10 November 2008
Lagos — Cultural workers in the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation recently gathered in Akure, Ondo State to chart the way forward for the sector in the country. In the face of the falling world oil prices, the talkshop might have laid the template for a reversal of the fortunes of the sector so that the country can reap the full potential of the industry. Godwin Haruna writes
For African countries like Kenya, Egypt and Ethiopia, to mention just a few, tourism remains a boost to their economies. Conversely, however, Nigeria's huge tourism potential has largely remained untapped over the years. Probably due to the over reliance on the oil revenue as the main foreign exchange earner for the country, past governments paid lip service to the development of the sector while smaller countries in the continent have been reaping bountifully from this money spinner.
In the face of dwindling oil resources, wise counsel may prevail now as officials of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation are laying the template to reposition this sector. This necessitated a three-day forum for workers of the sector recently and participants came from across the country.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN), Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, said the forum provided a veritable platform for cultural officers to appreciate their role as agents for change and grassroots mobilisation. Kayode noted that it was part of their strategic plans to make culture a key economic sub-sector.
"We are therefore developing and promoting arts and crafts as well as other tangible and intangible heritage as viable economic activities. We are also giving priority attention to the promotion of cultural festivals across the country because of the vast potential to create new sources of cultural tourism revenue," the minister declared.
He said the Edinburgh festival in Scotland is a classical example of how festival can contribute significantly to the cultural and economic development of a nation. He disclosed that the Edinburgh festival attracts about 1.1 billion pounds revenue yearly and it is known to support over 27,000 jobs.
"In our determined bid to reverse the fortunes of the sector, we are reviewing the enabling laws of agencies and institutions in my ministry to make them responsive to the challenges of a globalised economy and our vision of making the culture sector viable and one of the preferred sectors of our national economy," Kayode said.
The minister said emphasis on training of officers was predicated on the fact that good policies and reform initiatives would be mere cosmetic exercises if those to implement the policies do not understand the philosophical basis for the policies and are ill equipped for the challenges of their responsibility. He hoped that the forum would provide a profound understanding of the pertinent issues so that they could appreciate the crucial role they would play in the re-engineering process for the rapid transformation of the sector.
Also speaking in his welcome address, Mr. John B. Yusuff, executive secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) said the body was established by decree 93 of 1993 with the overall mandate of harnessing Nigeria's culture for national development. Yusuff stated that NICO's mandate is catigorised into two broad areas, training and orientation. He added that in furtherance of its orientation mandate, NICO has over the years organised seminars, public lectures, courses, roundtable conferences, workshops for various target groups aimed at sensitizing the general public to the strategic importance of culture to national development.
"NICO's training programmes are designed to promote professional competence in our cultural officers at all levels. These specialized programmes are conceived to help foster a profound understanding of their role in the promotion of culture for national development. As professionals, we have a responsibility to change the perception of culture by the general public and policy makers," he said.
Quoting Mr. Eddie Iroh, a former director general of the Federal Radio Corporation, Yusuff said: "From historical perspective, there is little doubt that our tourism and culture sub-sectors have, perhaps, been the most relegated in our national development. Considering the immense potentials of this sector, this situation is not only ironic, but unacceptable."
He stressed that the situation was unacceptable because the country was blessed with a rich and diverse cultural heritage which should be harnessed for tourism gains. He noted that there were several counties in the world whose main sustenance was through tourism which in itself is predicated on their cultural heritage. He charged the cultural officers to identify cultural resources such as festivals, sites, monuments etc within their areas and follow it up with proposals to the relevant authorities on how these can be harnessed for economic gains.
In a paper presented at the forum, Prof. C.I.C. Okoli of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Imo State University, Owerri noted that culture is a concept, phenomenon and disciple and has overtime invoked the inquisitorial attention of sociologists, anthropologists and archeologists. Such terms as cultural integration, cultural interaction and cultural melting pot, he stated, are in contemporary use to describe the outcome of interface of various cultural groups.
In that context, Okoli said culture events are some social impacts on the people. However, the don noted: "The economic impacts of culture are more far reaching. From earliest times, tourism is motivated by culture, the desire to experience and savour alien culture and original civilization. High profile tourists come into the host communities with foreign currencies which they spend in tourism activities and purchase of goods and services. The economy of the host community is not only reflated but the living standard of the indigenes are changed for better."
He added that anticipation of the huge tourist traffic necessitates provision of basic infrastructure, which translate into rural development. He stated that a flurry of economic activities goes on and the entrepreneurial spirit of the people is enkindled.
"Purchase of art works by tourists as souvenirs is taken to a higher level of communication by which cultural artifacts are brought and sold as marketing products. The commercial zeal is fired in young gifted artists in the tourist destinations to go into commercial production of art works in studios and industries. Film is a cultural product. The economic utility of culture is realizable through the film industry. In sheer income earnings, employment and entrepreneurship, the impacts of culture on the national economy are enormous," Okoli stated.
He stressed that culture is distinguished by two main characteristics, which includes basic elements and attributes. He identified the basic elements of culture to include artifacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions. He added that attributes of culture are the distinctive manifestations of culture by which members of a group can easily be differentiated from members of another group. Material aspects of culture, he said has to do with artifacts in its broadest form and these include tools, clothing, food, medicine, utensils, housings etc. On the other hand, Okoli said institutional attribute of culture deals with political, social, legal and economic structures erected for orderly conduct of human affairs.
Another variant that he identified is the philosophical attribute, which is concerned with ideas, beliefs and values which are shared by members of a group or society which guide them in their orientation ideologies, activities and attitudes towards life and nature. According to him, they influence outlooks, goals, decisions and relationships between members of the group.
Okoli stressed that culture impacts positively on the national economy through diverse activities which include tourism, art trade and film industry. "Cultural tourism, can, therefore, be described as an umbrella term for art tourism, ethnic or indigenous tourism, heritage tourism, museum tourism, etc. Cultural tourism involves tourists experiencing and having contact with a host population and its cultural expressions, experiencing the uniqueness of its culture, heritage and the characters of its place and people," he added.
He stated that Nigeria was blessed with abundant and rich cultural resources, heritage sites, traditional events, costume, cuisine, music, artworks, ancient treasures etc. which both domestic and international tourists cherish.
"Culture is gainfully utilized in the tourism industry, film industry and as trade commodity. The economic benefits of culture are evaluated in terms of income earnings, employment generation and entrepreneurship, all of which are reflected in rural development, poverty alleviation and improvement in the living conditions of Nigerians," Okoli said.
Also speaking on the topic: "Cultural Policy for Nigeria: An Overview", Prof. Olu Obafemi, noted that past Nigerian governments, both military and civil, constantly announce their support for the various efforts, the implicit rights and indeed attempts of the Nigerian people to develop their culture. However, he said neither the systematized cultural policy nor the set of main aims of cultural policies have received adequate government attention.
He said the perception of the imperative of culture in the new social economy of the globalizing world must have influenced the Nigerian government, working through the culture ministry to seek the review of the 1988 cultural policy.
Obafemi said it was unfortunate that the reviewed Cultural Policy was yet to see the light of day despite its potential to shore up and activate the dynamics of culture and its centrality to our civilization and the advancement of social ideals, national integration, national development, economic, social and political.
"We need a cultural instrument by way of cultural policy as an assured means of achieving the laudable goals addressed above. Our culture and its material product, armed with a policy, is also the main tourism product. It requires to be aggressively exploited and invested in. It is the sole means of building a civilized and humane society. If properly capitalized, rebranded, marketed and packaged, culture and tourism can easily dethrone oil and gas as the main revenue derivation source of the country's economy," Obafemi noted.
Other speakers at the 3-day seminar include Dr. Douglas Anele of the University of Lagos and Dr. Dare Owolabi.
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