Runsewe lauds new culture, tourism upbeats in Nigeria

THE Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Chief Segun Runsewe has expressed immense joy to last year activities of culture and tourism in Nigeria, promising to embark on a culture campaign tour of the 36 states of the federation very soon.

The NCAC boss selected Lagos, Rivers, Cross-River, Kaduna, Plateau and Edo states for engaging and promoting robust culture and tourism activities in 2018, which helped create a window for organised local and international visits across Nigeria.

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Runsewe whose office organised some of the most notable cultural festivals in Nigeria last year such as National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) and International Arts and Crafts Exposition (INAC), noted that the trend of cultural activities from the 36 states would help to sustain an all year and season holiday culture in Nigeria and also anchors certified cultural festivals as tourism products to help local and international tour operators in marketing Nigeria to the world.

According to Nigeria’s chief culture promoter and President, World Crafts Council, Africa Region, “what took place around the country last year is a revolution which would place Nigeria in a vintage position in the scheme of things in global circle of tourism.

Runsewe noted that the N50 billion spending by holiday makers in Lagos is a huge eye opener to what can scale up the businesses of stakeholders in the trave, tour and the service industry, adding that the action plan is to see that the industry is well organised to fulfill its job creation mandate for Nigerians.

He said Lagos State government is doing well in tourism and prays that the state will continue to provide the leadership in strategic tourism activities more than ever before.

On Cross River State, Runsewe commended the governor, Pr ofessor Ben Ayade for making Carnival Calabar take a new shape last year through an authentic African theme (Africanism) which callsa strategic awareness and revival of African culture, which significantly opened up the continent to visitors and collaboration.

“Indeed, I observed the 26 foreign nations that visited and actually participated in the Carnival Calabar, has taken the cultural carnival to another level.

Runsewe explained that the cultural intervention in Rivers State during NAFEST, presented Nigeria culture to the world in an uncommon way, adding that he would remain grateful to Governor Nyeson Wike.

Runsewe noted that Governor El-Rufai and Simon Lalong made a remarkable niche through the Durbar in Kaduna State and the refocused attention to rewrite and reposition tourism in Plateau State have significantly gave Nigeria the desired rebound that the world is expecting from Africa’s biggest black nation.

Another top ranking by Runsewe is Edo State which came to town last year with its EdoFest, targeting Edo people and their friends outside Nigeria. The strategic attention pulled by the Edofest gave the repatriation of Edo relics and artifacts in foreign museums, marks it out as a holiday event to watch in Nigeria. Significantly, Edo is the host ground for NAFEST 2019, thereby expected to be in the forefront cultural discussion throughout the year, NCAC DG revealed.