Professor Adesoji Adesugba urged African financial institutions to treat creative works and royalty income as assets, saying local production capacity and stronger rights enforcement could help creators retain more value.
Nigeria’s News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the appeal appeared in a statement from the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), issued by its Media and Strategy Officer, Olayemi John-Mensah. NAN identified Adesugba as ACCI’s first deputy president.
Adesugba asked banks, development finance institutions and capital-market operators to evaluate creative catalogs, film libraries, design holdings and verified royalty income when financing creative businesses. “Africa is not short of creativity. Africa is short of share,” Adesugba said, arguing that creators should receive more of the income their work generates.
Adesugba identified Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Port Harcourt and other cities as proposed locations for creative hubs. He said they should combine studios with reliable electricity, fiber internet, post-production support and rendering capacity, allowing more of the work and added value to remain in Africa.
His recommendations also covered copyright enforcement and royalty collection. He called for adequately funded measures against digital piracy and clearer accounting by collective management organizations that distribute royalties from broadcasts, streaming and public performances. For African creative works used in artificial intelligence systems, he said consent, ownership and compensation should guide decisions.
The proposals address income losses for creators and rights holders. NAN reported that Adesugba linked piracy and gaps in royalty distribution to reduced earnings for them. A 2021 UNESCO mapping estimated that Africa’s film and audiovisual industries employed five million people and contributed $5 billion to the continent’s GDP. It said the sector could support more than 20 million jobs and contribute $20 billion to combined GDP. UNESCO also estimated that piracy cost those industries between 50% and more than 75% of their revenue.
Adesugba said ACCI’s Business Entrepreneurship, Skills and Technology Centre could partner with conference organizers, AfriLabs, UNESCO and the relevant ministry on business clinics, mentoring and market connections. He also backed stronger distribution across Africa, easier cross-border payments and co-production arrangements linked to the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The African Creators Conference website had listed Oct. 30-31, 2026, for the gathering at Abuja Trade & Convention Centre, with “The Powered Africa” as its theme.
