President of the National Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners (NATAP), Makinde Adeniran, has asserted that Nigeria’s creative industry has the potential to contribute more to the country’s development but lacks deliberate government policies to support its growth.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday, Adeniran said successive government initiatives had focused too much on individual projects and infrastructure without establishing sustainable policies to guide the sector. He called for a clear framework that would support the theatre and performing arts industry and secure its future.
“And that is one thing that is bedevilling the industry. We have it as a potential. Now that we are even talking about creative economy.”
He said the administration of Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, who is seeking to succeed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, provided an opportunity to assess the government’s performance in the sector. “First and foremost, I need to be very clear, it is not in any way to put down whatever document has been put out there. It is, for me, it is important this conversation must continue so that we help them to see.”
Adeniran explained the infrastructure alone could not sustain the creative industry. “We cannot say building is the life of the industry. You may have infrastructure. I’m not one of those who are quick to say government must throw money. As a matter of fact, I always say, when you throw money first, you are throwing it into open air. Because there’s no structure that will contain the money you are throwing.”
The NATAP president said the government needed to identify specific goals for the sector and establish policies that would support them over time. “Some of the projects I’ve seen, most of them are happenstance. Yes, our people will rush. You see, there’s always a life for every project they bring up. And the life is just one individual who is saying this is what I want to get out of it. We don’t have the time.
“But what is the country, the collective going to get out of that thing? That is the way we should reason.”
Adeniran also called for a clearer definition of the creative economy. “Sometimes when we use this creative economy, I think it’s a carpet. Because under creative economy, there’s so much. So let’s narrow down to what we are doing under it so that we can have a focus, we can build for the future.”
He said the theatre industry needed particular attention because of its role in developing talent across the performing arts and film industries.
“For every performative arts, the theatre is a laboratory. You don’t take care of it, the ecosystem will fall.”
Adeniran said actors could not rely solely on film productions to learn their craft because directors could limit the aspects of their performances that audiences eventually see.
“You want to learn acting? You don’t learn acting in film. Because you may be doing your best acting, right, and the director of film may just be focussing on one button. So learning acting really is on stage. To reinvent yourself as an actor, no matter who you are.”
He cited the relationship between Hollywood and Broadway as an example of how film and theatre could support one another. “And the fear, for me now, that is the fear as an individual practitioner, that’s the fear I battle with daily. And I say, we just put everything in the air and it’s gone.”
Adeniran said the absence of proper preservation systems meant that performances could end without leaving records that future generations could study or build upon. “Now we are back to the point where you arelooking at the future and then you are seeingkids who are coming into the space that youhave come through. The best you can do at thatpoint is to begin to advise them so that they don’tcommit the same mistakes that you have done.”
Adeniran said the 40th anniversary reunion of Agiofest provided an opportunity to revisit the contributions. “You see, Agilefest was a little bit before NATAP because Agilefest would be part of the triggerelement for NATAP.”
He described the festival, which brought four Nigerian plays to the National Theatre in 1986. “And with that, with that gathering, that gathering,there was a sense where you have people, acollection of people doing the same thing. Therewas a sense of, we need to look after ourselves.”
Adeniran said the gathering brought together young practitioners who recognised the need to organise and look after their welfare. “It was a big thing around the National Theatre. They even gave life to the National Theatre. The National Theatre as a building, as an architectural masterpiece, was lacking content after the first act.”
He said the association had continued to advocate for the industry through policy engagement. “Even if every year we are looking forward to that, maybe after the conversation today, the reunion today, we will then decide how to carry Agrofest further, you know. Maybe you become a kind of brand that is a conversation or policy driver, you know. We come together every year to talk about, look at the current situation, make a position.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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