Business
Ministry Budgets N150m For Abuja Carnival
Abuja Carnival is to receive great boost next year as the Federal Government has proposed a 300 per cent increased funding for the annual cultural fiesta.
According to the Minister of Culture and Tourism and National Orientation, Mr Edem Duke, the Federal Government is planning to spend N150 million on the Abuja Carnival in 2013.
Mr Duke stated this , yesterday during the budget defenceof the ministry with the Senate committee on Culture led by Senator Ahmed Barata. Duke told the Committee that only N50 million was appropriated for this year’s Abuja Carnival but only N42 million was released.
According to him, a better part of the money was spent on settling bills accumulated from the 2011 Carnival. He said to this effect, the 2012 Abuja Carnival was organised using goodwill and not just the Federal Government’s budgetary allocation.
By the minister’s presentation, the ministry had proposed N22 billion for the 2013 fiscal year out of which N150 had been earmarked for the Abuja Carnival 2013.
The minister reitterated the sector’s potential to employ a lot of Nigerians if properly handled. His words: “The culture and Tourism sector has the potential to employ everybody.
“Therefore, if for any reason we find that there is a larger number of workforce in a particular area, we are willing to sit and discuss with people about possibilities of using tourism to engage as many people as possible.”
Duke said the sector was one of the top three employers globally, adding that waiting for budgetary allocations alone would not move it forward.
“The master plan of Nigeria requires resources not just from budget but also from the private sector. “So, we need to find collaboration with the private sector, especially with the media to advocate for the importance of mainstreaming this sector into the economy of Nigeria”, he declared.
The Minister said that if the funds were released early enough, the ministry would be able to plan well ahead of time and not encounter most of the challenges related to late release of funds.
Senator Barata had lamented that the Federal Government was not interested in funding the tourism sector due to the availability of oil in the country.
He, however, said that while the oil money touched only the lives of the elite, funds from tourism impacted on the lives of the common man.
The chairman of Senate Committee on Culture urged the ministry to organise a retreat with relevant stakeholders in attendance to analyse the relevance of the sector to enable government see reasons why the sector needs additional funding.
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