Bikiya Graham-Douglas, the founder of the Beeta Arts Festival (BAF), says Nigeria’s creative industry has the capacity to absorb millions of young people and should be treated as a strategic solution to unemployment in the country.
Speaking at the 2025 edition of the festival in Abuja, Graham-Douglas said the rising demand for talents in film, theatre, fashion, design and production shows that the sector is a major employer waiting to be fully leveraged.
“When I started, there were no platforms like this to help me navigate and direct me. I have seen the importance of creating platforms for young people, for emerging voices,” she said.
“They are the future, and the creative sector has the capacity to absorb a lot of them.”
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Graham-Douglas said the growth of the industry must be driven by collaboration, partnerships and collective effort rather than a reliance on the government.
“We don’t have to wait for the government to do everything,” she added.
“We all have a responsibility to make our society better. Where you can, do something to make the lives of people around you better.”
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Clare Henshaw, the head of inclusive growth at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Nigeria, said the organisation is partnering with Beeta arts festival to boost youth employment by linking young people to job openings in the creative sector.
“One of the key things that attracted us to the festival was its strong affiliation with the creative sector and the opportunities it creates, particularly for jobs for young people,” Henshaw said.
She said the Nigeria jubilee fellows programme (NJFP), a $47 million initiative funded by the European Union (EU) and supported by the Nigerian government, will connect fellows to employers they ordinarily would not have access to.
She noted that more than 14,000 young Nigerians have been placed in organisations across the country, with 10 percent retained in full-time roles and 20 percent starting their own ventures.
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Henshaw said the partnership with the Beeta Arts Festival would help match trained fellows with organisations in film, theatre, fashion, production and other creative fields represented at the event.
“Our goal is to introduce fellows to creative organisations present here today and connect them to opportunities where they can interact and find meaningful jobs,” she said.
“The creative sector has enormous potential, but sometimes accessing it can be difficult. This platform makes that possible.”
She added that the UNDP hopes to build a database of creative industry employers willing to take in fellows at the end of each programme cycle.
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