Runsewe promoting arts and culture through golf
Some 30 years ago, National Festival of Arts and Culture was entrenched in Nigeria. To celebrate this milestone, the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe simply headed for the Kaduna Golf Club where he teed off the first ever cultural golf event in Nigeria.
The choice of Kaduna Golf Club was apt enough. This club, founded in 1921, referred to University of Golf in Nigeria did so much to open the game to Nigerians through the white settlers who permanently dominated it in those early years. Runsewe indeed moved to extol the originality of Dr. EB Mama, the first African Captain of the Kaduna Golf Club for showing so much boldness to get the game to Nigerians who wanted to play at the time.
The Cultural golf in Kaduna was unique and equally an eye opener. Golfers, over 100, who participated in the tourney were kitted in cultural attires. Right on the course, they were served with local beverages like kunu and zobo. And when it was all over, participants were fed with amala, ofada rice and tuwo shinkafa. Don’t laugh, for all the participants felt thrilled.
“The whole thing came as a shock”, Barrister Emma Owoicho, the Vice Captain of the Kaduna Golf Club stated. “When it all started we were thinking of some crazy golf… I mean when you have to wear local attires to play. But when things got started, we all saw the fun in it. All of a sudden, we all began to appreciate long forgotten culture. I must say this tourney is pure. It takes every one back to the village”.
Otunba Runsewe, the man who put all this together has this to say, “I have been everywhere across the globe but I must tell you nothing can make me look down on the cultures of this nation. This is what this tourney is all about. It is a sort of wake up call. A simple way to tell us that we came from somewhere and we must uphold the culture of where we came from. We shall do more”. Emeka Okatta is a golfer who does better than a weekend hacker. Besides, he is the spirit behind the West African Golf Tour.
When this Tour was making its entry, almost every golfer in Nigeria applauded it. It was well believed that the Tour could rank this nation close to South Africa’s Sunshine Tour. Many others believed the Tour could bring food on the tables of close to 200 Nigerian golf professionals who hardly had less than five tourneys to play in a year.
Then greed set in. Okatta, it was learnt, would not sign an MOU with the Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria [PGAN} over a little thing bordering on which party, Okatta or PGAN, could keep the larger part of an ‘entry fee’. Is that not ridiculous? It is. For one, Okatta’s Tour can’t run in parallel with PGAN. It’s the Pro body which must call the shots. Again what will Okatta want with a paltry ‘entry fee’ when he has all the opportunities to reach out to would be sponsors in governors across the country.
You can now imagine the power of greed. While close to 100 pro-golfers featured in the Ibadan Mesiogo Open, Okatta is preparing less than 50 pro golfers to feature in what he calls the Masters. Isn’t this crude? It is.
Well, all is not lost. Okatta and PGAN can get back to the table and thrash things out. When you have close to 200 professional golfers slaving to make the ‘Cut’, then you have the real Masters event. Everybody will be happy, especially the sponsors who want to see a spectacle that could account for mileages. Okatta, make that move today. In this game, there is enough lettuce for all to feed on.
Okatta and PGAN should learn from that illustrious son of Ibadan, Wale Opayinka who floated the ‘Road to Monguno’ and very set to feature Africa’s first Major Tour.