The Federal Government of Nigeria may have approved the sum of N50 billion for the small holder businesses and the Creative Industry to support them in the post Coronavirus or COVID-19 era, reports ITREALMS.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, revealed this in his opening remarks at the Virtual Forum of the African Union Ministers responsible for Arts, Culture and Heritage.
He expressed optimism, saying that the measures are being put in place will yield positive results in sustaining the Creative Industry in Nigeria in the days to come.
"I also look forward to sharing in the experiences from other member-nations of the African Union in tackling the challenges occasioned by the pandemic,” he said.
Also, the minister said that FG have decided to amend the Act establishing the National Endowment for the Arts so it can better meet the demands of the sector, which has been greatly impacted by the pandemic.
''The main objectives of the Endowment is to support every medium and area of creative activity in the art, culture and heritage sector as well as to foster professional excellence in the sector,” said Alhaji Mohammed, who doubles as the 2nd Vice Chairperson of the African Union's 3rd Specialized Technical Committee on Youth Culture and Sport.
He noted that the Creative Industry remains the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic because it is audience-centred and, with the social distancing, ban on mass gathering and travel restrictions put in place globally, the fortunes of the industry has taken a nose dive.
“This is why we have decided to face the challenges squarely. Realizing the imperative of having a collective and government-supported approach in dealing with the situation, we have set up a 22-member stakeholders committee, cutting across art, culture, heritage, tourism, streaming, music, film, etc., to come up with immediate, short and long term economic stimulus and initiatives for the industry, in order to mitigate the effect of the pandemic on the sector,” he said.
The virtual meeting, which was chaired by Alhaji Mohammed, was joined by about 20 Ministers of Arts, Culture and Heritage in Africa, who made presentations.
Uboshe Uboshe/Editor
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