Barely a week after he sacked the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC), and the suspension of the Chief of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, a coalition of cultural workers and arts patrons called Nigerian Artiste United (NAU), are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari, to sack the Ibrahim Zailani led Governing Board of the National Theatre and National Troupe because of the Board’s compromising stance on the fight against corruption of the present administration.
The group alleged that the Board has refused to investigate several petitions of abuse of office and financial impropriety it had submitted against the Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN), Mr. Tar Ukoh. The group also alleged that the refusal of the Board to probe the Artistic Director may not be unconnected with the fact that the Chairman and members of the Board are beneficiaries of some of the poorly executed contracts at the National Theatre awarded by the Artistic Director when he was both head of the National Theatre and National Troupe.
Spokesperson of the group Adekiba Godspower disclosed that the group have in their most recent petition dated November 26th 2018 and entitled “Continuous Abuse of Office and Financial Impropriety By The Artistic Director/CEO of The National Troupe of Nigeria, Comrade Tar Ukoh” requested the Governing Board to ask the relevant government agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe Tar Ukoh over what the group alleged bothered on “brazen financial recklessness, gross incompetence and the most extreme form of mismanagement of funds’.
The group said that they had in the petition also called the Board’s attention to the need to ascertain Tar Ukoh’s suitability for the job and also probe how the Artistic Director spent the N21 million capital expenses the Troupe received in 2017.
They alleged that the funds were expended without observing due procurement processes and without a single production to show for it. Also, the petitioners claimed that the Artistic Director diverted productions meant for the Troupe for his personal Troupe and that when performance fees are paid, they are expended without recourse to the single treasury account.
They also alleged that the Artistic Director spent N10.5 Million naira on a one-day seminar titled ‘Sharing The Green Grass’ that has no bearing on the objectives of the National Troupe. Similarly they alleged that the Artistic Director spent another N11.5 Million on a national audition that held for two days in Abuja.
According to the petitioners “we cried to the Board to intervene because nothing positive has happened to the troupe since Tar Ukoh was appointed nearly two years ago. There is a general feeling of despondency on the part of staff and artistes who are resigning in droves. But the Board has refused to act on our petition hence we are calling on the President to sack the Board and order that Tar Ukoh be probed as it is shameful that a primal performing arts institution like the National Troupe that has carved a niche for itself over the years will be rendered redundant and non productive in spite of the vast resources government has injected into the Troupe as capital expenses. But the Board has kept mute probably because they each benefited from the contracts that the Artistic Director awarded in 2017’’.
A member of the Governing Board who spoke to this medium on the condition of anonymity confirmed receipt of the petitions by the coalition but he said that the issues raised in the petitions couldn’t be taken at the last meeting of the board because the meeting ended abruptly as some members opposed to the way the chairman has been running the board stormed out of the meeting.
“We were going to consider the petitions but the meeting ended abruptly because some aggrieved members stormed out when the Chairman allowed the Artistic Director who has been suspended from the meetings of the board to be in attendance. So the meeting ended in a stalemate and I am not sure we can meet on it again before the end of the life of this administration,” he said.
The Governing Board Chairman does not have an office at the National Theatre so our correspondent was advised by some staff of the National Theatre to reach him on phone. However, the mobile number of the Chairman, which a staff at the National Theatre volunteered, has remained switched off.
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