British Council recipe for creative economy

• Published date: 11 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

By Sanya Onayoade

The setting was inventive and tastefully ingenious. The ambience of the Paintbox Art Academy in Kano spoke to the creativity needed to support the Nigerian economy.

There were children aged four and above utilising their paint brushes to create murals of varying proportions. There were also pottery, poetry and raffia weaving, among others.

Hitherto fringe demographics in the arts space such as young females and artisans mixed with creative minds at the British Council Creative Economy Showcase Programme. Similar events emerged simultaneously in cities such as Port Harcourt and Lagos.

The Port Harcourt event, with the theme Rivers of Art, featured visual and digital arts, animation, stage plays, comedy and music. There were stage performances with eclectic choreography, soliloquy and small talks. In Lagos, popular rapper M I Abaga conducted sessions headlined by sundry musical acts and comedies.

Though the British Council initiative is aimed at assisting performance artistes and art exhibitors in recovering from the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bigger picture is to use the creative industries as part of the building blocks for national economy.

In 2013 when Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was rebased, the creative industries and the telecoms were part of the matrix used to move the size of the economy from USD 270 billion to USD 510 billion, effectively catapulting the country to top of the ladder in Africa. It overtook South Africa, which had held the position. The economic mainstay, oil, contributes about 83 per cent to the economy but contributes mere nine per cent to the GDP.

With a huge population of 200 million supported by a paltry GDP from its major revenue class, the economy can still be considered weak. Experts believe rebasing the economy would not lead to economic prosperity because while the statistics changed, the reality remains the same.

According to the World Bank, lack of job opportunities is at the core of the high poverty levels, regional inequality, and social and political unrest. High inflation has also taken a toll on households' welfare and high prices in 2020-2022 were likely to have pushed an additional 8 million Nigerians into poverty.

The creative industries are receiving attention as a future link to economic prosperity. Weighing the importance of Africa's largest economy and the world's most populous Black nation to the UK, the Chair of Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, said...