The National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) on Friday said that the art and cultural sectors remained suitable economic diversification options to oil in Nigeria.
Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, the Director-General of NCAC, made the assertion during a media round table held in Lagos.
Runsewe explained that tourism-rich economies like the U.K, Israel, China and France revealed a common and consistent pattern of culture-based tourism with culture being the single biggest motivation for tourism.
He said that in Europe, the role of culture in development showed that the arts enrich the social environment with stimulating or pleasing public amenities.
According to him, China and Australia underscore the fact that the culture and tourism sectors contribute to economic development by facilitating creativity, innovation and self-reflection.
“And as such recognise culture as a key component of the society’s wellbeing.
“In fact, cultural industries have become for China, the base station from which it develops and updates its technological advancement and wellbeing.
“I will re-echo the views I have always shared on the need for us to drive the economic diversification process using the rich resources in arts, culture and tourism,” he said.
Runsewe said that tourism is a remarkable economic and social phenomenon of the 21st century service led economy.
“According to the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), international tourism arrivals showed an evolution from less than 25million arrivals in 1950 to 66million in 1999.
“Corresponding to an average annual growth rate of seven per cent,” he added
He noted that it had been projected that international tourism arrival would increase from 56.4 million in 1995 to 1.5 trillion in 2022, while the nation would generate huge revenue from it.
“Similarly, earnings from international tourism is expected to increase from about USD 477 billion in 2000 to about USD 2.0 trillion in 2022.
Runsewe listed cultural festivals, film industry, music and songs, art and craft products, cuisines as key drivers of sustainable tourism and the economic development of Nigeria if fully harnessed.
He said that the rich and diverse cultural assets of Nigeria had the capacity of sustaining a robust tourism industry and driving the process of socio-economic development if adequately explored.
“We must focus on arts, culture and tourism as the key players in our economic development.
“In the wake of the current economic realities and with the breakdown of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, nations of the world are exploring various means of growing their economy.
“With the rich and diverse cultural resources of Nigeria and given the abundant tourism resources, it stands to reason that if we must diversify our economy, we have to look outside crude oil,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria with a landmass of over 923,000 sq. kilometers, tourism remains a diversification option for the nation.
He said the landmass stretching from the Atlantic coast and the rain forest in the south through the savannah to the semi-arid region in the North were all huge tourism potentials.
He noted that the nation was well endowed in ecotourism, cultural history, religious tourism, conference tourism, beach tourism and more, as all needed to be properly harnessed.
“Nigeria is a fascinating topography magnificently blessed by nature, the diverse ecosystems, manifesting in varying climatic zones, network of rivers, lakes, beautiful beaches, awesome caves, warm and cold springs and waterfalls.
“All add to the beauty glamour and verdancy of Nigeria’s natural environment.
“The richness of nation’s natural environment, her culture and the diversity of her people readily make Nigeria a potential tourist destination of choice in Africa.
“ Tourism is the highest employer of labour, with proper exploitation of the arts, culture and tourism sectors, we will be recording huge decline in crime rate because the jobless youths will be engaged,” he said.
Runsewe suggested that all stakeholders from the arts, culture and tourism sectors should periodically meet to brainstorm and review the policy document for driving the development of the sectors.
He said a policy framework should be evolved by government for the funding of the sector as this could be an endowment for arts, special intervention fund with the Central Bank of Nigeria or Bank of Industry in line with global best practice.
“There should be a calendar of festivals in Nigeria drawn on the basis of their clusters to enable tourist plan for their visits.
“The entertainment industry which is already making waves worldwide should be further boosted both with loan at concessionary interest rate and by sustained marketing and promotion of its products,” Runsewe said.
