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By Frank Meke
Tuesday, May 2nd, Nigeria’s cultural ambassador and Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe, stood before industry leaders and players, in the most profound seminal submission, requesting for deep and sober reflection to where and how our cultural tourism economy will pan out in years to come.
When Runsewe came to the cultural beat, his vision is to transform the Nigerian culture landscape into a cash cow, determine its sustainability, and impact to the rural poor, particularly women and upscale skills which are culturally horned to drive knowledge and education.
He also knew that Nigeria’s cultural diversity could help unite the people, process tolerance and peace, and help bud a deep understanding of our socioeconomic and political development.
Runsewe found Nigeria’s iconic festival, National Festival of Arts and Culture ( Nafest), a veritable vehicle to pursue this agenda and objectives to the fullest realisation and impartation to a new Nigeria.
Each Nafest held under the careful watch and mentoring of Runsewe positions a cultural and historical theme, with feverish post cultural events robbing off positively on the nation and people.
Indeed, the deliberate agenda to infuse the orientation of the private sector artistic community, traditional rulers, tourism trade professionals, and promoters, and the media through collaborations enlarged the cultural empowerment ecosystem.
Youths and students were not left behind in the repositioning of culture as the new pillar to change Nigeria’s traditional and historical narrative, a strong futuristic dream to keep our country as one indivisible nation.
On several frontiers, Runsewe has fought against cultural semantics with disruptive tendencies, particularly those with foreign influences targeting attitudinal change in our children through the strange dressings habits and deviant sex transplants
Recently, the political and economic space also erupted with negative disruptive ethnic and religious signs, which Runsewe quickly nipped in the bud, strategically reaching to douse tensions and put the nation back cultural sensitivity and correctiveness
Nigeria, no doubt, could conveniently top religious tourism destination ranking and be profitable, yet the disruptive deployment of predictions as prophetic utterances rankled the sensitiveness of opinions, ditto duty-free ethnic profiling which run contrary to our diversity.
The japa syndrome also negatively disrupted Nigeria’s cultural cohesion, with futuristic negative consequences to the survival of our history, language, and love for our family system and marriage beliefs.
These are interesting parameters to relearn and reasses the Nigerian cultural value chain, particularly with a new government around the corner and indeed to brace up and respond to both negative and positive disruptions, which must be culturally addressed, not just by government but by the private sector.
Honestly, the responsiveness that Runsewe brought to bear in Nigeria cultural tourism space through Ncac, certainly put to pressure how we wish to respond, to how we can help our people stay proud about who we are and how the world reacts to new thoughts on Nigeria economy and politics.
In less than five years on the culture beat, Runsewe has brought the state governors to bid to host national cultural events, fueling strategic response by traditional rulers to interven to birth local festivals and also encourage domestic cultural tourism.
Indeed, these positive cultural disruptions must be protected and guided against certain thoughts and processes just like the Chinese has done for centuries. Today, the Chinese are better profiled and known through their cultural tradition all over the world, particularly through their China Town economic promotions and their Culinary exports.
Nigeria’s Nafest, showcases these interesting possibilities, waiting to export our cultural advantages to a world looking originality and innovation in Nigerian music, dances, fashion and entertainment.
Take a look at the African map, Nigeria’s cultural diversity and influence reigns Supreme but yet to positively disrupt established trade and marketing models which deliberately strangulate its reach and impact across the borders.
My opinion, the fragmentation of our tourism policy ( if any), where information rides over cultural tourism goals, shuttles rather than speed up national focal benefits on Nigeria culturally driven tourism engagement.
Runsewe certainly tunes to listen to the private sector and has over the years, made it ncac central policy not only to collaborate with them but to provide opportunities for their effective participation in marketing the emerging culture economy.
From various interventions by stakeholders at the Abuja meeting held at kapital Hotel, the summary is that Nigeria culture is in good hands of Runsewe, and must help re- awaken other sub sectors to the quest win the diadem to which Nigeria can again, glory in its diversity and population.
To those who don’t like Runsewe positively impactful presence to do things culturally differently, I will advise they punch his picture in the corner their rooms, but to me, and other Nigerians who prides about his determination to be held accountable for our cultural tourism tomorrow, we pray that God honour and keep him to see the dawn of a rich and blessed Nigerian culture.
