THE International Cultural Exchange Programme tagged WS78 will kick off tomorrow, Thursday, July 12, 2012 at Freedom Park, Lagos with a lecture in honour of Prof. Wole Soyinka who clocks 78 on Friday, July 13.Entitled From Tigritude to Transcendence: The Conscience and Conscientiousness of Wole Soyinka, the lecture will be delivered by Robert Fox, professor of English and Africana Studies at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, U.S. and a former lecturer at the University of Ife, Ile-Ife. Venue is Kongi's Harvest Hall of Freedom Park on Broad Street, Lagos.Project WS aims to restore the dignity of man and to achieve global diplomacy through the use of arts and culture. Dubbed WS78, the two-day event is the third after it was launched in 2010 with WS76 and WS77 last year. Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, will be chief host while Honorable Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Barrister Yusuph Olaniyonu, will deliver the keynote address.The grand finale of the event takes place on Saturday, July 14, when 78 students, 6 actors and scholars from America, accompanied by Zmirage Multimedia's Open Door Series officials will pay a courtesy call on Governor Amosun and his cabinet in Ogun Sate at 9 am. Sen. Amosun will present the winner of the essay competition with the trophy, N250, 000 scholarship and a laptop computer. He will also present the 2nd and 3rd place winners with scholarships of N150, 000 and N100,000 respectively and laptop computers. He will also present desktop computers to the schools that produce the three winners.The American visitors will then proceed to the newly refurbished June 12 Cultural Centre where 1000 students from 100 schools in Ogun State will join them. They will all have lunch together.All the visitors ' the Americans, the 78 students ' will be received by Zmirage officials at the cultural center. Each of the 1000 students will be given 100 books published by Prof. Soyinka as gifts. The books and the cash gifts will be presented to the students by the wife of Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, who will thereafter engage the students in a 15-minute motivational discussion.Thereafter, the 78 essay finalists will visit the historic Olumo rock for sightseeing. The grand finale would be rounded off with a red carpet reception at the new cultural centre, followed by the presentation of the stage play, Homeby Samm Art Williams, and directed by Prof. Segun Ojewuyi of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, U.S.Ojewuyi and Kareem also spoke on the project and what it aims to achieve this year. On the choice of lecturer, Ojewuyi said, 'What's unique about Professor Robert Fox is that apart from the fact he is a professor of English, he has some unique things about him. In the beginning of his career, he taught at Ife, alongside Kongi for seven years, and he is married to a Nigerian. You will see that our mission is a labour of love.'When we talk about humanity, we are not talking about national boundaries; we are also not talking about racial boundaries. We want to break those things down. We are looking for one, two, three people in the world, who can buy into that idea, and they will be stronger than a million people who are fed with bigotry''Sometimes, you would have a vision, and a vision can be strong, but you also need people who understand and value that vision; that is the kind of thing that Teju Kareem brings into this. He is the co-executive producer. Like I said in the pre-orientation, from the classroom, to meeting people in the streets, you will meet people, and build up a network that is going to be valuable as you go forward.'There is a network, and the governor of Ogun State is a major part of it. He is an accountant, but he is also a man with vision. It takes the combination of those three to make things really work, not just in the culture sector, but the country in general.
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