World Culture Day highlights Nigeria’s vast wealth creation opportunities in culture

Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN)AS Nigeria joined the rest of the world penultimate Wednesday to celebrate the World Culture Day in Abuja, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, declared that the theme for this year’s celebration was carefully chosen to address one of the cardinal objectives of the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration which is poverty alleviation and wealth creation. Deputy Editor, BANKOLE MAKINDE, who witnessed the ceremony, writes.

THE International Conference Centre, Abuja was full to the brim with people celebrating with pomp and ceremony the 6th World Culture Day, or, put more appropriately, the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. The event was a declaration by UNESCO member-states to celebrate the intellectual and socio-economic contributions of culture to global development.

As usual, the place was a beehive of activities with stakeholders in the culture industry, secondary school students and those who appreciate culture struggling to have a space to listen to the address of the minister on the theme “Culture Creates Wealth”. And he did not disappoint when he mounted the podium and declared, unambiguously, that the World Culture Day transcends the celebration of the rich Nigerian cultural heritage and her diversity, as the essence was to redefine and reposition the Nigerian culture to reflect global cultural practices. This, he said, includes using culture as a mechanism for establishing, not only a knowledge-based society, but to advance the frontiers of citizens’ civilization with Nigeria placed among the best 20 economies in the world, come 2020. Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, who also delivered a paper entitled “Cultural Industries and Economic Development” at the event, nodded in agreement with the minister.

Delving headlong into his strategies towards ensuring that culture creates wealth during his own tenure of office, Prince Kayode said that the focus of his ministry was to utilize the opportunities to create jobs for Nigerians by developing her cultural industries as well as Nigeria’s national festivals, which are key to sustainable tourism development in Nigeria. He said this year’s World Culture Day specifically offered Nigerians the opportunity to critically assess the challenges facing the country when one considers the globalization onslaught and its pulverizing effects on African cultures, tradition, language, value and ethics.

The minister stated that he made the point against the backdrop of such challenges as underdevelopment, consolidation of democratic principles, strengthening of cultural and democratic institutions in Africa and attaining the Millennium Development Goals, among others. Hammering more on his strategies, Prince Kayode declared that his desire was to use the concept of cultural tourism to further enhance the development of tourism as a critical 6th economic sector in Nigeria, such that with the creation of a regular international market for Nigeria’s arts and crafts, the country would have created sustainable employment and economic empowerment for practitioners in that sector.

Additionally, he said another strategy proposed by the ministry for addressing the unemployment crisis in Nigeria and to realize the goals of the seven-point agenda of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was to establish useful partnership with state governments which would result in the development of Nigeria’s rich cultural festivals for export. The minister described cultural industries as the creation, production and commercialization of goods which are intangible and cultural and are protected by copyright. These, according to him, include printing, publishing, multi-media, software, audio-visual, photographic and cinematographic productions, craft, design, architecture, visual performing arts, advertising sports, manufacture of musical instruments and so on. His words: “Cultural industries cover a large gamut of human endeavour in Nigeria which if well harnessed, can create jobs for millions of photographers, printers, designers, fashion creators, artistes, film makers, craft men and women, local architects, software creators, musicians, traditional sportsmen and women and so on. “Because cultural industries are mainly intellectual property-based, the ministry will collaborate more actively with the Nigerian Copyright Commission to safeguard the creative ingenuity of any Nigerian involved in the industry through the initiation of a robust copyright legislation and activities that will guarantee economic returns for owners of intellectual property rights. It is the belief that when this is done, the World Culture Day celebration will then make a meaning in the lives of Nigerians.

“Just two days ago, I inaugurated the Central Planning Committee of the First Arts and Craft Expo. The Expo scheduled for August 2008 is intended to, among other objectives, promote the import and export of African arts and crafts to buyers worldwide, establish an African International arts and crafts market, promote cultural tourism in Africa and Nigeria as a viable investment and tourist destination and attract international investment in line with government development agenda. “To demonstrate our comprehensive approach to the transformation of this sector, we are also taking giant strides in visual arts sub sector while arrangements are at an advanced stages for Nigeria to host the First Africa Regional Summit and Exhibition of Visual Arts (ARESUVA) in September 2008. “The programme is also designed to create opportunities for Nigerian visual artists to leverage with their counterparts from other parts of the world and particularly from Africa, compare notes and create a market for their creative endeavour. “We also have a calendar of major festivals chosen from different parts of the country. We have already worked with relevant states to host the Opobo International Boat Regatta in Rivers State; the Argungu International Fishing Festival in Kebbi State; the New Yam Festival in the Eastern part of the country and the Igue Festival in Benin while we are also discussing with the Lagos State Government on Eyo Festival.

“This is in addition to the annual Abuja Carnival and the National Festival of Arts (NAFEST) which both promise to be bigger and better in 2008.” In his own presentation at the ceremony, Dr. Onobrakpeya rationalized that culture is not static but dynamic and that it does not exist alone and so cannot exist in isolation for too long. In his words, “of industries that grow out of culture, I put the entertainment industries at the very top in terms of its vastness. Reason for this vastness may not be too far-fetched. The entertainment industry, made up of music (both contemporary and traditional), dance (also contemporary and tradition), drama, the home video and films (Nollywood) is a very vibrant sector of the economy employing a vast number of people and bringing in much revenue of Nigeria. “Apart from music, which is present in one form or the other from cradle to grave, Nigerian music is consumed across and beyond the country on all occasions. Almost every home in Nigeria daily watches one home video or the other, either through the VCD recordings or through the television. In addition, Nigerian musical and movie products are regularly exported abroad either through live performances of bands and troupes or packaged in form of video or audio recordings.

“Intellectual creations in literature form about culture have created a huge industry in publishing, printing and the distributive trade of publications and books. Fictions, drama, history, folklores and other educational materials of Nigerian authorship run into several editions. “For instance, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, now celebrating its 50th year anniversary has been published in several languages. All these generate income from within and outside the country. “Paintings, sculpture, graphics, ceramics, to mention a few, on the other hand are produced as one of a kind or in limited copies as against craft, hence, they are addressed to the elite in the society who can afford to pay for the artist’s time and money spent on creating each piece. “Although, the only market open for these are the artists studios, exhibitions and galleries, artists are sometimes commissioned to create pieces of buildings, public squares, etc. group and solo art shows are now becoming a big industry as private art galleries are springing up by the day. He pointed out that the fact that increasingly, Nigerian artists had been selling their work through virtual galleries on the internet.

Dr. Onobrakpeya then stated that since more value was being on the arts, artists would be encouraged to produce more while collectors who know the worth would also be encouraged to invest the more in Nigeria artworks. “The sum total is the confirmation that the visual art as part of culture is a course of profitable investment”, he said. He also noted that museums and heritage sites in Nigeria have several important industries built around them, even as tourists visit such places and pay to view the priceless treasures kept in them. “A world heritage site is the Osun groove in Osogbo, Osun State. This site arracts thousands of visitors every year especially during the Osun Osogbo festival. They come spending money on transportation, food, hotel accommodation and souvenirs. “The phenomenal emergence of Osogbo into a centre of artistic significance is the greatest success story of Nigeria’s cultural industries.