Renowned Nigerian textile artist, designer and owner of one of the biggest private art galleries in Africa,  Chief (Mrs.) Nike Okundaye  recently expanded her Abuja arts gallery and threw the doors open to the members of the public.

 She said the new gallery, when fully functional, will be the bigger than her gallery in Lagos which many regard as the biggest in Nigeria.

She spoke with Africa Travel Herald (ATH) on the reason(s) for embarking on such a major product at Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. She also spoke on her ambition to use the gallery to promote Nigerian arts and culture to the international community, empower the youths and create both local and international opportunities for them. Excerpts

You have embarked on a project to upgrade your Abuja gallery…

The gallery  was started in the 90s, that is 1996. So, it is a small one, people don’t know about it. So, I now put an extention because they now gave me permit last year’s July to build a gallery. That is why I am bringing the type in Lagos to Abuja. Abuja is the capital. I want the diplomatic corps to see the best of Nigerian art. That is why I am coming to Abuja. 

I know in Lagos, it is difficult to package any city tour without visiting your Nike Arts Gallery at Lekki , so what is the difference between what you are having in Lagos and the one in Abuja?

 Is it that you are moving the Lagos arts gallery to Abuja, or it is going to be totally different?

 It is going to be a totally different one because the one in Lagos is in a world of its own, but this one in Abuja will create jobs for job seekers.  What we were doing before is recycling. We will be turning the junks to treasure. It comes with a workshop where you will see people that have interest in such art…Right now we are building the biggest elepant with motorcycle tyres.  The elephant is over 18 feet. We want people to grow with the gallery. it will be a gallery and also a workshop.

That will make it unique.  The Lagos gallery, we have the workshop in Badore, but this one will be beside the gallery.  So, people can always come and splash colours and learn how to paint. All these diplomats who have no where to go, we will always be happy to welcome them to come and learn about our culture, heritage and food.

In terms of size,   between the gallery in lagos and Abuja, which one is bigger?

Well, I will tell that in another two years, Abuja will be bigger because we have the land in Abuja.  But right now, I just did one floor. It will be having extension where people can come. They can even marry in the gallery. People can do any activity there.

Later on, it will have space for movie makers. We will build small huts for movie makers. It will so much inculcate our culture, but right now, Lagos is still bigger, however, Abuja will be bigger in another two years.   

Let us look at the concept, there is something you mentioned about creating weath from waste…

Waste to wealth, trash to treasure.

Talk about the concept you are trying to bring into Abuja.

In Abuja we will bring in a lot of trash, that is the waste, the junks from bolts and nuts and so on, all these things that people think they are not usable,   it is actually made for that purpose.

In Abuja, we collected one thousand motorcycle tyres, they ones that people usually burn and some will get asthma,  we are turning it into a big elepant. All these will create jobs for the youths with talents that don’t have opportunities to showcase them. That is why there are so many of them on drugs, because they don’t have any outlet to exhibit their talents.   I want some of these youths who are talented who may not have a job, instead of them to be sitting at home and you can bring them to the centre.

I am going to work with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). I will also work with the embassies to come and see the cultural heritage of Nigeria.

You are close to quite a number of individuals in the diplomatic corps,   what are some of the things you intend to showcase to some these diplomats at the Abuja centre?

That is why I call it creativity. Creativity is to create something from nothing. So, that is what we are going to be showcasing to them-how we prepare our food,  how we create our arts, how we create even women’s clothes that is dying off. We want people to see. We are going to be growing cotton. We have already grown indigo. Mrs. Murtala helped us  to grow about 90 indigoes.

So, they are going to see our culture, be it textile dyeing, vegetables, all these are what they will be seeing  when they come to the gallery.

The American ambassador is a female, the British ambassador…all these ambassadors that are  women, they created a day for women’s awards. So, why not we also creating something for them to see what our women do.

With your efforts to impact on the youths, do you have na idea of the number of youths your gallery in Abuja will take in a year?

The workshop in Abuja will be bigger than that of Osogbo in another two years. We can start them with at least 60 youths. We take them every three months from different universities, so that they can know about their culture even before they even finish university. It is like it is going in their curriculum, arts and culture. So they will come and experience it. We will be inviting people from overseas, like a kind of exchange programme. That is why I am getting the diplomats so that they can open it and see what they can do, to bring their own people who want to  learn about our culture to the workshop there.

You have been an arts teacher and an ambassador in textile arts, beads and so on, how are you going to  pass some of these skills  because some of these skills and arts are gradually dying?

When we open the workshop, everything will be documented. We will be involved in creating awareness by picking the youths, writing books  about these textile arts that is dying off. The art of textile is very powerful.

Beside that, we also recycle because the world is full of pollution.  The polution is too much in the world.

 That is why we want to make use of some of these waste and turn them to wealth. we will turn trash to treasure so that it will impact on a lot of people who  want to start making positive use of some these trash. It is going tobe a learning process for  everybody.