Oyo’ll no longer depend on oil, raw materials for economic prosperity – Makinde

…state targets global market for arts, crafts

By Adeola Badru

The Oyo State Government has declared its determination to move beyond dependence on conventional sources of revenue by harnessing the economic potential of arts, crafts, cultural festivals, and tourism to generate foreign exchange, attract international investments, and create employment opportunities.

The government said it was working to transform Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage into commercially viable products for the global export market, positioning the creative economy as a major driver of economic growth and sustainable development.

The initiative, which sought to unlock the enormous economic value of indigenous artistic expressions, traditional knowledge, and cultural assets, will be driven through the Oyo State Business Forum 2026, with the theme “Investment and Export Promotion of Arts and Crafts Business in Oyo State.”

The forum is expected to bring together investors, artists, craftsmen, exporters, policymakers, and development partners to explore investment opportunities, strengthen export capacity, and expand the international market for Nigerian arts and crafts.

Speaking at a press briefing to announce the forum, the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun, said the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde was deliberately repositioning culture beyond its traditional function as a custodian of heritage to become a productive economic sector capable of generating wealth, attracting investments, and contributing meaningfully to national development.

Olatubosun, who spoke at the briefing organized in collaboration with the Oyo State Investment and Public-Private Partnership Agency (OYSIPA) at the state Secretariat, Ibadan, described Nigeria’s cultural wealth as an enormous but largely untapped economic resource that could compete favorably in the international marketplace.

He maintained that traditional festivals, indigenous knowledge, artistic expressions, and locally produced crafts possessed considerable commercial value and could become major export commodities if properly researched, documented, developed, and marketed.

According to him, the state government is also repositioning its cultural festivals from routine annual celebrations into internationally competitive tourism and entertainment products capable of attracting foreign visitors, investors, and members of the African diaspora.

He identified the recent inscription of the Sango Festival on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as a major boost to Oyo State’s international cultural standing and an opportunity to attract greater global attention.

The commissioner explained that the recognition had taken the annual festival in Oyo Town beyond its traditional geographical and cultural boundaries, making it an increasingly attractive destination for international tourists, cultural enthusiasts, and media organizations from Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

He added that the Sango Festival had joined the Osun-Osogbo Festival as one of the two festivals in Southwest Nigeria with UNESCO recognition.

Olatubosun also highlighted the growing international appeal of the World Egungun Festival, which was repackaged in 2024 as a tourism and entertainment product to broaden its economic value and attract a wider international audience.

He said the festival had recorded remarkable growth in attendance, with increasing participation from outside Oyo State and growing interest from countries with strong historical and cultural connections to Yoruba heritage, particularly Brazil, Cuba, and Trinidad and Tobago.

“When we started in 2024, we recorded between 6,000 and 7,000 attendees. In 2025, attendance grew to over 17,000, while this year we welcomed more than 19,000 visitors, with over 50 percent coming from outside Oyo State,” he said.

The commissioner further disclosed that an initial group of 25 foreign visitors interested in traditional initiation rites was expected in the state later this year, describing the development as another opportunity to stimulate economic activities and increase foreign currency inflows.

“They may not be paying for initiation, but they will spend their dollars here. Those resources will circulate within our economy. That is the economic value of culture,” he added.

Beyond cultural festivals and tourism, Olatubosun said the government was taking deliberate steps to strengthen the commercial foundations of the creative industry through research, documentation, international partnerships, and improved access to export markets.

He disclosed that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism was collaborating with the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, to document the state’s cultural assets while also engaging the Office of the Special Adviser on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to facilitate access to international markets for local creative entrepreneurs.

He explained that the initiative was intended to ensure that indigenous artists, artisans, and cultural entrepreneurs were not confined to local patronage but were adequately positioned to compete in the expanding global market for African arts and crafts.

Also speaking, the Director-General of OYSIPA, Mr Tilewa Folami, represented by the Director of Public-Private Partnerships, Mr Adebisi Ajayi, said the business forum was designed to showcase investment opportunities in the state’s arts and crafts industry and encourage greater private-sector participation.

He said the government was seeking investors willing to explore the enormous opportunities in the sector through strategic partnerships, institutional support, and an enabling business environment.

“Our objective is to attract investors into the arts and crafts industry and promote business activities in the state.”

“We want investors to leverage the opportunities provided through government support, partnerships, and a conducive business environment,” he said.

In his contribution to the forum, Mr. Lawal Akolade, the consultant, identified inadequate research, poor documentation, and the absence of proper valuation of cultural resources as some of the major obstacles preventing Nigeria’s creative industry from realizing its full economic potential.

He argued that the arts and cultural industry could make a significantly greater contribution to the national economy if its commercial opportunities were properly identified, documented, developed, and exposed to the international marketplace.

“The market for arts and culture in Oyo State is virtually limitless. We cannot fully quantify its value until we properly explore and document the opportunities within the sector,” Akolade said.

He noted that thousands of indigenous artisans, including carvers, sculptors, and weavers, were already contributing to an industry with considerable international demand, observing that traditional Nigerian artifacts and artistic works were displayed in museums across Europe.

Also speaking, renowned visual artist and cultural ambassador, Chief Tunde Odunlade, said Nigeria’s creative industry possessed a unique export advantage that distinguished it from several other sectors of the economy.

Odunlade, who has practiced in New York for more than 50 years, described art and culture as Nigeria’s only true finished export, arguing that, unlike crude oil and other raw materials, which are exported for processing abroad before being sold back to the country at higher prices, artistic products leave Nigeria as finished commodities.

“If they take our crude oil, they refine it abroad and sell it back to us at a higher price. But art leaves this country as a finished product,” he said.

He described Oyo as the cradle of contemporary Nigerian art and called for increased investment in culture, tourism, and the creative economy to enable indigenous artists and craftsmen to maximize the opportunities available in the international market.

The government, however, maintained that the proposed business forum would provide a platform for connecting local creative talents with investors, export opportunities, and international markets as part of efforts to unlock the economic value of Oyo State’s cultural heritage.