Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Tuesday, described creative art as one
of the major drivers of tourism development in the state.
Sanwo-Olu made the remark at the 2022 Greater Lagos Art Exhibition held at Victoria Island, Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event had the theme: “Art in and for Transformations”.
The governor represented by his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, assured creative art practitioners in the state of his unrelenting commitment to the growth of the sector.
He said that his administration would embrace every opportunity to support and encourage young and upcoming talented individuals to grow and gain the exposure they need to succeed.
According to Sanwo-Olu, creative art occupies a special place in the E pillar of his administration’s THEMES agenda, which stands for Entertainment and Tourism.
He said: “Over three years of the implementation of the THEMES development agenda, we have left no one in doubt about our desire to fully harness the largely untapped potential of entertainment sector, especially in the creative arts component.
“The exhibition is quite instructive as there is need to utilise different words and media to effectively communicate messages and ideas especially to those that are meant to change the orientation of the public, societal ills and its effects on the general well-being of the society.”
Sanwo-Olu said that the theme of the exhibition spoke to the power of artwork as potent tools of drive and influence social transformation through the message they communicate.
In her remarks, the Wife of the Governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, said the event presented opportunities to appreciate the enormous contribution of artists to the society.
According to her, it will help to remind them of the need to have their creativity to correct some ills within the society.
She noted that across the globe, art had proven to be a powerful tool which helped people communicate with the outer world and better understand their inner selves.
The governor’s wife noted that as opinion moulders and great influencers of thought, the creative art practitioners should be deeply involved and commit themselves to supporting the present administration in stamping out the menace of gender-based violence in the society.
She advised creative art practitioners to use their artworks as a form of campaign against domestic and gender-based violence and other societal vices.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Tourism, Art & Culture, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said that the exhibition was part of the state government’s intervention to give visibility to artists and their artworks to further deepen the creative industry.
She said that art in its various forms was a good business that deserved every attention and investment that was channeled toward it.
