By Ishaya Ibrahim
Acting News Editor
Director General of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Olusegun Runsewe has met with stakeholders in the Nigerian arts and culture sector to set an agenda for realising the economic potentials of Nigeria’s creative industry.
Runsewe said NCAC under his leadership, would be entrepreneurial in perspective. “We shall be putting in place mechanisms that would transform the sector by empowering our artistes, crafts men and women to take control of the industry. We will build infrastructure and the capacity of the industry and ensure sustainable development in the sector,” he said.
The DG said the NCAC has launched ‘37 Cultural Wonders of Nigeria,’ an economic initiative which identified one iconic culture in each of the 36 states of the federation plus Abuja. The move was to make every state in the country in tourist attraction.
Runsewe said the NCAC has signed a N300 million Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bank of Industry as loanable funds to eligible artistes to make them competitive in the global arena.
The meeting which held on June 17,had many stakeholders in attendance who said they were impressed that the NCAC was carrying them along in developing Nigeria’s creative and cultural sector.
The attendance were representatives of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Guild of Nigerian Dancers (GOND), Abuja Body of Comedians (ABC), Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN), Nigeria Book Fair Trust (NBF), National Cane Weavers Association of Nigeria, Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Deejays Association of Nigeria (DJAN), Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN), Nigeria Publishers Association (NPA), Abuja Library Society (ALS) and Society of Nigerian Theatre Arts (SONTA).