A total of 800,000 jobs are expected to be rolled out following the takeover of the 40-acre National Arts Theatre, Lagos by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Bankers Committee on Tuesday for the implementation of the N22 billion creative industry initiative.
This followed approval of President Muhammadu Buhari that the National Arts Theatre be handed over to the CBN and the Bankers Committee for the purpose.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who stated this Monday in Lagos while speaking at the Creative Nigeria Summit, said similar parks would be located in Kano, Port Harcourt or Enugu.
He said: “With the kind support of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Lagos State government, the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, is expected to serve as the initial pilot for the Creative Industry Park in Nigeria.
”The aim is to develop the 40 acre creative industry park around the National Arts Theatre, including giving the theater itself tremendous facelift, thereby reopening the tourism potential it offered during the FESTAC 77 arts culture.
“Those of us who grew up watching cinemas at the National Theater could imagine the potential that that edifice presented, but today it has become a relic.
“But with the kind approval of President Buhari, the National Theater has been handed over to the Bankers Committee and the CBN to redevelop it, and in addition to that, Lagos State governor has allocated a 40 acre land around the National Theater for the development of a creative industry hub first in Lagos.
”The site will be taken over on Wednesday by chairman of the Board of Bank CEOs, Mr. Herbert Wigwe.”
He added that the Creative Industry Initiative, which is aimed at unlocking the creative talents of Nigerian youths, was designed to generate 800,000 jobs in the movie, music and fashion sectors, as well as increase the revenue of the industry by $300 million.
He said the banking industry, through the initiative which would be implemented over a five-year period, would support the development of 50 additional cinemas, and increase the contribution of the movie industry to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, to three percent from the current level of one percent.
Emefiele added: “Our goal through the establishment of these parks is to create an environment where startups and existing businesses can be incubated and rewarded for their creativity. In each of these parks, efforts will be focused on discovering the most innovative young entrepreneurs across the music, movie, fashion and IT industries.
”Each park will be able to support skills acquisition for over 200,000 Nigerians. These individuals will be empowered with funds at single digit interest rate, state-of-the-art tools, high level training and networks, that will enable them turn their ideas into reality.
”When they are able to achieve this objective of creating a new music product, a high-quality movie, an IT software application, or a fashionable outfit, we will work to ensure that they are able to distribute their work on a large scale around the globe.
“So far, the CBN and the Bankers Committee intend to support this creative venture with N22 billion of initial funds. Part of our efforts in the music and movie industry will be to support young entrepreneurs in the development of digital content at the park.
”Our CIFI initiative will also enable the development of distribution outlets, such as cinemas and music platforms, which will help improve the reach of the content developed by our young entrepreneurs.
“We intend to support the development of over 50 additional cinemas from our current capacity of 48 cinemas nationwide. The cost structure of these cinemas will be lean, in order to make movies affordable to a large section of Nigerians.
“These measures, which will be implemented over a 5-year period, will increase the contribution of our movie industry to GDP, from 1 to 3 percent. It will also result in improved revenue generation of over $300m from production and distribution of Nigerian movies at cinema locations at home and abroad, as well as creation of over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs.
“In the area of music production and distribution, this initiative over the next five years, will enable young Nigerians capture significant market share of the $10.7 billion music industry. It would also create over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs.”
