Charles Ajunwa
As part of its mandate to promote Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and make the country an investment destination, the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Segun Runsewe, will today inaugurate the first Abuja Cultural Market to be replicated in all the 36 states.
Runsewe, who is also the President World Crafts Council for African Region, announced that NCAC has concluded plans to send 3,000 youths to China for training on skills Acquisition.
The NCAC boss declared this yesterday at the Investment Forum of the 16th International Arts and Crafts (INAC) Expo 2023 with the theme: ‘Networking Nigerian Arts and Crafts to the World’ held at Ladi Kwali Hall, Continental Hotel, Abuja. According to him, the arts and crafts sector “is the only sector that can save this country,” adding, “it’s only sector that nobody is a failure.”
“The 16th edition of the International Arts and Crafts expo is a wonderful platform of energising and opening Nigeria’s arts and crafts to whole world. The Investment Forum, is the intellectual component of the INAC Expo. The whole idea of our interacting here, is to take something back home and put them to use. “The NCAC plans to replicate the Cultural Market in all the 36 states, and Abuja Cultural Market which is ready will be inaugurated tomorrow (today). We will be taking the culture commissioners, permanent secretaries and directors to the Abuja Cultural Market which is opposite the Abuja Continental Hotel.
“We are also sending 3,000 youths from Nigeria to China for training on skills Acquisition. Each state will be sending 100 youths,” Runsewe said.
The Keynote Speaker for the Investment Forum titled, ‘Culture, Economic Development and National Security’, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, commended the NCAC boss, Runsewe, for initiating the idea to take 3,000 youths to China.
Prof. Uwaleke, who is a lecturer at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, described culture as a healthy vehicle of national development when put into good use.
According to him, “cultural values of a society play a decisive role in its economic benaviour and development process. They influence society’s ability not only to create but also to operate institutions. |
“In other words, the values and principles a culture propagates generally determines how well that society develops in relation to others.
“A culture that values meritocracy, fair treatment (civility), harmony, rule of law and equality before the law, hard work; is going to produce a far more developed and secure society than a culture that values nepotism and caste system.
“Therefore, in formulating National Development Plans, it is important to consider the nexus between culture, economic development and national security.”
