Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has called on international businessmen to invest massively in Nigeria’s creative sector ”as the non-oil export alternative for economic growth and
development”.
The Minister made the call while addressing the plenary session at the ongoing 2016 Edinburgh International
Festival Summit in Scotland on Thursday.
”With approximately 24 million TV households, 150 TV channels, a greater number of radio stations, smart
phone penetration edging over 40 million and over 100 million phone lines sold to date, and with over 20 million
Diaspora Nigerians who are all primary consumers of the creativity located all over the world, and with us being the commercial bed rock of the last frontier, Africa, we are
ready for business,” he said.
Mohammed said although Nigeria is endowed with abundant
cultural heritage, with each of the 36 states boasting of at least 3 to 5 cultural industries, the challenge is how to harness this abundant cultural heritage and create an economy out of it.
He noted, however, that the nation is ready to tackle the challenge by working with its partners, including
the Tony Elumelu Foundation and the British Council, to build capacity
and provide knowledge.
Recalling the Memorandum of Understanding which he signed with the
British Council on the sidelines of
the summit on Wednesday, the Minister expressed the belief that the
British Council ”can assist us in the
area of capacity building, identification of infrastructure and, more
importantly, in the area of organizing
how these things work in a cooperative manner”.
He announced Nigeria’s intention to preserve its cultural heritage by
reviving a number of its festivals that
have not been held regularly over the years, including the Argugun
Fishing Festival and Durbar, and also
bringing back the various age-long traditional games like ‘ayo’,
‘arin’ and traditional wrestling.
Mohammed told the summit, which is being attended by
representatives of many countries, that the
present Administration had resolved, even before knowing the price of
oil was going to crash, that it would
diversify its economy
He said apart from agriculture and solid minerals, the country will be
focusing on the creative industries ”because
it is a major low-hanging fruit” which is ready to be plucked immediately.
The Minister identified some of the key creative industries thriving
in Nigeria as the home-grown Nollywood
(Film) Industry and the music industry ”which is beginning to find
its way into major international markets”
He also listed traditional medicine, music, food, cosmetics,
performing arts, science and technology, oral
expressions, costumes and body adornment as some of the nation’s
cultural resources
”We are simply not awake to the fact that our cultural resources
offer more lucrative alternatives to our oil
deposits in the form of income derivable from entrance fees to
facilities and exhibitions, copyright charges
for reproduction and use of collected rare objects, photographs and
visual images, enquiry charges, sale of
publications, publicity materials and promotion licensing agreements
to mention a few.
”We need to be alert to harvest our many distinctive tangible and
intangible cultural resources,” Alhaji Mohammed
said, adding that Nigeria is opening opportunities to boost tourism
and the hospitality business through well-organized
national and international carnivals and festivals.
