Edem Duke who is the minister of culture, tourism and national orientation, has told the Senate Committee on Power that his ministry needed N25 billion for the successful implementation of the tourism master plan.

Edem explained that for effective development of the tourism potential of Nigeria to create jobs, there is a need to implement the tourism master plan.

He made this disclosure when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy to defend his ministry’s budget.

The ministry presented a total budget estimate of N2.5 billion out which N1.3billion is for capital expenditure and a total of N528.1 million was proposed for overhead costs while N587.4 million would cover personnel costs.

We need about N25 billion to effectively implement the tourism master plan. But the non-allocation of funds had stalled this crucial project, by the budget being virtually doubled, this year we are looking at a budget of N331 million for 2014 for the implementation of the tourism master plan.

If this amount (N331million) is made available  annually we would be able to commence the effective implementation of  the tourism master plan and that the cultural festivals in the country deserve to be given the necessary support adding that it is key to national integration.

“We have to support these cultural festivals so that cultural custodians will see the support as encouragement to the deployment of culture as a tool for national integration”.

Meanwhile,the director general, Nigerian Tourism Development Commission (NTDC), Mrs Sally Mbanefo said revenue generation will be the main focus.