Power, internet outages top barriers to Nigeria's $100bn creative economy – NECLive
NECLive's State of Nigeria's Creative Economy 2026 report, released Monday June 29, identifies unreliable electricity and poor internet connectivity as the top obstacles preventing the sector from competing regionally and globally. Surveyed professionals across advertising, digital content, film, music, fashion, gaming and other creative sub-sectors ranked power outages and poor broadband as the most critical challenge, giving them an average score of 2.98 on a scale where one is the biggest barrier. The report stresses that reliable power and broadband are the foundation on which any creative-economy programme must build, warning that without them other initiatives 'build on sand.' Beyond infrastructure, respondents cited team-coordination and scheduling problems, limited access to reliable equipment, funding delays for materials and travel, market-access barriers such as visa or export hurdles, regulatory red tape, and intellectual-property piracy as major constraints. Additional production-related issues include budget overruns from unexpected on-site costs, equipment breakdowns, routine repairs, and the drain of administrative tasks and chasing client payments, which shrink time for actual creative work. The sector employs about 4.2 million Nigerians, yet roughly 90 million people—about 40-42% of the population—lack grid electricity, forcing many creatives to rely on costly diesel/petrol generators or solar installations. The national grid suffered at least two collapses in January 2026 alone, following an average of one collapse per month in 2024 and continued failures in 2025 due to weak infrastructure and gas-supply constraints. Although the Federal Government introduced the Electricity Act 2023 to allow states to generate, transmit and regulate power, the reforms have not yet delivered measurable improvement. For creators and entrepreneurs, the takeaway is clear: until power and internet stability improve, growth plans remain fragile. How will you adapt your creative workflow or business model to cope with persistent power cuts and unreliable internet?