Below are excerpts of the interview she granted recently. A lot! I think one of those things that shows that President Bola Tinubu is an innovator is the fact that he really was committed to diversifying from our normal means of revenue, which is oil. In that diversification, he created this amazing ministry – art, culture, and the creative economy – the first of its kind in Nigeria.
When I got this job, I decided to approach it from a ground zero point of view because I really felt that not much had been done in the space to create a fortifying sort of industry-specific structure. The basic things that are needed to put a foundation were not there, so we approached it from a ground zero perspective. In doing that, I came up with an eight-point agenda.
That eight-point agenda hammers on making Nigeria a global creativity hub and engaging in skill acquisition for members of the industry and capacity building so that they will be able to be better positioned for job creation. Policy framework is central when you talk about building a foundation. We decided to look at all the policies that are needed.
The issue of culture policy, creative economy policy, and infrastructure policy. These were some things that we felt were very important. Of course, there is the issue of stakeholder engagement.
Stakeholder engagement: One of the greatest things about this industry is the fact that members and players have allowed the industry to grow organically and become successful in spite .
