Personality in Focus
Why Presidency Should Call Musawa to Order – The Stakeholders Perspective
By Adepetu John
A Yoruba adage says, “Bi a ba fi ogun odun pile were, ojo wo la fe bu ni je?” This means “If it takes one twenty years to prepare for madness, when will one start biting people?”
The essence of the proverb is for one to strike while the iron is still hot instead of waiting and planning endlessly.
More than a year after President Bola Tinubu appointed Ms Hanatu Musawa as the Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, stakeholders have expressed concerns that nothing has been achieved in the sector beyond rhetorics and grandstanding.
They said the actions of the Minister, exemplified more by flippant promises than concrete action, show she may not be well equipped to bring the much needed transformation to the Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy Sector.
Over the past years, economic experts and public affairs commentators have stressed that, as Nigeria grapples with economic challenges and strives to diversify its economic mainstay from oil, the creative sector is a veritable option.
Therefore, in August 2023, when President Bola Tinubu created a stand-alone Federal Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy (FMACCE), many Nigerians, especially industry players, saluted his courage.
They described the move as a genuine commitment to supporting the growth and development of the art, culture, and creative economy sector for national economic gains.
The creation of the ministry by President Tinubu was seen as a clear indication that he recognised the vital role that the sector can play in his “Renewed Hope Agenda”to secure national economic turn-around.
Tinubu’s vision is encapsulated in the 8-Point Renewed Hope Agenda, and the Art, Culture and Creative sector is captured in point seven of the agenda, which is, “accelerating diversification through industrialisation, digitisation, creative arts, manufacturing, and Innovation.
In the agenda, the Tinubu administration promised to bolster up the youths by exploiting the immense potentials in the entertainment, culture, tourism and arts sectors, particularly for job creation.
The stakeholders, therefore, viewed the creation of the ministry as a genuine commitment to supporting the growth and development of the art, culture and creative economy sector for national economic gains through job creation.
They, however expressed disappointment at Minister Musawa’s endless rhetorics, as all she has done since she was appointed is to peddle promissory notes on the creation of two million jobs for the youths, without any known steps taken to actualise the promise.
Two months after she assumed office, the minister, while addressing newsmen, promised to create two million jobs and shape the creative and cultural landscape of the nation. Nothing was done after that to actualise the promise as the Minister simply went underground.
In April, 2024, at the management retreat of the ministry which held about five months after the briefing referenced above, the minister again announced her intention to create two million jobs, without saying how or making any effort to make it happen.
“We are trying to diversify from oil through the creative industry. It is possible if we can get the support of those who know the creative industry very well and care about what the ministry is doing. We are looking at how to use the talents Nigerians have to bring value to the country.
“Job creation is key and we want to create and contribute 2 million jobs by 2027. We want to increase the GDP of Nigeria by 100 billion dollars by 2030.
“It is doable. We are going to work round the clock to ensure we are able to do that,” she said.
Speeches, promises as usual, no action. Meanwhile, the sector remains where it is.
The latest instance of plenty talk and no action came on Sept. 12, at a roundtable for local and international investors in Lagos, where Musawa reportedly “unveiled plans to generate at least 100 billion dollars and create over two million jobs from Nigeria’s creative economy yearly”.
In her speech, she lamented that despite its huge potential, Nigeria’s creative industry currently contributes just 5 billion dollars to the economy, with its different sub-sectors at various stages of development.
Perplexed Industry players have berated the Minister for lack of capacity to carry out the agenda set by the Tinubu administration to use the new ministry to create employment for the nation’s teeming youths.
Friday Ogunyemi, a member of Screen Writers Association of Nigeria, said that the new ministry needed peculiar leadership, someone who has been there, an industry player who understands in practical terms the challenges and the way forward for the sector.
“The Nigeria film and music industries have been described as self-made sectors, with little or no government input in its trajectory over the years.
“Now that there is a specific ministry for it, the first step should be to engage the industry players by bringing them together to discuss what affects them directly.
“This is why an industry person; someone who has been in the system, who understands the peculiar needs of the sector, is needed urgently to head the ministry,” he said.
Mathias Gimba, a member of Actors Guild of Nigeria, said although the pioneer minister has shown passion in ensuring that there is a turn-around in the sector, her lack of proper understanding of the sector and contact with stakeholders has been glaring in the last one year.
“She will do well in other areas of the Tinubu administration, but a more versatile and industry-oriented person is needed to drive the new art and culture and creative industry ministry,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, an official of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), who asked for anonymity, said the much anticipated turn-around that the creative space needs to create jobs, engage youths and contribute meaningfully to the GDP required more than jejune political statements and seminars.
According to the official, Nigeria has comparative advantages in the creative sector, for economic development, and the industry should not be left in the hands of a novice.
The official noted that the sector’s contribution of just 1.2 per cent to the GDP in 2022 is an aberration, whereas other African countries with less potentials and comparative advantages are doing better.
It was therefore, the consensus of the stakeholders that President Tinubu should rejig the leadership of the sector with a view to maximizing its potentials.
They warned that the promises being glibly made by Minister Musawa – which she has not taken any steps to actuate – will become an albatross around the neck of the Administration in 2027!
Terrorists in northeast Nigeria killed a brigadier general in an assault on a military base, a local government chairman told AFP on Thursday, the second killing of a high-ranking officer in five months.
Africa’s most populous country has been fighting a terrorist insurgency for 17 years, since Boko Haram’s 2009 uprising, which has seen the emergence of powerful splinter groups, including Islamic State West Africa Province.
In an overnight attack, unidentified terrorists killed at least 18 soldiers and torched vehicles at a base in Benisheikh, about 75 kilometres from Borno state capital Maiduguri, an intelligence source told AFP.
“Unfortunately, the brigade commander, Brigadier General O.O. Braimah, lost his life,” Kaga Local Government Chairman Zannah Lawan Ajimi told AFP in a phone interview.
Two intelligence sources confirmed Braimah’s death to AFP.
His death follows the killing of Brigadier General Musa Uba by ISWAP in November. He was the highest-ranking military official to die in the long-running conflict since 2021.
“They overran the brigade,” one of the intelligence sources said, giving the death toll as “at least” 18.
The second intelligence source said that “the terrorists killed several troops” and “burnt vehicles and buildings before they withdrew,” without giving a toll.
The army and Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
– Rising terrorist violence –
Researchers have warned of an uptick of violence since 2025.
Borno capital Maiduguri has seen two suicide bombings since December — the type of bloody, urban attacks reminiscent of the insurgency’s peak a decade ago.
On Wednesday, the US State Department said in a notice it was authorising “non-emergency US government employees” to leave Abuja “due to the deteriorating security situation”.
While the insurgency is concentrated in the northeastern countryside, terrorists from Nigeria and the neighbouring Sahel have made inroads western Nigeria, where organised crime gangs known as “bandits” have been raiding villages and extorting farmers and artisanal miners for years.
Gunmen killed at least 90 people across several remote villages in northwest Nigeria this week, according to an AFP tally of tolls given by local and humanitarian sources.
Among the attacks was an assault in Kebbi state that police blamed a local terrorist group known as Mahmuda, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Kebbi sits on Nigeria’s border with Benin and Niger and since 2025 has been targeted by a rising number of terrorist attacks.
Conflict monitor ACLED says there has been a surge in violence in the area carried out by militants affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
In nearby Kwara state, in October, fighters from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM claimed an attack after years of researchers warning that the terrorist conflict ravaging the Sahel risked spreading south towards coastal West African states.
In December, the United States, with Nigerian assistance, bombed northwest Sokoto state, targeting Islamic State Sahel Province fighters usually found in neighbouring Niger, along with Mali and Burkina Faso.
AFP
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the 2023 Labour Party governorship candidate in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has argued that President Bola Tinubu has no pathway to re-election in 2027.
Rhodes-Vivour, who appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, said data from credible polls indicate that Tinubu will not win next year’s presidential election.
“I have looked at data, we have polling that is going on now, credible polling — there is no pathway for the president to emerge victorious, that is why we are seeing all these shenanigans,” he said.
He added: “There is no pathway for him. When you look at the North that gave him 62 per cent of his votes, you see the tsunami that is happening in the North. You have a president that created a government system that is just for the city boys. It is a city boys’ government. It’s not even a proper South-West government; it’s his cronies that are just in charge.”
The Lagos politician blamed the president for the crisis affecting opposition parties, including the ADC.
According to him, having assessed that the odds are against him ahead of the 2027 polls, the president is resorting to instigating crises within opposition ranks as a strategy to retain power.
“So, the best pathway is to create an environment where he is the only candidate on the ballot for the presidency. That is what he is trying to achieve, but he is not going to succeed,” he said.
Last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) removed the names of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as chairman and secretary of the ADC from its portal, citing a court order to maintain the status quo.
The party has faulted INEC’s decision, alleging that the electoral body misinterpreted the court order. Since then, the ADC leadership has held a world press conference to reject the move.
Earlier on Tuesday, prominent members of the party staged a “Save Nigeria Democracy” protest at INEC headquarters in Abuja. Among those present were Peter Obi; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi; former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; former President of the Senate, David Mark; former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola; and former Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, among others.
Hundreds of supporters, including members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, also participated in the protest.
The Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly, Muhammad Usman Zuru, is dead.
Zuru died on Monday night in an Egyptian hospital where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness.
His death was confirmed by sources close to the Kebbi State Government, although details surrounding his illness were not disclosed.
Until his death, he represented Zuru Constituency in the state assembly and was regarded as a key figure in the legislature.
Confirming the development, an aide to the governor on Communication and Strategy, Idris Zuru, described the incident as shocking.
“The death of the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Muhammad Usman Zuru, came to us as a rude shock. It is a painful loss not only to Kebbi State but to the entire nation,” he said.
He added that further details would be provided by the government.
Further announcements on funeral arrangements are expected from the state government and the family.
