By Stanley Iwuoha
The Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, on Friday formalized their partnership on building a framework for financing the development of the country’s creative industry.
The partnership is aimed at revitalizing the sector and unlocking the vast potentials of Nigeria’s creative economy through policy reform initiatives as outlined in the 8 point plan to fast-track the improvement, creation and implementation of policy frameworks that effectively stimulate increased revenue generation, job creation and sustainable growth across the entire sector.
The Ministry had earlier in the year agreed to work with the NESG on a framework for financing the development of the country’s creative industry which is targeted at creating two million jobs by 2027 and stimulating a revenue generation of $100 billion as contribution to the GDP by 2030.
She said, with the support of the NESG, the private sector and the right funding mechanism, the ministry can do much to help Nigeria out of the doldrums.
Speaking on the partnership, the Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Barr. Hannatu Musawa said expressed optimism that the partnership would unlock the untapped potentials in the Nigerian creative industry and open the sector up as a major revenue generating sector in the economy.
‘‘Today, we take a bold step forward fulfilling this mandate of the Ministry in partnership with NESG, a leading private sector-led think tank dedicated to transforming Nigeria into an open, sustainable, and globally competitive economy.
‘‘Our collaboration with NESG is grounded in a clear set of objectives to develop a robust governance structure for the art, culture, and creative industries.’’
Musawa informed that the Ministry is currently building on the foundation laid in the draft cultural policy designed to promote cultural integration, preserve national values, and safeguard Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage.
This policy, she said will articulate clear objectives and strategies to enhance cultural development, language preservation, historiography, and the promotion of cultural diversity and inclusivity.
‘’Together, we have co-created the policy thrust for the development of a comprehensive national policy on the creative economy aimed at guiding the development and regulation of Nigeria’s creative economy. This policy framework will provide strategic direction, outline key objectives, and establish regulatory mechanisms to foster growth, innovation, and sustainability within the creative sector,’’ she said.
‘’Once approved, the policy will be pushed to the National Assembly for their assent to establish the Act that will create a Central Authority for Art, Culture and the creative economy and establish a fund. ministry’s objectives in alignment with Ministerial Key Performance Indicator (KPI) No. 2 to:
“Establish and operationalize a central authority to catalyze and coordinate the Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy from either a merger of existing parastatals in the Ministry, or establishment of a new parastatal/agency, as may be required,” she added.
Earlier in his address, the Nigerian Economic Summit group lead and Chief Executive, Dr. Tayo Aduloju, who described the MoU as a watershed in the history of the Nigerian creative industry said the event shall no doubt change the narratives and fortunes of the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, under the leadership of Barista Hanatu Musa Musawa.
He explained that the Creative Economy Working Group, which NESG and the Ministry will drive, will be double-sided in the Ministry, to be co-chaired by the Ministry and the NESG, at permanent secretary level and director level with the aim of becoming a very stable platform for continuous public-private dialogue on industry matters.
So for critical issues that need speedy decisions, he said the WG don’t need to call the full stakeholder engagement as the best practice all over the world.
For effective stakeholder collaboration, he said all segments and sub-segments of the cultural and creative sectors are expected to have industrial associations, so that when the Ministry is engaging with them, they will be able to have the collective output from them for handling their and responding to their sector issues.
On capacity building, he said the NESG will collaborate with the Ministry, and the Governors’ Forum, the National Economic Council, SMEDAN-CBN, Bank of Industry, and the newly established National Council on MSMEs to create creative economy training agencies and hubs across the country, all states, FCT, to develop the humongous creative talents in Nigeria across the youth. This he said is expected to drive the creative entrepreneurship and employability potential of the country, adding that, ‘‘Even policymakers and lawmakers will undertake study visits and experiential learning across different continents to improve governance framework.’’
On advisory level of the collaboration in the MOU, he said the NESG will provide professional insights and advice on creative economic and cultural governance to enable the Ministry to optimize everything it’s doing.
On data collection, the NESG CEO said the National Bureau of Statistics will work with the Ministry through the cultural statistics and data department for culture, adding that the NBS, which presently doesn’t have a desk for creative and cultural, will now have to optimize its own comprehensive data collection in that area and do an analysis of this because data-driven and evidence-based analysis is required to drive the humongous investment that this country will enjoy.
In his welcome address, the permanent Secretary in the Ministry, James Sule described the MoU as a significant milestone in the collective efforts to reposition the art, culture and creative economy sectors.
He said the MoU intends to ensure that the two parties cooperate towards developing a united policy, governance, institutional, legislative, and implementation framework guiding the institution and operations of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy as viable sectors of the Nigerian Economy.
According to him, it has the objectives of exponentially increasing the number of persons involved in the optimization of business opportunities in the sectorial value-chains, driving the harnessing of huge pool of indigenous talent in these sectors, and boosting domestics and foreign investments.
“It entails greater collaboration by both parties to mutually cooperate and facilitate upward trajectory of actualizing the 8 Point Plan of the Ministry in transforming Nigeria into Africa’s creative, cultural and entertainment capital.’’
He commended the NESG for its unwavering commitment and dedication in fostering open and ongoing dialogue between the public and private sectors on Nigeria’s socio-economic development.
