The Nigerian Economic Summit Group Puts theCreative Industries Front and Centre at the 17th Nigerian Economic Summit

OBI ASIKA

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group Puts the Creative Industries Front and Centre at the 17th Nigerian Economic Summit. Frank Nweke Jr, Director-General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), has announced the inclusion of a Creative Industries Forum in the forthcoming 17th Nigerian
Economic Summit scheduled for November 10-12 in Abuja. The Creative Industries Forum
will hold on Saturday November 12 in the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton.

As was apparent in his tenure as Minister of Information, Frank Nweke Jr has an abiding
interest in the evolution and development of Nigeria’s creative sector. “It is clear that our
content is world class and travels well, what is not so clear is how best we can create the
enabling environment to accelerate the growth of our creative industries,” states Nweke. “It
was for this reason that we engaged Amaka Igwe and Obi Asika, CEO Storm 360 and
several other bright minds in this field, to put together a strong team of creative industry
practitioners, regulators, and entrepreneurs to drive this conversation and to begin the
NESG's engagement with the creative industries.”
Panellists at the Creative Industries Forum at the NESG Summit will include Afam Ezekude,
DG of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Ms Oyin Onile-ere, former legal director of music
publishing company Warner Chappell and major record company BMG UK; Amaka Igwe,
famed television and film producer; Matt Dawes, UK-based mobile media consultant; Ayo
Alli, Licensed Agent, English Premier League and Media Entrepreneur and Juliet Ehimuan,
Country Manager, Nigeria for Google. Eric Idiahi, CEO of digital content company Spinlet and
founder Verod Capital will deliver the background presentation during the forum.

"I would like to thank Mr Nweke for recognizing the enormous potential of the creative
industries. With this new engagement, the NESG promises to push our collective agenda and
I am urging all leaders and players in the creative industries to participate in this important
event,” says Storm 360 boss, Obi Asika.

In keeping with the Summit theme on attracting foreign direct investment, the focus
of the Creative Industries Forum is “Optimizing Economic Opportunities in the Creative
Industries through Global Partnership.” Nweke explained that learning from and partnering
with organizations around the world will be an important factor in the ability of the
Nigerian creative industries to realize their full potential for growth, job creation and self-
employment. “This Forum will mark the beginning of formal engagement of the creative
industries on the part of the NESG and we look forward to being part of the success story of
this sector,” said Nweke.