Alhaji Lai Mohammed:: Information and culture Minister

Adaramati Shogo, Founder, Adaramati Art Foundation, on Wednesday said that the Federal Government should empower the art sector for the preservation of the country’s cultural artifacts.

Shogo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the government had left the arts industry to be operating at a low productivity level.

He said that this had not helped the sector to grow.

“We are clamouring for the repatriation of our cultural artifacts and sculptures that had been taken away from our country by the foreigners ” he said.

Shogo said that the artists and curators that would be managing the museums should be empowered in the dynamics of global arts.

“Therefore, it is necessary for the government to intervene by renovating art facilities and empowering the artist to flow with the trends of global art,” he said.

Shogo said that many of the facilities in the country such as the National Theatre and National Gallery were operating at zero productivity.

He said that they lacked the ambiance to attract foreign investments.

“A culture that does not have a viable art facility for the preservation of cultural heritages is not real and will not stand the test of time as a race.

“If you do not know where you are coming from, how can you tell where you are going to as a people.

“Without arts, there will be no cultural significance of a race and without cultural significance, a race stands the risk of been completely alienated,” the artist said.

He said that one good way the government could help empower artists is by providing grants for the creation of art works such as is done in developed countries.

“In developed countries, the government provides grants in form of financial freedom for artists to be able to express themselves through their creative works.

“Art works can be expensive and time consuming for it to properly convey the aesthetic message which it is made to project to the public,” he said.

He pleaded with government to always provide grants for artist for them to be able to express themselves the way they ought to.

Shogo said that if the government could get more involved in arts, then events like Festac 77 could happen again on even a much more dynamic level to muster unity in the country.