By Entertainers Should Be Encouraged To Produce Abroad- DG Of Council Of Art & Culture, Runshewe
By Uchechukwu Ugboaja
The Director General (DG) National Council for Art & Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runshewe has stated that we must keep exporting our culture through our music and films. According to the veteran journalist, culture is Nigeria’s biggest untapped asset and must be encourage any individual, group or organisation that focuses on leveraging on our cultural potentials.
“Culture is Nigeria’s biggest untapped asset, because through culture we can bring people together, unite them and speak for them.
I can tell you without fear or favour that Nigerian culture is rich and so in terms of eco culture, 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.”
The erudite journalist who has been at the vanguard of promoting Nigerian Arts and Culture insisted that exporting the rich culture remains the fastest way for Nigeria to recover from the recession caused by plunging oil prices globally and that the rich culture if harnessed optimally is ready to replace oil and gas in the national economy.
This reaction is coming on the heels of an outcry by some elite, musicians and artists over the proposed ban on Nigerian music videos from being produced abroad. As reported by Vanguard Newspapers globally acclaimed pop Nigerian musicians like P-Square have criticised the Federal Government’s plan to stop the production of Nigerian music videos abroad, saying the policy will hinder global competitiveness of the music industry. A plan, which was made known by the Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed in Lagos, has since sparked off debates not only among popular artists but also analysts across culture and tourism industry especially which has been identified as a credible replacement for oil.
Also Read: Entertainers Lay Curses On Federal Government For Planning To Ban Shooting Of Videos Abroad
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.”
