Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture declared on Monday the Federal Government has agreed on a tripartite partnership with UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and American news Network, CNN to promote America’s creative industry.
It was declared at the Creative Industry Round table held in Lagos. The minister further added UNWTO and CNN will avail the film industry as a lens to project various aspects of the Nigerian culture, tourism and other zones.
A 13 episode production will showcase various stages in the movie production to include a choice of location, capturing beautiful sceneries available in Nigeria.
The country’s rich fashion industry, music and talent will be highlighted providing a platform to show our richness in terms of technology and gadgets.
The minister emphasized on the government’s position in changing the creative industry to Nigeria’s new oil. He further added that this was an empirical statement and waited for other lands to confirm this.
A creative industry financing conference will be organized between July 17 and July 18 in Lagos to grow the industry. The acting President Yemi Osinbajo will open the conference organized in partnership with Think Tank Media.
The round-table will fast-track the transformation of the creative industry and help stakeholders in engaging business-focused discussions, highlighting the international best practices to enhance the business of the sector. Key industry personnel will be engaged on the business of the creative sector.
Folorunso Coker, the Director General of Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) earlier identified access to fund as one of the major challenges of the industry.
He stressed on the acceptance of content as collateral for funding of creative works done in other climes advocating public policy reform for harmonisation of multi level regulatory institutions in the creative industry.
There was a huge infrastructure gap that stopped the industry from growing, China had about 40,000 cinemas in the past 6 six years while Nigeria had 130 screens.
