If you have ever wondered why Nigerian creativity travels so far but the systems supporting it often feel like they are running to catch up, there is now a report that puts hard numbers and honest language to exactly that question. NECLive, in partnership with Frontyard Group, has released The State of Nigeria’s Creative Economy 2026, a comprehensive, data-led report that shifts the national conversation around Nigeria’s creative sector from celebration to evidence, and from general sentiment to specific, structural diagnosis.
The report draws on an extensive survey of 377 creative professionals across eight sectors, gathered in the weeks following NECLive 2025, and what it finds is both clarifying and urgent. The central finding is this: a shortage of talent is not what is holding Nigeria’s creative economy back. It never was. What is restricting the sector’s growth is the ecosystem and machinery surrounding that talent. The infrastructure, the administrative systems, the payment rails, the financing, the training. The talent has already done its part. The systems have not kept up.
Survey participants identified a clear set of structural barriers limiting their ability to scale, ranging from basic infrastructure deficits and administrative burden to friction in payment systems and deficient financing and training. These are not abstract concerns. They are the daily realities of 377 working creative professionals who showed up and told the truth about what their working lives actually look like. Tomiwo Ojo, Head of Content at ID Africa, put it plainly: “We have never lacked influence. What we have lacked is evidence about the machinery beneath that influence and the honest conversation that evidence makes possible. A sector that can name its own constraints is a sector ready to be built. The talent has already done its part. It is time for the systems to catch up”
That is precisely what this report does. Beyond diagnosis, it moves to a set of clear, actionable recommendations directed at government, investors, and the private sector, making it a document built not just to be read but to be used. It is available now for free download to the public, policymakers, and industry stakeholders at nec.ng
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NECLive and Frontyard Group have released The State of Nigeria’s Creative Economy 2026, a data-led report capturing the lived experiences of 377 creative professionals across eight sectors and identifying the structural barriers holding the sector back.
The post NECLive & Frontyard Group Release New Report on the State of Nigeria’s Creative Economy appeared first on BellaNaija – Showcasing Africa to the world. Read today!. Read More
