EU Backs Nigerian Artists To Promote Entertainment

The European Union (EU) Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has given more support to Nigerian artistes to find expression in entertainment, arts, culture, technology and other areas to strengthen the relations with Nigeria and the West African sub-region.

Deputy Head of the EU Delegation Zissimos Vergos  made this known during an interview with reporters at the premiere of a Nigerian play entitled “Lurk in the Dark”, which was facilitated by the delegation on Friday in Abuja.

According to Vergos, “This is an effort from the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS to find pathways for Nigerian artists to talk about the matters that are upon the heart of the Nigeria society.  On our side the only thing that we have done is to facilitate this process.

“What you are seeing here today is 100% a Nigerian production, a Nigerian script, expressing Nigerian concerns and making Nigerian recommendations about how to move the society forward.

“We can only be proud to be associated with this project. The energy that came out of this discourse was immense. The reaction of the audience spoke miles about how deeply and emotionally the people were connected to this.

“We are going to continue to facilitate Nigerians expressing themselves at different levels, civil society, art, culture, technology, academia and think tanks because we simply think that Nigeria has all it takes to trace a future pathway. We are just here as good partners, nothing more, and nothing less.

The Play had in the cast, popular Nollywood star, Norbert Young,   Tiana- Wealth Christopher Bassey, Mariah Ugbashi among others.

Lurk in the Dark contains no political, religious or ethnic simulated scenes, rather  it presents the struggles of the characters inherent in the story in their quest to overcome the unjust indignation they are daily made to experience due to the violations of their  fundamental human rights. The performance is a blend of well- orchestrated music, dance and dialogue on the sublime.