The Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, on Thursday, bagged the National Waves’ Icon of Nigerian Culture 2023 Award at the newspaper and magazine’s 15th Annual Lectures in Abuja.
According to the publisher/editor-in-chief of National Waves, Jimmy Enyeh, “Runsewe, is a long-standing runner as far as culture administration is concerned, was awarded for his sterling contribution to the development of culture in Nigeria and his ability to combat the ills and social vices that are bedeviling our society”.
Enyeh said “Runsewe has over the years proved himself to be a culture aficionado, administrator and enthusiast who has deepened understanding and cultural consciousness at different levels of engagements over the years”
“No one has doubted his genius in transformational administration, no wonder successive governments have over the years engaged his services to harness our cultural potential and deepen the business side of culture, especially tourism.
It’s a testament to his genius that different state governments have at different times engaged his services to transform and activate their cultural potential as a revenue source. This was what fired the imagination of Governor Yahaya Bello who in 2021 made him chairman of a committee to revitalize the cultural potential of Kogi State” he stated
He continued “Runsewe has always innovated the architecture of culture in the country with creativity that has always launched Nigeria’s culture and placed it among the best in the world”
“The zenith of his intervention may have been the revolutionary idea of an e-library which he fashioned out including a view centre that captures Nigeria’s diverse cultural heritage history and links it up to about 150 countries in the world”
“The e-library situated at Nigeria’s new Culture House in Abuja is part of the outcome of Runsewe’s engagements in China, and is strategically deployed to harness basic information, history and tradition of Nigeria’s cultural tourism heritage and showcase them to global tourism community, cultural heritage experts and students of cultural studies”
Otunba Runsewe has remained a consistent phenomenon in the Media, Culture and Tourism Sectors in Nigeria in the last three decades.
Before his foray at Arts and Culture, he was the head of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC).
It’s in recognition of his outstanding, larger-than-life contribution to the development of culture, our tradition and mores that the Editorial Board of the National Waves decided to honour him with the Icon of Nigerian Culture 2023 Award.
Born in Kaduna to the family of Pa Bankole Runsewe from Ogun State, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe attended St. Michael Primary School, Kaduna before proceeding to Vohoeven Technical College Minna, now Government Technical College. He holds an MBA in Marketing from Edo State University; Higher National Diploma in Management Studies from London School for Executives. He also has a Diploma in Public Relations from the London School of Management Studies and a Professional Certificate in Estate and Property Management from Kaduna Polytechnic.
Among other engagements, he once worked as Marketing Manager at the New Nigerian Newspaper and rose to the position of General Manager at the organization. He also worked as Head of Public Relations (Media) at National Theatre; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Sports Weekly and was Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of National Network Newspapers. He was also the Media Coordinator, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2003, Abuja, Nigeria.
Otunba Runsewe was appointed as an Executive Director at the National Orientation Agency in 2000, a position he held until his appointment as the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) in August 2006. His tenure at the NTDC was a watershed in the development of the Tourism Sector in Nigeria. His aggressive Tourism marketing campaign, anchored on the catch-phrase “Tourism is Life” gave the Nigerian Tourism Industry unprecedented national and international visibility. The tenure positioned Nigeria as one of the leading faces of tourism and a preferred destination in Africa. With consistent annual exhibitions at International Tourism Expositions like FITUR, Madrid Spain; ITB Berlin, Germany; Arabian Travel Market, Dubai; World Travel Market Orkland London, etc, Nigeria, during Runsewe’s tenure, began to seriously contend for world’s attention as a destination of preference. The era witnessed the harvest of commendation letters by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, including those from the World Travel Market, London and FITUR, Spain.
Otunba Runsewe was also the pioneer Chairman of Abuja Carnival Planning Committee, the Carnival edition that has been adjudged by the international community to be the best organized since its inception. The Nigerian Tourism Village, which he put together during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, was rated as one of its kind at the event.
Otunba Runsewe is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Chairman Nigerian Sports Writers Association; Chairman, Board of Nigerian Institute of Journalism; Fellow, of Institute of Management (FIM); Fellow, Association of Business Executives, (FABE), London; President, World Crafts Council, African Region, President, Nigeria Golf Federation and Chairman, Africa China Culture and Arts Exchange Society.
A detribalized Nigerian, he holds several titles from different parts of the country, including Danbura Kabi, Kebbi State; Obiagu one of Igbo Ukwu, Anambra State, amongst others. He is currently the Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), a position he assumed in 2017. The vision of the Council under his leadership is to reposition culture as a tool for national unity, peace and social integration as well as a machinery for stimulating rapid socio-economic growth and development. He has been pursuing this vision with total passion and utmost vigour.
Runsewe is a giant in the development of Nigerian Culture.
