By CALEB ANYANSINA

The Federal Government has created additional directorates in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation.

This, the ministry said, was a way of stepping up government’s obligations towards deploying its capabilities to the furtherance of its transformation agenda and especially the creation of jobs and economic empowerment as signposts towards the achievement of vision 20:2020. The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, who disclosed this at the inauguration of the Governing Board of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), in Abuja, maintained that the creation would promote efficiency in the culture/tourism industry.

According to him, the Federal Government has created two more directorates in the culture department to make it three directorates and an additional directorate in the tourism department to cater for international tourism and development, while the former will take care of domestic and eco tourism.

He charged the board members chaired by Prof Nelson Branbayefa to provide appropriate framework and atmosphere for the agency to pursue its mandates in accordance with its establishing Act and support the transformation agenda of the government guided by extant policies and procedures.

Duke noted that the ministry would not tolerate undue interference of the board members in the day to day administration of their agency. According to him, “it needs be made clear, however, that the Board does not constitute the management of the parastatal.

Earlier, the Executive Director of NCAC, Mr Mwajim Malgwi Maidugu called on the board members made up of experts from the art sector to work towards taking the council to a greater height.

Responding on behalf of the members, the board chairman, Prof Nelson Branbayefa promised to do their best in the council, adding that they would work together to refocus NCAC to the right direction, pledging that, “there won’t be friction, the rules are there already”.