According to the minister, the Cultural Industrial Centres, which are scattered all over the country, are capable of creating 500,000 jobs within the next three years, as the nation can have some 100,000 jobs from the restoration of museums, especially in Lagos, Plateau and Kwara.

He said: “But the good news, as contained in today’s presentation, is that the Ministry of Information and Culture is set to create over 2 million jobs within the next three years.

“We are doing this through the implementation of deliverable number seven, which mandates us to collaborate with the private sector to create jobs for the youth.

“The number one job creator under the Ministry of Information and Culture is the Digital Switch Over (DSO) in broadcasting, which is set to create one million jobs in the next three years through the manufacturing of set-top-boxes (decoders) and TV sets, TV and Film production, as well as TV and Online advertising and Data, among others.”

He further affirmed that, the DSO will also fetch 100 million dollars from the collection of TV licences and Digital Access Fess, as well as one billion dollars from the sale of the spectrum that would be vacated once the Analogue to Digital migration has been completed.

He disclosed that the ministry had so far rolled out the DSO in five states (Enugu, Osun, Kwara, Kaduna and Plateau) as well as the Federal Capital Territory, while efforts had been intensified to extend the rollout to all parts of the country.

Muhammad, who noted that the negative impact of COVID-19 on the economy had affected all sectors in Nigeria and around the world, said the Creative Industry had been hit harder than any other sector.

According to him, this is so because the industry is the most people-centred, and with social distancing and the ban on mass gathering, the industry is now grappling at straws.

He explained that the ongoing reform of the Broadcast and Advertising Industries was aimed at strengthening the industries so they could live up to their billing and generate more job opportunities.

The minister expressed optimism that the ongoing reform in the broadcast industry would, among others, propel revolutionary advantages in the area of promoting entrepreneurship in the local industry.

“As for the Advertising Sector, bringing Nigeria’s TV advertisement market to what it should be, which is three times its current size, could result in additional $200-400 million dollars revenue to the industry, in addition to creating thousands of jobs,’’ he said.