The Bayero University Kano (BUK) is a university situated in Kano, Kano State, Nigeria. It was founded in 1975, when it was renamed from Bayero University College and upgraded from University College to University. It is the first university in Kano State, North-western Nigeria.
Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu MBE, better known as Ben Enwonwu, was a Nigerian painter and sculptor. Arguably the most influential African artist of the 20th century, his pioneering career opened the way for the postcolonial proliferation and increased visibility of modern African art. He was one of the first African artists to win critical acclaim, having exhibited in august exhibition spaces in Europe and the United States and listed in international directories of contemporary art. Since 1950, Enwonwu was celebrated as "Africa's Greatest Artist" by the international media and his fame was used to enlist support for Black Nationalists movement all over the world. The Enwonwu crater on the planet Mercury is named in his honour.
Obiora Udechukwu is a Nigerian painter and poet.
Christopher Uchefuna Okeke, also known as Uche Okeke, was an illustrator, painter, sculptor, and teacher. He was an art and aesthetic theorist, seminal to Nigerian modernism.
Bello Maitama Yusuf GCON was a Nigerian politician and businessman. He became Minister for Internal Affairs in 1979, and Minister for Commerce in 1982, and Senator repressing Jigawa central 3 times. Prior, to joining politics, he founded Quartz Integrated Services Nigeria Limited right after he had finished university, it was a renowned and very influential construction company which had first started operating in Kano. Furthermore, he was also the chairman on the board of four other construction companies at the time, thus, making him one of the youngest multi millionaires in Northern Nigeria at the time. In addition to this, he was a lawyer and had served as a chief registrar at the Chief Magistrate's Court in Kano. He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly and, up to his time, one of Jigawa's few billionaires. Bello Maitama set up the stage for all politicians and businessmen in Nigeria.
Demas Nwoko is a Nigerian artist, protean designer, architect and master builder. As an artist, he strives to incorporate modern techniques in architecture and stage design to enunciate African subject matter in most of his works. In the 1960s, he was a member of the Mbari club of Ibadan, a committee of burgeoning Nigerian and foreign artists. He was also a lecturer at the University of Ibadan. In the 1970s, he was the publisher of the now defunct New Culture magazine.
Ndidi Dike was born in 1960 in London. She is a Nigeria-based visual artist working in sculpture and mixed-media painting. She is one of Nigeria's leading female artists, working in an artistic world typically designed for men. She is from Amaokwe Item in Bende local government of Abia State. She has three living sisters
Nnenna Okore is an Australian-born Nigerian artist who lives and works in Chicago at North Park University, Chicago. Her largely abstract sculptural forms are inspired by richly textured forms and colours within the natural environment. Okore's work frequently uses flotsam or discarded objects to create intricate sculptures and installations through repetitive and labor-intensive processes. She learnt some of her intricate methods, including weaving, sewing, rolling, twisting and dyeing, by watching local Nigerians perform daily domestic tasks. In her more recent works, Okore uses plant-based materials to create large bioplastic art forms and installations. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums within and outside of the United States. She has won several international awards, including a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2012. and the Australian Creative Victoria Award in 2021.
George Edozie, is a Nigerian painter. living in Lagos, Nigeria.
Marcia Kure is a Nigerian visual artist known primarily for her mixed media paintings and drawings which engage with postcolonial existentialist conditions and identities.
Chika Okeke-Agulu is a Nigerian artist, art historian, art curator, and blogger specializing in African and African diaspora art history. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Bruce Obomeyoma Onobrakpeya is a Nigerian printmaker, painter and sculptor. He has exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Malmö Konsthall in Malmö, Sweden. The National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos, has an exhibit of colourful abstract canvases by Onobrakpeya and his works can be found at the Virtual Museum of Modern Nigerian Art, although no exhibitions were showing as of October 2017.
Aisha Augie-Kuta is a Nigerian photographer and filmmaker based in Abuja. She is a Hausa from Argungu Local Government Area in northern Nigeria. She won the award for Creative Artist of the year at the 2011 The Future Awards. Her work spans across documentary, fashion and aerial photography. She uses juxtaposition in her work as her way of pushing the idea that there are always two sides of a story; this comes from her background in photojournalism and Mass Communication. Her personal projects explore issues of gender and identity influenced by her experiences as a female, mixed race and mixed tribe individual who struggled to fit in earlier in life.
Dele Jegede is a Nigerian-American painter, art historian, cartoonist, curator, art critic, art administrator, and teacher. Jegede was a Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, (1995). He taught at Spelman College, Atlanta as Visiting Fulbright Scholar (1987-1988), when he curated the exhibition, Art By Metamorphosis. Listed in Kelly and Stanley's "Nigerian Artists: A Who's Who & Bibliography," Jegede was Professor and Chair of the Department of Art, Indiana State University, Terre Haute (2002-2005) and Professor of Art at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, (2005-2010). He retired as Professor Emeritus in May 2015. Jegede is recipient of the Distinguished Africanist Award of the University of Texas. He is currently the Chairman, board of trustees of the Cartoonists Association of Nigeria (CARTAN).
Festac '77, also known as the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture was a major international festival held in Lagos, Nigeria, from 15 January 1977 to 12 February 1977. The month-long event celebrated African culture and showcased African music, fine art, literature, drama, dance and religion to the world. Around 16,000 participants, representing 56 African nations and countries of the African Diaspora, performed at the event. Artists who performed at the festival included Stevie Wonder from United States, Gilberto Gil from Brazil, Bembeya Jazz National from Guinea, Mighty Sparrow from Trinidad and Tobago, Les Ballets Africains, South African artist Miriam Makeba, and Franco Luambo Makiadi. At the time it was held, it was the largest pan-African gathering to ever take place. The event attracted around 500,000 spectators.
Chief Constance Afiong "Afi" Ekong, Lady Attah was a Nigerian artist and arts promoter.
Vivian N. R. Okeke is a Nigerian former diplomat. She was Ambassador to Austria, Slovakia, and international bodies based in Vienna.
Jelili Atiku is a multimedia performance artist and sculptor from Lagos, Nigeria. His performance with drawing, photography, installation sculpture, video and live performance have made him one of the most recognized performance artists from Nigeria around the world. His work is said to have a power which "lies in his use of Yoruba symbols and traditions of his local community"
The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) is a public research university located in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. It was opened in 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria. The university has four colleges, three schools, 18 faculties, 110 academic departments, 17 centres, and seven institutes with over 600 professors, about 3000 academic staff and over 7000 non-teaching staff. The university has over 400 postgraduate programmes reflecting its strife to become a postgraduate studies-centred university. The university operates from two campuses in the ancient cosmopolitan city of Zaria, the Samaru Campus where the Senate Building and most of the faculties are located and the Kongo Campus, hosting the faculties of Law and Administration. It has been adjudged to be the largest university in Sub-Saharan Africa, in terms of land occupied, owing to the numerous buildings it has.
Kolade Oshinowo is a Nigerian artist, painter, portraitist.
