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How Nigeria’s creative industry can accelerate economic growth

By Helen Oji
17 September 2017   |   4:05 am
Creative industry experts have urged government to provide structures and necessary infrastructure that would enable the industry to create the needed value and unlock its potentials for economic growth.

Creative industry experts have urged government to provide structures and necessary infrastructure that would enable the industry to create the needed value and unlock its potentials for economic growth.

The experts, who spoke during the Live Events Conference Roundtable 2017, organised recently by Seats and Tickets, in Lagos, stressed the need for provision of adequate structures in Nigeria to reduce cross border production and filming outside the shores of the country.

According to them, Nigeria’s creative industry has big potential to create jobs and generate foreign exchange earnings if the necessary facilities are put in place. The Manager, TBWA Concept, Chukwuemeka Obia, explained that provision of funds for the industry would accelerate growth, but added that the right structures must be put in place to ensure adequate utilisation of the funds.

According to him, “Funding is key but with funding you need to have the right structures to be able to utilise this funding to create the needed value to grow the industry. The industry has this export potential and that is why we need to begin to look at it. There are opportunities in Africa, South Africa, and Europe that we can push our content into and these people can appreciate our content.

“In the global arena, there are structures in place and the film industry is regulated, have the structures and infrastructure in place but some of this infrastructure we do not have it here.

“For instance, there are movies that show in cinemas but in Nigeria how many cinemas do we have and that is the opportunity for people that make these films to capture more value. So, this enabling environment is available in those economies, but in Nigeria, we do not have them and that is why they take production outside the country because we do not have the facilities and infrastructure.

“So, what we need in Nigeria is to begin to build those infrastructure that will make the environment enabling for people to express that creativity and take it to the next level.”

Also speaking at the event, the producer of Stand Up Nigeria, Bunmi Davies explained that government needed to build venues for concerts, where filmmakers can derive more value for their creativity.

As she put it, “Government should provide venues for concerts, not building venues for parties; they are two different things. Venues that are soundproof that can support the arts. Once we have structures, the private sector would do the rest.”

Business Director of Seats and Tickets, Emeka Ebeniro said the decision to develop the live event conference platform was to bridge the knowledge gap in the industry and enable experts in the industry to network and improve their talents.

“The platform helps to develop the next generation of excellent event planners, show promoters, live performers and everyone in the eco-system,” he said.

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