LCCI Lit Up Lagos in Glamour, sets Blueprint for Creative, Entertainment Industry
*“In Nigeria alone, the creative sector contributes approximately 2.3 percent to GDP, accounting for over 4.2 million jobs. Across Africa, Nollywood stands tall as the second-largest film industry in the world by output, producing nearly 2,500 movies annually and generating over $1 billion in revenue”-GABRIEL Idahosa, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry
*”The event held in partnership with NMO Management limited aimed to support an enabling environment, robust and vibrant sector, building on infrastructure to consolidate a powerful and global creative ecosystem”-Dr. NGOZI Omambala, Chairperson, Creative and Entertainment group, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry & Group Managing Director, NMO Management Limited
*BY KENNEDY ODITE/SPECIAL ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT/ABUJA, NAIJA STANDARD NEWSPAPER INC USA
FOR NIGERIA CREATIVE, ENTERTAINMENT industry, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, has taken the lead as a pacesetter in finding a lasting solution to several challenges facing the sector, such that the populous black nation in the world can take its rightful place in the comity of nations.
In the recently concluded 2nd Annual LCCI Creative and Entertainment Symposium and Easter Festival Parade held in Lagos under the theme, ‘Celebrating and embracing positive impact: Consolidating the creative, entertainment, and cultural ecosystem against a challenging socio-economic environment the way forward.’ Gabriel Idahosa, the President, LCCI, urged government at all levels, development partners and stakeholders to prioritize long-term financing models tailored for the development of the creative and entertainment industry in Nigeria.
Idahosa explained that the creative ecosystem in the country was still grappling with structural challenges such as lack of access to funding, intellectual property theft, weak infrastructure, regulatory bottlenecks and inadequate formal training institutions.
To him, such challenges can be tackled with intentional investment in the industry by the governments and private stakeholders offering low-interest loans, grants, venture capital, and impact funds to the creative.
He stated that the creative and entertainment industries have emerged as survivors and beacons of hope, resilience, and innovation, amidst turbulence, the LCCI president said: “In Nigeria alone, the creative sector contributes approximately 2.3 percent to GDP, accounting for over 4.2 million jobs and impacting millions more through ancillary services such as tourism, tech, fashion, and logistics. Across Africa, Nollywood stands tall as the second-largest film industry in the world by output, producing nearly 2,500 movies annually and generating over $1 billion in revenue.”
In his words: “The Nigerian music industry, spearheaded by global icons like Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Tems, is on track to surpass $44 million in streaming revenue by 2025, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook.”
Regarding the challenges of piracy, Idahosa noted that it robs Africa of an estimated $5 billion annually, adding that a robust copyright enforcement system, blockchain-based tracking, and regional cooperation through ECOWAS and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can transform how the country value and monetize their art.
On the seriousness of this matter in a bid to solve the intellectual property matter, he said: “It is the oil of the 21st century, from Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to AI-generated music, the future of creativity is digital. Let us build digital literacy programmes, animation schools, and tech-creative incubators. Our youth must not only consume content, they must create, code, and commercialize it. Platforms like Africori, Mavin Global, and FilmOne have already demonstrated what’s possible when creativity meets digital scale. Culture is not merely a commodity, it is our identity.
“We live in an era of unprecedented economic uncertainties, from inflationary pressures, currency depreciation, and unemployment to the aftershocks of global pandemics and geopolitical tensions”.
Dr. Ngozi Omambala, Chairperson, Creative and Entertainment group LCCI, who is also the group managing director, NMO Management Limited revealed that the event which held in partnership with NMO Management limited aimed to support an enabling environment , robust and vibrant sector, building on infrastructure to consolidate a powerful and global creative ecosystem.
Her words: “Symposium comes at a pivotal and watershed moment for creative sector which has seen growth, development a backdrop of harsh socio economic challenges we all face and intend to constructively tackle and address here in the interests of future protection and betterment of our creative communities’.”
Omambala delved into the importance of the Nigeria huge youth population when she said: “the youth make up large proportion of demographic landscape. Of Nigeria’s 230million population 70 percent under 30 – Nigeria has largest youth population across the world, an asset to any world economy and indeed a huge capital resource for economic growth and prosperity.”
According to her, this year’s Lagos International Trade Fair organised by the LCCI would feature International Artistic Pulse Festival,. an independently self-run and funded 10 day music film fashion food visual arts and technology driven.
Evergreen moments of the celebration featured panel discussions, the LCCI Creative and entertainment “meet the authors’ literary launch initiative and fashion parade.
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