Nigeria’s creative sector, which currently employs more than 4 million people, has the potential to create additional 2.7 million jobs by 2025, a new report on Nigeria’s creative industry by Jobberman shows.
With these projected additional jobs, the creative sector, comprising media, entertainment, beauty and lifestyle, visual arts, and tourism and hospitality, could dent Nigeria’s youth employment and total unemployment, currently at 42.5 percent and 33.3 percent, respectively, the highest rate ever.
“The creative sector in Nigeria has significant potential for employment of young people. This potential is evident in the availability of the current formal and informal job opportunities as well as the growth potential within the industry,” the report stated.
It said the interplay of creativity, technology, and economics presents an opportunity for the nation to generate jobs, increase income and export earnings.
A breakdown of the creative industry job projection by Jobberman shows that 0.8 million of the projected 2.7 million jobs will come from beauty and lifestyle, 0.8 million from visual arts, 0.7 million from entertainment, and 0.2 million each from media and tourism and hospitality.
Further insights from the report foresee future employment opportunities from highly specialised roles such as videography and animation, generalist roles such as project managers and accountants, and tech creative roles such as digital marketing.
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The creative sector of Africa’s biggest economy is one of the most vibrant in the continent driven by the youth. In recent years, the sector has seen a period of rapid progress facilitated by emerging digital technology, which supports content creation, distribution and consumption.
An official at Filmone, a Nigerian cinema company, described the spirit of Nigerian youths as creative, passionate and resilient.
“They are looking for places to secure their talents and potentials, and the sector creates that opportunity. We are getting to see the sector as the largest employer of Nigerian youth,” the person said.
Entertainment, beauty and lifestyle as well as visual arts are some of the dominant industries within the sector. It has a growing global influence, from film to music and fashion, to become the hub for exporting Nigeria’s culture. According to data from Statista, the sector contributed about N4.5 trillion to the nation’s GDP in 2016.
The sector suffered a significant setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the report said, quoting employers within the industry. However, it also presented an opportunity for young filmmakers to produce more local movies than ever before.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of local movies produced in 2020 surged by 477.6 percent to 2,599 compared to 450 movies in 2017.
Also WizKid and Burna Boy’s recent win at the Grammy highlights the potential of the sector.
“The sector will accomplish much more in the next few years, especially now that acts like Burna Boy and Wizkid are doing big things on the international scene,” Wunmi Eruaga, chief operating officer for PTRlifestyle Group, said.
“We just need a healthy environment for exponential growth,” Eruaga said.
The projections are promising as the sector is expected to be worth over $6 billion by 2021.
However, issues such as informality, the lack of essential skills, funding issues, the gender gap and a backlog of analogue reality have continued to persist, having far-reaching consequences for the prosperity of the sector.
The report stated that the sector’s capacity to create job opportunities will be dependent on multiple factors including an enabling environment, the easing of the pandemic as well as investments in skills and necessary infrastructure.
