By Ibrahim Ramalan
In the face of the dwindling oil revenue leading to economic crisis in the country, the Federal Government has tilted its attention towards repositioning Culture, Art and Tourism sector that has been so neglected over the years.
In a session with the media during the just concluded Culture and Tourism Summit, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed that the sector will receive an attention boost that will move the sector forward from ‘the margins to mainstream’.
According to the Minister, the present administration is diversifying the economy and repositioning the sector to become veritable sources of revenue for the nation and as a way of creating alternative to the age-long oil dependence.
He said: “This is why we in the Ministry of Information and Culture are working hard to move these sectors from the margin to the mainstream and ensure that the rural poor in particular are factored into the sector’s architecture.”
“The ministry is working with various local and international partners, including the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the British Council, to map creative arts with a view to reviving them massively through capacity building for those involved and the provision of loans.
“The Federal Government believes this would not only create hundreds of thousands of jobs, thus keeping people meaningfully engaged,” he added.
The Federal Government, according to the minister, would train festival managers so they can be fortified enough to take their events to the next level and involving the local communities, as critical stakeholders, fully in our efforts to bring the sectors into mainstream.
“We are aware that culture drives tourism, hence we intend to leverage heavily on our numerous cultural festivals in the country to boost tourist arrivals. That is why we are currently compiling a list of the top 10 creative arts and cultural festivals in each state of the federation, with a view to creating a year-round calendar of such events. This way, those willing to attend such events can plan ahead, ”the minister said.
His words: “We cannot continue to do things the same way and get a different result. It is because Ghana is doing something differently, that is why it is getting better results. Only two weeks ago, Ghana made history. It became the first country, I think after Mauritius, to declare that all members of the African Union (AU) can come to Ghana and obtain visas on arrival. This is a very a major catalyst for tourism.
“It will interest many of us to know that it is more difficult at times to obtain a Nigerian visa than to obtain a visa to the Ukraine. Every day we are inundated with petitions reputable organizations who have put in applications to come to Nigeria, but for one reason or the other, they could not come in.
“I think the first thing towards boosting tourism is that we must change our visa regime. If we don’t change our visa regime, we will find it difficult to get people to come in. But it goes beyond the visa regime, it goes to what is the attitude of our people at the land and air borders.
“We must train our people who work at this borders to be tourist friendly. Many people, when they land in any airport in Nigeria, they are very afraid. So, this administration is working very hard to see that we have a tourist friendly visa regime.
