As part of the Arewa Consultative Forum’s 25th Anniversary Celebrations, the Honourable Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism & Creative Economy will lead a special roundtable session on the theme “Tourism for Security”.

It is a flagship, high-level convening, designed to confront insecurity through the transformative power of tourism and cultural awareness.

 

Doubling as the official opening event of ACF CultureFest, the roundtable will bring together traditional rulers, state governors, service and security chiefs, tourism policymakers, private-sector leaders, community influencers, and development partners to examine how cultural, heritage, and ecological tourism can serve as practical tools for peacebuilding, economic revitalization, youth engagement, and regional stability.

The expected outcomes will be the crafting of actionable pathways for embedding tourism within Nigeria’s broader security and development architecture, ensuring that CultureFest and all subsequent tourism events are executed to the highest standards of safety, coordination, and national relevance.

 

The event will feature keynote addresses from:

The Honourable Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism & Creative Economy | The National Security Adviser | The Chief of Defence Staff

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Their participation underscores a unified national commitment to non-kinetic, economically driven strategies that complement ongoing security efforts.

Additionally, His Excellency, the Governor of Yobe State will deliver the ceremonial address declaring ACF CultureFest officially open, highlighting Yobe’s role in hosting the festival’s first major event, the Sahara Desert Race & Safari.

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Crucially, the Summit will also serve as the platform for establishing a robust, multi-agency safety and security framework to guide all CultureFest events. This includes setting minimum operational standards for crowd management, emergency response, route security, risk assessment, communications systems, and inter-agency coordination. The goal is to ensure that CultureFest 2025 is delivered to the highest possible safety and security standards, and to institutionalize these standards for all future tourism activities across the region.

 

KEY FOCUS AREAS

Rebuilding community trust and reclaiming public spaces through tourism-driven engagement

Deploying cultural and ecological tourism as instruments of soft power and counter-narrative strategies

Strengthening cross-sector collaboration between security agencies, tourism operators, and traditional institutions

Providing local tourism practitioners with access to training, investment, and digital tools

Establishing a standardized safety and security framework for CultureFest and all future tourism events

Developing policy pathways that embed tourism within local, regional, and national security strategies

 

By positioning tourism as a credible pathway to peace, safety, and economic empowerment, the Tourism for Security Summit, held within the ACF Silver Jubilee celebrations, will serve as a catalytic platform for a new ecosystem of security-integrated tourism initiatives, reinforcing national unity, accelerating regional growth, and deepening Nigeria’s global cultural footprint.