Don advocates more use of arts, theatre to enhance development

A university don, Prof Hope Eghagha, on Saturday in Lagos said that arts and the theatre were underutilised as agents of socio-political and economic change in Nigeria.

The Professor of English and Literary Studies at University of Lagos told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Nigeria’s culture sector was not optimally exploited for the country’s advancement.

According to him, increased investment in the arts by government had the prospect of reducing youth delinquency and mass unemployment in the country.

“The arts are strong agents of socialisation and therefore a means to bring about rapid social change.

“Other climes, particularly the advanced ones, address many of their political, social and economic challenges through the arts.

“The problem of ignorance about national challenges and government’s strategies to surmount such can easily be made known to the common man, using the various art forms.

“By now, every local government ought to have one form of public structure dedicated to arts under its care,’’ Eghagha said.

He said that Nigeria’s culture sector was not attracting foreign direct investment as expected because the major participants lacked the right education and expertise.

“What you see is what you get because the kind of revenue being generated in our arts and culture sectors simply reflect the level of ingenuity and knowledge being put into them,’’ the don said.