By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government through Bank of Industry (BoI) has approved facility of about N7 billion to boost the creative industry group in the country.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this at the Greeners Business-to-Business Annual National Economic Dialogue 2020 themed Positioning Nigeria’s Creative Industry as Growth Engine of Africa Continental Trade Agreement (AFCTA) in Abuja on Saturday.
Mrs Ahmed, represented by her Special Adviser on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Mr Armstrong Takang, said the fund was approved to creative group of 35 firms in content production, content distribution, production equipment, digital transmission equipment among others.
She further said in order to continue to develop Nigerian youths, the N-Power Creative programme was created to train and develop 5,000 young creative talents.
According to her, the strategy is to put the creative industry on the global radar as exporters of world-class services and content, disclosing that the beneficiaries were trained and certified in Animation, Graphic Design, Post-production and Script Writing.
She noted that all beneficiaries received computing devices that enabled them to master their skills during and after the training.
Speaking on AFCTA, the minister said the agreement will allow Nigeria thrive in areas in which the country had comparative advantage in the creative economy especially in music, film, information technology industries and fashion.
