By Ozolua Uhakheme, Assistant Editor (Arts)
Investors in Nigeria’s creative industry have urged the Federal Government to review the statutory mandate of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) with a view to focusing strongly on championing Made- in-Nigeria goods campaign.
According to stakeholders, who spoke at the Investment Forum held at this year’s International Arts and Crafts Expo (INAC), organised by the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) in Abuja, the NOA is the engine room capable of transforming not only Nigerians’ thinking but also their perceptions.
In his keynote paper titled: Imperatives on creativity and product design in networking Nigerian arts and crafts, Prof. Jerry Buhari of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria said the agency needed a man with the spirit of an evangelist as its head to lead the campaign.
“Imagine the NOA mobilising the country on a mother-of-all campaigns titled Use Made in Nigeria. We need a spirit of the Mass MObilisation for Self Reliance, Social Justice and Economic Recovering (MAMSER) to be injected into NOA. That office is the engine room of transforming not only Nigerians thinking but also perception. We need a man that has the spirit of an evangelist in that office. We should stop talking. I want to challenge the Ministry of Information and Culture to give directive to all its parastatals and agencies not to use imported furniture. Let’s promote made-in- Nigeria goods, that’s where the investment is,” he said.
He lamented the dearth of culturally-relevant edifices in most cities that can house the nation’s priceless cultural objects for better appreciation. He urged the government and corporate organisations to invest in facilities such as museum of modern art for the advancement of national heritage.
“If you close your eyes and you are on some streets in Abuja, and you remove all the black people on those streets, you would have been in anywhere in Chicago, USA. Abuja is a culturally-neutral or blind city. There is hardly any national edifice that promotes or advances the rich traditional architecture that we have. Who were the builders of Abuja? In fact, what kind of brief were they given?” he wondered.
Read Also: Come up with made in Nigeria ideas, Buhari tells NESG
On the need to believe in ourselves and promote our culture, Buhari said: “Imagine our President wears a made-in-Nigeria shoe. It will automatically inspire many people to wear such shoes. However, we have the problem of ‘clean broom’ philosophy in government. That is, when a public officer comes into office, he believes there are spirits and demons in such office space. He gets rid of the old chairs, curtains, and brings in new ones. But, I ask you, where is your history? They are lost forever. The table Jefferson used is what Donald Trump uses today in White House. The attraction of Dubai doors is the fine finishing. But, any of these doors cannot stand good kicks as it will give way. And if rain drops on any of the doors, it is gone.
However, there are lots of Nigerians doing great doors everywhere, why are we not patronising them? Our furniture and curtains should not be imported.”
Managing Director, Le Look Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Chinwe Ezenwa, wondered why NOA has been quiet over the campaign to use made-in- Nigeria goods, adding that it should do more. She said Le Look was among the first organisations that started promoting made-in-Nigeria goods 34 years ago. “I cannot be defined by the imitation of foreign goods. Why not buy made-in-Nigeria. I will lend my voice to the call on the current DG of NOA to be given a new mandate on how to promote Use Made-in-Nigeria Goods. All our ministries should wear made-in-Nigeria dresses at least once a week. It is even worse that many go to second-hand market to buy dresses. Interestingly, Le Look bags are used everywhere in the world. In August, we produced 12,000 bags for NBA, and we have just finished producing 7,000 bags for SNE for their conference in Kano. To achieve this quality, we took our staff outside for training in proper packaging,” she added.
Art entrepreneur and producer of branded products, Mrs. Maureen Chukwura. who has improved the packaging of Nigeria’s foodstuff for global market, said her organisation worked on the packaging of our foods to meet international standard. “I later undertook a tour of Europe in order to advance the value of our foods in terms of packaging. Also, some government policies were not friendly to investors. Ever since my exhibition at Akwaaba, I have been receiving calls from different parts of Africa,” she noted.
International lawyer and public analyst Mrs. Christy Adejoh, urged entrepreneurs to determine what value to add to arts and crafts, adding that presentation of both the creator and the objects is of great importance. She noted that sometimes creators of works like adire appear in t-shirt with inscription like Hilfiger.
“With that there is disconnection. Also, some entrepreneurs cannot express themselves before a potential customer or investor. One thing we take for granted is the business etiquette, which is very suspect among culture workers. This will fetch you a loss by not applying the right social skill,” she said.
Dr. Ranti Ojo of the University of Abuja advocated for the reliance and development of indigenous technology as a starting point for advancement.
“People perish because of lack of culture. We must build special interest in our indigenous technology. The level of one’s technology is the level of civilisation. Unfortunately, we parade other peoples’ culture and civilisation at the detriment of ours. Unknown to many, Benin City was a civilised society before America became a nation,” he noted.
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