As part of efforts to transform the country’s creative landscape, the minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy Mrs. Hannatu Musa Musawa is seeking the collaboration of the National Bureau of Statistics to provide quality government owned data.
The Minister’s plan was revealed when she received the Statistician General and his management staff in her office in Abuja.
Explaining that data is essential to enable the ministry build policies that will attract surplus to the country’s GDP, she said the absence of data for the sub-sectors under the mandate of her ministry necessitated her seeking the expertise of the Bureau.
The minister further stated that before the inception of the present administration, the creative industry was unaccounted for within the national statistics because there was no systematic tracking of creative players and their contribution to the national GDP.
With the establishment of the Ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy and targets clearly articulated in the Medium Term National Development Plan (2021 – 2025) Mrs Musawa stated, it has become imperative for her ministry to collaborate with the statistics bureau to ensure the design and use of quality government owned data which aligns with ethical standards and best practices in the implementation of programmes of the ministry to develop the creative economy for enhanced contribution to the country’s GDP.
Responding, the Statistician General Prince Adeyemi Adeniran praised the minister for seeking to collaborate with the statistics bureau to have quality data on creative contribution to the country’s GDP.
He said the bureau will provide what data it has and will work to fill any gaps to meet the requirements of the ministry of Creative Economy so that going forward it would have no challenges in its data needs in the sector.
The permanent secretary in the ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy Dr Ngozi Onwudiwe said the Minister’s resolve to seek quality data for the operations of the ministry was important because without such information it would be impossible to know exactly what progress is being made in the sector and what could be done for success to be achieved.
A statement from the special assistant on Media and Publicity to the minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy Nneka Ikem Anibeze says a steering committee to be headed by the Minister comprising technocrats from both the ministry and the statistics bureau was set up to build up the database of the Art and Culture sector.
