Mr. Ifeanyi Ajaegbo, National Professional Officer for Culture, UNESCO, says the development of cultural potentials in the country is the panacea to its economic diversification.
Ajaegbo said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the side-line of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) Quarterly public lecture on Monday in Abuja.
He said that culture could be used to substitute for oil in terms of revenue generation and boost foreign exchange.
“Culture can supplant oil as a major FOREX, Nigerian culture can also become a more cohesive platform for building a national identity rather than the division that we are having today.
“I am Igbo, I am Yoruba, I am Hausa, I am this; if we come together culturally, we can be a stronger and more united as a nation.”
Similarly, Prof. Barclays Ayakoroma, Executive Secretary, NICO said that, the culture sector offered a credible alternative for crude oil.
According to him, commercialising the Nigerian culture could boost the economy as it would attract foreign tourists to the country.
He added that culture “is our heritage and its always with us unlike the crude oil that can dry up any time.’’
Ayakoroma, who spoke further on the importance of the lecture said that it was aimed at creating awareness on the need to harness the prospective of the Nigerian culture for economic development.
He said the lecture also creates a platform to discuss and make those in positions of authority to know that there is the need to look inwards and diversify the economy.
Ayakoroma also called for the sustainability of the lecture.
