the "concept" and not the "substance" of art (see Dewey,

1934, pp. 5-6). The assumption here is that for all practical pur­

poses the distinction in the educational process between the concept

and the substance of art is immaterial. The important fact is that

there is, perhaps, an indefinable activity of pervasive originality of

human pursuit ^ (at any rate for the time being) that we call "art."

The process involved in art activity is creative and whether we consc­

iously pursue it, as, say, when writing a play or painting a picture,

or unconsciously as when setting up the furniture in our office, we

usually enjoy the end-product if it satisfied our individual aesthetic

taste or standard. In this kind of human endeavour it is not easy, if

at all possible, to fix a monetary value and to that extent, artistic

experiences are non-economic. If, however, an object has other u tilit­

arian values in addition to the aesthetic, then the aesthetic may en­ hance the quality of the object and improve its potential monetary value.

"Art education" in the sense that the term is used here refers to

education of people in the contents of both aesthetic quality in its own right and aesthetic quality associated with any other products.

^This is the philosophical stand now taken by Morris Weitz. See Morris Weitz, 1966, "Problems in Aesthetics." The relevant chapter, The Role of Theory in Aesthetics, pp. 145-56, where Weitz argues—page 147—that art has no set of necessary and sufficient properties, hence a theory of it is logically impossible and not merely factually diffi­ c u l t. 103

Talking about art in the education of people is, in my view, like

talking about education as a basic need for all human beings, along with food and shelter. Education in the arts becomes in this sense an effort to offer opportunity to individuals to be aware of and/or pursue that which they, in the first place, instinctively like to do.

It might be said that education in this respect is one of the efforts to retain and exercise a balanced view of the scope of human endeavors.

Having established these assumptions about art, I should now elaborate on the ways that art education can be used in Nigeria as an instrument of national policy.

(1) Art as an agent of social improvement and welfare: In this way the society uses art education as a medium of stimulating apprecia­ tion of, and bringing improvement to the environment; emphasizing the quality and value of both man-made and natural objects in the environ­ ment. Art education in this sense also should open up the individual's sensitivity to one of man's natural means of enlarging his horizon, by showing him or at least stimulating in him some ways of occupying his leisure time and introducing him to the aesthetic achievements of others.

It does not matter whether the individual enjoys poetry or jazz, plays or music, painting or sculpture; the main thing is tht he is given the opportunity to understand, appreciate or pursue one or more of these art forms and he may be better able to patronize them in the future.

In this sense art education is not peripheral in national policy.

Art education as an instrument of national policy extends the opportunity to all citizens to develop their aesthetic sensibilities so 104 that they may be better able to draw from this resource in their con­ sideration and approach to human aesthetic needs. This is part of what they call "culture" in the West (which many like to think they have but which proves elusive to most).

A nation does not have any economic advantage—measurable in monetary terms—in pursuing this kind of policy, but it will be creat­ ing a condition that would better promote the welfare of citizens indiv­ idually and collectively by meeting one of their non-monetary or social needs.

(2) Art as a means of cultivation of national aesthetic taste; This attribute is usually linked with an historical development which these days is sometimes taken for granted. After the industrial revolution in England there was a widespread discontent with the quality of mass- produced goods, which many thought were shoddy, it took the British

Empire the Cristal Palace Exhibition of I85I to fully assess the prob­ lem and the English society needed the activity of people like Willian

Morris (1834-96) to fight i t s cause. The solution was found in a new role—that of "craftmanship" and "design"—in art education in the national policy, which these days we do not only take for granted but even degrade as "commercial," "low" or even "non-art." Both public taste and prevailing aesthetic standards in a nation are, in my view, related. The difference between a nation's products, dresses, and environments are, in my opinion, not only the differences in their material wealth but also that of their aesthetic taste. Whether the art education is given in the formal educational institutions or on- 105 the-job, or in the streets, might be less important than the fact of giving it at all. Nations who neglect policies in art education (aa many in the developing countries tend to) are seriously overlooking the long-term value of the inculcation of good aesthetic taste in its citizens and even competitiveness for its products in both local and international markets.

(3) Art as an instrument of national cultural heritage and of project­ ion of national image: When we talk of, say, the American Architecture,

Scottish Dance or Chinese ballet, we are obviously referring to the qualities that distinguish these art forms from those of other places.

The aggregate of peculiarities in national aesthetic products make up their aesthetic heritage. Apart from being a source of pride to the citizens themselves, the heritage of a nation might also be held in high esteem abroad, thereby projecting the image of the producing coun­ try. The value of this is perhaps incalculable. I may not know, as a consumer, whether I like the French pies because the particular pies are better than others or because they are French, etc., but I patron­ ize the French product a l l the same.

We note that the quality of pervasive originality must be present and the aggregate of peculiarities must be discernible for legitimate claims about origin to be valid”.

Economically as well as politically, the prevalence of artistic products of quality in a given country tends to bring direct and indir­ ect benefits to the country of origin.

(4) Art as part of national economic policy: For reasons which may 106 now become apparent I do not favor the kind of commercialism in art products, even for national economic policy, which are advocated by some artists. My assumption is tht a national policy directed towards the education of school children in the arts mainly for monetary object­ ive has thepotential to boomerang and become self-defeating. School children are more likely to misunderstand the reasons for courses they take in art and rather than providing them the main alternative to their materialistic pursuits in later life, art would also be seen as part of materialism. Moreover, the very fact of making school children focus on the art activities they could sell, nullifies all the other values to them as individuals and as members of a nation.

Art becomes part of a n atio n al economic policy simply by c u ltiv a t­ ing tastes and disciplines which are unique to the nation and which in concrete economic returns might promote tourism as well as project the aesthetic image of the nation. In the early 60's, for instance, the

Japanese motorcycles were outselling the British makes in Nigeria, not, in my opinion, because they were stronger but most likely because they were much more attractive. Now we have very few, if any, British auto­ bikes in Nigeria.

The foregoing uses of art in Nigeria as derived from the local tradition which relates to the present situation and future aspirations of the peoples are to be treated as part of the goals of education at any level of education in art. These uses therefore become part of the goals to be met by any activity in art education.

To summarize, while recognizing the needs for education in Nigeria,

as a developing country, to break the vicious circle of shortage of 107 necessary human resource to develop education and solve other manpower problems and the shortage of educational facilities to produce the necessary human resource needs, there is also the problem that educ- ation in a developing nation cannot focus only on meeting human resource or economic needs alone. Other functions of education ought to include catering for social and cultural development, with due reference to the human context in modernization and the view to laying a balanced solid and humane basis for development and modernization.

However, in Nigeria there is a widespread neglect of the arts and other non-visibly materialistic activities in the national educational development. The concept of education has the pervasive flavour of quick, economic gain, not paying much attention to the long-term social benefits. Education is marked by lack of synchronization of moderniza­ tion needs with the indigenous cultural background situation and tends to produce policies biased towards superficial changes in the society.

The foregoing analysis underlines the need for some objective assessment and long range planning in educational and national policies in the arts. Our analysis has also indicated possible uses of the arts

(including visual art) in educational development and the uses should form p a rt of teaching objectives to be considered in Chapters IV and V. CHAPTER IV

CURRICULUM GOALS AND OBJECTIVES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR ART AND ART EDUCATION

As we saw in the last chapter the art curriculum planner in Nigeria may find, to his frustration, that the goals of general education are inadequately stated. Consequently the teacher or curriculum planner has little more than the schedule of approved subjects and examination requirements to work from. Thus the whole concept of education appears to be a uniform process whose contents have application in every situa­ tio n .

The objectives for education in the National Development Plans, as laid down by the Federal Government are as was noted earlier, rather restricted. Also important federal objectives such as national unity, cultivation of national identity and projection of cultural heritage are at best inadequately implemented in the educational system.

Considering these basic problems and the sort of multiethnic and cultural background that was subject of our review in Chapter II, it is desirable that a kind of pluralistic rather than uniform educational goal is to be preferred. Also education must cater not only for econ­ omic or manpower needs alone but for social, political and psycholog­ ical components of modernization and of the society at large.

This present chapter attempts to examine the question of educat­ ional goals, the means whereby goals are to be derived for the plural-

108 109

istic setting we have described and the implication of such formulated

goals for art education.

The Concept of Goals

The concept of goals has been given by Professor Efland as the

"rationale for selecting the particular aspects of content or activit­

ies" in the curriculum and instructional program of an educational

institution. Also, Professor Eisner (quoting Tyler in the paper

"Instructional and Expressive Educational Objectives: Their Formulat­

ion and Use in Curriculum) has described and stressed the importance of educational goals or objectives in curriculum development:

By defining these desired educational results ^educational objectives^ as clearly as possible, the curriculum-maker has the most useful set of criteria for selecting content, for suggesting learning activities, for deciding on the kind of teaching procedures to follow, in fact to carry on all the further steps in curriculum planning. We are devoting much time to the setting up and formulation of objectives because they are the most critical criteria for guiding all the other activities of the curriculum-maker.

What now follows is an attempt to review and analyze the kinds of quest­

ions and issues that would confront anyone involved in developing such

contents of an art education curriculum for Nigeria.

Important curriculum questions to be analyzed are four and the

first is to determine the purposes or goals for which the educational

institutions are expected to meet. According to Ralph Tyler, a major

curriculum problem is making a decision wisely among possible goals

(see Alcorn and Linley, eds., 1969, p. 177). Goals tend to be relat­

ively enduring but the conditions for their attainment and the way they

are interpreted do change. The traditional approach which developed in 110 the past three centuries in respect of the role of education in a society was that of the transmission of culture to the next generat­ ion. The goals of education had been conceived to maintain, in the words of Burton Clark, "man's heritage of knowledge, beliefs, customs, and skills. Education transmits a common cultural fund to the next generation and in the process helps to bring hordes of young barbar­ ians to adult ways that are continuous with the past." (Clark, 1962,

P. ID

Prior to the time of Industrial Revolution in Europe only a small portion of the population featuring kings, nobles, priests and other functionaries received education while the masses of the people remained illiterate. In the middle ages, certain fields of knowledge— art, music, history, literature and politics—were the almost exclusive pursuit of the courts and the cathedrals. The contents of education were to serve an esoteric culture transmitted by private tutors in the courts and by independent teachers. The goals of education were then that of restricting and limiting access to the privileged ruling class for their own self-perpetuation.

An outstanding innocation in the concept of educational goals used to be that of stating goals in terms of "faculty psychology" (i.e., memory and reason, which are to be trained and disciplined by proper exercise). Now an increasingly prevailing view is behavioral—learning being conceived as acquisition of behavioral patterns which students have not previously acquired and human behavior is defined as all the reactions of an individual, his thinking, feeling, acting. I l l

Other relatively recent functions of education that have evolved include the role of education to contribute to change in the society and to bring about differentiation in a complex society, thereby infusing diversity into society through the different characters of i t s component u n its.

A wide range of educational goals at the present time requires th a t young people be inducted into effectiv e adulthood and we have, therefore, had objectives relating to home life, personal social rela­ tions, civic life, occupation, knowledge, and to intellectual abilit­ ies; also relating to attitudes and social and recreational skills.

These and related goals of education or the purposes of the schools have, in recent years, been classified into three major categories.

As given by Barkan et al in their book, The "Guidlines," they.are:

1. encourage personal fulfillment, 2. improve the so cial order, and 3. transmit the cultural heritage. (Barkan, e tc ., 1970, p. 7)

Benjamin Bloom et al. have tried to relate the emerging prolif­ erating collection of modern-day educational objectives to psycholog­ ical types by classifying them into three psychological types called domains—the cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor (Bloom e t a l ., 1972; Krathwohl et a l ., 1971; Harrow, 1972). The f i r s t , or cognitive, domain relates to objectives which deal with "recall or recognition of knowledge and the development of intellectual abilities and skills." The second, or affective, domain includes objectives describing "changes in interest, attitudes, and values and the devel­ opment of appreciations and adequate adjustm ent." The th ird , or 112 psychomotor, is in the "manipulative or motor-skill area" (Bloom £t al.,

1972, p. 7). However, the drift of argument is not in favor of classi­ fying educational objectives in this way.

In Nigeria, as in the typical developing country, the functions of the schools are still in the process of being developed and they have been subject of public debate in recent years. Beginning in the coloni­ a l period and h ith e rto the avowed aim of successive N igerian governments, as we already saw, has been one of conceptualizing education in terms of the problems of economic development. What is being emphasized here is not that this basic idea is unsound but that this concept of nation­ al development or modernization includes not only economic but also social, political and psychological components—all of which call for different goals about the role of the educational and other institutions.

The second curriculum question is to determine the kinds of educa­ tional experiences that should be provided in order to attain the stated purposes or goals of education. It has been shown that the rationale for including art in the contents of instruction and in the overall national development efforts are to be found in the educational, social, and in the national roles or functions of art in the society. These major functions of art, or of the arts in general, are developmental, social, aesthetic and 'educational' (this latter term being used to include the qualities of personal expression, extension of perception, development of values, etc., that are associated with the arts).

Other fundamental curriculum questions concerning goals or object­ ives of education relate to the effective organization of selected con­ tents and the fact and mode of appraising these -contents in relation to the goals. 113

Specific Art Education Goals

According to Professor Efland, the goals for art education should have three principal characteristics:

1. should be consistent with those of general education

2. should reflect the theoretical and philosophical stru ctu re of a r t, and

3. should provide adequate directions in the practical problems in the teaching situation (Efland, ed., 1970, p. 7).

Barkan, Chapman and Kern (1970) have identified three goals for aesthetic education concerned with:

THE INDIVIDUAL — To encourage personal development

THE ARTS — To transmit the cultural heritage

THE ENVIRONMENT — To m aintain and transform the society; and that the relationship among these three should provide the context in which education in the arts should take place.

In her paper, "Curriculum Planning for Art Education," (an address to OAEA Conference, 1969) Laura Chapman proposed three major goals for art education:

• Personal Response and Expression in Art

• Awareness of the A rtistic Heritage

• Awareness of Role of Art in Society.

These are aesthetic goals derived from those of general education. The goals for general and aesthetic education are tabulated as follows to show their similarities:

Functions of General Education Major Goals for Art Education 1. Encourage personal Fulfillment Personal Response and Express­ ion in Art 114

2. Transmit the Cultural Heritage Awareness of the Artistic Heritage

3. Improve the Social Order Awareness of Role of Art in Society

Furthermore, students derive two separate goals (expression and response) from each of the three purposes of the schools and of aesth­ etic education and the ways all of these are interrelated are shown in

Figure 2.

Professor Efland has pointed out further that an art curriculum goal has at least three important attributes in its function in a curriculum plan:

1. It shows how art activities relate to the broad educational aims. Thus for the aim of developing individual potential in education­ al objective #1 (on p. Ill above) the corresponding goal of art educa­ tion is, to quote Efland, "to enable students to develop their artistic potential by providing opportunities for them to acquire the power of visual expression" or appreciation, etc. (see Efland, Chap. IV of unpublished manuscript of the "Guidelines For Art Instruction in the

Secondary Schools in Ohio." p. 3)

2. It shows what is unique about the way art serves educational aims. "By specifying 'visual' expression it lays claim to a unique range of content and activities not ordinarily available in other domains of knowledge." (ibid)

3. It prescribes types of art activities to serve a given aims of education.

Also, according to Efland (1970), the specific art education goals should be related to art activities in three ways: Goals of General Education Major Goals for Derived Art Education How Art Activities (Purpose of The Schools) Aesthetic Education Goals are Related to Goals

1. Personal fulfillment of Personal response and 1. To achieve personal That activity is students expression in art expression of their meaningful to those ideas. undertaking it 2. To respond to works of art created by others

1. To learn how artists 2. Transmission of cultur­ Awareness of the express their ideas. That activity has al heritage artistic heritage 2. To learn how critics root in history of and h isto ria n s re s ­ a rt pond to th e ir forms

1. To learn how various 3. Improvement of social Awareness of the societies express That activity lack­ order role of art in the their beliefs through ing historical back­ society th e ir a r t. ground is justified 2. To learn how to res­ by its social impli­ pond to the v isu al cations forms their artists have created

Goals of aesthetic education Goals of aesthetic Goals of aesthetic are consistent with those of education reflect education provide general education th e o re tic a l and adequate directions philosophical struct­ in the practical ure of a rt problems of the teaching situation The Principal Elements Involved In Art Education Goals FIGURE 2 116

1. that the activity is meaningful to those undertaking it;

2. that the activity has a root in history of art (and if the history is unfamiliar, as for example that of a foreign culture, the teacher should give ample clarification of sources and aims);

3. that activities lacking historical background should be justi­

fied by their social implications.

From the foregoing review of the curriculum literature we find that while the goals of aesthetic education are derived from and relat­ ed to those of general education, the former make specific claims about the potential of art activities to help in realizing, in some ways, these major goals of general education. Also, we find that art activ­

ities derive their goals from those of general education because only these latter goals reflect the function of the schools in the society.

It therefore follows that art activities develop individuals' potential in a way that reflects the aims, interests or values (or heri­ tage) of the society which education is supposed to serve. Since these values or heritage are not the same in all societies, art activities can­ not be standardized for use in different societies.

The inconsistencies between what we actually offer to students in

a l l a e sth e tic areas would be minimized and education be made more r e le ­ vant if the goal of general education and that for art education are

properly related and applied.

Sources of Aesthetic Education Goals for Nigeria

Three kinds of broad cultural interests have been identified in

Nigerian societies—the Indigenous, the Islamic, and the Christian. 117

Also there is a fourth cultural segment of the population, found espec­ ially in the urban centers, where dualism or pluralism in beliefs and values are manifest. Furthermore, each of the Indigenous and Islamic cultures has been assimilating varying quantities of Western or modern­ ization traits so that the basic values associated with modernization cut across the various segments of the general population. Moderniza­ tion, as we have seen, includes such dimensions as economic, education­ al, social, political and psychological changes. Group objectives or goals of general education are to be suggested by these concepts, ideas, and dominant values of respective cultural units; and the curriculum question will address itself to the needs of these units of interests to accord with the orientation of each social group for which curricu­ lum planning is required.

The goals for aesthetic education are to be derived from those of general education as formulated from the resulting cultural analysis.

These are to include the educational and national purposes of art as already identified in Chapter III. In addition, the goals of aesthetic education would be related to the a esth e tic and philosophic stru ctu re of art. In the case of Nigeria two major sources of aesthetics and philosophy that are pertinent are the traditional (which also includes the Islamic) and the Western—both of which systems operating simultan­ eously. Both traditional and Western are historically co-existent and ipso facto complementary. Nigeria should continue to rely on bilateral sources of aesthetic and philosophical theories of art and art educa­ tion for as long as modernization remains a part of her national goal. 118

The experience of foreign countries who have reached advanced stages of development in the arts and art education (as in the technological fields) provide relevant materials on which those of the developing world should draw. However, the question in this approach is that much as the problems of development could be more clearly and realist­ icallysolved by taking advantage of the lessons of development offered by the achievements and disappointments of the older or the developed countries, care should be taken to adapt ideas and institutions to suit the conditions in the developing countries. For Nigeria, in this res­ pect, the developments in the USA and in Great Britain (both influent­ ial countries on Nigeria's education) are relevant.

Major Developments in Art Education in the United States and Britain

We can recognize many sim ilarities in the growth and developmentcf a rt education in the U.S.A. and in the United Kingdom. Indeed the general developments in the United States, particularly, before the revolution followed the developments in Europe, and the pioneers of

American art education, West, Pratt, Peale, Morse and Trumbull, all received their training in Europe. In both countries earlier emphasis had been placed on meticulous skills, i.e., "precise drawing" and

"technical character," and later on following the emergence of innovators like Professor Franz Cizek and Heinrich Peztalozzi, the 18 focus of art-education began to alter (see Logan, 1955, and Carline,

1968).

18 Cizek demonstrated the aesthetic and psychological advantages of releasing the creative impulse present in all children—taking on 119

In the United States the various developments that have taken place in Primary and Secondary levels, as described by Elliott Eisner

(1964, p. 1) can be briefly enumerated:

—Up to 1870 - The goal to train the hand and eye that the scholar is better fitted to become a bread­ winner—art curriculum to be conceived as being in service of vocational education.

—1880s-90s - The birth of child study movement, use of art as instruments for child study.

—Early 1900 - The goal of sensitizing children to beauty; study of and appreciation of masterpieces; art to promote moral virtues.

—1920-30s (a) The emergence of John Dewey and William Kilpatrick and emphasis on wholeness of the child and interrelatedness of the curriculum. Art integrated with the academic—discursive subject m atter—a rt becomes a handmaiden to concept-format ion. (b) The influence of Freudian psychology— art seen as a way of unlocking creative potential of the child and of providing opportunities for emotional release.

-Post World A synthesis of previous goals—"creativity," War Era "media," "experimentation," "process" and "product": all the features of modern art education.

the task of showing the aesthetic value of "works of art" produced by children; propounding the first comprehensive psychologenesis of child art and indeed discovered "Child Art." The Swiss, Pestalozzi, develop­ ed the "child-centered" method—to develop his elementary potential and harmonize education with nature. He also propagated the importance of environment and heredity. While Pestalozzi, because of his experiments at the Neuhof (the New Farm) had more impact on the educational developments generally, Cizek, who was a painter him self, had a more d ire c t influence on a rt education. 120

Eisner has attributed changes in art education to changes in

American social order:

As society has a ltered it s demands upon education, so too has it changed its expectations for the role of art in education. When society wanted to maintain a cultural elite, art was used as a symbol of cultural refinement,— when the social order needed craftsmen, art was used to develop vocational skills,—when the school placed emphasis on teaching significant ideas, art was used to facilitate concept formation,—when interest in the child's needs and creativity became paramount, art was used as a key to unlock the creative potentialities of children. As the character of society has changed, so, too, have the programs in art education changed, first in its lit­ erature, then slowly in the classroom (Eisner, 1964, p. 3).

However, the overriding change that has taken place in the art education field in the Western countries generally is the erosion of the widely held conviction that (as Barkan puts it)"... participa­ tion in art is 'fun,' 'simple,' 'easy,' and 'comes naturally.'"

(Bark#n, Curriculum and the Teaching of Art: Part NAEA Report).

Also there was the notion (especially in the United States during the

1940s and '50s) to use Barkan's words: "That a rt is an open system — unpredictable and unforeseeable" (Barkan, Curriculum Problems in Art

Education, Sept. 9, 1965).Th»s resulted in what Professor Barkan calls the "... all encompassing and indiscriminate content" of art educa­ tors of the use of variety of media, and, in Barkan's words: The

fluidity of the content of art in this country is derived from the assumption that the child's potentialities in art in particular grow naturally if others do not interfere with the growth by undue external

impositions.

According to Professor Eisner the most important developments in art education in this country prior to the last decade have been 121 marked by philosophical, behavioral, descriptive and methodological

in q u irie s.

During the last decade in the United States these views on the

curriculum and goals in art education have begun to be modified:

first the curriculum has been expanded to cater not only for training

on the making of visual art but to provide opportunity for the child

to learn critically, i.e., "the conscious and purposeful development

of visual sensibility to the visual world"—the necessity for the

child to learn to see. Also new in this country is the notion that art should be related to the culture which affects the form and con­

tent of the child's work. Eisner has called these three abilities the productive, the critical, and the cultural. Simultaneous with the expansion of the curriculum is the attempt to re-evaluate the goal in art education; it being now realized that art alone can no longer lay exclusive claims to develop the general creative ability of the child.

The claim to be a major field to foster creativity is itself derived

from Lowenfeld's "Creative and Mental Growth," but what is now accept­ ed as being more relevant is what Eisner calls "the development of abilities that will enable the young to transform their thoughts,

images, and their feelings into visual form. . ."

The developments in the arts in higher education in the United

States could be linked with the growth and objectives of the se instit­ utions and the status of the arts in the curricula. Four major periods of development have been identified (see Singletary, American

Universities and Colleges, 10th ed.): 122

*1636-1776 - Harked by the founding of the colleges, first Harvard and eight others—for the advancement of liberal education and the training of the clergy. The goal was that of training of the gentleman scholar.

•1776-1862 - The addition of 29 more colleges and schools of applied sciences and polytechnics to cater for technological and scientific needs. Also the established colleges (Harvard, etc.) at this time started programs emphasizing scientific training. Harvard and Yale estab­ lished such schools in 1847; M.I.T. was char­ tered in 1861. The M assachusetts Normal School was sta rte d .

*1862-1900 - The emergence of the Land Grant Colleges after the Land Grant Act of 1862. Public and private universities were founded. Harvard, Yale and Columbia became u n iv e rs it­ ies at this period. Subjects not previously recognized were added to the curricula. Art was introduced but prior to this time train­ ing in the practical techniques of commercial art and design were only available at spec­ ial schools.

• 1900-present-Accessibility and relevance of universities became the focus of a tte n tio n . E xisting facilities were expanded and in the junior colleges.

Like the situation that still prevails in Britain, art in the

United States was not included in the college curricula in the early stages. As we would see from the above summary of the development of institutions of higher learning, theinitial objective of these instit­ utions was the education of the "gentleman scholar," just as it used to be in England (see Edmund King, 1967). It was an objective based on the concept of liberal education.

Liberal education was supposed to liberate and cultivate a man's innate intellectual and spiritual powers; not to make him into a tool but master of to o ls. I t was supposed to awaken and strengthen the 123 humanistic impulses of society at their source, in the individual, by acquainting him with the humanistic achievements of other genera­

tions and civilizations other than his own (Griswold, ibid., p. 84).

As Professor Curtis Canfield, a former dean of the School of

Drama at Yale puts it, the university has a two-fold responsibility

for its arts students: the first is to educate him as an individual and the second is to train him. While education is concerned with training as a whole man,professional training consists in developing

individual's proficiency in a particular field. Professor Canfield calls the first the "innate intellectual and spiritual powers of the man." He goes on to say that professional training (in arts as in

law, medicine, engineering, etc.) should be the central concerns of the graduate school as the college is not a trade school—-"not organ­ ized along narrow lines to prepare for specific vocations outside teaching" (York U niversity, 1965, p. 39).

President Griswold has also observed that most of the visual and performing arts could not be recognized by an educational philosophy based on the studies of language, literature and the sciences. And where it was agreed to give credit for courses in the arts, there was often no agreement as to which courses should have such a status;

so that while many universities in the 19th century would readily approve courses in the history of art or the study of drama, they would not recognize "studio course"—i.e., practical work in painting, drama, or music—in the formal academic programme. It has been suggested that the creative artists as well as the performers were often considered ignorant and uneducated except in their art. 124

The real issue, perhaps, was that the universities as educators limited their evaluation of intellect only to abilities using the w ritten words and symbols prim arily in the lo g ical mode. And they attempted 11. „ .to measure or evaluate two rather different pheno­ mena by using a criterion which is proper for only one of them. . . the symbolic languages and modes of thought in the arts are different from h is to ry or physics" (York U niversity, ib id ., p. i x ) .

Moreover Professor Curtis Canfield (in York University, o£. cit., p. 31) has pointed out that the arts, especially the performing arts, also faced a problem of morals. Many people believed that the theatre was an enemy of religion, of good morals and refined taste and that many modern plays were written for shock effects, or to attack the church or religious figures or just for obscenities and display of outrageous behaviour.

It has also been observed that some works of art were not easy to understand by anyone other than the artists who made them; evaluation of such works constituted a big problem and they did not, therefore, fit into the pattern of disciplines the universities were normally accustomed to dealing with. It is this problem and that of morality that President Griswold referred to in one of his writings on the subject:

Of a l l fantansies none is more absurd than the notion of the a r t i s t as a boozy Bohemian fashioning h is works out of hunches and knee-jerks. No art worth hearing or look­ ing at was ever fashioned in this way or in any other way than through long and painful submission to one of life's sternest taskmasters. Few apprentices to that taskmaster ever achieved greatness who were not, or did not make 125

themselves in the process, supremely intelligent, cultured, and even learned men (Griswold, 1964, p. 95; and York University, o£. cit., p. 38),

The technique of painting, design and composition and the perform­

ance of music were considered to be "skills" which called for little

or no mental capacity. Professor Butler has asserted, however, that

the contrary was the case:

Art—its creation or its performance—not only depends upon fine technical training, but when properly taught, it trains its devotees in discipline, concentration, originality, discrimination, individuality, taste, sincerity, quality rather than quantity, and a lasting devotion to an impelling ideal. . . . In music, fine technical performance is absolutely necessary, for music cannot exist without it. Music does not exist except as it is actually performed. The performer must perforce stand between the composer and the hearer. Therefore, careful training of the performer is an important duty which should be shared by the universit­ ies (in Kent, ibid., 1930, p. 244).

However, in arch itectu re and music, progress seemed on the whole

faster than in the fine arts. The American Institute of Architects

arranged through one of its committees a standard course of study for

colleges and universities. The National Association of Schools of

Music organized in 1922, was soon also to issue a standardized course

of music study for colleges and universities with entrance require­ ments for such courses. The situation in the fine arts was differ­

ent: "... Owing to the state of flux in which education in the fine

arts finds itself, very little literature on the subject is procurable.

The magazine articles consist of statements of personal opinion rather

than studies based on some form of systemitized survey" (in Kent, op.

cit., p. 246). 126

By 1935, art departments were established on most American univ­ ersity campuses as the demand for courses in the arts rose sharply.

Part of the reasons for this sharp demand was the increasing recogni­ tion of the inherent educational value of the fine arts, apart from the new demands made on the u n iv e rs itie s .

Perhaps the most crucial development affecting the increased demand for art was the pervasive use of visual materials which has been obser­ ved by the Harvard Committee.

. . . perhaps at no moment since the invention of print­ ing has man's communication with his fellow man been so largely taken over by visual media as today. Less and less is modern ipan swayed by the argument of the written word, and more and more by the photograph, the b illb o ard , the cinema, the picture magazine, and now television. Until both sender and receiver of these visual messages are trained in the twin arts of perception and discrim­ ination, the educated man may hardly claim to be the master of his own environment (Report of the Committee on the Visual Arts at Harvard University, 1956, p. 9).

Professor H. L. Butler has enumerated the objectives of University training in the arts as follows:

1. In music, the professional training of composers,

performers, and teachers; in art, of painters,

sculptors, designers, illustrators, and teachers

of art; and in architecture, of architects and

teachers of architecture.

2. The training of the music or art amateur, who

desires to bring his talent tofruition in a non­

professional way, by means of a combination of

technical and c u ltu ra l study. 127

3. The training of the music or art lover, that he may

make one of the large number of those who not only

enjoy music, art, or architecture, but understand

and appreciate it by reason of a study of its per­

iods, structure, and salient features. (See Kent,

op. cit., pp. 246-52).

The first objective of professional training would reach a small number of train ees while the second reaches a larg er number of students taking art as a minor subject, and the third concerns those interested in the appreciation of the arts and these should be the largest number. 19 The Harvard Committee on Visual Arts has reported that the old distinction in aims and methods between the professional art school and the college fine arts department has become blurred in the modern academic thinking. It also found that the curricula, in addition to the courses offered in the history of art, are prolific in courses in the graphic arts, ceramics, textiles, photography and in the arts of the theatre, as well as in the classical subjects of drawing, painting, sculpture, and a rc h ite c tu re ,

The Role of Handicrafts in Modernizing Societies

Another important sphere in which developments in Western aesth­ etics and creative roles might be found applicable to situations in developing countries is in the changing roles of the so-called handi­ crafts in these developed countries.

19 See Report of the Committee on the Visual Arts at Harvard Univer­ sity, Cambridge: Harvard University, 1956. 128

The early or pioneer's American handicrafts flourished as a provin­

cial affair and were evident in the buildings, ships, furniture, uten­

sils, and dresses, all of which utilized available local materials.

Sometime later itinerant craftsmen like weavers served several house­

holds and the coverlets they made depicted local events such as rail­

roads or buildings. Later, American handicrafts took on the trend of

the Victorian Age when surface decorations became popular. The scope

of American handicrafts were wide and the demand for them were high—

so th a t the craftsmen made good liv in g from se llin g th e ir products.

These crafts consisted of:

Furniture — The curved chests of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the block-front furniture of Newport; the mahogany and cherry cabinets of New York, Philadelphia and Charleston, and the Shaker pieces; the painted chests and cupboards of the Germans of Pennsylvania and the adaptations of picturesque Spanish styles of the southwest. Maryland as well as Iowa produced furniture of excellent craftsmanship.

Metalworks — Included lighting fixtures, stoves, fire irons, and other household utensils. At Louisiana, elaborate architectural ironwork were produced in the vein of French tradition.

Glassworks — The early glassworks were developed in New York, and New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, ranging from clear Ceramics engraved glasses to the brown and green flasks. Glassmaking was the best known of the early indus­ tries in New Jersey but development included the wares of the South Jersey factories, the Amelong glass of Maryland, the pressed Sandwich glass in Eastern and Mid-Western states. At Redfield, near Syracuse, and in New York, rare glasses were made. Fine q u ality glass was also produced in Ohio (in Z anesville, Mantua and Ravenna). Ohio was famous for its earthenware, including glazed and unglazed yellowware, salt-glazed stoneware, Upper Muskingum Valley pottery, lamps, etc. Connecticut also pro­ duced substantial ceramics, wood-carvings, painted and carved chests, textiles, etc. Vermont, too, 129

had a great deal of pottery and earthenware, silv e r and te x tile s .

T extiles — Costumes and te x tile s included the coverlets of New England, the elaborate brocades and the wide hooped skirts of the late Colonial times, the short full skirts, and the fur bellows of the early days of the Victorian age, etc. At Zoar, Ohio, the Separatists from Witten­ berg made clothing and bedding from textiles woven from rye straw, flax, and lo cally grown wool; also pottery, tin, furniture and iron.

Toys — Included music boxes with carved figures; Michigan had a large number of early-day puppets and m arionettes. (Woodcarvings have gained popularity in comparatively recent times when wooden mast sheaths, figureheads, b i l l e t - head s, became widespread among the folk a rts in Maine. Religious carvings were also of much importance. In Rhode Island there were ship figureheads, trade insignia, toys, weather vanes, wood pitchers, and kitchen utensils.

The handicrafts in machine age have not lost their vitality but have had to re-adapt to roles other than the purely utilitarian. In many areas(in Maine, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, New Hampshire,

etc.) thehandicrafts are still developed as a source of income. Pott­

ers, cabinetmakers, weavers and metalworkers, depending on private

patronage, museums and other institutions, still exist in isolated

places making a livelihood by selling their products, usually to tour­

ists. But many other craftsmen today get small patronage and a few have to depend on support by large foundations for short-term subsidy.

The Work Program Agency has promoted handicrafts on the Federal P roj­

ect. In somestates craftsmen have banded together into guilds under

competent directors while others still produce only for sheer economic

necessity. 130

Though the competition with the machine-made products has not been economically favorable to the handicraft works they nevertheless have retained th e ir v it a li ty and are now taking on more of a e sth e tic , therapeutic or recreational roles instead of the purely utilitarian roles. They have been used as a rehabilitating media here in the

United States for institutions for the blind and the handicapped.

Professor Felix Payant has also argued that the handicrafts serve the purpose of helping "... to solve many current problems concerned with developing good taste, the proper use of leisure, and the vital­ izing of American life and traditions in our classroom work. . . but also as a highly desirable emotional expression for all" (in Art in

American Life and Education, 1941, pp. 88 and 81).

The vitality of the handmade, vis-a-vis the machine-made became an issue in Europe in the 19th century, especially in England after the

Crystal Palace Exposition of 1851, when people under Ruskin and

William Morris were shocked with what they thought to be shoddy, tawdry and cheap machine-made objects and advocated a movement against them.

As technology and modernization make progress in Nigeria, it is therefore to be expected that many of the crafts—woodwork, metalcrafts, textiles, pottery, mat-making, and all forms of leather and fabric embroidery, etc., might not be completely displaced by technology but instead be forced to adopt new and increasingly aesthetic and educa­ tional roles. The significance of this for art education in Nigeria is the apparent need to approach our instruction in these crafts beyond th e ir present narrow tra d itio n a l confines of so cial and u t i l i t ­ 131 arian uses so as to include and emphasize the aesthetic qualities and the cultivation of public tastes necessary to offset the poor crafts­ manship evident now in some of these crafts and in many of the locally mass-produced goods.

The Development and Analysis of Educational Goals for Nigeria

The goals for general education for a developing country could be met by analyzing the elements of the curriculum model (Figure 3) which has been developed specifically for general education in Nigeria. The model is based on the theories of Ralph Tyler and Hilda Taba, adapted to suit conditions in Nigeria. In analyzing the elements in the model the curriculum planner takes into consideration the subtle cultural differences which we have earlier observed among the various groups in 20 the state. The different needs are briefly explained as follows:

Needs of the Society. In a developing country these needs are likely to be of four main categories as shown in Figure 3: cultural needs, modernization needs, national needs, and assimilation needs. It is the function of general education to meet these needs for the various communities. (The various traits of these needs have been identified

on "Needs" refers here to the two different concepts mentioned by Ralph Tyler—the first is that "need" is the difference or gap between the present condition of the society or learner and some desirable standards or acceptable norms; the second are psychological needs (e.g., a desirable ambition) or social needs (e.g., the need for affection, for status, etc.) and integrative needs (i.e., need for a philosophy of life). The needs of the society, when analyzed, constitute the cultural heritage to be transmitted as well as the social order to be improved. These correspond to the goals mentioned on page 4—except that of personal fulfillment which is contained in the "Needs and Interests" in the chart. “GOALS------

SOCIETAL NEEDS •Religious and dominant norms: Indigenous, Moslem, Xtian or mixed society; aristocratic, egalitarian, pragmatic or mixed society, •historical peculiarities: SELECTION OF inter-regional or internat­ ional outlook, etc. MATERIALS ------MODERNIZATION NEEDS C /0 needs and P •community's area of emphasis s p e c if ic ’V M ______and social changes i n t e r e s t s G w CO o f: s u b je c t TO S 3 e h •i-J I ■ Students o O 4J METHODS THE OBJECTIVES v-i O NATIONAL NEEDS 4J 3 a) SOCIETY •S ta ff TO O ■*”i ■goals of democracy or socialism i-1 m •Adm inis­ I W ______ASSIMILATION NEEDS ORGANIZATION •reconciliation of dominant OF traditional practice and norms, CONTENT e.g., Koranic education, with the new and of one culture with those of other interact­ ing cultures

A Curriculum Model For General Education In Nigeria (Developed by Salihu Suleiman)

FIGURE 3 w N> 133

already in Chapters II and III but, in addition, separate studies for different communities should be carried out.)

(i) Societal Needs: Religion and other social norms in different

communities emphasize different values. Some of these values are historically irreconcilable with other outside practices or even with

certain features of modernization. Islam, for instance, is known to be not only a religion but a way of life for its adherents. If a practice is forbidden in Islamic it could become a social taboo in the entire community. Similarly, in the indigenous religion unofficial display of certain objects or procedures employed in certain rituals or ceremonies may be objectionable.

The identification of the positive values or ideas emphasized by different sects in different communities is the task of the curriculum planner for a given community and the obligation of the educational process to promote or disseminate such positive values.

(ii) Modernization Needs: A modernizing community faces many practi­

cal problems and perhaps revolutionary changes for which education would be expected to cater for. The practical problems include the preparation of individuals with the right types of training and know­ how needed for modernization. But both the individuals and the

society have to cope with additional psychological re-orientation problems brought about by changes in the various social institutions.

The formal educational process shares the responsibility with other

institutions of the society to help both the young and adult citizens

to cope with these problems. Art education, like other subject areas, 134

has responsibility for both groups of citizens and for both kinds of

modernization needs. A new dimension in art, i.e ., various forms of

design and advertising, is added to the traditional concept of arts

and organized leisure and entertainment, taking on new social signifi­

cance, requires the arts for new personal or group uses. With progress

in modernization and in the resulting differentiation and individual­

ism, social uses of the arts (which were the major traditional uses)

take on lesser significance while aesthetic uses assume enhanced

v a lu e .

The young members of the community need fam iliarity with and vary­

ing technical competencies in the arts in carefully selected areas of

traditional and Western forms. So does the consumer, the potential consumer, the leisure-seeking adults, or the individual intellectual,

(iii) National Needs: Cultural and ethnic integration, modernization

and cultivation and, projection of national identity are the major

national goals of Nigeria. It is the task of general education and

the responsibility of its component disciplines or subject areas to

relate positively to these national needs. The variety of the differ­

ent ways that the various educational disciplines could approach

these problems must be elicited from information available on the

strengths and shortcomings of the various communities, all of whom

should understand or appreciate one another's cultures and appreciate

their problems for reasons of ethnic integration. Individual ethnic

peculiarities in the arts, in social or economic enterprise, environ­

ment, etc., should be developed as a positive dimension of diversity 135 and as part of the unique feature of cultural identity of Nigeria as a nation. Also the values of democratic societies or of democratic or pragmatic socialism (all of which have strong adherents in sections of Nigeria) are important bases of individual citizen's responsibilit­ ies, obligations and expectations as members of corporate groups.

The dominant political philosophy is also a source of national ident­ ity—as such the responsibility of various curriculum contents are apparent and clear.

(iv) Assimilation Needs: Our cultural composition sometimes shows polarizations or lack of harmony in many values, including those of the conservative-traditional and the rapidly-modernizing communities.

The result is unequal rate of absorption of outside values: while the modernization-prone communities readily accept and easily assimilate innovations (as in many of the southern states), the conservative or traditionalist societies may be either unwilling or unable to relate to certain changes. The process of education (i.e., Western educat­ ion) is itself part of an unwelcome innovation in certain areas. The

Assimilation Needs, therefore, have serious repercussions not only for education in general but for various subject areas, especially the sensitive ones as the arts.

Once the educational goals have been identified and correlated with the personal interests and specific objectives shown, a crucial issue as far as the arts are concerned is the consideration of how or even whether to evaluate what has been taught in terms of the goals and objectives set. The questions pertinent to evaluation are further examined below. 136

E v a lu a tio n

Our purpose here is to review evaluation as a concept in art educa­ tion so as to elucidate its applicability to the art curricula changes being proposed.

Evaluation is recognized as one area in which the arts, perhaps more than other subject areas, have some problems, especially among art educators. In fact, it is also subject of philosophical, aesthetic and practical educational controversy and we cannot adequately assess its applicability to the situation in Nigeria without carefully analyzing the theoretical arguments for and against the concept itself.

The questions pertinent to evaluation are: (1) whether art-work or children's art-work should be evaluated; (2) whether the arts can, in fact, be validly assessed and with what criteria; (3) if evaluation is to be carried out, then how, and by whom; (4) do we evaluate the pro­ cess or the product; and (5) are prizes and contests an asset or detri­ ment in art teaching.

These questions are contained in the case for and against evalua­ tion as stated in Eisner and Eckers book (1966, pp. 349-402) and pres­ ented in brief summary as follows:

Those who favor evaluation claim:

a. Schools have certain objectives to attain and without evalua­ tion these objectives might be difficult to achieve for both the school as a whole and each subject area constituting the curriculum.

b. If there is no justifiable or applicable criteria for deter­ mining quality in art then there can be neither evaluation nor teaching. 137

If the teacher cannot evaluate the students' products he cannot know if a particular student is making progress or not, or whether the activities he (the teacher) has planned have been effective or not, as to select one material or the other. If art is only a matter of taste then, it is asked, why shouldn't the student's artistic taste be just as valid as that of the teacher?

c. Evaluation is indeed both necessary and desirable. "Without aesthetic criteria and a teacher who is skilled in their application, children soon become bewildered and disenchanted with their own work in a r t . "

Arguments against evaluation include:

a. Evaluation is intimately related to grading and this should not occur since it gives rise to pupils' anxieties which also hamper creative expression.

b. It is claimed that art is a personal thing—the unique express­ ion of a unique individual, it has no set rules and cannot, therefore, be compared or evaluated.

c. Evaluation is concerned with product and not with process and the latter is of the greatest importance to the pupil since it develops his creative powers, elicits his imaginative capabilities and engages his deepest and most personal feelings. One of the main purposes of art education is to free the child from the restrictions of the outer world by developing the cognitive and affective abilities that art media elicit. If the product is emphasized it becomes the central issue which diverts attention from the child's creative capabilities— 138

which should be the central issue.

d. "Art preferences, in the last analysis, are a matter of taste

and 'in matters of taste there can be no dispute."1 "There is no

empirical test for aesthetic quality in art, hence there is no justi­

fication for judgment about quality in art." The language of the

critic may be persuasive but these are essentially personal and their

validity cannot be tested.

e. The children and adults have different stages of perceptual

and cognitive developments; while those of adults are well developed,

those of children are not and to apply the criteria by adults to

childrens' works is both irrelevant and unfair.

In the article "Criticism and Perception" by John Dewey (Eisner

and Ecker, ibid., pp. 353-70), evaluation has by implication been

treated as judgment and thereby suggesting that it is a value question which cannot be regarded with absolute authority.

Dewey asserts that criticism is judgment and so the understanding

of judgment is the first condition for any theory on criticism .

Perception provides the material for any kind of judgment and

the difference between levels of judgment is the extent to which we

control what is perceived. We do not, therefore, exclude judgment

from aesthetic perception and obtuseness is not corrected by any amount

of learning or command of abstract theory. The differences about the

nature of judgment plus the diverse tendencies in the arts bring

about theories developed to justify one movement and condemn another

and the most vital question in aesthetic theories are found in contro- 139 versies on special movements in some art; such theories may be attended by heat and prejudice and the arguments produced often refer to actual objects than abstract aesthetic theory.

Judgment therefore has a double import: the first is that it is

"an act of intelligence performed upon the matter of direct perception in the interest of a more adequate perception" and secondly, judgment has its legalistic significance or meaning.

Criticism simply explains content as to its substance and form and not a process of acquittal or condemnation on the basis of merits and d e m e rits.

But some criticism of the legalistic sort have subconscious self­ distrust and seek authoritative standing and so want "judicial" author­ ity. Authority of any sort substitutes precedent and prestige for direct experience, obstructs perception because of the memory of an influence rule. Judicial decisions are based on the notion of general rules being applicable to all cases. Unfortunately uncommitted human nature prefers judgment that is final to one that is a development in thought of a deeply realized perception. Examples of this include the belief inherent in the so-called classicism of the 18th century which alleged that the ancients provided model upon which rules could be de­ rived—a belief which extended from literature to other branches of art.

Rules, whether set up on their own account or derived from master­ pieces, standards, prescriptions, are general and objects of art are individual. Rules derived from the work of "masters" encourage im itation. The 140

"masters" themselves are masters precisely because they followed neither models nor rules but subdued both of these things to serve as enlargement of personal experience; they went through the process of apprenticeship but as they matured they absorbed what they had learned into their own individual experience, vision, and style.

Tolstoi has been quoted as saying that "nothing so contributes to perversion of art as these authorities set up by criticism "; as an artist is pronounced great "all his works are regarded as admirable and worthy of imitation. . . . Every false work extolled is a door through which hypocrites of art creep in." (op. cit. p. 355).

Judicial criticism often plays the role of "guardian of tradition"

in handling official criticism (e.g., as in the French impressionists' treatment by the officials in the late 19th century in France); its

source of failure is therefore the inability to cope with the emerg­ ence of new modes of life.

The point is made that every professional person is subject to the

influence of custom and inertia and has to protect himself by deliber­ ate openness to life itself but "the judicial critic erects the very

things that are dangers of his calling into a principle and norm."

(op. cit. p. 357). Opposition to judicial criticism ("impressionistic

criticism") therefore is forced to put itself in the opposite extreme denying that criticism in the form of judgment is possible. Jules

Lemartre's authoritative statement of the impressionistic point of view is quoted:

Criticism, whatever be its pretensions, can never go beyond defining.the impression which, at a given moment, 141

is made on us by a work of art wherein the artist has himself recorded the impression which he received from the world at a certain hour. (o£. cit., p. 357)

The judicial critic set up false notions of objective values and

objective standards only to give the impressionist critic cause to

deny there are any objective values or standards at all. The judicial

critic has adopted a conception of standards that is of an external

nature, the impressionistic critic has denied there are any criteria

of any sort since standard is an unambiguous quantitative measure in

the sense that both the yard and gallon are respectively standards of

length and liquid capacity defined by the act of British Parliament in

1825. Such standards define quantity. In art the critic is judging

not measuring physical fact; he is concerned with something individual

not comparative and his subject-matter is qualitative and not quantita­

t i v e .

But objective criticism nevertheless has a duty:

What follows is that criticism is judgment; that like every judgment it involves a venture, a hypothetical element; that it is directed to qualities which are nevertheless qualities of an object; and that it is concerned with an individual object, not with making comparisons by means of an external preestablished rule between different things. . . . Nowhere are com­ parisons so odious as in fine arts. (o£. c it. p. 359; the underlined word appear in italics.)

Dewey goes on to show that criticism is a survey which might be

of assistance in the direct experience of others, as the survey of a

country is of help to travellers.

There are criteria to be observed in judging a work of art.

Analytic judgment involves the past intercourse with objects by the 142

critic, his informed interest signifying acquaintance with the tradit­

ion of his particular art. In this respect the critic's "acquaintance

with masterpieces and with less than masterpieces, is a 'touchstone'

of sensitiveness, though not a dictator of appraisals. For master­

pieces themselves can be critically appreciated only as they are

placed in the tradition to which they belong." (o£. c it., p. 361)

Apart from analysis there is also synthesis in judgment of a work

of art. The synthesis calls for the creative response of the individ­ ual who judges. It is insight and it might be called the art of

criticism itself. The critic does not point out so many blemishes and

so many merits and strike at a balance; he merely distinguishes partic­ ulars and points to weight and function in respect to the whole.

Aesthetic criticism also has its fallacies as well. There are

two: the first, reductive fallacy results from over-simplification,

e.g., economic or social considerations might have bearing on work of

art but to reduce such works to economic or social documents is fallac­

ious. An extreme form of reductive fallacy exists when a work of art

is interpreted on the basis of factors only incidental to them as much

of the psychoanalytic "criticism" is.

Other fallacy of aesthetic judgment is confusion of categories.

The historian writing on Greek life might find Greek art an indispens­

able source of information but historic judgment cannot be taken for

aesthetic judgment. There are other categories, or controlling concept­

ions of inquiry such as mathematical aspects of sculpture. The practical counterpart of "confusion of categories" is 143 confusion of values. Byzantine, Russian, Gothic and early Italian paintings might all be "religious" but aesthetically each has its own qualities. To say that each began from religion and only rendered

"more palatable by emotional seasoning and imaginative dressing" would be incorrect.

Neglect of the intrinsic significance of the medium has been

singled out as the source of all confusion of values in art, language or philosophy.

Above all, Dewey concludes, the function of criticism is the re­ education of perception of works of art—the auxiliary in the difficult process of learning to see and hear—its moral requirement is that the

individual who has an enlarged and quickened experience is one who

should undertake the task. The moral function of art itself is to remove prejudice; the critic's duty is to further this work.

In his own article, "After Betsy, What?", H. W. Janson (ibid., pp.

370-78) has used the incidence of the publicity given to the paintings by a six-year-old chimpanzee of Baltimore Zoo, called Betsy, to examine

the meaning of a work of art.

The painting is thought to be similar to that of Wilhelm de Kooning

the abstract impressionist's "Backyard on Tenth Street" and that of six- year-old Alice Jones (a human child). Janson wondered if objects of

art have to be man-made to qualify as works of art or if the process of making is important toward the finished object. The Greeks separated

the process from the object as the artist's mental activity was consider­

ed quite separate and of far higher rank than the work of his hand. The 144 fine arts were classed as mechanical arts or crafts unfit for free men, and so they remained until the Middle Ages.

Since the Renaissance the importance of original works of art had been recognized and it came to be recognized also that sketches, or fragments of drawings, were quite as legitimate work as the finished work. Janson has traced this development to the "lucky accident"

"objects trouves" of Marcel Duchamp. In Duchamp's case, the artist needed to remove the object from its nonaesthetic habitat and similarly the ape would need to make her decision when the "lucky moment" had been reached to stop painting. In all probability the keeper had to make the decision for the ape. Janson contends that the element of the unexpect­ ed of chance discovery exists in all works of art.

Janson wrote a postscript for the article saying that when he later read Desmond M orris's book, The Biology of Art, London, 1962, on the picture-making behavior of apes he realized the development of apes art proceeded along similar paths with those of human children but lack the culminating stage when the human child produces his first "image"

(usually a head), something linked to the development of articulate speech. Moreover, the designs of both ape and infants lack a random character but progress along a predictable path and this differentiates both from the "accident prone" aspects of modern art.

Edward C. Waterman in "Evaluation of the Art Product" (ibid., pp.

370-83) attempts making the distinction between the extrinsic and intrinsic value of a work of art. Normally the art product is an end in itself, it is terminably valuable or has intrinsic value; but art objects might be designed for a specific utility in which case they 145 become "instrumentally" valuable or have "extrinsic" value. But art products might have extrinsic values if this quality has been intended by the artist. Furthermore, tools and machines do have both values since they sometimes do the job for which they were designed and made to possess "beauty" as well. An Empire clock that does not work might today be hung up for its aesthetic "beauty."

Waterman therefore concludes that the reflection of the use of objects, elements or principles change with each culture and the social philosophy it promulgates; in the final analysis "intrinsic values are central to the individual and are chronologically relative, or an intrinsically valued thing is valuable to an individual at a specific tim e ."

Finally, in "Evaluating Children's Art," Elliot W. Eisner (op. cit., pp. 384-88) has also examined the evaluation problem with particular reference to curriculum development. He maintains that deciding the best criteria to use in evaluation is not only a methodological problem but it is also dependent on the philosophical base of education—that method of evaluation must conform to the overall purposes of art educa­ tion as well as of education as a whole.

In education evaluation has the specific meaning "as the judgment of the adequacy of behavior as compared to a set of educational object­ ives." While this conception is commonplace in education it is not so common in art education because it requires first a clear formulation of objectives of each activity included in the art curriculum and secondly, it would require that the objectives be stated in terms of desired student behavior rather than those of the teacher. Thirdly, it 146 would require such clarity in the statement of objectives that they would help to check if the objectives had been achieved or not. The clarity should not be interpreted to mean rigidity of activities or tightness in standards. Eisner observes that objectives in schools are not always pre-planned. While the use of clearly stated object­ ives would help the teacher^, these objectives alone would not provide evidence of the pupil's progress. To cater for this latter need the pupil's own work must be compared.

Eisner criticized the class or grade level comparison for evalua­ ting children's art work in favour of comparing a pupil's work to his own previous works and to use such a comparison as the "primary basis" for making judgments about growth. If the ultimate goal of schools is growth in the Deweyan sense, then each individual should be com­ pared with his past performance. The method is both desirable on logical grounds and helps to improve instruction.

Eisner would like schools to keep a portfolio of samples of each student's art work throughout the grades: teachers might consult these sources in planning programmes to meet needs of particular students and these could be supplemented by material written by stu­ dents at intervals during the school year where the student indicates his interest, understanding, and general attitude toward his own work.

Finally, Eisner has acknowledged the difficulties involved in advocating the individual comparative mode of evaluating in spite of the massive cultural and social preference for comparison on the group basis. The widely favoured method does not cater for the awareness of 147

lack of progress by the slow-moving child as it tends to encourage him

to disregard his own achievements.

In Nigeria evaluation of goals against contents is thought to be desirable. Also, from the foregoing theoretical exposition, the argu­ ments in favor of evaluation of students' works seem to outweigh the disadvantages and so, for reasons already discussed in the papers just reviewed, it is strongly suggested that constant appraisal of students'

achievement is necessary.

Fortunately, our external examination structure21 does not apply

in primary education and should not pose any serious problems for the art curriculum in higher education and during the early years of post­ primary education.

As far as the arts are concerned the main criticism that is being made often concerns the requirement in the West African School C ertifi­

cate and General Certificate of Education exams for costly imported materials for most of their questions. The Federal Art Adviser,

Mr. T. A. Fasuyi, has charged, for instance, that out of six sections of the former exams only one section—"Crafts"—can be done in local

^Consists of First School Leaving Certificate Exams (conducted by State Governments) and Common Entrance Exams for Primary Schools. West African School Certificate Examination or the General Certificate Exams (Ordinary Level) are sat for at the end of the 5th or 6th year in the secondary schools. The Higher School Certificate examinations are sat at the end of the 7th or 8th year in the secondary schools. These examinations are set and marked by external examination bodies usually by the Cambridge and/or London Universities in collabora­ tion with the West African Examinations Board. Candidates not taking the Higher School Certificate examinations take the General Certificate of Education 'Advanced' Level instead of University Preliminary Courses if they are to proceed on the educational ladder. Art is offered only in the post-primary school examinations. 148

materials (Fasuyi, unpublished paper, No. 1, see bibliography, 1972,

p. 8). This and similar difficulties would be solved if the recomm­

endations on pages 183-186 are implemented and meaningful contents of

instruction are provided.

In the post-primary institutions, especially in the lower forms,

art instruction (like any other school subject) is not obliged to

follow any external evaluation guidelines at all and so the art teacher

has every opportunity and freedom in these early years to organize his

program to achieve other curriculum goals. Perhaps one way to deal with the final assessments of art students' attainments is to plan for

three broad curricula, the first to be applied during the first three

or four years and the second for the fifth or sixth year when the first

external examinations w ill be due. The third detailed curricula could

be used for the Higher School Certificate or the General Certificate of

Education, 'Advanced' Level classes. Since these latter exams are

similar to the earlier ones, it may be found that only higher standards

of performance are all that w ill be required over the first exams.

From the foregoing one would be inclined to believe that it is

unnecessary for a teacher or curriculum planner to become unduly obsess­

ed with examination requirements (as is often the case) and to concen­

trate on little else beside planning for and teaching all grade levels

their contents. It is in the interest of the schools and students to

develop art programs that are consistent with real experiences or

aspirations.

The importance of these examinations are not being underestimated in any way. The writer is conscious of the implications on individual 149

students of his overall performance in the examinations as a whole. He

is equally well aware of the usual tendency to use the results as a

basis for teachers' professional evaluation and reputation. Indeed,

this writer is in favor of the principle of evaluating both students'

and teachers' performance, in the conviction that the advantages of

good evaluation outweigh the disadvantages. But the examination require­

ments alone do not guarantee that students would be adequately stimulat­

ed and well prepared for the examinations; and a good curriculum alone

could not pretend to guarantee this either. Successful learning or

teaching involves many variables and curriculum planning is just one of

them. But curriculum planning is the basis of what is taught or

learned, so that its understanding and proper execution becomes crucial

in the teaching-learning situation.

Mr. J. D. Clark 's widely acknowledged success at Omu-Aran was

brought about precisely (and surprisingly, if I may add) because he would not do other than relate his educational goals to his pupils'

needs and to those of the school situation. Writing as long ago as in

1936 he observed that:

The important place which the arts and crafts should have in all schools can be justified from two different but equally important angles: from the social or cultural point of view and from that of the individual. Every society has its own artistic culture which it is the duty of education to carry on, and every individual has, at least at the outset, an urge to give creative expression to his imagination (Clark , 1937, p. 100).

Not being an art teacher himself, Mr. Clark employed one of the

renowned traditional carvers in the area, Bamgboye, to give instruction 150 in carving in the school. Omu-Aran Native Authority School did very well, under pioneering directions of Mr. Clark , to integrate local arts and crafts with the school curriculum and the outcome, in my view, was one of the best primary schools in Nigeria where very high academic reputation equally matched the environmental relevance of primary educa­ tio n .

In view of the foregoing there is a clear need for art educators to be familiar with the theoretical developments both in the curriculum as well as in art education fields. The need for theory has again been stressed by Professor Barkan:

The artist can afford to be skeptical of theory, but not the teacher. The primary task of the artist is to make his works. The teacher, however, cannot escape present­ ing, describing, explaining, and evaluating; and whatever skepticism he derives from the artist operates to the detriment of his teaching.

Barkan's argument is reinforced by his contention that the teacher cannot escape the responsibility to present, describe, explain and evaluate his teaching. But many critics of this view tend to treat theory as more of a digression than as positive aid in problem identifi­ cation, solution and evaluation.

0^Omu-Aran ) is a district where the indigenous religious beliefs are predominantly practised and it is of interest that for two years Clark ex perienced g re a t d i f f i c u l t y try in g to induce Bamgboye to tak e on th e jdb as he was afraid to associate himself and his art with the school—an institution of the white men, with tendency to shun all things indigen­ ous. Bamgboye on ly accepted the job when Mr. C lark asked th e Emir o f Ilgrin to intervene whereby the Emir ordered Bamgboye's village chief to send the reluctant carver to go and work for the school. 151

Many a r t ed u ca to rs in re c e n t tim es have come to acknowledge the

impact of research on the field of art. But the realization of the desirability of theory in art is perhaps not as obvious as one might

tend to assume.

It was T. S. Eliot who also declared that "... artists are not

only often insensitive to other arts than those which they practice,

but sometimes have bad manners or meagre intellectual gifts." (Eliot,

1948). It is perhaps more accurate that the matter is more a question

of focus of interest as to what is considered relevant than one of meagre intellectual gift.

SUMMARY

Following the analysis of the problems associated with moderniz­

ing communities in general and those of Nigeria in particular, it has

been established (in Chapter III) that a major function of education,

in addition to meeting the goals of modernization itself, is to cater

for the social problems arising as a consequence of the process of

modernization. Art in general education and in the society has been

identified as an area of cultural heritage whose dissemination and pur­

suit among individual citizens could serve as a focus of that cultural

heritage and source of individual expression and identity. But art

w ill also serve aesthetic, environmental and commercial, or other

direct and indirect, short-term and long-term economic uses if so

orientated.

Four major uses of art for national development have been proposed.

The argument propounded in this present chapter is that the implementa- 152 tion of these uses or roles of art in art education should be guided by:

1. The needs of the target group in Nigeria, and

2. The theoretical guidelines of general and aesthetic

education (which draw heavily and inevitably on

Western theories).

Art in Nigeria w ill, therefore, be used and taught to meet the four- point roles in accordance with the theoretical guidelines—the cultural background; the curriculum, evaluation and aesthetic theories. This is our major statement of objective on which curricula contents should be based. The training of the personnel needed for the realization of these roles and the problem of how the contents of curricula should be develop­ ed so as to attain the said roles (under varying cultural background) will be the subject of our study in the next chapter. CHAPTER V

ART PROGRAMS AND CURRICULUM CONTENTS

The analysis of the cultural environment in Nigeria has produced varying ethnic and cultural groups, and pluralism has been proposed as a basis for dealing with the problems of educational and national development so as to adequately cater for the needs of the various groups. National and educational needs for art have also been identi­

fied and discussed.

This present chapter examines the kinds of art programs and curricula strategies that might meet the various art needs mentioned.

It also attempts to show how the teaching of art in one cultural environment might be different from the other.

The Purposes and Organization of Programs in Art Education

To achieve the goals of art education in the educational system geared towards the objectives of modernization and national develop­ ment, the category of man-power that need be given training in the

fine arts and the necessary programs are given in Figure 4.

In Nigeria the educational institutions are in the position to meet these needs without any major changes in the existing mechanism for education and training in the fine arts. For this reason only non-structural changes concerning programs to be developed and degrees to be awarded have been proposed as in Figure 4.

153 154

The table is based on what is considered a logical and realistic approach to the efficient development and utilization of the available educational facilities and the economic resources to train the necess­ ary man-power needs as well as cater for the educational and public aesthetic needs of the country. The main features are:

the educational needs for art teachers of various grades w ill be met by the universities, colleges of technology, and the advanced teach­ ers colleges;

art teachers to be trained through a pattern similar to that now operating in the USA, though the Post Graduate Certificate in Educa­ tion (PGCE) w ill be retained. The entire structure of training brings art education in line with pedagogical training in other sub­ ject areas in education as well as serves to improve teaching standards and quality of education in the arts;

the educational and aesthetic needs for art among the schools and colleges students and other university students, and others, w ill be met by the appropriate schools and teachers' colleges or universities;

art programs in the entire educational system are to be substantially modified to cater for courses meeting the goals of general and aesthetic education;

the cultural and teaching demands for art theoreticians w ill be the sole responsibility of the universities to provide; thus the theo­ retical subjects in the arts w ill be given new emphasis so as to disseminate knowledge in these areas and to stimulate the needed research in the arts;

the industrial and commercial needs for designers w ill be met mainly by the co-ordin­ ated efforts of the universities and the colleges of technology;

the cultural needs for professional artists (sculptors, painters and ceramists) should be 155

catered for by both the universities and the colleges of technology;

the socio-religious cum aesthetic cum u tili­ tarian and economic needs of professional and amateur craftsmen should be served by the on- the-job training or OJT (which is mainly the traditional process of training) and the Guilds as well as the Craft and technical institutes and the industrial development centers

formal and informal processes of the educa­ tional system to be recognized as valuable facilities to be utilized in the training and proper orientation of the professional crafts­ men.

The task of curricula development for art in higher education is how to devise art programs and units of instruction that cater for the educational and training needs of every kind of teacher, professional artist or designer or art theoretician in a manner that programs and contents are:

1. consistent with their individual man-power functions

within the society;

2. therefore consistent with the needs of that society; and

3. consistent with the goals of aesthetic education.

The main purposes of art education in higher education, as part of national development are defined as follows to stress their functions:

^The recent announcement by the National Advisory Committee on small scale industries to increase the number of the Industrial Devel­ opment Centers (IDC) by nine during the "next development plan period" (see "West Africa," No. 2969 of 13th May, 1974, p. 583) is to be wel­ comed. But it might be advisable to improve the turn overs by these Centers by using them more as OJT and In-Service-Training centers and with a view of bringing about improvement in the quality of the local crafts which come under the small scale industry rather than as a means of introducing foreign touches to isolated crafts, as tends to be the case now. io n o f Desiccation f Study Qualifications TARGET GROUPS place of tr ' g M ajor Minor to be awarded B.Ed«, PGCE., Art teachers (including art A and C I Art teacners critics, histor- II IV M.Ed., Ph.D.

Art theoreticians ers* e c*^ A III V B .A ., M.A., Ph.D (commercial, graphic and textile d e s ig n e rs ) ii Professionsl A and B II III B.F.A., M.F.A. (or studio) Artists painters/sculptors/ceramists Professional Individ - iii Professional embroiders/carvers/casters VI Craftsmen mural decorators/ porters, etc. D, E and Fua 1 choice

i School children & College Students G and H I I I I I Teachers training college students J I I I I I I ii Art amateurs or enthusiasts A, B and C I I I I I Professional Non- iii Crafts amateurs or enthusiasts E, F Available crafts

IEGEND (Key): A - Universities I - Teaching Methodology and B - Colleges of Technology Education Courses C - Advanced teachers colleges _ D - On-the-job training (OJT) & Guilds 11 " Studio Courses E - Craft Schs. & Trade Centers (including crafts) F - Industrial Development Centers III - Art Theory Courses G - Primary Schools XV - Languages and Liber a l A rts H - Secondary Schools V - Other recommendedf ie ld s J - Teacher Training Colleges VI - Drawing and BasicD esign

ORGANIZAT TOM OF PROGRAMS TN ART EDUCATION FIGURE 4 To educate personnel who w ill later promote the objectives of art in national development through widely based education given to citizens both as pupils or students and as members of the general p u b lic .

These personnel w ill give such education in higher education, in vocational education, in general education and in other social institutions such as therapeutic centers. Art education in higher education is therefore responsible for the education of:

1.1 teachers of higher education

1.2 teachers of vocational education

1.3 teachers of special education

To educate or train personnel who would gather and disseminate information or data on, or explain/des­ cribe works of art. Art education in higher educa­ tion also has the responsibility for the education of:

2.1 art intellectuals/theoreticians, i.e., art

historians, philosophers, critics, writers,

aestheticians.

To educate or train personnel who would give aesthetic satisfaction to others (and to themselves) through the making, selling or otherwise exhibiting of (non­ utilitarian) art objects. Art education in higher education also helps to educate: 158

3.1 professional artists, i.e., painters, sculptors.

4 . To educate o r t r a i n p erso n n el who would c o n trib u te to the

transforming of the environment or help to promote sale­

able goods or commodities or help in facilitating comm­

unication of ideas. Art education in higher education

helps to educate:

4.1 designers, i.e., commercial, graphic, textile

4.2 professional artists, i.e., painters, sculptors.

5. To educate people who, for some reason, are interested or

require knowledge of or proficiency in some aspects of

art. Art education in higher education also helps to

ed u ca te:

5.1 art amateurs

5.2 art consumers

Art in vocational education also aims at giving specific training to certain types of personnel in art. Therefore, like the training of art students in higher education, the curricula contents have to relate the purpose or objective of individual training (i.e., the needs of trainees) with the needs of the society or culture to be served.

Thirdly, as we saw in Chapter IV (see Figure 2) the goals of art in general education are to be consistent with those of general educa­ tion. These goals of general education are also to be derived from the needs of the society. Curriculum contents for art in general education

for a given location or society should therefore relate the goals of aesthetic education with the needs of that society which a school is supposed to serve. 159

Two significant points that have bearing on national development and on curricula contents that emerge from the argument so far are:

1. Curricula goals and contents for art education at every

level of education in a developing society are always

consistent with the social-economic roles of art in the

national development.

2. The contents of the curricula in any level of educa­

tional system should relate to the needs of the society

which that institution is supposed to serve.

What now follow s is a g e n e ra l d e s c r ip tio n o f how th e c u r r ic u la con­ tents that meet the different objectives would also mean pluralistic development of art education in the different educational systems in

N ig e ria .

A. A rt C ourses and A c tiv itie s in Higher Education

1.1 Studio Courses: Studio courses and activities in higher education w ill emphasize the artistic sources of the cultural background of the region in which an institution is situated and which it serves.

In practice, however, these institutions of higher learning in

Nigeria serve several ethnic and cultural interests though one group are in the majority. In the case of the institutions of higher learning, the changes in courses and activities should therefore be a matter of em phasis.

But all institutions of higher learning should need to retain in principle all the courses which are of foreign origin such as graphic and commercial design, painting, etching, lithography, etc., because of 160

their modernization and, perhaps, exotic relevance though their emphasis too should be changed to reflect the economic and cultural needs of the nation. It is the w riter's strong view that a major revol­ ution to reverse aesthetic taste and activities in favor of ancient

traditions of art, as some even among eminent writers have been suggest­

ing, will not only be unrealistic but short-sighted.

A university or similar institution serving a region with Indigen­ ous tradition (such as the southern Nigerian universities and colleges) w ill emphasize the Indigenous or traditional styles and sources of art.

These comprise the three-dimensional art forms, i.e ., carving, modelling, metal casting and pottery; though the two-dimensional areas should also be treated to reflect the social, aesthetic or economic, uses in the area being served. For example, the tie and dye ("Adire") and the woven fabrics of the traditional Yoruba styles (see Roy Sieber, 1972)

should be incorporated with courses in textile design at, say, Ife

University or Adeyemi College, Ondo. Not only the courses but the sty­

les of design used should be incorporated into the curriculum. A poss­ ible area of further research in these subjects w ill include develop­ ment of patterns and styles suitable for the present-day uses, e.g., uses of headgear by women or of ceremonial gowns by men or of casual wear of various garments and by certain age groups. Both geographic­ ally and culturally it is appropriate that study and research on

carving, metal casting and modelling (especially involving naturalist­

ic forms) be emphasized in the southern institutions, and not in the

Islamic areas as tends to be the case now. 161

In addition, such practice as was started in Ahmadu Bello Univer­ sity, Zaria, recently, of bringing traditional craftsmen to instruct students in techniques of their crafts in such areas as carving, weaving, dyeing, mural work, etc., could be drawn upon for both studio and non-studio art students in these and other institutions. Such arrangement w ill be expedient until the contemporary art lecturers be­ come better acquainted with the traditional arts and crafts and their techniques.

Courses developed and taught in this way should help to assure that the objectives of cultural heritage, national unity and develop­ ment are catered for. It should also prepare and motivate art students on graduating to produce art products more familiar to the general public and more likely to be patronized by them.

According to this arrangement, the teaching of studio art at the higher institutions in the predominantly Muslim areas should emphasize the two-dimensional art forms and ceramics, including relief and mosaic works in the three-dimensional fields. The contents of textile work would reflect the dyeing, weaving and the various styles of garments as used in this area. Also patterns, motifs and symbols, abstract and representational, which are characteristic of the art works of these areas would continue to be developed.

1.2 Art Theory Courses: These would include art history, philos­ ophy, and aesthetics. At present the scant theoretical work being done is almost wholly in European and other foreign art history.

It is in these theory courses that contents could best be design­ ed to relate to the art sources of different ethnic or cultural groups 162 within and outside regions not directly served by the institution concerned.

The necessary facilities should be provided or substantially ex­ panded to include substantial new courses in the African and Nigerian art history and philosophy of art. (It should be possible for foreign­ ers to study African art in such local institutions and not vice-versa.)

A separate division in each university should teach these courses to the students specializing in these fields and to the art trainee teachers, those taking studio degrees and others (e.g., architectural students) who might require them for academic or other reasons.

Each institution should relate teaching and research in their theory courses to those recommended for studio courses in its respect­ ive areas. These would then be supplemented with topics in other cult­ ures and in Western, Middle Eastern and other appropriate foreign art th e o r ie s .

The post-graduate programs should be used to institute research in the areas of aesthetics and art appreciation and history whereby students would undertake empirical survey and other research to determ­ ine such issues as the reaction (aesthetic, social, religious, or others) to the various forms of art or craft (in different localities, social or ethnic groups, in Nigeria or elsewhere in Africa): the tech­ niques of traditional crafts and arts; religious beliefs, myths, and superstitions associated with many art objects; the traditional apprenticeship or guild systems, etc.

1.3 Teaching Methodology and Education Courses: It is suggested that these courses be offered only by the universities and advanced 163 teachers' colleges offering both education and fine arts, so as to enable art trainee teachers to use the facilities in both. The details of the requirements for the tagged, first and second degrees, the PGCE and the Ph.D. should be worked out in accordance with needs and facil­ ities of each institution.

For the post-graduate trainee teachers the dimension of literary work will be wide to cater not only for educational issues such as history of education, introductory psychology and philosophy but for curriculum issues focussing on the major ethnic areas, cultural and modernization problems concerning them, and for research into local media as noted already in Chapter 4. These students should also be required to take courses in empirical research and evaluation. The goal, as far as art is concerned, w ill be to equip teachers to deal with the basic pedagogical problems and to improve standards in teach­ ing in the arts in their respective regions.

Finally, the ultimate aim of art in higher education is to turn out students who are aware of and understand the needs, values and expectations of the society in which they would live and work and who, through their own efforts, would become creative and constructive members of that society. The works of Nigerian artists and art educa­

tors ought to be understood and patronized by the Nigerian audience.

B. Art Courses and Activities in General Education

The determination of the kinds of educational experiences to be provided in order to attain the stated aims is a major curriculum question. As we saw in Chapter I (pp. 3-4) and in Chapter IV (Figures 164

2 and 3) the criteria for selecting curriculum objectives and contents for the school in a given area involves many variables and the analy­ ses of objectives are, as Tyler puts it, . . value judgements of those responsible for the school." (op. cit., p. 3).

Since the goals of general education, as we have already stressed, are not going to be exactly the same for all Nigerian communitie s and cultures, different curricula contents must be drawn up for different groups. On the other hand the goals of aesthetic education can be regarded as constant among all areas, though local conditions may not be the same.

These analyses of the needs of community should be carefully carried out, in the case of Nigeria, in accordance with the various needs suggested earlier in Chapter IV. Thus, the societal, national and assim ilation needs as these apply to the community concerned, should be studied and correlated with needs of students, staff, and administration to arrive at a set of objectives consistent with goals of aesthetic education and roles of art. However, as we have observed earlier, there are some general pattern of beliefs and influences that shape the norms and art sources and needs of the various ethnic units, making our broad classification into three major groups possible.

Furthermore, the teacher needs to give not only individual less­ ons to meet specific objects but to sequence them in some related order over a period of time. Art lessons, therefore, are a series of related and sequenced number of activities or units of instruction; and these lessons add up to a course of study which also combines with 165

other courses to form a program of study. Long-range planning should

therefore attempt to solve many problems including that of how to

sequence the instructional efforts or deal with recurrent themes or

develop a program from simple to complex.

The following is a demonstration of how contents would vary as

between the major groups (the Indigenous, Islamic and Western areas of

influence) as an indication of how pluralism might operate in art

e d u c a tio n .

The Problem: To show how contents of art curricula for use in

the different areas of Nigeria could be generated and used, and how

sources of contents and units of instruction might vary along the

lines of cultural differences.

Objectives: The aforementioned, translated into general state­

ments, objectives of personal expression, response, awareness and trans­ mission of the cultural heritage in the arts, and evaluation (a critical

issue for the students) w ill include the following:

1. Art lessons are to introduce the pupils/students to the problem

of expressing themselves in art drawn on the Indigenous, Islamic, or

Western forms and sources a3 found, practiced and used in the locality

concerned and elsewhere in Nigeria or abroad.

This is to equip students with the basic skills and abilities,

appropriate for their level, to express themselves in some local and 24 outside media, styles, designs, themes, and function of art.

24wote that 'style' may refer to types which include Arabic and Roman or Western forms (such as used in designs and poster works); or it may refer to different trends among local craftsmen and artists; or in different localities; or the perceived differences in art products over tim e. 166

It therefore meets the objective of personal expression, culti­

vation of personal taste, cultural identity, national unity and the

preservation of cultural heritage.

2. Art lessons are to enable pupils/students to appreciate

(i.e., understand, interpret and respond to):

2.1 the arts drawn from their local areas (i.e., either the

Indigenous, Islamic, or Western forms) to include the awareness of

the different media, styles, designs, themes, and functions of art

found locally.

Art also meets the objective of personal or cultural identity,

and personal aesthetic awareness of the aesthetic activities within

the pupil's/student's locality.

2.2 the arts drawn from sources including those of other ethnic

or cultural units in Nigeria, with specific reference to their uses

(e.g., domestic, religious, socio-economic or ceremonial uses) and present-day relevance in the nation.

Here art is to meet the objective of personal response to works

of art done by other ethnic groups, the objective of national unity, personal aesthetic awareness and of the cultivation of cultural heritage in the nation.

2.3 the arts drawn from the Western or other foreign sources, emphasizing their aesthetic and economic relevance in Nigeria.

Art lessons are to meet the objective of personal response to works of art by others, of economic uses of Western and other foreign

art forms. By emphasizing the relevance of non-traditional art 167

sources we are also forcing the pupils/students to be selective in

their approach to these non-traditional arts (as constructed with the

present tendency to pursue their total adoption).

To give the pupils/students opportunities for preparation for

their external and internal exams as appropriate in areas of individual

choice in art. (This suggests a necessity for a sustained long-term

concentration or "Depth" programs in certain media, styles or designs,

especially at the upper forms of secondary education. (See Eisner and

Ecker, 1966, pp. 246-258, and Efland, 1970, p. 37).

(N.8. This objective suggests that unless the present regulations

concerning the West African Examination council's tests are modified,

the presentation of candidates for their examinations — under our

proposed curricula — might be limited to "Design" and "Crafts"

s e c ti o n s ) .

Also refer to Chapter IV for further information concerning the

problem of evaluation in art in general.

Selection of Courses for Contents

Art courses are to be selected from broad-based themes appropriate

for individual community or group. For clarity and to facilitate

sequencing, the courses are to be related to products or events. The

themes mentioned below, though representative of many groups, are not

an exhaustive list of all possible activities. The courses or activ­

ities most appropriate for a given group are to be determined after the

analyses suggested earlier. 168

I. Contents related to products:

1. Sculpture:

1.1 Carvings (wood or stone) including figures, portraits, doors,

posts or pillars, masks, religious symbols or furniture and household

furniture, musical instruments, toys, mortars and pistols, etc., etc.

1.2 Calabash decoration (e.g., "Kwarya," "Zunguru," "Shantu,"

" L u d a y i").

1.3 Modelling: representational forms, in-the-round, relief.

1.4 Metal or solid casting: Aluminum (as in Ogbomosho), Bronze

(as in sire purdue in Benin, Nupe, Yoruba, Ibo, etc.) or glass or

stone work.

1.5 Beaten Metal Works: Trinkets, jewelry, toys and household utensils (e.g., kettles, toys, pots, ashtrays, bowls, trophies) or

ceremonial decorations (e.g., saddles, stirrups, "linzami," etc.).

1.6 Leather Sculpture (i.e., paper or plastic or fibre forms

covered with leather).

2. Pottery:

2.1 Clays and Glazes

2.2 Slabbing

2.3 Coiling

2.4 Mold-casting

2.5 Throwing

2.6 Decorating

2.7 Firing and Kilns construction

3. Textiles:

3 .1 Woven p la in c lo th ( e .g ., "Gwado") 169

3.2 Woven patterned cloth (e.g., "Akwete" cloth)

3.3 Embroidered cloths (e.g., decorated cap, gown, trouser, coverlets, pillowcases, etc.)

3.4 Knitted textiles

3 .5 Dyed an d /o r Tied c lo th s ; " b a tik s "

4. Fibre or Rafia Works:

4.1 Mat-making

4.2 Hat-making

4.3 Basket-making

4.4 Fans and Kites

4.5 "Faifai" and "Kabido" (type of rain coat)

4.6 Rop e-mak ing

5. L eath er Works

5.1 House ornaments and Furniture (e.g., cushions or puffs)

5.2 Satchels, Purses and shoes

5 .3 Hand and T ra v e llin g Bags and garm ents.

5.4 Book-binding

6. Drawing and Design

6.1 General Design (i.e., design related to any of the above or to nature and landscape)

6.2 Poster work, lettering and Caligraphy (including Arabic and

Roman)

7. Art History and Appreciation

7.1 History, Appreciation and Criticism of local arts (including music, plays, or songs) 170

7.2 History, Appreciation and Criticism of Nigerian arts

(including music, plays, or songs)

7.3 History, Appreciation and Criticism of Foreign arts (West,

Moslem, etc.)

II. Contents related to themes:

1. Social Events or Institutions — e.g., 'Music and Dances,'

'Ceremonies,' 'Processions,' 'Installations,' 'Schools and Schooling,'

'Work,' 'Play,' 'Fight'.

2. Religious Events or Activities — e.g., in shrines, mosques, and churches; festivals such as 'id-el-K abir,' 'id-el-F itr,' Christmas,

'Oro' festival, etc.

3. Economic Activities — 'Trade and Commerce,' 'Markets,'

'Transportations and Telecommunications,' 'Goods and manufactures,' etc.

4. Political Activities — 'Kingship and Chieftancy' — the activities, powers and functions of — demonstrations, campaigns, agitations, receptions, etc.

5. Man, Nature and Environment — Landscape; animal; water; fire; peoples — health, dwellings, and customs of — etc.

Methods and Organization of Contents:

The methods of teaching in every group would combine lectures,

tutorials, seminars, demonstrations, slide and/or film shows, studio works and tours. Pupils/students are encouraged to keep notes and

sketch books and folios to be examined periodically and to be dis­ cussed for feedback with them individually. Arrangement for pupils'/

students' tours should be limited to their location and surrounding 171

areas, the museums and the nearby locations of traditional arts

patterns and designs, fairs, etc.

Art courses would be selected for the different cultural groups

as follows:

1.0 The Indigenous Cultural areas

1.1 To emphasize the use of the traditional themes, usually

sculpture, to meet the goals of personal expression, cultural aware­

ness, etc. (Note that this group tends to associate art more with

socio-religious activities and with usage than for aesthetic qualities

such as in the "pure arts" concept.)

1.2a To use the pervasively Western concept such as Drawing and

Painting (hardly any use of these in the traditional art) to meet the

goals of personal expression and as a means of exploring design or

visual possibilities in product-related and theme-related contents.

Drawing and Painting, for instance, would be used primarily as means

of preliminary exploration or visual exercises for shapes and patterns

or symbols to be used in other courses.

1.2b To teach "applied arts" (another West-derived art form),

i.e ., commercial, graphic and industrial designs to emphasize their

commercial value as well as for the cultivation of national aesthetic

t a s t e .

1.3 To use the Islam-derived and other ethnic art forms mainly

in the Art History and Appreciation course to achieve the goals of

national unity and for expansion of knowledge or awareness and for

artistic expression. (The latter use is an indication that among 172 certain Indigenous cultures it may be relevant to incorporate these

Islam-derived forms into studio courses.)

2.0 The areas of Islamic influence

2.1 'Design' w ill be stressed in all art courses; emphasis of studio courses would be almost entirely restricted to the two-dimens­ ional themes and pottery and some types of relief work, e.g., mural r e l i e f .

2.2a As in the Indigenous areas (see para. 1.2a above), Drawing and Painting are to be employed here to meet the goals of personal expression and as a means of exploring design or visual possibilities in the product —or theme — related contents.

2.2b The "Applied" Arts w ill be taught here both as source of mode of expression, with 'Design' in para. 2.1 above, and to emphasize their commercial value, as in para. 1.2b above.

2.3 To emphasize the pupils/students understanding of the

Indigenous art sources, uses and forms in the theory courses, both to achieve the goal of national unity as well as of expansion of aesthetic awareness and expression — see also para. 1.3 above.

3.0 The areas of Western influence

Art teaching in these areas will remain essentially as they are now, insofar as contents of art studio courses emphasize visual and psychological developments and commercial value rather than being prim­ arily associated with socio-religious or cultural uses. (See Chapter IV for elaboration of developments in art education in the West). Courses are therefore to be drawn from Painting, Drawing, Design, etc., in 173 their "pure" and "applied" contexts, but with modifications of the existing strategy so as to reflect the goals of cultural identity, national unity, etc. In this latter case, art courses will be con­ cerned with:

3.1 West-derived art forms and emphasis placed on the achieve­ ment of the goals of aesthetic education.

3.2 The Indigenous and Islamic art sources (in the theory courses in particular) to achieve the goals of national unity and cultural identity.

An Over-View of Differences in Courses Among Cultures

Among the main cultural areas being reviewed, an over-view of the more general comparisons and contrasts in curricula related to cultur­ al background can be surmised;

1. The Indigenous Areas — Association of art with socio-relig- ious and cultural activities and pervasive use of most aspects of the three-dimensional arts determine themes and activities in art education.

2. The Islamic Influence Areas — Almost all themes dominated by two-dimensional forms, except for pottery and relief types of sculp­ ture, a sharp contrast with the Indigenous areas. 'Design' receives more attention here than elsewhere. Socio-religious values and usage are to be emphasized in this and Indigenous areas but of some methodol­ ogical interest is the fact that Islamic influence areas adopt non- representational forms for the same purposes that the Indigenous uses the representational. The Unifying Strategy Among Cultures The unifying factor or strategy (for the stated objectives related 174 to the individual and society) is that contents of every curricula seek to relate positively to arts other than those originating in their own traditions. Also for commercial or economic as well as for education­ al reasons, all curricula specify courses in "applied" arts. Finally, all curricula emphasize only familiar themes or art forms for the main body of contents.

The Units of Instruction

After the selection of courses appropriate for a given area has been carried out the units of instruction will be organized in a manner that the set objectives w ill be met, using the right dimension (i.e., media, style, design, theme, function) at the intended lessons, for the intended courses and age groups. The traditional method of sequencing lessons from simple to complex could pose difficulties of clarity and consistency for the planner in long range planning.

To assure that the objectives of aesthetic education, and of the national development are adequately catered for in the pluralistic schedule that is envisaged, and that a common theme or idea w ill link many lessons, it is proposed that units of instruction be sequenced in accordance with the chart devised by Arthur Efland (Efland, ed. 1970, pp. 131-135) which provides a clear example of how the stated object­ ives can be related to narrow sections of subject areas in local, national or foreign contexts. A cultural group, say, the Islamic areas might stress 'Function' or 'Design' for a course and this can be sequenced in a way that relates to other objectives such as, for inst­ ance, personal expression, for a given theme or subject-matter. Using a similar chart, objectives can be stressed according to age level for 175 each course

Media Style Design Theme Function

Lesson #1, 2 x

3 x x

4 x x

5 ,6 ,7 x

8 x

e tc

In this chart the broad subject area chosen for study during the eight lessons is 'embroidery.1 The first and second lessons are devoted to the study of local, national and possibly foreign media employed in embroidery work, stressing any of the three main bodies of objectives, as already discussed, as appropriate; for example, the study of media involved in local embroidery work can be related to the need of personal expression in one lesson whereby the subjects would actually try their hands in the use of some local embroidery material.

The same thing goes for the subsequent lessons where style, design, theme or function of embroidery works w ill be related to local, national or foreign contexts and the appropriate objective stressed, as required.

Any subject to be used other than textiles may be selected or be generated by the teacher as the local condition may indicate.

Evaluation:

As has been noted in Chapter 4, pp. 136-132, evaluation should indicate (1) if the goals of education and community are being served 176 by the kinds of activities chosen and the methods of teaching them and

(2) if the specific needs of the students (educational, cultural or individualistic needs) and of the staff (including that of the art teacher himself), as well as those of the school administrative author­ ities have or will be met.

In conclusion, to achieve the goals of national development and of aesthetic education, the differences between art education at the various levels of the educational system lie primarily in their major functions, rather than in kind. Similarly, the difference among age levels lies mainly in level of difficulty. Because the institutions of higher learning are, at this time, few in Nigeria in relation to the total population being served, they meet many cultural needs for quali­ fied and educated man-power. The curricula in higher education there­ fore reflect these diverse needs but emphasis is based on the culture of the area of location.

Art in pre-university education, on the other hand, is directly responsible to its local community and curricula is therefore to be a more intimate reflection of the local culture and needs. CHAPTER VI

REVIEW AND CONCLUSIONS

In this study Nigeria has been identified as a developing country trying to modernize, promote national unity (out of a multiple number of diverse ethnic units), cultivate her cultural growth and heritage as well as project her national identity. These aspirations together constitute the major goals of Nigeria's post-independence governments and national institutions.

The assessment of the national and educational needs of Nigeria in the national development efforts, therefore, involves both the social and economic dimensions of development. But attention has been drawn in this study to the fact that the objective of the national development plans seem to be weighed rather too heavily in favor of using the educational process for achieving the economic aspects of national development, removed from the human context. The needs and problems of Nigeria as a developing country are manifold and these needs call for a broader spectrum of educational planning which co-ord­ inates government and institutional objectives to promote individual and societal welfare. For the societal institutions to survive, they therefore have to relate more positively to the needs and aspirations of both individuals and the society.

177 178

In their uses and outward manifestations the arts have been ident­

ified as part of the total world-view of indigenous cultures of the various peoples of Nigeria. The available evidence (including anthro­ pological, theological, social and historical trends) suggest that the

foreign traits in the arts, as in other elements of the peoples' cult­ ure, are going to continue to play vital roles in the lives of the peoples but are unlikely to displace their original traditional values, especially those firmly embedded in the norms of traditional practices.

Art thereby becomes part of the cultural heritage of the peoples and

its manifestation in national life is vital to the cause of national

identity which Nigeria seeks as a nation.

The integration of the arts with the national development plans

is both an economic and social necessity provided reasonable balance

is maintained between these arts and scientific and technological 25 fields, in accordance with national resources and sectional needs.

It w ill be important that the sectional needs are not overlooked so that impositions of any art forms on local communities, even because of an overriding consideration of developmental or nationalistic con­

siderations, do not occur. The arts should be the free expressions of

the cultures of the peoples that create them. Though State or Federal encouragements and active participation w ill be desirable, especially

^From the "Crash Programme for the training of teachers" started in 1968, we get some idea of governments priority in its allocation of scholarships whose quotas among the major disciplines were: Science, 60%; Liberal Arts, 30%; and 'Cultural' and Creative Studies, 10% — the latter include Art, Music and Drama. 179 to offset the reverse trend in the colonial period. Government inter­ vention, however, is to be limited to giving expression to the wishes of the various communities.

The arts are to be distinguished from technological fields in a variety of ways, the most important difference is, perhaps, the quality of individual expression associated with the arts rather than function­ al efficiency as in the technological field. The aim of the State or

Federal intervention or roles would, therefore, be that of actively giving direction to and of perpetuating these individualistic express­ ions. The State and the Federal authorities are to face up with the reality that a distinctively homogenous Nigerian culture is a long, rather than a short,-term proposition. And if this culture were to emerge, it is bound to be a synthesis of some of the important norms of the existing sectional units. The role of a responsible planning for the arts should be one of analyzing local practices and needs, and of finding ways of giving expression to those needs.

The myth of the African without a valid and respectable culture

(religion, law, socio-economic patterns of life, or aesthetic pursuit, etc.) worthy of cultivating, have been spread too easily in the past with unfavorable repercussions on the indigenous institutions and values and this has affected the thinking of the peoples themselves about authenticity of their aesthetic and other values. This myth is not supported by the evidence adduced in this investigation. On the contrary it has been found that where foreign values have gained strongholds, as in "Islamic culture" and Christian and Western influ­ ences, the indications are strong that the trend has been more in 180

favor of assimilation of the foreign traits into the indigenous, so

that there is a juxtaposition of the manifestations of the foreign

traits over the background of their indigenous counterparts.

Nonetheless, the historical past leaves a stigma on the tradition­ al institutions, on art and other values, and it continues to rear its ugly head through the present time. Short of a concerted effort to arrest this trend the prospect does not indicate any spontaneous

fortuitous change: more modernization w ill s till mean more seculari­ zation and further breakdown in the traditional social strata and these could lead to further neglect through lack of pride in our own indigen­ ous institutions and values. But it is to be hoped that this trend would be arrested before things get worse. The conclusion is drawn that a country which seeks cultural identity and the projection of a national personality (as a deliberate national policy) would need to develop its own institutions and its own aesthetic values. Besides, it has been further argued that the development of aesthetic sensibil­ ities as part of the strategies of a balanced national development objectives is not to be taken for granted. The widespread manifesta­ tion of aesthetic sensibilities in the nation should lead to direct and indirect long-term returns through tourist trade and if Nigerian's public demand high aesthetic quality in their own products at home, this may enable them to gain competitiveness for such products in

foreign markets. The development of a widespread aesthetic conscious­ ness, sensibility, and originality may also be a source of national pride which may serve the ends of national unity. 181

Also, part of the artistic dimension of general education is the

development of these aesthetic sensibilities and skills for individual

students. If, as has been demonstrated earlier, the encouragement of

the personal fulfillment of individual students, the fostering of the

transmission of the cultural heritage and the improvement of the social

order, form the major goals of general education, those of aesthetic

education (regarding individual students and those of the society) are

clearly vital aspects of those goals of general education. In the

developed (Western) countries these goals of aesthetic education —

concerning personal response and expression in art, of awareness of the

artistic heritage and of the role of art in the society — are related

to those of general education and have produced good results in

aesthetic, industrial, cultural and environmental consciousness which

these developed countries now appear to have taken for granted. The

educational role of art in educational development of a developing

country (with "shanty" towns, shoddy technological products, etc.)

further underscore the function and roles of art education.

It has been found in the study that while the "man-power require­ ments approach" (which tends to dominate N igeria's educational planning

in development plans) stresses the trained manpower needs and focusses

on available resources to provide the necessary facilities and personn­

el requirements for future economic needs, it says little about the

human and social problems to be encountered or even created in the

process of development and national growth. Even if the "cultural

approach" of economic projection is used it should be recognized only 182 as a projection or forecast which, while an indispensible guide in identifying economic needs for educational development, costs and returns, etc., it cannot deal with the consumption and other education­ al needs of the various societies, if these needs do not yield returns measurable in economic terms. Undue preoccupation with the economics of education has led to fundamental problems in our educational policy and development because the comparable attention has not been given to the actual contents of education. To this end the writer has proposed a curriculum model which stresses the analysis of the important needs which help to determine the sources of goals of education and which relates contents and strategies of education with stated goals.

I have also argued that consistent with the policy (or the desira­ bility for such policy) of the developing countries to draw on the experience of the developed countries in matters of development, it is relevant to use the aesthetic theories relevant to educational develop­ ment, without increased risk of plagiarism of artistic forms. Indeed, the American curriculum theory requires that the contents of art in education are to be meaningful to those undertaking it as well as hav­ ing root in the history of art that is familiar or justifiable other­ wise on social implications, in order to have any relevance. This, itself, is a classic example of an art education theory which suggests that the present attitude in Nigeria to adopt the contents of art educa­ tion developed for other foreign cultures must be inimical to the object­ ive of aesthetic education itself. For this reason only instructional materials of foreign origin which can be justified on their social 183 implications or needs (e.g., as in the case of those necessary for modernization needs) are therefore recommended for use in art at every level of the educational system. While modernization remains an important aspect of national policy, certain kinds or uses of artistic products (not already developed at all, or fully in the traditional societies) become a desirable dimension of professional and non-prof­ essional training in art education. The contrary argument in favor of a complete abandonment of most foreign artistic forms and aesthetic sources so as to substitute indigenous contents in their place would be unrealistic and unacceptable. It might even seriously hamper the legitimate aspirations of the people to seek better economic conditions and social standards for themselves.

Recommendations

To bring about the desired changes in the organization of art education in Nigeria some recommendations inherent in the findings of this research, seek to involve government participation in matters of policy and call for further research, and financial support. Others concern matters of educational planning focussing on modifications in existing programs in certain institutions. Further recommendations and research work emerging from this study are listed as follows:

(i) Expansion and support of the programme of instruction and education in formal and informal institutions by the Federal and State governments.

(ii) Support by the authorities of those indigenous social activ­ ities which are organized on the basis of sound social ethics and 184 which do not intrude on the liberties or human rights of other citizens.

State encouragement in this case ought to be one of evaluating the pro­

cedures usually adopted in particular soical activities and advising on modifications of existing procedures or the revival of those involuntar­

ily abandoned. If, for example, the people of Mokwa want to revive the

o / : "dako-boa" (as happened during the brief visit of Leo Frobenius, see

Chapter II) the State or Federal authorities should have avenues for the

expression of such revival. These social activities must be recognized

as sources of indigenous artistic expressions and deserve sympathetic

treatment by the government authorities.

(iii) Regulation of the evaluative procedures by theFederal author­

ity's exerting pressure on the examination bodies to effect territorial

changes in the contents and orientation of education, to allow for

diverse and local developments in art contents.

(iv) To alleviate the immediate problem of serious shortage of art

teachers in the primary and secondary schools the so-called crafts

should continue to be taught in these schools by some carefully selected

and versatile professional craftsmen from outside, who may be under the

direction and supervision of interested or class teachers. The handling

of art by every class teacher not having adequate training or qualifica­

tion (or even interest in art other than obligation to teach art) is

hardly a satisfactory arrangement.

^Leo Frobenius (1913, Vol. II, p. 373) has described "... th o se missionaries who had taken away from him (L illie, Frobenius' host in Mokwa) and his people their greatest pleasure (the traditional Eko-Checke wrestling and its drums; the Dako-Boea, i.e ., the ta ll masquerade dancers, etc.) namely, the ceremonial of the mask and burned the masks, saying they were evil and of the Devil." (Words in parenthesis are those of the present a u th o r.) 185

Those teachers in the lower segment of the educational system

(who might have done art in the Grade Two Teacher Training Colleges

or the Advanced Teachers' College) could still utilize the crafts

professionals while they (the teachers) concentrate on planning and

other aspects of the teaching in which the craftsmen have little or no

proficiency.

(v) The initiation of research into local materials and the local manufacture of art materials by the Federal and State government and

its universities. This should make such common materials as pencils,

crayons, fibre, glazes, plaster of paris, clay, oil and water colours,

printing inks, etc., less prohibitive to purchase and therefore more

easily accessible.

A federal purchasing or distributing center may be necessary

until private enterprise develoo, and then the federal centre may find

it necessary to so-exist with such private enterprise so as to guaran­

tee competition.

Also, a new emphasis in the use of university facilities should be

given to research into local materials and processes: various dyes and

processes of dyeing, weaving, kiln-building and kiln-firing, glazes and

glazing, silver-smithing, etc. Such facility as now exists in Abuja

Pottery Centre should be established as a matter of urgency in the

University art departments where staff, equipment and high level teach­

ing offer excellent atmosphere for such research and for dissemination

of research finding.

(vi) Perhaps one of the most pressing needs for the implications

of this study is research work to study and analyze the educational 186

needs of each ethnic community with a view to developing different

curricula for every community which embody such analyses as related

to national needs.

Research in art education in higher education ought, at this

initial stage of growth, to be almost wholly devoted to this question,

(vii) At the present time government responsibility for the arts are

shared not only between the Federal and State governments but also

among various M inistries within the federal government. A means must

be found whereby the various duties are coordinated in the overall

interest of the nation. The suggestions by the Federal Art Advisor,

Mr. T. A. Fasuyi of the establishment of a Ministry of 'Culture' and

that by Gbolahan Lawal of the establishment of an Institute of Art

divested of political appointments, etc. (see Lawal, 1972, p. 5) are

to be given some serious considerations. The overlappings and

ambiguities found in the duties allotted to the four Federal Ministries

(Education, Information, External Affairs, and Industry) could hardly

make for efficient coordination.

Finally, in offering these proposals it is believed that improved

art education will lead to diffusion of art activities and conscious­

ness in national life and the cultural, national, economic and educa­

tional effects will be of considerable and lasting benefit in national

development. APPENDIX I

NIGERIS'S NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS: EXTRACTS ON EDUCATIONAL POLICY

(Federal M inistry of Economic Development and Reconstruction Lagos. Guidelines For The Third National Development Plan 1975-1980. pp. 7; 38-41; 49-52)

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Since Independence in 1960, Nigeria has launched two National Development Plans. The first was the Six-Year Development Plan which covered the period 1962-68, and the Second is the current Four-Year National Development Plan, 1970-74. The project content of each of these plans originated from the submissions of the various M inistries and Extra-M inisterial Departments in response to call circulars issued by the M inistries responsible for Economic Planning and Develop­ ment in the Federation. All available evidence suggests that the executing agencies which made these submissions were free to submit any package of capital proposals since Government did not provide them with the policy frame work within which they were to identify and articulate their programmes. The result of this omission was the emergence of sectoral programmes which were often not addressed to any coherent set of well-defined goals. In essence the policy objectives stated for each sectoral programme in some past plan documents are little more than expost rationalisations of the project mix as sub­ mitted by the executing M inistries, Statutory Corporations, etc. The criticism that stated goals are often not translated into devel­ opment projects is not therefore without foundation. However, it is only fair to say that given the circumstances in which these past planning efforts were made particularly the abnormal conditions under which the Second National Plan was formulated, the outcome could hardly have been different.

2. Normal conditions now obtain in the country while the staff situation in most of the economic planning M inistries has improved considerably in the last three years. In these more favourable circumstances Government has decided that each activity sector should be analyzed in detail with a view to identifying existing or antici­ pated problems. The policies and projects required for solving or alleviating these will then constitute the hard-core of the Third National Development Plan. What follows is an attempt to analyze the problems of each sector of the economy as a basis for project identi­ fication and articulation for the Third National Development Plan 1975-80. 187 188

3. A guideline such as this cannot identify all the problem areas requiring policy or investment action. What is presented here should be seen as an indication of the main thrust of each sectoral programme. The guidelines should therefore not be regarded as a constraining devise, but rather as an indication of the minimum effort expected from each development cell in the public sector of the national economy.

CHAPTER 8 EDUCATION In tro d u c tio n

A major concern in the educational development of this country during the next plan will be to rationalize activities in this sector so as to ensure orderly expansion of facilities to meet the increasing demand for education at all levels. This orientation w ill require a vigorous Federal leadership role and co-operation from the State Governments. General education (primary and secondary) w ill be expanded in response to clearly identified and well worked out needs of all localities. On the other hand tertiary and higher level education w ill be developed to meet the assessed manpower requirements of the country.

2. The major objectives of the educational programme for the Third Plan period may be listed as follows: — (i) To expand facilities for education aimed at equalizing individual access to education throughout the country. (ii) To reform the content of general education to make it more responsible to the socioeconomic needs of the country. (iii) To consolidate and develop the nation's system of higher education in response to manpower needs. (iv) To rationalize and strengthen the machinery for educational development in the country. (v) To rationalize the financing of education, with a view of making the educational system adequate and more efficient. (vi) To make an impact in the area of technological education so as to meet the growing needs of the economy.

PROBLEMS AND POLICIES

3. The objectives listed above are specifically directed at defusing the problems which have plagued past attempts at the proper development of the education sector. These problems, along with accompanying policy imperatives, are as follows: —

A.—Structural Imbalance in the Country's Education System

4. There is an obvious imbalance between the different levels of education which have been allowed to grow at different rates without proper co-ordination and control. The outcome of this haphazard growth is that about 90 per cent of the students enrolled in the formal educa­ tion system are in primary schools while only about 10 per cent are in the other two levels. The corresponding ratios for many advanced economics are 60 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. This has meant 189 that the second level of education could provide neither adequate oppor­ tunities for the products of the primary schools, nor suitable and sufficient input into the tertiary level.

5. The policy imperatives here are clear. General education facilities will be expanded to meet the rising social demand for them. To achieve this objective policy will be directed to increasing sub­ stantially, Government subsidy for general education. For a start, tuition and boarding fees w ill be reduced in all secondary schools, to the lowest level currently maintained at Government Secondary Schools. These measures w ill be reinforced by the award of more government scholarships and bursaries at the secondary school level. In this connection definite efforts w ill be made to bridge the existing subsidy gap between primary and secondary education on the one hand, and, the gap between secondary and university education on the other. The ultimate aim of policy is the eventual introduction of free educa­ tion at the primary and secondary education levels during subsequent Plan periods.

6. The foregoing measures w ill be accompanied by carefully form­ ulated expansion programmes for primary and secondary schools. Existing schools w ill be expanded and new schools established to meet the assess­ ed requirements of every locality in the Federation. Efforts w ill be made to make the course content of general education more responsive to the needs of the nation. Pursuant to this, education at the secondary level w ill be made more comprehensive in terms of the addition of more practical courses emphasizing the creation of needed skills. It is recognised that this trend is already established in some schools. The idea here is to gradually extend this practice to all secondary schools in the country.

7. Measures w ill be taken to progressively abolish the Sixth Form system in the country. Originally intended to supply direct entrants into universities, it has, over the years failed in this main task as evidenced by poor quality and high failure rates. The reason for this has been the difficulty of spreading the limited resources of grammar schools to cover the normal secondary school programme as well as the expensive Sixth Form programme. The existing Sixth Form classes w ill therefore be transferred to separate institutions based on a system of junior colleges. This would enable the concentration of resources, in terms of teaching manpower, facilities and equipment on the development of these institutions. The system of preliminary courses in the univer­ sities w ill however continue side by side with the new system, in order to ensure increased enrollment in those disciplines which are crucial for national development. B.—Low Level of Enrolment 8. National enrolment ratios remain low. In spite of gains in the recent past (often exaggerated as a result of an initial low base) a lot remains to be done to make the necessary impact in the area. For general education levels (Primary and Secondary) in 1970, while every one of three children of school age was in school, the correspond­ ing figure for secondary school was one in twenty-five. 190

9. It will be the task of policy in the next Plan period to con­ siderably increase the level of enrolment. Emphasis w ill be placed on the provision of new facilities and the expansion of old ones to allow for more in-take. New facilities w ill nevertheless be provided on the basis of adequate and proper utilization of existing ones and a well worked out programme of development.

C.—Shortage of Teaching Staff

10. Efforts so far made to produce the required teaching force to meet the needs of rapid educational expansion have not attained desired results. The persisting shortages have brought about the recruitment of untrained teachers to supplement the pool of trained teachers. In a number of cases expatriate teachers have been recruit­ ed while inducement allowances are often paid to procure the required teaching force in certain areas. A part of this problem is the dis­ turbing truth that unless teachers become available in adequate numbers, accelerated expansion programmes and anticipated enrolment increases will remain unattainable. The alternative is the inferior choice of poor quality education. In this area therefore, policy will be directed towards the intensification of teacher training programmes backed with an appropriate system of incentives. The training of Grades I and II teachers w ill be stepped up through a number of incentives, which w ill range from substantial subsidy in the training colleges (some kind of automatic scholarship arrangement on entry) to the introducation of well balanced course content. A five-year pro­ gramme of study corresponding to the system in grammar schools would be worked out to ensure a more thorough training and enhance its attractiveness to students. Conditions of service in the profession itself w ill be made as attractive as counterpart employment outside the profession. Consideration will also be given to the training of secondary school products for teaching in primary schools. Such training w ill necessarily be short, possibly about a year in duration.

D.—Lopsided Distribution of Educational F a c i l i t i e s

11. There is lopsidedness in the geographical distribution of educational opportunities across the nation. Considerations of justice and equity demand that every Nigerian child should have comparable opportunities for self development and fulfillment irre­ spective of where he lives and the economic and social circumstan­ ces into which he has been born.

12. During the next Plan therefore deliberate attention w ill be paid to correcting this embalance in pursuing expansion programmes. To ensure that no community is left out, the expansion programmes at the primary and secondary levels w ill be based on population d istri­ bution, district by d istrict, community by community throughout the country. This is an egalitarian objective of equalising access to educational and other opportunities. 191

E .—Poor CO-ordination of Educational Development

13. Past development in education often lacked proper co-ord­ ination and control especially at the general education level, leading to differential standards and rates of growth. While the direct provision of facilities at this level w ill remain primarily, the responsibility of State Governments, the Federal Government w ill ensure uniform standards in the provision of facilities throughout the country. Expansion programmes w ill be properly evaluated and scrutinized to ensure that financial outlays make maximum impact by providing standard physical structures, aids and equipment consist­ ent with the dual objective of increased enrolment and the mainten­ ance of quality education.

F.—Literacy and Vocational Programmes

14. In spite of past efforts at the Federal and State levels, the literacy ratio for the country as a whole remains low. Through continued expansion of facilities for formal education this problem w ill systematically be reduced over time with respect to younger generations. But the problem remains with a large number of people who have exceeded the age lim it for formal education but who never­ theless want to enrich their lives by having some education. For these people, adult education schemes and various other literacy programmes w ill be designed.

15. State Governments, with Federal assistance, w ill include in their educational programmes, specific, adequate and functional adult literacy schemes. The facilities w ill be evenly spread out so as to give adequate coverage to communities within each state.

16. The Federal Government w ill also look into the possibility of establishing national correspondence colleges at the secondary grammar, commercial and vocational levels to enable a growing number of Nigerians who fail to gain access to the formal education system achieve self fulfilment. A study w ill be commissioned to advise government on the feasibility and the best organisational arrange­ ment for such a scheme.

G.—-Special Education for Handicapped Children

17. The problem of providing education for children who are handicapped as a result of such disabilities as blindness, deafness and dumbness, has become more complex with the substantial increase in recent years, in the number of such cases in the country. With­ in the current Plan, allocations have been made by some Governments in the form of grants, to support institutions which provide this kind of education. The current level of efforts has, however, proved inadequate in meeting the needs of some areas of the country. Specific programmes based on the assessed requirements of these localities, w ill therefore be formulated for execution during the 192 next Plan. Where desirable, special institutions designed to cater for the peculiar circumstances and needs of handicapped youths w ill be established.

H.—Higher Education

18. As the system's major source for high-level manpower, higher education w ill receive priority attention during the Third Plan period.

19. Emphasis w ill generally be on consolidation of existing facilities so as to allow for increase student in-take designed to im­ prove the various utilization ratios by raising, inter alia, student/ faculty ratios in all departments to their optimun levels. This object­ ive will require expansion in facilities by way of substantial invest­ ment in academic and residential buildings, equipment and libraries. The creation of new universities w ill be favourably considered as and when necessary and w ill proceed side by side with the expansion of existing universities to their fullest capacities. In establishing new universities, expression w ill be given to the need for specialisation of disciplines among Nigerian universities to ensure that the institu­ tions complement one another. The major strategy, in this connection, w ill be designed to arrest the present trend of unco-ordinated develop­ ment of the university system which has led to unnecessary and wasteful duplication of faculties and facilities in certain areas. Moreover, university development w ill henceforth be explicitly tied to the man­ power requirements of the country, adjusted to take account of cultural and other important national values. Other policy goals w ill include the following:

(i) In recognition of the limitation placed on student in-take by inadequate residential accomodation for both staff and students, funds w ill be made available for an adequate building programme based on the identified needs of the universities as worked out by the reorg­ anized National U niversities Commission.

(ii) In order that the university system best fulfills its role as leading research centres in the nation, efforts w ill be made to improve the standards of research done through the procurement of suitable scientific equipment and the provision of well-stocked libr­ aries. Some degree of research specialisation w ill be aimed at, con­ sistent with the specialisation of disciplines which is to be encour­ aged among the various universities. One result of this would be the strengthening of post-graduate facilities in existing universities. This w ill ensure adequate out-turn of post-graduate students who w ill provide the teaching manpower for the proposed university expansion programme.

(iii) In order to ensure that university grants are used specif­ ically for improvement of research and teaching facilities, the present system of funding which allows funds to be diverted to other needs, w ill be reviewed so as to tie funds more closely to items for which they are meant especially in areas of capital expenditure. 193

CHAPTER II

MANPOWER UTILIZATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

A Review

A criticism of the present Second National Development Plan is that although the manpower objectives of the Plan were clearly brought out, rather few specific programmes to achieve these goals were in the Plan. In all cases, the employment implications of individual projects were not identified. Generally, without clear functional relationships being quantified the employment question was assumed away in the sense that general increases in national income, the pace of reconstruction and the high input in capital projects would result in expected growth in employment. And although critical problems in the employment area were identified the relationship between objectives and programmes was not adequate. These defects are, in part, attributable to the circumstances under which the Second National Development Plan was formulated and the inadequacy of the manpower information system for programme formulation. Secondly, there is the weakness in the man­ power planning and development machinery. The National policy and co-ordinating body is the National Manpower Board assisted by its Secretariat. In practice, the decisions and policies of various bodies in the Federation bear on manpower policy and there is no obligation on the part of any of these agencies to refer to or clear these matters with the National Manpower Board. With the universities autonomously deciding the rate of student intake, the State Govern­ ments deciding on employment policy (even in the private sector) in the areas of their jurisdiction, with the various training facilities under various government or private management, the machinery for policy and decision-making is so diffused that an effective co-ord- irating machinery is called for. Attention w ill be paid to strength­ ening the co-ordinating role of the National Manpower Board and its Secretariat.

P o lic ie s

2. The policy objectives spelt out in the Second National Devel­ opment Plan would continue to be valid for the next Plan period but emphasis w ill be placed henceforth on providing the tools for achiev­ ing these objectives as well as evaluating progress in each area of manpower policy and action.

E ducation

3. Primary and secondary education considered as social amenit­ ies w ill not specifically come within the scope of the manpower plan 194 except in the general interest of reducing the incidence of unemploy­ ment among the products of this system and of improving course content and the suitability of school and college products for further educat­ ion training and future employment.

Technical Education

4. The last Development plan document decried the lack of emphas­ is on the development of technical education as against the obsession with university education. Since then the number of technical colleges and polytechnics has increased by three. A continuing study is being carried out on the relevance of the offerings of the technical colleges to the employment market with a view to diversifying technical educa­ tion and relating its content to the needs of the economy. At this stage, it should be re-emphasised that the economy can afford six more Technical Colleges provided courses are adequately diversified to take account of the national labour market and the geographical neighbour­ hoods in which the institutions are located.

5. Technical education seems to lack the lure and prestige attach­ ed to university education and this has led to the overemphasis of the latter. With university education now put on better keel by recent Federal Government interventions, emphasis w ill now be placed on technical education which w ill engage the attention of the Federal and State Governments in the next Plan period. The Federal Government will:

(i) assist State Governments financially and otherwise to develop and diversify the course offerings and facilities of technical institu­ tio n s ; and

(ii) establish singly or jointly with State Governments, new technical colleges in response to identified needs of the economy.

Further and Higher Education

6. The next Plan period should see a definite decision on the place of Sixth Form education. Policy and action here by the various State Governments have been contradictory and hard to interpret. Some have closed down or merged Sixth Form Classes while others are s till establishing what are in effect Sixth Form Colleges, depending on whether Governments were impressed either with the arguments about cost and waste in the system or about the crash programme aspect of utilizing Sixth Forms to close educational gaps. Judgement of the Sixth Form experience is varied but Sixth Form education does not seem to have advantages over other forms of preparation for univer­ sity admission, in terms of cost or the suitability of its products for higher education. Government firmly supports the recommendations to the effect that Sixth Form Classes in ill-equipped Secondary Schools should be discontinued and that universities should supplement their supply of suitable candidates by running preliminary or basis school courses. The advantages include: 195

(i) the avoidance of the relatively wasteful cost of the Sixth Form system ;

(ii) the realisation of greater or optimum utilization of university laboratory and other facilities; and

(iii) the early adaptation of candidates for undergraduate courses to University teaching and learning procedures.

7. University capacities for preliminary and basic school courses w ill be supplemented through the encouragement of Polytechnics and Tech­ nical Colleges to run similar courses. The same advantages for the Univ­ ersity-run courses would apply and the courses associated with Poly­ technics could be an area for University/Technical College co-operation to ensure that the eventual candidates for university are appropriately prepared according to University Programme requirements. Federal Government support for such courses will be emphasised. In addition, a number of colleges of further education w ill be established during the period of the Plan. These colleges, which w ill be strategically situated in various parts of the country w ill prepare students through preliminary or basic school courses for advanced level examinations in science and arts to meet university admission requirements and offer courses in fields such as commerce, accounting, banking, etc.

8. In the context of greater emphasis on technical education, the scope of technical and professional education w ill be extended to embrace more courses relevant to a growing economy, notably maching tooling, textile technology, metallurgy, ceramics and refractory engin­ eering, refrigeration and airconditioning, production engineering, industrial physics and chemistry, chemical engineering, food technology and petroleum and gas technology. Facilities w ill be established or extended for this purpose.

University Development

9. The requirements on university development policy have been:

(i) that course offerings should be more or less based on the manpower requirements of the country;

(ii) that the universities should avoid wasteful competition which results in the duplication of facilities and course offerings;

(iii) that as far as possible, institutional specialization should be encouraged in the light of (ii) above;

(iv) that the cost of higher education be reduced through (i)-(iii) above and by a more efficient utilization of available facilities; and, 196

(v) that an effective machinery for consultation and co-ordin­ ation between the N.U.C., the Manpower Secretariat and the universities be established for the realisation of (i)-(iv) above and for clearing all development and finance issues in third level education.

10. The premise for the foregoing is that the future pattern of development in university education w ill not be left only to would-be students and university authorities to determine. It is increasingly being accepted that only a microscopic proportion of students go to universities without having employment or a vocation as their ultimate goal. There is no reason at the level of university education why there should be a serious "mis-match" between the out-turn of the higher education system and the needs of the labour market.

11. University development in Nigeria has proceeded without employment needs being taken into consideration \rtien planning courses. With the over-optimistic career expectations of graduates—especially those in disciplines with a "vocational" nature this could give rise to difficulties in the employment market. On the other hand, no systematic machinery exists for guiding students in the light of information on career prospects. And, as no effective machinery exists for relating university development to identifiable needs, at present the N.U.C. can only react piece meal to individual requests for the expansion or establishment of university facilities. The policy changes w ill be as follows:

(i) all proposals for new courses and significant expansions w ill be referred to and cleared with the N.U.C. before implementation;

(ii) the N.U.C. w ill collaborate with the National Manpower Board for purposes of giving clearance in respect of (i) above;

(iii) a National Careers Advisory Service will be established with the active collaboration of the Manpower Secretariat, the N.U.C., the Universities, the Federal Ministry of Labour and the M inistries of Education;

(iv) the basic financial and planning mechanism of the N.U.C. w ill be based on manpower information on trends, etc., and on firm expenditure forecasts;

(v) the planning functions involved in (iv) above will be the joint responsibility of the N.U.C., the Universities and the National Manpower Secretariat, and

(vi) while the potential of existing university facilities will be exhaustively utilized and recently established courses consolidated, consideration w ill be given to the establishment of new institutions. 197

Training and Development

12. The establishment of the Industrial Training Fund under the current Development Plan, to a considerable extent, takes care of the issue of financing training in the private sector. The decision of the Government that the fund should also contribute to the development of the training institutions and facilities of Statutory Corporations on condition that these facilities are available for private sector training w ill ensure that the scope and advantages arising from the fund may extend to public sector training and development. The decision that not more than 60 per cent of an employer's contribution may be returned to him in grants for training carried out by him ensures that 40 per cent or more of the fund's levy revenue will be devoted to developing training infrastructure, etc.

13. So far, the fund has approved grants for a number of firms for their training efforts in the last year; and the Governing Council has approved and published its first Policy Statement. The next stage will entail articulating the machinery of the fund and clearly defining its role in several areas of training, determining the areas of man­ power needs and the priorities of training, and the strategy for establishing new training facilities, developing existing ones and harmonising their efforts with those of the fund and in relation to the needs of the economy. An instance in the latter area is the question of the place and role of Trade Centres in the development of vocational skills. Government agrees that the efforts of the Trade Centres should be harmonised with those of the ITF. The relative higher cost of running Trade Centres, the divergence of training conditions from real work situations, the difficulty in adapting the trainees thereafter, and the length of courses offered by the Centres do not recommend their continued existence in the present form.

14. Although there is the need to determine priorities before firm recommendations can be made for training facilities, certain areas deserve attention in the next Plan period. Examples w ill include:

(i) Construction and Building...... Intermediate personnel, tech- nical and supervisory grades; (ii) Services Urban management personnel; The paramedical grades of the health service; (iii) Transport and Communication M aritime/navigational man­ power; (iv) Mining Technologists and technic­ ians particularly in the petroleum industry; (v) Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas ...... Engineering and technical assistants, etc.; (vi) Cotnnerce, etc. Accounting and auditing personnel; business and secretarial staff. 198

In these and other areas, specific policy suggestions and targets on the expansion of existing facilities or the creation of new institutions w ill be worked out after discussions with the public and private agen­ cies involved.

15. The centre for Management Development w ill get into its second phase of development just before the Third National Development Plan period. The outline of that phase which is being mapped out w ill see the establishment of the following services:

(i) Management training through general programmes, radio/tele­ vision programmes, curriculum development, etc.;

(ii) technical services and support by developing audio-visual services, preparing case studies, and building up specialist library facilities for the use of all management development programmes in the co u n try ;

(iii) consultancy services including general functional consult­ ancy and small business advisory services for indigenous businessmen;

(iv) research and studies in business finance, productivity, business organisation, personnel management, marketing, etc.

Public Sector

16. It is desirable to have a national inventory of public sector training facilities to assess their potential in the next development period. The impression is that staff development is not given the proper emphasis in the public service. The next plan period should see organised training in orientation and work procedures of the larger part of the Civil Service (in all grades) . 199

(Federal Republic of Nigeria - Second National Development Plan. 1970-1974: pp. 31-36; 235-239.)

CHAPTER 4

NATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES

An important rationale for economic planning is that progress would be faster if the nation is motivated in its economic activity by a common social purpose. Effective co-ordination of the develop­ ment activities of various decision-making units within the country is easier when they all subscribe to a common goal and operate under a common im petus.

The war-time experience of Nigeria has demonstrated the necessity for a sustained social w ill harnessed to a common social goal as a basis for national survival and greatness. Post-war conditions, rather than remove this necessity, indeed underline its undiminished import­ ance. A developing country in the context of 20th century Africa and of changing world technology is really in a state of permanent crisis hardly distinguishable in its essence from war-time mobilisation.

For planning purposes, a set of national objectives must deal simultaneously with the community's standard as well as quality of life. The first is a quantitative phenomenon and easier to measure. The second is a qualitative notion which is not susceptible to quantitative analysis but which is crucial to the pace of economic development and social change. It is relatively easy to quantify targets such as output, growth rates or changes in per capita income. Yet, it is becoming increasingly appreciated that the development process is a function of the innate forces in a society. Either a nation has got what it takes to build a dynamic economy or it has not. Nigeria has all the essential ingredients for a quick "take off."

The interruption of the civil war has provided an opportunity for the Government and people of Nigeria to set fresh goals and object­ ives for the Nigerian society. These national objectives must not only command a consensus providing an all-pervading motive force for social action and development activities, they must also fire the imagination of the nation at all times.

The nation^ basic strategy should be to learn from the exper­ iences and shortcomings of other countries in the world and to evolve for Nigeria a just and egalitarian society where the Government is guided by the aspirations of the people. Without the spirit of enter­ prise and self-reliance in the individual as well as in all national 200 and local institutions, it is difficult to evolve in Nigeria a develop­ ment-oriented society which is conscious of its responsibility to all its citizens and the peoples of Africa. In the context of contemporary world politics and technology, Nigeria cannot fulfill its role in Africa without a radical and m ilitant programme of social action. The Govern­ ment has, therefore, sought to lay the foundation for this type of society in the current National Development Plan.

National Planning should be aimed at the transformation of the whole society, and must be directed at the power centres of economic and political decisions. In the circumstances of Nigeria, a major segment of these centres from the point of view of development poss­ ibilities is still dominated by foreign interests. These interests can­ not always be expected to coincide with those of the nation. The Government has, therefore, resolved that, in the formulation and implementation of the National Plan, all its policies and actions should be guided solely by the best interests of the people of Nigeria.

1. National Objectives

The war and the experience of the majority of Nigerians during the darkest days of the long drawn-out crises have demonstrated that Nigeria is no longer a mere "geographic expression." She has indeed emerged from the war as a united country. To enable the new nation to march forward in progress, it is necessary for the country to accept and work for the realisation of a set of national objectives. Every individual and every segment of the country and all persons in posit­ ions of trust must henceforth be guided in their utterances and actions by these national objectives. The National Development Plan should, in this context, be seen as the first in the series of plans and programmes of action to help achieve the agreed national objectives and priorities.

What Nigeria lacked most in the past has been the national sense of purpose, particularly in economic matters. The Federal Government w ill, therefore, occupy the commanding heights in the quest for purposeful national development and provide the leadership and honest administration necessary for the attainment of a national sense of purpose. Government intervention in economic matters designed primar­ ily to protect and promote the public interest is, therefore, fully j u s t i f i e d .

The five principal national objectives are to establish Nigeria firm ly as:

(i) a united, strong and self-reliant nation;

(ii) a great and dynamic economy;

(iii) a just and egalitarian society; 201

(iv) a land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens; and

(v) a free and democratic society.

It is appropriate for the Government and people of the country to seek to give concrete meaning to these objectives and ensure their full realisation at all times.

The background to the basic issues in the country and the charac­ ter of the civil war have all demonstrated the political necessity that Nigeria must henceforth remain a united nation. It must direct its energies towards evolving a strong and powerful nation capable of sustaining its territorial integrity against all enemies of Africa. The defense and security of the state must be geared to the objective of national unity and the evolution of a well-integrated national community. The pursuit of a strong and united nation, as a fundamental social aim, is the very antithesis of secession or the exploitation of ethnic group, class and similar sentiments. In a free and democratic society there will always be divergences of views. But the inevitably vigorous debates about the great political and social issues facing the nation must be conducted at all times in a healthy, open and sincere manner. All programmes of social action must be guided by the over­ riding commitments of all citizens to the fundamental objectives of building a strong and united Nigeria.

In the context of modern power relations in the world and espec­ ially of the international threats facing the African peoples, Nigeria cannot be truly strong and united without a prosperous economic base. M aterial power exerts a disproportionate influence on international morality. Nigeria will, therefore, pursue relentlessly the task of development to make the national economy strong, dynamic and respons­ ive to the challenge of world competition.

The country is fortunate in having the resource potential in men, materials and money to lay a solid foundation for a socio-economic revolution in black Africa. The uncompromising objective of a rising economic prosperity in Nigeria is the economic independence of the nation and the defeat of neo-colonialist forces in Africa. It is a race against time and Nigeria must bend its energies towards the achievement of the most rapid rate of economic development feasible as a means of raising the quality of the life of the people.

Emphasis has been placed on growth as a pre-condition for a meaningful distribution of the fruits of development. The "national cake" must first be baked before it is shared; and the bigger the cake, the more it can go round at each succeeding round of the sharing game. But distribution is no less important for a country dedicated to the objectives of national unity and social integration. It also affects subsequent rates of growth in real output in terms of incentives for people to identify their interests with those of the nation and to give of their best to the development process. 202

A just and egalitarian society puts a premium on reducing inequal­ ities in inter-personal incomes and promoting balanced development among the various communities in the different geographical areas in the country. It organises its economic institutions in such a way that there is no oppression based on class, social status, ethnic group or state. A distributive equity is, therefore, an important cornerstone in the set of national objectives for the Government's programme of reconstruction and social reform.

The ultimate goal of economic development is the welfare of the individual. The focus of our policy objective should, therefore, be on how the ordinary citizen is to be affected by the resulting set of action programmes and projects. The prospect of the citizen in the process of economic development and social change should not be deter­ mined by the mere accident of the circumstances of his birth. He should be able to have equal access to all the facilities and the opportunities which could help him realise his potential and develop his full personality. A sense of self-reliance and a sense of national pride are worthy objectives which the Government believes the average Nigerian wishes to cultivate. But he can only do so in an atmosphere of expanding opportunities for full employment, for education and for self-fulfillm ent. The nation w ill, therefore, remain fully committed to the achievement of these objectives at all times.

The war has brought home forcefully the important lesson that Nigeria's strength lies in the abundance of its resources, the size of its market and the innate dynamism of its people. It is, therefore, a primary objective of policy to promote and maintain at all times the indissoluble unity and interdependence of the national economy. The logic of a fully-integrated economy is the rational application of economic policies, the unhindered mobility of production factors across areas and sectors, and the free access of every producer to the national market. It also implies the harmonisation and effective co­ ordination of all policy measures by all decision makers for consist­ ency, clarity and workability.

The changing pattern of the world economy and the increasing con­ centration of world's economic and political power poses a great challenge for Africa, which Nigeria cannot ignore. Nigeria w ill, therefore, quicken its pace of development through the use of her own resources instead of relying unduly on external aid. This is the only way for an aspiring nation like Nigeria to develop at a rapid rate and in the right direction.

The volume of resources which can be raised by a community is a function of what the proceeds are used for as well as how they are used. Honest and dedicated leadership can go very far in stimulating a greater sense of sacrifice in a community and thereby sustain a successful self-reliant development. Economic nationalism today does not imply the restriction of international trade. It is directed at the progressive elimination of foreign dominance in the national 203

economy, not merely in terms of nominal financial-ownership but really in terms of the level of managerial and technological control.

Experience through history has shown that a Government cannot plan effectively what it does not control. The widespread frustration of planning in contemporary Africa has also demonstrated the futility of partial planning that is restricted to public sector programmes, especially when the typical African public sector is an inferior junior partner in a game dictated by the global strategy of modern internation­ al combines. If Nigeria is, therefore, to be really serious about planned development, it is essential that she should play a dominant role in the public sector. This means having both access to and control of all the major national resources. For a minimum, resources such as land, mineral deposits and other natural endowments, must be owned by the nationals of the country. But more important than legal ownership is the effective control over the use of such vital resources. During the Plan period, Government w ill, therefore, seek to regulate the use of those resources for the benefit of the community at large as well as to control the essential and growth-sensitive sectors of the country in the fields of commerce, industry, fuel and energy, constructbn, trans­ port, finance and education.

For a country that has lagged so much behind in the development race and yet with so much widely-recognised potential, the need to achieve the highest possible growth rate of per capita income is so obvious to need restatement. Strictly speaking, rates of growth in per capita income are not direct operational targets as they do not constitute an end in themselves. They flow as the end-result of the optimum exploitation of real variables—growth of knowledge of natural resources, intensity and character of innovation, level of savings, character of investments, quality of manpower, managerial ability and the degree of productivity consciousness. Various calculations reflect­ ed in different parts of the Development Plan indicate that, as an objective of policy, Nigeria is capable of achieving a minimum average rate of growth, in the Gross Domestic Product, of 6.67, per annum during theperiod 1970-74. But more important than this growth rate would be the extent to which the economy can succeed in removing the various obstacles to an even higher growth rate from 1974 onwards in later plan periods.

An important element of social justice for national integration is the worthy objective of balanced development as between different geographical areas of the country. The reduction of existing dis­ parities must be pursued openly, although this cannot be accomplished at the cost of stagnation in areas which are presumed to be relative­ ly more developed. To do so would be to slow down the rate of develop­ ment for the national economy as a whole. The objective is to move rapidly to the achievement of a minimum economic and social standard for every part of the country. A corollary for such a policy object­ ive in a federal system of government is the principle of relatively equal developmental effort and sacrifice as among the geographical areas concerned. 204

Full employment of resources, especially of the labour force, is the necessary policy objective for an economy dedicated to rapid growth and social harmony. The existence of excess capacity means resource waste and lost economic opportunities which an economy like Nigeria can ill afford. This is true not only of investment capacity, but also, even more strongly, of the nation's human resources. Committment to a full employment policy implies that Government accepts responsibility to create, on a continuing expanding basis, the appropriate socio­ economic environment for maximum utilisation of productive factors. It does not mean an obligation on the part of Government to find wage employment for everybody irrespective of his skill, wish or aspiration. It is essential that all citizens of working age are gainfully occupied according to the requirements cf the economy and their skills.

The quality of life in a community depends partly on the level of social services which, collectively, the public sector can provide as social goods. In Nigeria, education and health facilities are at present the most important of such social services; they are areas in which the Governments have been active in the past. In many well- ordered and economically advanced societies, such goods are supplied free to the citizens at the expense of the community at large. Nigeria is not yet in that happy position. The public sector is neither sufficiently endowed nor adequately organised to treat all social services as free goods without impairing the rational use of available resources for development. The level of such free social goods to be made available must therefore, be related to what the economy can bear, consistent with its steady growth. In Nigeria today, the level of the social services and the magnitude of investment in education and health must, to a large extent, be determined by how much is available to the Governments and to what extent the people who expect to benefit directly from the services are themselves prepared both individually and collect­ ively, to contribute to such services. In general, however, Govern­ ment continues to accept as a basic objective of policy the primary responsibility for the mental and physical care of all the citizens.

A fast growing economy is often subject to strong inflationary pressures. Not all forms of inflation are bad, and experience in different parts of the world has shown that some forms of inflation­ ary pressure can even be beneficial to the development process, given skillful planning and management of the economy. Some degree of inflation is, in any case, inevitable in the dynamic conditions of economic growth. Government, nevertheless, accepts it as an object­ ive of policy to keep inflationary tendencies within reasonable bounds not only because of the competitive survival of Nigeria in inter­ national trade and payments, but also because of the need to preserve the external value of the Nigerian currency in the international trad­ ing community. 205

2. Development Priorities

Every economic activity, which is likely to promote development in Nigeria's circumstances deserves high priority. It is, neverthe­ less, necessary for the nation to set out clearly its priorities in order to ensure that all the investment decision units in the economy operate on the same wavelength and within the same framework of expectations.

In the 1970-74 Plan period, the highest order of national priori­ ties is accorded to agriculture, industry, transportation and man­ power development. This means in effect that Government w ill allocate a great part of the resources to these sectors of the economy in order to generate the necessary impetus for growth. In the second order of priority rating are social services and utilities such as electricity, communication and water supplies, where investment resources w ill be channelled to sensitive points in order to maxi­ mise the utilisation of existing plants and eliminate excess capaci­ ties. Except Defense and Security which are in a class by themselves, the other services w ill be regarded as belonging to the third order of priority. It is customary for defense and security investment proposals, as the situation demands, to be accorded a priority which is sui generis, and in the existing post-war situation, their rating can be regarded in principle as being among the first order of priority. However, it is absolutely essential to ensure that the proportion of abailable resources channelled to defense and security is not so high as to incapacitate the nationh productive capacity and to paralyse the economy. Otherwise, there w ill be nothing left for the Armed Forces to defend or protect.

The national scale of priorities has been duly adjusted marginally at the State level to accommodate differences in the stages of develop­ ment and in the varying ecological and social conditions. Thus, man­ power development in one part of the country may entail the rapid expansion of primary school education, while in another area it may mean concentration on secondary and technical education, and yet in another, it may involve the rationalisation of university education. The basic objective in all three cases is, of course, to upgrade the level of available manpower for self-fulfillm ent and full employment. Again, in the field of health services, it may be necessary to treat the provision of health facilities as the topmost social-sector priority in an area where they are non-existent, whereas in others, it may be a question of providing the personnel required for the optimum utilisation of existing facilities. These spatial differences in priorities are reflected in the various States programmes.

It is relatively easy to determine sectoral priorities. It is more difficult to reconcile such priorities with the selection of projects and programmes which satisfy the investment criteria laid down in the next Chapter on Planning Strategy. The difficulty arises where well prepared projects are available in a "non-productive" 206 sector which cannot easily attract development finance from domestic and external sources, while attractive and productive sectors do not immediately have such viable projects. It is relatively easy, for instance, to prepare and design building programmes for the construct­ ion of barracks and schools, but it is relatively difficult to raise the long-term development finance for such projects. On the other hand, agricultural and industrial programmes generally create their own funds, but it is not always easy to identify and develop viable projects for such purposes. The answer lies in providing more resources for the planning, designing and engineering specifications of new projects in the priority sectors. This has been done in the Plan for major infrastructure projects such as Roads and Bridges.

In the light of the major constraints of foreign exchange and high-level manpower, the following are the specific and ordered priorities which have guided the selection of programmes and projects in the various sectors of the Plan:

(a) The reconstruction of facilities which have been damaged by the act of war or which have fallen into a state of disrepair and lack of maintenance, in such a way that the nation's productivity capacity may at least be maintained intact;

(b) The rehabilitation and resettlement of persons displaced by war;

(c) The r e h a b i lit a ti o n and re s e ttle m e n t o f dem obilised Armed Forces personnel;

(d) The establishment of an efficient administrative service and of appropriate economic infrastructure especially, in the new S ta te s ;

(e) The correction of defective existing public policies in the area of economic development, with a view to ensuring a higher level of rationality and mutual consistency;

(f) The achievement of a rate of growth of per capita output sufficiently high to bring about a doubling of real income per head before 1985. As a beginning, an average rate of 6.6 per cent per annum in the Gross Domestic Product has been set as a minimum target for the 1970-74 Plan;

(g) The deliberate creation of opportunities for gainful occupation, at a level capable of reducing the rate of unemploy­ ment and disguised unemployment in a significant manner;

(h) The production of the high-level and intermediate-level manpower (especially in Science and Technology) to satisfy the requirements of the public and private sectors, such that the majority of expatriate personnel in the economy, especially in industry and commerce, would be replaced by nationals by 1980 or 207 soon thereafter;

(i) The progressive improvement of knowledge about the economy's resource endowment, through the establishment of schemes for resources inventory survey;

(j) The promotion of balanced development between one part of the country and another and, especially, between the urban and rural a r e a s ;

(k) The rapid improvement in the level and quality of social services provided for the welfare of the people. CHAPTER 23

EDUCATION

There is considerable controversy about what the objective of educational development should be. Some have suggested that educa­ tion should be provided for its own sake, as a means of enriching an individual's knowledge and developing his full personality. This concept of education has lately influenced educational policies in some advanced countries of tbe world. Others, on the other hand, hold that education should seek to prepare people to undertake specific tasks and employment functions which are essential for the transform­ ation of their environment. The two points of view can be restated in terms of the conflict between regarding education as a consumer good and regarding it as a capital good. Nigeria should in her stage of development, regard education as both.

The concept of education as a capital good is linked with the concept of 'human capital' which attaches high premium to human skills as a factor of production in the development process. A corollary of this is that human skill or productivity is just as important an in­ put in the process of development as finance, natural wealth and physical plant. Because education plays a most important role in the creation and improvement of 'human capital', its relevance and importance to development is now very well recognised in development planning. Experience of developing countries during the past three decades has indicated that shortage of talents and skills needed for development can decisively retard economic progress.

Therefore, a country like Nigeria cannot afford to leave educat­ ion to the whims and caprices of individual choice. Available resources for development are highly limited. Public policies in the field of education must therefore take full account of the needs of the country in terms of developmental manpower and skills.

One major focus of educational policy in Nigeria has been the ultimate provision of formal education to every child of school going age to at least primary school level, on the ground that universal education is very vital in improving people's receptiveness to new ideas. The other objective of educational policy is the creation of an adequate stock of skills needed in the process of social and economic development.

1. Performance of the Education Sector

208 209

From 1951 onwards, the Federal and the then Regional Governments had concurrent constitutional and administrative responsibility for educational development. During the 1962-68 Plan period, the Federal Government was responsible for education in the Capital territory of Lagos as well as for certain higher education institutions. The Regions had primary responsibility for education in their areas. In addition to special Federal Government responsibility over Lagos, it was committed to programmes of assistance to the educational develop­ ment of the Regions.

During the last Plan period, a total capital expenditure of £45.65 million was incurred in the implementation of Federal and Regional Governments' Programmes in the educational sector. This represents 65.2 per cent of the total planned estimate of £69.763 million. The Federal Government alone spent £24.678 million as against the £29.154 million estimated. The Regional Governments together incurred a total capital expenditure of £20.976 million out of the £40.7 million planned. These figures indicate some considerable degree of under­ spending, especially at the regional level.

Programmes of primary education during the last Plan period aimed at considerable increase in primary school enrollment. In 1961, total primary school enrollment in the country stood at 2.8 million. By 1966, it had reached 3.0 million and by 1968 an assumed total of 3.1 million had been attained. The Northern States and Lagos accounted for the bulk of the increase in enrollment during the period.

There was relatively less expansion in secondary education during the last Plan period. Total enrollment in secondary schools was about 195,000 at the beginning of the plan in 1962. By 1966, it had risen to 211,000, reaching an estimated total of 215,000 in 1968. Considerable efforts were made during the period to expand sixth form classes, although the failure rate at the final examinations was rather high.

Some noticeable expansion in teacher training took place during the plan period. One of the most significant developments was the establishment of an Advanced Teacher Training College by the Federal Government to train non-graduate teachers. The Regional Governments also stepped up their teacher training programmes in an endeavour to meet the increasing demand from primary and secondary schools. To improve the quality of teaching, measures were taken during the period to abolish Grade III Teachers' Colleges throughout the country and upgrade the quality of existing Grade III Teachers.

Enrolment in technical and vocational schools in the country was about 6,000 in 1962, rising to 10,000 by 1966 and an estimated 12,000 in 1968. Five fully equipped Technical Colleges were in operation during the period. However, the Colleges suffered from inadequate teaching staff, leading sometimes to withdrawal of some essential co u rse s. 210

There was rapid development of the Universities during the last plan period. Total enrolment rose from about 3,600 in 1962 to 8,600 in 1968. But for the closure of one of the Universities during the last two years of the period, total enrolment would probably have reached the 10,000 level planned for 1968. A significant trend in the development of the Universities during the period was the increas­ ing enrolment for courses in Science, Engineering and Technology.

2. Some Problems in the Education Sector

In spite of the rapid expansion in the education sector during the last plan period, some vital problems affecting development in the various levels of education remain. They include the following l i s t :

(a) Low Level of Enrolment—Although there has been significant development in formal education over the past two decades, only a small proportion of the population has had the benefit of formal education. In 1966, the primary school enrolment ratio for the nation as a whole was about 30 per cent. In other words, in the primary school age-group less than 1 child in 3 was in school. As a yardstick, some advanced countries have virtually achieved a ratio of 100 per cent at this level. At the secondary school level the ratio was only about 3 per cent, compared with the ratio of about 60 per cent which has been attained in some advanced countries. Furthermore, serious embalances in educational development exist among different areas of the country. Enrolment ratios at primary school level range from a low of 4 per cent in some areas to a high of 70 per cent in others. Similarly for the secondary school level, the range is between 0.4 per cent to 12 per cent.

(b) Qualitative Defects in the Educational System—The sharp increase in primary school enrolment over the past two decades has been accompanied by a high drop-out rate in primary schools in various parts of the country. This has been more marked in areas where free primary education schemes have been in operation. This problem has been traced to inadequate facilities and poor quality of teaching, which are to a large extent reflections of poor financing. Another qualitative defect in the system is the inadequate exposure of secondary school products to essential school subjects, such as Science and Mathematics which are basic to enrolment for higher tech­ nological and scientific studies. The result is that too few students with qualifications in these subjects leave secondary schools. This, in turn, tends to limit enrolment for the Science and Technology courses in the Universities, courses which are crucial in meeting essential high-level manpower needs of the economy.

(c) Unplanned and Unco-ordinated Expansion of Different Levels of Education—The considerable expansion in primary education was not accompanied by a proportionate expansion in secondary education. This ‘ 211

has resulted in serious unemployment among school leavers, since the existing secondary school facilities are very inadequate to meet the considerable out-turn from primary schools.

(d) Shortage of Teaching Staff—One of the major constraints on the desirable development in primary and secondary education in the country is the serious shortage of qualified and competent teaching staff. The Emergency Teacher Training Programme introduced during the late 1960's is a recognition of the serious nature of the problem. About 2,000 potential graduate teachers have already been trained or are currently under training under this Emergency Teacher Training Programme, financed by the Federal Government.

(e) Creation of States—The creation of twelve States has shown in bolder relief, the problems of educational development in many areas of the country. The emerging needs of the public services of the new States have tremendous implications for education and train­ ing. Another dimension of the problem is the imbalance among the States in the availability of requisite expertise and skills. While some States have a surfeit of some skills, others, particularly the Rivers and Lagos States and some of the Northern States, are exper­ iencing shortage in similar fields. These have given rise to the persistent problems of educational gap among the different geograph­ ical areas of the country and the attendant issue of free mobility of skills from one part to any other part of the country.

3. Educational Policy

One primary objective of the current Plan with respect to educa­ tion is the restoration of facilities and services damaged or dis­ rupted by the civil war. Another major objective is the development and expansion of education at various levels in order to achieve higher enrolment ratios as well as improved quality at these levels while at the same time, reducing the educational gap in the country by "levelling upwards."

In specific terms, the main policies in the education sector during the Plan period are as follows:

(a) Formulation of measures to restore and reactivate educa­ tional facilities and services disrupted in the war-affected areas. This policy envisages specific Federal assistance to the States affected by the war.

(b) Continued development and expansion of primary education. The various State programmes contain measures which aim at consider­ able expansion of primary education. These measures range from the extension of existing schools to the establishment of new ones. To supplement these efforts, the Federal Government w ill continue its financial assistance to States with very low enrolment ratios. An 212 objective of policy in this regard is to achieve a national minimum enrolment ratio of 50 per cent at the primary school level in the mid-1970's.

(c) Development and expansion of secondary education to meet increasing demand from products of the primary schools. Both Federal and States Programmes envisage considerable expansion in secondary education during the Plan period. Additional streams to the existing classes are planned, while the establishment of new schools is to be undertaken. In the Federal-run schools, it is hoped to increase enrolment in Forms I-V to four streams in each Form, while a total enrolment of 1,000 is aimed at in each school, including the Sixth Form class. Substantial expansion in the facilities for the teaching of Science and technical subjects is also planned. In addition, the Federal Government is to continue giving financial assistance to States with low secondary school enrolment ratios. The aim of policy is to achieve a national minimum ratio of 25 per cent at the secondary school level before the end of the 1970's.

(d) Continued development and expansion of technical education. The current shortage of middle-level manpower is acute for well-trained technical personnel. Proposed Federal and States Programmes envisage considerable expansion at this level of education consistent with the needs of the manpower market. Steps w ill also be taken to improve and up-grade lower-level technical schools in the country to ensure increas­ ed out-turn of better qualified technicians.

(e) Expansion of teacher training programmes. Realising the importance of teachers and of good quality teaching in any educational system, the Federal and State Governments are committed to the expansion of teacher training programmes in the country. Efforts are to be concentrated on greater out-turn of National Certificate of Education and graduate teachers. In this connection, the Emergency Teacher Train­ ing Programme recently inaugurated by the Federal Government w ill continue throughout the Plan period. The programme has been designed to produce both National Certificate of Education and professional graduate teachers in sufficient numbers to meet the acute shortage of teachers at these levels.

(f) Development of the Universities. Federal Government's special obligation for the development of Universities w ill continue. Federal grants to these institutions are channelled through the National Universities Commission. The Commission was reconstituted in 1968 and empowered to advise on the financial needs of the Universities and act as the agency for channelling external aid to them. The Commission is also to advise on the pattern of university development generally, including the establishment of new universities. Applications for the establishment of a new higher institution must first be presented to the National U niversities Commission by the sponsoring agency which could be a State Government or a private institution. Under the 213

Constitution, the Federal Government w ill consider such applications on the basis of the recommendations submitted by the National Univer­ sities Commission. The financial ability of the agency concerned to guarantee full support for the new institution w ill be one of the decisive factors. It must also be demonstrated that there is proved need for the new institution of higher learning. This includes the presence of large numbers of qualified and capable students who are unable to gain admission to the existing university institutions in the country. The Federal Government has special responsibilities not only for the development of Federal institutions of higher learning but also in assisting in the development of State Universities. The policy objective is to promote such healthy development and standards in the Universities as would ensure the availability of high-level manpower in the right proportions, required in meeting the needs of specialised services and operations in the country. Programmes of expansion in the Universities are expected to achieve additional enrolment of 7,000 students by the end of the Plan period.

(g) Financial assistance to students. Federal and State Govern­ ments w ill continue the promotion and administration of schemes for the financing of University students, involving the award of scholar­ ships, bursaries and loans to qualified and deserving students. The objective of policy is to bring University education within reach of every qualified Nigerian, while providing incentives designed to facilitate the availability of nationals in the professions and skills which are vital to the social and economic development of the nation.

(h) Further development and expansion of adult education. Funds and facilities w ill be made available for further expansion of adult education programmes. Particular attention will be given to function­ al literacy programmes in the rural areas, where the greatest need for this form of education exists.

(i) Support for research programmes in the field of education. Measures w ill be taken to encourage and support research programmes designed not only to provide solutions to current problems in the field of education, but also make the educational system continuously responsive to the changing needs of the nation.

4. Educational Programmes and Projects

(a) Primary Education—Projects concerning primary education consist mainly of programmes for the development and expansion of primary schools in the States. Federal programmes are essentially in the form of grants to some States to assist them achieve higher enrolment targets. For these programmes, the Federal Government has made a total allocation of £6.460 million. Programmes of the State Governments mainly involve the building of new schools and the expan­ sion of existing ones. A total capital expenditure of £27.478 million is planned by the State Governments. 214

(b) Secondary Education—Federal and States programmes at this level are designed to effect considerable expansion in secondary education. Federal efforts consist of grants to the States to assist development of their secondary schools, further development of existing Federal schools, and establishment of new Federal secondary schools in each of the remaining eight states. The States programmes concentrate on development of existing schools by the establishment of additional streams and the expansion of facilities for the teaching of Science and other technical subjects. Total allocation made for the development of secondary education is ^28.400 million.

(c) Technical Education—Projects under technical education include programmes for the expansion of existing technical and trade schools and the establishment of new schools. Federal assistance includes grants to the States for the development of technical schools and the up-grading of existing craft schools, at an estimated capital allocation of ^1.8 million. Total allocation by both Federal and State Governments amounts to £12.291 m illion.

(d) Teacher Training—An important feature of the teacher train­ ing programme is the Emergency Teacher Training Scheme or Crash Programme which is being implemented by the Federal Government. Allocation for the scheme is to the tune of £ 2 million. The State programmes consist mainly of expansion of existing teacher training institutions and the establishment of new institutions. Total allocation by both Federal and State Governments is £13* 195 m illion.

(e) Adult Education—A few States have programmes for the education of adults. The programmes consist mainly of schemes for the continuing education of persons not participating in the formal school system. The total allocation by all the States concerned is£0.730 million.

(f) University Education—Projects concerning the development of universities consist mainly of programmes for the expansion of existing faculties (especially the technical ones) and the establishment of new disciplines in response to the manpower needs of the nation. The programmes also include the reconstruction of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Federal Government allocation for the development of the Universities is to the tune of £25.5 million. This includes the sum of £2 million allocated for the expansion of the new Medical Schools system in the country. Western State allocation for the development of Univer­ sity of Ife is £”5.5 million. The Northern States' contributions to the development of Ahmadu Bello University w ill amount to 5£.160 million during the Plan period. Similarly, the East-Central and the South- Eastern States will contribute about £2.558 million to the rehabilita­ tion and expansion of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The Mid-West State has allocated £2.3 million for the establishment of the Institute of Technology in Benin. 215

(g) Students Financing—Federal and State Governments have programmes for the timely award of scholarships and loans tenable in various institutions of higher learning in the country. The program­ mes are geared to meeting the needs of the country in terms of the various levels of manpower. Total allocation by Federal and State Governments is £6.250 m illion. APPENDIX 2

THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Extracts from Donald P. Sanders, "Planning For Educational Development." Evaluation Center, Ohio State University, College of Education, pp. 4 - 12

This leads us to the question: what is the role of education in national development? This is a question which cannot be answered with much assurance at our present level of knowledge because we have a crude understanding of the development process and a dim perception of what the consequences may be of any educational act or teaching effort. These are conceptual, theoretical, and research issues which now receive substantial attention by scholars. In the pragmatic world of governmental operation, however, decisions must be made even though desired information and evidence is not yet available. Even in the absence of a desired level of understanding about the role of education in development, action must be taken.

Usually in the context of national planning, development is con­ sidered to include two dimensions, economic and social. Economic development is relatively clearly defined to mean some increase in the level of living available to a population. It may be indicated, with some difficulty to be sure, by measures of per capita income. Social development is much more ambiguous. It is usually given pass­ ing mention by technicians and governments and largely ignored in policy formulation. It is important in this discussion, however, to consider some possible meanings and indicators of social development as they may be relevant to educational policy formulation because one thing is clear: planning educational development exclusively on economic development terms is unacceptable to educationists, to econ­ omists and to governmental policy makers.

Social Development

"It should no longer be necessary to speak of economic and social development since development—as distinct from growth—should automatically include both. Development is growth plus change; change in turn is social and cultural as well as economic, and qualitative as well as quantitative."

U.N. Secretary General (1)

216 217 Most of us concerned with development would agree with the Secret­ ary General; the difficulty, however, is to make this conception mean­ ingful in an operational sense. There is no single indicator, however imperfect, analogous to measures of per capita income which can provide a bench mark for the non-economic dimensions of development. Yet there is a clear need for some usable criteria, some indices of development in the social sphere which may be used for analysis of public policy and for the formulation of programs in areas of the public service such as education which are not narrowly economic.

The problem of defining social development operationally is com­ pounded by two important factors: first, there is no general agreement on what constitutes social progress, and inevitably the term "develop­ ment" implies amelioration or progress. The other factor is that social development may involve any dimension of human life; the variables chosen as criteria could include most of the measurable phenomena of social activity. Further, some of these variables may be autonomous in development while others may be consequences of other changes. The interdependence of social variables is unclear at best in our present state of knowledge. Smelser puts the point as follows:

"Development as a whole involves a complex series of changes in rates of growth—of output per-capita, of literacy, of political participation, etc.—and major changes in these rates depend on the occurrence of fundamental changes in the social structure of the developing society. To complicate the study of development even more, changes in one in stitu t­ ional sector set up demands for changes in other sectors. Rapid economic development, for instance, establishes press­ ure for adjustment in the education and training of a new type of labor force. Again if the educational system produces a large number of literate, skilled, but unemployable persons, this often sets up demands for economic or political adjust­ ments to assimilate those persons into socially meaningful and perhaps economically productive roles." (2)

Since the meaning of socialdevelopment is not clear and since we lack agreed measurable concepts for indicating levels achieved, it is very difficult to plan for educational policy consistent with social development. Yet this is required if basing educational policy exclus­ ively on economic criteria is unacceptable. Fortunately, social devel­ opment is generally agreed to include, as a minimum, trends toward industrialization, urbanization, and modernization. It may be useful for us to examine these three social forces for the new requirements they w ill place on humans living and prospering, in a psychological if not economic sense, where such forces are running in strength.

Figure 1 indicates some of the behavioral requirements implied by industrialization, urbanization and modernization. These behavioral requirements, in turn, must be learned by increasing proportions of the population if social development is to continue and if social cost is to be minimized. Since these learnings are discontinuous with the socialization and enculturation processes of traditional societies, inevitably the major burden of providing them must fall on non-family 218 F igure 1

Some Behavioral Requirements of Social Development

Factor Behavioral Requirement

1. Industrialization More specialized workers—new and changing occupational roles

Increasingly sophisticated functions within occupational roles

Increasing occupational mobility

Increasing geographic mobility

Higher proportions of literate workers—able to upgrade skills through further learning

Higher proportions of workers able to be self- directive problem solvers

Growing numbers of persons with entrepreneurial- creative-skills and attitudes Increasing numbers of workers and consumers who understand and value rationality, scientific explanations of phenomena, cause and effect

Increasing numbers of workers and managers who use merit criteria for recruitment and selection- accept "meritocracy"

2. Urbanization Increasing proportion of literate persons

In c re a s in g p ro p o rtio n o f persons who know about and have skills for using social services and institutions which replace traditional norms and institutions Increasing proportion of persons who are able to derive personal satisfactions from secondary (Gesellschaft) associations and who are not dis­ turbed by the reduction of primary (Gemeinschaft) associations Increasing proportion of persons who can respond readily to a changing environment—able to use problem-solving skills

3. Modernization Increasing proportion of population identifying with the polity rather than local village or tribe—sense of national participation

Increasing proportion of population with knowledge and skills to participate in political processes 219 educative agencies, primarily the schools. While carrying this burden w ill force the school to take leadership in widening the gap between the generations, with probable increased political pressures on the school system, the school or other educative agencies must provide these learnings if development is to proceed.

Another and less debatable set of social development objectives may be identified. These objectives are easily specified in terms of increased levels of social welfare which are defined as good in them­ selves rather than as consequences of other goals which may be sought. For example, the eradication of illiteracy, the provision of education to a larger proportion of the school age population, or to disadvant­ aged groups in the population, a reduction in mortality, morbidity, and debility rates are readily recognized as desired ends in themselves. Development objectives of this sort are much easier to formulate as operational targets for educational planning than are the consequences of industrialization and urbanization. Yet educational planning which is based exclusively on quantitative criteria or on manpower criteria may miss the main point in development (as it could be if a specified reduction in mortality rates is chosen as the development target and attainment of that target can be interpreted in terms of specialized health personnel and facilities requirements). Development is a pro­ cess which requires fundamental changes in the world view, attitudes, knowledge and skills of people. Educational development, which is exclusively expansion of pre-existing educational facilities, w ill fail to serve the development process and may well add contradictions, which w ill increase the tension and conflict which tend to accompany develop­ ment under any conditions. Identification of these more subtle goals and their formulation as operationally meaningful targets is much more difficult than quantitative expansion of existing programs. But curri­ cula, teaching and pupil-selection procedures in many countries require improvement in these vital qualitative dimensions of education if it is to serve the development process.

Goals for Educational Development

The educational system of a developing country is one of the sub­ systems in the society which must adapt to accommodate the process of development. Like the economic system or the social system, the educ­ ational system is an institutionalized set of human interrelationships which has no intrinsic value in itself, although not infrequently people assume it has. On the contrary, these systems are means devel­ oped by men to permit the attainment of some shared goals. They are instruments through which men seek to solve shared problems or to attain shared ends.

In a developing country, even more so than in a relatively advan­ ced one, it is necessary to perceive the educational system as an instrument, as a means for attainment of human goals. Most social institutions and systems, however, tend over time to become reified, to take on a life of their own and to persist in operating in ways that may have once been appropriate long after goals or other circumstances have changed. For t h i s reaso n i t i s n o t uncommon fo r e d u c a tio n a l systems to be incoordinated with current conditions. This gap, in 220 turn, has led governments to seek planned development in education. The fundamental purpose of educational planning is to establish policies and resource allocations to and within the educational system so that future national requirements for educated persons may be fulfilled. Educational planning is concerned with basically this issue: how many must learn what, how well, in order to satisfy future requirements for educated persons?

As we saw in our discussion of social and economic development, the future requirements for educated persons in a developing society are difficult to identify and to specify in operational terms. Yet this the sine qua non of rational educational policy, for if there is no clear and operationally defined target, it is impossible to evaluate performance and impossible to iudge what must be done now in order to achieve satis­ factory levels of performance. If there is no clear determination of goals and priorities, it is impossible for decision-makers to know whether exoanding primary education enrollments is more important than adult education or expansion of the university law school. The demands for educated persons in the future society are likely to be greater than can be met and as a consequence, choices must be and are made. It is only sensible that these choices be made explicitly and in light of the best available information.

The heart of sound decision-making lies in the clear and explicit formulation of objectives or targets. In any national educational system, the actual and potential objectives which may be sought are very many. Furthermore, decision-making is very decentralized, even in a centralized national system, since the teacher within his classroom is traditional, and in fact, "king." The specific objectives sought in teaching, whether they are made explicit or not, are determined in practice by the individ­ ual teacher. Of course, the teacher's freedom of choice is not infinitely wide. It is constrained by the teacher's perception of what is desirable or possible, by some lim its which may be imposed formally or informally by the group of teachers in a given school or city, by the school direct­ ors, boards of control, parents and citizens and by national or local administrative authorities. However, because of this inevitable indep­ endence of teachers, and for perfectly valid professional reasons as well, tactical decisions about immediate goals for the education of spec­ ific groups of pupils must be left in the hands of local school personn­ el, especially the classroom teacher.

But on a policy level, with regard to decisions about global alloca­ tions of resources for the attainment of general policy objectives, responsibility rests with higher administrative authority: ministers and subdirectors of education, rectors and faculties of universities, directors of private schools and directors of economic enterprises which provide vocational preparation. It is this level, where global alloca­ tions of resources for education are made, at which the process of plan­ ning is most useful.

Planning is a way to make explicit choices in light of the best avail-able information. It is not a technique which provides ready-made solutions; in fact, it may make decision-making even more difficult than it is in an unplanned system since planning necessarily requires explicit 221 consideration of the Issues involved in a decision and may by that fact increase opportunities for disagreement among the various power centers involved. Yet, to my way of thinking, even if disagreement is focused and given an opportunity to become articulate, this w ill contribute to a net national advantage since whatever decisions are taken w ill be made after explicit consideration of the objective factors involved.

Planning, then, is a process whereby available means are allocat­ ed to desired ends in education in an explicit way in order to maximize the chance that these ends w ill be achieved during the planning period. Let us now consider the planning process as it relates to education in terms of system assessment, of target setting, educational output, and educational input strategies. APPENDIX 3

ADDRESS BY THE FEDERAL COMMISSIONER FOR EDUCATION ON GOVERNMENT'S POLICIES TOWARDS THE ARTS

Address by the Federal Commissioner for Education, Chief A. Y. Eke, at the Opening of the National A rt Seminar and Workshop Held in Ahmadu B ello University, Zaria on Thursday. March 23rd, 1972

It gives me pleasure to open the National Art Seminar and Workshop organised by the Art Department of this University. Considering my connection with, and interest in the arts and artists, I am particularly happy to participate in this seminar whose theme is 'The role of an artist as a creative force in society and education.' Almost four weeks ago I was involved in a similar exercise here with the Faculty of Architecture. A week before then, I had opened a Psychology Week at the University of Lagos. Only a week ago, I performed a similar task at the University of Ife in connection with the Pharmaceutical Educat­ ion Conference held there. On leaving here tomorrow, I shall proceed to Kano to open the National Adult Education Conference holding there, and on Monday, March 27, I shall open the Seminar on Archaeology and the Teaching of History to be held in the University of Ibadan. At an Education Week in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, two weeks later, I am expected to read a paper on Education and Nigerian Unity. Although I am thus kept busy, I must say it is gratifying that our universities are playing a leading role in bringing professional bodies together at such regular seminars. It augers well for Nigeria especially at this time of our national reconstruction when ideas from such seminars could be employed in our national planning.

2. As you know, Nigeria had acquired great reputation in the world of art long before she attained her independence and she is singularly distinguished, in African south of the Sahara, for her rich and vast cultural manifestations - a heritage of the past and a pride of the present generation. Her antiquities, especially the masterpieces from the ancient kingdoms of Ife, Benin and Nok, contributed more than any other factor, to her reputation. Some of the masterpieces - exhibited in leading museums and galleries all over the world - have become part of the sum-total of the cultural heritage of mankind. Each time I travel in Europe and America and come across our works I feel happy and proud.

3. Unfortunately, Nigerian art has suffered great reverses since the colonial era. The philosophical and religious contents of Nigerian art, its aesthetic quality and even the quantity were adversely affected by 222 223 the activities of the colonial missionaries and administrators. In the old traditional society, artistic and cultural activities and manifestations were closely linked with life. They were bom of the people and performed for the people. Art objects were used as necess­ ities of everyday life and for religious rites; and culture was an indivisible aspect of the people and the society. Colonialism im­ posed a new way of life and the Western culture which our people began to imbed far reaching effects on our traditional art and culture. The new alien forms introduced and encouraged tended to supersede our traditional forms and to relegate them to the back-ground. In fact, Colonization subjected Nigerian artistic and cultural forms to changes and, in some cases, to destruction.

4. Twelve years after our political independence I think we should stop bemoaning the past. As a nation, we should now struggle hard to revive our cultural identity and regain lost grounds in the world of art. The task of reviving our art and culture is one of the para­ mount roles artists can play in our society; and now is the time to start. Mistaken for luxury, culture is today regarded as essential for a people's social and economic development. It is the soul of a people and confers moral equilibrium on them thus making it possible for them to absorb social and economic progress without being absorbed by it. We therefore have to adopt a progressive policy of re-discov- ery and re-identification and improvement of our cultural heritage to avoid having to seek an identity elsewhere.

5. I do not condemn our having access to and our benefitting from the admittedly great European culture. All I am stressing is that we should not in so doing overlook the great cultural patterns of our ancestors. To live only on borrowed culture is like living someone else's life. To live on a culture borrowed entirely from the past is like cutting one's life off from the reality of today. What I advo­ cate is a new synthesis - of past, present and adopted cultures. I therefore call on the new generation of Nigerian artists especially the educated ones to work together and evolve a new aesthetic philo­ sophy to guide the production and appreciation of contemporary Niger­ ian art. Such a philosophy should reflect the artistic ideals and spiritual values of our people - past and present - and should take cognisance of the best cultural heritage of the outside world.

6. It is sad to observe that contemporary Nigerian art seems to be detached from the generality of the people, and many citizens com­ plain that they cannot understand the contents and forms of some contemporary or modern Nigerian art. This complaint may be justified when one remembers the functions and importance of art in our tradit­ ional society. I do not wish to impose any restriction on artistic development but I think artists should bear in mind that it is wise to unfold the secret of appreciation of the forms and content of contemporary art to the general public. Because art is a by-product of and a reflection of the environment, its appreciation and enjoy­ ment should not be the exclusive privilege of an elite, By organiz­ ing public lecturers, seminars like this and other educational talks, artists w ill make the public know more about their works; and the great contribution the arts can make to the good life. 224 7. I also wish to say on Art teachers, and indeed all teachers, to give Nigerian youth the necessary guidance to appraise the signific­ ance of our cultural heritage. It is not necessary for all children to be artists or craftsmen, but it is desirable that all should share in the enjoyment and appreciation of our cultural heritage. An Art te a c h e r is not a man who teach es A rt a lo n e , he is a ls o a man from whom children can learn the cultural values of the society. There­ fore, I strongly appeal to Art teachers to recognize the essence and values of our culture; and to bring them to the attention of our youth.

8. I believe that Art teachers have a double role to play in our society especially at this time of national reconstruction and recon­ ciliation. They should mould the ideas of the young and try to modify the values of the old. As artists, some of them are blessed with the gifts of foresight and sensing the ills of the society; and through their works are able to win the minds of men and influence them. By campaigning, through their works, for higher ideals in morals, politics and religion, artists can effect a change in people's outlook, thus reducing antagonism between tribal, religious and social groups and promoting mutual understanding and a common cult­ ural standard throughout our country.

9. Through regular art exhibitions and exchanges in the states, the young artists could remove some of the existing barriers in the way of our national unity. Inter-state cultural displays and exhibitions w ill go a long way to enlighten people about the ways of life of their fellow citizens living in other parts of the country. By learn­ ing of other tribal arts with different customs and standards of values, people tend to escape from narrow routines and reach out for additional values. Cultural diffusion gradually takes place and a common national culture eventually emerges. It is my strong convict­ ion that we cannot successfully build a Nigerian nation until we are united by a common culture.

10. Having said that I w ill now deal briefly with my M inistry's activities in the field of art. My Ministry is mindful of the great contribution art can make to education and to life in general. To that end, the Art Section of the Ministry has been revived and reor­ ganized to cope Vith the advisory and planning demands of art educat­ ion in the twelve states of the Federation. It works in close collaboration with state agencies and other interested bodies in the planning, inspection and overall promotion of art in schools and colleges. Officials of the Ministry serve on committees for curri­ cula and syllabus review and also on examination bodies.

11. In order to encourage the teaching and practice of Art in schools, the Federal Ministry of Education organizes an annual Schools Art Exhibition and Competition. Prizes are awarded for the schools' overall participation and for outstanding individual works. Last year at Ibadan a selection of the children's paintings under this scheme was exhibited as part of the National Festival of Arts. The works are now being c irc u la te d among th e s ta t e s in o rd e r to create some cultural contacts and to give children in all the states, opportunities of seeing works produced by their colleagues. 225 12. Realizing the acute shortage of Art teachers in the country, my M inistry has allocated a sizeable percentage of its awards under the 'Crash Programme for the training of teachers' to undergraduates doing Art and other creative subjects. As a result of this, I am happy to observe that during the past four years over one hundred Art, Music and Drama students in colleges of education and universities have bene- fitted from this programme. In the award of Federal Government open scholarships, Art students are also considered on the same academic footing, and have benefitted, as their counterparts in other discip­ lines. The state governments are also contributing their quota in this direction. The products of both the federal and state scholar­ ship awards go to teach in schools and colleges all over the federa­ tion. Their presence has also increased the number of children doing Art in Nigerian schools.

13. My Ministry has contributed immensely towards cultural promotion within and outside this country. The Ministry is represented in inter- m inisterial meetings and other councils responsible for cultural act­ ivities including the national festival of arts, international cultural exchanges, UNESCO sponsored cultural activities, etc. The Ministry also gives financial and other encouragement to bodies who are involved in art and cultural promotion.

14. For the preservation of art, the Federal Government maintains a chain of museums in different states of the Federation and a National Museum o f A n tiq u itie s in Lagos. The departm ent o f A n tiq u itie s has a r t treasures worth over twenty million pounds, some of which are in storage at present. In the Second National Plan the Federal Govern­ ment has earmarked money for the expansion of the museum to allow for more display space. The Federal Government has also initiated plans for the building of a National Theatre - a cultural complex that w ill include art galleries and exhibition halls for Nigerian contemporary arts. These are some of the areas in which the government is contrib­ uting to art and cultural development.

15. Finally, I hope that during your deliberation in this seminar you w ill identify fresh areas for government participation, and that you w ill bring them to my attention. I hope also that the results of your deliberation will be helpful to other institutions in Nigeria involved in art education, cultural planning and promotion generally. I have real pleasure in declaring the seminar open and I wish you who partic­ ipate in it a successful and fruitful deliberation. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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