Experts have projected that Nigeria’s creative industry can generate $100 billion annually and create an additional 2.7 million jobs by 2030.
These projections were made at a recent value chain mapping exercise organised by the Technology for Social Change and Development Initiative (Tech4Dev) in partnership with the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture.
The two-day event, which brought together over 70 stakeholders from both the private and public sectors, focused on addressing the challenges in Lagos’ creative sector.
Oyinkan Akintola-Bello, Country Director of the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, spoke on the importance of government and private sector collaboration.
“I envision a collaborative approach where the government and private sector work together to cultivate Nigeria’s creative economy. A crucial next step is gathering comprehensive data, particularly for the creative economy map, to empower informed decision-making on investments, skill development, and even identifying historical filming locations,” Akintola-Bello said.
Lagos boasts a vibrant ecosystem that includes the thriving Nollywood film industry, music, fashion, publishing, and tourism, among other digitally enabled sub-sectors. However, experts at the event emphasised the need for government support to unlock the sector’s full potential.
Despite the sector’s contributions, including creating an estimated 4.2 million jobs across media, entertainment, beauty, visual arts, tourism, and hospitality, the Nigerian creative industry is yet to realise its full potential. The event highlighted the importance of comprehensive policies, better infrastructure, and talent development to enhance the sector’s investment attractiveness and ease of doing business.
The involvement of the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture in the value chain mapping exercise underscored the government’s commitment to building a thriving creative sector. The ministry’s participation is seen as a crucial step in driving the sector towards its potential $100 billion annual contribution to the economy by 2030.
Micheal John, Country Manager at Tech4Dev, described the Lagos State Creative Sector mapping as a game-changer and stated that it would provide a clear understanding of the sector and the government’s vision and direction.
He stressed the need to mainstream the findings into policy frameworks, create an illustrative map of the creative economy, and focus on soft infrastructure to support creativity.
The workshop concluded with a commitment to produce a comprehensive report detailing the challenges and recommendations for growing Lagos State’s creative industry.
Leo Omoshebi, a production designer, art director, and national secretary of the Creative Designers Guild of Nigeria (CDGN), added, “I am all for any private-public sector engagement about re-tuning our industry. My expectation from this value chain mapping is that what professionals like myself and other people gathered here have discussed is taken seriously and imputed granularly in policies,” Omoshebi said.
