Lai Mohammed Reveals Nigeria’s ‘Next Oil’ Industry

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has opined that the ‘next oil’ industry in the country is the creative industry.

Naija News reports that Mohammed made this known in Abuja during a meeting between the leadership of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies and the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa.

The meeting was held as part of efforts by NIPSS and the ministry to develop strategies for using the creative sector to support President Bola Tinubu’s target of growing Nigeria’s economy to $1tn by 2030.

Lai Mohammed, who is the Managing Partner of Bruit Costaud, a consulting firm for the forthcoming National Summit and Exhibition on the Orange Economy, said the creative industry has enormous potential to create jobs and drive economic growth.

According to him, Nigeria needs to look beyond crude oil and exploit the economic opportunities in its creative and cultural industries.

He said, “I have always said it when I was a minister that our next oil is actually the creative industry, it’s our films, music, gastronomy, fashion, publishing, sports and others.

“We look at this ministry as one of the most important ministries because after agriculture, the ministry employs the largest number of people.”

Also speaking, the Director-General of NIPSS, Ayo Omotayo, said the institute had deliberately aligned its research with the President’s economic agenda.

Omotayo said the creative industry had not received adequate policy research attention despite its potential, adding that the institute’s forthcoming summit was designed to generate ideas and strategies for strengthening the sector.

He stated, “For the National Institute, we have bonded ourselves to the Agenda of Mr President, in which he wants Nigeria to reach a trillion-dollar economy by 2030.

“Back then in 2023, we looked at different sectors of our economy, and we chose areas where evidence has shown that we can actually reach the TDE if we plan very well. So for the National Institute, this is the last of the sectors that we can find enough leverage and push to get Nigeria to the One Trillion Dollar Economy.

’’We decided to choose the ministry because all our lives revolve around what this ministry does. All our social activities revolve around arts and culture and other things.

“About 50 years ago, the technology we have today did not exist, and with the technology we have today, a whole lot of things are happening, and we believe the arts and culture sector can also benefit.”