04/03/2023
LCCI inaugurates creative, entertainment & sports group
MAURICE OGU
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has inaugurated Creative, Entertainment and Sports Group (CES) as the newest in the fleet of its groups, in Lagos.
During the inauguration, Babatunde Ruwase, president, LCCI, said CES represents a very important sector of the Nigerian economy, as the creative and entertainment industry has over the years become a tangible contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Acknowledging the contributions of the Nigerian film industry, popularly known as Nollywood, as the globally recognised second largest film producer in the world, Ruwase said the industry has contributed immensely to the growth of GDP as well as created jobs in the value chain.
As a significant part of the art, entertainment and recreation sector, Nollywood contributed N239 billion, representing 23%, to Nigeria’s GDP in 2016 and valued at N156.5 billion in 2018, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The sector has been adjudged as one of the fast-growing sectors in Nigeria with a GDP growth rate of about 2.5% and contribution of 0.2% in 2016.
“It is in response to the importance and performance of this sector that LCCI decided to create this group,” Ruwase said.
Explaining the rationale behind the creation, Ruwase said the aim was to provide the necessary platforms needed for the advocacy that will enable a better business environment for the creative, entertainment and sports sector of the economy.
The creative industry, according to the Chamber, had generally made significant strides by engaging the youth population and as such, generated employment over the years.
This sector was prompted by the emerging digital technology, which supported content creation, distribution and consumption. It had also been observed that the sector had uplifted middle class families in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa as well as supporting industries, which are rapidly growing.
With the creation of CES, the Chamber now operates 23 different groups.
Felix Awogu, general manager, Super Sport West Africa, said the global value of entertainment (including sports) industry is about $2 trillion, arguing that sports should be part of entertainment and be called “sportainment.”
According to him, Nigeria is the biggest exporter of footballers in the world, meaning more money and improvement to the Nigerian economy.
Awogu was, however, worried that Nigeria and Nigerian players had been underpaid over the years due to lack of basic structures. This was one of the reasons some African countries sell players far higher than the value of Nigerian players usually got.
“We need to start cleaning up our system,” he said.
According to him, if a player could leave the shore of Nigeria to other countries and in few months such players were highly priced showed that something fundamentally wrong in Nigeria, which needed to be fixed.
He urged government at all levels to invest adequately in sports industry, saying confidently that sports industry is a money-spinning industry.
“Sports is a great industry,” he said confidently.
