Retooling the Political Economy of Nigeria’s Culture, Tourism Industries 

Paul Obi

In  an age of painful economic outcomes and a worsening cost of living, a book on how Nigeria can navigate her pathway out of this present economic climate represents a clarion call to both the Nigerian state and stakeholders in the business of bettering the Nigerian situation. Yet, the fact that the book is not so much about economics and income inequality as how to add more to the economy says a lot. In it, the author, Chuks Akamadu, sets up a national conversation on how Nigeria can best tap its advantages comparatively in culture and tourism. Titled Harnessing Cultour for Economic Growth, the book elaborately expands the scope of culture and tourism sectors within the Nigerian political economy circuit. Beyond being an easy read, it is also blended with euphoric scenes; it provides the panacea through which Nigeria can boastfully say goodbye to the petro-dollar mono-economy. 

Significantly, and for too long, a national conversation on how to improve culture and tourism sectors—the creative industry as a whole—has remained on the fringes without much effort on a simple explanation of the ways and means on how to achieve such goals in book form. In Harnessing Cultour for Economic Growth, Akamadu moves the needle further, exploring the contours and prisms of Nigeria’s creative industry: what has been left behind, what needs to be unearthed, and, more importantly, how to go about it. 

Through this book, Akamadu shows that there is untapped capital and economic activity that Nigeria could earnestly profit from both in the short and long term. It strings together both the conceptual models of cultour and the practice of culture and tourism in a political economy sense. 

He highlights the ways in which the country has been missing revenue. In the music industry, for example, when artists like Wizkid, Davido, Phyno, Flavour, Inyaya, Omah Lay, Rema, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Tems, Arya Star, Odumodu Black shoot their videos in South Africa, Ghana, the United States, the United Kingdom, etc., the multiplier effect that ought to come to Nigeria in terms of customs production, logistics, graphics aesthetics, and artisan works is all lost to foreign countries. In the real sense, Nigeria has not taken a proactive step to stem this negative economic tide from foreign countries profiting from our arts and culture while Nigeria picks up the leftovers.

Harnessing Cultour for Economic Growth succinctly takes a profound and poignant outlook on the Nigerian tourism ecosystem, including what makes the sector unique and attractive if the enabling environment is created. There is also an effort at disseminating the various tourism events and festivals in the country, including the Calabar Carnival, Abuja Carnival Festival, National War Museum, Nike Art Gallery, the Durbar Festival, the Argungu Fishing Festival, the New Yam Festival celebrated in Igbo land most of the South-South, the Eyo Festival in Lagos, the Osun-Osogbo Festival, the Ofala Festival, Felabration, the Yorubal Cultural Centre, and the Oba of Benin Palace, among others. Other tourism centres, like Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River State, In addition, the author provided a panoramic view of foreign cultural aesthetics and centres that are now prowling many Nigerian cities, adding some aesthetics to the Nigerian tourism milieu, such as the Korean Cultural Centre, the Chinese Centre, and the French Language Centre, among others. 

Among the book’s selling points are the vast array of scholars and personalities that are either featured in the work or endorse this classical collection. First, Prof. Olu Obafemi wrote the foreword for the book. According to Obafemi, the work is an “exploration of the place of culture in social transformation, where attempts, albeit hedging, are made to attain diversification of the economy that has been, for decades, obsessed, uncritically, with the economic praxis of a monolithic, extractive industry.”

There are also the contributions of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Goodluck Jonathan, and former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, among others, who have contributed immensely to advancing the frontiers of culture and tourism in Nigeria.

All in all, the book seeks to retool the political economy of Nigeria’s culture and tourism sectors. As a cultour enthusiast, Akamadu is able to blend both the conceptual and practical prisms of the fields of culture and tourism in a manner that revs up a national conversation for a profitable cultour sector. Although the work might have suffered from the paucity of rigorous empirical research, it rather challenges the Nigerian state and critical stakeholders in the culture and tourism sectors about the productive and economic contents yet to be harnessed in full.