Nigeria and China on Friday strengthened their cultural and creative partnership with the signing of a Strategic Cooperation Agreement between the China Movie Channel (CMC) and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), aimed at expanding collaboration in film, television, and literature.
The agreement was signed at the China-Nigeria Film and Literature Symposium held at the China Cultural Centre in Abuja, bringing together government officials, diplomats, filmmakers, broadcasters, and literary stakeholders from both countries.
Speaking, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai, said literature and film were “powerful tools for preserving history, promoting cultural understanding, and strengthening relations between nations.”
He said both countries had globally recognised creative industries, noting that Nigeria’s Nollywood is the world’s second-largest film industry, while China boasts the world’s largest cinema market with over 93, 000 screens.
Yu said the agreement would promote content exchange, strengthen people-to-people ties and encourage greater cooperation between creative professionals in both countries.
He said the initiative aligned with efforts by Nigeria and China to deepen bilateral relations following the elevation of their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
In his goodwill message, the NTA Director-General, Salihu Abdulhamid Dembos, said the agreement represented more than the signing of a document, describing it as the “beginning of a new phase in the long-standing friendship between Nigeria and China.”
Dembos said the CMC-NTA partnership would provide opportunities for content co-production, programme exchange, professional training, technology transfer, and wider distribution of creative works from both countries.
He said the collaboration aligned with NTA’s transformation into a modern, competitive and digitally driven public broadcaster, adding that the network remained committed to telling authentic Nigerian and African stories.
“We regard this agreement not merely as an institutional partnership, but as a bridge between two great civilisations,” he said.
He urged both sides to ensure the collaboration delivers quality productions, stronger professional capacity and greater technological innovation.
Also speaking, the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Abdulkarim Ozi Ibrahim, said cultural exchange remained one of the strongest pillars of diplomacy.
He expressed confidence that the CMC-NTA partnership would create fresh opportunities for filmmakers, writers and broadcasters while strengthening cultural understanding between both nations.