‘Why FG strives to move arts from margins to mainstream’

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the federal government is working on diversifying the economy away from oil to veritable sources of revenue for the nation.
The minister was speaking at a maiden meeting with arts, culture and tourism reporters in Lagos last Sunday.
Among the sectors that have been identified as veritable sources of revenue for the nation, he said, are the arts, culture and tourism.
“This is why we in the Ministry of Information and Culture are working hard to move these sectors from the margins to the mainstream, and ensure that the rural poor in particular are factored into the sector’s architecture,” he stated.
The minister, who was in high spirits, explained that special attention would be paid to the capacity building of culture and tourism managers, in a deliberate effort to revive the nation’s creative arts, boost tourism and create employment for Nigerians, particularly the rural-dwellers.
“Working with various local and international partners, including the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the British Council, we are mapping out creative arts, by which we mean pottery, weaving, dyeing, sculpture, etc, with a view to reviving them massively through capacity building for those involved and the provision of loans. We believe this will not only create hundreds of thousands of jobs, thus keeping our people meaningfully engaged, it will also become money-spinners for the economy and stem the rural-urban migration,” he said.
He said the federal government was not so naive to believe that repositioning these critical sectors would be a walk in the park.
“We do know, for example, that tourism is a multi-sectoral issue that involves easier access to visas, provision of necessary infrastructure like roads, adequate security, etc. This is why we have decided to call a National Summit on Culture and Tourism, which is scheduled for April 27 to 29, 2016 in Abuja, with a view to charting the path forward,” he said.
While responding to questions from the reporters, he declared that the cost of maintaining the National Theatre in Lagos could not be borne by government alone.
Explaining that the National Theatre is not discharging its mandate, he stated that that other sources of funding must be explored to maintain the edifice. For him, the proposed concession of fallow lands around the theatre is a step in the right direction, to get funds to service the main facility.
Very soon, a bill would be presented to the National Executive Council on issues concerning the National Theatre, he added.
On the poor state of Skill Acquisition Centres built across the country and managed by the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), he disclosed: “What we are doing is to breathe life into the industry and allow it to become a major player in national development,” adding that the sector may be a goldmine, but there must be political will to make it flourish.
The ministry plans to undertake training of festival managers, so they can be fortified enough to take their events to the next level, involving the local communities, as critical stakeholders. This, he said, is to bring the sector into the mainstream.
“We are aware that culture drives tourism, hence we intend to leverage heavily on our numerous cultural festivals in our effort 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.
On the digitisation of broadcasting, Mohammed said local manufacturers had been licensed to produce set-up boxes as pilot scheme to facilitate the seamless switching on to digital broadcasting this month, which would reach a target of 200,000 viewers.