Martin Adaji is the Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria whose outing in China recently proved to the world the importance of culture in bridging friendship among nations. In this interview with Edozie Udeze held Beijing, Adaji China, bares his mind on the role of dance, theatre, tourism and more in keeping the world as one
What to you is the role of the National Troupe of Nigeria in a bilateral cultural exchange like we had during the Nigeria cultural week in Beijing, China?
The National Troupe of Nigeria has found this opportunity, a singular one for that matter, to prove its mettle, not only in the eye of the international community, but actually to express what we can do to our law-makers who happened to be on ground and who fortunately were satisfied with what we have done. It has not been easy but the most important thing is that we have been able to do what we are established to do – perform Nigerian dances to the best of our abilities not only in Nigeria but anywhere, where the country demands that we do so. What we have done during this celebration and how the people have received us have proved that we can always do it if the mandate is properly in place.
What you saw yesterday and what the Minister of Culture, Chief Edem Duke, said is that the bond of friendship which has been more on the pages of newspapers has been realised now. The level of cultural relationship between Beijing and Abuja has been elevated and we all are elated about it. It is now on a more concrete terms. You could see Nigerians and Chinese bond together in love and peace.
From the type of songs and dances on stage, both from China and Nigeria, you could see that we have certain similarities in terms of culture. This is going to promote a lot. Nigeria is more of a cash society and that aspect was hammered on by the minister. But that does not mean we want to launder money. Although gradually we can become a cashless society and that way we will come to terms with what obtains elsewhere, this is therefore part of what this visit will do to the understanding of both nations in terms of culture. It may not have its immediate yields and impact now, but what is there is that we have gone round to see that the possibility of empowering our creative sector is there.
In terms of technical facility, we can partner with our Chinese counterparts and you saw that they have plenty of it. But in terms of workforce, Nigeria is equally rich. We can give much to our culture. The content of our culture is what the National Troupe of Nigeria is meant to portray and has been portraying. That content has to be provided for. A lot of people on the streets have the creative skills but cannot go beyond their practice.
To empower such people is what we have been able to do so far. In order to make them flourish we provide them with some of these technical support. If we then have China as our partners, we will go a long way indeed.
We propagate so much theatre in Nigeria, but do we truly practice theatre?
What we must realise is that we have theatre, but do we really have a Nigerian theatre? Can we say we have a Nigerian theatre? See, we have over 250 distinct ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. To me, that is credit because it means the freshness of appeal of all our cultural heritage can never run dry.
We have variety; all these ethnic nationalities have other distinct cultures which account for the variety we have in Nigeria. So, China has the packaging, we have the content. If we merge both, we’ll be able to develop our own. And you must know that the world is a global village now; no one individual nation wants to do it alone. You have to be in contact with others; you have to be in touch too making friends where necessary in order to move ahead.
We have a lot of content but we lack in the area of packaging. In this area, we can now come to an agreement between the two countries. You see, what the Chinese team did on stage was not really extra-ordinary, it was the packaging that did it for them. There were no drummers but the music played on because it was produced. If we partner along that line, we can travel with less people and so on.
Most troupes that come to Nigeria, they mime a lot but you’ll never know. They look so real and so nice. So, if we can package ours like that we can go places. We use so much human efforts to do little. But what we do now is to take so many people off the streets who will live on culture, ply their trade and move on.
We do not have enough stages to do all that. What can government do in this regard?
For me, this is a fertile ground and government cannot do everything. Capacity building can be private-sector-driven. A lot of entrepreneurs in Nigeria can go into it. They can build theatres on their own. It is goldmine; it yields money, but a lot of people may not know. People can build and let them out and make money from there. If we do that and develop the sector well, we will be able to keep arts alive and also attract tourists to the country.
From what we have seen here in China, you will agree with me that culture holds a lot for a nation. But first the sector has to be properly developed by those who love to preserve culture. And you see, if we can take just two percent of Chinese going out of China to Nigeria during this cold period, we have a lot. And that means a lot of foreign exchange for Nigeria and for the sector.
We should also stop thinking that tourism is an elitist pastime. No it is not. And that is why we need to develop our domestic tourism in order to encourage our people to fall in love with it. I know there are challenges with every day living. Nigeria is not an exception. But if you take a holiday for say a week or two in a year, trying to visit one destination, you discover you’ll be much more productive when you resume. As at the moment a lot of departments in the sector are making it possible for people to show more interest in tourism.
I am sure if we key into this agenda, we will make room for more money to be generated internally from tourism, not to think of people coming from outside.
We have infrastructural problem in the sector. How do we overcome it?
Yes, insecurity is also a problem. But it is over bloated somewhat. Nigeria, to tell you the truth, is not the worst in the world. There are plenty of security problems in the world that are never reported. The press will help us in this regard. Other parts of the world fight for people to come to their country. This is what we need to constantly do too.
Yes, the infrastructure will develop gradually. More people now show interest in the sector and with time it will be better. Nigeria is a beautiful country. You are here now in this room, you can’t get out because of snow. We do not have weather challenge. It is warm in Nigeria, the people are good, the food is good and so on. So, we will get there someday soon. Yes, we will, I can assure you of that. Let all of us put hands together to build an endearing sector for all of us.
