FG partners Tony Elumelu Foundation on creative industries

The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tony Elumelu Foundation in repositioning the creative industries in Nigeria.

Speaking earlier today shortly after signing the MoU, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, expressed the strong belief that the collaboration will be the much-needed catalyst to transform the country’s Creative Industries to a Creative Economy.

”The MoU contained details of how we will work together to execute our partnership. More specifically, the areas of collaboration will include the creation of an enabling business environment for the creative industries with such incentives as easy access to finance; the structuring of the Creative Industries to enable it generate independent revenues locally and also boost exports to increase Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings; and comprehensive statistics about the Creative Industries, including its size and projections, to guide potential local and foreign investors,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said an innovative part of the collaboration “is the plan to convene a Creative Economy Task Force to map the Creative Industries to provide a better picture of what is happening on the ground and help inform policy development.”

”To reap the full potentials of the Creative Industries, we realised early on that we will need to reach out to organizations that have the capacity and the drive to assist us in achieving our goals, organizations that can utilize their business knowledge, network and technical expertise to assist the Ministry in the development of Nigeria’s Creative Industries.

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Alhaji Mohammed said efforts to lift the Creative Industries have received support at the highest level of the Administration, adding: ”Last week, at an evening of conversation with the youth, President Muhammadu Buhari not only rallied support for the sector, he also directed that such support must reflect in the budget of the Ministry of Information and Culture in 2017.”

He commended the Chairman of the Foundation, Mr Tony Elumelu, for throwing his full weight, and that of his Foundation, behind the idea of a partnership between the Ministry and the Foundation to rejuvenate the Creative Industries, which range from advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, fashion, film, interactive leisure and software, music, the performing arts and publishing to Radio and Television.

For his part, Mr. Elumelu hailed the Minister for the partnership initiative, and assured that even more of his colleagues in the private sector would support the Creative Industries once they are properly structured.

The TEF was founded in 2010 by Tony O. Elumelu CON, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, TEF is a foremost African philanthropic organisation.  The Tony Elumelu Foundation believes that the private sector holds the key to unlocking Africa’s economic potential.  To that end, its mission is to catalyse economic and social development in Africa through entrepreneurship.