INVESTING IN CULTURE AND TOURISM CAN BOOST NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH.... Runsewe

The National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), organisers of the National Festival For Arts and Culture, NAFEST recently held a four-day national stakeholders review conference in Abuja to assess the strength and weakness of the festival after 35 years of its inception to examine how it has fulfilled its goals of uniting the nation.

This became imperative as the president Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration has embarked on far-reaching policy reforms aimed at revamping the economy and repositioning the nation on the path of sustainable growth and development.

In his speech, the Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe noted that radical but positive decisions are being taken which may impose severe temporary pains on the people but will ultimately translate to greater gains and prosperity for the nation.

Speaking at the conference that attracted culture and tourism commissioners, their permanent secretaries and directors from the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory,
Runsewe said the circumstances of the moment call for patience, perseverance, commitment and teamwork. He stated that Nigerians should be committed to working together in the task of rebuilding our nation and harnessing our vast human and material resources to galvanise the process of national development and restoring Nigeria to a pride of place in global affairs noting that God will not send his angels from heaven to help us develop our nation.

"I am in total agreement with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that ‘we have to appeal to the sense of patriotism of Nigerians to have a patriotic mindset’ in our collective effort to rebuild our nation.

“It took men and women of vision, courage and commitment to conceive, pursue and realize the American vision rooted in the firm belief in America as a virgin continent magnificently endowed by nature, destined as a global leader in socioeconomic and political affairs.
With a strong culture of patriotism and commitment to the growth of America, the USA rose from the ashes of a people with diverse ethnic nationalities, ravaged by a civil war and racial segregation, to become the world’s foremost super power.

“Those who crafted the American dream upon which the American continent was born were not angels from above. They were Americans who believed in the vision of a great continent and patriotically committed themselves to ensuring that the vision became a workable reality. Today, when America sneezes, the rest of the word catches cold,” he said.


Runsewe described the stakeholders’ review conference on the 35 years of NAFEST as an opportunity to share views with stakeholders on how to collectively chart a new course for the sector and strengthen it as an economic path to drive the process of diversification and sustainable economic growth and development.

According to him: “We must re-assess ourselves, re-strategise so as to align the sector with the Renewed Hope agenda of the current administration.”

He reminded players in the creative industry that in an effort to expand the frontiers of cultural industry they cannot afford to be in competition but in active collaboration and mutual support.’ He advised that they embrace the one stare, one unique product approach, which he said, enables all states to maximise the cultural uniqueness of their respective state to develop such product.

He therefore called on all stakeholder and key players in the arts and culture sector to begin to apply their creative energies towards optimizing the huge potentials in our vast arts and culture sector stressing that it is his hope that if our cutural resources are carefully harnessed and productively channeled, it will open up Nigeria's cultural economy, engender rapid socioeconomic growth and lead to the emergence of a strong and stable currency that will command the required purchasing power at the international market.


In her presentation, entitled E-Marketing of Nigerian cultural content, Franca Idemudia of Clevenard Global International Media Limited said to sell Nigerian culture and tourism resources, Nigeria needs to leverage the opportunities offered by the internet and social networking platforms adding that Clevenard.com could be deployed to promote Nigerian culture and tourism sector globally.

“Culture and tourism sector can contribute to the growth of the Nigerian economy more than oil sector, Stakeholders must explore the platforms of clevenard.com to market and promote Nigeria’s rich and diverse cultural resources because, online is the future of market place” she said.

Continuing, she noted that investing in the vast natural deposits in every states in Nigeria, is enough to shot the nation and build a viable economy at per with leading economies of the world.

For Ade Dayo, a photographer, Nigeria stands to gain more from the arts and culture sector than the oil and gas sector, citing destination like Fair Ruwa, Olumo Rock, Mambila Plateau, Ogbunike Cave, as money spinning sites.

He noted that all these monuments could be documented and showcased to the world through careful packaging, using photography and other audio visual technology.

Dayo added that Nigeria can tell it’s cultural story while promoting it’s cultural products through the platform of photography and foster intercultural understanding and exchanges..

He, however, decried the use of foreign cultures like the Scottish Pipers in presidential welcome or visiting Heads of State to Nigeria.

Rather, he said, Nigerian cultural products like Ijele Masqueraders, Durbar and Talking Drum drummers should be deployed as alternative.

At the close of the conference held at Chida International Hotel, Utako, Abuja, stakeholders resolved in an 11-point communique that since culture provided the content for the development of tourism, culture and tourism are intricately interwoven and therefore inseparable.

It recommended that culture and tourism should remain as one Ministry both at the Federal and State levels to complement each other and contribute meaningfully to the diversification efforts of government and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation.

The stakeholders also resolved that:

• Skill Acquisition is critical and strategic to the empowerment of stakeholders in the sector and the development of arts and culture industry. The skills acquisition training programme should be for women, youths and physically challenged through structured processes of formal education, informal and traditional skill transfer, apprenticeship, etc.

Nigerian cultural products should be carefully packaged and aggressively promoted through platforms such as digital marketing, creation of galleries and the participation in travel markets.

• That the concentration of states in development of one unique product in which they have comparative advantage will enable the states package and market the iconic product, attract investors, increase internally generated revenue, enhance Public – Private – Partnership and reduce unemployment. This strategic approach should be vigorously pursued by the states.

• That cultural exchange programmes can engender unity in diversity, promote international diplomacy for peace, enhance the cross-fertilisation of ideas and promote international trade. That there should be structured international exchange programmes and synergy between local and international NGOs to facilitate this process. Funding for this could be sourced from government subventions, self-sponsorship, local and international donor agencies among others.

• The conference underscored the importance of cultural markets in the states as a means of employment and wealth creation, preservation of the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria and the establishment of one-stop-shop for cultural products.

Therefore, the establishment of cultural markets in the states to be domiciled in Ministry of Culture and Tourism was highly recommended.

• The conference identified sources of funding of the culture sector to include government, the private sector, multinational organizations, development partners, donor agencies, charity organizations and lamented that government has never taken a deliberate step to fund the culture sector. It was, therefore, recommended that these sources of funding should be explored by the states while stakeholders like NANTAP, NATOP, NANTA, RATTAWU, etc. should work with relevant cultural agencies of government to mount sustained advocacy in order to push for the implementation of the National Endowment Fund for Arts.

To achieve these, industry players must work together, and embark on programmes that will not only make them relevant, but indispensable stakeholders in the task of nation building.

• That the sector should develop marketing mindset, ensure adequate marketing of identified cultural products to attract relevant funding. Identified products should be properly packaged for presentation and sellability at the local and international market place. Accordingly, states are encouraged to take advantage of e-marketing opportunities offered by ALEPH and CLEVENARD.com and other relevant social media platforms.

• The National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST), a flagship programme of the National Council for Arts and Culture remains a veritable platform for fostering national unity, peace, mutual understanding and cooperation among Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic group, culture, creed, tribe or tongue. It should, therefore, be sustained and strengthened.

• NAFEST should be developed to the status of a festival that needs no introduction and which encompasses all-year-round activities.

• The festival should target different relevant audience such as Diaspora Community, members of the academic community and the tourism sector, etc.

• Programmes which can boost economic activities in the states should be introduced into the festival in a way that missing the hosting of the festival by a state would amount to missing a life-time economic opportunity.

The four days event ended with the presentation of awards to states' representatives and commissioners present at the event

Categoría:

Arte y cultura 

Organización:

Clevenard.com

Escrito por:

Franca Idemudia