The Federal Government has revealed an ambitious plan to generate at least $100 billion annually and create over two million jobs through Nigeria’s creative economy.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa
at a roundtable event for local and international investors on Wednesday, according to Nairametrics.
Musawa outlined the ministry’s Plan and Roadmap, emphasizing that full implementation could achieve these targets.
She lamented that despite its vast potential, Nigeria’s creative industry currently contributes only $5 billion to the economy, with its various sub-sectors still developing.
These sub-sectors include music (sound recording, live performances, and music videos), visual media (films, TV shows, comedy, podcasts, and content creation), visual arts and crafts (painting, design, sculpture, and woodworking), heritage and museums, culinary arts, fashion, publishing (books, literary arts, poetry, magazines), and video gaming.
To realize these goals, Musawa identified 14 key initiatives under four main pillars: Technology, Infrastructure and Funding, International Culture Promotion, and Intellectual Property Monetization.
These initiatives are designed to drive growth in the sector and significantly increase government revenue.
To realize these goals, Musawa identified 14 key initiatives under four main pillars: Technology, Infrastructure and Funding, International Culture Promotion, and Intellectual Property Monetization. These initiatives are designed to drive growth in the sector and significantly increase government revenue.
She grouped these initiatives under four unique pillars: Technology, Infrastructure and Funding, International Culture Promotion, and Intellectual Property Monetization.
Under the Technology pillar, the Minister said the Ministry intends to launch a digital content creation tool accessibility program to provide improved and discounted digital tools for Nigerian creatives.
Others include the launch of the Nigeria content distribution initiative to increase the nationwide adoption of digital tools for content distribution, the launch of a study to estimate the size of the creative industry in Nigeria including a framework to size the market going forward, and the expansion of internet accessibility in underserved regions in Nigeria to expand the reach of the other digital initiatives.
For Infrastructure and Funding, she said, this entails cataloguing existing infrastructure for the Arts, Culture and Creative Economy and its current state, developing the appropriate infrastructure needed to the industry and leveraging public-private partnership to fund development, providing incentives to stakeholders in the creative economy to boost investment and adoption of strategic initiatives, and launching a creative accelerator program to provide capital, and capacity building to creative companies.
“Under International Culture Promotion, the Ministry will establish a culture promotion office collaborating with Nigerian embassies abroad, to promote Nigerian arts, culture and creative economy, and leverage AFCTA to boost Nigerian creative output export regionally and globally.
“For Intellectual Property Monetisation, the Ministry will seek to establish Globally standardized CMOs (Collection Management Organisations) for most of the sectors, launch a Copyright Oversight Initiative in partnership with the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to enhance tracking, monitoring, and enforcement of copyright standards, ensuring CMOs’ adherence to CISAC standards.
“It will also develop and implement the intellectual property framework and operationalize Nigeria’s IP licencing framework,” she said.
Musawa projected that Nigeria’s Creative Economy could grow by 400% by 2027, positioning the sector for significant long-term advancement and fulfilling its vision.
To support the government’s job creation goals within the creative industry, the Minister announced a new partnership with BigWin Philanthropy, a leading international development partner.
This collaboration aims to implement a transformative capacity-building and job creation strategy.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s creative economy contributed only 1.2% to the country’s GDP in 2022, a lower share compared to benchmark countries. In contrast, Morocco’s creative sector contributed 2.7%, South Africa’s 3.0%, and Egypt’s 4.3%.
