Despite Minister Lai Mohammed's statements about the $104 million earned from film and music in 2019, there are doubts about the government's involvement in this achievement.
It was the end of an era as President Muhammadu Buhari stepped down on Monday from his position as the leader of Nigeria, the largest black nation on earth.
At a ceremony at the Eagle Square in Abuja, his party man and successor, Bola Tinubu, took the reins to lead the country for the next four years. As his time in office came to a close, President Buhari was busy commissioning various projects, such as the Dangote Refinery and the train wagon assembly plant, which will impact Nigeria's economy for years to come positively.
He also commissioned the second Niger Bridge, the Loko-Oweto Bridge, which links Benue State to Nasarawa State, the Ikom Bridge in Cross River State, the completed section of the over 200 kilometres of Kano-Kaduna Dual Carriage Expressway and three new federal secretariats among others.
While all these were happening, many wondered what was on offer for the Nigerian entertainment industry.
Feeling its practitioners' pulse, the Buhari administration is perceived as having primarily ignored the entertainment industry.
For instance, despite Minister Lai Mohammed's statements about the $104 million earned from film and music in 2019, there are doubts about the government's involvement in this achievement.
Here we look at the wins and flops of the Buhari administration regarding the entertainment sector in the past eight years.
National Theatre Concession
One major success scored by the administration is a concession of the National Theatre at Iganmu, Lagos, and the completion of the first phase of renovations.
The initial development by the previous administration was to turn the fallow land around the theatre into an eco-friendly grand mini-city housing two five-star hotels, a water theme park, arts and entertainments arcades, office complexes, shopping malls and a high-rise car park, as well as providing appropriate connections to the Lagos light rail Metro Blue Line station planned for the National Theatre Complex.
However, the Buhari administration funded the renovation of the iconic Theatre through the country's Central Bank and the Bankers Committee.
The renovation, according to public information, cost $100 million.
UNWTO Global Conference
Upon completion of the first phase of the renovation of the National Theatre, its first engagement was hosting the maiden edition of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) conference in November 2022.
Tagged 'Linking Tourism, Culture and the Creative Industries', the UNWTO's first global conference featured two experts' workshops on tourism and culture, as well as tourism and the creative industries and how they can stimulate socio-economic recovery, alleviate poverty, mitigate the effects of climate change, accelerate job creation and inclusive development and foster international peace and cooperation.
The experts' workshop highlighted the discussion by the UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Kashvili, and the Minister of Information, Mr Mohammed, with some primary school students on the importance of culture, tourism and the creative industries to national development.
Creative industry financing
Under the Buhari administration, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in partnership with the Bankers' Committee, developed a Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI).
Chaired by CBN governor Godwin Emefiele, the Bankers' Committee is the umbrella body of CBN directors and chief executives of all deposit money banks (DMBs) in the country.
The CIFI is part of the government's efforts to boost job creation in Nigeria, particularly among the youth.
The initiative rests on four pillars: Fashion, Information Technology, Movie and Music.
Interested applicants in the creative industry who meet the criteria can access the funds from their banks. The initiative offers creative loans of up to N3 million for Software Engineering students, N30 million for Movie Production businesses and N500 million for Movie Distribution businesses.
Copyright Act 2022
In a bid to curb piracy and boost royalty collection, in March 2023, President Buhari assented to the Copyright Act 2022, alongside other new laws, to reflate some critical sectors of the economy.
The new act laid to rest the Copyright Act LFN 2004, thereby opening a new legal vista in the creative industry, in compliance with international copyright treaties as part of efforts to protect the rights of creatives and other stakeholders and ensure just rewards as well as recognition for their intellectual engagements.
The new law is also set to provide necessary limitations or exceptions which will enable the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to create access to creative works and effectively ensure the enforcement and compliance of persons and entities with the provisions of the Act.
Nigerian Startup Act
The Nigeria Startup Act project is a joint initiative by Nigeria's tech startup ecosystem and the Presidency. The goal of the act is to harness the potential of the nation's digital economy through co-created regulations.
The Act was signed into law by President Buhari on 19 October 2022. Over 30 leaders in Nigeria's tech ecosystem contributed to its drafting between June and September 2021.
Creative Industries Development Act (CIDA)
Like the Startup Act, the Nigeria Creative Industries Development Bill project was a collaborative effort between Nigeria's creative industry and the Presidency to transform the Nigerian creative space through regulation and an executable action plan.
The bill aimed to build a vibrant, enabling creative space for Nigerian creatives. The bill was signed into law by the president in April.
It is an executive bill co-created by the Presidency, the Ministry of Information and Culture and the creative industries stakeholders to ensure the proper legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the rapid development of the creative industries.
Repatriation of Nigerian artefacts
Under this administration, Germany returned looted artefacts to Nigeria to rectify a "dark colonial history."
The bronze artefacts looted from the ancient Benin Kingdom were returned by Germany to Nigeria.
According to reports, more than 5,000 ancient artefacts are estimated to have been stolen from Nigeria, the majority by British colonisers.
Germany has returned 22 Benin bronzes to Nigeria as part of a more significant effort by Western nations to seek reparation for stolen artefacts from Africa.
The return of the artefacts was Germany's first step in fulfilling its agreement with Nigeria earlier this year to release all 1,130 Benin bronzes from German museums.
A London museum also agreed to return more than 70 pieces of looted Nigerian art.
AfDB board approves investment funds for Nigeria's digital and creative startups
During this dispensation, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank approved a loan of $170 million to finance a digital and creative enterprises program in Nigeria.
Tagged 'Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (i-DICE)', the programme is a Federal Government of Nigeria initiative promoting investment in digital and creative industries. It is part of Nigeria's efforts to build back better, greener, and more inclusively, to create more sustainable jobs for the teeming youthful population.
The programme targets more than 68 million Nigerians aged 15 to 35 years who are recognised as leaders of innovative, early-stage, technology-enabled start-ups or as leaders of creative sector micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
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The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) co-financed the programme.
Nigeria Commits $600m For Citizens In Creative Sectors
The Nigerian government also partnered with AfDB's i-DICE by committing $600 million to the fund for young Nigerians in the technology and creative sectors.
Under i-DICE, constraints such as access to capital and capacity limitation of startups would be effectively addressed.
The former vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, disclosed that the total fund is $618 million, out of which the AFDB provides $170 million, the Agence Francaise de Development $116 million and the Islamic Development Bank will provide $70 million in co-financing, adding that another $271 million is expected from the private sector and institutional investors.
He similarly observed that the launch of the (i-DICE) Programme was a significant milestone by the Nigerian government in its continued efforts to harness its youth population's potential and create more jobs.
Stringent, not flops
The Buhari administration may not have been as visible in the entertainment sector as many would expect, but it is not for lack of inactivity. Some say it is a function of the government not tooting its own horn in areas where it took action.
In comparison, the previous administration led by Goodluck Jonathan ensured that the Nigerian movie industry practitioners were the recipient of the government's largesse in the form of the Bank of Industry loans for filmmakers and film distributors.
Nigerian musicians are doing fine independently as they dominated the global scene without government aid.
Unfortunately, music stars have been too preoccupied with snatching mega recording deals and scoring endorsements with big brands to interface with the government.
Another area where the administration failed was the clampdown on films themed after the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East like Zaharaddeen Sani's "Abu Hassan".
