Nigeria has demonstrated its commitment to the implementation of the 2005 Convention on ‘The Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions’ by providing necessary administrative, legal frameworks and conducive environment for achieving the aims of the Convention both by the government agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Invariably, Nigeria has commenced the process of domesticating the 2005 Convention as well as other ratified Cultural Conventions into its National
Legislation. Nigeria is also finalising the process of reviewing its Cultural Policy that aims at protecting and promoting the diversity of the nation’s cultural expressions.
Administratively, Nigeria has 7 government agencies under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Information & Culture, each with statutory responsibilities covering the different aspects of protection, preservation and promotion of cultural diversity. They are involved in the creation, production, distribution/dissemination and management of the diverse Nigerian culture. There are several non-governmental agencies, guilds and associations for the various groups of cultural workers and these bodies are given government recognition and assistance to a large extent.
Nigeria has prioritised the cultural creative sector as a focus of its economic diversification drive as well as put in place policies targeted at protecting and promoting of diversity and cultural expression. The executive order by the Acting President on “ease of doing business” issued on 18th May 2017, the pioneer status granted to companies making investments in the creative sector amounting to NGN100 Million as well as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bank of Industries (BOI) interventions into the Creative sector are some of the policies that have helped promote and protect of diversity and cultural expressions. The Culture Sector is working in collaboration with Tourism, Information, Education, civil society organizations as well as other critical government Agencies to actualize these policies, although there is need to work in harmony with other stakeholders in order to be more effective.
The Culture sector was worst hit by the novel covid-19 pandemic and so the government set up a post covid-19 Committee on the Creative Industry consisting of the practitioners in the creative sector which made salient recommendations for the protection and promotion of cultural diversity and expressions. The Nigerian Government has since commenced implementation of the recommendations with the setting up of a ministerial committee also made up of stake-holding associations in the creative industry.
The implementation of the 2005 Convention has also witnessed some bottlenecks such as lack or poor cultural statistics capacity of Nigeria, the delays in the domestication of the 2005 Convention, poor inter- Agency collaborations on information sharing, poor funding and other challenges highlighted in the Report.
The establishment of Cultural Industries in the states of the Federation and the staging of programmes devoted to the exhibition of arts and crafts products of the country is expected to go a long way in encouraging the preservation and promotion of craft production, the flow of cultural goods and the mobility of artists and cultural professionals. Nigeria has also ensured the consistent marking of events targeted at promoting and protecting diversity and cultural expressions. Example of such includes National Festival of Arts and Culture, International Arts and Crafts Expos, Calabar International Carnival and other notable festivals, cultural exhibitions across Nigeria expressing the rich cultural diversity of Nigeria. However, a deepened collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and its agencies with other government agencies such as the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency ,Nigeria Investment Promotion Council etc; and the signing and perfection of bilateral and multilateral cultural treaties and agreements with friendly countries will enhance the flow of cultural goods and services and the mobility of artists and cultural professionals.