Creative sector to contribute 2.3% to GDP, add 2 million jobs by 2030

The Federal Government says Nigeria’s creative sector is expected to contribute about 2.3% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and create an additional 2 million jobs by 2030 under the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.

The Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, disclosed this when the Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Professor Ayo Omotayo, and former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, visited her.

The visit was to brief the minister on NIPSS’ plans to host a National Summit and Exhibition on the Orange Economy and seek the ministry’s support and collaboration as the lead government institution for creative economy and tourism policy in Nigeria.

What she is saying

Musawa said the ministry had begun putting in place the policy and institutional framework required to achieve its targets for the creative economy.

She said the measures were part of efforts to reposition the creative, cultural and tourism sectors as drivers of national economic growth.

“We are also concluding work on the National Tourism policy that will anchor this vision for years to come.”

Musawa said the ministry had inaugurated four drafting committees covering policy and strategy, programmes and implementation, stakeholder engagement, and monitoring and evaluation.

She said the committees would help build the institutional and financial architecture needed to develop Nigeria’s creative industries.

Musawa said the Orange Economy, comprising the creative, cultural and cultural-heritage sectors, aligns with the President’s economic diversification agenda.

The creative sector currently contributes roughly between 1.2% and 2% to Nigeria’s GDP and employs about 4.2 million Nigerians, making it one of the country’s largest employers of labour.

More details

The Director-General of NIPSS, Ayo Omotayo, said Nigeria’s creative sector has the potential to contribute as much as $450 billion to the economy and support President Bola Tinubu’s target of growing Nigeria’s GDP to $1 trillion by 2030.

Omotayo said NIPSS had identified the creative sector as the final area of focus in its examination of sectors capable of supporting the $1 trillion economy target.

“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.”

Musawa said the ministry was deliberately repositioning the creative, cultural and tourism sectors as genuine engines of national growth.

She said these sectors should no longer be treated as an afterthought to the economy but as a frontier of economic development.

Omotayo also said the National Institute’s focus on the Orange Economy would help examine the sector’s capacity to provide leverage for achieving the country’s economic ambitions.

What you should know

Musawa had in May 2025 said the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy was targeting a $100 billion contribution to Nigeria’s economy by 2030.

She said the Federal Executive Council had approved a memo seeking to monetise Nigeria’s tangible and intangible assets in the creative, cultural and tourism industries.

Musawa said the initiative would enable the ministry to create a new revenue stream by using the country’s assets to grow the economy.

The latest target represents part of the Federal Government’s broader plan to increase the economic contribution of the creative sector, expand employment opportunities and support the diversification of Nigeria’s economy.