SNA Lagos Signs MOU with Sterling Bank, Commissions Legal Team

Yinka Olatunbosun

On Sunday April 16, the Lagos chapter of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) commissioned a legal team and also formalised its collaboration with Sterling Bank through Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). SNA-Lagos, which is a non-profit organisation comprising artists in practice in Lagos has experienced a series of contractual compromise with some agents and galleries. Hence, it became necessary to set up a legal team to oversee such affairs for the organisation.

Also, SNA-Lagos has a slew of activities every year that require corporate sponsorships. In the absence of such sponsors, members of SNA-Lagos have been compelled to back up some of these events with personal funds alongside the dues received from members. Sadly, this has overwhelmed the annual income of the association.

During the brief ceremony to formalise the agreement reached between SNA-Lagos and Sterling Bank, the Chairman, SNA-Lagos, Kolawole Olojo-Kosoko remarked: “It is imperative that we seek partnership with profits-oriented entities whose business goals and corporate social responsibility (CSR) key into what we do and represent.

“In addition, we sampled different opinions and the result of our survey made us realise that our art promotion and marketing strategies have been largely analogue in nature, thus, there is an urgent need for the 21st century SNA-Lagos.’’

Abiola Adelana, Head of Tourism Business, Sterling Bank Plc, which commending the leadership of SNA-Lagos described the arts as a powerful tool in transforming lives.

“It takes a revolutionary leader to know that it takes partnership and collaboration to move forward. We need to embrace learning and work with the younger generation. We need to actually partner with others to achieve our goals.”

Ezinne Nwokafor, Head of SME, Sterling Bank also spoke on the benefit of mentorship in arts, partnership and access to financial resources.

“We need to be able to sell our creative industry. I see that a lot of us might not necessarily know how to monetise or how to turn our artworks or skills into profits. That’s why we are.’’ She added that artists would benefit from training workshops.

The official legal representative of SNA-Lagos, Mrs. Ruth Adewale (Awesu)  assured members of the association of her willingness to work with them in areas such as sales of artworks, contracts, property acquisition and others.