Book and Art Festivals as Humanising Instruments

Abstract

As a developing country, Nigeria is faced with numerous problems which seem insurmountable. Sadly, enough consideration have not been given to the development of human resources. Rather, there is crude pursuit of materialism which has ensured dearth of creativity, knowledge production and innovation. Yet there enormous gain is embedded in art and education, if they are properly harnessed. Art and education could be potent media for achieving national goals of economic growth, industrialization and the empowerment of the youths. Over the years, not much impact has been made in terms of human development by successive governments in Nigeria. The “oil-boom” experience the nation had at various times, had no visible impact on the citizen's standard of living. Academics and the creative enterprise are poorly funded and managed, as the scramble for material gains have taken a bad toll on the various facets of the nation's economy, including the creative industries. If positive ventures like art and book festivals are properly funded, poverty and ignorance will be eradicated to a very large extent. Moyibi (1977) opined thus, “education in the arts and crafts contribute to the human development what other fields cannot contribute”. Art and books can ensure that an individual attains sustainable self-sufficiency. If adequate attention is given to such ventures, the restoration of the dignity of man and the rehumanisation of society can be easily achieved in these parts. 
In art, festivals and fairs have been actively used in various ways. From the traditional African setting, morality was used as a mode of humanizing members of the society during communal assembly and social meetings. The modern society with its colonial and post-colonial influences rely on texts, visual forms and other known means to communicate and structure her citizens to live reasonably well with global standard for political, economic and cultural realizations. To this extent, art exhibitions, book fairs, biennales and cultural festivals have been adopted by artists as a means of cultural and creative education. Regrettably, growing interests in materialism now negates the objective role these art fairs play in educating members of the society. Such irrational materialism and pursuit of crude power does not promote the developmental aspirations of the society.