FG targets two million jobs by 2027 in Nigeria

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On Tuesday, the Ministry of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy rolled out a framework for financing the development of Nigeria’s creative economy, which is targeted at creating two million jobs by 2027.

The Minister, Hannatu Musa Musawa, disclosed this in Abuja during an interactive session with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

Musawa expressed her optimism about working with the NESG on fund generation and capacity building, through which the ministry can contribute N100 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.

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“With the support of NESG, the private sector, and the right funding mechanism, I think we can do so much to help Nigeria out of the doldrums.

“The Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy is the happy place in Nigeria, no matter what. This is the sector that Nigerians want to hear about the art, the films, the music. It is an expression of who we are.

“This is something that we really want to tap into, especially now that the whole world is interested in Nigerian content. With this, we can reposition Nigeria, so we came up with this brilliant initiative, Destination 2030, which is poised to change the narrative of Nigeria.

“The government will work towards producing a conducive environment that encourages growth and private investment to ensure that Nigeria’s cultural influence transcends borders as a brand and unites Nigerians across all initiatives.

“We need to prove to the administration that the ecosystem can really bring value back. So, it is not just about giving to the creatives by investing in them, but also proving that we can get back the value, all the way down to the grassroots.

“So, funding for our programmes is very key, and I would love to share a number of these initiatives and programmes with you to see where we can pull the funds from,” Musawa stated.

Earlier, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, led by the Facilitator on Tourism, Hospitality, Entertainment, the Creative Economy, and Sports, Dr Ikenna Nwosu, said that the group will provide technical assistance to the ministry to enable it to attract funds.

Dr Nwosu also expressed readiness to collaborate with the Ministry to update the National Policy on the Creative Industry and also train the ministry’s staff on efficient data collection.

“We discovered that the Ministry does not have a national policy on the creative economy. It does not have an updated National Policy on Culture.

“The one they have is from 1988. We don’t have a national policy to incentivize the sector. There are other sectors that were incentivized by the government, like gas and telecommunications, to build initiatives and train the operators in the sector.”.

Dr Nwosu pledged support to the Ministry to enable them to carry out its mandate.

“The NESG decided that we must give the Honourable Minister the full complement of our human, technical, and development partner expertise to succeed.

“There is no limit to what she asks us to do. We are at hand to do it on a 24-hour basis, and this is a commitment that we have made. We have demonstrated it and will continue to demonstrate it,” Dr Nwosu noted.