Following months of comprehensive planning, the Federal Government has unveiled its bold and strategic plans to generate at least $100 billion and create over two million jobs annually from Nigeria’s creative economy.

The Government’s plan was unveiled Wednesday, September 11, 2024, by the Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, at a roundtable for local and international investors, where she presented her Ministry’s 8-Point Plan and Roadmap.

Key points of the plan

Speaking at the event hosted by the Ministry at the Wheatbaker in Ikoyi, the Minister said that if implemented to its fullest, the plan has the potential to achieve the objectives.

She listed the 8-Point plan as follows:

Nigeria Destination 2023 a national initiative designed to grow the arts, culture and creative economy under one united vision

Skills Development

Fastrack Policy Frameworks

Strategy Governance and Collaboration

Smart Strategic Partnerships

Growth Targets for GDP Contribution & Sectoral Output

Enabling Business Environments

Cultural Heritage Preservation and Sustainability

She lamented that despite its vast potential, Nigeria's creative industry currently contributes just $5 billion to the economy, with its different sub-sectors at various stages of development.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria's creative economy has a meagre contribution to overall GDP in comparison with benchmark countries, with the industry contributing just 1.2% to Nigeria’s GDP in 2022, the least when compared to other African countries like Morocco (2.7%), South Africa (3.0%), and Egypt (4.3%). It also ranks low (1.0%) in its ability to earn government revenue from the sector, compared to South Africa’s 12.5%.

Minister presents 14 initiatives

Musawa said the Ministry has identified 14 pivotal initiatives to achieve its ambition to drive the sector's growth and significantly boost government revenue by $10 b—$20 b. She grouped these initiatives under four unique pillars: Technology, Infrastructure and Funding, International Culture Promotion, and Intellectual Property monetisation.

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 for the industry and leveraging public-private partnerships to fund development, providing incentives to stakeholders in the creative economy to boost investment and adoption of strategic initiatives, and launching an innovative accelerator program to provide capital, and capacity building to creative companies.

Under International Culture Promotion, Musawa said 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 exports regionally and globally.

For Intellectual Property Monetization, she said the Ministry would seek to establish globally standardised CMOs (Collection Management Organisations) for most sectors and 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 operationalise Nigeria's IP licencing framework.

Positive outlook for the sector

Musawa said that Nigeria’s Creative Economy has the potential to grow by 400% by 2027, positioning the sector to leapfrog in the long term and deliver the sector's vision. She revealed that the Ministry has already created several initiatives and entered collaborations to realise its set goals.

She listed some of these initiatives, including the Creative Leap Acceleration Program, CultRise, an infrastructure development initiative, and Origins, an advanced data capture and management initiative designed to collect, store, analyse, and share critical data related to Nigeria’s cultural and creative industries.

The Minister also listed some of the Ministry’s infrastructure project pipelines, including the Digital & Immersive Art Centre, the Renewed Hope Creative City at the Wole Soyinka Centre, Arts Village in Abuja, setting up of Creative Hubs in Nigeria’s 36 states, the National Entertainment Centre, Abuja Creative City, and the National Gallery of Art, among others. FG invites Nigerians to apply for N100 million AI Fund.