Cape Verde has asked Nigeria for help in developing its music, film industry, as well as other creative endeavours.
Minister for Culture and Creative Industries, Abraao Vincente, made the request during a bilateral meeting with Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.
The duo met Monday on the sidelines of the 64th Conference of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) – Commission for Africa, held in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde.
The conference and the second edition of the UNWTO Global Tourism Investment Forum took place in Sal, one of the 13 islands that make up an archipelago in the central Atlantic Ocean.
Vincent said Nigerian music and films are now recognized and accepted globally, and his country wishes to collaborate and receive support for improvement.
“Right now, Nigerian musicians are making waves internationally and are known globally. Music and tourism are equally our strong points and we can collaborate in these areas to learn a lot from Nigeria,” he said.
Vincente said the collaboration had started at the private sector level but it would be better driven when it is concretised through bilateral agreements.
He recalled that a Nigerian ace producer, Kunle Afolayan, was in Cape Verde to shoot some films and he was warmly accepted by the authorities.
He also recalled the feat of a Nigerian architect, Prof. Kunle Adeyemi, who designed a floating music hub on a bay of the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Verde.
The floating music hub in Cape Verde recently inaugurated and opened to the public was designed by the architect using the Makoko Floating School concept in Lagos built in 2012.
The floating hub which has been one of the West African region’s most revered cultural projects, created pavilions that float off the shore in Mindelo on the island of Sao Vincente.
Vincente described Adeyemi, who was also at the event as a “Cape Verdean with Nigerian blood and a true African”.
He said, “Everything in Africa is designed to make us collaborate with the Europeans more and this is not the way to go.
“The two Kunles (Afolayan and Adeyemi) are good examples of how Africa countries should collaborate.
“We are always proud to introduce the floating music hub as being designed by an African, a Nigerian and this is about talking positively about Africa.
“African countries. must learn to collaborate among themselves to make the continent great.”
Vincente proposed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Nigeria and Cape Verde to improve collaboration and encourage exchange programmes that were accepted by both parties.
Earlier, Mohammed said while there were different unexplored tourist sites in Nigeria, the greatest strength of the country was in music, film, television, architecture and the entire gamut of the creative industry.
He said that Nigeria welcomed collaboration with Cape Verde in the area of creative industry, adding that both Afolayan and Adeyemi, were good ambassadors for Nigeria who had set the pace for the cooperation.
To make the cooperation more effective, Mohammed said he had earlier discussed with the Cape Verde Minister of Tourism and Transport the need to renew the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between both countries.
He said the BASA which allows for a direct flight from Lagos to Sal Island, Cape Verde would ease the challenge of connectivity currently being faced by investors and travellers.
The minister said it took him and his entourage three days to arrive in Sal from Lagos and it will take them another three days to return to Nigeria because of poor connectivity.
“We understand it was the COVID-19 pandemic that slowed down the implementation of the agreement.
“We want a regular flight between the two countries to encourage growth in the economy,” he said.
The meeting was attended by John Usanga, the Nigerian Ambassador to Guinea Bissau with concurrent accreditation to Cape Verde and Segun Adeyemi, Special Adviser to the Minister.
