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By Oladapo Udom
Lagos, Jan. 27, 2017 (NAN) Mr Babatunde Obalana, former President, National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), has urged the government to establish theatre arts infrastructure in the country.
Obalana, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday, said that with theatre arts infrastructure in place, the sector could grow to be an alternative source of revenue for the government.
According to him, it is government’s intervention and the commitment and passion of other stakeholders that will contribute to develop the industry.
Cue in audio (Obalana)
“In other climes, government provides lots of infrastructure; those infrastructures will do a couple of things at the same time.
“Government needs to understand that they need to put infrastructure in place. We need an intervention from government, that’s just what we need.
“Once the infrastructures are in place, there is no stopping the industry.
“All hands must be on deck. They must put their hands on the plough to ensure that we encourage government to ensure that we get them to take the right decisions.
“It is always about the political will but sometimes even if you have the political will and you don’t know what do it is also a problem.
“Taking a wrong decision could take you back almost ten years.
“We have gotten to this area in the industry not by governmental injection.
“The fact that Nollywood is where it is today has been through the sheer dogged zeal, commitment and passion of the practitioners.’’
Cue out audio
The former president said that the entertainment industry had the potential to be a major foreign exchange earner with the right infrastructure being put in place and adequate funding. (NAN)
OUU/ERO/OSA/YEE
Edited by Emmanuel Okara/Shittu Obassa/Emmanuel Yashim
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