The Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy, Barr Hannatu Musa Musawa has sought the collaboration of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in providing high quality government owned data to assist in the transformation of the country’s creative landscape.
In a statement made available to Blueprint in Abuja, Thursday, signed by the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, the minister made this known when the Statistician General, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran and top management staff of the NBS paid her a courtesy visit in Abuja.
Musawa said she sought the expertise of the NBS, following the absence of data for the sub-sectors under the mandate of the ministry, noting that accurate data will propel policies and interventions for fostering the growth of the creative sector and contribute substantially to national development.
She said: “Data is very essential as the ministry continues to build policies that will attract surplus to the GDP. I realized 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.
“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), we find ourselves at a juncture where a collaboration with the NBS is integral to ensure the successful design and implementation of high- quality, government-owned data which aligns with ethical standards and best practices.”
In his response, the Statistician General, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, commended the Minister for inviting the NBS to assess and generate a comprehensive data analysis on the creative contributors to the Gross domestic product (GDP) of the nation, saying the mandate of the NBS is to generate socio economic data on daily basis, starting from policy and decision making.
A steering committee to be headed by the Minister and the Permanent Secretary was set up, comprising technocrats from the NBS and the ministry to start the process of data collection and analysis of the art and culture sector.
