Runsewe advocates creative, patriotic economy

The Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, has reiterated commitment to creating a futuristic path that explore and utilize Nigeria human and material resources to the development of its citizenry.

Runsewe, who is optimistic about the power of the creative industry, said if the industry is given the required human-productive engagement; it will help in finding a lasting solution to the problem of unemployment.

The NCAC boss, who disclosed at a Television programme tagged Jigsaw on Tuesday said there is need to put Nigeria first for national security, togetherness, peace and creative productivity to reposition the economy for good.

Runsewe who saw the President Bola Tinuba led administration as a new dawn to leverage on to build a Nigeria of an inclusive growth, said Nigerians must re-engage themselves for a better future.

According to him “the new dawn presents an opportunity for us to work together in unity and confront squarely, the task of building the Nigeria of our dream. Our natural resources are immense, vast and varied. Our human capital endowment is the best in Africa.

“With over 220 million people, Nigeria is the most populated nation in black Africa, blessed with talented, resourceful, innovative and dynamic citizen.

“For our abundant human and material resources to be fully harnessed and productively channeled to drive the process of our national development, all hands must be on deck.

“We must all believe and have faith in the Nigerian project; we must all be patriotically committed to national development.

“We must all rise beyond the narrow confines of individualistic concern, ethnicity, religion and political cleavages. In other words,” we must put Nigeria first to productively channeled to drive the process of our national development, all hands must be on deck.

We must all believe and have faith in the Nigerian project; we must all be patriotically committed to national development; we must all rise beyond the narrow confines of individualistic concern, ethnicity, religion and political cleavages. In other words, we must put Nigeria first.

It was JF. Kennedy who once cried out; ‘Ask not what America would do for you but what you would do for America.’ On the strength of this clarion call, JF. Kennedy demanded from Americans the spirit of patriotism, undivided loyalty, love of country and sheer commitment to national service, in the greater interest of America nation. Today, America is world leading super-power.

In the same vein, the circumstances of the moment beckon on all patriotic Nigerians to put the nation first, in the interest of peace, social integration, harmony and national development.

“We have no other nation apart from Nigeria, therefore, to make Nigeria great is a task that must be done; a task for all Nigerians irrespective of place or circumstances of birth, religion or creed.

“This is why we must eschew all forms of religious bigotry, ethnic jingoism and unhealthy political practices that tend to fan the embers of disunity and distract us from our developmental aspirations.

“Our nationalists who fought for our political independence did not achieve victory on the strength of ethnic, religious or other parochial inclinations Chief Awolowo, Dr Azikiwe, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, etc. all of blessed memory, fought together as one to liberate us from the clutches of colonial rule and exploitation.”

Runsewe further implored Nigerians to rather collectively concentrate on areas that will creatively think and constructively proffer workable solutions to make Nigeria overcome its socio- economic challenges.

Runsewe also frowned at the Japa syndrome saying Nigeria’s educational system is the big lacuna because what they actually study in the four walls of the classroom does not translate into job at the labour market and we end up producing thousands of graduates with limited employment openings.

“Some will go to the university to study Fishery and after graduation you see him roaming about without job. This is because the world has gone beyond what we are doing. Yes it is good to go to school to study but do we have the capacity to gainfully give jobs to the number of graduates that turn out of the university every year? No.

“Creativity is the mother of invention and that has become the new drive in the global village where your skills and creative senses earn you the vista of opportunities technology is offering in the job space.

“The beautifully designed clothes I am put on is designed by a graduate of biology, who after graduation could not get something meaningful to do and decided to go into fashion design and today, he is doing pretty well.

“My pain is that we teach our graduate things of the past based on the structure of curriculum and they spent years to get a certificate that they won’t use. So we need redirection to strategically focus on what will create a sustainable economy for Nigerians.

“The world is now in the era of Artificial Intelligent (AI) and most countries are preparing their youths towards that path for a better future while here in Nigeria we are still developing our youths for the challenges of the past.

“We have more universities in Nigeria today than what 15 African countries have, and what are we doing? We are developing graduates for the challenges of the past instead of preparing them for the challenge of the present and future.

“We have to redirect our focus to align with present realities so that we can sustainably move with time by putting Nigeria first in all we do and also move towards AI era.”