The Executive Secretary/CEO of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Otunba Biodun Ajiboye has reiterated the need for Nigeria to harness her cultural opportunities to ensure culture replaces oil as mainstay of the economy.
Speaking at the opening of the Culture and Creative Economy Summit (CCES) 2024, hosted by the National Council for Arts & Culture (NCAC), Ajiboye in a goodwill message said for culture to take the center stage in our development process, a lot of efforts must be put in place.
In his words “My gospel is very clear with respect to the fact that we have come to believe that culture will replace oil. It is a major issue that we need to tackle most effectively. We are lucky to have a Minister leading us with that vision and we need to come together to appreciate that”.
“To achieve that is really not a challenge. If we actually want culture to take the center stage in our development, it takes a lot of efforts and I thank God that we have started the efforts but I can assure you that we haven’t really gone very far. So we need to tighten our belts to move in the direction that will actualize that vision”.
“I always say that if we harness our cultural opportunities very effectively, Nigeria will not have any reason to be poor. Today, we have started to feel that we should actually have a school to train culture experts. When we have culture experts, then we can now deploy them to the interior to build our cultural industry. When our cultural industry is perfect, then we can see that we can actually substitute a lot of imports where we spend a lot of dollars”.
Speaking in the same vein, Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mr. Folorunsho Cooker said for culture to replace oil, there are things that must be done, top of which he said was the need to change the laws establishing our culture agencies to reflect current realities.
“We need to package culture the way it should excel. Culture needs money. Just take 10 percent of what government spends on NNPC and you will be shocked of what can be made out of culture. For me, Burner Boy is my culture; Davido is my culture; Wizkid is my culture; so don’t let them take us back to the way they want us to be”.
He therefore called for the spirit of cooperation amongst heads of agencies under the culture sector if the desire to place culture at the center stage in the nation’s development agenda must be actualized.
Caleb Nor
Media Asst.-ES
NICO, Abuja
