SHORT REMARKS BY SENATOR DAHIRU BAKO GASSOL, CHAIRMAN SENATORE COMMITTEE ON CULTURE AND TOURISM AT THE OCCASION OF THE “INVESTMENT FORUM” OF THE 3rd A

Protocol

I am glad to be here today, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, to chair the Investment Forum, a very important segment of the African Arts and Crafts (AFAC) Expo, 2010.

Indeed any major development initiative that is designed to be sustainable cannot afford to neglect the craft industry sector, partly because it is second only to Agriculture in terms of job creation and economic sustainability especially among the rural populace.

I am therefore delighted that the National Council for Arts and Culture, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation is proactively through her re-engineering efforts initiated the hosting of the African Arts and Crafts Expo (AFAC) as a major vector to open up the Arts and Crafts market, both to serve local and international demand.

This is why the Investment Forum today is particularly significant as it will attempt to create all the parameters that are aimed at stimulating the economic growth of arts and crafts in Nigeria and indeed Africa at large. The forum will address such issues that will remove the bottlenecks that stunt the growth of the industry. It will also examine market institutions and other networks that will encourage the growth of arts and crafts in the African Region.

The forum is expected to serve as linkage between Arts and Crafts producers and the necessary financial institutions, micro-finance agencies and other governmental institutions aimed at stimulating and promoting small and medium scale enterprises development.

I therefore wish to thank the National Council for Arts and Culture for incorporating this segment (Investment Forum) in the overall conduct of this programme. I am confident that all the speakers, noted professionals in their own rights, will provide insights that will guide the Ministry to design a better framework for a more productive and growth of the sector.

On this note, I wish to thank all the speakers at this occasion for their commitment to the development of the African Craft Industry.

On our part in consultation with my colleagues we will continue to improve on our budgetary process to support the development and growth of the culture sector and particularly the African Arts and Crafts (AFAC) Expo.

I also wish to thank the gentlemen of the press whose partnership is ever needed for creating awareness among our people on the benefits derivable from this Expo. It is our hope that by year 2020, the Arts and Crafts sector, would have contributed its quota in our quest towards attaining the 20 largest economies in the world. This in my view is achievable, but requires our collective efforts.
I thank you very much and God bless.