Nigeria Content Online

Kogi State will not
relent in preserving its historical relics and monuments, the
commissioner for culture and tourism, Edward Olu Akpata, has said. Lord
Lugard’s office and residence (now the Kogi State Government House); the
Iron of Liberty; the first primary school in Northern Nigeria, Holy
Trinity Bishop Crowther Primary School; Inikpi Statue at Ega and the
Cenotaph in Lokoja are some of the buildings of historical significance
that dot the state’s landscape.

“We are maintaining
them. We allocate funds for the maintenance and we do periodic checking.
In fact, only recently we took the governor to a site, the Holy Trinity
School. A section was falling and he had wanted to start its renovation
immediately but there was the issue of ownership. They said you have to
clear with the Archbishop of Lokoja Province, Anglican Communion before
doing anything,” Akpata said during an interview at the recently held
Abuja Carnival 2010.

Akpata, the third
person to head the ministry established during the incumbent governor,
Ibrahim Idris’ administration, explained that government created the
ministry to consolidate on the gains of culture.

He said that though a
young ministry government wants to grow, it doesn’t receive any special
preference. “There is inter-sectoral balancing; government can’t do
anything to disfavour others,” he said, adding that the current
administration is keenly interested in the activities of the ministry.

Akpata further
disclosed that a labour strike in the state was why it didn’t have a
motorised float during the street party and parade of the carnival.

“There was a warning
strike, from the warning strike to a major strike and this affected our
preparation. Nonetheless, we felt we should be here. To be here is
better than not to be seen. When money was released, before we could
access it, it was late. The Governor had actually granted approval in
good time but to get process it was the problem.”

Asked if the
ministry was projecting any of the attractions in the State to attract
tourists, Akpata said, “We spread our effort. Except that we are working
on a subsector of tourism which is hospitality. We are re-constructing a
100-room hotel, the Confluence Beach Hotel, at the cost of N1.3
million in Lokoja.”

The commissioner also disclosed that the State wanted to organise its
own carnival as a test run before the Abuja Carnival but shelved the
idea because of the strike. “By next year, that will happen. It’s as a
result of strike, that’s why our plans were aborted.”