Creative Industry
Nigeria and Saint Lucia Sign Historic MOU to Boost Tourism and Creative Industries
Joel Ajayi
Nigeria and Saint Lucia have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster robust partnerships in tourism, the Orange Economy, and investment in the creative industries.
The agreement was formally signed on Wednesday July 2, 2025, during President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s official visit to the Caribbean nation.
The partnership aims to leverage Nigeria’s globally celebrated creative industries, including Nollywood, Afrobeats, fashion, and storytelling, alongside Saint Lucia’s world-class tourism and community-based tourism models. The agreement promotes bilateral participation in cultural festivals, exchange programs, fashion collaborations, and museum development initiatives.
The MOU will focus on co-development of creative economy programs, youth-centered exchanges, and strengthening of value chains for fashion, textiles, and artisanal industries. Plans are underway for joint participation in major cultural festivals, including Saint Lucia’s renowned Jazz Festival.
Nigeria’s Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa described the occasion as the dawn of a new era in Africa-Caribbean relations.
She emphasized that the MOU offers a strategic framework to leverage complementary strengths.
“Nigeria has mastered the art of creative industry and culture, from Nollywood to music to storytelling. Saint Lucia, on the other hand, has perfected the tourism model. This collaboration allows us to exchange expertise and co-develop our capacities in both sectors. This partnership can generate immense value for both our countries, but more importantly, it can inspire the global Black community,”Musawa stated.
Saint Lucia’s Minister for Tourism, Culture, and the Creative Industries, Dr. Ernest Hilaire, described the agreement as a formal reconnection of peoples separated by history but united by heritage.
“This agreement is about formally re-establishing those ancestral links.
From music and dance to fashion and sports, Nigeria has been an inspiration. We have enjoyed Nigerian talent at our Jazz Festival in recent years, and this MOU gives us the opportunity to deepen that relationship.”
The Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy reaffirms its commitment to fostering strategic alliances that celebrate shared heritage, promote people-to-people connections, and unlock new opportunities for cultural and economic growth across the Global South.
Creative Industry
FG Backs MyCityApp Launch of 100-Day Tourism Calendar to Drive $100bn Economic Growth
Joel Ajayi
The Federal Government has thrown its weight behind the launch of MyCityApp, a Nigerian city discovery and tourism platform designed to aggregate festivals, concerts, cultural events and lifestyle experiences into a single digital calendar.
The platform, which flags off the 100-Day Tourism Calendar, was unveiled on Monday at the Ember2Remember National Stakeholders’ Conference in Victoria Island, Lagos, with the initiative targeting Nigeria’s estimated $100 billion tourism and creative economy opportunity.
In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Media and Publicity Adviser to the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, the ministry said the conference was aimed at mobilising public and private stakeholders to transform the September-to-December festive period into jobs, investment and economic growth.
Speaking at the unveiling, the Minister, Hannatu Musa Musawa, said millions of visitors travel across Nigeria every year to celebrate, reconnect and experience the country’s diverse culture, stressing that the festive season could be deliberately organised and monetised to strengthen tourism’s contribution to the economy.
“This initiative is about moving beyond the traditional concept of a festive season. It is about deliberately organising, packaging, promoting, and monetising one of the most economically active periods in our national calendar,” Musawa said.
She noted that every visitor generates economic activity across several sectors, including aviation, transportation, hospitality, restaurants, entertainment, retail, technology, artisans and local communities.
The Minister commended MyCityApp Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Ifeoma Chukwu, for her vision and commitment to the initiative.
She urged state governments, event organisers, tourism operators, hospitality businesses and other stakeholders to list their festivals, concerts, exhibitions, food experiences, cultural celebrations, fashion and sporting events on the national calendar.
Musawa said the platform would enable Nigerians, members of the diaspora and international visitors to discover tourism and entertainment experiences across the country from a single, credible source.
Earlier, Chukwu said Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and creative sector provided enormous opportunities for tourism-driven economic growth.
She cited the contributions of tourism to the economies of countries such as Spain, France and the United States, arguing that Nigeria could equally build a $100 billion tourism economy.
Also present were Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Toke Benson-Awoyinka; Enugu State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ugochi Madueke; NCAC Director-General, Obi Asika; National Gallery of Art Director-General, Ahmed Sodangi; ARCON Director-General, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo; and MTN Nigeria CEO, Dr Karl Toriola.
MyLagosApp and MyCityApp will serve as the digital engines of the calendar, distributing events through a 360-degree media ecosystem to audiences in Nigeria and the diaspora.
Stakeholders were encouraged to upload their events on MyCityApp to participate in the national tourism calendar urging them to upload events on http://www.MyCityApp.io.
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