Arts Minister, Hannatu Musawa Assumes Office, Makes New Vow

Hannatu Musa Musawa, the Minister of the newly created Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, has assumed office.

Briefing journalists upon her assumption of office on Tuesday in Abuja, she expressed a firm belief that the new Ministry would plough revenue into the coffers of the Federal Government.

She said the 250 diverse cultures of Nigerians would be brought on stream and patronised by the Ministry to nurture unity bequeathed by the founding fathers which has been lost.

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 the sphere, we can use this ministry to nurture 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.

“Somehow, the message of unity in our diversity has several decades ago been lost; so there is a great task ahead of us and we need all hands on deck to export ourselves to the international stage.”

While expressing excitement for being the pioneer Minister of the new Ministry, she noted that President Tinubu has tasked them to discharge their responsibilities in the interest of Nigerians, stressing that nobody was representing any region of the country.

She said the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy was carved out of the Federal Ministry of Information to enable specialisation of the three areas, hence, she urged the staff members to be committed to the vision of exporting Nigeria’s culture on the world’s stage.

“I am very pleased to be here today, of course, yesterday we had our meeting or a press conference with the Permanent Secretary and with the full house. Like the Permanent Secretary said, we are like a triple Ministry fused into one.

“Of Course, the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism was merged with the Ministry of Information in the past to become the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and in the wisdom of Mr President, it was divided into three to allow us each to be able to specialize in those areas.

“In the couple of years, I must say this particular space has been completely untapped, or has not been unutilized in a way that gives us deliverables that we need as a nation.

“Nigeria as a nation at this point, is really on the precipice of greatness. We are already a great nation and the whole world is looking up to us to see if Nigeria is able to export our culture, our arts and entertainment to the world stage.

“There is so much interest in what Nigeria will be able to offer.

“I think by giving us this ministry, it gives us an opportunity to tap into that space in a way it 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 Minister was received by the coordinating Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Ngozi Onwudiwe and other members of staff.