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Shettima challenges Africa to monetise creative power
Vice-President Kashim Shettima has challenged African countries to transform their growing global cultural influence into sustainable economic wealth.
Shettima made the call on Thursday at the opening of the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) Weekend 2026 in Lagos.
The event was held at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, National Theatre, Iganmu.
He said Africa must move beyond celebrating its creative achievements to building industries that generate jobs, attract investment and expand international trade.
Shettima said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was strengthening intellectual property protection and expanding access to finance for creative enterprises.
He added that the administration was positioning Nigeria to benefit from opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The vice-president stressed that Africa must translate its creative talents and global recognition into lasting economic prosperity.
“In 1977, we came to celebrate our culture. Today, we have come to capitalise on it by turning the world’s applause into contracts and its admiration into markets.
“We must also turn the talent of our young people into enduring wealth,” he said.
Shettima said Nigeria’s global influence in film, music, fashion and literature must be matched by deliberate investment, stronger institutions and access to international markets.
He described Nigeria’s hosting of CANEX Weekend for the first time as recognition of the country’s growing influence in the creative economy.
“Our duty as a government is to match this recognition with appropriate policies.
“Through the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Ministry of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, we are strengthening intellectual property protection.
“We are also widening access to finance for creative enterprises and positioning Nigeria to lead creative trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“Creativity is now a trade sector, and we intend to treat it as one,” he said.
The vice-president commended the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for its commitment to financing Africa’s creative enterprises.
He recalled that the 2024 CANEX gathering in Algiers attracted nearly 4,000 participants from 81 countries and facilitated deals worth more than 540 million dollars.
Shettima disclosed that Afreximbank had committed two billion dollars to Africa’s creative industries through 2027.
He described the investment as evidence of the sector’s growing economic importance.
“That is not sentiment; that is strategy,” he said.
Shettima recalled the historic FESTAC ’77 celebration held at the National Theatre nearly five decades ago.
He said Nigeria had earned its place in the global creative industry through the ingenuity of its filmmakers, musicians, designers, writers and other cultural entrepreneurs.
“This standing was not inherited. It was earned through the industry and ingenuity of our people,” he said.
He said CANEX Weekend 2026 would help lay the groundwork for the fifth Intra-African Trade Fair, scheduled to hold in Lagos in 2027.
Shettima urged African governments to dismantle barriers restricting creative trade across the continent.
He stressed the need to make African films, music and other cultural products more accessible across national borders.
“The Nigeria you will experience this week is vibrant, confident and open for business. It is the Nigeria we are building every day,” he said.
Earlier, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos described Nigeria’s hosting of CANEX Weekend 2026 as further recognition of Lagos as a major centre of Africa’s creative economy.
He said the event’s return to the National Theatre, which hosted activities during FESTAC ’77, underscored Lagos’ longstanding role in promoting African arts and culture.
Sanwo-Olu said the gathering’s theme highlighted cultural unity and the need to translate Africa’s global creative appeal into markets, investment and wealth.
Also, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, said Nigeria’s creative industry had achieved significant international recognition.
She cited Davido’s performances at London’s O2 Arena, Burna Boy’s Grammy Award and Universal Music Group’s investment in Mavin Records as evidence of the industry’s commercial potential.
Oduwole said the Tinubu administration was prioritising policies that would enable Nigerian creatives to retain greater economic value from their work.
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