Why culture, tourism should drive diversification

Why culture, tourism should drive diversification

 

Worried by the increasing plunge in the prices of petroleum products and its attendant impact on the nation’s economy, the Director-General National Council for Arts and Culture  (NCAC), Otunba Segun Runsewe, has raised the alarm on the need for Nigeria to drive its economic diversification process using the rich resources in arts, culture and tourism. He warned against over reliance on oil, which he said, is not sustainable.

He noted that the dwindling revenues from oil have made it highly imperative for Nigeria to pursue a sustained process of economic diversification, ‘if we must attain the much needed economic stability and development.’

Otunba Runsewe who spoke on Beyond the oil economy: The diversification option for Nigeria in Lagos at the weekend, noted that it is clear to all that Nigeria can no longer continue to depend solely on crude oil exportation, adding that with the rich and diverse cultural resources of Nigeria and given the abundant tourism resources, it stands to reason that if Nigeria as country must diversify its economy, it must look outside crude oil which is the current major foreign exchange earner and focus on arts, culture and tourism as one of the key players in its  economic development.

“The near total dependence on crude oil exportation as the source of Nigeria’s  Foreign Exchange (FOREX) earnings, Runsewe stated,  has greatly slowed down the pace of development in other sub-sectors of the economy such as agro-allied industry, manufacturing, solid minerals and the service industry, among others,” he said.

He however,    noted that for about five decades, crude oil exploration and exportation dominated Nigeria’s economy, adding that while other oil producing countries use crude oil revenues to develop and strengthen other sectors of the economy, the reverse is the case in Nigeria.

“It would appear that the discovery of oil in Nigeria has come with its attendant woes. This is because the Nigerian oil wealth has tended to becloud our sense of initiative and economic vision, while promoting a national culture of unbridled corruption, laziness, opportunism and primitive acquisitive tendency.

“Apart from the effect of near total neglect, the oil economy has had on other critical sectors, the fluctuation in the world prices of petroleum products has continued to pose great threat to the stability of our economy, thus making effective planning on a sustainable basis extremely difficult,” Runsewe said.

According to him, the fluctuations in oil prices in the past years are enough reasons to diversify the economy from oil to arts, culture and tourism. He said Nigeria is one of the most culturally diverse nations of the world with over 250 distinct ethnic groups; each with unique culture, cultural products and assets has the capacity of sustaining a robust tourism industry and driving the process of socio-economic development if adequately harnessed.

“For a nation as large as Nigeria with rich and diverse culture, one festival per state would go a long way in attracting tourists into the country thereby contributing to the development of the economy through spending in hotel lodging, patronage of local cuisines, transportation, and purchase of arts and crafts products among others. He identified Nigeria’s film industry as one of the fastest growing in Africa and that the increasing popularity and patronage among African countries make the industry a potential foreign exchange earner for Nigeria.

He added that what is required is for the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board and other regulatory agencies to ensure that the quality of contents of the products, the country’s rich cultural heritage and sell the best of Nigeria.

Runsewe observed that with adequate funding, assistance from government, more appropriate packaging, marketing and promotion, the Nigerian film industry will contribute significantly to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The implication of this is that the ripple effects of tourism can be seen in every sector of the society: economic, social and environmental. It is, therefore, clear that if we get tourism right, it will not only engender sustainable economic growth, it will also lead to the creation of employment, eradication of poverty and empowerment of the people both the educated and the skilled, the uneducated, unskilled as well as the semi-skilled members of the society,” he said.

He charged stakeholders in the private sector to work with government institutions in the sector to drive the process of developing the sector.