EGHAREVBA LECTURES
IN SEARCH OF OGUN: SOYINKA, NIETZCHE AND THE EDO CENTURY
by Odia Ofeimun.
Mr Chairman, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I was given the freedom to choose the topic for this lecture. As a matter of self-will, I have chosen to speak on my search for Ogun, god of iron and war, roads and creativity. I have made the choice as a way of memorializing a discovery that may surprise many people: that there is a relationship, better to call it a synchrony, between Ogun Ewuare, King of the Edo Kingdom in the fifteenth century,(1440-1485) and Ogun, the god of iron who, in spite of Christianity and Islam, is still worshipped across much of Southern Nigeria, the West Coast of Africa, the African Diaspora - the West Indies and the Americas.Read more..
BENIN AND THE MIDWEST REFERENDUM
by Dr. Nowamagbe A. Omoigui, MD, MPH, FACC
Chief Executive Officer
Cardiovascular Care Group, PA
Columbia, SC, USA
It is a great honor to me to be invited to address this gathering of important sons, daughters and friends of Benin on the occasion of the 5th Chief (Dr.) Jacob Uwadiae Egharevba (MBE) memorial lecture. Therefore, I would like to express my profound appreciation to the Institute for Benin Studies, ably coordinated by Uyilawa Usuanlele. The Institute’s foresight and persistence in organizing this annual event rightly honors a deserving son of Benin, whose priceless historical scholarship in difficult circumstances has placed key aspects of our history as a people on record for present and future generations.Read more..
BENIN IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA
AN AGENDA FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
BY Professor Eghosa Osagie, Ph.D
Director of Studies
National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru
Jacob Egharevba Memorial Lecture organized by the Institute for Benin Studies, and delivered at Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre, Benin City, on December, 10, 1999
INTRODUCTION
I would start by putting on record my appreciation to the Institute for Benin Studies for inviting me to deliver the Second Egharevba Memorial Lecture. Two years ago, the Institute organized the inaugural lecture delivered by my friend, brother and colleague, Professor Unionmwan Edebiri on "Benin and the outer world". That scholarly lecture appropriately set an admirably high standard for succeeding ones. It is indeed a great honour and privilege to be invited to deliver a public lecture in memory of one of Africa's greatest scholars, visionaries and sages. Chief Egharevba devoted his life to carrying out research into Benin history, civilization, and publishing his findings and conclusions in books that are most valuable for the study and preservation of Benin culture.Read more..
POLITICS AND PRESCRIPTION FOR CONTEMPORARY NATION BUILDING IN NIGERIA
By OMO N'OBA N'EDO, UKU AKPOLOKPOLO OBA OF BENIN
BEING THE OPENING ADDRESS BY OMO N'OBA N'EDO, UKU AKPOLOKPOLO OBA OF BENIN, AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POLITICS, SOCIETY, AND RIGHTS IN TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES HELD AT AKIN DEKO AUDITORIUM, UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, ON 16TH - 17TH MAY, 2002.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, It was with surprise that I received a letter of invitation from my children in the Institute for Benin Studies requesting me to deliver the Opening Address of this Conference. What surprised me was the theme of the Conference, which centres on traditional societies. Given the age of the organizers and the increased obsession with modernisation since post-colonial times, it seems that the traditional had become obsolete and irrelevant. It is not uncommon to find people criticising and demoralising the traditional institutions, since after the colonial period. The eulogisation of the modern has even become so fashionable that some people are even starting to talk of the post-modern era and I gather an American had even proclaimed "the end of history" with his book so titled.Read more..
WE ARE, BECAUSE HE WAS
BY DR IRO EWEKA
CONSULTANT PSYCHOLOGIST/PSYCHIATRIST
ASSOCIATE LECTURER
OPEN UNIVERSITY, BRISTOL, U.K.
THIRD CHIEF(DR) JACOB UWADIAE EGHAREVBA (MBE) MEMORIAL LECTURE ORGANISED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR BENIN STUDIES, ON FRIDAY 8TH DECEMBER 2000 AT OBA AKENZUA II CULTURAL COMPLEX, BENIN CITY.
WE ARE BECAUSE HE WAS
In my mind, that title will do well-deserved credit to the intellectual and cultural giant whose memory we are gathered to celebrate. And the rationale for my choice is that we may approach the celebration of his attainable vision through that magnification of his high heart which may lead us to our individual and collective greatness. Thus, the full interpretation of my chosen topic is that we are Edo today because he was Edo in his day. In other words, without Egharevba there would be nothing left of Edo cultural tradition, history, folklore, games, songs, and proverbs.Read more..
OGISO TIMES AND EWEKA TIMES
A PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE EDOID COMPLEX OF CULTURES
By Dr Peter P. Ekeh
State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
In many ways, this lecture is a celebration of the uniqueness of Benin and its culture. Let me hurry to say, however, that I have not come here to praise Benin history, but to analyze it. I have come before you in the hope that I will be able to highlight certain features of Benin history and culture in an academic fashion. I cannot claim to know Benin in any degree that is close to your intimate knowledge of your own folkways and your command of the history of Benin royal legacies. Read more..
OGISO TIMES AND EWEKA TIMES
A PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE EDOID COMPLEX OF CULTURES
A rejoinder
By Hilary Evbayiro
Anyone who reads Dr. Peter Ekeh's lecture, " OGISO TIMES AND EWEKA TIMES: A PRELIMINARY HISTORY OF THE EDOID COMPLEX OF CULTURES," delivered on the occasion of the Fourth Chief Jacob Egharevba Memorial, under the aegis of the Institute for Benin Studies on December 14, 2001 at the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre in Benin City, will admit, without a shadow of doubt, that it is irrefutably interesting and curiously fascinating. In short, Dr. Ekeh's accounts and analysis of the historical and cultural development of the Benin people provide another dimension for understanding the history of the Benin people. Read more..
FROM OGISO TO EWEKA
By Victor Manfredi, Ph.D.
African Studies Center, Boston University
The name "Benin" remains a mystery. You cite the Urhobo term "Aka" as probably a pre-Eweka appellation for the town, and we can add the Agbo./Western Igbo name "Iduu". As to "Benin", notwithstanding the preferences expressed by O.mo. N'O.ba, it is more informative to consider the phonetically accurate spelling "Bini". On p. 6 of his History, Chief Egharevba relates the name "Bini" to the break-up of the Ife.-Benin relationship (or should we call it the "Uhe.-Bini relationship"?): "After some years residence here he [Prince O.ranmiyan] called a meeting of the people and renounced his office, remarking that the country was a land of vexation, Ile. Ibinu (by which name the country was afterwards known). . ." Read more..
POLITICS AND PRESCRIPTION FOR CONTEMPORARY NATION BUILDING IN NIGERIA
By Dr. Sunday A. Ochoche
DIRECTOR GENERAL.
INSTITUTE FOR PEACE & CONFLICT RESOLUTION ABUJA
AT THE CONFERENCE ON "POLITICS, SOCIETY AND RIGHTS IN TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES: MODELS AND PRESCRIPTIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY NATION BUILDING IN NIGERIA
ORGANISED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR BENIN STUDIES, 16TH - 17TH MAY, 2002.
When I received the invitation to present this Keynote Address, I was puzzled as to the relationship between my position as Director General of an Institute whose mandate it is to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts, and the activities of the Institute for Benin Studies. I was, however, immediately struck by the realization that there are areas of convergence between the research conducted in my Institute and what you do here. The topic chosen by you calls for an examination of the role of traditional institutions in the organisation of contemporary society. Read more..