Controversy over appointment of non-professionals in culture, tourism

MEMBERS of the art community have described the current move by the Head of Service to appoint non-professionals as heads of Culture and Tourism departments respectively in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, as unacceptable. They have also tasked the Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Mohamed to ensure such plans do not materialise as such  would impact retrogressively on the overall development of the sector.A close source, who disclosed the ploy to The Guardian, said arrangements are almost completed for the take-over of the departments currently headed by Mr. George Ufot and Johnson Odekina respectively on acting capacity for over two years.The source, who also stated that the two acting directors are due for interview in less than a month, said he could not understand the rationale behind the sudden rush to appoint non-professionas from outside the ministry.His words: We professionals in these two departments dont go for posting like other civil servants. Ours is career progression and by bringing people from outside, it means our chances of climbing to the peak of our careers are no longer guaranteed.As a major stakeholder in the culture sector for over 35 years, Ben Tomoloju said he was personally disturbed and upset by the arrangement. According to him, such plan negates civil service drives towards professionalism and efficiency.I am personally upset because federal government has been emphasising  professionalism in every facet of Nigerian cultural life. You can see that even in journalism, they also want to bring that into force. Same should apply to culture administration, culture marketing and totality of culture production. The federal ministry of culture should not be a retrogressive agent in this progressive stride.Adding: I can recall that sometimes in the 1990s, some distinguished bureaucrats in the culture ministry were subjected to this kind of unwholesome imposition of non-professionals and the ministry had a big impression - cultural exchange was actually unavailable and active collaboration was virtually phased out.
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