I can proffer solutions to any problem through divination

13 year old Ifa Priest In this piece, Qudirat Hakeem-Apanpa reports the Ifa divination prowess of a 13-year-old wonder boy who, together with another 5-year-old, is making waves among Ifa devotees in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Wonders, they say, shall never end, and that is why it is quite amazing and eye-catching when one sees a thing that is not very familiar in this computer age.

A young lad of 13 was recently sited in Ibadan during the 2008 annual Ibadan Cultural and Traditional Day held at the National Museum Complex, Alesinloye, Ibadan, and to this writer’s amazement , people old enough to be his father were hailing him and singing his praises and also accorded him the kind of respect usually given elderly people.

This young lad is a well trained “babalawo”, an Ifa priest, who could recite and explain all the Odu in the Ifa literary corpus. The boy, Ojoawo Odebola, who is a primary five pupil of the Hope Centre Primary School, Omi-Adio, Ido Local government area of Oyo State, started learning Ifa since the age of seven at the feet of a man he now calls his father, Chief Ifayemi Oloye.

Like most boys in his age group, “he is very intelligent and willing to learn new things”, says his boss and guardian, adding “anytime I have to take him out or teach him new things, he would ask so many intelligent questions that even people older than him could not ask, and I think that will surely help him both in his education and Ifa studies,” Chief Ifayemi said.

“Both Ojoawo and Ifayemi who is just four years old had been learning assiduously and as their teacher and guardian, I will go to any length to ensure they are well-trained and also educated in both the traditional and modern ways”, he added.

According to Ojoawo, he intends to graduate from the Ifa School by the year 2010 and is willing to have formal education. He would like to study Yoruba Language at the University level so that he would be able to complement whatever he learns from the Ifa School he is currently attending.

Presently, Ojoawo can attend to people who come to him with any kind of problems, because he has understood most of the Odu Ifa (Ifa verses) and can interpret them conveniently without any problem.

He is the third of six children, five boys and a girl. His father, who is a trader, lives at Omi-Adio with his mother. The two children are respected and honoured by most of the people that know them very well in the traditional world and the general belief is that it is always good to make hay while the sun shines.

From now on, it’s total war against pirates – NCC Director

By Seye Adeniyi

Mrs. Olabisi Ogundiran, Zonal
Director, NCCWHEN an individual or a group of persons commit an offence or jointly perpetrate a crime, they often link it with poverty or blame the devil or ignorance for it, but when they are successful or make illegal, unclean fortune from such a crime, they would not thank the devil or praise anybody for such a dirty success, rather, they would massage their egos, believing they are smart and perfect in the act of perpetrating evil. But I want to tell crime perpetrators in this society especially in the South-Western part of the country that they better watch it because the eagle eyes of the law enforcement agents are constantly keeping vigil on them and they should realise the fact that poverty or ignorance is not an excuse in law.”

These words of warning and caution to criminals, especially pirates were from the mouth of the Zonal Manager and South-West Coordinator of the Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC), Mrs. Olabisi Ogundiran, when highlighting the activities of the commission in the South-Western region of the country in the last few years, especially since she took over the leadership of the commission in the last four years, as well as the challenges and difficulties the commission have been facing in carrying out its herculean activities just like other law enforcement agencies in the country like NAFDAC, NDLEA, EFCC, ICPC, etc. She also talked briefly on the political sensitivity and volatility of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital where the Commission has its zonal head office.

Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Ogundiran said, had been in Ibadan for the past four years and the Commission despite all odds had been making waves in the area of enlightenment, sensitisation and education of the public about the Commission’s antipiracy activities, video rental scheme, notification scheme, as well as protection of intellectual properties, authorship rights and designs’ owners’ power, amongst many other important duties that have to do with giving legal backing and power to Nigerians to know their rights and not allowing anybody to steal their authentic designs or projects or copy their documented inspirations.

“We set out series of antipiracy operations that will cover the South-Western states and we have swung into full operation in Ibadan, being the city regarded as the largest in the west of Africa coupled with the fact that we have our office in the politically-sensitive city.
“I will like to state that the eagle eyes of my staff, agents and ever conscious and sensitive law enforcement team had visited eight publishing firms in Ibadan, some of which include Macmillian, University Press Limited, Heinemann, as well as several other bookshops — both notable and cornerside ones.

“However, we want to tell anybody that cares to listen to us that we would launch our attack anytime, but before we fight or strike, we are sending messages to those who deal in copyright materials that they should be prepared for our visit. Be alert and be expecting us unannounced or unnotified,” Ogundiran warned.

And for those who deal with or do business with films and film materials, as well as music and music materials, the Commission said it is also watching them as they are major targets. This also concerns video rental associations, music recording studios and musical association, music rental association, Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Music Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MPAN), and others.

On how the commission would carry out the intensive raid, the NCC zonal manager explained that warning raids had already started in Ibadan although many people were not aware. “But for those who have seen the signal, they should realise that what they are seeing now is just a warning raid. To them it is a big raid, but to us in the commission, it is a tip of an iceberg,” she said.

Some of the areas the Commission had touched in the past few weeks include Cocoa House environs, where 5,572 copies of pirated films, video compact discs (VCD) and CD, home videos and foreign films, as well as pirated musical cassettes and empty discs worth about N1.4 million were confiscated from those doing the illegal business.

When the Commission raided Agodi-Gate area of Ibadan, the search team seized about 8,239 pirated works and materials with market value of about N1.7 million. The raid at Mokola area of Ibadan also exposed the search team of the commission to about 5,900 pirated films, musical cassettes, novels and text books, as well as Nigerians home videos and foreign videos cassettes and DVD worth about N1.5 million.

Those apprehended and hawkers making money from other people’s sweat are presently cooling their heels in police net. Despite this big catch, the NCC boss said, it was still a warning raid, adding that Ibadan people were yet to see anything. “Oyo State and the entire South-west are not going to be a haven for pirates. The heat is presently on them in Lagos State and we discovered that these criminals are running to Ibadan and other South-western states to perpetrate their nefarious acts, but we in the commission with the support of the Nigerian Police Force and other law enforcement agencies are battle-ready to make the entire South-west unhabitable for these unscrupulous elements,” she reiterated.