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Lagos engages creative industry practitioners on tourism promotion, pledges support

The Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf has assured practitioners in the creative industry of government’s continuous support

The Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf has assured practitioners in the creative industry of government’s continuous support in enhancing their arts, while also boosting the tourism potentials of the state. 

The Commissioner reiterated this at a stakeholders’ meeting with members of the creative industry comprising those in the film, arts and entertainment sector in Alausa, Ikeja. 

According to her, the meeting between the government and the stakeholders in the film and creative sector became imperative so as to develop a more coordinated relationship with the practitioners whom, she said are very critical in boosting the image of Lagos State and by extension the tourism potentials of the State.

She said, “The creative and entertainment industry is very critical in the tourism sector; it’s a sector that can rebrand and market Lagos to the outside world and project the State Government’s policies, plans and programmes as enshrined in the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda of this present administration. So, the State government needs this sector much as they need the government also. It is a Win-Win situation for the two parties.” 

Akinbile-Yussuf noted that the need for the private sector to take ownership and invest massively in tourism development cannot be over-emphasized, hence the need to rub minds and share ideas on how to move the sector forward with one of the key stakeholders in the sector. 

“The best thing we can do as a government is to operate an open-door policy whereby the practitioners can share ideas, contributions and recommendation to move tourism forward in the state while the State government as a regulator can look at the best way to assist and improve the sector,” she asserted. 

The Commissioner, however, noted that going forward, more success stories would be recorded in the creative, arts and entertainment industry more than ever before with the relationship that has been created as a result of the meeting, assuring that bottlenecks impeding the growth of the sector will be looked into. 

Also speaking at the meeting, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr Solomon Bonu stated that the State Government will be ready to implement some of the recommendations reached during the meeting while appealing to the filmmakers to change some of the negative narratives been screened in their films. 

“Filmmakers have the power to influence and change behavior through their scripts and storylines, as a result of this power in their hands, we want them to redirect the focus of their films to correct some attitudinal issues in our society like flooding and other environmental nuisances.”

Participants at the meeting expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the deliberations and expressed the determination of the creative sector to give the state government necessary support so as to boost the image of the State. They, however, urged the government to make laws that will further protect the content of the creative industry from impostors who are bent on killing the industry with their unlawful acts. 

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