The Minister of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa, has successfully obtained a $200 million financing facility from the African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim Bank) to foster the expansion of the nation’s creative sectors.
Musawa emphasised the importance of the partnership with the African Export-Import Bank as a key element of the Destination 2030 vision and a significant goal for the creative economy.
She, however, stressed the vital role of international partnerships in advancing the country’s vision, emphasising that Destination 2030: ‘Nigeria Everywhere’ serves as the Ministry’s strategy to elevate Nigeria into a global cultural powerhouse.
Musawa also urged more stakeholders to support and invest in this transformative vision.
“To fully realise this vision, I urge investors, development partners, and global collaborators to join us in creating 2 million jobs and contributing $100 billion to the national GDP.”
The President and Chairman of Afreximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah, who announced the partnership in New York, stated that the $200 facility is to support the Ministry’s new initiatives for sustainable economic growth.
He noted the importance of investing in the creative industries and positioning Africa as a global cultural leader.
“The Bank has deployed the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) Programme to enhance Africa’s share of global trade in creatives and cultural products by offering tailored financial solutions, facilitating technical capacity building, and opening avenues for market access for creative entrepreneurs.
“It is for this reason that we are pleased to be working with the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, to put in place, a financing facility in an amount of 200 million US dollars to support new laudable initiatives in support of the creative and cultural industries.
“We are impressed by the commitment and passion of the ministry and the alignment with Afreximbank’s creative strategy. We hope that we can work together to entrench this fully and use it to support the industry in a way that boosts pan-African cross-country partnership,” he stated.
