The city of Abuja came alive yesterday afternoon, as delegates from different arts and culture Councils and Ministries acrosss Nigeria, arrived to take part in a Townhall Meeting to appraise and offer way forward for the arts, culture and tourism sector of the Nigerian economy, that makes up the iconic annual National Festival of Arts and Culture, (NAFEST).
* Otunba Segun Runsewe
It was the day of arrival, a day of warm greetings, and expectedly, Nigeria’s arts and culture ambassador, Director General of National Council for Arts And Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, was on hand to welcome everyone to Abuja, with a cocktail evening of dance.
In his brief speech for the night, Runsewe who is also the President of the African Region of World Craft Council (WCC), reiterated that arts, culture and tourism remains one and cannot be separated. He called on stakeholders in the sector, to wear the garment of seriousness and influence the growth of the nation’s GDP as it is done in other countries where arts, culture and tourism are taken seriously.
Runsewe who called on the various visiting commissioners for arts and culture, the various directors of same ministries, to roll up their shirt sleeves because, there is productive work ahead of them to be done strategically during the productive meetings that they have been called to attend, in order to revolutionise the sector for revenue growth.
It would be recalled that years gone by, it had been the place of the Federal government to fund NAFEST, but in recent times, it has been the governors of each state, that has been taking up the task.
But all work and no play will create a very dull NAFEST gathering! So troupes from Yobe, Rivers State, a major stakeholder in NAFEST, rolled out the drums of festivities to entertain the arriving delegates.
The Director General of NCAC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe also led the commissioners, the directors and other stakeholders, in an old skool dance session, which brought out in many on the dance floor, the jolly good old skool dance steps of the 1980s and early 90s. A great evening of fun to relax the nerves for the workload expected to take place today at the different strategy meetings.
