The Lagos State Government has disclosed that plans are ongoing to organize arts and craft exhibitions in the state, as part of efforts to boost youth employment.
The Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, made this known yesterday in a chat with reporters in Alausa, Ikeja.
Akinbile-Yussuf said that her ministry, which had started implementing the Community Based Tourism (CBT), an aspect of the state’s revised tourism master plan, had trained 150 youths to serve as tour guides.
She encouraged unemployed youths to take advantage of the opportunities available in the sector.
She said they can go into arts and crafts, especially the production of items of cultural and aesthetic values, which can be purchased as souvenirs by continental and international tourists coming to Lagos.
Akinbile-Yussuf further said the six pilot councils for the CBT, namely Ikorodu, Epe, Oshodi-Isolo, Surulere, Eti-Osa, and Badagry cut across the divisions of the state, adding that findings conducted by the government showed that identified points of tourism “in these areas can be economically viable for the residents in particular and the state in general.”
