The Minister of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, has sought the support of Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, in providing strategies for the promotion and preservation of literary art in the country.

Musawa made call when she paid a courtesy visit to the renowned playwright who is a visiting Professor at the New York University, Abu Dhabi, over the weekend, saying the sector needs to tap into the wealth of experience of the literary icon in promoting the rich cultural heritage of the country.

She said, “it is an honour to share my vision for the development of the arts, culture, and creative economy with the Nobel Laureate. The purpose of this visit is to invite you to share your invaluable experience with us, including insights, guidance, and advice on how to add to the development of literary arts in the country.

“This is the first time that we are having a ministry created specifically for this sector, which is the Ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy. Nigeria has a huge culture content including music, films, fashion and literary arts of which our priorities include the preservation of literary works. This, we intend carrying out, by formulating policies that would ward off piracy and plagiarism.

Nigeria boasts of great writers such as Professor Wole Soyinka, the late Prof. Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie, Prof Okey Ndibe and many others. “We would be happy to see Soyinka lead the way on these strategies. We look unto your antecedents for Initiatives to encourage the younger generation to embrace and celebrate their cultural identity,” the minister added.

In his response, Soyinka expressed delight in the visit and described his interest in culture and literary arts, generally, as a comparative one. He called for a conscious effort at preserving the culture and tradition of the Nigerian people.

His words: “Culture is interrelated and inter-connected with different other cultures, so Culture is universal. Nigerians are faced with diverse issues due to the neglect of heritages and monuments. We need to promote indigenous languages and cultures to preserve morals and values across the country.

“The performing artist is at a disadvantage, as his resources are limited. All an actor can do is to join forces. Nigeria boasts of writers, musicians, painters, sculptors, and artists who believe in opening up certain horizons for human striving. I am an artist and a producer, a creative person, and I like to go into galleries, to listen to music and to read books.

“The arts are the material expression of the people’s essence, of their spirituality, and of their dignity. Return the spirituality to Africa by returning all the looted works.”

The Minister also discussed the initiatives to encourage the younger generation to embrace and celebrate their cultural identity, artistic and creative development, opportunities for collaboration and innovation in the creative economy, cultural diplomacy and utilizing arts and culture as a tool for international diplomacy and promoting the nation’s cultural diversity on the global stage.

According to Musawa, the ministry eagerly anticipates the opportunity to engage in a meaningful collaboration with the erudite and looks forward to the potential collaboration for the advancement of arts, culture, and the creative economy.

Stakeholders say the visit may have been an indication of Musawa’s renewed interest to shepherd the ministry. They noted that when she first came in, she had seen arts and culture as mere appendages of the ministry, with entertainment as her focus.

They are also of the opinion that despite plan by government to earn $100 billion from the creative industries by 2030, there are indications that this may not be achieved at all, as building of a national gallery in Abuja, a national museum in Abuja, fixing of the challenges faced by the sector and critical support of shareholders are essential inputs in promotion and preservation of Nigeria’s creative art and culture.

While unveiling a roadmap to drive Nigeria’s culture and showcase its creators to the world, as well as establishing the country as the leading global hub for arts, Musawa had said: “Our objective is to contribute 10 per cent to the nation’s Gross culture and creativity, Domestic Products (GDP), expanding sectorial GDP to a remarkable $100 billion by the year 2030.”

Analysts say Nigeria’s creative industries have the potential to become Nigeria’s largest export sector and could create an estimated 2.7 million jobs by 2050 for the country’s growing youth population, and $100 billion to Nigeria’s GDP by 2030.

However, the support artists get from ministry and government agencies to achieve new heights is very poor.

According to stakeholders in the sector during the last National Festival of Arts Review, government must shift from ‘declarative acknowledgement to tangible recognition’ of the role of the sector in creative economy.

The minister had been in the news lately after confirming discussions with the Recording Academy, organisers of the Grammy Awards, for an African Grammy.

According to her, countries such as Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa are in the forefront, championing the move to establish an African version of Grammys, and Nigeria, being the home of Afrobeats, must be counted among the founding members of African Grammys.

Her words: “Yes, we are in talks with the organisers of the Grammys, obviously, to see how we can work together. The Grammys Africa is coming to Africa anyway; it has founding members which are Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa. And if the Grammys is going to have a version of itself in Africa, I think it would be a crying shame for Nigeria not to be part of those founding members.

“Of all the African countries now, none is making the kind of waves that Nigeria is making, and Afrobeats is here in Nigeria. Even Amapiano has been adopted by Nigeria. You know, Nigeria is at the forefront of music at the moment not only in Africa, but global music. So if a brand such as Grammys is coming to Africa and signing with permanent members of countries that do not have the musical strength of Nigeria, I think it would really be dropping the ball for Nigeria not to have that conversation with the Grammys to see how we can be part of it,” she said.