The
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has called
for collaboration between the ministry and the Goethe Institute, the
German Cultural Centre in Nigeria, in the preservation of archival
materials, heritage sites and capacity building.
The Minister made the call when he received the Institute's Director, Marc-Andre Schmachtel, at the National Theatre in Lagos on Friday.
''We
need to preserve our heritage in order to boost culture. Some heritage
sites are inaccessible while we are rapidly losing others,'' he said,
adding that the communities in which the heritage sites are situated
must also be involved in the preservation efforts.
Alhaji Mohammed also sought the assistance of the Institute in preserving archival materials as well as works of art.
''We
have priceless works of arts, but many of them are in bad condition.
Unless we get support, we won't be able to preserve them,'' he said.
In
the area of capacity building, the Minister, who noted that there is a
clear link between culture and tourism, said ''our people lacked the
capacity and training'' to adequately market the country's tourism and
cultural potentials which, he said, can sustain the country's economy,
at a time of dwindling earnings from oil.
''We need to train them to manage and package the sites to attract global interests,'' he said.
Earlier,
the Director of the Goethe institute, Mr. Schmachtel, said the
institute is collaborating with the Lagos Film Society to conserve and
preserve between 150 and 200 films dating back to pre-2014, most of them
detailing the country's history.
He said most the films are in a bad condition and that experts are working to determine how to conserve and preserve them.
Mr.
Schmachtel said there were many more areas of possible collaboration
between his institute and the Ministry of Information and Culture, and
urged the ministry to take advantage of them.
Segun AdeyemiSA to Hon Minister of Information and Culture
Lagos
Feb. 5th 2016
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