KCCN, Aroja Royal Theatre expand Korea-Nigeria literature in honour of Soyinka

By Ochiaka Ugwu

Aroja Royal Theatre in collaboration with Korean Cultural Centre, Nigeria had expended Korea-Nigeria literature in the honour of a Nigerian literary giant, Prof Wole Soyinka.

The event which held Tuesday at Korean Cultural Centre in Abuja tagged “Kongi’s Harvest: A wole Soyinka at 90” with special focus on “Wole Soyinka, Expanding the Korea-Nigeria Literature Partnership” was attended by Nigerians mostly literary icons.

Speaking during the occasion, Director General of Nigerian Copyright Commission and Chairman of the occasion, Dr. John Asein said it was cohosting, interestingly with Aroja Royal Theatre, which came from the side of the coming from side of performance.

According to him, “As you know, we have done so many things from when we flagged off on the occasion of World Copyright Day. We have done a lot in the area of literary appreciation and other areas that are very prominent, but we have not gone much in area of theatre.

“Over the years, we have seen that the theatre, the performing side need more attention, so that the copyright system will be able to take care of every sector in that ecosystem.

“For us, it was a wonderful opportunity to partner with Aroja to further celebrate Wole Soyinka. It is not about Wole Soyinka, but Nigeria and treasures of Nigeria.

“It is good to celebrate your treasure when they are around. In doing so, they inspire those who are coming to see a future, to see a path they can also follow in the creative industry to encourage them. To continually tap into their talent and achieve their goal. Hopefully, some of them, will someday outgrow Wole Soyinka.

“We have always liked to work with the theatre sector and we have been finding ways to do more with them. We have worked with SONTA, LANTA and ANTA, but was not able to crystalize that. We have worked for them without them knowing.

“When the new Copyright Act was coming out and the bill was being drafted, we have to ensure that they put in place adequate provisions that will protect the performer even beyond what they, the performers were aware of.

“We will do more in the area of enlightenment, capacity building and providing the things that they may need to be able to function well in the corporate system and not have their right breached or their work compromised in any way.

“We also don’t want our performers to be shortchanged in any way. They should be able to get adequate recompose for their intellectual exertion.

“I think more than funding, we need the support of more people, stakeholders. We shouldn’t keep lamenting over funding. We need the support of stakeholder and I am more than delighted that the media is interested in these issues.

“I think that more than together, we can do a lot. Through that, we can begin to draw in some funds and be able to do more in promoting theatre.

Also speaking through zoom, a Korean writer and broadcaster, Haley Suh who spoke on how to build a strong literary collaboration between Korea and Nigeria situated it at promoting Collaborative Writing by blending African and Asian narratives, Translation Projects by understanding each other’s history and literature, Educational Programs by young writers learning from both nations inspired by literary giants, Virtual Books Clubs by reading and discussing books from Korea and Nigeria, Join the Seoul International Book Fair to explore book talks and meet influential African authors, Literary Festivals by Nigerian and Korean authors sharing stories and insights.