The Hon. Minister's delegation visited JAX District and the Saudi Music Commission on the fourth day of bilateral cultural engagements in Riyadh last week.
JAX District converts former industrial infrastructure into a working creative cluster — galleries, studios, the Diriyah Biennale Foundation HQ — in the model of 798 in Beijing or M50 in Shanghai.
The Saudi Music Commission operates across artist development, IP frameworks, and music
infrastructure. Not a promotional body. A structural one.
Both are expressions of the same governing logic: the creative economy requires institutional architecture, not just talent.
Nigeria has the talent. The infrastructure is the mandate.
In Diriyah last week, the Hon. Minister's delegation visited two sites less than a kilometre apart: At-Turaif — the UNESCO World Heritage Site that served as the original capital of the first Saudi state — and Diriyah Art Futures, a new media arts institution that opened in December 2024 and is the first of its kind in the MENA region.
Heritage preserved at investment scale. New media infrastructure built from the ground up. Both treated as serious public priorities.
The creative economy requires both ends of the timeline to be held with equal seriousness.
Nigeria has Sukur, the Ife heads, the Nok terracotta, the Benin Bronzes restitution conversation. The heritage is there. The question is what we build alongside it.
The Diriyah Biennale Foundation runs two of the most significant biennales in the region — the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale and the Islamic Arts Biennale. State-funded, internationally curated, and housed in purpose-built facilities in Riyadh.
The Hon. Minister's delegation visited last week as part of a bilateral cultural engagement with the Saudi Ministry of Culture.
Serious cultural infrastructure does not arrive by accident. It is commissioned, funded, and sustained over time.
The Hon. Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy led a delegation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last week for a series of bilateral cultural engagements with the Saudi Ministry of Culture.
The visit included six site engagements across Diriyah and Riyadh, covering heritage, contemporary art, new media infrastructure, creative cluster development, and music industry frameworks.
The visit closed with a cooperation framework between FMACTCE and the Saudi Ministry of Culture. Over the next five days, we share what was seen and what was agreed.
I had the pleasure of hosting students of the Executive MBA course and faculty from the Wharton University of Pennsylvania at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Arts, Lagos, Nigeria, alongside the General Manager of the Theatre @tola_akerele , the Board Chairman, and the Director General of the National Troupe @ganakaltum .
As part of their visit, we took them on a tour of the National Theatre and shared insights into the transformation currently taking place within Nigeria’s cultural and creative landscape through @fmactce_nigeria . We also had engaging conversations around the future of the industry, the policy direction shaping the sector, and the growing opportunities across culture, tourism, and the creative economy in Nigeria.
These conversations reaffirm the importance of the work being done to position Nigeria as a serious cultural and creative powerhouse, not only within Africa but on the global stage, where our stories, talent, and creative enterprise continue to influence industries across the globe.
#creativeeconomy #fmactce #nigeriaeverywhere #hannatumusawa
The Hon. Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Bar. Hannatu Musa Musawa, met with Dr. Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, to advance the Ministry's infrastructure agenda for the creative and tourism sectors.
The Minister was accompanied by the Director-General of NCAC, Obi Asika, and ministry staff. The ICRC was represented by a cross-section of the Commission's team.
Three areas were in focus: the infrastructure requirements of the creative and tourism sectors; the Ministry's project pipeline under the Creative and Tourism Infrastructure Corporation (CTICo); and the concession processes and procedures required to bring projects to financial close.
Dr. Ewalefoh has established a dedicated task force to evaluate projects within the Ministry's pipeline — across the creative and tourism sectors — assess the appropriate strategy for each, and guide the path toward financial close.
Infrastructure is not supplementary to the creative economy. It is foundational to it.
#NigeriaCreativeEconomy #CTICo #ICRC #CreativeEconomy #TourismNigeria
In 2001, Nigerian mobile penetration was below 1%. Within five years, it crossed 25%. MTN had paid $285 million for a GSM license.
Glo had entered and forced per-second billing. The reason this happened: the Nigerian Communications Commission published the data. Visibility unlocked investment.
Paystack. Flutterwave. The CBN published payments data and investors could see the volume curves. Capital followed visibility. The parallel for Nigeria's creative, cultural and tourism sectors is exact. Until the sector is mapped, capital cannot price it.
The Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy has published the mapping. Two volumes.
Over 200 pages each. Sector-wide data, value chain insights, job creation potential, and investment opportunities. Starting this week, we share the insights. The full documents are available at: /news/news/fmactce-tourism-mapping-project
ICRC, Arts Ministry Open Talks on Seven-Star Hotel, Arena, Others
... Push for $100bn PPP-Driven Tourism Sector by 2030
The ICRC and the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism & the Creative Economy have opened discussions on major tourism infrastructure projects through PPPs.
Projects under consideration include:
🔹 7-Star Hotel Infrastructure
🔹 Modern Concert & Entertainment Arena
🔹 Revitalisation of National Museums
🔹 Netflix Collaboration for Film Production
🔹 Creative Industry Training & Development
ICRC DG, Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, assured the Ministry of speedy regulatory support for viable projects, stressing that PPP reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have made Nigeria more investor-friendly.
Minister Hannatu Musawa @Fmactce_Nigeria said Nigeria’s tourism and creative economy sector could contribute up to $100bn to GDP by 2030 with the right infrastructure in place.
#PPPs #Tourism #Infrastructure #RenewedHope
On April 29, the National Troupe of Nigeria marked World Dance Day with Hope — a dance libretto written and directed by Adejumo Emmanuel, performed at the National Troupe Amphitheatre within the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts.
The production brought together the Lagos State Arts Council, the Guild of Nigerian Dancers, the Drummers Guild of Nigeria, and six creative collectives: Wao Factor, Gifted Steppers, Tribe 1, Black Edge, Funso Arts, and Jayden Expression.
The amphitheatre — activated as a programmed venue, not simply a space — is part of a year-round performance programme now running under the leadership of Mrs Tola Akerele.
This is what the reactivated National Theatre looks like.
#creativeeconomy #nigeriaeverywhere #destination2030
In January 1977, Nigeria built a venue to host the world. FESTAC '77 brought 17,000 artists from across the African world to Lagos. Stevie Wonder. Miriam Makeba. Sun Ra. The National Theatre was built for that ambition.
Then decades of silence. Infrastructure deteriorated. A national asset, unmaintained.
The Bankers' Committee (CBN-convened, all Deposit Money Banks) led the restoration. President Tinubu re-commissioned the building in October 2024. It is now the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts.
This month it is programming again. World Dance Day. A children's animation festival. A family musical theatre production on Children's Day.
The building works again.
Building a vibrant creative economy takes more than policy. It takes people, places, and partnerships.
Today, we celebrate our collaboration with @madhousebytikera and other creative hubs nurturing talent, design, and innovation across Nigeria.
From architecture to the arts, we recognize the visionaries shaping the spaces where our creative economy grows.
#CreativeNigeria #ArtCultureTourismEconomy #madhouse #CreativeHubs
From a studio in Kaduna to the walls of the Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Nigerian talent is taking center stage. Through our "Reimagining Hope" national residency, we are identifying hidden gems across the country and connecting them with the global art market.
Their work has already captured the attention of global leaders and collectors, including the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the First Lady of Pakistan.
Just as Afrobeats and Nollywood have conquered the world, our contemporary art is the next frontier for economic growth, career building, and international investment.
We aren't stopping here. We are building a pipeline from the local studio to global platforms like Frieze and Venice 2028.
The mission is clear: find talent in every state, train them, and put them in the room.
#NigeriaEverywhere #ReimaginingHope #NigerianArt #CreativeEconomy #GlobalStage
