Peju Layiwola Quotes

I am grateful to the Almighty God for all he has made possible in the last 50 years. That I am alive today is the sheer miracle of God. Being 50 is a milestone in an individual’s life, particularly for those living in Nigeria with all its challenges. I am grateful for the kind of support I have received from my family, particularly my husband. It is also a time of stocktaking.

This project, which included my mother’s participation, was a great collaboration between academically-trained artists and the guild of bronze casters. It was a multi-genre project comprising performance art, sculpture, site-specific paintings, photography, installation art and video art which was funded in part from the University of Lagos Central Research grant.

For example, the visual arts which is my own forte, has been totally ignored in Nigeria.

So we have these artifacts standing in our stead and showing that we had a very rich tradition that is enviable.

Nollywood is very well known and I think because of the acclaim it has beyond Nigeria; it has drawn a lot of attention, but there are a lot of other areas that are being ignored.

There is also a general lack of understanding about the requirements for the visual arts. Lecturers are saddled with teaching so many courses because of the inadequate staff establishment positions assigned the profession. The poor remuneration of staff in Nigeria does not attract the very best. Any artist with a vibrant studio practice will not accept positions in a university where the salaries are poor.

My interest in art derived from the great influences that Benin art, culture, festivals and history presented growing up in the city. My mother also had a strong influence on me. I not only learnt art from her at home, she was also my art teacher at the Federal Government Girls’ College, Benin. My principal, Josephine Ifueko Omigie, was an art graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The cultural events organised by the school helped stimulate interest in arts and culture. We had an annual week-long competition on cultural activities that engaged every student in one creative activity or the other. I was also a member of the school choir and played the piano.

Art draws material largely from the archives and historical episodes in Africa.

If education should be salvaged in this country we cannot leave it to the government alone. There has to be an inclusion of the private sector. The central and important role the University of Lagos plays in the art-charged city of Lagos makes it possible to attract private/public partnership in art training.

And the fact that Nigeria is world acclaimed for arts because of the artifacts that were stolen in the 19th century and taken away to different parts of the world.

I can only speak of my own experience as a teacher who has worked in at least three universities in Nigeria. At the University of Lagos, I have only added my bricks to those of others who were there before me. Working with a team of committed staff as we have at Unilag has helped make changes to our art department. Also important is the support we get from committed friends within the art community.

One major community project we have been involved with is the U.S. State Department Hillary Clinton Smartpower project grant, which hosted a California based artist, Brett Cook in Nigeria. The Women and Youth Art Foundation, in partnership with the Bronx Museum of Arts, New York, in supervising the artist’s project under this grant. Brett Cook, an African American, worked with university students from different faculties in making the iconic mural at the University of Lagos titled, “Nurturing Peace, People, and Ideas”.

First of all, teachers were very poorly paid just as they are today. As the best graduating student in 1988, the University of Benin retained me. So teaching came to me by default even before I could make up my mind about what profession to do. At that time, I was much younger than many of my students and had to step up my game to assert my authority. But looking back now, I can count my blessings.

People producing arts, all along the roads, on the streets; everywhere and you begin to know that this is a city of Art.

Well, when I began teaching at the University of Benin, I was only 24 years old and fresh from University of Ibadan graduate school. I was very hopeful and ready to make my own contribution to society. In 1991, teaching was certainly not an attractive profession for a young girl.