WANTED: A NATIONAL ‘CULTOUR’ POLICY

 Chuks Akamadu argues the urgent need to mainstream culture and tourism into the economy

In his Foreword to the Nigerian Tourism Development Master Plan 2006, the Secretary General of United Nations World Tourism Development Organization, UNWTO (1997-2009), Francesco Frangialli, posited rightly that “tourism can have a profound impact on the society, economy and environment of nations. Socially, one of the immediate benefits of tourism is its ability to create employment, and in the case of tourism, it caters for skilled and unskilled employment…”.

This plainly underscores the economic importance of tourism and much more. Frangialli’s assertion, by implication, also enjoins societies such as ours to take due advantage of the enormous potential that is inherent in the sector.

However, the Master Plan itself notes regrettably that “the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (which is supposed to be the engine room of Nigeria’s tourism growth and development) is over-staffed, under-resourced, lacks targets and action plans and consequently is ineffective…public/private relationships are non-existent”. What a damning verdict!

Nigeria being what it is, no one is surprised that as it is with tourism, so it is with the arts, culture and creative sector. A chance glance at the five top capital projects captured in the 2024 budget of Federal Ministries of Tourism and Arts, Culture and Creative Economy would clear any doubts whatsoever.

For the tourism ministry, we have the following priority projects: revitalization of Obudu Cattle Ranch; supply and installation of solar street lights in Kebbi State; supply and installation of solar street lights in six geopolitical zones of the country; development of Imole Boja Tourist site and building of sports facilities in New Oke -Ero Local Government Area of Kwara State; and development and branding of Nigeria Tourism APP and Central Information Guide.

On its part, Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy has the following priority projects: construction of traditional theatre and epicentre in each of the six geopolitical zones; provision of solar street lights to the eight districts of Musawa LGA, in Katsina State; establishment of a National Film Academy; destination 2030 Consultancy Services; and establishment of six Nigerian creative hubs in each of the six geopolitical zones.

Apart from the recovery of Obudu Cattle Ranch from dilapidation, there is hardly anything to cheer about with respect to the proposed 2024 signature projects of the Federal Ministry of Tourism. Similarly, the proposed establishment of a National Film Academy is heartening and arguably the only truly priority item on the 2024 project menu of Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.

Here we are again, saddling potentially cash-cow ministries with the responsibility of providing solar street lights – something that clearly falls outside their purview – yet we expect prospective investors to take interest in those sectors! This we are about doing at the expense of the many decrepit museums spread across the country that are yearning for attention. Nigeria, we hail thee!

Ideally, since the Nigerian Tourism Development Master Plan 2006 created five tourism clusters in Nigeria (Tropical Rainforest, Conference Capital, Atlantic Gateway, Scenic Nature and Sahara Gateway), a serious nation would have commissioned an audit of the clusters for the purpose establishing an objective basis for resource allocation and siting of projects.

What is even more laughable is how both ministries have, since inception, been carrying on as though they can possibly discharge their mandates without first reviewing the 17-year- old Tourism Master Plan and conclusively doing same for the 37-year -old Cultural Policy for Nigeria bequeathed us by the military administration of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida in 1988. Both documents are central to the prosperity of the cultour (culture-tourism) sector and have since become obsolete, unhelpful and sour sources of embarrassment to our nation.

Pray, how can Nigeria play in a fiercely competitive global cultour space with an outmoded tourism master plan and cultural policy? We now live in a tourism world where there is sharp focus on “destination Management” – a concept which was not envisaged by Nigeria’s extant tourism master plan. Likewise, ours is cultural policy that didn’t foresee the emergence of robotics and artificial intelligence and their huge impact on the cultour sector. Consequently, while the rest of the world is trying to figure out how to adapt to the changing face of cultour on account of greater role of technology, Nigeria is mute and factually at sea. 

The immediate past administration left a faint footprint on the nation’s tourism landscape by replacing the NTDC Act with the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) Act 2022. It was a brilliant idea. Over all, the new Act substantially cured the defects of the one repealed and does present prospects of greater collaboration between and among the public and private sectors and the three tiers of government respectively.

Obviously, Nigeria is in dire need of an integrated cultour policy that would respond to the present needs of the sector and provide a road map for future exploits. With a struggling economy as ours, we need an ambitious cultour policy that would strategically seek the relocation of the sector from the fringes of our national economy to a deserved place of prominence and priority. There is every reason to mainstream cultour into the economy as a major economic driver.

Perhaps it should be repeated here that the single greatest challenge facing the cultour sector is the perennial failure or obstinate refusal by successive governments – with a wide range of stakeholders as accomplices – to see it, rightly, as a viable economic space with a potential to de-escalate the current unemployment crisis in Nigeria.

This is therefore a call on the present administration to avoid the pitfalls of the past by paying heed to the unimpeachable assertion of Frangialli and setting out to address the quoted excerpt of the master plan above. It is also an invitation to subnationals to wake up from their ill-advised slumber and play more actively in a sector that is indisputably on the concurrent list.  

Cultour, given Nigeria’s huge competitive and comparative advantage, is our low-hanging fruit, so shouldn’t be treated with scorn any longer. Nigeria suffers colossal loss each passing day as a result of the absence of a road map for optimal exploitation of the economic potential of her vast cultoural endowments and assets.

 Akamadu, M.IoD is

author, Harnessing Cultour for Economic Growth