Nigeria’s interior design sector contributes N30 billion annually to the national economy and occupies a strategically significant position within the country’s creative industries, but requires policy frameworks, financing structures, and government procurement mandates to realise its full potential, Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Hanatu Musawa told the 2026 Interior Design Summit in Abuja.
Musawa, represented by the Special Assistant to the President on Arts and Culture Moriam Ajaga, said the Tinubu administration had elevated the creative economy as a genuine driver of national development, and that Nigeria’s 16-place rise on the Global Soft Power Index reflected the real impact of treating culture seriously at the highest level of government. She said four high-level policy drafting committees had been established to develop financing and regulatory frameworks across creative sectors including design.
She said ongoing discussions around grants, tax incentives, and investment readiness programs recognized the sector’s specific needs, and that the ministry was working to ensure that federal buildings and public institutions became platforms for Nigerian design excellence rather than defaulting to imported aesthetic choices. Interior Designers Association of Nigeria founder Titi Ogufere said the summit’s focus on balancing nature, culture, and technology in the digital age addressed the central questions of purpose and identity that the profession needed to navigate as automation and environmental concerns reshaped design practice globally.
