The actualisation of the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration’s vision for a cultural district in Edo State that would further enhance the global appreciation and celebration of the Edo cultural heritage went notches higher on Monday with the unveiling and preview of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) Institute and Campus as well as the commissioning of other projects related to culture and creativity in Benin City, the state capital.

Governor Obaseki, who led two former governors and other dignitaries to officially unveil the MOWAA Institute and Campus, said his government’s investment in the creative, arts and culture sectors over the last eight years has transformed the state into a centre of excellence for the creative arts, repositioning it as Africa’s arts, culture, and tourism hub.

The former governors, Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State and Donald Duke of Cross River State, also joined Governor Obaseki to commission the Edo Film Project Residence (Edonimose) and the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub Production Centre and to inspect the Radisson Hotel Project, all within the Benin metropolis.

Addressing the diplomatic community, representatives of international museums and other stakeholders at the unveiling and preview of the MOWAA Campus, Obaseki said the project, part of the state’s cultural district, held immense employment and investment potential for the state and would be a key driver of tourism and economic growth.

Obaseki said when he assumed office in 2016, he started out with what every other government would do – built roads, rebuilt institutions, focused on the economy, dealt with the environment, and built infrastructure. But then, his administration also did one thing that fewer governments would do in defining their agenda for development.

“We brought culture and took art and culture as a priority for our renaissance as a state,” Obaseki said. “If you look through West Africa, I don’t think there are many places that can boast of our kind of heritage. What is key and fundamental for us is how we, through the centuries, built institutions. That is the representation of who we are but that knowledge has been lost because it was not written down.”

He said as a leader, it was his responsibility to envision, visualize and create “that vision of what is to be”.
“We know that culture for us holds a significant place and helps us tell our stories better,” he said.

The MOWAA project, Obaseki said, started in 2018 after conversation and discussion with the Benin Dialogue Group on how to preserve the people’s heritage and also how to interpret the culture to the rest of the world.

He said the government supported the project “because of the significant opportunities in job creation and the benefits of engaging our people in an asset like this, and what it represents”.

“Eight years ago, I couldn’t boast of assembling people like this but eight years after, the story has changed as people now want to come to Edo State to come and see,” Obaseki said.

On the criticism faced by his administration that it demolished a hospital to build a museum, Obaseki said, “We didn’t pull down a hospital for a museum but rather, we built a museum and built a better hospital.”

Also speaking at the launch of the Edo Film Project Residence, Obaseki said it was the respect that the Edo heritage commands around the world and the fact that when people visit the state, they want to see the cultural representation of its culture and history in the city that made his include culture as one of the thematic pillars of his administration that would drive development.

“We have designed and created a cultural district for Edo. We are praying and hoping that successive administrations will complete it,” he said. “This facility is part of the cultural district. It’s to provide support to artists to come into the cultural district for performances.”

At the commissioning of the Edo State Film Post Production Centre, Obaseki said, “This facility today is helping us complete the circle because we want Edo to be the hub of creativity in Nigeria. Whether we are talking about visual arts, creative arts, film, music, and design, they are all natural to us as the people are here. What the government is doing is creating the enabling environment and the infrastructure to support our people’s creativity.”

Appreciating Obaseki for his impactful projects across various sectors of the state’s economy, both former Governors Ihedioha and Duke described him as a transformer who has prioritized the welfare and wellbeing of his people.