NAFEST 2018 ‘ll be more than spectacles —Runsewe

The 2018 National Festival of Arts and Culture will focus on poverty alleviation, apart from the usual spectacles associated with it.

A year after using the first edition he organised to learn the ropes, Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Segun Runsewe, with substantial support from the Rivers State Government, is poised to give Nigerians an unforgettable 2018 National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST).

Nigeria’s premium cultural festival of unity, the 2018 NAFEST will hold at the newly renovated ultra-modern Rex Jim-Lawson Integrated Cultural Centre, Port Harcourt from October 21 to 27.

Having had a test run of the facility and with all arrangements in place with the support of Governor Nyesom Wike and other stakeholders, the second edition, to be organised by Runsewe will move beyond the spectacle of dancing, singing, and drama to the realm of poverty alleviation.

Apart from re-launching the unity festival on a grand scale, this year’s NAFEST, set to record a high number of participating states, is also aiming to alleviate poverty through skill acquisition programmes for participants and exposure to beneficial contents of Nigerian culture.

• NAFEST 2018: Rivers set for best outing

According to Runsewe, “the unity festival is coming at a time Nigeria has become the destination to watch as President Buhari’s diplomatic shuttles across the globe has attracted interest to Nigeria beyond the traditional business frontiers, hence the repositioning of culture as the central bank of our creative wealth.”

The DG, who worked tirelessly to advance the growth of tourism when he was the helmsman at Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) added that NAFEST in the Garden City would showcase the best of Nigerian culture and creative economy to the world.

Speaking on how he has been able to get the buy-ins of commissioners of culture apart from directors of culture that were previously involved in the running of the fiesta, Runsewe said:  “When I came in, I said you couldn’t be doing a programme of national interest with just the directors; that’s culture chief executives and directors. The directors had previously been the engine room of NAFEST, but the commissioners were the brainboxes; none could work without the other. I took a step further and said we must go to plead with the governors because they will make it happen. Though a lot of the directors have good intentions, we need support from the governors.

“In the economy of today that we’re trying to improve, we need to tell the drivers in the states the benefit that this sector would bring and then, they will see the importance. It is no longer the usual NAFEST.  It used to look like inter-house sports competition those days, but we’ve brought some level of changes. We might not have felt the impact in last year’s event, because we just trialled them but now we’re going to Rivers. Governor Nyesom Wike has given us overwhelming support for a good NAFEST. Governors are beginning to key into this programme, and here, we are on our way there. We’re already talking with about three governors now for the 2019 edition.”

Having already used the NCAC’s participation at the 2018 AKWAABA Travel Market to teach people different skills to enable them to earn some income, Runsewe assured that NAFEST would scale up the training so that participants can leave with tangible benefits apart from the thrills of performances and spectacles.