FG INJECTS TWO HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS INTO THE CREATIVE AND ARTS SECTORS 01-03-25
By Sadiq Aminu The Federal Government is injecting a two hundred million dollar fund in partnership with the African Export-Import Bank and Afreximbank to assist stakeholders in the creative and art industry in growing the arts and crafts.
The Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and Creative Economy, Mrs Hannatu Musawa, stated this during a media briefing in Lagos to highlight the activities of the ministry in creating more employment opportunities for teeming Nigeria.
The minister said that the stakeholders in the arts and creative industry would, by June this year, have access to funds to support the tourism and creative economy.
Mrs Musawa said the ministry is working hard and closely with the bank to deploy capital into strategic opportunities with funding going directly into the space where the players need it. We have appointed a financial advisor and I will soon publish a roadmap process.
Mrs Musawa said:our vision is to build an integrated, data-driven and investment-friendly ecosystem that has the potential to unlock the great opportunities that abound in this industry, saying that President Bola Tinubu mandated me to ensure that I did whatever was necessary to make sure that players in the industry get what they need to grow the industry. One of the things that was very obvious was the dearth of the funding. Everywhere you go Nigerians have so many good ideas that they just don’t have the funding to be able to grow their craft.
Mrs Musawa noted that one of the most critical challenges we identified was the lack of funding. Everywhere we go, Nigerians have brilliant ideas but lack the financial resources to develop their craft. Today, I am excited to announce the establishment of a $200 million fund facility in partnership with Afreximbank. This facility, secured through rigorous collaboration between our ministry and the bank, will directly inject capital into strategic areas where industry players need it most.
To ensure effective deployment, we have appointed a financial advisor and will publish a clear roadmap by next week. We understand the challenges of bankability and will address them through a comprehensive, intellectual property, IP-backed programme This initiative is groundbreaking—nothing like this has ever been done before in Nigeria. We have created a framework that allows creatives to use their IP as collateral for funding, enabling them to monetize their work. We are eager to roll this out soon. Mrs Musawa.
She said that we embarked on a journey to explore and conduct a deep, prophetic assessment to determine the best way to establish a ministry that would not only create an enabling environment for the industry but also generate employment opportunities for young people—those who exist within our ministry and our space, so to speak. Additionally, we aimed to drive economic expansion, a goal to which the President is fully committed.
Over the past months, or the last year or so, we have collaborated with some of the best experts globally to analyze benchmark countries, understand what works in Nigeria, and adapt successful strategies from other regions to fit our local context. Our approach leverages Nigeria’s thriving creative industry, where global interest in our music, content, talent, and creativity continues to grow.
Mrs Musawa emphasised that the administration of President Bola Tinubu is committed to leveraging the sector’s vast potential to create over two million jobs by 2030 to reposition the nation to be among the top twenty creative economies of the world.
She also pointed out that efforts are in top gear through international finance partnerships to attract significant international investments to accelerate growth in the tourism and creative economy sector.
Mrs Musawa stated that the upbeat investors have already begun talks with the Ministry since the unveiling of policies to create a one hundred billion-dollar economy for the country by the year 2030.
She said the ministry is initiating policies to establish a Global Tourism Hub through the securement of the two hundred million dollar commitment from Afrexim Bank to accelerate the building of a cultural and creative industry through the funding expected to go directly into the sector.
Mrs Musawa said that the Federal Government has set a target of increasing Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product by one hundred billion dollars through strategic investments in the creative industries.
Mrs Musawa revealed that the government is actively working with the private sector to develop critical infrastructure, foster intellectual property monetisation, and create an enabling environment for creatives to thrive. “our goal is to ensure that Nigeria’s creative economy contributes significantly to national revenue.
Based on global best practices and our in-depth analysis, we are confident that this sector can add $100 billion to GDP,” she said.
Mrs Musawa said: we have put all the foundation in place. Now we are ready to roll out some of the great initiatives that we think will be able to add growth to this industry. We have achieved significant milestones in advancing Nigeria’s streams of economy and tourism sector.
And when we came in, we saw the ministry.
So, we embarked on a journey to explore and conduct a deep, prophetic assessment to determine the best way to establish a ministry that would not only create an enabling environment for the industry but also generate employment opportunities for young people—those who exist within our ministry and our space, so to speak. Additionally, we aimed to drive economic expansion, a goal to which the President is fully committed.
I am pleased to announce that our ministry is now at the implementation stage. We have laid the necessary foundations and are ready to roll out strategic initiatives that will significantly contribute to the industry’s growth. We have achieved notable milestones in advancing Nigeria’s economic diversification and tourism sector
Our vision is to build an integrated, data-driven, and investment-friendly ecosystem that unlocks the vast opportunities within this industry.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu mandated me to take all necessary steps to ensure that industry players receive the support they need to grow and thrive.
Mrs Musawa said the federal government is working toward launching the D-30 Platform, saying that one of my personal favourites is the launch of the D-30 platform, a transformative initiative similar to the Athena platform, which revolutionized the fintech space. I know this will excite industry players and Nigerians alike.
She said that the D-30 platform is a centralized database designed to map our industry landscape and provide forward-looking insights. Its key features include infrastructure audit, a tool to guide public-private partnerships and targeted investments. Industry Forecasts: Providing data-driven insights to help industry players and investors make informed decisions.
Mrs Musawa said that one of the biggest challenges for industry stakeholders and investors is the lack of reliable data on where to invest, noting that the D-30 platform will bridge this gap by ensuring clear, data-driven assumptions that incorporate planned investments, forthcoming policy reforms, and key infrastructure developments. These insights will be transparently shared on the platform to guide investors, highlight the government’s proactive role, and support our Destination 2030 goal of creating 2 million jobs in the creative and tourism sectors.