Nigeria has mapped over 850 traditional festivals, boasts 1,400 kilometres of coastline, 12,000 hotel rooms and 37 airports and airstrips — yet remains at the “very beginning” of unlocking a multi-billion-dollar cultural tourism economy, Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Obi Asika, has said.
Speaking at the Naija7Wonders conference, Asika argued that Nigeria’s creative and cultural assets — if properly packaged, digitised and monetised — could rival traditional revenue sources.
“We have indexed over 850 festivals already. If you brand them, merchandise them, build products around them, this is a multi-billion-dollar segment,” he said.
He added that beyond traditional festivals, Nigeria’s contemporary cultural events could push the total number of festivals above 3,000 when fully counted and structured.
According to him, Nigeria’s tourism ecosystem is stronger than widely perceived. “We have 37 airports and airstrips. We have 12,000 hotel rooms. We have 1,400 kilometres of virgin beach, less than 20 kilometres properly developed. The base assets are there,” he said.
Asika also revealed that hotel occupancy in major Nigerian cities averages between 75 and 80 percent, while an estimated 100 million Nigerians travel at least 100 kilometres annually — meeting the global definition of domestic tourism.
He announced that the Federal Executive Council has approved a national framework known as “Niger Season,” designed to calendarise cultural and tourism events across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to position Nigeria as a 12-month destination.
The initiative, he said, seeks to integrate federal and subnational efforts while encouraging private sector investment in festivals, heritage sites and waterfront development.
“The biggest resource Nigeria has is the Nigerian,” Asika stated. “Once we back the Nigerian, we will win.”
