African countries should prioritise creative industry like Nigeria: Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has appealed to African leaders to invest more in the creative industry for job and wealth creation.

The minister appealed in a remark at the closing of the sixth edition of the Edinburgh International Cultural Summit in Edinburgh, Scotland.

“African ministers should come together and look at the creative industry with a view to working synergy and persuading various governments to invest more in the sector.

“We should let them understand that today, the creative industry is a big economy,” Mr Mohammed was quoted as saying.

A text of the minister’s remarks was made available by Segun Adeyemi, the Special Assistant to the President (Media), attached to the Office of the Minister of Information and Culture.

Mr Mohammed contended that many African states had given the least attention to the creative industry.

He said most African countries have Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as their education policy or curriculum choices with implications on workforce development.

According to the minister, Nigeria, having realised the flaw, adjusted to embracing the creative industry through its policies and programmes.

He gave the instance of the commitment of $100 million to the renovation of the National Theatre in Lagos and the construction of four hubs for films, fashion, music and technology.

The minister said the hubs would provide the missing but needed infrastructure in the creative industry.

He said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently set aside part of the $170 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to develop the nation’s creative industry.

Mr Mohammed also cited the example of the government’s commitment to the completion of the Digital Switch Over project and the repatriation of the country’s stolen artefacts. 

(NAN)