Minister Inducts Implementation C’ttee For Post COVID-19 Initiatives

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has inaugurated the Implementation Committee for the Post Covid-19 Initiatives on the Creative Industry, with a charge to the committee to design an implementation plan that will catalyze the growth of the industry.

While performing the inauguration virtually in his office in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister listed the Terms of Reference for the committee as including the design of an implementation plan on the immediate and short-term relief for the Creative Industry, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Others, he said, are to design a Policy Framework for Tax Relief for the various sectors in the Creative Industry, if it is identified as one of the measures aimed at achieving immediate and short-term relief for the Industry; and to work out a detailed implementation plan for a long-term intervention for the overall development of the Creative industry in Nigeria.

Alhaji Mohammed, who described the Creative Industry as the second biggest job creator in the country after agriculture, urged members of the Implementation Committee to approach its assignment with a great sense of duty, as the development and growth of the Creative Industry are crucial to the nation’s economy.

He once again commended the Committee on Post Covid-19 Initiatives on the Creative Industry for producing a ‘phenomenal’ report, noting that the committee went beyond the call of duty to produce a well-researched report.

In his remarks, Otunba Segun Runsewe, the Chairman of the Implementation Committee and the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, pledged his committee’s readiness to come up with robust recommendations for the overall benefit of the Creative Industry and the nation in general.

Otunba Runsewe, who commended the Minister’s foresight on the initiative, said Nigeria has taken the lead in the West African sub-region in thinking out of the box to address the challenges foisted on the Creative Industry by the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The committee, which has six weeks to submit its report, also comprises Ali Baba (Deputy Chairman); Anita Eboigbe; Baba Agba and Joe Mutah (Secretary).