By Usman Aliyu
Ilesha-Baruba (Kwara) – (NAN) The Emir of Ilesha-Baruba, in Kwara, Prof. Halidu Abubakar, has stressed the need for government at all levels to explore the country’s culture and tourism potential for job creation in Nigeria.
Abubakar told the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilesha-Baruba, Baruten Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday that if properly harnessed, culture and tourism were would also alleviate poverty in the country.
“It is when our cultural heritage is employed to address the ills apparent in the polity that we can boast of living in our culture,’’ the emir said.
He urged other arms of government to cooperate with the government at the centre in the drive to turn around the fortunes of the sector for the better.
The monarch tasked the executive to deliberate and articulate on issues bordering on culture with a view to harnessing them for development processes.
“The task ahead of you is to concretise the whole populace on the place of culture in human development and the need to apply our cultural ideals in decisive effort toward nation building.’’
Abubakar challenged government to be frontal and more proactive in designing and executing various cultural programmes in consonance with the needs of the time.
The time, he said, had come for government to project policies and programmes that would put culture as a core issue on national agenda.
The monarch noted that the traditional institution had a role to play in revival of the nation’s cultural heritage with a view to bringing out the desired goals.
“As a stakeholder in the administration of culture in the country, the vivid picture of the state of art and culture in the country can only be ascertained through us,’’ he said. (NAN)