The Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, has vowed to reposition the nation’s cultural sector, making it the next ‘oil industry’.

This came to light penultimate Saturday during the stakeholders’ forum the council organised at Planet One, Maryland, Lagos, and which was attended by the who is who in the arts and culture sector.

According to Runsewe, the forum was meant to mobilise the full support of the stakeholders and media practitioners for the council’s mission of bringing to the fore the economic potentials of Nigeria’s creative industries.

“The cultural sector of this country has inherent and abundant resources from which our people can seek and sustain a decent living and command international respect through our creative innovation,” he explained.

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While revealing his intention to re-organise the programmes and activities of the council along an entrepreneurial perspective, the director general said it would be with a view to exploring the merchandising opportunities that are associated with them.

“We shall be putting in place mechanisms that would transform the sector by empowering our artists, craftsmen and women to take control of this industry. We will try to build infrastructure and the capacity of the industry and ensure sustainable development in this sector,” he said.

Runsewe, who announced the launching of the campaign for the 37 Cultural Wonders of Nigeria, stated that it was designed to highlight the economic potentials of iconic cultural manifestations in each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

He also mentioned other projects of the council to include the rebranding of NCAC flagship programmes such as the African Arts and Crafts (AFAC) Expo and National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) coming up later in the year.