’’Creative industry needs continuous sponsorship to thrive’’ – Lai Mohammed 

The Nigerian Creative industry needs continuous sponsorship, funding and support to thrive. 

 

The minister said this after watching a play titled “Death and the King’s Horsemen” by Wole Soyinka at the TERRA KULTURE, in Lagos southwest Nigeria.

 

 “After the agriculture sector, comes the creative industry which employs the largest number of people especially the youths and women. We need to support the creative industries through donations and sponsorships. This production would not have been possible without the sponsors, so we must all contribute to help grow the industry”, the Minister said.

 

In reaction to the play “Death and the King’s Horsemen” by Wole Soyinka, Alhaji Mohammed described Nigerians as people with cultures even before they were colonized by the White man.

 

“We need to be proud of our roots and culture,” he said.

 

Mohammed described the play as a great performance, saying the play itself, the death and the King’s Horsemen portrayed different interpretations and different understanding.

 

He said another take home from the play was about leadership.

 

 “You cannot take the benefits of a situation and refuse to take its burden as well,” the minister said.

 

The Artistic Director at Terra Kulture, Bolanle Austen Peters said the creative Industry tells stories which are relevant to the society.

 

“Art imitates life and life imitates Art. It is nice to have plays or movies which are for fun, but at the same time, we must be able to use the Art as a driving force for change in our society. That’s what we do here. We tell meaningful stories, especially folklores.

 

“We’ve done ‘Olurinbi’, we’ve done ‘Moremi’ and we have also done a story on Fela and his wives. The list goes on.

 

“The intention is that we continually bring to the fore, stories that our forefathers created and taught their children values from”, she said.

 

Peters said there is a general appreciation of African Arts, culture and Music. 

 

“People are beginning to recognise that Nigeria has a civilization that is probably older than what the western countries have been selling for so long. It is unfortunate that our development was truncated by colonialism, but interestingly, a lot of us are realising how beautiful and how important it is that our children are grounded in their heritage,” she concluded.

 

 

Nneka Ukachukwu