The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said on Thursday the Federal Government would in the new year release a calendar of festivals across the country.
Mohammed made this known in Offa, Kwara State at the 2016 Edition of the ”Íjakadi Festival”, a traditional wrestling event, which started in the 14th century.
The minister said that the aim was to attract tourists and enable them to plan their trips around the festivals.
“We believe that this is one of the best ways to attract global visitors to our festivals and help to make them viable entities,” he said.
The minister, represented by Mr Raphael Arulogun, General Manager of NTA Ilorin, said the government was also working with the private sector to make major festivals attractive to domestic and foreign tourists.
He said the government also planned to leapfrog the major events to the top cadre of global festivals, adding that the starting point would be to train the managers of the festivals.
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