…Says Culture, Tourism, Arts Veritable Tools For Development
… Lagos Thriving Under Ambode - Lai Mohammed
Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday vowed to
transform the National Museum in Lagos to a modern-day cultural edifice
which would be of international standard, just as he pledged to partner
with the Federal Government to give facelift to federal infrastructures
in the state.
Governor Ambode, who spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja when the Minister
of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, paid him a
courtesy visit, said he would collaborate with the Federal Government to
ensure the speedy completion of the project which he said will enhance
the cultural heritage of Nigeria.
He said considering the strategic importance of culture and tourism to
the identity of people, there was no better time for Lagos and the
Federal Government to collaborate in driving the essence of culture with
the view to improving on the situation on ground and thereby improve on
the economy and develop the nation.
The Governor said Onikan, where the museum is located, is a melting
port of the cultural heritage of Lagos and Nigeria by extension, hence,
serious efforts must be put in place to start to recreate the monument
to adequately situate the history of the country.
“Just the same way we have collaborated with the police, we will
collaborate with you and ensure that whatever we can do to create a
facelift to the infrastructure of the Federal Government in Lagos, we
will do it because it will eventually be to the benefit of Lagosians and
eventually aid the economic growth of Lagos.
“Talking precisely about the National Museum at Onikan, we will go
straight with the commissioners here to see how we can put up a
modern-day museum of international standard and see how that can work
towards our Lagos@50 Celebration next year.
“We are not only doing it for Nigeria, but also for the future of our
cultural heritage. We believe strongly that the axis around Onikan and
Marina is actually the melting port of our cultural heritage and we must
start to recreate the monument in that area to be able to say a whole
lot about the history of Lagos and more importantly, a whole lot about
the history of Nigeria and so we would see how we can run as fast as
possible on that,” the Governor said.
The Governor, who lamented that some Nigerian languages are gradually
going into extinction due to lack of preservation of cultural values,
said that with the renewed commitment of the federal and state
governments, issues of youth unemployment could be adequately addressed
using culture, tourism, arts, sports and entertainment.
“That is why we are committed to the Employment Trust Fund. We are just
about to inaugurate it and every year for the next four years, we will
be putting N6.25 billion, totaling N25 billion. Using that fund, we will
be creating arts and recording studios and business incubators because
we don’t longer want our artistes to be recording their works outside
Nigeria. We can do it and that is where we are going. That will create a
lot of energy among our younger ones and before you know it, they are
on track and we too are on track as a very viable economy,” Governor
Ambode said.
Earlier, Mohammed said he was in Lagos to solicit the support of the
Governor and State Government to collaborate in jointly moving the state
and indeed the country forward in areas of culture and tourism.
He said Lagos remains the economic and financial hub of Nigeria, and
that it was worthy to underscore the fact that the state is thriving
under Governor Ambode, who he said is not only doing well but has
greatly improved on all he met on ground.
He said the Blue Line Rail project being built by the State Government,
when completed in December, would not only be the first in Nigeria, but
also greatly boost the economy and tourism potentials of the state, as
well as the 10-lane Lagos-Badagry expressway.
The Minister said: “Governor Ambode is doing very well. Look at his
emphasis on security; he met a security trust fund which was doing very
well, and is now doing better. He has almost doubled the kind of
equipment and facilities and assistance he is giving the police.
“Only recently, we passed in the Federal Executive Council, a
$200million loan application for Lagos State to complete the Blue Line
Rail. This is a project that had been stalled for political reasons and
he pushed through this.
“Look at Light Up Lagos Project, it makes it easy for you to move from
point A to point B without any problems and this ultimately will impact
positively on the economy of the state. He’s on the right track,” he
said.
Source: Lagos State Govt.
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