The Federal Government has concluded arrangements to retrieve all artifacts and portraits stolen from ancient Benin Kingdom and sold abroad, but have been found at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Minister of information, culture and national orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this at the sectoral debate organized by the House of Representatives on the diversification of the Nigerian economy.
Mohammed also disclosed that the government plans to establish arts and craft centres across the 774 local government areas of the country, lamenting that tourism as of today contributes less than 1.5 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said the sector was the main revenue earner in most countries but “unfortunately, in Nigeria, this sector contributes less than 1.5 percent to the GDP” the minister noted that although, “this is the only sector that creates employment opportunities for those who ordinarily would have been unemployable, either due to lack of skills or lack of education.
It is the only sector that is for the under privileged and the poor, it is a sector that brings peace and stability to the polity. It fosters unity and it discourages rural/urban migration. “Regrettably, this sector faces many challenges today, ranging from institutional to logistics and then financials and these challenges have not helped the sector to achieve its potentials”.
