₦airaland Forum

A bronze sculpture by the Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu was formally presented to the United Nations on 5 October 1966. The sculpture, entitled "Anyanwu" ("Sun" ), stands 6 feet 10 inches high. It is a statue of a, woman, clad in the regalia of Royal Benin, an ancient kingdom which is now part of Nigeria, and is symbolic of the rising sun of a new nation. It is mounted on a marble base. The work symbolizes the sun's various aspects - the light of the day, dawn, rebirth, a new day, hope and awakening. It is located on the second floor corridor of the Conference Building between the Security Council and Trusteeship Council.

01 October 1977
United Nations, New York
Photo # 126482

Nigerian Sculpture Unveiled at Headquarters
A bronze sculpture by the Nigerian artist, Ben Enwonwu, was unveiled today at Headquarters. The sculpture, entitled “Anyanwu” (“Sun”) is a gift from the Government of Nigeria to the United Nations. Chief S. O. Adebo, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, presented the sculpture, on behalf of his Government, to Secretary-General U Thant.

Shown conferring after the presentation are Secretary-General U Thant (left) and the sculptor, Ben Enwonwu.
05 October 1966
United Nations, New York
Photo # 221408

Oct 5th 1966: Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations(UN) Chief Simeon Adebo presents Ben Enwonwu’s ‘Anyanwu’ sculpture to the U.N Secretary-General U Thant on behalf Nigeria. Enwonwu can be seen on the extreme right.

Early life

Ben Enwonwu was born a twin on 14 July 1917 into the noble family of Umueze-Aroli in Onitsha, Anambra State, southeastern region of Nigeria. His father, Omenka Odigwe Emeka Enwonwu, was a technician who worked with the Royal Niger Company. He was also a member of the Onitsha Council of Chiefs and a traditional sculptor of repute, who created staffs of office, stools, decorative doors and religious images. His mother, Chinyelugo Iyom Nweze, was a successful cloth merchant.

Upon his father's death in 1921, Enwonwu inherited his tools, going on to perfect the art of carving in the style of indigenous Igbo sculpture, begun earlier with his father, who first nurtured his precocious talent.

Education

Between 1921 and 1931, Enwonwu attended five primary schools: St. Joseph's Elementary School, Onitsha (1926–28); St, Theresa's Elementary School, Umuahia (1928–29); St. Mary's Primary School, Port Harcourt (1929–30); Holy Trinity Primary; and St. Mary's Primary School, both in Onitsha (1930–31).

In 1933, Enwonwu attended St. Patrick's School, Ibusa, and later enrolled at the Government College, Ibadan, completing his secondary education at Government College Umuahia in 1937.

At both colleges, he studied fine art under Kenneth C. Murray. Murray was an education officer in charge of art education in the colonial civil service and later director of antiquities. During their time together, Enwonwu became Murray's assistant and was recognised as one of the most gifted and technically proficient students of the "Murray Group" (Ben C. Enwonwu, C. C. Ibeto, D.L. Nnachy, M. Teze and A. P. Umana). The period of study under Murray marked the beginning of Enwonwu's formal education in art.


In 1944, under a joint Shell Petroleum Company and British Council scholarship, he attended the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London, and in 1945, the Ruskin School, Ashmolean, Oxford University, where the Slade had been relocated during World War II. In 1947, he received a first-class diploma in fine art from the Slade and registered for postgraduate work in anthropology (with a focus on West African ethnography) at the University of London. In 1948, Enwonwu completed his studies.


Nkiru Nzegwu states that the racist atmosphere he encountered during his stay in England sparked his interest in entering this programme. Anthropology offered a space for the scientific study of the races, their physical and mental characteristics, customs, and social relationships. In 1937, Murray exhibited Enwonwu's work at the Zwemmer Gallery in London. In 1969, he received an honorary doctorate degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, north-western region of Nigeria.


Career


After working with Murray for many years, Enwonwu was hired as a teacher at the Government College of Umuahia. According to art historian Sylvester Ogbechie, author of Ben Enwonwu: The Making of an African Modernist, Murray was displeased with the school's choice to provide Enwonwu with the same salary as the other seasoned teachers. This created a rift between both men. Eventually Murray left Government College and Enwonwu replaced him as art teacher. He continued his work as an art teacher in other various schools, including mission school in Calabar Province (1940–41), and Edo College, Benin City (1941–43). He was art adviser to the Nigerian government from 1948.

During the years following 1950, he toured and lectured in the United States, and executed many commissions as a freelance artist. In 1951, he met with the founding members of the Lagos auxiliary to the Anti Slavery and Aborigines Right Society, which was at that time headed by Candido Da Rocha, and had James Johnson, Samuel Pearse, and Sapara Williams as members and became their official art illustrator. From 1949 to 1954, Enwonwu held many art exhibitions within London, Lagos, Milan, New York City, Washington D.C., and Boston. In the course of her 1956 visit to Nigeria, Queen Elizabeth II commissioned and sat for a portrait sculpture by Enwonwu. At the Royal Society of British Artists exhibition in London of 1957, he unveiled the bronze sculpture.


In 1959, Enwonwu was appointed Supervisor in the Information Service Department office in Nigeria. He was a fellow of Lagos University (1966–68), cultural advisor to the Nigeria government (1968–71), and visiting artist at the Institute of African Studies at Howard University, Washington, DC, in 1971. He was appointed the first professor of Fine Arts at the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, from 1971 to 1975. He was also art consultant to the International Secretariat, Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in Lagos of 1977. The President of Nigeria, Shehu Shagari, presented a small sculpture of Enwonwu's Anywanu, a representation of the Igbo earth goddess Ani, to Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on the occasion of his state visit to the United Kingdom in 1981.

Enwonwu executed portraits of Nigerians as private commissions and illustrated Amos Tutuola's 1958 novel The Brave African Huntress. He maintained a studio in London and was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London.

Benwallt:
Can't independent individuals fill these positions, must it be politicians?

Gov Sani: “Most of these politicians that came out and say they are coming as coalition, they are politicians that were in government only less than two years ago. What did they do when they were in government? They were only fighting for power, not because they could do anything better.

“No president in the history of Nigeria has really practiced democracy like President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

Gov Sani: “Most of these politicians that came out and say they are coming as coalition, they are politicians that were in government only less than two years ago. What did they do when they were in government? They were only fighting for power, not because they could do anything… pic.twitter.com/7EJ1CmiPTp

— Imran Muhammad (@Imranmuhdz) February 3, 2025

KADUNA UPDATE: “When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, is the truth.” - Sherlock Holmes

Every day I see this governor embarrassingly and sycophantically rambling, I used to wonder why? However, confirming that Federal Government ‘reimbursements, interventions and grants’ in excess of N150bn have been given selectively to Kaduna by Tinubu, in the last 18 months, now explains everything.

By all means, defend Asiwaju for the conditional cash transfer. Asiwaju has earned it, coming from you. The people of Kaduna State will judge at the right time and place. Have a nice day. - #ConcernedKadunaCitizen

South Africa is a black racial supremacy state run by proto-genocidal maniacs

SA needs to be a European colony again.

Trump threatens to cut funding for South Africa over land policy

10 minutes ago

Basillioh Rukanga
BBC News

US President Donald Trump has said he will cut all future funding to South Africa over allegations that it was confiscating land and "treating certain classes of people very badly".

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill that allows land seizures without compensation in certain circumstances.

Land ownership has long been a contentious issue in South Africa with most farmland still owned by white people, 30 years after the end of the racist system of apartheid.

There have been continuous calls for the government to address land reform and deal with the past injustices of racial segregation.


"South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality. The South African government has not confiscated any land," Ramaphosa responded in a statement on X on Monday morning.

Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and is now a Trump adviser has also joined in the debate.

"Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?" Elon Musk said to Ramaphosa in a post on X.

On Sunday, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!"

He later said, in a briefing with journalists, that South Africa's "leadership is doing some terrible things, horrible things".

"So that's under investigation right now. We'll make a determination, and until such time as we find out what South Africa is doing — they're taking away land and confiscating land, and actually they're doing things that are perhaps far worse than that."

South Africa's International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said in a response on X that he hoped Trump's advisers would use "this investigative period to deepen their understanding of South Africa's policies as a constitutional democracy".

"Such insights will ensure a respectful and informed approach to our democratic commitments," he added.

The South African president said the government had not confiscated any land.

In his response, the South African president said that the new law was not a "confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution".

He said there was no other funding that is received by South Africa from the US except for the US health initiative Pepfar, which he said represented "17% of South Africa's HIV/Aids programme".

The US allocated about $440m (£358m) in assistance to South Africa in 2023, according to US government data.

The South African government says that the new law does not allow arbitrary seizures of land as it must first attempt to reach an agreement with the owner.

The president's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, last month said the state "may not expropriate property arbitrarily or for a purpose other than... in the public interest".

It says that the current system of "willing seller, willing buyer" has allowed white farmers to delay the process of land reform.

However, some critics have expressed fears that the law may have disastrous consequences like in Zimbabwe, where land seizures wrecked the economy and scared away investors.

In 2018, Trump had, during his first term as president, asked the-then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study South Africa's "farm seizures and expropriations and the large-scale killing of farmers".

At that time, South Africa then accused Trump of seeking to sow division with a spokesperson saying he was "misinformed".

South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality. The South African government has not confiscated any land.

The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution.

South Africa, like the United States of America and other countries, has always had expropriation laws that balance the need for public usage of land and the protection of rights of property owners.

We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest. We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters.

The US remains a key strategic political and trade partner for South Africa. With the exception of PEPFAR Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIVAids programme, there is no other funding that is received by South Africa from the United States.