Tag: funds

In the last one year, the parastatals and agencies in the culture and tourism sector have been on sabbatical – in terms of events and programmes. They could neither hold  their major programmes nor attend foreign events – no thanks to paucity of funds, writes Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME 

President Muhamadu Buhari’s administration may have some ‘soft spots’ for culture and tourism. In fact, it surprised many pundits by its attitudes towards the sector when the heat was on other sectors. Contrary to their expectation, apart from its Permanent Secretary Mrs Nkechi Ejele, none of the director-generals in the Ministry of Information and Culture was sacked during the November 2015 February 2016 mass sack of permanent secretaries and Director-Generals of federal government parastatals and agencies. Except for the streamlining and tagging of the ministry, which did not reflect tourism but accommodated information, the sector was never rattled.

However, in the last one year, the parastatals and agencies in the sector have been on sabbatical in terms of events and programmes.

They could neither hold most of their major programmes nor attend foreign events as a result of paucity of funds. These included world trade market, international travel trade shows, workshops, lectures, symposia, national art competition, crafts expo, National Festival for Arts and Culture (NAFEST) among others.

But, the administration’s resolve to diversify the nation’s economic base has shifted more attention to the creative sector as a veritable tool for the realisation of this plan.

Little wonder the ministry has in the past few months been working in collaboration with the British Council and Tony Elumelu Foundation to achieve its objective of moving away from paying lip service to the sector in order to harness their potentials. Since the administration came on board in May last year, one of the tasks before the ministry has been how to work out long term strategies to develop culture and tourism sector and move it into the mainstream of the economy.

The recent national summit on culture and tourism with the theme, “Repositioning Culture and Tourism in a Diversified Economy”, held in Abuja by the ministry is a pointer to government’s readiness to explore the abundant opportunities in the creative sector to boost the economy. The policy thrust of the summit is to develop a sustainable tourism industry that is driven by our cultural heritage.

Buhari said at the summit that one of the most remarkable traits of development since the middle of the 20th Century has been the mobilisation of culture and tourism as a preferred form of economic development at local, regional and national levels. “Indeed, many governments have integrated tourism firmly into their economic development strategies in recognition of its potential and as response to particular moments,” he noted.

He stressed that the road for ‘us as a nation to achieve our set objectives of diversifying our economic base will depend partly upon the quality of design and implementation of tourism policies; we must develop appropriate policies and the right attitudes towards achieving the desired goals.’ How does Nigeria reposition its culture and tourism sector in a diversified economy?

Minister of Information and Culture identified the following areas for consideration while working out long term strategies. They included strong public and private sector collaboration, enabling law for the preservation and protection of our cultural heritage, involvement of local community leading to overall economic development of the area, compatibility of the type and scale of development with the environment and socio-cultural characteristics of the local community, infrastructural development-roads, constant electricity supply, decent hotel accommodation, efficient transportation and effective communication.

In his submission at the summit on the way forward, Prof Sule Bello of the Department of History, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria said the nation’s cultures and tourism resources should form the bases for its economic diversification and development. He noted that there is need for the overall enablement and modernisation of the informal sector considering the colossal failures represented in white elephant projects such as the Ajaokuta steel complex.

Part of the resolutions at the end of the summit included: To create positive image for our national buildings, corporate offices and edifices, there is need to adorn them with Nigerian artworks. The interior and exterior decorations (of private and public corporate) offices of our political leaders, chief executives, and Nigerian Embassies should make strong cultural statements. The Presidency should lead the way by ensuring that the furniture in the President’s office etc are designed by our master carvers, thus creating employment opportunities for the artists and designers.

• More stringent legislation need to be in place to protect national monuments from the growing cases of trafficking and willful destruction across the country. Measures should be put in place to protect the nation’s cultural sites during times of conflict by engendering communal ownership of such sites.
• Museums and indigenous languages/cultural/crafts centres should be made part of requirements for building schools across the country in order to orientate our younger generations on our history and cultural values as part of their education. Also, a law should be promulgated to compel Local Government Councils to establish and maintain community museums and craft centres and fund at least one community festival yearly.
• Libraries at all our Embassies and High Commissions should be stocked with books published by Nigerian writers. Government can acquire copies and give out as part of its traditional souvenirs to foreign visitors. Also, the presence of cultural experts in our embassies as cultural attaches is strategic and can fast-track the repositioning of Nigeria’s image abroad.

Mohammed believes unless massive investments in infrastructure were made, diversification of the economy into tourism might remain a mirage.

Mohammed, who kicked started the sectoral debate on the diversification of the economy on the floor of the House of Representatives, disclosed that the culture and tourism sector could only account for a paltry 1.5 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The lawmakers had asked the minister the road map prepared by his ministry to turn the culture and tourism sector into a foreign exchange earner capable of driving the economy.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara noted that the time for paying lip -service to economic diversification was over.

“With the fall in crude oil prices, Nigeria really has no choice but to stop paying lip- service to the urgent need for diversification of sources of revenue for Nigeria.

“The acute scarcity of foreign exchange, power supply challenges, falling GDP, fuel scarcity are some of the current matters of urgent national importance to be fixed.

“It is our belief that Nigeria possesses the human and material resources required to successfully transform our economy and earn the needed foreign exchange for Nigeria. It is time for Nigeria to develop and transform into a knowledge – based economy.

“Indeed ICT, agriculture, solid minerals, culture, tourism and entertainment; trade, investment and manufacturing; taxation and finance policies; science and technology; efficient Infrastructure such as power, transportation, etc have huge roles to play in the diversification of the Nigerian economy,” he said.

In his presentation, the minister said the abysmal economic performance of the sector was due to a number of factors which lacking and decaying infrastructures was most critical.

He cited the neglect suffered by the sector with zero allocation for capital projects for nine parastatals and the Ministry in 2015.

He said though, 2015 this year’s budget allocation was better, the ministry would still present a supplementary budget to the National Assembly to be able to execute some of its programmes for the sector.

In addition, he regretted that negative perception of Nigeria as an insecure and corrupt country contributed largely to the slow growth of the tourism sector.

The negative perception, according to him was not helped by the incessant travel advisories issued by Western countries which discourage potential tourists hereby leading to low turn of tourists annually.

Mohammed said being the only sector that has the potentials of gainfully employing the unskilled and uneducated Nigerians, the negative perception must be worked on.

Towards this end, he said, there is a need for a change in visa regime as Nigeria is in dire need  of tourism-friendly visa, that will make visits to Nigeria less cumbersome.

He said though Nigeria would be working with other countries towards a change in attitude on perception, “It’s better to take control of narratives on Nigeria to change the perception.  There is a need for us to take control of the perception

“We will exploit diplomatic channels to ensure that countries are more circumspect in issuing negative travel advisories in respect of Nigeria,” he added.

While disclosing that his Ministry has gone into Memoranda of Understanding  (MoU) with two local and foreign organisations on capacity building for local creative arts, the minister stressed the need for the private sector to drive the sector.

Saying that the sector cannot be a stand-alone, Mohammed said database, which is critical to the sector, was lacking because of lack of information from those in charge, such as the Immigration Service, hotels among others.

According to him, without the support of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Industry, Environment, Immigration Service, security agencies as well as investments in basic infrastructures, the sector cannot function optimally.

While seeking the support of the lawmakers, he disclosed that a number of bills were being prepared for presentation to the National Assembly on how to reposition the sector, citing the National Tourism Development Fund, which, he said, will be the legal framework for funding capital projects in the sector.

The minister assured the lawmakers that the sector is capable of contributing 2.5 percent to the GDP within three years if the policies and programmes were vigorously executed.

For now, the minister’s intentions seem good but they will only be appreciated when they are translated into reality. Until then, it is not morning yet in the culture and tourism sector.