By Oshinaike Omomayowa.
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s creative and cultural sectors have called for increased investment, policy support, and authentic storytelling to position the industry for global growth, at the QEDNG Creative Powerhouse Summit 2.0 held at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.
Themed “Creativity, Culture, and Nigeria’s Next Chapter,” the summit convened artists, filmmakers, content creators, and business leaders to discuss how heritage and innovation can drive the next phase of Nigeria’s creative economy.
Delivering the keynote, Ife Adebayo, National Coordinator of the $617 million iDICE program at the Bank of Industry, described culture as Nigeria’s most viable economic asset.
“We are at a historic juncture where culture is no longer just an identity it is Nigeria’s most viable economic engine,” Adebayo said. “Through collaborative investments and structured policy frameworks, this ‘next chapter’ will empower local creators to command global market shares while keeping their roots firmly anchored at home.”
The event opened with “IceDice,” an interactive networking game where attendees rolled a custom six-sided die with prompts on culture, creativity and career transitions. Questions included “What cultural tradition shapes how you think? ”and “What is one ‘old school’ method you refuse to give up in a digital world?”
In the first panel, Cultural Foundations of Creativity, moderated by Steve Ayorinde, panelists Joke Silva and Steve Babaeko debated balancing local authenticity with global market demands.
“We must stop sanitizing our stories for external validation,” said Silva, co-founder of Lufodo Group. “When we look inward, our culture provides an inexhaustible well of creative raw material that the rest of the world is starving for.”
Babaeko, CEO of X3M Ideas, added: “Global brands don’t want a carbon copy of Western advertising; they want the vibrant, unfiltered heartbeat of African creativity. Our next chapter demands that we commercialize our unique culture boldly, ethically, and without apology.”
The second panel, Navigating Next Chapters and Innovation, featured Audu Maikori, co-founder of Chocolate City Group, entertainment executive Efe Omorogbe, and digital creator Oluwabukunmi “Kiekie” Ilori.
Discussions focused on reinvention, intellectual property, and treating creativity as a business.
“Reinvention is not a sign of failure; it is the ultimate survival metric in the creative economy,” Maikori stated.
“Talent gets you in the room, but understanding the infrastructure of enterprise is what ensures your creative story doesn’t end when the current market trend shifts,” Omorogbe noted.
Kiekie spoke on scaling content: “My comedy and skits work because I’m telling stories from my compound, from my market, from how we actually talk. But to move to the next chapter, you have to treat your creativity like a business. Young people don’t need to copy trends to blow. Our culture, our slang, our ‘wahala’ is the content. That is what makes us global.”
The summit, supported by the Lagos State Government and NLNG, concluded with networking sessions and a call for continued collaboration to strengthen Nigeria’s creative industries.
