Mcphilips Nwachukwu
28 August 2008
interview
The Culture, Tourism and National Orientation Ministry is now in the up beat mood given the number of activities that are currently going on, and also given the number of activities that are mapped out to be undertaken by the various parastatals in the Ministry.
Last week at the Old Parade Ground, Abuja, the National Council of Art and Culture(NCAC)hosted the continent to the 1st African Arts and Crafts Expo, AFAC 2008. Coming immediately after that is also a three 3 day first ever ART EXPO in the cultural city of Lagos to be hosted by the National Gallery of Art (NGA), in conjunction with Gallery Owners Association of Nigeria,(AGAN).
Also, from the National Gallery of Art is coming another first African Region-al Summit on African Arts and Exhibi-tion, ARESUVA, slated to be hosted in the nation's capital city of Abuja in September.
From the Centre for Black African Art and Civilization, CBAAC, activities are agog to fulfil the mandate entrusted on the body as the custodian and propa-gator of African cultural values. Plans are already concluded for the Centre's international conference to be hosted this year in Brazil.
The country's National Troupe is not left out in this dynamic movement. Besides its domestic engagements, the Troupe has really become international as it has strived to take the nation's rich cultural orchestra across the Atlantic.
The Troupe, this year, has traveled to Cuba and was about to go to the Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago until when the travel trip was scuttled by an embassy. There are also plans for the Troupe to travel to Germany, Austria and the US this year to showcase the country's rich and vibrant culture.
Also in the tourism sub sector, a whole lot of encouraging things are taking place. And, in all these , there is one man on whose support all the parastatals ride on.
That man is the Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Prince Adetokubo Kayode.
The Honourable Minister was on hand last week to declare open the one week AFAC Expo, 2008. And shortly after the ceremony, he graciously spared some time to talk exclusively to Vanguard's Art about some of the activities of the Ministry. He spoke to McPhilips Nwachukwu.
I know the Honorable Minister must have pontificated a lot today...
(Cuts in )This is why we have expatriates in these area. We must maximize our exports before we start looking for imported ones, or, as we are looking for exports, we must create a lot of opportunities in promoting our crafts.
Look at what those in Cross River State Stand did with raffia bags. In fact, I have told them that in our future conferences in this Ministry, imported bags will not be used as conference bags. The things those guys did with raffia, what we saw them produce as shoes and bags using raffia materials are all amazing.
Believe me, if the whole of Abuja is patronizing the bag industry alone, the people do not need to bother again because Abuja is a conference city. You know how much activities conference cities do have and Abuja hosts a lot of conferences every year. We intend to use the event to expose and project our creativity and the prospects that abound in the culture and crafts industry. The idea is to make it a sustainable venture because it is a market.
In fact, the organizers are going to make some money as participants are supposed to pay to take part in the fair. That is the whole essence of AFAC Expo 2008. Since it is intended to be a sustain-able program, we expect some private investors to partner with us to form the organization because everybody will benefit from it.
We are very much concerned about the job creation aspect of the project as part of the seven-point agenda of the present administration and also the need to carry along those craft women and men who live in the rural areas. How many of them are involved in the project?
You have a very valid question, but in the question lies the answer. The people who produce these crafts don't need to come to the fair. All they need to do is to sell their products to those who will bring them to the fair.
If you bake bread, for instance, you don't need to go and market it yourself. All you need to do is to give it to your distributor to sell to the consumers. Just like the farmer in the bush , who is not expected to carry his garri to the market to sell. He sells to the traders, whose jobs are to sell to the people.
So it is with what we are trying to do. To create all kinds of opportunities. You can imagine when you make like fifty craft works and some dealer comes from Abuja and buys them off from you and comes back again to order for another hundred.What that means is that there are some prospects for you to continue in business.
So, people can come to you and order directly or call you on phone that they want such product; and all you need do is also to get back to the producers to order as a dealer. With more money in the hand of the producer, he can now order for more effective manufacturing tools to enhance production to meet up demands. Through this, there is sustainability of sales now and for the future, and also a future for the expansion of the industry.
Any how we do it, we create in both ways. More hands are employed to facilitate the jobs and more money exchange hands. Like I said, another idea is to expose some of our finest craftsmen to the world.
There is this young man at the fair today, his name is Taju, from ABU, and he does pottery. He just won an award, a gold medal in China , where Nigeria produced the best pottery in the world. He is at the Benue stand. This is a kind of opportunity to project and show this kind of unbelievable wonder from Benue State to the world.
That kind of arrangement is very feasible in a place where you have a Guild. Take, for instance, what the National Gallery of Arts and Gallery Owners Association are doing together towards the ART EXPO. That kind of Guild arrangement is lacking in the craft and art sub sector. And also, the man you are talking about is an elitist craftsman, who can go about his business with little or no guide. How about those un-informed crafts women and men in the rural communities. Don't you think they can be short-changed?
Exactly. The point I am making is that every craft person either lives in the town or in the village some where within Nigeria within a ward, local or state government. You know, we have a very strong chain now. At the federal level, we have a federal ministry, at the state level, we have the state arts and culture. At the local government level, we are now asking the local government chairmen to appoint cultural officers. We are also trying to establish creative industries. And the whole essence of this is to get the crafts people together.
I can tell you that, in the FCT alone, we have established about three cultural industry centres. One is at Ashara, another is in a village around Kuje and the other one is in Kutungamaji. And this is what we intend to do all over the country.
The federal government is putting some money into these projects and is also partnering with international agencies, like UNESCO, which had started some of these works in the past. Thirdly, the federal government is also looking toward partnering with some states' council for arts and culture. Because of this, we have asked every state to establish a cultural village in their capitals.
So, in each cultural village in the state capital, every local government will be required to set up a craft shop to showcase the creativity of the area. It is like a clearing house. It is meant for us to specialize in one area; those who will manufacture and those who will be involved in the marketing of the crafts. At any given time, government is alive to its responsibility of empowering Nigerians using our God's given talents and also employing our comparative advantage to good use.
You have been saddled with the task of piloting the affairs of the Ministry of Culture since the inception of this administration. What challenges have you faced in the discharge of your assigned duties?
Well , there are challenges. Anybody who moves to a new terrain must expect challenges. They are not special challenges, but the usual challenges of newness, novelty and resistence treatment.
We couldn't believe what we saw when we got here, just that in this Ministry today, we do much better than we have been doing before. We have actually achieved a lot. But the biggest challenge was to convince people in the sector that ideas matter more than money and I think that is the biggest challenge. You know that ideas matter more than money.
By next year, I will expect, at least, 30-40 African countries to participate in the arts and crafts expo. This year, we have about 6-7 countries in attendance. At least, we have started doing something. The upcoming regional visual art summit is also a sort of marketplace for art.
We have creativity here. Let us main-stream creativity into our economy. And also, let us mainstream our economy into creativity so that people who are talented can a earn a living from their creativity. So, that's why we are doing what we are doing.
We have a few other ideas that we are going to push out. For instance, we want the National Troupe to become a sustainable and economical as well as a traveling company. Any time the Troupe travels aboard, it is expected of it to make money for the country, be able to foot her travel bills and all that.
You should know that each time they travel out to showcase their shows, people will pay to watch their performances and, by doing that, they will benefit from having a glimpse into the nation's culture and the Troupe would have moved out of the usual practice of showcasing free of charge. This is part of the things we want to sustain. Culture is a critical part of tourism, and tourism is a critical part of entertainment.
It is good that you mentioned the National Troupe. How do you think that such effort can be sustained with the foreign embassies in the country having little regard for Nigerians. I hope you are aware that the intended trip of the troupe to Trinidad and Tobago was truncated when the British embassy denied transit visa to some artists?
Well, this year alone, I know that the Troupe has performed in not less than eight places. They were in Cuba, there is also plan for them to go to Brazil to perform. I told them that they have to stay six months outside Nigeria and six months in the country. As a national troupe , they are meant to showcase the real Nigeria to the outside: Nigeria, the creative man, the man of colour and culture. And I think that they are achieving that. As for the issue of visas, sometimes, they are political.
One is tempted to think that AFAC shares the same vision and objective as NAFEST
NAFEST is the national Festival of Arts and Culture while AFAC is more of an art trade fair. AFAC is like a market driven event, where craftsmen and women showcase their wares and knowledge. NAFEST is just a govern-ment programme to strengthen the unity of the country, and to showcase the rich cultures of Nigeria through dance, songs, wrestling, fashion fair and food. It is also a tourism event. As a festival of unity, culture, and cultural-tourism, NAFEST has its own role and objective, which is quite different from AFAC Expo. Even the Abuja carnival has its own role. It is also a cultural carnival to promote tourism. Culture is what we represent. And the creative industry is every aspect of life.
What is the position of the National Theatre at the moment?
The National Theatre will not be sold. It belongs to the cultural heart of Nigeria and will not be sold. Rather, it is going to be made a better place. It is going to be renovated, rehabilitated, upgraded and modernized to become a befitting house of culture in Nigeria.
The whole complex is going to be developed in line with the master plan, which was approved in 1978. And that is where the private sector will come in and key into government programmes like in the building of shopping malls, lodging apartment, office blocks, convention centre and children's park etc.
What are your other dreams for the ministry?
For the cultural industry, immediately I can get it moving in every ward in Nigeria, I would have made my mark. That is what I really want to achieve.
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