Pharm Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, the Lagos State commissioner for Tourism, Arts, and Culture is so grateful to Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu for the opportunity to lead the ministry over the last three years.
Akinbile-Yusuf made this known during a tourism roundtable discussion with members of the media held on Tuesday, September 20.
The commissioner rolled out the achievements of the ministry in almost four years saying it wouldn’t have been possible if Sanwo-Olu didn’t include the creative sector in his T.H.E.M.E.S agenda and focus of his administration.
“The current state of entertainment, arts, and tourism in Lagos state isn’t standing alone but part of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda that follows the roadmap for the continued growth of Lagos state,” she stated.
Continuing, she said, “In close to four years, we haven’t worked in isolation as the ministry of tourism, arts, and culture. You can’t talk about tourism without discussing security, and transportation amongst other things, so we collaborate with other agencies and ministries to achieve all these feats.”
Akinbile-Yusuf walked media executives down memory lane to narrate how the Sanwo-Olu-led administration came in and was faced with the pandemic.
“We came in and pandemic struck but despite the effects of the pandemic, we have been able to sustain the industry even though our ministry works with the sector that has been majorly hit by the pandemic. In Lagos state, we decided to hold the virtual concert despite the pandemic just to prove that we can’t be held back as entertainment, tourism, arts, and culture will continue to thrive in our economy.”
The commissioner explained how Governor Sanwo-Olu approved the constitution of a Covid-19 Pandemic Review Committee to assess the impact of the pandemic on the tourism sector in Lagos State. The committee was chaired by Joke Silva and the sum of N1billion was recommended and approved as a single-digit soft loan for the tourism and entertainment sector in the state to cushion the effect of covid-19 on tourism businesses.
In furtherance, a 50% rebate on registration and renewal fees for hospitality and
tourism establishments were given in 2020.
“After the pandemic, Gov Sanwo-Olu released a fund of N1billion to ensure that after the pandemic, the sector through the support of our ministry return to life. We have continued to engage stakeholders in the industries because our firm belief in the essence of the private sector as we believe the tourism, arts, culture, and entertainment sectors are private driven,” she said.
Continuing, she said, “we also ensured proper regulation of the sector because of our firm beliefs that tourism, arts, culture, and entertainment are our oil, which we can export and leverage to boost our economy in Lagos State.
“We created Lagos State Creative Industry Initiative and under this body, we decided to leverage on capacity building for youths because Gov Sanwo-Olu believes so much in youths and everything that has to do with youths is dear to him as the numbers of youths in Lagos can never be over-emphasised. We also believe that if we develop the younger generation, we can export more talent, hence we partnered with different reputable stakeholders and industry practitioners that include EbonyLife Academy, Del-York Academy, Africa Film Academy, and Temple Studio.
“As of September 2022, we have trained close to 3000 youths in the creative industry and those trained in filmmaking had some of their films premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and with our resolution to ensure we support all these youths in their different endeavours, we believe that they will contribute in immense quantity towards the GDP of Lagos as well as Nigerian economy.”
From bagging the World Guinness Record for laying the largest cupcakes mosaic in world history to the establishment of a special interest-free loan for filmmakers tagged ‘Lagos film fund,’ refurbishing and officially commissioning the Glover Hall theatre, and erecting the John Randle Centre for Yoruba culture and history, Akinbile-Yusuf says Governor Sanwo-Olu deserves all the accolades for further putting Lagos on the world map of tourism.
In 2021, Governor Sanwo-Olu launched the Lagos tourism masterplan and policy to lay the foundation for developing a comprehensive and sustainable tourism strategy with a focus on Lagos’ rich culture and heritage, community development, heritage management, preservation, and revenue generation.
According to the commissioner, the master plan will be driven by the Lagos Tourism Policy which is to develop Lagos tourism as a sustainable mechanism that contributes to the quality of life of the average Lagosians and ultimately make Lagos the preferred destination in Africa.
“The masterplan that was available before our administration was not properly presented, hence, we had to go back to the drawing board to make it suitable and fit into the overall masterplan of the administration. At my first stakeholders’ meeting after we came on board, the previous masterplan was rejected, so, we had to go back to the drawing board to ensure the masterplan aligns with the administration’s plan as well as the stakeholders’ suggestions in ensuring we achieve success,” Akinbile-Yusuf said.
As she rounded off discussions, the trained pharmacist opened up on other groundbreaking achievements of the ministry of tourism, arts, and culture under Sanwo-Olu. She opened up the Lagos Cultural Village in the Alimosho area and the Lagos Film City in the Ejinrin area of Epe.
While Governor Sanwo-Olu has approved a six-acre land for the project, the ministry has done the video, 3D visualization, architectural design, floor & roof plan, and aerial video of land mass for the development of Lagos cultural village, Alimosho.
In the same vein, the state government entered into a PPP arrangement to develop the Lagos Film City, including committing 100 hectares of land at the proposed Project site located at Ejirin, in Epe Lagos State.
In her conclusion, Akinbile-Yusuf said, “We are making frantic efforts to benchmark Lagos State with tourism destinations in other countries and not other states in Nigeria, although this might take a while to attain, I am bold to say that the journey has already started. In the next few years with the implementation of this master plan, Lagos would be one of the top five tourism destinations in Africa. We are open to investors partnering with the Ministry to establish a vibrant and innovative tourism destination as well as achieve a greater Lagos.”
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