Made in Nigeria: A story of love, history
Exactly one year after it was first staged, spoken word and performance poet, Dike Chukwumerije once again, made the Independence Day weekend a worthwhile one for Abuja residents and guests to the capital city with his ‘Made in Nigeria’ production.
The performance, which showed at the Merit House on October 1 and 2, was packed with humour as it was loaded with serious themes chronicling Nigeria’s 103 year history since amalgamation, in 120 minutes.
The poetry-for-theatre production with a cast of about 15 actors featured 20 theatrical poems seamlessly linked by dance, drama and music, narrating the phases of Nigeria’s history like the Lord Lugard era, Independence, the various civilian and military era, MAMSER, ASUU strikes and student protests among others. They were woven around the story of two lovebirds.
According to Chukwumerije the soul of the show is in highlighting the fact that there really is person called a “Nigerian.”
He said, “From day one, the ‘Nigerian’ identity has been a hotly contested one. Even today, it is still fashionable to deny the authenticity of that identity, due to the event of 1914.
“But all socio-political identities are artificial, as every socio-political entity is a human construct. For this reason, identity is not fixed for all eternity, but evolves constantly. It is the same in Nigeria. With the constant flow of interaction, migration, intermarriages, displacement etc., our identities are in a flux, and ‘Made in Nigeria’ captures this fact - that over the years it has in fact become more and more credible to refer to oneself as ‘a Nigerian.’
‘Made in Nigeria’ since its October 2016 debut has been shown to audiences in Lagos, Benin, Enugu and Ile Ife among others.
The production which was the last leg of this tour, “but certainly not the last time it will be staged, shared experiences, histories, stories, songs, trauma, and aspirations. “These things make it inaccurate today to simply refer to the country as a straightforward division into North and South, or East and West, or Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba,” Dike said.
He added that, “We have become much more nuanced than that. So, yes, the show has a message. And the message is ‘though tribe and tongue may differ’ there is indeed a shared brotherhood, and sisterhood, rooted in the years we have shared as Nigerians, and the many points of convergence this has given to us.”
As Nigeria celebrates another Independence anniversary, against the backdrop of ethnic tensions in the country in recent months, the artiste said, “We may choose to ignore our points of convergence and continue pressing down on our well known pressure points, but then that is what it would be - a choice.”
The performance was a call for all who saw it to consider other choices that promoted unity and peaceful co-existence and disregard elements of our everyday life like ethnicity and religious affiliations being the basis for our appreciation of others.