Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said his administration would continue to support the creative sector to create more jobs to tackle the problem of unemployment in the country.
The governor stated this at the year 2022 Greater Lagos Art Exhibition, with the theme: “Art in and for Transformations”, held in Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the deputy governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, said his administration had embraced every opportunity to support and encourage young and upcoming talented individuals to grow and gain the exposure they will need to succeed.
He said, “Creative art occupies a special place in the E pillar of his administration’s THEMES agenda, which stands for Entertainment and Tourism. Over three years of the implementation of our development agenda, we have left no one in doubt about our desire to fully harness the largely untapped potentials in the entertainment sector, especially the creative arts component.
‘’One of the things Lagos State government has done is to create what we called the Lagos State creative industry initiative, using that initiative to train over 3000 individuals in different things like Filmmaking cinematography, all sorts and we use private sector experts.’’
In her keynote address, the wife of Lagos State Governor Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu said the event presents opportunities to appreciate the enormous contribution of artists to society and to remind them of the need to have their creativity to correct some ills within the community.
She noted that across the globe, Art had proven to be a powerful tool which helps people communicate with the outer world and better understand their inner selves.
Mrs Sanwo-Olu stated further that as opinion moulders and great influencers of thought, they should be deeply involved and commit themselves to supporting the present administration in stamping out the menace of gender-based violence in society using artworks as a form of campaign against domestic and gender-based violence and other societal vices.
Earlier, the state’s commissioner for tourism, art and culture, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said the exhibition was part of the state government’s intervention to give visibility to artists and their artworks in order to further deepen the creative industry.
