By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The
Director General of National Council of Arts & Culture (NCAC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe and States Commissioners of Arts, Culture and Tourism, have called for the merging of Arts, and Culture ministries for best functional results.
Runsewe emphasized that both cannot function independently from each other.
In a joint demand, Otunba Runsewe and over fifteen commissioners made this known at the just concluded conference held in Abuja recently to review the National Festival of Arts of Culture ,NAFEST, for the first time since its establishment in 1970.
According to the DG, NCAC and other tourism agencies have been at the forefront of the fight to separate culture and tourism from other ministries, not as individual ministries but one ministry.
“We want government to return the two ministries (arts, culture and tourism) together as one.”
“Tourism sells culture.
We started the campaign to separate culture and tourism from other ministries.”
“Tourism in Nigeria has two parastatals, culture has eleven parastatals.”
“It is only in Nigeria that you have so many parastatals. In foreign climes, most of these parastatals are departments. The money we should use in moving around should have been put in one place.”
“In Dubai, you don’t have all that. It is one department that takes care of others and there is no competition. In Nigeria, there is so much competition, said Runsewe.
