‘NAFEST, a vehicle for unity’

By Adie Vanessa Offiong Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has called on Nigerians to see the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) as a vehicle to further unite the country. The minister who said: “There is an urgent need to bring us closer together as a people, amid widening divisions along […]

By Adie Vanessa Offiong

Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has called on Nigerians to see the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) as a vehicle to further unite the country.
The minister who said: “There is an urgent need to bring us closer together as a people, amid widening divisions along ethnic, religious and social lines, also said, “The fact that contingents from different parts of the country come together annually, irrespective of their ethnicity or religion, to showcase their arts and culture and leverage on their comparative advantage, is very healthy for our country.”
Mohammed said it is noteworthy that the festival has evolved from being an instrument of unity to being a platform to help raise the level of economic activities in the country.
He said: “This is reflected in the theme of this year’s festival – ‘Exploring the Goldmine Inherent in the Nigerian Creative Industries.’
“The theme is geared towards using our various cultural products and expressions to develop a creative economy and, at the same time, promote the patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products.”
With festivals around the world moving from just being a forum to showcase arts and culture, to becoming a tool for economic growth, creative industries are becoming creative economies.
To this end, he said: “On our part, as a Ministry, we have intensified actions to make our festivals economically viable. This we are doing by increasing the capacity of our festival managers through training and retraining, and mapping the various arts and culture festivals across the country. In this regard, we are working with local and international partners,  including the British Council – with which we have just signed an MoU and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, with which we also plan to sign an MoU.”
Towards actualizing the theme of this year’s NAFEST, the minister said various events have been put together. They include indigenous poetry performance (children participation), drama, arts and crafts competition, essay writing as well as drawing and painting competitions. Other events include indigenous cuisines and traditional wrestling (junior category), book fair, cultural market and the colloquium components.
He said the festival is well-planned to harness the potentials inherent in Nigeria’s cultural industries.
The minister said: “The cultural market segment of NAFEST is designed to showcase cultural products and services, ranging from consumer to utilitarian products. This is a way of encouraging Nigerians to be creative and resourceful in our quest for development.
“Similarly, the indigenous cuisine will examine indigenous culinary culture of the nation and encourage our people to look inward towards marketing and packaging of Nigerian food to the international market, thereby creating huge employment opportunities.”
Commending the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel and members of his executive council for accepting to host the event and  for all they have done so far towards ensuring a successful festival, he said there was need to sensitise Nigerians on the objectives of the festival.
They include: promoting our much cherished values of understanding, peaceful coexistence, love and national unity, using culture to galvanize the citizenry towards achieving our national aspirations and growing our GDP, job creation and economic empowerment, celebrating our collective heritage, talent hunt and the display of creativity as well as exchange of ideas, skills and indigenous technologies.
The 29th edition of the fiesta begins today in the Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital with the arrival of participants while the opening ceremony holds on Tuesday.