Honourable Minister, It is no secret that the Nigerian arts and culture space is malnourished.
The decline began immediately after Festac ’77 and accelerated during the Shagari era’s austerity measures, when the government withdrew funding, causing the entire sector to collapse.
Before these events, arts and culture were supported by federal and state government budgets. Huge productions and massively talented artists were mostly on the government payroll, essentially functioning as civil servants.
This stifled the industry, killed creativity, and transformed it from an exciting and enjoyable platform into a government tool used to mobilize people according to the whims and caprices of the military governments of that era.
During this period, arts and culture were limited to side attractions at major government activities. Initiatives like MAMSER, Operation Feed the Nation, and WAI were mostly the main sponsors of arts and culture.
Cultural infrastructure deteriorated. The National Museum became a beer parlour with artefacts gathering cobwebs, and the National Theatre became a den of robbers and hoodlums—a situation replicated throughout the country.
Today, the sector is beginning to be renewed, even though it remains a poor cousin to its siblings in the entertainment industry.
Art and culture are like a periodically malnourished child, stymied by a lack of funding, bogged down by red tape, and led by old-school practitioners who stubbornly sit under the tree at the National Theatre, reminiscing about the good old days of Hubert Ogunde and the Nigerian International Bank.
Private individuals like Bolanle Austen-Peters, Ayo Jaiyesimi, and a motley crew of very talented artists whose paintings have started generating international appeal have tried to breathe fresh air into the system.
These efforts continue to receive what I call the “Lipstick Treatment” by the government. “Lipstick treatment” is a metaphorical phrase used to describe superficial or cosmetic improvements that do not address underlying issues or problems.
It implies that only the surface is being improved or altered, much like how applying lipstick changes the appearance without affecting the fundamental structure.
This term is often used in business, politics, or other areas where deeper, substantive changes are needed but are not being made.
In this case, it involves attending various gatherings, delivering brilliant speeches, smiling for the media, and then going home for a well-deserved rest after a hard day’s work.
The opaque nature of your engagement in a sector that has the full potential to impact the economy through job creation, infrastructure development, revenue generation, tourism, and hospitality remains rather sad.
Madam Minister, let me shock you if you do not already know: over 33 million people watch theatre in the UK—almost three times the number of people who watch football, which is about 11 million.
This is thoroughly private-sector driven but backed by government grants, subventions, waivers, and guarantees.
The Nigerian theatre sector is well-positioned to deliver immense benefits to the economy if carefully curated and harnessed.
Theatre-going is growing, especially in the Lagos market. Over 50,000 actors and other providers of ancillary services were engaged just last December.
This figure could be exponentially increased if a top-line approach is taken by the government to engage the sector.
I do not mean the government should adopt a hands-on, full-funding approach, but it must, in terms of practical policies, guarantees to private-sector supporters, grants, and capacity building, energize and reinvigorate the sector.
What we see right now, apart from the Lipstick approach mentioned earlier, is also the appointment of practitioners who know little about the business and policy circuit of the sector to head strategic government agencies.
Then you rope them down with bureaucratic red tape, leaving them with the refrain, “I have no budget,” each time they are approached for collaboration.
So, today, an actor who has been on stage, TV, or film for over 20 years suddenly qualifies to be a DG of a parastatal? How would they understand the deals needed to pull in FDI for infrastructural development in the space? How will they understand long-term debt funding for equipment and logistics?
For me, the government must closely examine its human capital to move in credible developmental operatives who clearly understand the nexus between private and public sector cooperation in driving sustainable growth in the system.
The new museum built by Lagos State at Onikan is a case in point. This is a perfect example of collaboration, but even so, the government must now step back and allow private enterprise to push it forward.
It must grant tax holidays, build allied infrastructure around it like good road networks and security, and watch global traffic flow through it.
From there, benefits will derive from taxation, job creation, and the possible reflation of other sectors like hospitality and trade.
Madam Minister, let’s make your tenure remarkable as we approach your first year in office by stepping back, reassessing your progress so far, and re-engaging more purposefully.
You can do it.