CULTURAL ADMINISTRATION IN SELECTED NORTH-CENTRAL STATES COUNCILS FOR ARTS AND CULTURE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Nigerian cultural policy, in its bid to promote arts and culture in Nigeria, encourages the establishment of States Councils for Arts and Culture with a view to improving the management and administration of arts and culture at the grassroots level in Nigeria.Consequently, this study examines Problems and Prospects of Arts and Cultural Administration in selected North- Central State Councils for Arts and Culture from 2005 to 2015. Significantly, it becomes necessary to examine how State Councils for Arts and Culture have seized the opportunities bestowed on them by the Nigerian Cultural Policy in developing arts and culture in their respective states. The objectives of this study therefore were to (i) examine whether or not the government’s policy has helped to improve the management and administration of States Council for Arts and Cultures in Nigeria, (ii) interrogate if State Arts Councils are developing arts and cultural activities at the grass-root level, (iii) appraise if there are improvement in the cultural administration of States Council for Arts and Culture occasioned by state government’s participation in the Councils’ activities from inception, (iv) assess whether States Council for Arts and Culture’s artistic activities are economically viable as other government revenue generating institutions and, (v) analyse the findings and suggest the way forward in the administration of States Council for Arts and Culture. The study employs qualitative descriptive research method in examining the operational styles of the State Council for Arts and Culture in the selected North- Central States using the tool of interview to obtain our primary data while we sourced our secondary data from textbooks, academic journals, magazines, newspapers, unpublished theses, dissertations and internet sources. We adopted Henri, Fayol’s Administrative Management Theory, which underscores fourteen principles; division of labour, authority, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interest, remuneration, centralization, scaler chain, order, equity, stability of tenure, initiative and esprit de corps” as our guide line in this work. The findings of this study were that: Government policies has helped in improving the management and administration of States Council for Arts and Culture in Nigeria; lack of adequate professional training and retraining for Councils’ personnel is one of the factors hindering service delivery to the general public; lack of adequate facilities such as personnel, funding and enabling environment by the state governments affects service delivery to the general public; State Council for Arts and Culture artistic activities are not economically viable like other government revenue generating organisations; the Councils operate a close financial system which denies the public the opportunity to know what they receive as grants and how they expend the funds; the policies that are made by the government at the States and Federal levels to provide a robust management and administration of Arts Councils in Nigeria are not appropriately implemented; government undue interference in the administration of the Councils is very high. This leads to the Chief Executive being politically bias at the expense of good service rendering to the public. The study concluded that although the selected North Central States are rich in diverse arts and culture but udue political interference and poor funding are the bane of the effective management and administration of the States Councils for Arts and Culture. This has in turn affected service delivery. Therefore, it is recommended that the Councils be overhauled; government should employ professionals in the arts and cultural sector to run the affairs of the State Arts Council and improve on funding while politicians should exercise restraint in interfering in the activities of the Council.