Following the creation of a new Ministry of Culture by the Prosperity Administration of Sen. Douye Diri, Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, in August 2023, Erevision MediaTV’s Managing Producer, Mr. Robinson Ere Erebi, spoke to the pioneer Commissioner for Culture, Hon. Keku Godspower, in an exclusive interview in his office. The conversation covered a wide range of topics and provided interesting and informative insights into the Ministry of Culture and its role in the current administration in Bayelsa State.
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Excerpts:
Hon. Keku: My name is Keku Godspower, Honorable Commissioner for Culture in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, under the leadership of Sen. Douye Diri, Executive Governor of Bayelsa State.
Erevision MediaTV: What is the role of the Ministry of Culture in Bayelsa State under the government of Governor Douye Diri?
Hon. Keku: Well, you know, culture is the beginning of everything. After creation, culture began when God asked Adam to name all the created beings, even the trees; that was culture itself. At that time, culture was somewhat one-sided because it was only Adam who was left there. Then later, his wife Eve came, and culture remained united. It was only after the Tower of Babel saga that culture began to diversify. After the Tower of Babel, when God ensured that each person, or group of people, spoke a particular language, culture evolved into a way of life for human beings. As languages differ, cultures have become diverse; that was the beginning of culture and the problems we have in this world. When human beings can no longer communicate in a single language, divisions arise. You call ‘A’ something, and then someone else comes and says, “No, this is called something else,” and that is where cultural issues originate. What we are advocating now, as part of creation, is encapsulated in God’s command to “go forth,” to multiply, and so on. The world began with culture. This is why, in Douye Diri’s government, the Ministry was divided; previously, Culture was combined with Tourism, etc. However, the Governor realized that culture is essential because life begins with culture. He created the Ministry of Culture as a standalone department. As the first Commissioner of Culture in Bayelsa State, my area of focus is extensive and broad. The Permanent Secretary, Directors, and I have initiated a lot of planning, and soon we will unveil our master plan on how best to utilize culture as a means to advance the fortunes of Douye Diri’s government and humanity in general. Thank you.
Erevision MediaTV: Thank you, Hon. Commissioner. The Ijaw people have rich cultures in dance, music, storytelling, and artwork, but over the years, certain art forms native to the Ijaws, like canoe carving, sculpture, our language, and other aspects of our way of life—some of which are economically viable—are virtually going extinct. The younger generation seems to lack interest in these traditions. What are your plans to engage our youth and harness their potential for the development and sustenance of these important aspects of life?
Hon. Keku: Yes, this is where I started. The Governor has recognized that culture is facing extinction, so he created the Ministry of Culture independently. My team and I have the responsibility to reorganize the entire framework so culture can be revitalized. Recently, I visited the Arts and Culture department, where we have six departments, with the Arts Council being one of the major ones. What I saw was marvelous; we are preparing to participate in Nigeria Festival of Arts and Culture (NIFEST) in Abuja very soon. During my visit, I saw that culture is very much alive within my Council of Arts and Culture, although media representation is lacking. We have made significant progress in developing cultural expressions like dance and various cultural activities. We are going to NIFEST with 13 acts, including storytelling, wrestling, and many other performances. Before I became Commissioner for Culture, there was a combined Culture and Tourism ministry. You know that in past NIFESTs, Bayelsa was always at the forefront in dance, cuisine—the best meals are prepared by Bayelsans—and in wrestling. We are evolving positively. Our plan is to organize festivals, including wrestling festivals, and other events from all local government areas. We will invite participants to the headquarters for competitions. We aim to revive activities that have faded from view so that young ones can become acquainted with the cultures of their ancestors. We also plan, starting in December, to host Cultural Troupes every two weeks to showcase our rich culture through storytelling. For example, we will present stories like the ‘Ozidi’ saga, which is directly from my community. We are mapping out many initiatives aimed at bringing culture back to our people and to Nigeria. We are actively working toward this, and very soon, it will be evident to all that culture is being reinvigorated here in Bayelsa.
Erevision MediaTV: Thank you very much for that insight into your plans for youth engagement. Another aspect is fishing and hunting, which is also part of our culture. Today, we see that marine life is being severely affected by indiscriminate fishing practices, with people killing even the smallest fish, making it difficult for fish populations to regenerate. The same goes for our forests, where economic trees are being cut down indiscriminately by those involved in the lumbering business. Therefore, I wonder if there are any efforts or collaborations with relevant ministries to safeguard our aquatic environment and investigate how to halt these practices, especially in freshwater rivers and creeks.
Hon. Keku: (interrupting) Even in saltwater areas… what you’ve said is true. The Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the Executive Council, has devised strategies to address these aquatic issues. I believe they have gone further, with the Governor’s permission, to invite experts from other areas to come and assist us in tackling this situation effectively, so that both fish populations and tree conservation can be prioritized. If we continue down this path without action, we risk turning this region into a savanna, which would be detrimental, as we currently see a lack of trees and only grasses. The Commissioner for Environment and I have also discussed this in his office; we both recognize that these issues must be addressed. We do have laws in place, but implementation is often the problem. It is vital that our related ministries collaborate to bring viable solutions to the Executive Council for approval. Our government is continuous; now that we have a governor who is attuned to these beliefs, I believe that things will improve in the near future.
Erevision MediaTV: I don’t know if there’s any connection between your ministry and the new Blue Economy, but this area of fishing in our rivers certainly has a role to play. Today, even if you provide someone with a net to fish, there’s often nothing in the river because some individuals use sweeping nets. This practice should be regulated so that people do not fish with any kind of net, and certain sizes of fish should no longer be harvested from our rivers.
Hon. Keku: Well, that is precisely why the Ministry was created—to address some of these issues. Our culture and way of life revolve around fishing and farming; you can’t stop an Ijaw man not to fish, and it was in a very minute level. It is this other type of advanced fishing, not the conventional ones that we know, but this other one that they use dynamite to fish, and other wide ground sweeping nets are wrong, and it’s very bad. So I think the Ministries of Environment, and the Blue Economy and then, Culture, would always meet to map out these things, especially to stem the use of dynamite to kill fishes, which is a very nasty idea, because if we continue like this, very soon there’ll be no fishes in the river for our people to go and fish to fish themselves. So I think something is going on because the governor has charged all of us, and he has charged all of us. Everybody must work! You must work, and he has even gone further to say that every ministry has a tap. If you work, water will flow. If you want to work, water will flow for you to work further, so I think everybody is on their toes, standing, thank you.
Erevision MediaTV: Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Culture…most people don’t even know what it takes to come into the Ministry of Culture What necessary qualifications or experience does an individual interested in working in this ministry have to get?
Hon. Keku: Okay, you know that culture, like I said earlier, began from creation. In fact, culture, there was tradition before culture. Tradition covers a very wide area, like when they say the whites used to call us ‘African tradition. That is, for the whole of Africa is African tradition. Then, in tradition, you have culture. You understand because our culture is different from the Northern culture, although it is called African tradition. The whole of Africa is a tradition. But we have our separate, unique cultures. The Ijaws have their own culture, and the Yorubas have their own culture. Then, within culture, we have customs, you understand? Like the Ijaws, maybe the Kolokuma man is an Ijaw man who is a clan in the Ijaw tribe. Then, the Tarakiri man is also an Ijaw man in the Ijaw tribe, the Tarakiri clan. These two clans are the same Ijaw people but the Kolokuma custom or certain things we do in the same culture, there v cultures and different customs , the same Ijaw people, that is how we are.. And now, because of this changes, like I said earlier, after the Tower of Babel, things begin to go viral, and now that has metamorphosed into something else, we’re even forgetting the language, especially when civilization came in. That’s why if you see a pupil in Yenagoa, an Ijaw child, hardly before he can speak the Ijaw language very well, some can not even speak. That’s why the Governor in his wisdom, has directed that all Secondary schools and Primary schools, the Ijaw language is now compulsory to learn, so that is going on in order not to let and culture and customs die away.
Erevision MediaTV: Sir, you just returned from a cabinet retreat in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on the way forward for this second tenure of the Diri Government. What were some of the key highlights from the retreat?
Hon. Keku: It’s the same thing. The main thing was this culture, and then, how to run the government because we’re new. So there are lots of experts that were invited, in fact, it was so good. Office running, every type of administrative peculiarities, we went through them. Experts came, doctors, professors came, and our classes were so organized that when we met by 8, we’re there until 6 o’clock. After dinner, we now go home and rest. For five good days, we were treated to how a government should be run. As heads of parastatals and ministries, we were given tutelage…how you can head a place, how you can run the place, and how you can advance the place. With that we’re now very, very, okay to run these offices.
Erevision MediaTV: Looking back on the developments on Bayelsa State from 2019 to date, how would you describe the leadership style of Sen. Douye Diri, particularly, in the area of link roads, rural communities, education, and other initiatives in this second part of his administration?
Hon. Keku: Thank you very much. One major thing I like is this man, the present governor. I was an adviser in his first term, these three senatorial roads. Whether anybody likes it or not, he continued where Dickson stopped. If it were some other Governors, they would abandon those things and look for other ways, but the man continued. That singular action of the present governor is what I liked him about most, and I believe that I’m speaking the minds of several Bayelsans. Our problem was roads, how to get to the hinterlands. This time, our hinterlands are the riverine areas. So what I mean is roads, not only those three senatorial roads, he has extended off the three senatorial roads to reach out more into the depths of our rivers and seas. So his pattern, he went away from the normal way of once a new government comes, the old arrangements are gone, whether they were good or not. He has told Bayelsans and Nigerians that government is a continuous thing. If you come, take the best ones from your predecessor, and continue so that we’ll get to the promised land. Not only roads, the way of life too. You can see that there’s more peace in this state. More peace, Bayelsa is now very peaceful, so investors can now come and invest, you understand. Investors can now come freely and invest to make more money for our state and our people.. Those are the things I believe that the man has shown to Bayelsans, that these things can be done. Then, in education, he’s doing very well too in education. More schools, and apart from the existing ones, how to solidify the existing ones is another thing. He’s going ahead, solidifying the existing schools, and trying to establish other ones because there’re other schools that are coming in some other communities, Nursing and maybe other ones are coming because when you look at this country, when we say West is the most developed area in this country, everyone knows that the West is more developed than any other part. During the war, the whole North was affected, the East more affected, South-South partially affected, but the West was not too affected by the war, so they went into development. Maybe the Governors at that time understood life too, so you have the best schools in the West because since education is the bedrock for development, you find out that the best schools in this country are in the West, the best roads in this country are in the West, more than half of the industries are sited in the West. All these things are education. No education, nothing like that, and that is what the man is now trying in Bayelsa, pursuing education and culture so that we’ll have all these things for the betterment of Bayelsa and Bayelsans to live. So the man is trying. Like usually, we’ll tell him “more grease to your elbows, Governor” so that God will bring you to the height because you can not go against what God says. We’ve not gone even half. He’ll satisfy God’s will before the end of his second term. Thank you very much.
Erevision MEDIATV: What is your last message to Bayelsans generally, as we go on with this administration?
Hon. Keku: Oh yes, Bayelsans should study this man, Douye Diri. Study him and see, and calculate him because the man has shown Bayelsans that the way they saw him before, when he was not a governor, is not the way people talk about him. And the man has shown to Bayelsans that he’s capable of anything. Even the office of presidency, this man is capable. (1) The man can endure a lot. The man can endure a lot, no matter how you worry him. You know that those who failed out in the elections, they had concerted efforts to annoy him to speak out of tongue, but the man did not. He’s like Abraham Lincoln, who after winning the presidency, top party officials came to him before the swearing-in, his wife now told him that he leave them and come for his tea. Abraham Lincoln said Madam I’m no longer the husband you know.” I am now for the United States of America. This woman went in, brought the tea, and poured it over his head. So his friends were now saying that this your wife can not go to the White House. Abraham Lincoln retorted that all of you are enduring domestic miseries in silence. No matter they way they pushed our governor, this governor stood steadfast, you understand. At times you’d even believe he does not hear. He’ll only tell them “I accept criticism, but it must be very good ones”. Criticize me very well. Ideas, not because you have failed an election, you come here to criticize me out of tune, it’s very wrong. So Douye Diri is a man that…good a thing. He came at the time. Dickson started very well and ended very well. Douye Diri, where Dickson started, took off, and he’s going very well to the promised land. We pray that after Douye Diri, God should bring somebody like this, too, so that Bayelsa can go forward. What we have lost, from 1996, we’re 28 years now, isn’t it? So 28 minus 16, what we lost can now be regained. That is my prayer. That, Bayelsans, we should give Douye Diri a chance. If you have any idea, go there and give him an idea, good one. Douye Diri will apply it, and that is what he has been doing. So kudos for him. By God’s grace, the man would go further so that Bayelsa would be more developed. Bayelsa will have a lot of things, roads, everything that we needed would now come since these two persons have shown the stage, and by our prayers, even in Exco, the new Bayelsa anthem shows that. The first stanza ended up with “Bayelsa there should be peace”, then the last one “Bayelsa there should be light”. These two things are signs that Bayelsa will go to greater heights. Thank you very much.
Erevision MediaTV: Thank you, Hon. Commissioner, for giving us this opportunity to speak to you. I feel really honored and humbled, and I hope that Bayelsans have also learned a lot from your insights. Now we know better about culture, and now we know what the governor is doing. I believe that all Bayelsans would continue to support this government to ensure that we get to the promised land. We also pray, like you said, that somebody who’s like Douye Diri, somebody who has the milk of human kindness, to also continue from where he stops. On this note, we’re wrapping up this interview.
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