Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that the National Policy on Culture as well as the National Policy on Tourism would be launched before President Muhammadu Buhari completes his second term in office.
He also said that the administration would finalise work on the Motion Picture Council of Nigeria (MOPICON) Bill and submit it to the Federal Executive Council in order to create a proper regulatory environment for the film industry, otherwise known as Nollywood.
Speaking at a news conference in Lagos on Sunday to unveil the government’s agenda for culture and tourism in the next four years, the Minister disclosed that the administration had 14 initiatives lined up.
Apart from the Culture Policy and MOPICON Bill, government, according to Mohammed, would “establish the Endowment Fund for The Arts to create a legal framework for the financing of the sector” and make the National Summit for Culture and Tourism first held in April 2016, an annual affair, starting from the first quarter of 2020.
Others are, “ensure a regularly meeting of the Presidential Council on Tourism (PCT) to catalyze the growth of tourism; kick-start the implementation of the parts of the Tourism Masterplan that constitute low-hanging fruits, and complete work on the establishment of Tourism Statistics and Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), working with the UNWTO.”
The Minister added that the government would, “institute a unified National Celebration of the World Tourism Day; hold a National Council on Culture and Tourism in May next year, and then hold it yearly thereafter.”
Mohammed also said his ministry would, “organize a Regional Summit on Culture and Tourism, starting next year, with a view to working with other countries in the West Africa sub-region to foster the development of the sector; continue with our visits to tourist sites and attend as many festivals as possible across the country.”
Other activities the Minister highlighted are completion and launch of the country’s National Festival Calendar this year, getting more Nigerian sites inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites and exploration of private sector branding of the nation’s Cultural Centres abroad.
Earlier, Mohammed who didn’t take questions from journalists but simply read his speech and thanked them for their attendance, noted that talks that he focussed more on information and neglected culture/tourism during Buhari’s first term was a misconception.
He said, “Looking back these past four years, there is a misconception in certain circles that we paid more attention to the Information sector than we did to Culture and Tourism. This may appear so because the issues we usually deal with in the Information sector are those that receive the bigger play in the media. But I can tell you, with evidence, that we achieved a lot in the Tourism and Culture Sector, or in the Creative Industry generally.”
Some of the government’s achievements the Minister proceeded to list include:
The National Summit on Culture and Tourism held in April 2016 in Abuja to chart “ a new path for the nation’s Creative Industry. At the end of the summit, we set up an Implementation Committee to carry out the recommendations of the summit. The review of our Tourism Masterplan; resuscitation of the Presidential Council on Tourism (PCT) and the setting up a Task Force on the Creative Industry are some of the outcomes of the summit.”
Convening of “a roundtable in Lagos that provided stakeholders the platform to engage in business-focused discussions, with a view to initiating and enabling private-sector-led growth and development of the Industry. The Creative Industry Financing Conference to articulate ways to source funding for the Creative Industry.
“Leading a team of stakeholders to the Inspector-General of Police, the force set up anti-piracy units in all its 36 formations and the FCT, leading to many joint raids and seizure of pirated works, with the National Film and Video Censors Board, We haven’t eradicated piracy, but we have shown the political will to tackle the menace.
“Another fallout of the meetings is the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) of the Central Bank of Nigeria to improve access to long-term, low-cost financing for entrepreneurs and investors in the Creative Industry and the Information Technology Sectors. This happened after I also led a team of stakeholders to meet with the CBN, upon the recommendation of the Creative Industry Financing Conference. Same applies to the granting of the Pioneer Status, by the Federal Government, to the Creative Industry Sector to boost investment in the sector. It was one of the recommendations from the Creative Industry Financing Conference.
“We also decided to engage in partnerships to fast-track the growth of the industry by signing MoUs with the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the British Council. Under the latter, we trained over 100 Festival Managers in Lagos, Abuja and Accra. The next phase in the implementation of the MoU is the mapping of the Creative Industry.
“When we came on board, Nigeria was just a member of the UNWTO in name. We decided to re-engage fully with the organization, and our efforts paid off richly. First, we were awarded the hosting right of the 61st UNWTO CAF Meeting, and Nigeria was elected as Vice President, Africa, at the 22nd General Assembly of the organization in China.
“As part of efforts to attract attention and infrastructural development to tourist sites, we visited a number of such sites across the country, just as we also attended many festivals. First, we showcased the Eko Atlantic City during the 2016 World Tourism Day and the 2018 hosting of the 61st UNWTO CAF Meeting. Then we visited tourists’ sites that include Owu Water Falls in Kwara; Rock Painting in Birnin Kudu, Jigawa State; Durbar in Dutse, Jigawa; Calabar Carnival in Cross River State; Puus Kaat Festival in Mangu, Plateau and Ijakadi Festival in Kwara State. In the same vein, we made sure to attend the premieres of many movies across the country in a show of support for the efforts of our brilliant and hardworking producers. The premieres we attended included Genevive Nnaji’s ‘Road To Yesterday’, Mo Abudu’s ‘Wedding Party’, Bolanle Austen-Peters’ ‘The Bling Lagosians’, ‘Hakunde’ by Nadine Ibrahim as well as ‘Oloibiri’. We travelled to London to support ‘Waka’ the musical, just as we supported ‘Saro’ the musical as well as ‘Fela and Kalakuta Queens’, all from the stable of Bolanle Austen-Peters.
“Similarly, we gave strong government support for the hosting of the Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) in Lagos, Nigeria, for four consecutive years. The Ministry also packaged Nigeria’s first-ever attendance of Edinburgh’s Military Tattoo last August. Troupes from FCT, Osun, Kano and Katsina States joined representatives of the military at the month-long event, where Nigeria dazzled the world.”
