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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Ahead of the Afrocentric Cultural Expo scheduled for Abuja, Founder/Chief Executive, Nigerian Chamber of Commerce-USA (NICOCUSA), Gregory Uche Ihenacho, has said the exercise would generate $300 million for the creative industry.
Iheanacho, who addressed journalists yesterday in Abuja, noted that the expo would position Nigeria as a continental epicenter for culture, tourism, investment, ideation and international partnerships.
“The economic impact based on our calculation is projected to be between $250 million to $300 million for this event,” he said.
He said the event which is to take place on November 7 to 18, he said the expo was designed to go beyond cultural entertainment by creating an economic platform capable of connecting Africa’s creative assets with global markets.
According to him, the projected economic impact reflected the spending and commercial activities that the event could stimulate, stressing that the initiative is being developed as a long-term platform rather than a one-off gathering.
He added that the expo would provide the country with an opportunity to showcase its cultural wealth while creating avenues for job creation, investment attraction, tourism development, trade, and greater international visibility.
Ihenacho said the new approach would enable Nigerian academies and universities to serve as a pipeline for identifying creative talents who could subsequently be packaged and exposed to international opportunities.
The shift, he explained, was also aimed at ensuring that the event did not merely import foreign cultural content but created a platform through which Nigeria and Africa could develop and export their own creative talents.
He said the creative component would include a film festival involving students from different academies and universities, with participants submitting their works for consideration.
He added that the initiative was intended to strengthen the creative ecosystem by identifying emerging talents and providing them with a platform to develop their skills and gain wider exposure.
He said the expo would provide an avenue for Africa to tell its own story, showcase its heritage and creative strength, promote intra-African and international trade, and deepen connections between the continent and the diaspora.
He stressed that the event was deliberately designed as a non-political platform and would remain open to all participants irrespective of political affiliation.
Ihenacho said the organisers were seeking legitimacy and institutional recognition for the initiative rather than government funding.
He stated, “I came here last time looking for money. But this time around, I’m not going to be looking for money. Realistically, all we’re looking for is legitimacy.”
Ihenacho said the organisers were prepared to bear the bulk of the costs associated with staging the expo, adding that their experience in event management has helped them identify ways of delivering the programme at significantly lower costs.
He said the original version of the Afrocentric Cultural Expo could have required between $25 million and $50 million, but the organisers had restructured the programme in a manner that could allow it to be delivered with a budget of about $2 million, particularly through collaboration with relevant government institutions.
“We know how to get something that ordinarily would have cost $1,000 to get it done for maybe a fraction of that,” he said.
According to him, the organisers are also considering a platform through which political office seekers and other public figures could engage citizens on what they could do for Africa, provided such participation does not turn the expo into a campaign platform.
