Musawa: Nigeria to Hold Stakeholders Engagement on Intellectual Property May 23
CHIGOZIE AMADI
Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, said Nigeria will hold a stakeholders’ engagement on intellectual property on May 23. Musawa disclosed this yesterday at the signing of an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the ministry and Chocolate City on modalities for growing arts, culture and the creative economy in Nigeria.
Musawa said she and Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, finalised discussions on the subject on Wednesday on how to package and present it to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The stakeholders’ engagement will be unveiled to the industry in Lagos ahead of another version billed for Abuja.
Musawa stated, “IP protection is all part of how we are going to continue to strengthen and to be able to extract the value of job creation. There is a number of young Nigerians, and I know it has really become quite banal when I speak about how important this sector is to this growing populace of Nigeria.
“Not every young Nigerian has access to work in an oil company or in a law firm. But every young Nigerian, no matter what community you go to, has the ability to create content on their phone, to create music, to create art. So, we want to leverage on that, and this is part of what we hope to really tap into with our partnership with Chocolate City.”
She stated that the production, distribution and all the value chain will add to economic growth that also underlined the ministry’s commitment to growing the GDP by $100 billion by 2030.
The minister said, “Even though some may think it is an ambitious number, we don’t think so. Once, we put all the modalities in place that will allow the industry, which is really 49 sub-sectors beyond music, art, fashion, and film, to really grow, I think you will see a huge growth, economic expansion, cultural expansion.
“Unity will use this industry to create unity, a sense of identity for us as Nigerians. So many great things are going to come out from this MOU, and I have to say, honestly, this is one of the most exciting days that I’ve had.
“And I say this hand on heart, because these are people that have been part of this journey from the beginning.”
