Creative Industry

Nigeria Unveils Nationwide Creative Infrastructure Plan With Chocolate City Group

Published

7 months ago

April 17, 2025

Joel Ajayi

The Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and the Creative Economy (FMACTCE) has announced a landmark three-year partnership with Chocolate City Group, one of Nigeria’s leading media and entertainment companies, to transform the country’s creative economy.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed on Thursday in Abuja will focus on developing small-scale live arenas nationwide, identifying and nurturing talent, creating global distribution channels for Nigerian content, and strengthening intellectual property frameworks.

The strategic alliance brings together government vision and private sector expertise to develop Nigeria’s creative industries, with special focus on music, content creation, and live events infrastructure.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Barr. Hannatu Musa Musawa emphasised the sector’s economic potential.

“Nigeria’s creative industries represent one of our greatest untapped economic resources, with the potential to contribute significantly to GDP growth, job creation, and foreign exchange earnings. This partnership with Chocolate City exemplifies our commitment to harnessing the power of public-private collaboration to build sustainable creative ecosystems that empower Nigerian talent and showcase our cultural wealth globally.”

Earlier, the Co-Founder and Chairman of Chocolate City Group, Audu Maikori, pointed to the strategic timing of this partnership.
Maikori said that recent industry reports indicate that Nigeria’s music industry alone generates around $2 billion annually, a sizeable portion of the $26 billion global music economy.

“Afrobeats has emerged as Nigeria’s most powerful cultural ambassador, opening doors for our artists on the global stage. Beyond this, Afrobeats also serves as a powerful cultural export and diplomatic resource, enhancing Nigeria’s global reputation. This partnership will provide the institutional support and infrastructure needed to sustain this momentum and create pathways for the next generation of creative talents. By working with the government, we can address long-standing challenges in distribution, infrastructure, and rights protection that have limited the sector’s full potential.”

In the same vein, Paul Okeugo, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Chocolate City Group highlighted the economic multiplier effect of the partnership.

“When we develop performance venues and creative spaces across Nigeria, we’re creating jobs not just for artists but for sound engineers, event managers, security personnel, hospitality workers, and countless others. This partnership allows us to scale these opportunities nationwide while ensuring Nigerian creators retain ownership of their intellectual property and benefit directly from their creative output.”

The partnership will be implemented through a Joint Working Committee comprising representatives from both organisations, who will identify specific projects for execution.
Expected outcomes include empowering local talent, fostering sustainable entrepreneurship, enhancing the global reach of Nigerian creative content, and developing critical infrastructure for the creative economy.

The announcement comes as Chocolate City celebrates its 20th anniversary and coincides with the Federal Ministry’s Nigeria Destination 2030 initiative, designed to grow the arts, culture and creative economy.
Nigeria Destination 2030 is a comprehensive national initiative led by the Federal Government to position Nigeria as a premier global destination for tourism, investment, and cultural exchange by 2030. The program integrates policy reforms, infrastructure development, and strategic partnerships to showcase Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage, natural landscapes, and creative industries on the world stage.
Through coordinated efforts across federal ministries, state governments, and private sector stakeholders, Nigeria Destination 2030 aims to diversify the national economy, generate sustainable employment, attract foreign investment, and strengthen Nigeria’s soft power diplomacy.

Chocolate City Group is Nigeria’s leading integrated entertainment company, founded in 2005. The company has evolved from a music label into a multifaceted entertainment powerhouse, spanning creative infrastructure, music production, artist management, content distribution, publishing, and consultancy in the creative industries.
As a pioneer in Nigeria’s entertainment industry, Chocolate City has discovered, developed, and promoted some of Africa’s most celebrated artists, including Femi Kuti, Blaqbonez, Young Jonn, and Ice Prince, helping to shape the global perception of African music.

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Creative Industry

THANK YOU MOM-Barr Hannatu Musa Musawa

Published

3 days ago

October 29, 2025

The Gleamer

Written by Barr Hannatu Musa Musawa

…Every day I get to celebrate and honor being a mother, and honor my mother. Joining grateful children and mothers around the world to give gratitude and celebrate the special gift of motherhood is a priviledge.

I celebrate the blessing of motherhood every second of the day because it is the ultimate gift. I celebrate being a mother and having the most special mother every moment and want to give a loving shout out to my mother.

Anyone who knows my mother, Hajia Ladi Binta Musawa (nee Yusuf Gurshe Rafindadi), will be aware of what a difficult task it is for me to attempt to find the words to describe her. A role model to all who know and love her, my mother lives her life with great humility. Her selflessness and kindness to others knows no bounds. She is a fantastic person who has been blessed with a great sense of humor, a kind nature, and an unassuming ability to make all those around her feel special and loved.

To have the blessing of being able to call Hajia Ladi, ‘Mom’ and Alhaji Musa ‘Dad’ is, perhaps, the greatest fortune of my life. Continuously, I learn and grow from the pure example set by them.

The energy my Mom pumps into the love and caring she displays to all those around her and beyond is boundless. She continues to be a source of inspiration to so many that she meets by her unselfishness, dedication and Faith in Allah. She unceasingly encourages her children, family, friends, neighbors and associates to work hard at life but always to put Allah first. Her faith cradles her and her loved ones even during the times when life throws curve-balls. The courage she always shows in the face of adversity and her inner strength are truly what great people are made of. She is a true blessing.

My greatest wish for my Mom, as I watch her dedicate her life to encouraging, supporting, educating, protecting, helping, loving, and caring for all those she comes in contact with on a daily basis, is for her to be able to see herself the way the World sees her; which is as a blessing, an incredibly special and amazing person. A woman who is indeed a pure soul with a pure heart, a remarkable role model and a woman with great faith.

Hajia Ladi Binta Musawa is a shining gem and an angel. She has incredibly strong values. If ever there was a portrait of a Godly mother, it is she. I am convinced that anything that is pure and good in me, Allah has planted it in me directly from my Mom and Dad.

My Mom is big on teaching. On a daily basis, she teaches me to live my life, make my decisions and conduct myself as if I am teaching my children and the next generation. One of her favorite quotes to me is one of Ghandi’s. “Hannatu, always be the change you want to see in the world…” she would say. This quote consistently reverberates in my head and sticks with me wherever I go. It is exactly how Mom lives her life.

Some of the greatest values I try to uphold; defending my honor religiously, keeping integrity, trying to do right, caring for the downtrodden, were instilled in me by Mom. Her lessons and example influence every good part of my life and positive thought process.

Mom teaches me the difference between right and wrong and urges me to constantly try to make good choices. She teaches me to be faithful to myself, to my family, to my culture, to my community, to my calling, to people around me, to my identity, to my bloodline, to my Father’s name, to Nigeria and especially to Allah. She encourages me to be more focused and strive and finish things that I start. She always urges me to try as best as I can to keep my word and learn to accept and take correction. And she always worries and counsels me about tempering the fiery temper I inherited from my equally incredible late Dad.

Mom teaches me that the things I should treasure should never be made with human hands. She teaches me that it is through giving that I will be filled and fulfilled. She teaches me that originality feeds the soul and energizes the mind. She teaches me to exercise greater patience and always try to endure. She teaches me the difference between right and wrong. She teaches me not to use my power to hurt others. She teaches me to always strive to give more than I receive. This is an example that she lives with daily. Throughout her life she has always been known to help people, even at her own expense. It is the way she lives, even now. She simply loves being there for others and making their lives easier. It is the times that she helps people that you can see the greatest joy in her eyes.

As a little girl, she often took me and my siblings to orphanages, shelters and hospitals so we could see people who were suffering; so we could develop a desire to help people who are suffering. She made us touch and feed lepers in the days when people shunned them. She worries for everyone more than she worries about herself. She tries to do all she can to fix other people’s problems. Her charity was to everyone she interacted with, anyone who needed her and that was what made people gravitate towards her. That is the kind of woman my Mom is.

For the duration of my life I will dedicate every morsel of who I am, everything I have achieved and all that I have ever done good and right to my Mom and Dad. I thank them deeply for loving me so much and being the brightest light in my life. I thank them for showing me what I should be and teaching me how to be free and how to dream. I thank them for being the ultimate example of forgiveness, compassion, friendship, kindness, strength, generosity, honesty, elegance, beauty, resilience, selflessness, care, hope and love. I thank Mom for telling me she loved me every single day of my life. Even when we were not together, she finds a way of getting the message across to me, even if it was just through her energy.

Mom is my rock, my anchor; my strong, beautiful, vibrant angel; my heart and my precious gift from Allah. I am beyond proud of her and everything she is. From the time I was a little girl, Mom and Dad have always been all I have ever needed in my life. My submission to the Almighty comes first beyond everything else and my dedication to Mom and the memory of my Dad I draw through that faith. I truly have exceptional parents. My siblings and I truly won the loterry as far as parents go! We thank The Almighty with everything that we have for the grace and gift he has given us in the form of parents.

…Every day I get to celebrate and honor being a mother, and honor my mother. Joining grateful children and mothers around the world to give gratitude and celebrate the special gift of motherhood is a priviledge. I want to encourage everyone to celebrate and pray for their Mom every single day whether she is living or passed.

“Hajia Ladi Binta Musawa, I wanted to tell the world about the essence of you, my salute to you so they can celebrate with me on my great blessing of you, so they can celebrate their mothers too. You impact the world around you more than you realize. I love you on your good days and on your bad days. I see your sacrifice and struggle day after day. You are not just a mother, you are a role model and an advocate My heart will always belong to you and I want to say “May Allah always be with you.” May we witness many more days together by Allah’s special grace. I LOVE YOU MOM… I THANK YOU!”

Written by Barr Hannatu Musa Musawa

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