NECLive & Frontyard Group Release New Report on the State of Nigeria’s Creative Economy

New Report Reveals What’s Really Holding Back Nigeria’s Creative Economy—And It’s Not Talent

Nigeria has been exporting cultural excellence to the world for years now, from chart-topping Afrobeats records to globally-acclaimed films and fashion. But while the talent has been traveling at lightspeed, the infrastructure supporting it has been stuck in traffic. A groundbreaking new report is finally putting hard data behind what many creatives have been saying all along: the system itself is the problem.

NECLive and Frontyard Group have just dropped The State of Nigeria’s Creative Economy 2026, and it’s not pulling punches. The report, which surveyed 377 creative professionals across eight different sectors following NECLive 2025, delivers a clear message—Nigeria’s creative sector isn’t suffering from a talent shortage. It’s being suffocated by outdated systems. We’re talking broken payment infrastructure, limited access to financing, inadequate training programs, and administrative processes that create more friction than momentum. These aren’t theoretical problems—they’re the daily battles facing working creatives trying to turn their artistry into sustainable careers. Tomiwo Ojo, Head of Content at ID Africa, summed it up perfectly: the talent has already shown up and done the work. Now it’s time for the systems to catch up.

What makes this report different is that it doesn’t just identify problems—it offers concrete solutions. The recommendations target government, investors, and private sector players with actionable steps to actually build the infrastructure that Nigeria’s creative economy deserves. For anyone invested in seeing African creativity thrive beyond viral moments and streaming numbers, this is essential reading. The full report is available for free download at nec.ng, because the conversation it starts needs to reach policymakers, industry leaders, and creatives themselves.

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