By Queen Kunde
The Benue State Bureau for Arts, Culture and Tourism (BACT) has marked the first anniversary of the assumption of office of its Director-General, Dr. Shadrach Teryila Ukuma, with renewed efforts to make arts, culture, tourism and the creative economy major drivers of employment, investment and development in the state.
Ukuma, who assumed office on September 14, 2025, said the Bureau had spent its first year repositioning the sector from an event-based approach to one focused on cultural heritage preservation, tourism development, creative enterprise, youth empowerment and strategic partnerships.
He said Benue’s cultural resources should no longer be regarded merely as symbols of identity but as economic assets capable of creating jobs, attracting investment and generating income.
“The first year has been about laying the institutional and strategic foundation for a new approach to arts, culture and tourism in Benue. We are moving from celebration to development, from attractions to tourism products, and from treating creatives as beneficiaries to recognising them as entrepreneurs and economic actors,” he said.
According to him, BACT intensified the documentation and promotion of the cultural heritage of the Tiv, Idoma, Igede, Etulo and other communities, while sustaining its monthly Cultural Variety Show, which provides platforms for musicians, dancers, actors, poets, visual artists, fashion practitioners and other creatives.
The Bureau also played a major role in the Benue @ 50 Golden Jubilee celebration, where Ukuma, as Chairman of the Entertainment Subcommittee, coordinated creative professionals from Benue, other parts of Nigeria, Cameroon and the diaspora.
BACT said the celebration demonstrated the potential of culture to promote tourism, youth participation, cultural diplomacy, investment and state branding.
The Bureau also stepped up the promotion of tourist attractions, including Mbatoho Island in Makurdi, Enemabia Warm Spring in Ogbadibo, River Oyongo in Oju and the Kyogen scenic landscape in Kwande.
It also organised the first Benue Tourism Business Dinner, bringing together tourism and hospitality operators, investors, creatives, government representatives and development partners to explore opportunities in the state’s tourism economy.
On the creative economy, Ukuma said the Bureau was working to connect talent with skills, entrepreneurship, markets, technology and investment, particularly in music, film, fashion, crafts, literature, visual and performing arts, culinary arts and digital content creation.
He said the objective was to create an ecosystem where “talent becomes skill, skill becomes enterprise, and enterprise creates employment and income.”
The Bureau is also proposing the Benue Rural Tourism and Creative Economy Initiative, 2026–2031, aimed at identifying and developing cultural, natural and creative assets across the state’s 23 local government areas.
As it enters its second year, BACT said it would focus on developing a comprehensive Creative Economy Framework, rural tourism, cultural heritage protection and digitisation, destination development, youth creative enterprise, festival professionalisation, hospitality development and stronger partnerships with investors and development organisations.
Ukuma thanked Governor Hyacinth Alia for his support and expressed confidence that the sector would increasingly contribute to employment, investment, social cohesion, state branding and economic prosperity.
“Our ambition is to make Benue’s culture a source of pride, our heritage a protected legacy, our tourism a competitive economic sector, and our creative economy a pathway to opportunity and prosperity. The first year has laid the foundation. The next phase is to build, scale and deliver measurable impact,” he said.
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