Creative Industry
Minister Musawa Unveils Strategic Interventions to Boost Creative Economy and Tourism
Joel Ajayi
The Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa Esq., has outlined key challenges and strategic interventions to enhance the growth and development of Nigeria’s creative economy and tourism sectors.
The Minister made this known while declaring open the 2025 Ministerial and Sectoral Retreat, organized by the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and Creative Economy, held on Wednesday at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
In her keynote address, Minister Musawa identified limited funding access, poor infrastructure, piracy issues, security concerns, and inadequate data on job creation estimates as major challenges hindering the full realization of these sectors’ capabilities.
“To address these challenges,” she said, “the Ministry will focus on infrastructure development, policy enhancement, skills development, tourism infrastructure, and data-driven decision-making.
“This includes investing in film studios, digital infrastructure, and global distribution networks, strengthening copyright and intellectual property protections and enforcement, establishing fashion incubation centers and creative hubs, enhancing heritage sites and museums, and leveraging primary and secondary data to guide job creation targets and policy interventions.”
The Minister emphasized the vast growth potential of Nigeria’s creative economy and tourism sectors, driven by increasing digital penetration and rising global demand for Nigerian content.
She also highlighted the importance of leveraging the country’s rich cultural heritage and creative talents to establish itself as Africa’s creative and tourism powerhouse.
The Minister concluded that the strategic repositioning of Nigeria’s arts, culture, tourism, and creative economy is imperative for the nation’s future prosperity. She urged stakeholders to be guided by data, inspired by Nigeria’s rich heritage, and motivated by the immense potential of these sectors for job creation, economic diversification, and global recognition.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Mukhtar Yawale Muhammad MFR, mni, said the retreat was a unique opportunity to reflect and set a strategic tone to reshape various sectors of the ministry. He stated that the objectives of the retreat were to align the ministry’s strategic direction with the Renewed Hope Agenda and national development priorities, strengthen inter-agency coordination, and develop a performance framework and implementation roadmap for the ministry.
“This retreat comes at a pivotal time. The world is changing rapidly, technologically, economically, and socially, and the creative sector must be willing and ready to adapt if we are to remain the driver of innovations, job creation, and a viable tool for soft power and cultural diplomacy.
“The core objective of this assembly is for constructive deliberations on repositioning our vibrant revenue-generating sectors as catalysts for exponential economic growth, producing an effective virtuous circle for increased job creation.
To identify key legislative, institutional, and financial reforms needed for the sector’s transformation and to adopt a world-class vision, mission mandate that will guide the formation of the Ministry’s Multi-Sectoral Strategic Plan 2026-2030,” the Permanent Secretary stated.
On the opening day, there were also goodwill messages from the Chairman House Committee on Tourism, representatives of the Chairman Senate Committee on Tourism, the Country Representative of the UNDP, and the Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination Central Delivery Coordination Unit. In attendance were the Directors-General and Heads of Agencies, Directors in the Ministry, Special Advisers to the President and the Honorable Minister, and senior staff of the Ministry.
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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