‘Lagos’ investment in culture yielding fruit’

THE decision to invest in culture and tourism has started yielding fruit for the Lagos State Government, as a number of foreign investors have opened discussions with it, the Acting Culture and Tourism Commissioner, Mrs Bimpe Akinsola, has said.

“We have so many interest groups already coming and government is talking with them. A lot of people are interested in investing in tourism in the state, so we are in talks with them on the area of tourism that they are interested in. We also have an Office for Overseas Affairs that is mainly for attracting investors from abroad and they are also doing well in this area,” she disclosed in an interview.

Mrs Akinsola added that the Lagos Black Heritage Festival will not hold this year because of the ongoing Lagos@50 celebration that comprises several programmes.

On plans for the anniversary, she said: “Lagos at 50 is a thing of joy for me because I was born and raised here. We have so many programmes lined up and as you know, we started the celebration from May last year. We have been having events since then and projects are being inaugurated as well. We also have cultural events like the Ibile Season, which showcases the environment, the people and their culture. We have done that in Ikeja, Badagry and Ikorodu. That of Lagos Island and Epe will hold soon.”

Appraising the One Lagos Fiesta, held in December, the acting commissioner said that she was impressed by its success. “I was overwhelmed by the success of the fiesta but the reward of hard work is more work so we are already putting in place many other things to make sure that we record more success this year. We are already working on that line; in fact a lot of people are already looking forward to the event now. People from all over Africa and Lagosians in Diaspora are already looking forward to that period of the year when they can return to Lagos to have fun so we are working hard to retain the momentum and achieve more.”