- struggling to make culture a new treasure trove
It is going into the second year that the popular Artists’ Village, located some few metres away from the iconic National Theatre, Iganmu, in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, was demolished by a raging bulldozer.
This brings to many minds the invasion of the residence of the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the country’s biggest musical export and inventor of Afrobeat. In the seventies, Fela’s house named Kalakuta Republic was invaded by unknown soldiers and many of his female singers were beaten and raped while the musician’s mother, Funmilayo, a stormy petrel was thrown down from the upper floor of the house. She survived the fall but never recovered from it and died some months later.
The famous Artists’ Village was like a commune of artistes from various walks of life who have made the place their homes, workshops, studios and all. They found the place to be conducive and good to foster their creativities and make them bloom. They have been there so long that many of them consider the place as their second home and since their presence does not pose any threat to anyone, at least by their own estimation, they never thought it could one day be a subject of controversy.
The area occupied by them is situated away from the iconic National Theatre which was itself built in the 70s when Nigeria hosted the Black world during the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), which was then considered as the world’s biggest cultural assemblage of black people which exhibited its arts and culture to the world.
A world for artistes
By its very nature the Artists’ Village was a vast self-creation by most of the artistes who animated the vast complex. The commune is made up of various tribes of artistes: musicians, instrumentalists, dramatists, visual artists, poets, playwrights, writers and other bohemian artists who find their muses there. They said they are tenants of the National Council of Arts and Culture (NCAC).
But the idyllic world of an artistes’ commune was broken in the evening of January 22nd, 2016. It was approaching the end of the day and a few of the artistes who felt they had done enough for the day decided to leave and go home to have a well deserved rest for the day. One of the artists who had made the village a home and office was Owie Smart,38, a sculptor who was working frantically day and night and round the clock to meet with a scheduled exhibition in Abuja.
Around six in the evening of that day his smartphone rang. It was a friend who was close to the authority of the National Theatre. According to the caller, the authorities had decided to move against all those it considered as illegal occupants of the artistes’ commune in the early hours of the next day.
This, to Smart, was strange. As tenants to the National Council of Arts and Culture (NCAC), a parastatal of the federal government of Nigeria to which they had been paying rents, it seems absurd to be declared as illegal occupants of the facility. He concluded that it was impossible for his studio and others to be demolished.
However, the status of the Artists’ Village has been long standing even under the previous administration and the then parliament had prevailed on the government not to tamper with the place until thorough investigation was carried out. This held until the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan was voted out in 2015.
On January 23, 2016, at dawn, a caterpillar moved in and the pulling down of the village began in earnest. Painter Mufu Onifade and others around begged the manager of the National Theater who was in charge of the demolition to hold on so the artists could salvage some of their belongings and artworks.
It was in the course of that day that what could have terminated the life of Smart happened. During a confrontation between the artists and the armed uniformed men who had accompanied those demolishing the structures, things got out of hand. The police fired in the direction of the artists and one of the gun shots lodged in Smart’s leg.
Working like orphans
The fate that befell Smart is illustrative of what happens in Nigeria to artists. It is a well known fact that artists in the country are not well valued or regarded until they get recognition or endorsement abroad.
This is why many wonder if the country is serious at all about its search for a new treasure trove in its arts, of which it is rich in, abroad. Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry is reputed to be the third largest in the world. All this was achieved without government support. The same goes for its literature, music, visual arts and others.
It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that Nigerian artists, no matter in whichever genre they are involved –music, visual arts, theatre, movie making etc- are like orphans; they work without any form of assistance from government. For instance, a film maker has to provide power, transport, camera, studio and all other appurtenances need to produce films.
Shedding light on why he thinks artists don’t get support from the ministry or government, Samuel Osaze of Arterial Network, a non-governmental organisation, which works with artistes to promote arts and culture was not surprised at what is happening because “Budget to our (arts) sector is the least in the national budget. In fact, when the new administration came into power, culture was not even remembered.”
The new oil
The art sector is always treated as non-existent. However, with the new reality of the country’s biggest export –oil – running low and many countries looking for alternative to fossil fuel, the government is turning its attention to arts and culture to get foreign exchange since the country’s artistes are getting all the rave reviews needed abroad.
Culture is primed to become Nigeria’s next oil. The government has labeled the cultural sector ‘potentially the biggest source of economical growth’ and accords it preferred status.
Although culture has now officially become a priority, its ministry has to make due with limited funds, or ‘mere tokenism’ as the minister of culture Lai Mohammed called his budget. The yearly funding is around N40 billion.
Plagued with problems such as terrorist group Boko Haram, famine and widespread illiteracy, the country spends most of its money on safety, internal affairs and education. But as a result, the ministry of culture barely has enough money to maintain its buildings, let alone realize the administrations’ ambitious plans.
Osaze says the sector has been working with an old policy document from 1998 which artists have been asking for it to be reviewed without success. He adds, “There’s no political will to change the policy of the sector for the better.” He laments that a country like Nigeria has no adequate Cultural Policy adding that this was not due to lack of capacity but because the bureaucracy of government has been frustrating the process.
His conclusion is that it is only the private sector that can galvanise the policy to make it work for the sector because it must be looked at first as important.
Ganiu Ayodele, Osaze’s colleague at Arterial Network agrees that what obtains in the sector is paradoxical. “Creators don’t get the support they need. Even so, our artistic production is much larger and more sophisticated than that of most other African countries.”
He agrees that most artists in Nigeria have strong will and they do things by themselves without looking back. He adds, “We have a lot of die-hard practitioners who are very entrepreneurial.”
One of Nigeria’s biggest private art collectors, Dr. Yemisi Shyllon, is not in any way impressed by the government’s lackadaisical treatment of culture. He believes the way culture is treated does not show any seriousness that the government is looking towards it as the nation’s next treasure trove. According to him, “Without historical sites, museums and so on, how can we attract tourists when we don’t have something that tourists would be interested to see? If you want to develop Nigeria, one of the greatest gold mines is culture. Invest in culture.”
Asked further to talk about the policy, the art collector declared, “It is all very good propaganda and lip service, but I don’t see any hope.” To him, the real hope for the culture sector is in the private sector and to achieve that he has already set himself a goal. It is to build a private museum which would warehouse his numerous art collections. The museum is almost completed and it is situated in the Pan Atlantic University to ensure it is well taken care of after him.
On why he decided on building a private museum, he said this is to ensure his art collection does not end up in the trash after his death. He laments that there is not a single decent museum in Lagos, the country’s economic capital. “If we had a proper public gallery.
I would only need to donate a couple of artworks. But now I’ve had to spend my own money to have a building erected and keep it maintained.”
He observes that the movie industry which the government is today boasting about its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was facilitated by individual professionals.
There is no doubt that the plan to transform the creative sector into a creative economy must be driven by the private sector, according to the government. The modest growth that has been achieved in the creative industry so far, whether in films, music or fashion, has been achieved in spite of the government. Instead of providing cultural subsidies and grants, the government refers artists to the Bank of Industry for low interest start-up loans.
Unkown soldiers
Although every Nigerian artist will welcome the aspiration to make culture the new oil, they urge their leaders to cherish existing initiatives and support local artists, instead of threatening their lives.
Years ago Fela’s Kalakuta Republic was demolished by unknown soldiers. In 2016 history seemed to repeat itself when Smart was shot by unknown soldiers. Not even the voice of Nigeria’s most respected writer Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate could make the government act on finding who shot Smart or who ordered the demolition of the Artists’ Village.
Soyinka had said, “These artists have lost their entire means of livelihood in a single day. I’m tired of saying ‘it was the police, it was the army. A few specific people have given the order to do this. We have to find out in detail who were responsible.”
The man who serves as the coordinator of the Artists’ Village, Aremo Tope Babayemi is pained that going to two years the case had not been attended to by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed. The minister who personally visited the village after its demolition had promised compensation for the artists. Today, the affected artists are still waiting for their compensation to be paid out.
According to Babayemi, “The affected artists and the community have gone through untold pain and discomfort. So much for all the noise and hot air about government nurturing creative entrepreneurship in Nigeria! We are not interested in paternalistic benevolence from government.
What we need is recognition of our work and worth and professional engagement with an administration that keeps professing an intention to develop the creative economy in Nigeria.”
A damning and forthright verdict. Will the government prove its critics right and continue to pay lip service to culture as the new foreign exchange earner?
This article was developed with the support of Journalismfund.eu
