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National Council for Arts and Culture, NCAC, and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) are collaborating to train two million Nigerians on cultural innovation by 2027.
This is contained in a joint statement issued by Dr Dennis Olofu, Head of Media, NCAC and Mrs Hadiza Umar, Director, Corporate Communications and Media Relations of NITDA on Monday in Abuja.
The partnership, according to the statement, is targetted at integrating Nigeria’s cultural and creative industries (CCI) with the country’s growing digital and innovation ecosystems through training, digitisation and infrastructure development, among others.
Director-General of NCAC, Mr Obi Asika, in the statement, said that the collaboration sought to harness the strengths of both agencies to drive growth, innovation and digital transformation across Nigeria’s creative and cultural sectors.
“NCAC’s flagship programme – Innovate, Create and Empower, ICE, – is designed to up-skill participants in the cultural and creative industries.
“With NITDA’s support, ICE will expand to 1,000 locations nationwide, targetting the training of two million Nigerians by 2027.
“NCAC, in collaboration with private sector partners, is developing digital platforms for cultural inventory, fan engagement, influencer marketing, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), e-commerce and capacity building.
“NITDA will provide support through local distribution networks and cloud services to strengthen these platforms,” it said.
The statement also said that NCAC would mobilise its creative and cultural communities to participate in NITDA’s initiatives, including the highly-anticipated Gulf International Technology Expo in Nigeria by 2025.
It further said that both agencies had agreed to pilot BuyNigeria.ng, an e-commerce platform designed to bring Nigerian markets online.
“The initial phase will focus on markets in Kano, Lagos, Aba and Abuja, fostering greater visibility and accessibility for traders and artisans, while aligning with NCAC’s vision of enhancing productivity in the cultural and creative sectors.
“A joint committee comprising directors from both NCAC and NITDA has been established to drive the partnership forward and ensure seamless implementation of shared initiatives,” the statement said.
