Market News

The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Nigeria, H.E. Jeong Yo-an, has urged the Federal Government to strengthen intellectual property protection, improve infrastructure and expand access to financing to unlock the economic potential of Nigeria’s creative industry, citing South Korea’s success in turning cultural influence into billions of dollars in export earnings.

This was at the Joint Seminar organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, themed From Soft Power to Shared Prosperity: Korea-Nigeria Cultural Cooperation and the Creative Economy in Lagos State.

Yo-an said South Korea began treating culture as an industry following the Russian financial crisis of the late 1990s, introducing a basic law to promote culture in 1999. He said investments in digital infrastructure, financing, education, training and copyright protection helped the country develop a globally competitive creative economy.

He said South Korea’s content exports reached a record $14.9bn in 2025, while the Korean Wave generated nearly $19bn in exports, demonstrating how cultural influence could stimulate economic growth. He added that the government did not create artists such as BTS but provided the necessary structures to enable creative professionals and businesses to succeed.

The ambassador said Nigeria did not need to borrow another country’s culture to achieve similar results, noting that Afrobeats, Nollywood, Nigerian fashion and comedy had gained international recognition. He said Nigeria’s creative economy contributed about 2.6 per cent to GDP, with a government target of creating two million jobs by 2030, but identified limited funding, weak infrastructure and difficult regulations as major obstacles.

Yo-an said intellectual property protection was essential to the industry’s growth, recalling that piracy had nearly destroyed South Korea’s music industry before stronger copyright enforcement and digital platforms that fairly remunerated creators helped revive it.

He also highlighted growing cultural exchanges between both countries, including Nigerian-Korean drama productions, K-pop festivals and the activities of the Korean Cultural Centre in Lagos.

On trade opportunities, he said South Korea’s cosmetics industry demonstrated how cultural popularity could translate into commercial benefits, with exports reaching a record $11.4bn in 2025. He said Nigerian consumers were increasingly embracing Korean skincare products, stressing the need for genuine products, proper registration with NAFDAC and reliable local distribution networks.

The ambassador also proposed cooperation in the local processing of shea butter, noting that Nigeria produced about 10 per cent of the world’s shea nuts but earned only about one per cent of the estimated $6.5bn global market.

He said South Korea could contribute its research, technology and quality-control expertise to support the development of finished products in Nigeria, while stressing that such investments would require predictable regulations, clear quality standards and access to foreign exchange.

Yo-an said Nigeria and South Korea should expand their bilateral relationship beyond traditional cooperation in oil, gas and construction to include creative industries, education, technology and entrepreneurship.

Director General, NIIA, Prof Eghosa Osaghae said Nigeria had yet to fully appreciate the global influence and economic potential of its creative industry, noting that the country’s entertainment, music, film and food industries had contributed significantly to reshaping its international image.

Osaghae said Nigerian entertainers and creative professionals had become visible at major international events, including the Ballon d’Or, the FIFA World Cup and global concerts, demonstrating the country’s growing cultural influence and the strength of its creative products.

He said Nigeria needed to move beyond celebrating the international recognition of its creative talents and begin converting that influence into measurable economic benefits by deliberately harnessing the opportunities available in the sector.

The professor identified violations of intellectual property rights as a major challenge confronting the industry, noting that the rights of artists and content creators were frequently infringed upon, while enforcement remained difficult even when affected individuals pursued legal action.

He said Nigeria needed a stronger regulatory framework to protect intellectual property and create an enabling environment for creative professionals. He also stressed the importance of transitioning the sector from its largely informal structure into the formal economy to maximise its earnings and economic contributions.

Osaghae said the creative sector currently contributed about 2.5 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), adding that projections presented at the seminar indicated that its value could exceed $110bn by 2030 if the country properly harnessed its potential.

He said Nigeria should develop a deliberate policy framework to identify its creative assets, organise stakeholders and promote the country’s cultural products internationally, rather than allow other countries to benefit disproportionately from its creative influence.

He said South Korea’s position as the world’s second-ranked country in soft power, compared with Nigeria’s 71st position, demonstrated the importance of strategically investing in cultural diplomacy, adding that Nigeria should work towards breaking into the top 50 and eventually the top 10.

Osaghae, however, cautioned against relying entirely on foreign models, saying Nigeria needed to develop its own structures for the creative economy while drawing useful lessons from countries such as South Korea, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Research Professor, Prof Femi Otubanjo, said Nigeria’s creative industry could learn from South Korea, which has successfully addressed challenges such as inadequate financing, piracy and weak protective laws to build a globally competitive creative economy.

He said Nigeria remained a developing country with several unresolved challenges across different sectors, including agriculture and industry, noting that many of the problems confronting the creative industry were not peculiar to the sector.

Otubanjo said weak law enforcement and piracy remained major obstacles to the growth of Nigeria’s creative economy, explaining that producers of music, films and drama often suffered financial losses when their intellectual property was stolen and reproduced without their authorisation.

He said the situation discourages investment in the industry because financiers are often reluctant to invest in film and other creative productions when there are no adequate guarantees that producers would recover their investments due to piracy.

The professor said Nigeria had yet to fully benefit economically from the international popularity of its creative products, particularly Afrobeats and other forms of entertainment, stressing that the earnings generated by the industry should translate into wider economic benefits.

He said Nigeria needed to study how South Korea overcame similar challenges and developed effective structures to protect and promote its creative industry, adding that the country could serve as a useful model for addressing Nigeria’s shortcomings.