We can fuse tourism, culture, creativity to tell the world who we are – IBM Haruna

It has been observed that Nigeria can fuse its rich culture and creativity to harness its tourism potential for the overall socio-economic development of the country and showcase itself and its citizens to the world.

Major-General IBM Haruna (retd) said this while speaking as the chairman of the occasion and special guest at the launch of a book titled, ‘Harnessing Coultor for Economic Growth’ in Abuja.

He said, “I am pleased that I had the opportunity and insight of the book being presented today. I am also pleased that the book and the author have sounded the clarion call for us to be conscious of what we are in this world. What are we contributing to? What are we to be known for? And I think the total of it all is what we have come to be through history and antiquity.

“We were among the people that have chances for better opportunities. But I think that with our experience and civilisation, we want to thank our country Nigeria. We have something to show them, and that makes us what we are, what we are striving to be and what we are contributing to the world in modern civilisation, and what we have contributed to the world.”

In his welcome address, the author of the book, Chuks Akamadu, said Nigeria had a rich cultural heritage and tourism potential that would help its efforts in diversifying the economy for a better future.

He said, “We cannot afford to continue to depend on our petrodollar. We don’t need to be economists to realise that the major part of why the naira is struggling today is because we have a manifestly unfavourable balance of trade. And then, if we must walk the economic diversification path, the argument has been that we must look at the way of agriculture.”

Presenting her review of the book, Mrs Elizabeth Ben-Iheanacho said Akamadu had a passion for shaping national development through a conceptual model that leads him to delineate elements that characterise the coultoural thesis.