The Creative Economy And The Nigeria We Want

By Enam Obiosio

I have watched Nigeria’s creative economy move from the margins of public policy into the centre of conversations about growth, jobs and diversification. I find that transition encouraging, but I also think we should be careful about what we celebrate. When the federal government says the creative sector can contribute 2.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and create 2 million additional jobs by 2030, I believe we should see the target as both an opportunity and a test. We should ask whether we are prepared to build the institutions, businesses and investment structures that can make it real.

I do not doubt Nigeria’s creative capacity. We have never lacked talent, imagination or stories. We have musicians whose work travels across continents, filmmakers with global audiences, designers who influence fashion and young creators turning digital platforms into enterprise. What I question is our ability to convert this creativity into durable economic value.

The Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, says the ministry is putting in place the policy and institutional framework required to achieve the government’s targets. She has also disclosed that four drafting committees are working on policy and strategy, programmes and implementation, stakeholder engagement, and monitoring and evaluation. I welcome these steps because I believe the creative economy needs structure. But I also believe we should judge these committees by what they produce, not merely by their existence.

We have heard ambitious economic promises before. Targets can become headlines while implementation disappears beneath administrative processes. If we genuinely believe the creative economy can become a major engine of growth, we should build it with the seriousness we would bring to any strategic sector.

The numbers make the case for attention. The creative sector currently contributes between 1.2 percent and 2 percent of Nigeria’s GDP and employs about 4.2 million Nigerians. I find that employment figure important. It tells us that the creative economy is already a significant source of livelihood. If we can add another two million jobs by 2030, we should ask what enterprises will generate them, what incomes they will provide and how many will survive.

I also think we need to change the way we perceive creative professionals. We should stop seeing them merely as talented individuals waiting for patronage. We should see them as entrepreneurs, employers, exporters, investors and owners of intellectual property. A musician with a catalogue is not simply an entertainer. A filmmaker with valuable productions is not merely a storyteller. A designer with a recognisable brand owns an economic asset. Once we accept this, our approach to financing and regulation has to change.

I believe access to capital will be decisive. We cannot build a powerful creative economy by depending mainly on grants, competitions and occasional government interventions. We need private investment, specialised financing and investors who understand intellectual property. We should finance creative businesses based on intellectual property, revenue models, audiences and distribution capacity, rather than insisting on conventional collateral.

We must also take ownership seriously. Nigeria’s culture has become one of our strongest international assets, but global consumption does not automatically mean Nigerian economic ownership. We can create music and films that travel globally while weak intellectual property systems limit the value retained at home.

For me, this is where the government’s proposal to monetise Nigeria’s tangible and intangible creative, cultural and tourism assets becomes significant. We should move beyond celebrating cultural influence and focus on converting it into Nigerian-owned wealth. If our stories, music, fashion, heritage and creative products are assets, we should protect, value and build businesses around them.

Professor Ayo Omotayo, Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), has said that the creative sector could contribute as much as $450 billion to the economy and support President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of a $1 trillion economy by 2030. He said: “For the national institute, we have bonded ourselves to the agenda of Mr President in which he wants Nigeria to reach a trillion-dollar economy by 2030.” I welcome that ambition, but we should distinguish between potential and achievement. A projection becomes meaningful only when we can identify the mechanisms capable of producing it.

We should therefore welcome the National Summit and Exhibition on the Orange Economy, but we should expect more than another gathering where experts repeat that Nigeria has talent. We already know that. What we need are investment pipelines, financing commitments, export strategies, intellectual property reforms and measurable partnerships.

I also believe the Orange Economy should not be separated from tourism, technology and culture. A film can market a destination. Music can attract tourists. Fashion can create exports. Heritage can generate hospitality businesses. Digital platforms can turn local creativity into international commerce. We should design policies that connect these activities rather than keeping them in separate bureaucratic compartments.

The proposed National Tourism Policy is consequently important. I believe it should become part of a wider economic architecture in which tourism, culture and creativity reinforce one another. But we will need more than policy documents. We will need roads, broadband, reliable electricity, payment infrastructure, security, copyright enforcement, skills and efficient institutions. Creativity can produce demand, but weak infrastructure can prevent it becoming economic value.

I am equally convinced that artificial intelligence will alter the creative economy faster than many policy processes can anticipate. We should not approach it simply as a threat to jobs. We should see it as a tool that can increase productivity and help Nigerian creators reach wider markets. But we should ensure that our creators have the skills to use it. Otherwise, we risk becoming consumers of technologies that generate value from our own cultural content.

This is why I think the government’s target should be accompanied by a clear measurement framework. If the sector reaches 2.3 percent of GDP, we should know which subsectors generated the growth. If two million jobs are created, we should know whether they are formal, sustainable and productive. If the larger $100 billion contribution previously discussed by the ministry becomes achievable, we should know how much of that value remains within Nigerian businesses.

I do not think we should dismiss the government’s ambition. I think we should demand more of it. We should encourage the Federal Government to create conditions for private capital to enter the sector at scale. We should encourage financial institutions to develop products suited to creative businesses. We should demand stronger intellectual property protection and better data so investors can understand the sector.

Above all, we should stop treating creativity as an afterthought. If we believe the creative economy can help build the Nigeria we want, then we should organise it as an economic sector, not merely celebrate it as a cultural achievement.

Nigeria does not lack imagination. We have never lacked stories, talent or cultural influence. What we have lacked is the systematic conversion of those assets into productive economic power.

The next chapter should be different. We should build a creative economy in which Nigerian talent is financed in Nigeria, intellectual property is protected in Nigeria, enterprises scale from Nigeria, and global audiences generate value that flows back into Nigerian businesses and households.

If we can achieve that, the creative economy will not merely contribute 2.3 percent to GDP. It will help redefine what we understand by economic production itself.

I believe Nigeria’s greatest creative asset is its people. We have imagination in abundance. What we need now is institutional discipline to turn imagination into enterprise, enterprise into jobs and jobs into prosperity.

We should therefore judge the creative economy by what it produces, what it owns and what it retains. If we get those three things right, 2.3 percent of GDP will not be the destination. It will show that we have begun properly converting Nigeria’s creative genius into economic power.