ABUJA – The Federal Government has been urged to support initiatives aimed at adding value and enhancing the competitiveness of the country’s arts and craft in the global market.
Participants at the Investment Forum on African Arts and Crafts 2014 made the call in a communiqué issued at the end of the forum in Abuja on Wednesday. They also called on the government to establish cottage industries on arts to enhance growth of the sector.
The communiqué, signed by Prof. Ben Ekanem and Mr Victor Mark-Onyegbu, Chairman and Secretary, Communiqué Drafting Committee, said the sector was imperative to the actualisation of Vision 20:2020.
It urged the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) to cooperate with the National Board for Technology Incubation and other relevant agencies and parastatals to assist craftsmen and women to build their capacities.[eap_ad_2] This, the forum said, could be done through workshops to facilitate the exchange of skills among craftsmen at both local and international levels. “Support should be given to initiatives that would bring about value addition as well as enhance the competitiveness of our craft products in the global market’’, it said.
It called on NCAC to support the establishment of incubation and production centres for arts and craft in the states to enhance the acquisition of skills and stem youth restiveness.
The expo was organised by the NCAC. (NAN)[eap_ad_3]
