Nigeria’s Creative Sector To Generate 2.7 Million Jobs – TAMPAN
Raymond Osho
The creative sector in Nigeria currently employs approximately 4.2 million people and is projected to create an additional 2.7 million jobs within the next four to five years, provided its potentials are properly harnessed.
The Theatre Art and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria disclosed this in Abeokuta, during a press conference organised ahead of its National Conference, Eko 2025 which will take place between February 19 and 22 in Lagos.
According to the Global President of TAMPAN, Otunba Bolaji Amusan, the creative industry has a lot of potential to generate income and to alternate oil in the country, but the Nigerian government has not been able to maximize the potential.
Amusan however stressed that the TAMPAN conference has the potential of addressing national challenges through the arts.
“The creative industry has a lot of potential to generate income and to alternate oil in the country, but we have not been able to maximize the potential. So, the only way we can do that is to get that induced support from the government.
“If you go to London, India, and America, they are like the grandfather in film production and the creative industry. Most of these people perform tasks for free, and the government focuses so well on the development of the creative industry.
“In Nigeria, let’s take Ogun State, Lagos State, for example. We have just less than two to three film villages. If the government invested heavily in film villages and the equipment being used to produce films, and what have you, it will reduce the stress and the hardship being faced by creative people to produce their product, to produce their movie, and do a lot of things that will enhance their own life.
Amusan described TAMPAN as the largest and fastest-growing association within Nigeria’s creative industry, adding that it represents a diverse range of professionals from across the entertainment sector.
“A single actor, filmmaker, Ibrahim Shata, owns a film village that everybody is very, very proud of. The government can borrow something from someone like Ibrahim Shata, invest in the creative industry, so that the full potential of the industry can be well-harnessed.
“We have been able to play our own parts and use our own talent, the talent God has given us, to contribute heavily to the development of the country.
