An art merchant and craftsman, Isah Lawan, has urged the Nigeria Customs Service to revise its regulations pertaining to the export of locally crafted artworks by collectors and expatriates.
Lawan made the call during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
According to the craftsman, who plies his trade at the Eko Hotel and Suites Art and Crafts Centre, many collectors and expatriates are excited about Nigerian artworks.
“When we have about 40 to 50 Europeans that come to the market, you can say about 30 would like to buy artwork, and they help us promote it,” he said.
He, however, said that in spite of its appeal, the industry was being killed by unnecessary restrictions.
He said the biggest challenge confronting the industry was the difficulty of exporting art due to certain Customs regulations.
According to the craftsman, who has been in the business for about 40 years, collectors often experience challenges mainly at the airports and seaports when taking their collections home.
“I don’t know whether their boys don’t know the difference between modern artworks and antiquities.
“They all term it to be antiquity, simply because they want to get something from them.
“When you buy something for N5,000, for example, they will now challenge you to pay N50,000 while you are taking it out.
“So, this provokes them and they just throw it away; some bring it back to the market,” he said.
Lawan decried the trend, adding that it was not only impacting negatively on businesses, but also on preserving Nigeria’s artistic legacy.
He recommended that the customs officials be trained on the difference between contemporary and antique art.
“An antique is something that has been used for the past 60 years, and all those from the olden days are antiquities.
“You can’t get the antiquities, only the copies, and you would have to go to the museum where they will give you a paper stating it’s not an antiquity,” he explained.
