Arts and crafts expo ignites Abuja

Themed ‘African Arts and Crafts: Tools for Economic Empowerment,’ the seventh edition of Abuja’s annual AFAC Expo officially opened at the Eagles Square on Tuesday. The event organised by the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), began penultimate Friday and brought together a potpourri of vendors hoping to exploit the expo to their utmost […]

Themed ‘African Arts and Crafts: Tools for Economic Empowerment,’ the seventh edition of Abuja’s annual AFAC Expo officially opened at the Eagles Square on Tuesday. The event organised by the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), began penultimate Friday and brought together a potpourri of vendors hoping to exploit the expo to their utmost benefit.
Declaring the event open, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, solicited the support of the private sector and corporate bodies to transform the arts and crafts sector. He said if the sector is properly harnessed it would empower the rural population, discourage rural-urban migration and create employment locally and internationally.
“AFAC has grown steadily to become a veritable platform for mobilising youths and women towards actualising their talents, skills and creativity. Globally, Nigerians are known for their creative ability and have excelled in this sector and any efforts that contribute towards expanding and developing this, are welcome,” the minister said.
“The expo has lived up to its expectation of regional integration and unity as well as bringing to the fore the economic opportunities that abound in the creativity industry. The concept of AFAC which enables it to attract participation from many African countries and beyond makes it a potent tool for realising the objectives of the African Union,” he added.
Chairman of House of Representatives committee on culture and tourism, Mr Ben Nwankwo, had earlier emphasised the need to mainstream the arts and crafts sector into the economy, advising that the potentials inherent in the sector should be unlocked to allow for adequate growth and development of the industry that would help to increase Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.
NCAC executive director, Mr Mawjim Maidugu, said the expo has since inception promoted import and export business of arts and crafts.
“It has become a platform at which the artistry, craftsmanship and entrepreneurial skills in the area of cultural industry are showcased, with a view to unveiling the investment opportunities and economic potentials that abound in the sector. AFAC has also helped to sensitise investors on the need to invest in the industry’s development and established a viable international market for the region,” he said.
The mix of participants was made up of state representatives, government institutions, individual businesses, small scale and large businesses including sculptors, jewellery sellers, clothes sellers, painters, furniture makers, cosmetic dealers as well as herbalists amongst others, who came from across Nigeria, Africa and the Far East.
Ghanaian participant, Celestina Borsu, who had participated in the Katsina and Minna international trade fairs, in the preceding weeks before coming to Abuja, said it has been a rollercoaster experience selling arts and crafts to Nigerians.
“I felt it would have been unfair if Ghana hadn’t shown up to participate at this event. That is why I pushed myself to come and ordered more items to be brought which my son did,” Borsu said.
At the investment forum on Wednesday, Prof. Frank Ugiomaoh of the Fine Art and Design Department, University of Port Harcourt, in his lead paper entitled: ‘The arts and crafts sector in economic empowerment and intercultural synergy,’ said arts and crafts are important cultural elements when considering economic empowerment.
Speaking ‘on art and artists,’ ‘the birth of art and craft traditions,’ ‘the origin of modern and contemporary valuation in the arts’ and ‘examples of economic and inter-cultural values of art in Africa,’ Ugiomaoh queried the number of galleries in Nigeria that have in their collection works from other civilisations.
“These are avenues whereby we improve ourselves by appreciating what others have created. How many documentary libraries do we have of our past creations? Where we have an archive of sorts, do we have an agenda to maintain them?” he asked.
Stressing the need to look at a new cultural policy, Ugiomoh said considerations should be given to these queries to drive regional integrations and economic growth in Africa.
Prof. Folasade Ifamose of the Department of History and Diplomatic Studies, University of Abuja, in her paper entitled: ‘Tapping the arts and crafts industry towards empowering Nigerian youths and women,’ said arts in Africa is different from the Western interpretation of it, where it is only for consumption of the upper-class or delivered into purpose-built institutions such as museums.
Emphasising that arts and crafts have a strong and strategic role to play in youth and women empowerment she said: “There is need to establish tools for standardisation and mass production so as to strengthen the competitiveness of Nigerian arts and crafts products within the framework of globalisation.”
In his paper entitled: ‘The role of value addition on indigenous technology to the development of arts and crafts industry in Nigeria,’ Engr. Mohammed Jibrin of the Nigerian Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI), said Nigeria’s multi-ethnic and diverse culture gives a lot of value to its arts, which primarily include ivory, carving, grass weaving, wood carving, leather and calabash, pottery, painting, clothe weaving, glass and metal works.
“The products from these indigenous crafts have sufficiently served the economic needs of the people in the local communities. Improvement in the development of these arts and crafts through consistent value addition powered by technology is prerequisite for the industrial revolution of Nigeria,” Jibrin said.
He proposed that collaboration between the NCAC and NBTI to foster the establishment of improved arts and crafts cottage industries was completely in tandem with government policies on industrialisation and the Vision 2020.
The fiesta ends tomorrow and will be the last hosted by the outgoing NCAC executive director, whose tenure ends soon.