From Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
The Federal Government’s renewed drive to harness international partnerships in boosting Nigeria’s creative economy has earned high commendation from Dr. Ali Nuhu, Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC).
Dr. Nuhu praised the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Barrister Hannatu Musawa, for her foresight and commitment to expanding opportunities within Nigeria’s cultural, tourism and creative sectors.
According to him, her leadership has created avenues to attract both domestic and foreign investments, particularly through strategic partnerships with the People’s Republic of China.
The commendation followed Nigeria’s high-level delegation to China, led by Barr. Musawa, aimed at deepening bilateral cultural relations and advancing people-to-people exchanges between both nations.
At a meeting with China’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Sun Yeli, Barr. Musawa outlined Nigeria’s ongoing reforms designed to strengthen the creative sector.
She highlighted policies, innovations and support structures that have already enhanced investment inflows, while stressing the urgency of activating provisions in the existing Nigeria-China memorandum of understanding on cultural exchanges.
She also referenced the outcomes of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent state visit to China as a foundation for accelerating joint initiatives.
In his remarks, Dr. Nuhu emphasized the global influence of Nigeria’s creative industries and underscored the need to revitalize cross-border collaborations.
He specifically called for the revival of the educational exchange program between the National Film Institute (NFI) and the Beijing Film Academy, first established in 2006 but discontinued after six years.
He further spotlighted ongoing projects under the NFC, including the Safe Nigeria Audio-Visual Heritage preservation, digitisation and archiving initiative at the National Film, Video and Sound Archive (NFVSA). Dr.
Nuhu appealed for grant support to scale the project and proposed stronger participation by China in Nigeria’s ZUMA International Film Festival, held annually in Abuja, with reciprocal engagement in Chinese film and cultural festivals.
Responding, Mr. Sun Yeli affirmed China’s readiness to expand cultural ties with Nigeria, noting that both countries already play influential roles in the global creative economy.
He stressed that Nigeria and China share common interests in driving export growth in creative goods and services and pledged Beijing’s commitment to intensifying bilateral collaboration.
The NFC boss assured that Nigeria’s creative economy is on course to achieve stronger growth, driven by policy frameworks that support innovation, technology adoption and investor confidence. “The NFC is determined to power possibilities, drive impactful innovations, and foster sustainable partnerships that will reposition Nigeria’s creative industries globally,” Dr. Nuhu stated.
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