Lagos Moves to Strengthen Creative Economy, Promises Structured Funding Channels, Faster Payments

Sunday Ehigiator 

The Lagos State Government has pledged to strengthen the state’s creative economy through structured funding channels, grants and faster payment of creative suppliers engaged by government.

The state also said it would work towards creating systems that would enable creatives to build sustainable businesses, protect their intellectual property and secure better value for their work.

The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, disclosed this yesterday while delivering the keynote address at the second edition of Podfest Naija held in Lagos.

Hamzat said while Africa was not lacking in creative talent and skills, the absence of effective structures for contracts, payments, intellectual property rights, data and financing had continued to limit the continent’s share of the global creative economy.

He said, “Talent has never been our problem in this part of the world. What is the problem is the system, and we believe in ourselves. So the connection is the problem. Contracts, payments, rights, data, and finance on the standard of creative business.

“Too many creators still cannot turn their skills or income. Too much intellectual property is produced in Lagos and monetised elsewhere. Globally, the creative economy is a multi-trillion dollar industry. Yet Africa captures less than three per cent of that value. So we must change our ratio starting from here.”

According to him, inadequate access to capital, dependence on foreign payment platforms and weak industry structures were among the major challenges confronting creatives across the continent.

“Too many talented young people have the ideas but do not have the capital, the skills, the people protection for the data to build good businesses. And too much of our continent still depends on other parts of world for payment system that we do not control,” he said.

Hamzat said the Lagos State Government was committed to helping transform the creative economy into a properly structured industry that would provide protection and fair rewards for creators.

“Our part is to turn this creative economy into an industry, structured, protected, financed, and fairly rewarding. We can do it. And together we will do it. So it is learning for everybody. Let me start with us, the government,” he added.

The deputy governor further announced that the state would work towards ensuring that creatives who provide services to government were paid promptly.

He acknowledged that government was one of the major users of creative services in Lagos but admitted that government had not always been a good customer when it came to payment.

“Government is one of the largest players of creative work in the state. And government is not always a good customer. So here is a commitment. Lagos State should pay creative suppliers on time because it is not the same as building a rail. Building a rail costs you more. Creating a story shouldn’t cost that much and therefore we should be able to pay faster,” Hamzat said.

He also encouraged creatives to communicate their needs to government, develop their skills into viable businesses and ensure excellence in their work.

The deputy governor urged creators to pay greater attention to ownership and protection of their intellectual property, stressing the need for Nigerian creatives to derive more economic value from their work.

Earlier in her opening remarks, the Convener of Podfest Naija and Founder of marketing communications firm, AT3, Tosin Adefeko, said the event was designed to strengthen the voices of African storytellers, sharpen their craft and showcase authentic lived experiences.

Adefeko said the idea behind Podfest Naija was driven by the need to create a platform where different stakeholders in the creative ecosystem could engage and share experiences.

“We always talk about content, monetisation, algorithm, reach and influencers but we realised that something else mattered too. We needed a convergence, a place where storyteller, brands, industry leaders, policy makers and more importantly everybody can come together and talk about the one thing we all have in common; our lived experiences,” she said.