In July, Lagos came alive with the launch of its tourism brand, One Lagos, at Bar Beach, Victoria Island. In this interview with TLR’s JUSTICE GODFREY OKAMGBA, FOLORUNSHO FOLARIN-COKER, the Lagos State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, talks about how One Lagos will drive tourism growth in Lagos State. Excerpt:
Can you tell us more about the One Lagos brand?
It is a Ministry of Tourism initiative. We want to use entertainment to drive hospitality to attract tourism in the state. At the beginning of Governor Ambode’s government, he said: ‘I am going to run an inclusive government and nobody would be left behind’. We are following up this philosophy with the launch of the One Lagos brand.
Why is this event t in taking place at night? One would have expected it to be launched in the day time?
You see, this is entertainment. It’s a Friday night, we are in Lagos. This is music, its culture, its dance. And when is the best time to have it? This is also our bar beach where we normally have our event. So why not at night? This weather is cool, traffic is down. People have had a long day at work and this is the best time for them to attend.
A lot of people will say that Nigeria is currently facing recession and Lagos State is embarking on this project, is this not an expensive project at this time?
No. The global economy has a huge problem. In Nigeria, we have our own peculiar case. We are dealing with a lower price of oil and lower oil production. So our income at the center is lower; that means what comes to the state is also low. We do not have a choice. We must invest in an alternative source of income to boost the economy. What do we have here? We have music, we have film, our film industry is number two in the world. We have population of about 22 million people in the state. So we have to focus on what Lagos can do to grow that internal economy rather than waiting for oil revenues to come. The cost of this event may look very high but it is very well controlled by His Excellency. Trust me, he was the Accountant General of Lagos State. He is a man of numbers. He knows how to control his figures.
Folorunsho Folarin Coker (middle) with his team at the launch of One Lagos brand
You said it’s going to be part of activities leading to Lagos State 50th anniversary, can you explain more on that?
The anniversary of Lagos is on the 27th of May 2017. Every 27th day of the month, we will do something to build awareness. We don’t want to bring the drum on the 27th of May next year and say it’s our anniversary, so we are building awareness. A population of 22 million people is a long process to entertain. We want to involve everybody in the celebration. We have a committee that is specifically charged with Lagos at 50 celebrations. This is just in support of what they are doing and this is a Ministry of Tourism initiative.
How do you think this will drive tourism in the state?
If you check the hotel numbers around here especially online, you would see that, maybe three days ago there was occupancy for today. You see, it is introducing people to what Lagos has to offer. The knowledge of where to go and what to do is why tourism succeeds in certain places and fails in others. The responsibility of telling people where to go, when to go is generally in the digital space. You journalists paste it there for us the consumers. What we are trying to do is to employ as many small businesses as we can. For instance, the screen man, the camera man, the dance man etc; they are all small businesses, which we are trying to employ and drive income directly to them. There is a change in political creativity of Governor Ambode towards sports, hospitality and entertainment. And what he is doing is what you would find in Los Angeles where there is a great success. Government creates platforms and enabling environment for the creative industries to come and show what they have, and in the long run they start growing the economy.
How many people attended the One Lagos Launch?
An average of 20, 000 people. It could be more; it could very difficult to calculate.
What about people in other areas, not everybody that can come to the Island?
We are streaming live on Pulse.ng, we are on DSTV, GOTV, and Channels. We have all the social media engines to drive what is going on here. If you must remember, at end of last year, we did exactly what we are doing here in three locations simultaneously in Lagos. Our next location would be in Badagry, the Badagry Day. We have been in Badagry on two occasions two weeks ago to see what’s available, but they used to have a particular festival which we have now developed to become Badagry Day. We are bringing out everything good about Badagry. We can put it on a professional stage like this, which allows you to document it in HD cameras and put it in digital space. These cameras become the windows for someone else in the other part of the world to see exactly what you are going to witness tonight. That is what we are trying to showcase Lagos and reverse the negative conversations about Lagos, go online you would find them.
The reality of what is possible is what we are trying to show the rest of the world what Lagos is about. The true side of Lagos that is fun, safe.
More than 20, 000 people attended the event
You mentioned tourism earlier and that also referred to film capitals in the world and Lagos state has to be one state that has film developments here, is there a campaign about getting a film village for Lagos?
I am in support of the media hub, where we can have film school, music studio, music school, sound studio and school of hospitality, you cannot separate them. They go together. That is what I am in support of. I think that is what the governor is trying to define. Lagos is the focus of Toronto International Film Festival. Eight films have been chosen to show in Toronto from the 10th to 18th of September, that festival has about 5, 500 industry professionals from the film world. These are buyers who can a buy a movie and take it to America or Australia etc. Eight films have been chosen from Lagos and now there 1, 200 journalists to write articles and critics about these movies. Lagos has finally come into those class of cities that are known as film capitals in the world like India, America, Paris etc. I think we are coming of age and the hard work of our actors, actresses, directors are paying off. Maybe, it’s time we start getting international recognition for them in terms of prizes, or awards. We have talents in the Nigeria film industry.
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