The ruins called Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre

SALIU GBADAMOSI during a recent trip to Suleja in Niger State reports that the once famous Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre is now a shadow of its former self even when it is capable of generating revenue and employment for the nation.

AT the zenith of its glory, it did not only attract European and American pottery students and tourists alike to the town that used to be known as Abuja before it was renamed Suleja after the 1976 creation of the current Federal Capital Territory (FCT) but also fame to African pottery as visitors trooped in from the world over in large numbers to learn the art of pottery in which Western techniques had been infused with local pottery techniques.

But good things, they say, never last, particularly in Nigeria, where the culture of maintenance is absent. After more than two decades of neglect, what remains today of the Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre is complete ruins. Indeed, the once acclaimed world-class pottery learning centre is now a relic. What is left will definitely make sad both Michael Cardew, who set up the centre for the Nigerian government and Dr Ladi Dosei Kwali, who became synonymous with the centre and after whom the centre was named.

Sunday Tribune learnt that the centre got its clay from Dangara Kwali in the FCT and Abuchi in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, which potters mould into beautiful household materials. It was also learnt that the last time any meaningful production was made at the pottery centre was in the 1990s whereas it is a centre capable of generating revenue from tourism and employ so many youths.

 

In the beginning

What is known today as the Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre began in 1951 as the Abuja Pottery Centre when the Nigerian government employed Cardew, a famous British studio potter, as a pottery officer. The employment was the elixir the untapped Nigerian pottery industry was waiting for to blossom. It was Cardew who identified the unique and exceptional potential of the Abuja pottery and selected the town, now Suleja, for the establishment of a pottery training centre.

The establishment of the training centre was the beginning of deliberate efforts to integrate the growing Nigerian pottery industry into the global earthenware production with the infusion of both the European pottery making styles with the Nigerian techniques. The infusion made products from the centre hybrid products which were well received in the world pottery market.

The arrival of a Gwari woman, Ladi Kwali from Kwali in present day Kwali Area Council of FCT, Abuja, in 1954 as the first woman potter at the training centre was to revolutionalise the art of pottery making at the centre. Other women potters such as Kande Ushafa, Lami Toto and Asibo Ido later came to the centre.

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Though not formally educated, Kwali, through her exceptional skills, gained local and international recognition and this had immense influence in the pottery industry, particularly in the Northern part of the country. She was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by the British government in 1962 and got an honorary doctorate from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in 1970. She received the national honour of the Officer of the Order of Niger (OON) from the President Shehu Shagari administration in 1981, among other laurels she earned in her lifetime. She was said to have held numerous exhibitions and training programmes abroad. Upon her death in 1984, the Abuja Pottery Training Centre where she was a colossus was named after her as Dr Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre.

Local trainees at the centre were able to learn to use potter’s wheel to mass produce their pottery just as they were also taught glazing and kiln firing. The golden era continued even after the retirement of Cardew in 1965 after which he departed Nigeria and left Nigerians in charge of its running.

 

Labour in vain?

The neglect of the centre is so monumental that one Jamil Abubakar, who spoke with Sunday Tribune during a visit to the centre penultimate Thursday, described it as “a tragedy of monumental proportion.”

The red brick main building built with traditional architecture and other buildings which served as stores for finished products showed tell-tale signs of neglect and abandonment. The water fountain inside the main building, which houses offices, is now covered with algae.

 

Every part of the centre is literally covered with weeds with the buildings still standing in the sprawling centre, built on about four hectares of land. The two fire kilns, where products were treated with fire to harden them, are being taken over by grasses, while all the roofing had either been blown off or caved in. The centre is now being used for open defecation and a short cut to the nearby Kantoma River which shares border with the centre.

The only official found at the centre refused to talk to Sunday Tribune. However, a Suleja resident, Sirajo Abdullahi, said the current problem of the centre started during the second term of a former governor of the state, Alhaji AbdulKhadir Kure, when the state government moved to privatise it, adding that “The arrangement was a complete failure, the result of which is what the centre has become today.”

According to Abdullahi: “The centre should be revived for the benefit of not only Niger State, but also the entire country. This place has the potential of generating employment opportunities for our people. Unfortunately, for now, it is in a very sorry situation.

“Apart from producing earthenwares for both domestic and international uses which in turn will earn us forex, the space around the centre could be converted to a tourists’ centre with the Kantoma River around here. The river can be used for boat regatta since it flows all year round. We can also have a museum to display many of works from this place and its past history.”

Sunday Tribune gathered that before it finally stopped production, the centre used to churn out about 100 ceramic products, including pots, flower vases, among others, on a daily basis. These, it was learnt, were produced manually and sold by the state government, which also took them to trade fairs both within and outside the country.

According to a local resident who did not want to be named, “now that the Niger State government has completely retaken possession of this place, the government must, as a matter of urgency, revamp the centre. When the centre starts production again, it will generate revenue in terms of sales for the government if properly managed by the people government will hand it over to.”

He called on the state government to look for genuine investors “who will not be interested in coming here to milk us dry.” He stated that the agreement to be entered into between the investors and government should be such that will emphasise creation of employment for Nigerians, particularly people of the state as well of deployment of modern technology in production and training of Nigerians on how to make use of such technology deployed.

 

Hope in the horizon

Despite its current sorry state, there is a ray of hope for the Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre. Sunday Tribune gathered that a tripartite arrangement is being put in place between the Federal Government, Niger State government and the World Bank to rehabilitate it. The rehabilitation, it was learnt, is to be undertaken under the World Bank-assisted Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) programme with a view to restoring the golden era of the centre.

The rehabilitation, Sunday Tribune learnt, is aimed at not only restoring the lost glory of the Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre, but also boosting the Federal Government’s economic diversification policy, generating employment and adding value to the country’s solid mineral sector. The initiative is also meant to limit import of domestic earthenware utensils and encourage renewed interest in the aesthetic values of pottery products.

The immediate past Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Alhaji Abubakar Bawa Bwari, during a visit to the centre last April, was said to have lamented that centre and its facilities were allowed to decay by successive governments and assured that the centre would be upgraded to meet the demands of contemporary modern pottery production.

According to him, “the cardinal interest of the Federal Government is to see that its diversification efforts manifest in improved livelihood of Nigerians through creation of sustainable employment and wealth creation for all Nigerians. The centre is also expected to engage the ever rising number of youths meaningfully through value addition processes of the industry and generate wealth for the nation.”

If these promises and tripartite agreements are concretised, they will no doubt bring back the good old days to Ladi Kwali Pottery Centre and it would begin to function according to the vision of its founding fathers but sometimes it takes grit and determination to bring back good times.

 

Nigerian Tribune