President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that Nigerian artistes, filmmakers, and other creative industry stakeholders will contribute no less than $10 billion to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Speaking on the sidelines of the Dubai UAE Expo 2020, tagged ‘Arise Fashion 2021’, Buhari expressed the pride he has in the creative industry, saying that there are increasing job opportunities for young people.
“There’s no doubt that Nigeria’s creative sector holds tremendous potential to unlock Nigeria’s economy and increase employment opportunities for young people.
“The projections are promising as the sector is expected to deliver over $10 billion by the end of 2021, making a tremendous contribution to the country’s GDP,” the President was quoted as saying by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, who represented him at the occasion.
Citing a recent report on Nigeria’s creative sector, Buhari further revealed that the industry is poised to become the second-largest employer with a potential to produce 2.7 million new jobs by 2025.
“After agricultural, the creative sector is the second largest employer of labour in Nigeria today,” he added.
It would be recalled that in March 2021, the Bank of Industry (BoI) collaborated with the National Council for Arts and Culture, to provide a loan facility for creative industry stakeholders.
The loan facility is a N300 million loan package that was put in place to accelerate the growth of Nigeria’s creative sector.
