The Director General (DG) National Council for Art & Culture, Otumba Olusegun Runshewe has stated that Nigerians should keep exporting its culture through the production of music and films abroad.
According to the veteran ace journalist, culture is Nigeria’s biggest untapped asset and any individual, group or organisation that focuses on leveraging on this cultural potentials should be encouraged.
Recall that Lai Mohammed had said that the federal government in a bid to develop the Nigerian entertainment industry, will ban the shooting of music videos and movies abroad as it hurts the Nigerian economy and only helps grow that of the country where such shoots are being done.
The plan sparked off debates not only among popular artists but also analysts across culture and tourism industry, especially as it has been identified as a credible replacement for oil.
In a statement which clearly contradicts Mohammed’s decision on the said issue, the veteran Journalist has insisted that, “Culture is Nigeria’s biggest untapped asset, because through culture we can bring people together, unite them and speak for them.”
He said this can be accomplished by encouraging artists and entertainers to shoot abroad.
He further emphasized that Nigeria must encourage individuals, groups or organisations that focus on leveraging on ”our cultural potentials as we could recover from recession caused by plunging oil price and our rich culture if harnessed optimally is ready to replace oil and gas in our national economy.”
According to the DG, “It is no secret that someday, sometime oil will finish but our culture will remain with us as an infinite asset if harnessed optimally, take for instance the number of foreigners that are here today who must have spent several dollars buying different cultural items to take back to their respective countries, this will definitely impact on the local economy which means we can now have a different approach to our economy even while we are recovering from recession.”
‘’I can tell you without fear or favour that Nigerian culture is rich and so in terms of ecoculture, hospitality, acupuncture, music, theatre arts Nigeria is the greatest, so what we need to do is that we need to export it out and that’s why we are here today,” he said.
”The greatest secret in Africa today is understanding and tapping into our culture, oil will someday finish but our culture remains our personal property and the good news is that it is inexhaustible, so if we harness it, network properly and synergies we will control the economy of Africa if not the world,” he said.’’
”16 countries including South Africa, Zambia and Zanziba have come for the conference of speakers which was hosted by the Nigerian House of Representatives and the NCAC decided to use the opportunity to connect with them, to showcase what Nigeria has to offer in terms of the richness of Nigerian culture.’’
‘’The expectation of the NCAC is that the distinguished speakers will be returning back to their respective countries with a new impression that Nigeria has so much to offer in terms of multi-cultural diversity.’’
