ICASA

One of the main reasons I was in Abuja at this specific time was to make a quick stop in to ICASA the biannual conference in Africa on HIV/AIDS. Its chief organiser was Femi Soyinka, father to my travel companion and friend Ayo.

Abuja is the natural location for most international conferences in Nigeria having great facilities and the seat of government. We visited the conference centre and had a reasonable time wandering around before becoming slightly bored and occupying our time with other pursuits.


What was more exciting was the Opening Ceremony, which we were to attend as special guests (or smuggled in as friends and family of the host). Thanks to the persistence of Ayo’s mother I believe, myself, Ayo and his brother, sister and cousin were able to enter the bullet-proof VIP box to view the ceremony. I would like to overstate the importance of this and highlight my unsubstantiated delight at being put in such a position. Ayo and myself took great pleasure in laughing at ourselves and everyone else in there for the fact that we were the youngest there and so clearly did not belong to this group of dignitaries and NGO big-shots. The security guard too seemed slightly annoyed at having to let us in, giving us the evil eye most of the time, quite probably thinking he should throw us out and let some more important people in.

Most disappointing was the non-attendance of celebrities that would have made my story an even bigger eye opener. On the official invitation and speakers list were both Kofi Annan and the Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, but both failed to show. As did Bill Clinton, who the organiser told me might come but unofficially. I could have been sitting right next to these three people. Or maybe not. I suspect if they had showed up the countless security guards would have kicked us out in a flash.
But I did get to be served refreshments by attractive female youth corpers, muse over the relative baldness of the dignitaries sitting in front of us, watch colourful presentations and dances by various Nigerian tribal groups and an attempt at replicating the Durbar, a festival from Nigeria’s north involving horsemen. Oh and I could easily have forgotten, or should I say, wish I'd forgotten, the overly-long speeches by various dignitaries. Most amusing was when one of the two MCs mocked one of these overly long speeches as the speaker made his way from the podium back to the glass VIP box.