Celebrated production and set designer, Pat Nobo, who passed away last week at age 63, rarely granted media interviews.
He was not media shy as such. He just didn’t have enough time to self-appraise.
As the most prominent production designer in Nigeria of the last two decades, the Enugu State-born cineaste devoted his whole being to creating iconic set designs on film locations.
But a journalist, Ufoma Agali, had a one-on-one session with the unassuming man in 2005.
Here is an exerpt from the larger interview in which Nebo practically told his life’s story to Agali:
“My name is Pat Nebo. That’s Patrick Nebo in full. I should say we are the Independent children – children born during the Independent period. So, I am as old as Nigeria. I come from a town called Umuaga in Udi LGA in Enugu State. I didn’t grow up in Udi; nor in Enugu. Rather, I had a very early education, and was born and bred in Nsukka. That’s the place where I grew up.
Then, my father was a headmaster, traveling teacher and one of the pioneers of teaching profession in Nigeria in the region.
I had my early education at St. Theresa’s College in Nsukka. Immediately, I left there, I didn’t work for one day in Nigeria. I walked out of WAEC and worked into the plane, off to Italy. I should say my early formation had a lot of Italian influence because as a young person, my first approach and real knowledge of the arts came from Italy. It was in Italy that I saw myself really as an artist. In secondary school, we had a lot of pastimes as I was the school cartoonist. I was doing all those things in the arts and all other things. I was just like any other normal kid.
A lot of play; that’s it. But one thing was certain, I had the tendency to do arts. I actually went to study architecture but they singled me out in an architectural class and gave me a note and that was how I found myself in the School of Arts. That was how it all started. I became a painter in Italy. I had my first degree in sculpture but I had a strong interest in painting. So I went in for a Masters degree in decoration before coming back to Nigeria. I was actually billed to work in a museum or teach in Yaba College of Technology, but for my encounter with a man who I consider as my mentor really, Inyang Ema (Father of Emem of KUSH fame).
I met him in NTA. That changed the entire concept and I decided to work in television. Inyang Ema was my career father and I owe a lot to that man. How I wish somebody is going to write his biography. He is a man who changed the face of production design in Nigeria. He is the man who gave people like me courage and I saw that we could lift that aspect of television.
Normally then, if you are not a newscaster, if you are not a producer, if you are not an engineer, you were nothing. Inyang Ema created a style and I saw myself within that style and I decided I was going to pursue it. And I thank God that when I look around today and when people say production designers, lost people are now aware of our importance in broadcasting. They know the imbroglio of production designing and people now ask for production designers. If you neglect our profession, you will definitely feel it. I do production design for Channels Television. NTA still calls me today. The NTA news set in Lagos is still my work. The one in Abuja is still my work. I have done a lot of collaborations with NTA. Even in “Sweet and Sour” maybe you would have seen my credit and stuff like that with people like Zeb Ejiro and so on. And that’s it. So, Pat Nebo is principally a film person. Most of the time, Inyang Ema had always wanted to post me to Soweto Films. That was my first major film in Nigeria. Then after Soweto Films, the success started. I went for Fopomoyo film with Tunde Kelani and Sunny Ade. After that, we came back and I went for Mr. Johnson and all these films. I had actually worked as an assistant production designer. I am a production designer because these were films shot by major Yoruba companies with some teams from Australia, US, and so on. They had the post of production designer but they needed a Nigerian assistant and I had always filled that position for them. I learnt quite a lot from them and I am doing everything possible to make sure that we uplift that aspect of television production. So that is Pat Nebo. It has always been work, work, work, work. I don’t know where it’s going to end but I will keep moving. That’s it.”
