Nigeria is increasing efforts to boost its emerging creative industry, which has been attracting more and more content creators and contributes to a growing share of the African country's GDP.
The creative sector shows great potential in driving the growth of Nigeria, with the industry now contributing 5.6 billion U.S. dollars to its GDP and the figure is estimated to jump to 20 billion by 2027 as planned by the government.
Having been posting his performances online since 2013, Marcus Hassan, a drummer based in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, currently has nearly 500,000 followers across various social media platforms, whose support has created a steady income for the artist.
"New subscribers, you know, new viewers, keep piling up, you know. On a good day, if I post two or three times, I could make up to 3,800 to 8,000 [U.S.] dollars a month," he said.
As the creative sector expands, the industry now employs over four million Nigerians and the number is expected to double within three years.
Since the sector is still facing challenges like poor intellectual property protection and limited monetization options, relevant authorities said resources like new investments in training, infrastructure, and reforms are underway.
"I would like to know how you'd like to come in to help me. And, you know, how this would affect me personally and affect, you know, what I've managed to build or to plant," said Oluchi Anigbogu, a food and lifestyle content creator.
Nigerian officials said they are optimistic about the growth prospect of the country's creative sector, noting that with advantages in population and in marketing products in both domestic and international market, it is reasonable to increase investment in the sector in an effort to drive economic growth.
"We have a creative and cultural product that we can easily market internally and also considering the population of our country, we know that we have our own market and we also have the international markets, who are seriously aching to participate or partake in our creative product. So, it was a no-brainer really that the government would look at the sector as an important area to invest in," said Roshan Nanayakkara, Special Assistant on Monitoring, Evaluation, and Heritage at the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy of Nigeria.
Nigeria taps emerging creative industry to drive economic growth
