As the much awaited, Allure Vanguard Native and Vogue Port Harcourt International Fashion week  kicks off,  the Rivers State  government has revealed why the state is involved in the event.

The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Ibim Semenitairi, said the show was in tandem with the plans of the state government to further give life to Port Harcourt and make it a destination brand inorder to drive investment.

Allure Vanguard Native and Vogue Port Harcourt International Fashion week kicks off

“The show is part of our destination brand campaign launched in 2010” said .

Speaking on the State’s involvement  in the three day  fashion extravaganza, Semenitairi said the idea behind  the brand campaign  was to showcase the numerous possibilities that exist in Rivers state.

“We have a state that was the  nerve centre of the economy. It was a destination place, it was a Garden city, and then the Niger Delta militancy came and Port Harcourt  was the centre  of that struggle and bore the brunt. We lost businesses and even the  night-life  of Port Harcourt died” she said. “When Governor Amaechi came on board, one of the few things he decided to do was to reposition Portharcout and to drive investment.”

Semenitairi noted that in order to deal with issues that were the bedrock of militancy among which is unemployment, the government  put in place policies to ensure job creation and to ensure that the economy is vibrant. “The government  can’t employ everyone but it can create an environment that enables business to thrive and there’s no such earner like the creative industry because it tends to employ lots of people and provide opportunities to create entrepreneurs,” she added.

Speaking further, she explained that “this is not the first time the government is dabbling into the creative economy. In 2010, the RiversState government  sent 120 people to the New YorkFilmAcademy where they were trained in directing, animation etc. “We saw the result and so basically, we are just saying let Port-harcourt  come alive again.”.

The show which enters its second day today continues with more designers showcasing their collections to the excited Port Harcourt audience.