Nigeria’s creative industry growth surged in Q2 2025 driven by new funds, global exposure, and record-breaking Nollywood releases across global festivals
Business in the Nigeria’s creative industry may have begun the year at a slow trot which is typical of the first three months of the year, but by Q2 2025, the industry is already in full gallop; thanks to big money, bolder policies, and filmmakers whose talents are as expansive as their ambitions.
Also read: Seven Nigerian Fiction Books 2025 Redefining Identity, Genre and Imagination
If Q1 was about setting the stage, this quarter was all action — scenes, dialogues, spotlights, and a growing sense that something enduring is finally being built.
Let’s take a tour.
A Promise Kept
The Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism, and Creative Economy had promised it.
The Creative Economy Development Fund (CEDF), aimed at fueling Nigeria’s tourism and creative economy, went live in April.
While creatives have had to rely on loans, personal savings and even inconsistent grants.
With this fund, filmmakers can scale up production quality, fashion designers can localize manufacturing, musicians can fund tours and IP registration and tourism startups can develop community-based experiences.
This was the first time a fund of this magnitude was dedicated to creatives.
“This isn’t just a fund—it’s a revolution in how we see and support creativity in Nigeria. We are moving from vibes to value,” the Ministry’s helmswoman, Hannatu Musawa said.
The Ministry also announced plans to establish the Creative and Tourism Infrastructure Corporation (CTICo) with a projected investment of $100 billion and create about 2.5 million jobs by 2030.
To achieve this, Musawa said the Ministry was partnering with Creative Park Limited to develop Abuja Creative City, a first-of-its-kind creative hub in Africa, on 26 hectares of land in the Idu Industrial Area; and the establishment of the Nigerian Academy of Cultural Studies (NACUS) by the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), with four strategic campuses in Ogbomoso, Calabar, Lagos, and Abuja, offering specialized cultural education programs.
“The creative economy in Nigeria has long been a vibrant and resilient sector that has thrived independently without adequate government support. With the establishment of this Ministry by the present administration, it is clear that a new era has dawned. The Ministry therefore operates as a catalyst for innovation, a driver of growth, and a champion for the empowerment of Nigeria’s extraordinarily diverse and talented cultural and creative sector,” Musawa had said during the eighth edition of the Ministerial Press Briefing Session, held at the National Press Centre in Abuja.
D30 Data Platform Launches
Also, part of the big plan is the April-launch launch of the Destination 2030 (D30) Data Platform, an open-source data initiative developed with BigWin Philanthropy to provide transparent, reliable, and actionable data for Nigeria’s cultural, tourism, and creative economy sectors.
D30 is the Nigerian government’s long-term strategy to transform Nigeria’s creative and tourism sectors into a globally competitive, revenue-generating ecosystem by the year 2030.
According to the FMACTCE, the Destination 2030 Data Platform will be a “critical tool.”
It will support Nigeria’s broader agenda of economic expansion, job creation, and investment attraction under the Destination 2030 strategy.
“So, we want to use our cultural, creative and tourism assets to create content. where the interest is in Nigeria, is the content. And when you talk about that content, our beautiful landscapes, the beaches, just the beauty of nature in Nigeria adds to that content that you speak of the country. So we want to use that to change the mindset of people …” Musawa, who has led the charge of the creative sector’s rebirth, explained.
A new kind of Nollywood story
What is a quarterly report without updates on the film industry. Within this quarter, Nigeria’s cinematic landscape reached a new frontier, with My Father’s Shadow, directed by Akinola Davies Jr., becoming the first Nigerian film to be included in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025.
The film, which explores themes of masculinity and family dynamics against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian coup, was recognised in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ category.
This marks a significant milestone for Nigerian cinema, as it is the first time a Nigerian film has been officially selected in the festival’s history.
It was not at Cannes alone. Fantasy-epic, Osamede and Nigerian historical drama FESTAC ’77 also screened at the festival, marking a major milestone for Nollywood on the global stage.
In essence, Osamede comes across as a cinematic invocation that aims not only to entertain but to remind, restore, and reimagine African history through a lens of spiritual grandeur and cultural pride.
It is a love letter to myth and memory told in the language of cinema. FESTAC ’77 was selected for an exclusive preview at the film festival.
The film chronicles the legendary 1977 Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), which brought together artists and performers from across Africa and the diaspora in Lagos.
It captures the festival’s cultural significance and celebrates African unity through art, music, and storytelling.
This quarter also witnessed the release of Makemation—Nollywood’s first feature film centered on artificial intelligence and STEM education.
Produced by Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji and directed by Michael “Ama Psalmist” Akinrogunde, the film grossed an impressive ₦88.7 million within four weeks of its theatrical run.
Beyond its commercial success, Makemation marked a bold creative pivot for Nollywood, offering audiences a rare blend of innovation, youth empowerment, and futuristic storytelling rarely explored in mainstream African cinema.
What makes this film stand out is not just its box office numbers, but its bold, forward-looking approach to storytelling in a landscape dominated by romantic dramas, comedies, and traditional storylines. ‘Makemation’ dares to be different.
It explores AI and STEM education—fields that are vital to the future but rarely seen on African screens.
The film introduces these complex themes in an accessible, emotionally resonant way, striking a balance between being educational and entertaining.
Red Circle, a crime thriller with a star-studded cast, also made its way to cinemas in June. Produced by, It taps into universal themes—power, corruption, and truth-seeking—while speaking directly to Nigerian urban experiences.
That combination of local authenticity and global relevance gives it a broad appeal.
Walking for 424 and Porsche
Rema strutted the Paris Men’s Fashion Week runway as he made his runway debut at one of the world’s biggest fashion outings.
The Afrobeats sensation hit the runway, walking the show for 424 by Guillermo Andrade’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection—an event co-located with Porsche at the historic Monnaie de Paris.
Dressed in a nude-toned coat and crocodile‑skin boots, Rema brought his signature cool-calm confidence to the runway, matching the brand’s utilitarian-grunge aesthetic.
His presence alongside international figures like Marvel actor Will Poulter may have tied Nigerian creativity directly into the global style conversation.
As Vogue Business recently observed, more luxury brands are now collaborating with African musicians. Rema’s runway debut is proof of this shift.
It shows a transforming narrative where African creatives are no longer footnotes, but co-authors of culture.
“Fashion is another way to tell my story,” Rema told Dazed Magazine, a testament that his runway walk wasn’t just performative but intentional and representative of his identity and genre on a global stage.
Rema joined the ranks of Nigerian artistes like Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Ayra Starr and Lojay who have all graced International fashion week runways.
Homage to the King, Honour to the Clan
Ijebu-Ode pulsed with colour, rhythm, and reverence this June as the 2025 edition of the Ojude Oba Festival unfolded with unprecedented energy and scale.
Held two days after Eid-el-Kabir, the festival once again brought together thousands of Ijebu indigenes and visitors from across Nigeria and the diaspora in a grand homage to the Awujale of Ijebuland and the community’s ancestral heritage.
This year’s theme, ‘Celebrating Our Roots, Preserving Our Future’ echoed loudly through the parades, performances, and prayers.
Yet the pageantry was anything but repetitive.
Digitising Art and The Lagos Creative Vault…
While major local art exhibitions took a breather in Q2, efforts ramped up to digitise museum collections, with IHS Nigeria partnering the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) and the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy (FMACTCE) to support restoration work and digital cataloguing.
This collaboration aims to make Nigeria’s historical artifacts, artworks, and cultural monuments more accessible to the public through a digital museum.
The partnership between IHS Nigeria, NCMM, and the FMACTCE will leverage technologies to digitise and display artifacts online, helping to preserve and showcase Nigeria’s cultural heritage.
It marks a significant step towards modernising the preservation and dissemination of Nigeria’s cultural assets, making them more accessible to a broader audience.
Meanwhile, Lagos is making bold moves to elevate its creative industry with the Lagos Creative Vault, launched by the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture under the leadership of Special Adviser on Tourism, Idris Aregbe and Commissioner Toke Benson-Awoyinka.
The Vault serves as both a digital archive and a matchmaking hub, enabling filmmakers, musicians, visual artists, animators, writers, and more to display their work and connect with mentors, grants, internships, licensing partners, and global collaborators In its pilot phase, 50 participants have begun hands-on training in areas like fashion, furniture-making, digital marketing, catering, and Disc Jockeying.
And there are plans in place to train 3,000 creatives more over the next 18 months.
Q2 2025 was about building. A rare thing in an industry that has been said to “thrive on vibes”.
With real funding, global recognition, strategic partnerships, and significant achievements were made this quarter.
Also read: African Music Summit NAFEST Partnership Set to Transform South-East Music Scene
It is safe to say the industry moved beyond buzzwords and delivered a blueprint. And if Q2 2025 is anything to go by, the best parts of the story are yet to come.
