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Tag: National Theatre

  • Tourism Minister denies sale of National Theatre

    Tourism Minister denies sale of National Theatre

    Nigerian’s Tourism and Culture Minister, Chief Edem Duke early Friday morning, denied the purported sale of Nigeria’s National Arts Theatre located in Lagos, as recently reported by some section of the media.

    Sounding very much alarmed in a telephone conversation to the Nation newspaper, the Minister said that, “I have not sold the National Theatre to anyone or organisation as purportedly being written about or talked about.”

    In the last few months, the public have been informed variously by some media organisations that Chief Edem Duke acting in his capacity as the Minister of Culture and Tourism, had entered into negotiations to sell off the National Arts Theatre, a national monument which was built for the Festival of Arts and Culture in 1977, under the government of Lt. Gen Olusegun Obasanjo.

    It was reported that the secret deal “was shielded from the Nigerian media, in spite of a subsisting concession arrangement with the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE.

    But Duke said that, “the media should stop this spread of rumour. I belief that the Nigerian media practitioners are too enlightened to embrace such rumour. The national Theatre I insist is not going to be turned to a hotel. What the Federal Government has been planning to do in the last three years which the media should have followed and monitored to date, is that the fallow land around the National Theatre, is going to be developed to an entertainment city.  And there is a due process in place for that purpose. In the last three years, there have been sequential processes in this direction.”
    Asked when the intended entertainment city would materialise, the Minister told the Nation that the information will be duly passed to the public in due course; being that the process is still on-going. He however added that, “anything that the government is doing, it does in the interest of the nation as a whole. There is no individual who is going to take the National Arts Theatre and pocket it, no individual, I assure you. I do not know why this matter has repeatedly been an issue.”

  • Protest over last-minute plot to sell National Theatre

    Protest over last-minute plot to sell National Theatre

    LABOUR yesterday protested “last-minute secret moves” to sell the National Theatre.

    A minister and some members of the management of the National Theatre have been implicated in the under-the-table deal.

    But a highly-placed source in the Bureau of Public Enterprises said the ongoing bid for the theatre was illegal because the agency had stayed action on the sale of the edifice.

    The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) raised the alarm in a petition to the Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Mr Edem Duke.

    In the petition, signed by its Head of Department for Industrial Relations, Comrade Emmanuel Ayeoribe, the workers expressed concerns over “the plot to sack” the agency’s workers.

    The union vowed to resist the impending sack of its members.

    Following a row over plans by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation to turn the complex into a hotel, the House of Representatives on April 8, 2013 directed Duke to  stay further action on the concession.

    The ministry, however, has defied the National Assembly by resuscitating the bid for the National Theatre.

    AUPCTRE, in its petition, said it would not accept any underhand bidding.

    The petitioners said some management members met “to quickly formalise the sale of the land before May 29.

    “All the documents of the transactions are back dated to give the impression that it took place several months before the hand over to the incoming government.”

    The workers said a source at a meeting held at the National Theatre on Tuesday said more sack was on the way for staff suspected to be leaking this information”.

    “Some of the documents in our possession include the list of those who travelled on a jamboree to Dubai, London and South Africa on the pretext of going for road shows. The jamboree cost over N40 million.

    “A letter demanding $50,000 from a company which merely requires permission to site a landing station of a means of transportation within the National Theatre.

    “There are also underhand dealings in the lease of land to CCECC, the company handling the Lagos light train services”.

    The board members are said to be unaware of the plot to sell the national edifice.”

    A highly-placed source in BPE, who spoke in confidence, said: “As far as our records are concerned, we have stayed action on the sale of the National Theatre.”

    The theatre was inaugurated on September 30, 1976 by the then Military Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo.

    It was opened five months before the hosting of the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC ’77) in January/February 1977.

  • ‘Don’t sell National Theatre’

    ‘Don’t sell National Theatre’

    VETERAN comedian Ali Baba has urged the Federal Government not to privatise the  National Theatre, Iganmu in Lagos.

    The ace comedian, who made the call on social media, spoke against the backdrop of rumours that the national edifice had been sold to private individuals.

    The humour merchant said instead of putting up the structure for sale, the National Theatre should be repositioned to play its role as an entertainment hub.

    Ali Baba stressed that it should not be used as a trade centre, saying the National Theatre is the only iconic structure still defining the country’s history.

    The comedian decried the idea of holding a concert on the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, at the Eko Hotel and Suites, when the National Theatre should have hosted such an epochal event.

    “It is a shame that a musical icon like ‘Fela’ has to be celebrated at the Eko Hotel and Suites. Such a gig should be the birth-right of the National Theatre,” he said.

  • Before the National Theatre becomes a global duty-free shopping complex

    Before the National Theatre becomes a global duty-free shopping complex

    Sometime in 2006, when a hard-working head of a sister parastatal was elevated to the headship of National Theatre in addition to his earlier remit, a Committee of arts enthusiasts and intellectuals to which I am affiliated invited the new helmsman to a parley on his plan for the then seriously-ailing-and now still-tormented National Theatre.

    Because of my well-known views against all attempts to privatise, commercialize or my concession for the Theatre, I was invited to that talk that held inside one of the Theatre’s halls. In the course of our engagement, I took the group and the new boss man through my thesis on the National Theatre’s viability; its ability to generate whatever amount it requires to jump-start its rehabilitation and commence profitable operations. This position had over time locked me into inevitable conflict with some of our respected elders, seniors and teachers who all believed that the Theatre cannot make a meaningful move without a hefty initial capital from the Federal Government for its rehabilitation.

    Conversely, I had always insisted and still insist that what the Theatre needs is not so much the initial fund to repair and refurbish its dilapidated facility but a total re-appraisal of its entire objectives towards fashioning out appropriate business strategies that will reconcile the achievement of those objectives with the imperatives of how to successfully secure the initial capital required from the private sector who will have in return, the rights to use the platforms of the Theatre to accomplish their variegated commercial enterprises.

    At the end of our discussion that afternoon, there was a consensus that my ideas were worth giving a trial and consequently I was invited for an interview with the new Director-General and his team. I was thereafter formally engaged as a consultant to champion the Theatre’s renewal project and given the sum of N100, 000:00 in cash to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the then Honourable Minister of Culture and Tourism.

    The N100, 000:00 was not for my ideas to be packaged but common to all the governmental agencies I had consulted for was their whining about financial constraints and request that since my ideas were income-generating, my earnings must of necessity come from the incomes to be generated. I had spent more than three decades working for different multi-nationals on this same basis.

    Besides, the value-added of my consultancy always, is to bring in new strings of sustainable incomes for my clients from which they will derive my payments and because I always have full confidence in my ability to deliver, I never shied away from having my payments deferred till the incomes I commit to bring in materialized. I prepared my presentation, discussed it with the management of the Theatre and the rest remains for us to meet the Honourable Minister for his approval.

    I had earlier been privileged to see the minutes of His Excellency the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces mandating the management to seek creative ways of getting the Theatre to optimally function again on private funding so I had no reasons to doubt that we would soon embark on the renewal programme based on my business plan but events later proved me wrong.

    First were the intrigues that played out after submission of my business plan and the series of cancellations of my scheduled meetings with the Director-General always at the last minutes. The climax however happened at my fortuitous meeting with the new Honourable Minister of Culture and Tourism in his office at Abuja. A close friend of my daughter and a sister to the Minister arranged for her brother the Minister to see me and despite his tight schedule, I was invited by the Minister at my own costs.

    The Minister initially showed adequate enthusiasm for my efforts to get the Theatre renewed without upfront fund commitment from the Federal Government but after a call to Lagos and being fully “briefed”, he made a u-turn and referred me back to the Theatre’s authorities in Lagos. That more than anything opened my eyes to the so-called Nigerian factor. I then resolved to cut my losses and have been awaiting for the right opportunity to make my contributions on the botched National Theatre renewal project public.

    For an objective and fair assessment of my concepts as a benchmark against the output of the “experts” paid millions of Dollars to produce the now famous Master Plan, I hereby summarize the key points of my business plan for the Theatre to enable all Nigerians and non-Nigerians; artistes and non-artistes, intellectuals and philistines, government officials and general members of the public to draw their conclusions:

    1.)   The National Theatre will remain the property and national patrimony with its maximum capital outlay limited to incidental costs of logistics on the initial activities towards the official launch of the renewal programme that will have the President Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces as the Guest Of Honour to attract the attention and attendance of captains of industry and commerce.

    2.)   The Federal Government-owned NTA is to be co-opted into the project for the provision of the extensive promotions required to successfully sell the project. In return a share of all incomes generated will be paid to NTA as the project broadcasting partner.

    3.)   The project banker is to provide the initial take-off capital then put at N50 million as its rent to be on the premises. Collateral benefits include exclusive banking business originating out of the project. All private entrepreneurs must open account with the banker and all incomes from the project must be domiciled with the bank.

    4.)   The market opportunities in and around the Theatre are to be valued and franchised to corporate bodies and brands willing to pay upfront,  a % of the estimated business they hope to do in the next 5  10 years to the Theatre. In return only such corporate bodies and brands will have the rights of advertising, promoting and or sell their products in the Theatre and its vicinity. This was actually an idea I got from Disneyland both at Orlando and California in the USA. A brand cannot just be allowed to advertise, promote and or sell at a ready and well-developed market without having to invest into that market.

    5.)   The land mass is to be auctioned to different highest bidders able and willing to pay a specified non-refundable deposit to the Theatre for various additional facilities that will make the Theatre a truly Nigeria’s centre for global tourism. Proposed were: 50-room royal suites with private parking spaces on yearly rent. The various rooms will be electronically linked to the main and arts exhibition halls to enable the occupants if they so wish watch the proceedings in the safety and comforts of their rooms. Others are:

    I.   Galleries of national cuisines where each of our States and LGAs will promote and sell their local delicacies.

     II.  250 room accommodation to house performing artistes and or where the various movie producers can accommodate their cast and crew.

     III. The swamp around the Theatre to be dredged for boat regatta and toy sub-marines like those in Disneyland as tourists’ attraction for families.

    IV.  100 retail shops to exclusively sell Nigerian movies, music, arts and crafts..

    V.   Landscape the garden and lawns around the Theatre into Cultural Entertainment Grottos spotting various  huts where the families, particularly children can be indoctrinated into and regularly get entertained on our diverse cultural values.

    VI.  The roof-top club to be rehabilitated as a 24/7 nite club featuring different performing musicians every day.

    6.)   Lease the Exhibition Hall to interested global bookshop on a condition that a portion will be reserved for a daily Arts Exhibitions.

    7.)   Cinema Halls to be similarly leased out to Fast foods or Hotels on the condition to screen Nigerian movies to their patrons. The payment for the movies will be included in their foods and drinks bills.

    8.)   Corporate Bodies and Brands to rehabilitate the Banquet/Conference Hall with their contributions grouped as Plantinum, Gold and Standard in return for having the place as the venue for their events. I learnt that this was how the Lagos Business School and Muson were built.

    9.)   The main hall has 5, 000 seats so I proposed the application of a strategy for personalized seats for annual subscriptions by the royalties, upper class and affluent. Wimbledon at a time ran along this same line and a personalized seat became an elite cultural status symbol. At N1 million for the first well-positioned 1, 000 seats, a billion will be raised to start its repair. Thereafter incorporate the Main hall as a subsidiary of the Theatre running as a purely commercial venture with its Board, management carrying annual target revenue, profits and Theatre presentations. Incomes from the equity sales will provide the working capital to start a regular weekly theatre by subscription similar to Broadway. This will provide gainful employments for our teeming population of Theatre Arts graduates whose repertoire will dominate the presentations with occasional regional, continental and international interventions. Owners of personalized seats will have them reserved for their personal or proxies attendance.

    –By ‘Yinka Ogundaisi

  • Making National Theatre entertainment city

    Making National Theatre entertainment city

    At a roadshow programme held in Lagos, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke told stakeholders, artistes and investors that the Federal Government has finally started activities to reclaim the fallow pieces of land within the National Theatre complex, Iganmu, Lagos, in order to build modern facilities through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement. Edozie Udeze who was at the meeting, reports

    At last, the Federal Government has given the go ahead to the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation to complete the master plan of the complex making up the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. At a recent investors’ roadshow organized by the management of the Theatre to sensitise the public on the need to complete the project, the federal government explained that all the fallow pieces of land within and around the Theatre have to be fully developed to give the complex the necessary and appropriate beauty.

    Done in conjunction with Public Private Partnership (PPP), the idea is to make the Theatre environment conducive to accommodate other modern facilities as found in all the theatre complexes of the same size and repute all over the world. According to Chief Edem Duke, the Minister of Culture, with the establishment of five-star hotels, shopping malls, commercial and banking facilities, office buildings, recreational areas and car parks, the federal government would have succeeded in ensuring that the original master plan of the theatre instituted in 1976 has been completed.

    To him, the most important issues involved in the master plan which will come in phases is to make the 10,000 seater mainbowl functional once more. For far too long, the mainbowl of the Theatre has been abandoned due to neglect over the years. But in the next plan of action, the development of the new facilities will help to make the iconic edifice more attractive and economically viable.

    With the presence of possible investors in the tourism and culture sector and top players in the entertainment industry in Nigeria, the atmosphere inside the conference hall of the National Theatre appeared quite conducive to take the Theatre to the next level. Duke stated that the overall mandate of this transaction with the PPP and other big industry players is to purposely develop an Outline Business Case which will help to test the viability and feasibility of deploying PPP arrangement in actualising the master plan. However, before this could be done, the inclusion of the private sector investors is to ensure that government does not burn its hands by delving into an area where the people themselves can be allowed to go into and invest mainly in order to give necessary economic value to the Theatre.

    In the new arrangement, the whole complex will be named the entertainment city with the planned development sitting on about 134 hectares of land. Presently, the existing Theatre only occupies just 10 hectares. But the new design requires that the PPP with the partnership of the government will undertake the project, only using a mapped out design, finance, construction (build), operation and maintenance model.

    When this is fully done, according to Mrs. Nkechi Ejele, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, “It will offer visitors, tourists, tespians and fun seekers, the opportunity to visit a modern, diverse, localised and existing experience”. Although she stated that the Lagos State government is involved in the project, she appealed to Lagosians to see the project as a means of ensuring that the complex is made to be more useful for public use. “There is the need to make the complex conform with accepted international norms and standards”, Ejele stated. She insisted that with this new plan, more business avenues will be opened to make Lagos the real economic hub of West Africa.

    She said: “This project will be characterised by modern architecture and design, with wide range of business and recreational offerings of international standards within a friendly environment. Beyond that, after the completion, concessionaires will be given the opportunity to recoup their investment. This is why this meeting today is very esential. It is meant to lay the whole plan bay, and to allow possible investors see the viability of the project and make their own deductions and impressions. These fallow areas of the Theatre complex have been allowed to lie prostrate for too long. It is now time to put the areas into proper use.”

    The roadshow which would take the Ministry to other parts of the world to re-awaken the interest of more investors in the project is designed to encourage wider-spread and more committed investors. The more investors that come in from all over the world, the better chances of making the project a formidable one. This is why it is noted that the plan will incorporate Lagos as Nigeria’s foremost entertainment city because the aura and ambiance of the Theatre complex will become very significant and alluring to all and sundry.

    In his own contribution, Aminu Diko of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) reassured investors that the new concept would be favourable to all. He said: “This idea is mainly to transform the National Theatre edifice into a model city comparable to the Mandela Square in Johanessburg, South Africa, and Time’s Square in New York, U.S.A. As you all know, there is an increasing awareness worldwide of the critical partnering role the private sector can play towards the accelerated provisioning of infrastructure through the PPPs. This is why this project has indeed become necessary now.”

    He went on to state that well-prepared and better structures PPP projects define greater lifestyle efficiencies, more value for moey, improved service delivery and job opportunites and more. He however gave examples with other economies of the world where this sort of exercise has helped in key sectors like the railway, seaports, roads, and bridges to power the economy of the society. Diko’s concern however, “is to provide the necessary guideline to all stakeholders to enable them grasp the essential ingredients of the project.” In all, the project will give artistes the necessary platform to exhibit their crafts and perform in an atmosphere that would boost their images and career.

    The BGL Capital which acts as advisers on the concession business represented by one of its project directors, Dipo Wintoki reminded the gathering that the beauty, the importance and relevance of the National Theatre should not be allowed to go into oblivion. “This is an edifice that was established in 1976 and has been the hub of theatre activities, art exhibitions, symposia, filmshows and more. It has played host to various national, international theatre and musical events…Therefore, with wide range of commercial offerings, colours, a friendly environment, and everything else one expects to find at an international tourism centre and entertainment city, we intend to make this project one of the best in the world”.

    In the words of Wintoki, the initial feasibility and viability studies of each of the facilities have been conducted. The projects has an average concession period of 30years, with the return on investment averaging 35% and pay back period within the first ten years of operation. And this, in the overall interest of the people will encourage the discovery and development of new talents in the country. It will also help in creating more employment opportunites in the sector and generally promote healthy cultural activities and habit in the society, while at the same time increase the revenue generation capacity of both the federal and state governments and the private sector investors.

    The roadshow which attracted who-is-who in the entertainment sector, saw the General Manager of the National Theatre, Malam Kabir Yusuf fully in charge to ensure that all went well. Yusuf who described the show as the best thing to happen to reposition the Theatre, reassured investors and the general public that the future of the complex cannot be compromised. “It is to make this environment the best place for the industry and the players to thrive”, he said.

  • As Fela Son of Kuti hits stage

    As Fela Son of Kuti hits stage

    A new stage play by Comel Onyekaba titled Fela Son of Kuti is to kick-start a series of festival of theatres to be held at the National Theatre, Lagos, beginning from September 26th and ending in December. Organisers of the shows explained to Edozie Udeze that the concept is to continue the centenary celebrations of the country and to also ensure that a Broadway-type of theatre is brought to Nigeria not only to honour Fela but to also celebrate Wole Soyinka who turned 80 this year

    As part of the activities marking the centenary celebrations of the Nigerian nation and also in continuation of the 80 years anniversary of the Noble Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, the Crown Troupe of Africa and the National Theatre, Lagos, are engaged in series of festival of theatres that would begin on September 26 this year. In an interview with The Nation, Segun Adefila, the founder of the group explained that the choice of The Dance of the Forests written by Soyinka is to open people’s eyes to the variety of issues the playwright raised in the play when he wrote it more than 50 years ago.

    “Since the play was written to mark Nigeria’s independence in 1960, it is also imperative to use it as part of the 100 years of the nation. In furtherance of that”, Adefila continued, “ it is proper to situate the play within the context that Soyinka wrote it then. To us, it is a play that mirrored what the Nigerian situation would be in time to come. Besides the fact that it is prophetic, it shows the leadership of a society that is in dire need of focus, direction and the like”.

    Working in collaboration with the management of the National Theatre, Lagos, the plays would also include a satire on Fela Son of Kuti written by Comel Onyekaba, a Broadway kind of play to showcase the musical and the theatrical exploits of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti. This was selected not only to bring live theatre closer to the people but also show that the place of Fela as an icon cannot be forgotten or downplayed in the annals of Nigeria.

    “Fela is an iconoclast. He is a force to reckon with. If we have his shows on Broadway in the United States of America continuously, why wouldn’t we replicate such here to encourage our people to see the real Fela on stage. It is also to broaden our people’s attitude to what is our own. Fela conquered the stage, indeed the whole world with his type of Afrobeat. He convinced the world that he had something to say. These were messages that were not immediately valued but are even more relevant today”, Biodun Abe of the National Theatre, said.

    The idea is to bring people back to live theatre, using our own artistes within the local needs of the environment to stir the sector. As the programmes begin on September 26 to run through a period of three months, the plays will each tackle some important and salient issues that trouble the nation. “They are plays that address who we are, plays that bring us into the society where we are. We need the plays to talk to us, to help us look at the areas where we faltered and areas where we’ve done well in order to know what to do to be better” Adefila said.

    Crown Troupe of Africa is known for creating dance dramas weaved around some socio-political and economic problems of the Nigerian society. Over the years, the Troupe has travelled within and outside Nigeria to tell the world that satire and hyperbole can be used in forms of dances, theatres, songs and drumming to touch on the norms of the people.

    “This is why we create stories that people can relate with, can identify as part of their own existence in a society where many things have indeed gone wrong”, Adefila explained.

    Apart from the shows for the months of September through to October, other equally important plays will be staged in November and December. For instance Fela Son of Kuti will mount the stage on September 26 and then run till the 28th. This will serve as a teaser to prepare people’s minds for the more serious theatricals replicated in the Dance of the Forests. “We chose Dance of the Forests because of its topicality and relevance to our immediate needs now.” Adefila, who directed the play averred. “We didn’t forget how some people usually consider Soyinka’s works as too difficult to decode or understand. We considered all that before we went on to stage it. However, we are careful so as not to bury or subsume the thematic issues embedded in the play”.

    Given that the festival is yet to release the names of the plays for the months of November and December, Biodun Abe, one of the coordinators of the shows explained that it is deliberate. “We have to be sure which plays to go on stage so as not to lower the tempo or water down on the standard. But you can be sure we will not give you what does not suite your taste or what does not correspond with the aims and objectives of the festival”.

    But for Adefila whose style of theatrical presentation is often seen to be abstract but infused with drama, this is time to ensure that live theatre is brought back into the mainstream of the society.

    “Community theatre which we grew up to watch and cherish is almost dead,” he said. “However, with this sort of show, we can begin to draw the attention of the people to real stage theatre.  It is here that we can see the exposure of the issues that pertain to the people. For me, any society that forgets its theatre is also likely to forget its own story. On stage you give life to the issues, you let the society see its own follies or otherwise and then you make them laugh, make them relax and generally be happy. This is part of concept of the shows”, so said Adefila.

    In creating their stories, the Crown Troupe ensures that they are people oriented. The stories have to be danceable with deep elements of theatre to entertain the audience. This is why variety of characters are infused into the plays to make people understand and follow the sequence of presentation.

    “Yes, this is what we have going for us. You see, I didn’t create or found the Troupe alone. We were four of us who did it way back at the University of Lagos. The total concept we had was to mirror the society using topical and burning issues to reach out to the people.”

    Today even though his other three colleagues have left the Troupe, Adefila says he finds consolation and total fulfillment in all the members who make up the cast and crew of the Troupe. “Yes, I draw my inspiration from them. They are the people who make the dramas tick. Together, we all create those ideas you see on stage. The artistes can be of fun if you treat them well. Many of them from different areas of Nigeria come here to make the ideas rich and diverse.”

    He is also inspired by the masquerade spirits having come from a family where masquerades were revered. “I know I would be an artiste”, he disclosed. “My family was the custodians of masquerades where I come from. So, right from the word go, I knew I would draw my inspiration from that. The spirit of the masquerades often propel me to do most of my creative things.

    “And while at the University of Lagos where I was taught by the likes of Tunji Sotimirin, Laz Ekwueme, Duro Oni and Ahmed Yerima, you had no choice but to allow real theatre to permeate you. These first class scholars taught us how to be creative, how theatre is real in real life.”

    He recalled however, how the era of Hubert Ogunde and others helped to bring life to theatre. “It is we the younger ones who should continue to uphold this tradition. These people suffered to give us theatre, to ensure that it is a profession that gives practitioners money. Today, we are happy and proud to be theatre artistes because someone has paved the way for it. You cannot say artistes are not living well, they are not paying their bills, building their own mansions at Lekki and some other choice areas in the country. All you need do is stick to what you do and do it well”. Adefila offered.

    The centenary festival of theatres will be rounded off with other interesting programmes that will make the audience see the profundity of live theatre. “It will be a show of all shows”, Abe promised. “We will use all sorts of theatricals to keep the Theatre environment warm come the month of October and beyond”, he said.

     

  • For Women of Owu

    For Women of Owu

    With Women of Owu, a play by Professor Femi Osofisan forming part of the texts for secondary schools students for 2011 – 2015 sessions, the management of the National Theatre, Lagos, has decided to bring back the programme, Schools Dramatised Literature texts. This is to help them improve the standard of literature in their exams and also expose students to the core values of drama. Edozie Udeze writes

    Over the years, students offering Literature in English in School Certificate Examinations and University Entrance Examinations have found it somewhat difficult to come to terms with some of the texts recommended for use.  This has made it impossible for some Literature students to really understand the depth of the books and what literature itself portends.

    Owing to this fact and more, the management of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, in collaboration with a group of artistes have decided to put on stage one of the recommended books for this season.  The book is Women of Owu written by Professor Femi Osofisan, foremost Nigerian playwright and academic.

    Women of Owu is an African retelling of Euripides, in which the playwright uses a rhythmic mix of choruses, songs and dances punctuated by individual stories of woes, agonies, wars and so on to delve into the historic account of the people. It is a thought-provoking account of how the combined forces of Ife, Oyo and Ijebu invaded and pillaged the ancient city of Owu, killing all the men and children. In leaving only the women alive, they found a voice in the Erelu, a woman who rose to stand solidly behind her people. Her strength was driven by the solidarity she got from the other women who indeed chose to defy the allied forces, calling them ‘cursed men who had no dignity for human essence’

    In an interview with The Nation, Biodun Abe who is the handler of the drama project, said, “our concern is borne out of the fact that literature is a core subject for students seeking to offer courses in Arts and Humanities in Nigerian universities. In response to the need to aid the students’ understanding of the texts and consequently improve their results, we have chosen to revive the Schools Dramatised Literature Text and Book Fair. Women of Owu is a text in the syllabus for 2011-2015 academic years.

    “We discovered that over the years, most of these students did not quite grasp the profundity of the texts. We looked at the results that have already been posted, especially by the Lagos State, and we discovered that the results were less than excellent performance. To us, that is not good enough. So what we are doing is beyond entertainment. We intend also to impact on the society in the area of raising the standard of the would-be leaders of tomorrow”, he said.

    When the approach was adopted before, the results during those years were quite better. When the students watched the characters on stage, they were able to identify with them and even got to know the story deeper and better. And since drama is all about life on stage, the reality of the stories and the people involved in it, came closer to the students. “That enhanced their understanding of the text better”, Abe said.

    He continued, “then we want to be more creative with the script this season by organizing, at the end of every performance, an interactive session between we, the organisers and the students who watched the drama. They will field questions and we will attend to them. We will solve also some literature questions and there will be more interaction because we would have taken them beyond what happens within their classrooms.”

    In doing this, the Theatre management wants to involve a group of tested artistes who can give their best on stage by bringing out all the essentials of Women of Owu. Sina Ayodele, a teacher of Literature at the Lagos State University, Ojo and who is a member of National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), will spearhead the stage. While the venue will be the National Theatre, the technical crew and other stage matters will be provided by Abe and his team.

    The play is an emotional drama where women, after being subjected to series of sufferings, preferred to take their fate in their hands. Their power of protest and resolve resembled the stubbornness exhibited by the Aba women in 1929, when they told the British colonial masters that they could not pay tax. In the play, the women spoke with one voice: they gathered together to give strength and succor to one another. It has been described as a powerful evening of theatre, mesmerising, rhythmic and ever-bourgeoning. The event happened in 1821 or thereabout when these forces laid a siege on Owu for seven years. Initially, Lawumi, their goddess had given her approval to the siege, saying that the rulers of Owu were becoming too arrogant and unapproachable.

    However, with the desecration of her shrines and those of Obatala and other forms of destruction unknown in history, she became angry against the invading forces that she also invited Anlugbua, another Owu deity to join her in the destruction of the allied forces. Henceforth, the intrigues that unfold give the drama a special blend, thus making it one of the most successful stage dramas on women historic issues in Nigeria.

    “I will destroy them,” Lawumi boasted, “because they too (allied forces) have no regard for me. Just imagine, when they set the town on fire, desperate men and women ran to my shrine for protection. But do you know these allied forces, the very soldiers I gave total support did not spare them! Can you believe the insult! Yes, of course the fugitives were Owu people and so were enemies, but so what! They had run to me for refuge! Me, their ancestral mother! But no, the allied soldiers did not care for that! They seized them all!! Even Princess Orisaye, Obatala’s vestal votary, was literally dragged out of my hands without any of the soldiers protesting. Then, to cap the insult, look! They have set fire to my shrine!” She was addressing Anlugbua who, on his own part, agreed that time had come to inflict the proud Ijebu, Ife and Oyo soldiers with an everlasting confusion, suffering and agony on their way back.

    In the process, therefore, Lawumi beckoned on Esu, the chief mischief-maker, Obatala and other gods and goddesses to begin to perfect strategies to make this journey perilous, tortuous and horrendous. “I want their return journey to be filled with grief”, she said. “Human beings”, she reiterated, “it is clear, only learn from suffering and pain. Already Esu has promised me, there’ll be such confusion at every crossroads…till human beings learn that gods are not their plaything.”

    On their part, Erelu and her princesses were determined to foil the plans of the enemy to make them slaves. She resolved to the end never to be subjected to such a trauma. She said, “A father can only chew for a child, he cannot swallow for her. If only you had read your history right, the lessons left behind by the ancestors! Each of us, how else did we go except by the wrath of war? Each of us, demolished through violence and contention. Not so? But you chose to glorify the story with his! Lies!, our apotheosis as you sing it is a fraud…”

    Then she slumped on stage and died. This was even before the allied forces could perfect their final plans to whisk her and others away.

    With a deluge of dirges to synchronise with the pitiable condition of the women, the play indeed harps on the power of words as epitomised and espoused by the womenfolk. With their utterances, supported with innuendoes, pregnant with meaning, they were able to harass the generals almost out of existence. Erelu’s final words to others summed it up – “Go, go into the forests, I cannot help you. No one can. You are going now into years of wandering and slavery. As the penalty for your wasted lives. Perhaps afterwards you would have learnt the wisdom of sticking together and loving one another…”

    Osofisan has written over 50 plays and to date, he still remains Nigeria’s most dramatised playwright. Some of his works have even been commissioned by renowned theatres in Europe and America and across the world. That is one of the reasons why this project is essential so as to make the impact more engrossing and outstanding. After it is shown at the National Theatre, it can be taken to other states depending on the interest shown by the government. The idea is to ensure that majority of the students have the opportunity to watch the play.

  • Of theatre and our Duke

    Of theatre and our Duke

    Last week, the Department of Theatre at the University of Ibadan (UI) celebrated 50 years of theatre in the African academy. The celebrations marked 50 years of formal theatre training in Africa with UI being the first of such on the continent. In those years, graduates of the department provided high value leaderships in theatre, music, advertising, film, radio and television, print journalism, politics, business, civil service, international diplomacy, academics and even institutional religion.  They have served both country and the world with vision and distinction, wielding major global influence.  Earlier in the year, Professor Wole Soyinka – Africa’s first Noble Prize winner in Literature and an early head of the University of Ibadan School of Drama had opened the celebrations with a public lecture.  Now as the events of the week kicked off, Professor Abiola Irele – a one time actor on the Ibadan stage, who then went on to become a Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, headlined the events with a key note address.  As an alumnus of the UI department, I have often bragged the pedigree of my alma maters – University of Ibadan (my African Ivy league in theater) and Yale University (my American Ivy League in Drama).  The combined depth and quality of Ibadan’s training continue to ring loud and strong on the global stages we have found ourselves!  Yet on this same week, we are reminded of one of the most unnerving ironies of being Nigerians.  This great irony rests on the fact that our country is one where the potential for greatness is humongous but greatly dimmed by our government’s propensity for mediocrity, cronyism, corruption, violence and greed.  Amidst the pomp of what is tagged the ‘Homecoming’ at Ibadan this week, one hopes that there are new  and pragmatic strategies for resolving the combative challenges that our art, our professional calling and our cultural accounts, demand of us!

    Nigerian theater suffers from what I call “Neo-malice’.  Malice is the expressed and actualised desire for evil, where evil is not religion specific, but a cultural and political affliction.  Theatre as we must emphasise, is defiant of normative constructs.  Instead of patterns of order, which other fields observes, theatre distinguishes itself by its core fascination with explorations of entropy and disorder.  African performance, says Kenyan writer and activist Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, was the first to be assaulted by the cultural forces of colonialism, to give space for the construction of a colonised being.  That was the first ‘malice’.  Initially our immediate post-colonial response in Nigeria led the rest of African Theatre with an added urgency.  Wole Soyinka, Hubert Ogunde, Femi Osofisan, Ola Rotimi, Zulu Sofola, Bode Osanyin, Ben Tomoloju and many first runners of Nigerian theatre proved this, not only through their plays, but also to the extent of their activist roles as our collective social conscience.  As dreamers we seek to create utopias.  But their fervor, the commitment of the sixties, seventies and eighties has dimmed, our dreams atrophied as our apologetic generation stumbles along in stupor!  Our lungs, our dreams are clogged with gluttonous portions of self-centeredness, sycophancy and cowardice.  We are now so afraid to speak the truth to ourselves, much so to anyone we deem to be in some form of power.  So, we are doubly colonised and we perpetuate this evil upon our art, our profession.

    Wa Thiong’o concludes his observation on a darker note, identifying the origins of the neo-malice in African, and more specifically Nigerian theatre.  “The same colonized being”, he says, has “mutated into a neo-colonial dictator, who sees theater as a threat, and he often sends theater practitioners into prisons (Ogunde, Soyinka), exile (Soyinka/Sowande et al), impoverishment or even death in some cases (Ken Saro Wiwa).  These colonised beings mutating into dictators and politicians have progressively brought our Theatre academies and Theater practitioners to their begging knees, dazed and comatose!  But Theatre thrives.  It cannot be killed either as text or practice.  Theater constructs our human encounters between knowing and unknowing participants, generating a spatial and experiential energy that is simultaneously catalytic and cathartic.  It is not dissimilar to the basic run of life – inhaling and exhaling.  We must breathe to stay alive, as our society must “theater” to live.

    Why is it that our appointed government officials and the artistic community they are called to serve, never meet for open, frank and deliberative collaborations?  Why?  In a sector of human engagement, where creativity and innovative thinking are the marks of the stakeholders, why is idiocy often foisted upon the artist of the theater and upon the nation by uncivilised civil servants and miscast ministers, who hop from one poorly conceived ‘rebranding’ project to another!  Carnivals, that self-inflicted minstrelsy from our Caribbean cousins, have suddenly become the obsessions of money gobbling administrations; their new tool for the cannibalisation of our traditional festivals, dances, masquerades and of our rich pantheon.  They seem content with turning the performance of theatre and the transmission of our culture into these shallow and inconsequential expressions of irrational spectacles.  We on our part have dispersed into related fields and sometimes do no even want to be known as theatre artists!

    Edem Duke, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation is called to speak on the issue of whether the National Theatre is being sold or not.  The question is simply to find out what our government’s clear agenda for the development of Theatre in Nigeria will be, going forward.  It is not as if the government and its officials are permanently and completely bereft of ideas.  It just seems that the moments of visionary clarity are far in between the preponderance of mediocrity and blatant corruption.

    Duke is in error when he assumes that he and his private sector friends know best. He is in error when he believes he alone can survive the political rings being woven around him, without taking his constituency along.  His attempt at some intentional conflation of the problems will not suffice.  In one breath he agrees with us when he says the culture community does not have any other iconic infrastructural asset other than the National theatre.  Yet in a fit of neo-malice, he declares that

    ”the National theatre would translate into a leisure and entertainment centre, the first leisure and entertainment duty-free zone in West Africa”.  What is a leisure and entertainment centre?  How is this so-called “leisure and entertainment centre” different than a casino?  How is this leisure and entertainment centre the same as a National Theatre, like the National Theatre of Great Britain in London or the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC?  There is a good reason American mogul Donald Trump builds Casinos – leisure and entertainment centres – instead of theatres.  There is a reason American pornography business lord Flynt builds strip clubs and bars, never theatres.  It is disingenuous to lump theatre in the same wool.  We get it but does he?

    I want to believe Duke does get it and he is indeed working hard to ensure the revitalisation of theatre in Nigeria.  What we want, therefore, what we know will work best for him, is to call for an open forum with theatre artists in Lagos, Abuja or both, where he can explain the details of his plans and answer the questions the artists have.  Just a simple and sincere collaborative gesture, an expression of mutual respect, not condescension, will do.  He just might be surprised to know the number of Theatre artists who are on his side and who will defend his agenda, if they are truly in the best interest of the sector. Fifty years after Ibadan, 36 years after the World Black Arts festival FESTAC, two decades and more after the establishment of the National Troupe of Nigeria, wasting our hard earned national legacy of Theatre has to stop.

    Finally, our Academics and Theatre artists for most part can no longer remain safely segregated, each on their own side of the continually widening gap between theory and practice, between reflection and creation.  The Homecoming at Ibadan should be the rebirth of Theatre in Nigeria.

     

    •Ojewuyi is an alumnus, University of Ibadan Theatre and currently teaches at the Southern Illinois University, USA.

  • Theatre workers up in arms

    Theatre workers up in arms

    The workers of the National Theatre, Lagos, are up in arms. This time, it is not against the purported sale or leasing of the culture house, but against the General Manager and the Chief Executive Officer of the edifice, Mallam Kabir Yusuf.

    In a press conference held in Lagos last week, the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), the National Theatre chapter, noted in a petition dated July 26, 2013 and addressed to the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) how the issue of alleged corrupt practices perpetuated by the G.M in the areas of over bloated contracts, and other fraudulent acts in the handling of the day-to-day affairs of the Theatre have slowed down progress at the nation’s apex culture house.

    According to the General-Secretary of AUPCTRE, Isidore Opara, “the amount allegedly being siphoned by Kabir on a monthly basis is enough to maintain the National Theatre, and keep it functioning while awaiting government’s life-line to turn it around.” And the amount, according to him, runs into millions.

    Opara said: “Regrettably, however, the general manager has perfected various morally indefensible acts of siphoning the resources of the National Theatre for self-enrichment. These are in the areas of fictitious conferences that never held, the purchase of Peavey sound equipment at an inflated cost of over 750%, the purchase of normal plastic chairs and tables at over 570% actual price.”

    He went on to reiterate how the union had on several occasions tried to bring the G.M’s attention to all these anomalies, but all were in vain. He stated further: “the GM does these in disregard to the procurement policy of the federal government. The outrageous list of maintaining the office of the GM (i.e. three Prado Jeeps and three private mobile policemen) contrary to the monetisation policy of the federal government since 2004, personal health expenditure of over six million for 2011/2012 alone, all these also contravene the national health insurance scheme of the government.”

    The union noted that all these run into hundreds of millions of naira and that is why the petition has been sent to the relevant government agencies and parastastals to enable government properly investigate the matter for necessary action.

    A copy of the petition made available to The Nation and signed by the officials of the union appealed to ICPC to use “its good offices to accelerate investigations of the above allegations and then bring the perpetrator(s) to book.” It also observed that given this situation as it is now, it may not be healthy and safe to allow the status quo to remain while the issue of the concession of the Theatre is fast approaching.” “The money that will come in during this exercise may not be safe,” the union further warned.

    When contacted in his office for his reaction, the G.M. was said to be in a marathon meeting with officials of another labour union named Radio and Television Theatre Art Workers Union (RATTAWU). When he was eventually got on phone for his comment, the G.M. said, “I heard you came to my office earlier on. I am on my way home. I won’t talk unless you come physically to my office. If not, you can go ahead with your story.” Reminded, however, that he could react on phone to save time, the G.M. quickly switched off his phone. And all efforts to reach him again proved abortive.

    Meanwhile, the National Theatre workers have threatened to embark on a sit-out industrial action starting from August 26, if the appropriate government agencies do not hearken to their clarion call to sanitise the Theatre forthwith. “That may be our next line of action if nothing is done now to save the lives of workers here in the next few days,” Opara noted, saying that “the Theatre is meant to generate money everyday. But the current administration is not doing that, rather it engages in policies that negate the interest of workers.”

  • House decries rot in National Theatre

    House decries rot in National Theatre

    The consultant to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation on the concession of landed areas of the National Theatre, the BGL, has disclosed that the various projects earmarked for development by private investors would be completed between 36 and 48 months as soon as the right bidders complete all necessary procedures.

    The facilities that will be executed under the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT), option include a leisure park, recreation centre, shopping mall, a three-storey car park and a five star hotel. The concession will be on public-private-partnership (PPP) arrangement that would last for 30 years.

    The consultant told the Ben Nwankwo led-House Committee on Culture last week in Lagos that the landed areas that would be allocated for concession are 140 hectares, but that not all would be built up by the developers.

    In a presentation before the committee, the consultant who highlighted the project concept, its feasibility and economic viability explained that ‘the National Theatre would remain the government entity and would not be concessioned. The upgrade of the National Theatre will be carried on during the construction phase to match-up with international standard. The National Theatre will continue to be run and maintained from a fund set aside out from the proceeds of the concession,” according to the reports.’

    Nwankwo said the concern of the House on the concession project include its goals, implementation policies and transparency, adding that the present state of the theatre complex craves for urgent attention. “The renovation or rehabilitation of the theatre complex craves for attention. Unfortunately, government does not have the resources to do it alone, hence the PPP arrangement. In fact, culture and tourism should play key roles in national development. The theatre, which is a cultural monument, is susceptible to encroachment. But the government is desirous of developing it into an income earning project,” he said.

    On the lingering crises over the relocation of other culture agencies, he asked how amicably the culture ministry has handled it. “Why was the National Troupe of Nigeria sent packing from the theatre? Has the act establishing the two bodies as one management been reviewed?” Nwankwo asked.

    The chairman also noted that though the committee was not at the theatre on oversight per se, but that the present administration owes it as a duty to be bond its obligation of implementing budget hundred percent.

    Other members of the House present at the theatre included Abdulmalik Usman, Emeyese Akpodiogaga, Badamasiyu Abdulrahaman, El Sudi Tukur, Muniru Hakeem, Abbas Machika and Toby Okechukwu.

    Culture minister, Chief Edem Duke, said the National Theatre project is at its conceptualisation stage and that all would be carried along including the National Assembly.

    “We must find the will to ensure the property benefits from new investment that will grow its potentials … For us, it is a legacy thing and must pull through a transparency process,” he said.

    On the protest by some artistes at the Artistes Village, Duke said: “If they are artistes, they will not dwell in such a place. That is not what I see of artists in Ghana or South Africa. Your environment should radiate the creativity in you.”