Analytical Examination of the Role of Arts Education in Nigeria’s Creative Economy Development Strategy

Arts education serves as the foundational human capital development mechanism for creative economy growth, and analytically examining its current contribution to and limitations in advancing Nigeria's creative economy development strategy fills an important gap in both arts education and creative economy scholarship. This study analytically examined the role of arts education at secondary and tertiary levels in supporting Nigeria's creative economy development, drawing on documentary analysis and stakeholder research. A mixed-methods analytical design was employed, combining policy documentary analysis of the National Creative Industry Policy, Federal Ministry of Education curriculum frameworks, and NBTE and NUC arts programme accreditation standards, with structured interviews with 20 arts educators at universities and polytechnics, 10 creative industry employers, and 6 arts education policy officers. Analysis revealed significant misalignments between arts education output and creative industry demand: graphic design graduates frequently lack software skills required by industry, music production education is absent from most curricula, and performance arts training inadequately addresses the commercial entertainment market. Arts education at secondary level has been progressively marginalised in curriculum revision, with creative arts losing dedicated lesson time in 77 percent of reviewed state curriculum frameworks. The study identifies arts education human capital development, entrepreneurship integration, and industry-education linkage as three critical dimensions of reform and proposes a National Creative Arts Education Reform Framework addressing each dimension. This constitutes an original analytical contribution to Nigerian creative economy policy scholarship.

Keywords: arts education, creative economy, Nigeria, curriculum reform, creative industries human capital