Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
Nigeria ratifies WTO’s Convention on Tourism Ethics, lists Kwagh-Hir at UNESCO
Ahead of the September 27 World Tourism Day (WTD) celebrations across the world, Nigeria has ratified the body’s Framework Convention of Tourism Ethics 2020.
The General Assembly of the UN Tourism Organization approved the legal framework of the Convention for Global Ethics on Tourism in 2019 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The decision to ratify the convention was taken at Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who briefed State House correspondents after the meeting, said that convention was ratified following a memo he presented to the cabinet meeting.
Mohammed said that he also informed the cabinet meeting that Nigeria has finally succeeded in listing the Kwagh-Hir Theatrical Performance on UNESCO’s representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The Kwagh-Hir is a Tiv cultural heritage from Benue State.
He said the process for the listing of the Kwagh-Hir on the UNESCO list began in 2006 and that it was in 2019 that the theatrical performance, which is an aspect of the culture of the Tiv people of Nigeria, was listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
“Those of us who are familiar with Kwagh-Hir, which is the Tiv theatrical performance, know that it is one of the flagships of our cultural performances in Nigeria.
“It actually started as a form of storytelling, then dramatized and it is supposed to teach morals to our people.
“I’m proud to say that today this theatrical performance has been inscribed on the intangible list of UNESCO.”
The minister explained that the placement of Kwagh-Hir on the UNESCO representative list brings to five the number of such intangible cultural heritages from Nigeria listed by the UN body.
“The other four are the Ifa divination system, which was listed in 2008; the Oral Heritage of Gelede, which was also listed in 2008; we have the Ijele Masquerade listed in 2009 and we have the Argungu Fishing and Cultural Festival, which was listed in 2016.
“Like I said in 2019, we succeeded in getting the Kwagh-Hir Theatrical Performance listed. We have several other applications before UNESCO, which we want to push forward.”
According to Mohammed, the major advantage of having these cultural heritages is that it attracts tourism traffic and tourists to the country.
He said that the listing by the UNESCO attracts funding for the conservation of these intangible heritages.
