NATIONAL THEATRE CONCESSION: STAKEHOLDERS' MEETING, August 21, 2007

Images from the Stakeholders meeting on the proposed Sale/Concessioning of the National Theatre.

Caveat Emptor: PLEASE DISREGARD THE DATE ON THE PHOTOS

1. Cross Section of the audience
2.The Hightable: Dejumo Lewis, Hyccinth Obunseh (ANA), Deji Etiwe (NANTAP), Kolade Osinowo (SNA) Chairman of the meeting); and Jide Kosoko, President ANTP
3. Another cross section of the audience with the painter, poet, Chinwe Uwatse and Mrs Yetunde Aina of Jadeas Trust
4. From Left, former Administrator National Theatre, Dr Taiwo Ogunade, Steve James (GOND), Adebayo Salami (ANTP), Mufu Onifade, convener ,
5 Mufu Onifade, welcoming the meeting








COMMUNIQUE OF THE MEETING OF ALL MEMBERS OF SECTORAL ARTS BODIES UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF COALITION OF NIGERIAN ARTIST(E)S (CONA) AND STAKEHOLDERS HELD ON TUESDAY 21ST AUGUST, 2007 AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE, IGANMU, LAGOS.

1. Commendation of the Artists’ Community: The meeting commended and re-affirmed the concerted efforts of the Nigerian arts and culture Sector in the protest against the concession of the National Theatre by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE).

2. Affirmation of the CONA Platform: The Meeting adopted the approval the Coalition of Nigerian artist(e)s under the aegis of CONA with a view to creating a united front to, among other things:

In the immediate term:

sustain the opposition to the concession of the National Theatre employing such media as one-minute adverts in feature films and reflection of campaigns against concession of National Theatre in body of work espoused in Nigerian films, plays and art exhibition.

conceptualise, articulate and propose to the Government a feasible action plan for the resuscitation of the National Theatre and its operations under a regime of governance and management that accords with internationally-acceptable standards; and

Employ legal options to restate and insist of Government responsibility to the Culture Sector
On the long run:
(i) Serve as a platform for the articulation of common agenda for the art and culture sector including the adoption of a National Cultural Policy, the establishment of the National Endowment for the Art.
(ii) Establish common fora to secure the welfare of arts and culture workers.
3. Restatement of Opposition to the National Theatre Concession: The Meeting restates the opposition of the entire art and culture community to the transfer of the National Theatre to a private concern noting as follows:
(i) The National Theatre is Nigeria’s national cultural centre
(ii) All over the world, human communities, including nations, states, cities and other communities set up official cultural centres to:
signalize the community’s cultural arrival;
embody its artistic values;
showcase its artifacts; and
incubate the progressive development of its creative expressions.
Because of the importance of the foregoing roles of a national cultural centre, national cultural centres are never:
Left in the hands of public bureaucracies without specialized training and hands-on experience in facility management and the business of art and entertainment venues; nor
concessioned to private entities to govern and operate;
operated with a view to profit
(Refer to the governance and operations of The Kennedy Centre for the Performing Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Barbican, Carnegie Hall etc)
Need for the Resuscitation of the National Theatre: The Meeting acknowledges the need for the resuscitation of the National Theatre for the fulfillment of its mandate as the Nigerian national cultural centre and the centre of arts and performances in the black world, as was conceived during the Festival of African Art and Culture (FESTAC). In this regard, the Meeting proposes the following:
That the Federal Government should review the proposed concession of the National Theatre;
a study group of stakeholders and experts should be commissioned to analyse the nature and structure of successful Public Private Participation in the operation and funding of National Cultural Centres world-wide and the appropriate legal and other frameworks for such a PPP established before inviting private participation under the framework. The framework shall define the roles and responsibility of (1) The State, (2) The Business Community and (3) The Art community in the sustenance of the National Theatre;
The adopted PPP model should delineate between the management and governance of the National Theatre by handing the governance of the Theatre over to a publicly sanctioned Trust constituted by reputable artist(e)s, art connoisseurs, business men and statesmen under an enabling national legislation;
The governing Trust should be empowered to define and oversee the margin of commerciality and profitability permissible in the operation of the Theatre, having regard to the need to maintain a balance between our national cultural interests and the commercial necessities of the private participation, especially in view of the funds expected to be mobilised for the resuscitation work;
Also, the governing Trust, working with the management, should be empowered to mobilise funds from private endowments, corporate tax-deductible sources, and government budgetary sources, to subsidise the operations of the Theatre;
The management, of course, should be concessioned to qualified private entities with demonstrable interest in the Arts and capacity to resuscitate the Theatre.
Cooperation & Participation of the Art Community: The Meeting agrees that the Nigerian art and culture community should actively participate in the processes for the conceptualization, articulation and implementation of the appropriate model for the productive resuscitation of the National Theatre.
6. Enlightenment of the Art Community: The Meeting agrees that a vigorous campaign of enlightenment should be carried out within the generality of the arts and culture community with a view to clarifying the position of the Coalition under the aegis of CONA and in reinforcing the position of the Coalition as the current campaign gets underway. Such enlightenment shall be carried out through regular All-Stakeholders’ meetings and through the different Sectoral groups.
Avenues for Pushing the Artists’ collective Agenda: The Meeting agrees that this Communiqué and a position paper containing detailed proposal of the art community should be prepared and forwarded to:
The President;
The National Assembly;
The Minister of Culture;
Governor of Lagos State;
Lagos State House of Assembly; and
The Press.
Signed today the __ day of __________________, 2007
Kolade Oshinowo (Society of Nigerian Artists) __________________________________
Hyacinth Obunseh (Association of Nigerian Authors) ___________________________________
Biodun Abe (National Association of Nigerian Theatre Art Practitioners) __________________________________
Steve James (Guild of Nigerian Dancers) ___________________________________
Jahman Anikulapo (Committee for Relevant Art) ____________________________________
Jide Kosoko (Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners) ____________________________________
Ejike Asiegbu (Actors’ Guild of Nigeria) _____________________________________
Mufu Onifade (Convener)  _____________________________________



AUGUST 11 MEETING Of HEADS OF ASSOCIATIONS
Photos:
CAVEAT EMPTOR: PLEASE DISREGARD DATE ON PHOTO

Images recorded at the heads of Artists Associations meeting at CORA HOUSE, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Surulere Lagos towar
onvening of an Artists Stakeholders meeting on the proposd sale/concesssion of the National Theatre:












































































Photo 1: from left (slightly backing camera) Mufu Onifade (convener of the meeting), Hyccinth Obunseh (representing ANA), Biodun Abe (President NANTAP), Kolade Osinowo (President SNA),Steve James (Chairman Guild of Nigerian Dancers, GOND)
2. Jide Kosoko, President Association of Nigeria Theatre Practitioners, ANTP; Deji Toye (CORA, Director Legal Services), with Ejike Asiegbu (President Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN)
3. Convener of meeeting, Mufu Onifade, Obunseh (ANA Publicity Secretary), Abe, (NANTAP) and Oshinowo (SNA
5. Onifade and CORA Programme Chairman, jahman Anikulapo

NATIONAL THEATRE: COALITION OF NIGERIAN ARTISTS CONVENE STAKEHOLDERS's MEETING

On Tuesday August 21 at 10AM, a conference of stakeholders in the Arts, Culture and Tourism sectors will hold in the Banquet hall of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. The main objective is to further deliberate on the proposed Sale/Concession of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.
The Conference is sequel to a meeting of heads of sectoral bodies of Nigeria Artists, which met on August 11 on the platform of the Coalition of Nigerian Artists as convened by Mr. Mufu Onifade and Mr. Biodun Abe among others (see communique below).
You will recall that same Coalition of Nigerian Artists (CONA) had staged a massive protest few weeks back in the precinct of the Theatre complex, to protest the announced Concession/sale of the National Theatre.
Please assist in announcing the meeting in your various mediums as well as giving maximum exposure to the content of the resolutions at the August 11 meeting even as you grace the event with your esteemed presence or send a representative.

Communique of the Meeting of
Heads of Sectoral Bodies of Nigerian Artists
under the Umbrella of Coalition of Nigerian Artists (CONA)
Held on Saturday 11th August, 2007 at 11 a.m.
at CORA Secretariat, 95, Bode Thomas Street , Surulere, Lagos


Commendation of the Artists' Community: The Meeting commended the concerted efforts of the Nigerian art and culture community in the protest against the concession of the National Theatre by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) noting, with delight, the public debate that has been generated by the protest, the overall tone of which suggests that the public opposes the transfer of the National Theatre to any private concern under the guise of concession or howsoever otherwise termed.

Affirmation of the CONA Platform: The Meeting approved the cooperation of Nigerian artists under the aegis of CONA with a view to creating a united front to, among other things:

In the immediate term -

o sustain the opposition to the concession of the National Theatre; and

o conceptualise, articulate and propose to the Government an a feasible action plan for the resuscitation of the National Theatre and its operations under a regime of governance and management that accords with internationally-acceptable standards; and

On the long run -
o serve as a platform for the articulation of common agenda for the art and culture sector including the adoption of a National Cultural Policy, the establishment of the National Endowment for the Art as well as the establishment of common fora to secure the welfare of arts and culture workers.


Restatement of Opposition to the Concession of the National Theatre: The Meeting restates the opposition of the entire art and culture community to the transfer of the National Theatre to a private concern noting as follows:

The National Theatre is Nigeria 's national cultural centre;

All over the world, human communities, including nations, states, cities and other communities set up official cultural centres to:

o signalize the community's cultural arrival;
o embody its artistic values;
o showcase its artifacts; and
o incubate the progressive development of its creative expressions.

Because of the importance of the foregoing roles of a national cultural centre, national cultural centres are never:

o Left in the hands of public bureaucracies without specialized training and hands-on experience in facility management and the business of art and entertainment venues; nor

o concessioned to private entities to govern and operate;

o operated with a view to profit

(Refer to the governance and operations of The Kennedy Centre for the Performing Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Barbican, Carnegie Hall etc)

Need for the Resuscitation of the National Theatre:
The Meeting acknowledges the need for the resuscitation of the National Theatre for the fulfillment of its mandate as the Nigerian national cultural centre and the centre of arts and performances in the black world, as was conceived during the Festival of African Art and Culture (FESTAC). In this regard, the Meeting proposes the following:

That the Federal Government should review the proposed concession of the National Theatre;

a study group of stakeholders and experts should be commissioned to analyse the nature and structure of successful public private participation in the operation and funding of National Cultural Centres world-wide and the appropriate legal and other frameworks for such a PPP established before inviting private participation under the framework. The framework shall define the roles and responsibly of (1) The State, (2) The Business Community and (3) The Art community in the sustenance of the National Theatre;

The adopted PPP model should delineate between the management and governance of the National Theatre by handing the governance of the Theatre over to a publicly sanctioned Trust constituted by reputable artists, art connoisseurs, business men and statesmen under an enabling national legislation;

The governing Trust should be empowered to define and oversee the margin of commerciality and profitability permissible in the operation of the Theatre, having regard to the need to maintain a balance between our national cultural interests and the commercial necessities of the private participation, especially in view of the funds expected to be mobilised for the resuscitation work;

Also, the governing Trust, working with the management, should be empowered to mobilise funds from private endowments, corporate tax-deductible sources, and government budgetary sources, to subsidise the operations of the Theatre;

The management should be concessioned to qualified private entities with demonstrable interest in the Arts and capacity to resuscitate the Theatre in line with the overall national cultural policy.

Cooperation & Participation of the Art Community: The Meeting agrees that the Nigerian art and culture community should actively participate in the processes for the conceptualization, articulation and implementation of the appropriate model for the productive resuscitation of the National Theatre.

Enlightenment of the Art Community: The Meeting agrees that a vigorous campaign of enlightenment should be carried out within the generality of the art and culture community with a view to clarifying the position of the coalition under the aegis of CONA and in reinforcing the position of the coalition as the current campaign gets underway. Such enlightenment shall be carried out through regular All-Stakeholders' meetings and through the different Sectoral groups (the first of which has been billed for Tuesday 21st August, 2007).


In attendance:

1. Kolade Oshinowo (Society of Nigerian Artists, SNA)


2. Hyacinth Obunseh (Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA)

3. Biodun Abe (National Association of Nigerian Theatre Art
Practitioners, NANTAP)

4. Steve James (Guild of Nigerian Dancers)
5. Jide Kosoko (Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners)


6. Ejike Asiegbu (Actors' Guild of Nigeria, AGN)

7. Jahman Anikulapo (Committee for Relevant Art, CORA)

8. Deji Toye (CORA)

9. Mufu Onifade (Member ANA, SNA, NANTAP Convener)


Sgd: MUFU ONIFADE
o on behalf of CONA, Convener of the Stakeholders' meeting .

Okay, let’s sell National Theatre to a church

BY AYODELE ARIGBABU
(As published in The GuardianLIFE magazine August 19. 2007)

APART from a few Lagosians who still reminisce about those days when they watched cowboy films at the National Theatre and a younger generation of a different class who still throng the cinema halls there on Sundays to watch Yoruba films, who else in the country knows this monster building and who cares whether it’s pulled down to its foundations to make way for an office tower?
Why have the Bureau for Public Enterprises and the community of artistes been squabbling over this decrepit, abandoned building that looks like an alien space ship for so long?
Well, for one, the Pritzker award winning architect and author Rem Koolhas who did extensive research on emerging mega cities with his team of graduate students from Harvard University at the turn of the millennium (and was perhaps the first to take a concentrated look at the possibilities in the chaos called Lagos) anchored a lot of his research on the National Theatre — quite literally, scouring through the mass of archival material in the belly of the beast and analysing its role in the development of the city, in tandem with FESTAC town, which was built at about the same time.

ESSENTIALLY, the National Theatre was not devised by the Federal Government as just a one-off event venue and cultural center, but was designed to be a bulwark against which a whole urban planning initiative for Lagos could ride.
In fact, it will not be wrong to state that the National Theatre, in combination with FESTAC Town and other developments that came up at the same time served a major role in opening up and connecting mainland Lagos. Unfortunately, the initiative has not been sustained, hence the current imbroglio, which warrants us asking certain questions:
• Has the Lagos State Government capitulated in its claim that the theatre is on land that is vested in the state government and therefore cannot be ‘sold’ by the Federal Government?
• Is the Bureau for Public Enterprises taking into consideration the tangible and intangible assets that make up the National Theatre, which include the expansive land on which it is built, the history behind the edifice; the value of the material it houses; its value as a national monument; and more importantly, its prominent role in the urban design matrix of a mega city like Lagos?
• Surely the theatre cannot be expected to function effectively without the cooperation and integration of the Lagos State Government’s urban planning initiatives as regards transportation and other social infrastructure?
• Are the parcels of land adjoining the National Theatre not meant to be developed into a proper cultural precinct that will include a five star hotel, impressive landscaping, an expansive shopping mall, more cinema halls, and other ancillary services that will support the National Theatre in drawing a constant crowd to Iganmu and will appropriate the adjoining Surulere community the same way the combination of MUSON Centre, City Mall and (to a lesser extent) National Museum in Onikan have appropriated the neighbouring Ikoyi community into a cultural precinct?
• Do people really expect the National Theatre to fare any better for as long as it is located in a largely decrepit and desolate part of town that is hardly seen unless while being conveyed across any of the network of bridges that’s about it?
• Can’t the Lagos State Government see a brilliant opportunity for a massive urban renewal effort with equal and perhaps better prospects than their efforts in the Lekki zone … albeit an effort driven on a cultural platform, but one which for once can attempt to connect the mainland and the Islands in one big developmental effort with all the accruable revenue?

HERE is an attempt at lateral thinking… how about selling it to a mega church? Churches make money, churches appreciate the value of big buildings that can sit lots of people, churches are fantastic crowd pullers and some churches have blamed all the nation’s woes on all the ‘juju’ that was invoked during the FESTAC ’77 at the National Theatre in the name of cultural rejuvenation; so they should be interested in forming a consortium to bid for the theatre so that they can embark on some spiritual fumigation, which will sort out all our problems by chasing the aliens away once and for all.
Imagine a mega church with the National Theatre as its headquarters building! And let nobody scream that it would be a subversion of the nation’s diverse cultural heritage; after all church going is now a valid national culture. It’s a fantastic thought… why aren’t churches falling over themselves trying to buy this building…?

QUITE frankly, if a church will buy into this idea and put us all out of our miseries by turning the National Theatre into a Mecca of sorts (forgive the pun), it will be a relief. If it’s so difficult working out a cultural precinct, then let’s make Iganmu a religious precinct… as a nation we seem to have fared better in that regard, what with the number of religious camp sites on the Lagos Ibadan expressway and the number of churches that have developed whole towns around their mega auditoria — case in point — Oyedepo’s Canaan Land in Ota and Adeboye’s Redeemed Camp off the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway.
You see, long after FESTAC, some people have successfully tapped into the idea of how large event venues with mass appeal can thrive with effective urban planning and development that incorporates all necessary ancillary services including housing and transportation, albeit at a macro scale.
The BPE and the artists should go to the churches for tutorials and spare us all this macabre dance. That is the design sleuth’s final submission on the matter.

-Ayodele Arigbabu
HYPERLINK "mailto:arigbs@gmail.com" arigbs@gmail.com
HYPERLINK "http://www.designpages.blogspot.com" www.designpages.blogspot.com

Modest proposals on sale of National Theatre

By ’Lasunkanmi Bolarinwa
(As published in The Guardian Wednesday 15/8/07)

IN the wake of President Umaru Yar’adua’s assumption into office, virtually everything standing in Nigeria had been sold. Nothing was sacred. Those that were yet to be sold were counting their days. As a matter of historical fact, so obsessed was Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo with the urge to sell at no cost, or is it at all cost, that just as he was waving farewell at Nigerians with one hand, he was, with the other hand counting proceeds from the sale of two of our refineries. He was not just the President, he was the auctioneer. He sold buildings; sold the roads leading to them, sold the furnishings and mortgaged the domestic servants and their families. Such was the reign of the auctioneer who also was the president. We do not know yet if his successor would be – Auctioneer The Second.
If you are an avid follower of privatisation and commercialisation reform package of our government, you would know that as you read this, the National Theatre might have been sold. Do not mind all the hues and cries by stake holders in the industry. You agree with me that if the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is to have its way, all those who call themselves stakeholders in the industry and use their stakes to hold back and derail policies of government would be tied to the stake and shot. Simple! Stakeholders to the stakes! Stakeholders my foot! It is therefore the matter of the sale of the National Theatre that prompts me into this intervention.
Those who know me would testify that I am not very good at the business of buying and selling. But that is not to say, I am not entitled to my fair share of clairvoyant thinking; especially when I set my mind to it over a long period of time. I may claim to be a genius, a claim that I cannot prove except when I am in the beer parlour, but sometimes in a moment of flashing divine intervention, I am capable of some quasi ingenious ruminations. So give it to me, I have stumbled, No! found the perfect proposal to apply to the spate of selling going on in the land.
With all proposals, you should know that there must be a background. This, among other things would make us understand the problem statement better and then to appreciate fully the strength of the proposed solution. This is the background I proffer.
Let us face it, No matter how stark and ugly it may be. We come from a long tradition of buyers and sellers. Simple. A substantial part of the history of the African continent is that of buying and selling. There was nothing we did not sell. We sold our labour. We sold our intelligence. We even sold ourselves. Yes, we sold our brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers. We sold our artifacts and traded our culture in. And in each of these cases, what we get in return did not matter. Salt? Rum? Money? Mirrors? Slavery? Colonisation? Deprivation? Anything. Just provide an opportunity to sell and…. Gbam! We are ready to play ball. We must however put the texture and component of this trade in perspective. A major point of note here is that it is usually the powerful who capture and sell the weak and all they have. It is the haves who sell the have nots. It is the rulers who sold their subjects. Ironically, the rulers and the powerful also sold themselves into perdition. But before they knew this, it was too late. Maybe at a latter date, interested anthropologists would conduct studies into the nature of this trading bug that is eating into the African system.
If that glimpse into the past does not help you, what about the instances of how properties, houses, were sold – and are still being sold - off their owners heads by sellers who did not own the house and who knew next to nothing about the house and to buyers who were too greedy to find out the authentic owners of the houses? The emergence of billboards and graffiti on actively inhabited houses saying This House Is Not For Sale, Buyers Beware is one of the recent indications of our penchant to sell everything and anything, ownership not withstanding. So, without any attempt at being mischievously euphemistic, I put it to you that we are a very enterprising people. Take it as a compliment or take it with a pinch of salt. I cannot be bothered. I have stated a fact provable empirically.
It is strange therefore that those who claim to be stakeholders in the art and culture industry have done very little to show an understanding of the culture they are stake holding. They have therefore embarked on this huge protest calling attention to their ignorance about the imperative of selling. They have forgotten that there is no power in the world, no matter how great, that can stop a buyer from buying from a willing seller when it is in their blood to trade at all cost. I know for certain that this is one major reason why government and their partners in trading would not listen to them and that is why I have taken it upon myself to make the following proposal; modest as it may seem, I hope it will show all parties concerned the path of reason.
Why can we not just sell the National Theatre and throw a huge party? What is it doing for us now that we will miss if it is gone? Have other structures not been sold before the National theatre? Who cried foul then? What the hell (don’t mind my French) does it matter if we do not leave anything for generations to come? Can they not fend for themselves? Who says they (future generation) are not going to sell it off anyway? So, why wait for them if we can do it right away?
We cannot begin now to ask questions of whether or not government has been meeting its obligations to the upkeep of the structure of the place over the years because this is a land where such sensible questions are expected only from officially certified idiots. So, why bother ask? We see things differently. So, our reactions and attitudes to issues are different. Our definition of government, governance, leadership and followership among others are at cross purposes. To these other people at the other side of the divide of reason what is culture? It is that piece of entertainment you have on the airport tarmac when visitors come flying in. It is the assemblage of young pretty women and men costumed in traditional attires doing exotic dances to the delight of official human beings after dinner in the bouquet hall of a five star hotel. So, where is the place of the national theatre in all these art and culture business? The National Theatre is just a piece of property that can be put to better use by other sectors of the economy.
If we know anything about the average Nigerian politician, it is that they know the value of money. They spend a lot of valuable time accumulating (another word for obtaining inappropriately or simply stealing by stealth) so much of it to be able to stand a chance to contest elections. They spend so much of it ensuring that the elections are rigged. When they get into office, so much of it is expended to ensure that they garner more. This is where we must begin to understand that, for an economy that is as practically grounded as ours, where are our esteemed politicians recoup money that will either serve as their severance package or that they will use for the next election campaign if there is nothing to sell? Those who say the National theatre should not be sold should go and sleep and come back when they have alternative suggestion of where to raise pocket money for our leaders from? Am I the only one who suspects that the government officials in charge of the building will make more money on the transaction if it goes through that if it does not?
Now that all the banks we have in the country are mega banks, it makes sense to imagine what wonders it will do to have all twenty five or so of them map out the sharing of spaces in the premises of the Theatre. In compliance with the drive to ensure that everything in Nigeria brings money in the name of economic reform, what is the sense in pretending to be protecting some cultural heritage? Just like some musician in the past said ‘grammar no be money’, so also is culture no be money.
I will not be one of those shortsighted people who believes this is about efficiency and effectiveness of a sector. For God’s sake, not even government is effective or efficient in this country and we have accepted that with all sense of humility. If you take privatisation, commercialisation and consolidation in the banking sector for instance, you will find out that, N25m or not, some of them can still not run efficient toilets in their various branches. They cannot present staff members who understand their place against that of costumers. Their branches cannot be found in other places apart from the capital in some states. They advertise internet banking but they cannot deliver on it. They are quick to tell you there is no network when you go for your money. They are quicker to tell you in Ilorin to go to your branch in Onitsha in order to cash your cheque as if it is your fault in the first place that their network is not working. Those that were efficient before the commercilaisation are still the ones leading in the ratings of the person on the street.
I also know of one or two companies that has been privatised in the last eight years but has refused to get any better, at least in my layperson’s perception. If you doubt me, check out what is happening to Daily Times Newspaper or whatever its proper name is. If that is not enough, ask the person next to you what has become of NEPA/PHCN transformation. Maybe they were not commercialised, they were merely ‘reformed’. However, whichever, way you see it, nothing, absolutely nothing, has improved in that parastatal. Although PHCN has not generated any additional megawatt of electricity yet, it is jerking up its tariff at will. That is the way of Nigeria!
Yes, other countries, more economically advanced countries of the world, protect their own cultural heritage no matter how fluid it might be in the face of changing economic realities and the challenges of coping with imperialism. What is most interesting is that they are not just interested in their own culture, they are also interested in studying other people’s culture too. Take the example of the French people who even have a cultural centre in Nigeria! Maybe you can forgive the British for having their Council here in Nigeria. This is a commonwealth nation. They colonised us and the link tends to be stronger. But what about the French and the Germans? Talk of cases of classical busy bodies! Give it to these cultural outposts, some of them have done more for the promotion and positioning of the Nigerian art and culture than some of the people who are clamouring for the sale or concession of the National Theatre now have ever done in their collective history either as people in government or as people in the corporate world. While those who lead in global economic reforms are exporting their culture and promoting other countries’, we are in an annihilative mood under the guise of progress and reforms. But then we all have headaches differently. One man’s poison is after all another man’s breakfast.
In the recent past, those who drive against the flow of traffic in Lagos State were arrested and taken to psychiatric homes for medical examination. The basis for this was that there must be something wrong with your mental state for you to do things contrary to good reason and constitutionality. I think it worked while it was being implemented. But, as usual, instead of improving on it, we have since abandoned it. By now, all the drivers of bullion vans who blow illegal siren would have been put in their places, including big lawyers who think that by quoting the law a lot they have become the constitution. That is the way of our land. In a similar vein, I am not sure if it followed from the Lagos state case, somebody suggested that our political leaders should have their heads examined before confirming their eligibility for elections. Simply put. This would mean that as they publicly declare their economic assets, they are also expected to present a certificate of a clean bill of mental health. We ignored this suggestion. This selling spree is one of the consequences of such lack of attention to important details.
Nigeria is one of the biggest countries in Africa and it is also one of the most, if not the leading irresponsible state. Unfortunately, irresponsibility is a trait that cannot be traded in. Otherwise, I would suggest the outright sale of the Nigerian Armed Forces, as one of the most backward, reactionary, anti progressive institutions in the polity. I would suggest a plan to do a hundred year concession of the National Houses of Assemblies because, in spite of huge investments in time, money and trust, they have achieved only one thing; the grand incapability to serve the ordinary people of Nigeria.
It was over a couple of drinks that my friend and I stumbled on this novel idea of trading off leaders like football clubs, especially in Europe and the English Premiership, trade off players. Open a transfer window as they say and shop for the brightest leaders in the market. You can imagine the pleasure of loaning Obasanjo to the Americans and buying Tony Blair back from retirement? We can simply sack our national assemblies and go shopping for replacements in France, Italy and even the United Nations. That way, we would not have to be saddled with all these unproductive elected officers who give the effect of a bad bench and pitch combined. In a way, football seem to be more business like than governance and it is part of my modest proposal that we include ideas such as this in our reform package for the current dispensation. I can bet my better eye that the United Nations would, for this, acknowledge our contribution to world politics.
No matter how hard I try, I cannot ignore some of the age old sayings of our ancestors. They are just too apt. In certain circumstances they say that people who refuse to acknowledge the praise of their lineage in public would most probably take to their heels if they stumble on their father being beaten up in a remote corner. How else do you begin to understand people with little value for that which should matter most to their lives? Sometimes, it is the mere act of suggestion of an idea that implies the rationale of the maker of the suggestion. To mute the idea of selling, loaning or concessioning the National Theatre is a clear symptom of a peculiar type of thinking that one should be wary of.
It is for all these reasons and more that you and I know of but which we would not talk about here that I humbly propose that we sell the National Theatre as quickly as possible and go on with our business as usual. My proposal is a modest one. Just like my ambition in life too. I have no illussion about leaders who lack the foresight required of visionaries. Long live Nigeria!

Who Will Buy My Wife? Reflections On National Theatre Concession

Who Will Buy My Wife?
Reflections On National Theatre Concession
 
BY WALE ADEDURO

( As published in The Guardian August 13, 2007)

SSHH… My wife must not hear about my perfidious thoughts! I am certainly going to deny if she hears that I have conceived of an idea of offering her for sale (concession her to someone else, to use the new buzz word in our land).
As difficult as it is, I am constrained to take this step because I cannot afford to maintain her again.
The harsh realities of the economy and the devaluation of my manhood (no puns intended please) over the last 30 years have made a mess of my marital vow. 30 years ago, General Olusegun Obasanjo (Rtd) was directing the affairs of the nation when we married each other.
Coming a few months after General Yakubu Gowon’s administration behaved as if money was the 20th century manna falling from the sky, there was little or no financial pressure on me. I literally lived life on a binge with my lovely wife. Her Most Beautiful Girl In Nigeria-like vital statistics was an added advantage to me. More importantly was the fact that she was a simple home-girl, who came from our village to marry a city boy.
Everything excited her. She was just natural. Getting her to use perfumes or moisturizing cream was akin to getting an elephant to dance. She always preferred cooking without seasonings. How I relished her first class meals.
In those days, whatever amount I made available was always enough to run our face-me-I –face-you one room apartment. Since both of us were afraid that witches could kill us from our village we did not have a need to travel on holiday to the village or anywhere else.
 
THREE decades later, and after the second coming of General Olusegun Obasanjo, I have become a non-performing husband. I confess that my strength has failed me in all departments as a husband.
My body system is already tired though I have not reached the retirement age (I wish someone will sincerely show me how I will truly benefit from the pension scheme). My wife has simply grown into a city woman. With our five children I have to painfully finance yearly holiday abroad.
The other day, my teenage daughter told me that “ Ghana is not abroad. It is in West Africa ” when I suggested that they travel to the former Gold Coast.
You should have seen the face of my wife turning red from shock. Today, almost all my wife’s designer bags have giant sized designer padlocks.
That means that I can no longer take money from her bag without her consent. To worsen my personal economy, our first two children who graduated some four years ago are painfully employed.
Their salaries are often paid in arrears after so much dubious deductions. In spite of all these, my wife continues to accentuate her costly lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with this if I do not have to finance her from my diminishing resources.
Alas, nothing I say impresses my wife about my financial condition. She keeps reminding me that she is my responsibility. Oh! I agree with her but I have run out of ideas on how to improve my finances. If only she could be as simple as she was 30 years ago.
 
IN line with the practice in some modern countries, I decided to sell, I mean concession, my wife for the next 30 years. The immediate benefit of this decision is that my wife will now be able to afford all the pleasures that she needs as a modern woman.
With a successful concession deal, my wife will be able to compete with the advanced women of the world. I just pray that I will be able to find a kind- hearted man such as Mazi Carl Orji or a member of his class of economic philanthropists who will be able to spend seven times more than I can spend on my wife on a yearly basis. Personally, I will be free from the burden of being arm strung in living up to my responsibilities as a husband and a father. That way everybody is happy.
  The only challenge I have now is that my childhood friend who is already estranged from his wife (his wife left him and eloped with another man to Grand Caymans Island where there are more banks than registered companies) does not support my decision.
He thinks I will be courting the ire of the National Committee that is fighting human trafficking in Nigeria .
Secondly, he believes that all the stakeholders in my marriage will be up in arms against me. For example, my children will certainly kick against the idea of another man sharing a bed with their mother just as my Pastor will accuse me of leading my wife into the temptation of adultery. My wife’s siblings will withdraw their respect for me as an in law just as my wife’s friends will label me a callous and irresponsible husband.
Whoever is the Orji-inclined man who ends up taking my wife will be rightly perceived as a gold digger who is exploiting my inability to sustain the good work I have begun on my wife. Truly, she now wears size 22 dresses from the clingy size 12 dresses she used to wear when I married her.  Most importantly, how can I trust that a stranger will take care of my wife the way I would have done without leading her to an early grave?
 
HAVING considered my friend’s ground for objection I am forced to wonder who will buy my wife and give me joy?
  This is really the reason for the heat the concession of the National Theatre has generated. Regardless of the fancy arguments of Orji on the honest intentions of his fellow travelers on the platform of Infrastructica Consortium, the National Theatre Concession is worse than the idea of selling my wife of 30 years.
The National Theatre, just as my wife, was not conceived as a money-making venture and its depreciation ought to be expected. Every sensible person knows that a building needs to be massively renovated every 10 years. So, using the argument about its structural condition as a basis for its concession is specious.
To all intents and purposes, the National Theatre is a monument where our arts and culture live. It is the centre of our collective way of life, past, present and future. It is therefore dangerous to endanger its vitality on the economic altar of privatisation.
The National Theatre is too strategic to our social existence to be entrusted to some moneybags who neither have a cultural nor arts consciousness. I am yet to see a serious nation that sells or concedes her National Theatre from Ghana to Slovak.
 
UNFORTUNATELY, the jaundiced views of some of our immediate past leaders have foisted the cancer of privatisation on our national psyche. Little wonder that I also entertained the satanic thought of selling my wife of 30 years.
Selling off all the assets of a company that is going through cash flow crisis is unimaginative. There are some assets that are essentially strategic to the recovery of a business, let alone a nation.
Of course, the apologists of IMF will preach concessions and privatisation because that is the only milk they suck from the tired breasts of the neo-imperialists.
Recently, Jamaican government “concessioned” some of their major roads to a French company for rehabilitation on the basis of BOT (another buzz word for discrete sale).
The immediate gain of this arrangement is that all the roads are now motorable while the traffic situation in Jamaica has improved. Movement is now easy. Halleluiah! But that is just a part of the story. The French company handling the project will collect tolls for about 30 years from Jamaicans who ply the “concessioned” roads. Whereas the actual cost of rehabilitating the roads will be covered with interest within the first seven years.
Therefore, Jamaicans will pay for another 23 years to the French coffers. I believe that the whole idea of “concession” is an extension of the conspiracy to exploit the masses perpetually. This is why Orji’s sophistry is unfortunate. True enough, his group is going to spend seven times more than the yearly budget for the National Theatre.
What he did not tell the world is the multiple profits that his group will earn from this “patriotic investment”. Let us not engage in self deception. Whoever pays the piper calls the tune. If a group of people who have no known serious antecedents as arts and culture lovers or enthusiasts invest their money in an arts and culture edifice, I do not expect them to be faithful in promoting arts and culture.
The business imperative suggests that they will mind the things that will quickly guarantee superior financial results. The body language of the group is already a warning signal to the world. The group unwittingly thinks that the National Theatre is all about the building and the National Troupe. Read my lips: Anything else can be sacrificed for profit!
 
MY experience as a staff of MUSON Centre for over six years instructs me that we cannot take it for granted that arts and culture will thrive in the new dispensation of a “concessioned” National Theatre.
I witnessed many undercurrents and impatience of those who believe in “financial viability” of the MUSON project with scant regard for the expressed purpose of first popularizing classical music and the ultimate vision of perpetuating arts and culture in Nigeria .
The childhood passion and commitment of the of Pa Akintola Williams, the late Pa Ayo Rosiji, Loius Mbanefo, Rasheed Gbadamosi, Mrs Franscesca Yetunde Emmanuel, Dotun Sulaimon, Femi Williams, Femi Akinsanya, Femi Akinkugbe and others for the arts, more than anything else, has sustained the vision of the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON). These eminent Nigerians have explored all possible avenues including their relationships and contact at corporate and global levels to fire up and nurture the MUSON dream.
Their commitment has elicited the interest of their friends, partners, associates and relations to be part of the pursuit of the MUSON dream.
The yearly MUSON Festival remains a major statement on arts and culture propagation in Nigeria since 1996. A group that seeks the involvement of everyone in the sustenance of arts is what is really needed to move the National Theatre forward.
 
UNFORTUNATELY, the aritistes themselves did every unimaginable thing to frustrate the founders of the MUSON Centre in the past based on the myopic thoughts that “they are not artistes”.  This will explain why till date these personalities with the exception of Rasheed Gbadamosi are not really accepted among “professional artistes”.
Being a playwright, Rasheed Gbadamosi has enjoyed recognition which has occasionally been exploited to cheat the statesman. The lesson here is that the current travails in the arthouse is tantamount to self immolation where only those who patronize “abe igi” within the precincts of the National Theatre, or are stage actors are perceived as artistes.
That is why we were not able to mobilize ourselves to manage the National Theatre as a collective responsibility.
Of course, I know that career civil servants, with their limitations in dynamic management, have not tapped into the immense opportunities that those perceived as “ex-artistes” possess. It is pathetic that we have found ourselves in this situation.
Yet, a group of moneybags should not just be allowed by government and its agencies to rubbish our collective history. There is no nation that should put her arts and culture on the line because of the past mistakes of her leaders.
 
ZAMBIA, about seven years ago, sold off its Copper mines deposits for $25 million dollars based on the privatization scheme.
Less than six months the company that bought the mine generated the sum of $75 million dollars from the same Copper mine the government sold. Really, this concession stuff is a polite way of mortgaging the future because of inept leadership.
  In this era when banks declare billions of naira profits and when some executive directors in banks own individual shares in excess of N10 billion, a determined government can mobilise funds for the arts in a skillful way. Banks and telecommunication companies that declare billions of naira as profits must be made to commit a fraction of their profits to the arts endowment fund and the National Theatre.
If the government is sincere about using tourism as a pivot of economic growth, then we cannot afford to sell off our heritage. The National Theatre is also the future of our children who need a solid base to anchor their survival.  Besides, the silly experience of the past where exclusionism was the strategy of artistes and theatre managers must stop.
As for the concession, I pray that the, so far, forward looking government of Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’dua  will intervene in the concession of the National Theatre. In the meantime, the Carl Orjis of this world should appreciate the implication of buying my wife. There shall be endless acrimony until the feelings and opinions of all stakeholders are considered.

•waleadeduro7@yahoo.com
 
• Adeduro, a former Ag. General Manager in MUSON Centre, is the Founder of Centre For Productivity.
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Please Umaru, Don’t Let This Theatre Go

Please Umaru, Don’t Let This Theatre Go
BY TUNDE PHILLIPS

(As published in The Guardian of August 5, 2007)

IT is with utter disgust that I write this piece. In the past, the need to do such was not on my mind, but now, I just have to, especially as it concerns the sale of the National Theatre — the peak of artistry in Nigeria. The venue, which hosted FESTAC 77, one of the defining festivals organised in the continent, has exposed the best of African talent.
Looking back at FESTAC 77, 30 years after, I still remember the performances of Miriam Makeba, and the Ipitombi dancers, whose rhythmic foot steps set the pace for new movement in dance across the globe. I remember, as if it was yesterday, when the late Hubert Ogunde’s films, Aiye and Ayanmo, drew large crowd to the events’ venue, such that four shows were done in one day.
The picture of this edifice is so disheartening, disturbing and sad that I feel guilty being a product of this culture of shame. Really, it’s such a shame to every person that has contributed to its present state.
The theatre gave artistes hope for a better tomorrow. At a time when little or no appreciation was given to them, it served as their home. It was also the only avenue for young and budding talents to showcase their art. It served as a pivot for modern day commercial theatre. In fact, lots of talents ranging from actors and actresses, designers, directors, dancers, and all the theatre, after graduation from school, found the place a solace and an avenue to practice their art. It was Nollywood’s birth place.
It not only served as home to Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), the National Troupe of Nigeria, Nigerian Copyright Commission — before it moved to its own office — National Association Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), just to mention a few, the theatre had hosted numerous such as Jankariwo and Muje Muje by Ben Tomoloju’s Kakaaki Theatre Troupe and Ajoo Festival by Fred Agbeyegbe.
Having this at the back of my mind, I advocate that the Federal Government takes a look at the jargon called concession, which is now the buzzword. The place is the nation’s pride and epitome of our culture. It is the symbol of our unity. That’s one place where discrimination or apathy does not exist.
At a time like this, when the country is looking for other ways of generating revenue, the facility becomes relevant.
The various theatre and dance groups have to be registered under NANTAP, which should now rotate performanes in the pl;ace thereby keeping it busy.
Art is not all about money, but a way of giving hopes and confidence. It provides employment, boosts talent and also aid tourism, which ultimately, generates revenue.
Please, President Umaru Musa Yar Adua try to intervene and stop the sale of this home of excellence like you did with the refineries. The loss will be enormous not just to the country but to the world of African arts, especially with the proposed FESTAC 2010. Help save our monument before the artistes all die.

Phillips is a Nigerian artiste based in the United States of America

Pain And Ironies Of The National Theatre Concessioning

Pain And Ironies Of The National Theatre Concessioning
By
Frank Aig-Imoukhuede

( As published in The Guardian Sunday August 5, 2007)

PERMIT me this response to the article by a Mr. Carl Orji titled: Myths and Facts of the National Theatre Concessioning in the Guardian on Sunday July 22, 2007 which characterizes the depths into which we have fallen in our misguided zeal, like a prodigal son, sell off our patrimonies.
I am not a ‘writer from CORA’ whose anti-concessioning actions in recent times must have given the Infrastructica Consortium and its agents nightmares. I am a stakeholder who has spent his adult life (the past half century or more) involved in arts and culture: some 23 of them directly in their administration including the National Theatre. I made inputs for the inclusion of the National Theatre in the 1974 National Development Plan. I was a member of the 1972/73 Federal Government Consultative Committee on the establishment of a National Theatre and served on the Panel which reviewed the Cultural Policy for Nigeria and Federal Government-Owned Film and Theatre Institutions (1984/5).
From 1989 to 1991, the National Theatre was in my charge. I can say the National Theatre’s problems have stemmed from a departure from original concepts and studied pigheadedness or indifference of those in its charge and running. We failed in achieving a National Theatre as it exists elsewhere because of conflicting (often selfish) interests of those concerned or involved. The heading ‘National Arts Theatre’ which Carl Orji and his principles have adopted confirms either ignorance or the depth to which our body politic has been plunged by the confusion. The National Theatre is not the National Troupe (which essentially is self-limiting although the latter can be a part of the former…Nor is it a catch-all institution the Consortium wishes to foist on us. The National Theatre is a building; it is also an institution embracing institutions combined in or associated with the theatre. It contains facilities for shows and performances and for its smooth running.
I read with despair Mr. Orji reference to ‘falling roof structure,’ the ‘sinking basement of the building’ and the needs for ‘the remediation of the environmental pollution on the site.’ I asked myself if the basement is really sinking or it is the surrounding soil that is subsiding and needs to the replenished. I wondered what the Federal and Lagos State governments are doing on the question of environmental pollution’ and why? I wondered where the 1 billion naira given two years ago went if the roof structure is still falling and the basement sinking.
I read with great sadness Mr. Orji’s revelation that nothing particularly works on the site’ and that the job of putting the place in good shape would require ‘a massive and renovation of the site, which the Federal government wouldn’t undertake even in partnership with resources.’ The revelation that "the allocation of national resources for competing national requirements puts the National Arts Theatre at the bottom of the pecking order of pressing issues’ is very damning because the same government has declared tourism the preferred sector of the economy and is poised to launch a tourism Master-plan that places culture at the forefront of the concerns of tourism development. And the National Theatre as a place of entertainment and a tourism capital and asset must have a place in it.
I find the argument as to what is a sale or not mere sophistry. A transaction in the arts in which the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or Guggenheim Bilboa offered the Musee du Louvre in Paris its collection of Picassos or Rembrandts for an exhibition is indeed not a sale. In fact, Nigeria and its National Commission for Museums and Monuments once offered its ancient treasures for International exhibitions in U.S, France and China. But for limited periods of less that a year. A 35 – to 50 – year offer of use of an artifact (building or art work) is a different kettle of fish. Such, for example, is the deal involving some stolen Nok terra cottas still in a Museum in France courtesy of a generous concession deal by the Nigerian Government. When that deal leaked in 2001, the top official of the ministry unwittingly involve in its revelation was sent on suspension. It is therefore understandable why in these hard times, the concessioning ‘palaver’ has not been strongly resisted from within the system. So much for calling a spade a spade.
I find the reasoning behind Orji’s article in the class of the encounter between the Director – General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (about 1994) when one of the Budget officers considering the budget proposals of the Commission wondered why the Government was being bothered by that parastatal when all it needed to do each time it lacked funds was to put up an Ife or Benin head for an auction which could fetch it £2m or £3m.
The Tussaud group may have a 200 year operational record operating visitor attractions in London, New York, Austria, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Las Vegas and its portfolio may include over 51 attractions in 12 countries across three continents as Mr. Orji claims, but Mr. Orji needs to tell us if any National Theatre in the World (in Jamaica, Great Britain, Ghana, Japan) or elsewhere is included in the list. Or this type of transaction.
The 2005 World Film Market Trends gives Benin 06m for total cinema admissions and for Burkina Faso the toast of the Cinema in Africa, 1.5m. There is no figure for Nigeria. But I am aware that in 1990 even before our Nollywood boom, the figure for the National Theatre alone was estimated at 1.4m. there is no doubt, therefore, about the viability of investment (in infrastructure) in the National Theatre as long as the key factors are firmed. What our National Theatre needs is professionalism in its administration steeped in the economics of culture. Not scholasticism. This will provide the necessary leadership and clear vision for it. The Muson Centre in Lagos is a good example and model.
Since its commissioning in September 1976, the National Theatre has not had the benefit of the service of a professional and qualified engineer to handle the complexity of its functioning. It is little wonder then, when its cooling system began to play up, it was replaced in 1987 or so with a chiller half the capacity of just one of the two malfunctioning chillers. This was picked up at a wharf auction in Lagos. No manual available. No professional advice from its manufacturer who at that time had been out of business.
What the National Theatre needs to work well is a review of its modi vivendi/operandi (including its employment policy) so that its running is results-oriented and geared to self-sustenance and self-reliance (without prejudice to expectations of public-private sector support). I have gone into this distraction because the impression has been given that capacity for a Nigerian content and good service delivery is unavailable for the running of the National Theatre.
I am not a writer from CORA but I find Mr. Orji’s defence of the whole business of concessioning rather confusing — not the buzz-words alone on which he hangs his intervention, but also the impression he gives of a hotch-potch involving the National Troupe, N.G.A, and CBACC — excluding the National Council for Cultural Orientation, NICO the National Council for Arts and Culture and NAN, which are all present on the site. Yet, he brings into consideration the National Museum sited miles away at Onikan and in the process gives one a whiff of the dangers this concessioning exercise poses or constitutes particularly from the proposed ‘complementary African Museum to the National Museum in Lagos’.
The idea of recovering items stolen, acquired illegally, or as booty of war for the National Theatre may have some appeal for its proposers; but this one amount to duplication and the robbing of Peter to pay Paul. It would not promote efficiency; it would compound inter-institutional conflict. It would be counter-productive if one body or institution, that has little to do with antiquities is furnished with a museum at the expense of, or to the neglect of the thirty two museums all over the country belonging to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
It is this type of thinking, of taking or creaming off the best example from the states to showcase as a tourist attraction of Abuja while neglecting them in situ that devalued or tourism efforts so far particularly the Abuja Carnival. It is this trend of transforming other areas of the country with treasures taken from an ignored or neglected region, which has been cited as a factor in the Niger Delta crisis.
I am not a writer from CORA but there are a few other issues raised by Carl Orji’s attempt to defend his clients and the sale or privatisation of the National Theatre. A transaction that lasts, for example, 30 to 50 years cannot be regarded as reasonable for mortals who might not survive its duration. On the question of transparency, it is particularly clear that there was lack of transparency in the manner in which the concessioning was handled. There had been previous Ministers including Mr. Ojo Maduekwe who is now our spokes person on foreign affairs. It would be interesting to see how the sale or privatisation of the National Theatre is explained by him to the 59 black and African entities who participated in Festac and for whom the National Theatre is a symbol of the professions and declarations of the Festac Colloquium.
It might also be interesting to explain the sale (I mean concessioning) from the points of view expressed in our Head of State’s opening address (in the National Theatre) to the Festac Colloquium on ‘our uneven relationship with Europe and now including Northern America’, which continues to make us their trading post run by our citizens who constitute themselves into
a. Intellectual trading post agents;
b. Commercial trading post agents;
c. Bureaucratic trading post agents, and;
d. Technical trading post agents
It is most ironical that the same personality, who urged us passionately to be instruments of our intellectual, technical, bureaucratic, and commercial liberation, approved the National Theatre, for sale or concessioning.
In concluding, it is my humble opinion that the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, and its fellow travellers in privatisation should adopt a different approach with respect to the National Theatre. The institution itself should be left to take care of itself and strengthened to do so while the BPE dreams up BOT schemes that would provide additional facilities that would at the same time generate funds for supporting the National Theatre and the National Endowment for Arts and Culture.

Aig-Imoukhuede is a former Federal Director of Culture