Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, has approved the sum of N100 million to support the emergence of a hub of cultural enterprise which, he said, will serve as a centre of innovation that encourages creativity and talent development among youths.
El-Rufai, who made the pledge when a delegation of performing artists paid him a visit at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, said the hub will not only create job opportunities for the teeming youths but also, in the long run, boost the internally generated revenue of the state.
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“Kaduna State has a population of about 10 million people, with 70% of them being youth.
“The state government can only employ less than 100,000 into the civil service.
“This is why we are looking at other ways to create job opportunities for our youths to earn a means of livelihood and specialise in certain skills,” he said.
He noted that youth unemployment is a major cause of the vices and present insecurity in the country, adding that it has become imperative to look outside the box and create avenues for youths to be gainfully employed.
El-Rufai further said his administration supports cultural enterprise as one of the avenues for creating jobs, developing talents and improving internal revenue generation which, he added, is in line with the rationale for establishing the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Technology (MBIT).
“The mandate of MBIT includes policies and programmes to encourage innovation, enterprise, job-creation and economic diversification.
“The focal areas for this ambitious effort is to support talent and skills, which include enterprises in the technology, cultural and other spheres,” he added.
While appreciating the governor for his support for the cultural hub, Alhaji Ibrahim Mandawari, who led the delegation, assured him of the judicious use of the proposed culture hub.
He said it would host a world-class theatre, cinema and shopping malls, designed to boost economic activity in the state.
Mandawari added that the enterprises in the culture sector, including books, music, animation, movies among others, “are veritable avenues for job creation, from direct jobs in studios, on sets and in the fashion industry to the other vendors in the hospitality sector.”
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