The chief executive officer of the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce-USA, Gregory Uche Ihenacho, has said Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage, expo tourism potential and creative industry can position the country as a leading force in Africa and attract global attention.
Ihenacho stated this yesterday in Abuja at a press conference, where he explained that showcasing Nigeria’s heritage and creative strength on the global stage would provide the country with an opportunity to tell its own story and promote African creativity internationally.
He said cultural exhibitions and tourism expo initiatives had continued to deliver tangible economic and cultural value while positioning Nigeria as a destination for broader conversations on African creativity, culture and development.
According to him, the growing global popularity of black culture, particularly African music and entertainment in the United States, demonstrates the international potential of Africa’s creative industries.
Ihenacho said the initiative would also provide Africans in the diaspora with opportunities to reconnect with the continent while contributing to its cultural and economic development.
He added that efforts were being extended to Africans and people of African descent in Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, Colombia and other countries.
He explained that the objective was to trace the routes of the African diaspora and create platforms through which people of African descent could reconnect with their ancestral homeland.
Similarly, development economist Jemma Amachree-Broad said Africa’s creative ecosystem, encompassing music, film, fashion, food, tourism and intellectual discourse, had significant potential to strengthen connections between the continent and Africans in the diaspora.
Amachree-Broad said the long-term objective was to transform Africa’s cultural heritage from an asset that was largely celebrated into a major driver of employment, tourism and sustainable development.
She said the initiative would provide Africa with an avenue to tell its own story, showcase its heritage and creative strength, promote intra-African and international trade, and deepen connections between the continent and the diaspora.
