It seems to be the creative industry’s season as Nigeria is set to collaborate with the United States to boost the creative sector. The partnership was announced by the Chairman of Government and International Liaison Committee, Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Dr. Ikenna Nwosu.
According to Nwosu, the collaboration which is aimed at strengthening regulations in the creative industry will be covering key areas like design, music, publishing, architecture, film and video, crafts, visual arts, fashion, television, and radio.
In a meeting held in Lagos with the theme “Promoting creativity in the contemporary Nigerian talent industry: The challenge of sustainable intellectual property protection,” Nwosu said the collaboration offered them the opportunity to protect the intellectual property of Nigeria as well as American businesses in the country.
Challenges facing the creatives: Director-General (DG) of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), John Asein who was also at the meeting hinted on the challenges facing the creative industry which includes poor funding, weak infrastructure, low staff morale and inadequate skills sets. He also said that there was low level of public awareness on the importance of copyright and the creative industry.
Asein made it known that the challenges were broad as he included the non-prioritisation of the creative industry as a component of the national economic agenda as a major issue while also highlighting the inadequate policy and legal framework.
He also said weak enforcement in the face of growing on/offline piracy, absence of a public-private synergy, as well as fragmentation in the copyright industry and lack of synergy with the Commission are issues.
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What you should know: It is no news that in recent times, the Federal Government has put in more effort into the creative industry as the Central Bank of Nigeria has sought ways to help creatives in the industry thrive. Earlier this year, the CBN unveiled the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) which enabled the creative sector to get loans to support their businesses.
The CBN also recently announced plans to develop accessible digital content in the country so as to reduce the huge financial losses associated with piracy of movies and music in the creative industry.
