By Joan Odafe
The Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) and Ogidi Studios have called on Nigeria’s creative industry to spearhead a shift in early childhood development norms.
The organisations made the call at a news conference to unveil the ‘Creative Industries Coalition for Early Childhood Development’, on Saturday in Lagos.
They highlighted the first five years as the foundation of the country’s future creative and economic power.
The event is with the theme, ‘African Creative Industries Convening Focused on the Role of Culture, Storytelling and Creative Expression in Shaping Africa’s Youngest Children and Future Generations’.
The Director-General of CBAAC, Mrs Aisha Augie, said the initiative sought to reimagine the young Nigerian and African child by mobilising film, music, storytelling, animation and digital media to influence how families and communities nurture children.
She explained that the ‘Creative Industries Coalition for Early Childhood Development’ would serve as a national platform to align creatives, policymakers, educators and investors around the early years of life.
“We look at early childhood as the early years of birth to the period from conception through the first five years of life.
“During these years, more than 90 per cent of the brain development takes place, shaping how children grow, learn, relate to each other and engage with the world around them,” she said.
According to her, children who experience good nutrition, healthcare, responsive caregiving and safe environments are more likely to thrive, making early childhood the early and most powerful stage of human capital development.
Augie noted that Nigeria’s creative industries shaped culture, aspirations, and everyday behaviours at scale, influencing how society thinks about parenting, caregiving and childhood itself.
She cautioned that repeated stereotypes in films and media could entrench harmful norms.
“All of you know about the wicked stepmother in all our Nollywood films.
“The more you watch them, the more you believe them,” she said.
Contrasting the current growing individualism, she decried the erosion of communal child-rearing values.
“Before when I was a child, if I did something wrong, my mother and father didn’t have to be there,” she said.
Responding to concerns about reaching grassroots communities, Augie emphasised that the initiative was not limited to digital platforms.
She said that radio, theatre and community storytelling would be critical channels.
“The grassroots still watch our films,” she said.
She acknowledged the decline of children-focused programmes such as Tales by Moonlight, Speak Out and Kiddies Vision, which once nurtured creativity and moral values.
“We want to trigger and catalyse that level of educational support,” she said.
She urged content creators to self-reflect on the social impact of their work.
Augie called for a broad coalition of creatives, educators, policymakers and investors to ensure that early childhood development became a shared national priority rather than a private family concern.
In his remarks, Mr Adesegun Dosumu, Director of Research and Publications, CBAAC, emphasised the civilisational dimension of the initiative.
Dosumu said that Africa must safeguard its cultural identity while adapting to technological change.
“Whatever will become tomorrow starts today.
“Investing in early childhood is the best for realising and achieving the goal of the Federal Government in terms of promoting a creative economy,” he said.
He described the formative years as the period when character formation takes place and cognitive skills are built upon.
He said that many traditional skills and values were once transmitted naturally within families and communities.
He noted that early exposure to culture and vocation could be harnessed within today’s technology-driven world.
“Given changes that have happened, which must match with time, we believe that investing in children becomes very, very important,” he said.
Also speaking, Chief Legal Officer of Ogidi Studios, Yemisi Falaye, highlighted the role of creative infrastructure in driving the coalition’s vision.
“Ogidi Studios is a world-class creative facility that is designed to cater for music, film, animation and content creation,” she said.
She noted that some of the audio production for Black Panther was recorded at the Lagos-based studio.
Falaye underscored the power of animation in shaping young minds.
“Usually, animation is the easiest way to reach a child.
“Children pick from what they see. Children grow with what they see,” she said.
She gave the assurance that Ogidi Studio’s productions were family-friendly and aligned with nurturing positive values.
She added that the studio remained very conscious of shaping the civilised child using the entertainment industry.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Folasade Adeniran
