THE NIGERIAN WOMAN PRESERVING CULTURE, HERITAGE AND HISTORY

Oluwabunmi Amao

From presiding over her father’s conglomerate in Ibadan, where she excelled and forming her own furniture company where she dazzled households/royal palaces with her jaw-dropping architectural pieces, and her exceptional performances in the public sector as Special Adviser on Culture and Tourism to the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo, Oluwabunmi Ayobami Amao, the first daughter of Ibadan business magnate, Chief Bode Amao is gradually leaving her legacy and name on the sands of time. Currently, the Director-General, Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), Amao, tells Funke Olaode why she is passionate about preserving the culture, history and heritage of Nigeria.

The newly installed Queen Idia Mask in front of the sprawling old colonial building that once housed Lord Luggard Office on Broad Street, Lagos, is gradually becoming a work of art that illuminates the entire neighbourhood at night. The Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) is known as one of those government agencies, but the narrative is changing as one of the most cherished archives where culture and monuments that define us as a people can be found.

Inside the edifice are artefacts, historical statues, photographs and momentous from the famous FESTAC ’77, where 59 countries from different continents were represented.

Hon. Oluwabunmi Amao, a woman with a Midas touch who has excelled both in the private and public sector, is in charge. Since she came on board 11 months ago as CBAAC helmswoman, Amao’s ingenuity, craft, creativity, and brilliance are reflected in this federal government agency. Her experience as a seasoned businesswoman and her public exposure while serving as Special Adviser on Culture and Tourism to the late Governor of Oyo State, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, came in handy in piloting the affairs of this agency to an enviable position.

Looking regal in her forest green traditional attire, Amao has a solid footing, having been born by the Ibadan successful business mogul, Chief Bode Amao.

“I am the first daughter of Chief Bode Amao, the Asiwaju of Ibadan land. I was born in Kano. But when I was nine months, my grandmother took me to Ibadan. So I grew up with my grandmother in Ibadan. She died when I was eight years old. So I had to go back to Kano to join my parents. But my stay in the North was short-lived because my parents later moved to Lagos.”

Born on March 4th, 1960, Amao began her educational pursuit at St. Peters Primary School, Aremo, Ibadan, after which she proceeded to Reagan Memorial Girls Primary School, Onike, Yaba, Lagos. She finished her secondary education at Christ Apostolic Grammar School, Iperu-Remo, Ogun State. A well-educated and grounded woman, she moved to Halidon House School Stoke Poges, Surrey, England for her ‘A’ Level, after which she gained admission into Richmond College, Surrey, where she bagged a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Finance. That Amao is brilliant is an understatement. Her brilliance and academic prowess would later earn her a Master’s degree in Business Management and Finance at International University Europe, Sandiego, California. Prior to that, she had spent her summer schools at Syracuse University and California State University, Fullerton. After her sojourn in Europe and America, Amao returned to Nigeria and served her mandatory NYSC at the Ministry of Urban Planning and Land Matters, Lagos, in 1983.

Having a father with a deep pocket is good, but creating a niche through hard work is key in Amao’s career trajectory. Armed with degrees from reputable institutions abroad and with determination to succeed as a young girl climbing the ladder of success, she plunged herself into her father’s conglomerate. At the young age of 24 in 1984, she began her career as a Finance Manager of Joas Electrical Industries Limited a position she held until she was promoted to the position of Group Managing Director of JOAS Group of companies overseeing companies under JOAS Group such as Joas Electrical Industries Limited, Joas Trading, Joas Furniture Ltd, Bode Foam Industry Ltd and Atlantic carpet managing close to over 2,000 people.

Then how was it like growing under the tutelage of a wealthy father? “My father is a disciplinarian. He will tell you that look. I came from a poor background. All that I have achieved today is through my hard work. So you cannot now be gallivanting around that you are the daughter of Chief Bode Amao you have to work for yourself. This is my own money.”

Having gathered enough experience under a disciplined and successful father, after 10 years, Amao set out to become her own boss. She floated House of Furniture and Designs Ltd, an outfit in which outstanding crafts spread to the households of rich and royalty, palaces, government offices with jaw-dropping architectural masterpieces.
A very successful businesswoman and entrepreneur, Amao’s hard work, diligence and ability to turn things around positively haven’t gone unnoticed. In 2011, she was appointed Special Adviser on Culture and Tourism under the Senator Ajimobi led administration, a position she held for three years before being appointed as Special Adviser on Establishment and Training and later Trade and Investment in 2015.

Under her watch, Oyo Culture and Tourism sector experienced turn around winning awards. “Before my appointment, culture and tourism have never received any recognition. But before I left the place, we brought in five awards during a festival competition held among 36 states. What actually gave us the award was the masquerade, the best dressed, which has never happened before. Because it is only Cross River, Rivers, and one other state that used to collect this award, it was when Chief Edem Duke was the minister.”

With desire to serve her people, Amao contested for the House of Representatives representing Ibadan North Federal Constituency in 2015. Her party APC still recognized her contributions, and she was appointed the DG of CBAAC on the 26th of August 2021.

On her assumption of office, something came to Amao’s mind. As somebody with vast experience in different capacities in various fields, she wanted to project the agency’s image to the front burner.
“The first thing I did was to read the act under which the agency was established. Former DGs of the agency were from the academic community, and CBAAC only resonates in the academic arena. We are the custodian of all the materials of the 59 Black and African countries; dancing, singing etc. And this came to the front burner during FESTAC 1977. CBAAC is an embodiment of everything you need to know about festivals or cultural activities. I read the act, and I decided to follow what it is written in that act. We did something recently, Day of African Child. Day of African Child is supposed to be during the time of Soweto when the children decided to go on a rampage that they are not going to school (Apartheid). And to me, that had gone, even in Soweto now they are going to school. So I now used the opportunity to bring out African culture and food for children. The theme was ‘African Culture fit in For the Upbringing of African Child.’ It went so well that people were now calling us that they want us to start talking about it.

“We realised that most parents, especially the Yorubas, believe that if they don’t start their children with English, they won’t know how to speak English. So our culture, especially the Yoruba one, is eroding. The Hausa people up till now they train their children in Hausa. And those children, when they speak English, is flawless. The same thing with the Igbo people. So that is what we now did, even some people came to meet me and said they are guilty of it too. The point is that we must not allow our culture to be destroyed. So it was a successful occasion that it was well publicised.”

It has been 11 months since Amao became the DG. One can literarily say she hit the ground running with various innovations and activities to bring the agency to national and international recognitions. “Preparations are ongoing to celebrate FESTAC 77 at 45 next year. We met the African Union, and we are going to Ethiopia for it. We are doing it in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We have started writing to Embassies, and we have also written to UNESCO. It is going to be a big thing which will hold for three days in Abuja. We are going to involve not just the African countries in the African continent. We are also going to engage the Western world for them to buy into what we are doing.

“And as a country, we will provide an avenue for reflections on what has happened in the past and also provide a platform for the assessment of the African unity, Africa arts and culture and how it integrates the country as a whole. So these are some of the programmes that we are going to do.

“Also, the international conference falls within the theme of the African Union. We are doing that in the Gambia. I don’t know if you are aware that the year 2021 has been declared by the Africa Union as the day for African Art Heritage and Culture. It is a year-long event, so we are going to plan our own differently. So we will engage all the agencies responsible for the management of culture in Africa, some of which might be in Mali, Cameroon, Ghana, and the rest. You know we have organisations such as centre for other traditions. We are the ones hosting it sometime this year. We are also doing another lecture on how to create our products and market right from the local point of production to export.

Speaking further, she said, “We are going to call seasoned people in the fashion industry to tell us how they package their dresses and send them to the outside world. So people who are starting from the grassroots will benefit from the wealthy experience of people who are already rooted in what they do. These people have created a niche for themselves in marketing Nigeria’s creative products to the outside world. I believe these cultural activities that we do and which the centre represents by virtue of the decree, is one of the important instruments for cultural diplomacy that is being employed by the country now in terms of image-making, in terms of reaching out to the diaspora.”

Amao, as a woman of substance and workaholic, is obvious in various leadership roles she has held both in private and public capacities. But she is still sceptical that women’s representation in both politics and the private sector is very low. “We are still advocating about that. I joined the 100 Women Lobby Group. I was then the South West coordinator. We are still advocating, and we are still talking, because there are many women out there that are really better than men. And you know, because the way women are created is unique, so we want to do a lot. We want to make an impact in the country. There is something about women that I cannot discuss because most of the women I am very close to that I relate with, for instance, Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, is a workaholic. And there are other women out there. My big sister, who turned 70 recently, Erelu Olusola Obada, is my mentor any day. Aunty Shola, too, doesn’t know how to sleep. Once she is sleeping, she is shaking her legs that the husband will now have to steady it. And when we are going somewhere, she walks briskly, and we will be running after her. She has done so well that anybody that is close to her will know that God has created this woman specially.

“I remembered one day I was listening to the house of representative or the senate, and one got up and said please, I am begging you in the name of God, and in the name of Allah, don’t give women more than what you can give them they will take over from us. If you give them one mile, they will go five miles. That is the way they are. We must not do it. He was advocating that they should not give women space. Some men know that if their wives take over something, they will now be like second-class citizens. They don’t like it, and it is a natural thing, and it is a global thing. There are women out there who have done well and still doing marvellously well. What we need as a woman is a support and an enabling environment to blossom.”

As the interview came to a close, Amao reflected on her 11 months in office and what the future holds.
“I am here to make an impact. And with my supportive staff members, we are moving forward. The day is still young, but in the end, I want people to say that in my time, she changed the whole system to this and to that. There are nine agencies, and CBAAC is being placed on number eight while we should be on number one because we comprise everything. Now everybody has been calling me that we are making an impact because I use my art to see what and what could be done. I am not only for Nigeria but for the whole world, and everywhere there is the black race.”