Minister calls for more collaboration with diplomats to deepen cultural exchange

The Honourable Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy, Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa, has called for a more enhanced diplomatic collaboration and partnerships to further enrich and fortify cultural exchanges with other countries.

The minister made this known yesterday, at the Diplomatic & International
Development Partners Forum, held at the United Nations House, Central Area District, Abuja.

Barr. Hannatu disclosed that the sacrosanctity of partnerships and collaboration with countries and international organizations is to build infrastructure that will transcend her administration.

She emphasized that the ministry is committed to contributing $100 billion to increase the GDP by 2030 and also creating at least 2 million jobs by 2027.

Hannatu further disclosed that there are already partnerships with China, Jamaica, Brazil, Abu Dhabi, and other countries to strengthen cultural bilateral ties.

“We were a new ministry when we started, and we found that little had been done to establish a foundation for the art and culture industries. We conducted in-depth research and looked at benchmark countries to guide our efforts toward cultural and economic expansion.

“We’ve committed to creating $100 billion to increase the GDP by 2030 and also creating at least 2 million jobs by 2027. This was articulated to UNESCO and other partners, including ambassadors and missions.

“Before we came on, there was a component of Culture, the Ministry of Information and Culture and there was already a number of partnerships with Jamaica, China, MOUs with China, Brazil, a number of countries. So what we are doing is pushing through on those partnerships. A lot of them what I found was they were obsolete, we are trying to bring them up and also update them, add that component

“The Afreximbank and Abu Dhabi governments which we are also partnering with and many of them are looking to Nigeria for us to find what that culture is. Really, Nigeria is having a great movement because the whole world is interested in us because of our content, our culture, and our talents,” she said.