Nigeria’s Economic Council (NEC) has approved the establishment of Creative Renewed Hope Villages that will help re-adopt the country’s heritage sites.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents, at the end of the last meeting of the Council for the year 2024, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
He said the decision followed a proposal presented to NEC by the Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa.
The Governor said: “A presentation was made by the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy. You know, this is not one ministry that comes around all the time, but they had their day with the Council today. It was a very elaborate, very detailed presentation, and they had a very big idea around the establishment and the adoption of historic sites to create, to be named Renewed Hope Creative Villages.
“The whole idea is for the ministry to be able to work; first, with, a lot of the sub-nationals to identify some of these sites and identify some of these very historic locations, and see how they are adopted, into the creative villages, as a one-stop shop, which we believe will not only enhance, protect, today and the future of these sites, but will also bring a lot of light, visibility and viability to it.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu said the council was convinced that a lot of opportunities abound in the creative arts sector and establishing the villages will help boost the image of Nigeria as well as provide employment.
“We’ve talked about the enormous opportunities that abound in the creative industry, especially with our rural historic sites and with our monuments. So the whole idea around the presentation was for the ministry to put it on the front burner and for the sub-nationals to be able to work with them and identify various sites that can become what we call thriving.
“You know, creative villages and they were able to put forward justification for this initiative. I mean, not only do they believe it will create jobs, it will also enhance, the revenue of the various locations that, by extension, revenue generation for government,” the Governor stated.
He also said the council approved that more funds be allocated to the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy.
“At the end of the day, Council also deemed it fit that at the federal level, they also need to support the ministry more by ensuring that they give them adequate budgetary support so that they don’t go to the entire sub nationals cap in hand. So, it was resolved that the ministry should also be given adequate support and it was unanimously agreed,” he added.
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