Hannatu Musa Musawa is now the Minister of the recently established Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy.
She gave a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday after taking office and declared her deep belief that the new Ministry would bring money into the Federal Government’s coffers.
She claimed that in order to restore the lost unity left by the nation’s founding fathers, the Ministry would patronize and integrate Nigeria’s 250 various cultural groups.
“We can use this ministry to nurture the unity of the nation that our forefathers like Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sardauna, Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe and the rest bequeathed to us,” she said. “Apart from the potential of generating revenue into the nation, revenue that will be put back into the system that will benefit Nigerians in all spheres.
“We have a huge task ahead of us and we need all hands on deck to export ourselves to the international stage,” the speaker said. “Somehow, the message of unity in our diversity has been lost several decades ago.”
While expressing her joy at being the first Minister of the new Ministry, she emphasized that no one was representing any particular region of the nation and that President Tinubu had charged them with carrying out their duties in the best interests of Nigerians.
She explained that the Federal Ministry of Information was split into the Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy to enable specialization in the three fields. As a result, she urged the employees to be dedicated to the objective of exporting Nigerian culture on the global arena.
Obviously, yesterday we had our meeting or press conference with the Permanent Secretary and the entire house. I’m extremely happy to be here today. We resemble three separate Ministries combined into one, as the Permanent Secretary said.
“Of course, the Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Tourism was once combined with the Ministry of Information to form the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism, which was then divided into three parts so that each of us could focus on one of those sectors thanks to the wisdom of Mr. President.
“Over the past few years, I must say that this specific market has been absolutely unexplored, or at least not underutilized in a way that prevents us from achieving the deliverables that our country needs.
“As a country, Nigeria is currently on the verge of grandeur. The entire world is watching Nigeria to see if we can export our culture, our arts, and our entertainment to the international stage because we are already a magnificent country.
“There is a lot of curiosity about what Nigeria would have to offer.
“I believe that by providing us with this ministry, it provides us with a chance to tap into that space in a way that will completely change the narrative of Nigeria in order to cultivate our culture and our heritage to showcase who we really are as a people,” the author said.
Dr. Ngozi Onwudiwe, the ministry’s co-ordinating permanent secretary, and other staff members welcomed the minister.