President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Gabriel Idahosa, has identified the challenges facing the creative and entertainment industry in Nigeria.

This includes structural challenges such as a lack of access to funding, intellectual property theft, weak infrastructure, regulatory bottlenecks, and inadequate formal training institutions.

Speaking during the 2nd annual LCCI Creative and Entertainment Symposium and Festival Parade held in Lagos, Idahosa urged governments, private sector stakeholders, and development partners to prioritise long-term financing models tailored for the development of the creative and entertainment industry to tackle these challenges

According to him, this can be done with intentional investment in the industry by the governments and private stakeholders offering low-interest loans, grants, venture capital, and impact funds to the creative.

Stating that the creative and entertainment industries have emerged as survivors and beacons of hope, resilience, and innovation, amidst turbulence, the LCCI president said: “In Nigeria alone, the creative sector contributes approximately 2.3 percent to GDP, accounting for over 4.2 million jobs and impacting millions more through ancillary services such as tourism, tech, fashion, and logistics.

In his words: “Across Africa, Nollywood stands tall as the second-largest film industry in the world by output, producing nearly 2,500 movies annually and generating over $1 billion in revenue.

“The Nigerian music industry, spearheaded by global icons like Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Tems, is on track to surpass $44 million in streaming revenue by 2025, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook.’’

However, he regretted that the creative sector is heavily informalised, with 70 per cent of practitioners lacking structured contracts, health insurance, or pension plans.

He therefore stressed the need for formalisation through tax incentives, digital registration portals, and public-private partnerships with industry guilds.

In his words: “Let us digitalise the sector, not just its content but its structure. Cultural hubs, sound stages, studios, performance arenas, and co-working spaces must be built across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones. Lagos cannot remain the sole nerve centre.

“From Jos to Enugu, Port Harcourt to Kano, let us decentralise creativity and democratise opportunity.

On piracy, he said it robs Africa of an estimated $5 billion annually, adding that a robust copyright enforcement system, blockchain-based tracking, and regional cooperation through ECOWAS and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can transform how the country values and monetises its art.