By Joshua Olomu
Hajiya Hannatu Musawa, the Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, on Friday called for collaboration of the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) to provide government-generated data to drive Nigeria’s creative industry.
The minister made the call when the Statistician General, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, and top management staff of the NBS paid her a courtesy visit.
Musawa sought the expertise of NBS following the absence of data on the sub-sectors under the mandate of the Ministry.
She said: “Data is very essential as the ministry continues to build policies that will attract surplus to the GDP.
“I realised that prior to this administration, the creative industry was regrettably unaccounted for within the National statistics.
“The absence of systematic tracking of creative players and their contributions to our national GDP became glaring.
“We find ourselves at a juncture where collaboration with the National Bureau is integral to ensure the successful design and implementation of high-quality, government-owned data which aligns with ethical standards, and best practices.
“This data is not merely a necessity, but the bedrock upon which we will build the future of our creative ecosystem and establish a solid creative economy.
“Your expertise is invaluable, and together we can lay the foundation for a comprehensive, accurate, and government-owned dataset that will articulate our commitment to excellence.
“Collaboratively, we envision building a mechanism that will track and actively contribute to the development of the Nigerian creative space,” she said.
According to the minister, accurate data on the Ministry will propel policies and interventions to foster the growth of the creative sector and contribute substantially to the national economy and development.
Responding, Adeniran said that the NBS was ready to work with the ministry under Musawa’s watch.
He said NBS was willing to assess and generate a comprehensive data analysis on creative contributors to the Gross domestic product (GDP) of the nation.
Adeniran said that the mandate of the NBS was to generate socio-economic data on a daily basis, starting from policy and decision-making.
“NBS will look into the database to see what can be released to the ministry on activities of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy sector of the country.
“We will provide the ministry with the baseline, and where there are gaps in line with the Ministry’s key performance indicators, NBS will look at the gaps and discuss it with the Ministry’s representatives.
“Once the ministry has its baseline compiled and validated, then it is good to go, and subsequently as it programmes its activities, it will just be collecting this data to measure the progress any time,” he said.
In her remarks, Dr Ngozi Onwudiwe, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry commended the Minister for the giant step taken in seeking data for the ministry.
“Data is absolutely important because no MDA can plan without data, and if you cannot plan you cannot perform.
“Mr President understands all these effects, and that is why he set mandates and key performance indicators (KPI) in the ministries.
A steering committee has been set up to commence the process of data collection and analysis on the art and culture sector.
The committee, comprising officials of the NBS, and the Ministry would be headed by the Minister and the Permanent Secretary.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Nick Nicholas/Sadiya Hamza
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