FINE & APPLIED ARTS AS A PLATFORM FOR POVERTY
ALLEVIATION. A CRITICAL STEP TO ACHIEVING THE
MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS.
BY
RANDA, ANDREW HODU
SCHOOL OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION,
DEPARTMENT OF FINE & APPLIED ARTS,
FEDERAL
COLLEGE
OF EDUCATION, KONTAGORA
BEING
A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE SCHOOL OF VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION, FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, KONTAGORA
FROM 27TH -3OTH MAY,
2008.
ABSTRACT
Fine and Applied
arts has long been reputed as an important vocation in capacity building and
self-reliance, and as such can be a pivot in helping to achieve the first point
of the Millennium Development Goals, which aims to “eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger”. This paper attempted to use Fine & applied arts as a platform
to assess these possibilities and made recommendations to how poverty can be
reduced through skill acquisition which are, viable options that can lead to
self sustenance and poverty alleviation which will help in achieving the
Millennium Development Goals.
INTRODUCTION
The United Nations
(U.N) in its September 2008 world summit, at the UN headquarters in New York,
United States of America came out with an eight point agenda christened “UN
Millennium development goals” which aims to improve on societal and human values
by the years 2015, these goals were;
1.
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2.
Achieve universal primary education.
3.
Promote gender equality and empower women.
4.
Reduce child mortality.
5.
Improve maternal health.
6.
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7.
Ensure environmental sustainability.
8.
Develop a global partnership for development.
These goals were
introduced with the sole aims of providing better standards of living for
developing countries in particular and the world in general. Nigeria
has been grabbling to come to terms with these goals and sought various
possibilities to achieve them. Agencies were formed to help actualize the
goals. These include NEEDS, PAP, NAPEP and many more. However reports emerging
have shown that there is little improvement, and more needs to be done. Igbuzor
(2006) stated that issues of the Millennium Development Goals should not be
restricted to what is measurable but to address them, holistically if
meaningful progress is to be made.
One of the most challenging aspects of
the MDG is the first point which centers on eradicating extreme poverty and
hunger.
UNDP (2003)
stated that poverty is the main architect that militates against achieving the millennium
development goals. For sustainable development to be attained the issue of
poverty has to be faced squarely, so as to provide a base for the other MDG to
be achieved.
POVERTY IN NIGERIA
Poverty, as
defined by the Microsoft Encarta Dictionary is “a state of being poor,
deficiency or lack of something. Jakonda (2003) stated that poverty is to be
handicapped to take care of basic necessities like housing, clothing and
shelter. Aluko (1975) refers to poverty as a lack of command over basic
consumption needs, which means that there is lack of Good, shelter and clothing
which are essentials of life. This leads to the inability to participate in
society with dignity due to low self esteem necessitated by these factors.
Nigeria is estimated to have a
population of 140 million (NPC 2006),UNDP (2007) and an average annual growth
of 2.8% (world development report; 2002) and most of the people live on less
than a dollar per day despite the rich natural resources the country is blessed
with Nigeria is rated the 6th largest oil producing country in the
world, yet the poverty levels are offering a population surviving on less than
a dollar a day amounts to 70.2 percent its total population: Odusola, (2001).
World Bank (1996) described Nigeria
as a paradox, and it was so described because events have shown that the
poverty levels contradict the immense wealth the country is blessed with
(Obadan 2006).
The Federal Government has tried to
make progress by setting up several agencies to try and tackle poverty in Nigeria.
The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) which was formed in … was saddled
with the responsibility of providing employment for Nigerians, especially the
youths which are the fulcrum of the society (NAPEP), the National poverty
Alleviation Programme was also formed to formulate ways of alleviation poverty.
These and other agencies were primarily established for the attainment of rapid
increase in the nation’s productive capacity with a view to improving the
living standards of the people and over reliance on the government for white collar
jobs. It is an important strategy for increasing the nation’s per capital
income and in the long term, poverty. Fafunwa (1979) made it clear that the
future of Africa will depend on technical skills acquisition He went further to
say that African leaders of tomorrow will be drawn from an army of skilled
technicians, engineers and scientists as well as those with elementary,
secondary or University education who are also able to turn screws, wield axes
and use the hands as much as their brains. This cannot be further from the
truth and if poverty is to be reduced in Nigeria,
skill acquisition must be encouraged and promoted.
The poverty
related objectives enumerated were:
a)
Increase in per capital income
b)
An even distribution of income
c)
Reducing unemployment.
d)
Manpower development. Nwagu (2004).
All these points
are important if poverty is to be tackled effectively. Obadan (2006) stated
that an increase in per capital income simultaneously with an even distribution
of income would lead to poverty reduction. This is true because a reduction of
employment would mean an increase in per capital income, coupled with an even
distribution, will determine the levels of poverty reduction.
It is imperative
from the analysis that employment is a bane to achieving the millennium
development goal of poverty reduction, consequently a more salient and
practical approaches to be determined.
Skill acquisition is a very important
step to reducing unemployment
FINE & APPLIED ARTS AS A TOOL FOR SKILL
ACQUISITION
Fine and applied
arts has the potentials to be a venue for acquiring creative skills and
craftsmanship because of its devise nature. Fine and applied arts is best
described as a means of visual representation for aesthetics and functionality.
The Encarta Microsoft student defines art as the product of creative human
activity in which materials are shaped or selected to convey an idea, emotion
or visually interesting form. Art can refer to the visual arts including
painting, sculpture, architecture photography, decorative arts, crafts graphics
design and most recently glass technology. Art can be a platform for youths and
individuals to acquire certain skills that can help them to start a business or
to broaden and enlighten their horizons.
Palmer (2004)
enumerated the objectives of Art in Nigeria:
·
To foster creative self-expression
·
To develop keener awareness of aesthetic and social
values
·
To develop mental and physical awareness and
capabilities.
·
To train perceptual, manipulative and
organizational abilities.
·
To enhance personality growth and self esteem
·
To develop individual creative intuition for
self-sustenance.
This cannot be far from the truth as fire arts as an in road towards self
awareness and self reliance
Skill acquisition basically means
building up acquired skills for economic benefits, Okoro (1994) Defined skill
acquisition as an education where the individual acquires skills, knowledge and
altitude required for employment in specific occupations. Skill acquisition can
also be said to be fact aspect of education which leads to the acquisition of practical
and applied skills as well as basic science knowledge.
Fine &
Applied Arts is a viable platform for skill acquisition because of it’s diverse
nature, as it has various branches that can be of immense importance to the
recipient, some of these. Areas include:
Textiles
This is the art
of fabric production and decoration. It also involves paper works, batik, tie
and dye, blocker screen printing. Textiles is an important branch of the arts
where fabric to be used are decorated in an aesthetic manner, To achieve the
desired patterns on the fabric, designs are first made on paper in repeated
patterns and their transferred on to the fabric planned by printing on machine,
Screen, Stamping or stencil. This vocation is hugely popular in Kano
state northern Nigeria
and Oyo state, western Nigeria.
Graphics:
A viable and commercial art in which forms,
shapes and other elements of design are arrangement meaningfully and orderly
for visual communication. Individuals trained in this vacation stand can use
these skills to produce bill boards, sign posts or even work in a printing press;
it is commercially viable because the market is readily available. Computer
graphics which is quite recent in Nigeria
is another goldmine waiting to be explored.
Ceramics:
This skill is also very important and can
create business opportunities. Ceramics involves the production of articles
made of clay material and making them into fine, finished, beautiful
utilitarian pieces like pots, jugs, plates, Mugs, Sanitary wares, bricks, tiles.
The late Ladi Kwali epitomized this vocation, she used her skill to generate income,
employ youths around the Kwali Municipal council of Abuja
and thereby reducing the poverty rate around that area.
Sculpture
This art deals with forming figures
and objects in three dimensional way, either in relief from or in the – round.
Acquiring these skills will lead to Opportunities to decorate towns, cities or
even homes. It is quite popular in Southern Nigeria
where people use these pieces for decorative or commemorative purposes.
Painting
This is another aspect of the art that
can series as a spring board for gainful employment. It is the art of
illustration executed with paints, brushes and palette knives. This are is
purely decorative and aesthetic purposes.
Crafts
Crafts (also
called handcrafts) is the making of decorative or functional objects generally by
hand. It can come in various medium, glass, leather, paper, fiber or more. The
vocations are known to be quite marketable in Nigeria;
the opportunities are there to be taken are can be learnt in two ways
1. FORMAL LEARNING:
Skill
acquisition can be through formal learning. This involves teaching of skills in
an organized setting with curriculum to back it up, the methods of learning are
laid out for certain period of time, where students or individuals are tested
and graded periodically. Examinations are conducted, practically and in written
format to assess their progress and to motivate them to do better, examples of
these include: primary, secondary, tertiary institutions, and NAPEP learning centers.
2. INFORMAL LEARNING:
This type of
learning is done without restrictions and is usually done at a much slower pace
than the formal setting. Most recipients are normally adults or youths who do
not have jobs and are looking for ways to learn a trade to be able to earn
living, organized training centers are manned by professionals who take their
time to instruct the participants, most whom are semi-illiterates or
illiterates, in the case of apprenticeship, the learner is attached to the
“master”, for a period of time where he learns the rubrics and tricks of the
job, when he is certified qualified, he is then released and given some amount
of money to start a business.
These methods do
have their pitfalls in so many ways and they need government and private sector
support to thrive and be more viable
SKILL ACQUISITION FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION
The main stay of
skill acquisition through fine and applied art is for employment or self
employment. As earlier noted, gainful employment means
income.generation
and this leads to poverty reduction and economic development. Fine and applied
arts provides a great opportunity to learn skills that can help individuals
start businesses of their own
These acquired
skills can go a long way in providing avenues for individuals to be gainfully
employed and contribute to the society. Many unemployed, impoverished citizens
can benefit through these branches of art, formally or informally. If they are
engaged and make a living, poverty levels will decrease; Nwagwu (2004).
Investing in human capital is the surest way of reducing poverty, and if this
is to be done, it has to be restructured, such that individuals will be the
focal point, they should be empowered with the requisite practical skills that
can help them generate income and better their standard of living. Individuals
can be encouraged to start small and medium scale enterprises, so as to engage
themselves and be beneficial to their families and communities as a whole, in
the face of declining government and private sector jobs, the way to go is to
acquire skills, that should lead towards self-employment, Aluwong (2008). If
Nigerians are gainfully employed, poverty levels will definitely decrease and
this will go along way in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
CONCLUSION
Poverty
eradication is fundamental in achieving the millennium development goals, its
consequences reverberates itself in arrears like gender equality, HIV/AIDS,
malaria and other diseases, education and much more. Nigerians should strive to
be job creators and not job seeker so that they can earn incomes and reduce the
dependency on government, this will definitely lead to national development and
an in increase in the nations per capital income. Fine and applied arts
education can be a bridge to that effect because it provides a platform to
learn requisite practical skills in woodwork, painting, ceramics, sculpture and
more recently, computer graphics, if they acquire these skills they can be
self-reliant and guided to establish businesses that will eventually lead to
more employment opportunities for others. This circle, if well implemented will
go a long way to help in reducing the effect of poverty and hunger in our
society, curb a lot of vices that might stem from lack of work or
opportunities, an engaged society can only thrive and be beneficial to all,
thereby paving the way to achieving the Millennium Development Goals ,
hopefully ,by 2015.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
·
Government should do more to encourage the
teaching of fine and applied arts education through the provision of funds,
facilities and materials needed for effective teaching.
·
Teacher / instructor training and re-training
should be given more attention by the relevant authorities.
·
Fine and applied arts should be made compulsory
from primary school through secondary school.
·
Private sector involvement should be more robust
in supporting individuals and cottage industries that require loans to
establish or expand their businesses.
·
Vocational training centre where various
branches of the art can be taught should be established in rural areas to stem
migration to urban areas.
·
Core fine and applied art courses should be
included in the C.A.P (capacity acquisition programme) initiated by the Federal
Government through NAPEP.
·
A periodic start up tax haven should be provided
for young, upcoming entrepreneurs.
·
Small and medium scale enterprises should be
encouraged
REFERENCE:
Igbuzor. O
(2006) Review of Nigerian Millennium Development goals 2005 report, a paper
presented at the MDG/GCAP Planning meeting at Abuja.
Nigeria.
Jakonda, S.Z
(2003, May 3), Poverty Alleviation, RURCON Gazette, 12, 9-10.
Nigeria.
Federal Ministry of Finance (2000) “Nigeria CG, Poverty reduction paper”.
Nwagwu, J.U
(2004), Alleviating poverty through vocational education: the Nigerian Experience,
published paper, Faculty of education, Imo
State University,
Owerri.
Obadan, M.I
(2006) “Poverty in Nigeria:
Characteristics, Alleviation Strategies and Programmes”, NCEMA Analysis Series,
Vol 2, No 2.
Odusola, (2001),
cited in Nwagwu, J.U (n.d) Alleviating Poverty through vocational education:
The Nigerian Experience, published paper, Faculty of education, Imo
State University,
Owerri.
Poverty (2007)
Microsoft Student 2007 (DVD) Redmond,
W.A: Microsoft Corporation.
World Bank
(1996) Nigeria,
Poverty in the midst of plenty: The challenge of growth with inclusion.
Washington D.C, World Bank.
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