Owing to the psychological situation Nigerian soldiers fighting insurgency are facing today in the North-eastern part of Nigeria, the newly appointed Artistic Director of National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN), Mr. Akinsola Adejuwon, has promised to inculcate the habit of performing for the Nigerian soldiers as part of his new ideals to reposition the Troupe. He spoke to reporters on this and more in Lagos last week. Edozie Udeze reports.
Part of the changes in the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, which took place recently, was the appointment of Akinsola Adejuwon as the new Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria. The appointment which came on the heels of other changes made in three other sister parastatals is aimed essentially at infusing new life into the sector. With his apointment, Adejuwon, a seasoned visual artist whose international exposure as a consummate and well-tested artist, prepared him well for the post has become the fifth person to lead the National Troupe since its inception in 1991. Others before him were Hubert Ogunde, Bayo Oduneye, Ahmed Yerima and Martin Adaji.
Addressing the press last week to unveil his programmes to move the Troupe to the next level and to continue to improve on the standards of the performances of the artistes, he said: “I will work hard to improve on the large repertoire of ideas and programmes left behind by my predecessor. Beyond that, I could also discover that the staff are well-tested and properly equipped professionals to discharge this job. This shows that we can together make this Troupe get to the highest level ever.”
Adejuwon who was until his appointment a staff of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he held sway as the curator of the Institute of Cultural Studies, studied Industrial Designs at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Kaduna State. He also holds a Master degree in African Arts Studies of the OAU, and has persistently organised and run conferences, seminars and workshops, to shore up the image of both the visual and performance arts. A lover of festivals and events, Adejuwon has been involved in the running of several festivals aimed at signposting community events for posterity, youth development and for total entertainment. These and more are parts of the cognate experiences he hopes to bring in to refine the Troupe and make it ever alive and relevant in discharging its statutory role as the apex dance/performance outfit for the nation.
He said: “With the quality of staff I have on ground already, it is easy, much easier for me to work to achieve results. But we have to reposition the Troupe; we have to make the artistes be in the best mood, in the best frame of mind to work. I must inform you that my personal contacts and working experiences with such great artists as Wole Soyinka and Demas Nwoko have over the years reshaped my foray into the art.”
With his participation in the previous Black Heritage festivals organised by the Lagos State government where Soyinka made considerable inputs, Adejuwon is now set to lead a highbrow national troupe to train and improve the talents of more artistes to make dance more encompassing. “Yes, the National Troupe I inherited will be taken a bit higher to attain better heights in my tenure. I know the importance attached to this because we are considered as the cultural ambassadors of the country.”
To him, the performing experiences of the Troupe have indeed become an enviable one. “Both performance and visual arts, even in the renaissance Europe played such formidable role, with the kind of environment that existed at that time. Arts today contribute substantially to the national economy and we really have to make it work better. Arts has such reformative powers, powers that we can tap on to create more jobs for the youths, discover new artistes and make them more useful. In my own role, I will continue to work to propel such powers which the president of the country has invested in the National Troupe as the cultural ambassadors of Nigeria.”
He promised to ensure that all parts of the nation feel the impact of the performing nuances of the Troupe. “Most of our local performances and programmes may have to be taken to other geopolitical zones of the country. In fact, we also intend to perform for Nigerians troops involved in the fight against insurgency in the North. As a national troupe, we are meant to reach out to the whole nation, states where good artiste are, we will discover them and we can co-opt them in, we will willingly do that. But in all these, we require finances. I am therefore prepared to involve the private sector to achieve all these goals. We know Nigeria is blessed. Even now our art is among the best in the world. By this, I mean all aspects of the art. Therefore, we need to look at the available infrastructure which we have to improve upon to achieve our desires.”
Even when the National Troupe has already cultivated its own customers and collaborators over the years, Adejuwon still hopes to go the extra mile to cultivate more partners in the society. “The whole idea,” he said, “is to ensure that our troupe is organised in such a way as to achieve all that the federal government represents. We need to add value; indeed, we have to help government achieve the kind of image needed to make Nigeria better. Right now, we have a great number of artistes we have to take care of. I have been talking to them to know their state of mind, their needs and based on that we will know what to do to make them work better.”
Since for now, the Artistic Director does not have to depend entirely on the funds from the federal government, he therefore has a lot of task ahead of him to source for bigtime financiers for most of his programmes. Government fortunes are dwindling by the day because of the conflicts that we have. So, we will be very proactive in terms of raising funds to run the place. This, I hope to do with my able team and cooperation of other well-meaning Nigerians. We will be aggressive in our drive to generate funds and then produce quality shows for our people.”
