By Ayomide Otitoju
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) should be treated as both an economic and cultural project, Nigeria’s Consul General in South Africa, Ambassador Ninikanwa Okey-Uche, has said.
Okey-Uche made the remarks on Monday in Johannesburg, urging African countries to use film, music, literature, fashion and other creative industries to strengthen continental integration.
She said African integration should go beyond the movement of goods and services to include the movement of ideas, stories and culture, arguing that stronger cultural connections could improve understanding among Africans and create new commercial opportunities.
“We often discuss the African Continental Free Trade Area in terms of goods, services and tariffs,” Okey-Uche said. “But integration also happens through ideas, stories, films, literature, fashion and human interaction.”
She called for greater cross-border collaboration among African creatives, including wider distribution of Nigerian films, joint music projects between Nigerian and South African artists, regional book distribution and co-production of films by filmmakers from different countries.
“A continent that trades its products together will integrate economically, and a continent that tells its stories together will integrate emotionally,” she said.
Okey-Uche said Nigeria and South Africa have a particular responsibility to deepen cultural and economic ties because of their influence across the continent.
She called for stronger cooperation between the two countries in creative industries, tourism, education, sports and youth exchanges.
“Our relationship should not be defined only by trade figures, diplomatic disagreements or periodic tensions,” she said, advocating greater people-to-people relations, cultural partnerships, academic cooperation and youth exchanges.
The envoy said the growing popularity of Nigeria’s Nollywood and Afrobeats, alongside South Africa’s influence in music, film, fashion and sports, showed the potential of Africa’s creative economy.
However, she urged governments to ensure that the popularity of African creative content translates into economic benefits for local creators and businesses.
“Africa needs to be able to move from a place of consuming global culture to actually becoming a major producer, owner and exporter of global culture,” she said.
Okey-Uche warned that global visibility without ownership could leave African creators dependent on foreign platforms and distribution networks.
She called for stronger intellectual property protection, copyright enforcement, financing for creative businesses, regional distribution networks and improved data on the creative economy.
The diplomat also linked cultural diplomacy to the way Africa is represented internationally, saying the continent needs greater ownership of the platforms, data, archives and distribution channels through which its stories reach global audiences.
She urged African media organisations to avoid replacing negative stereotypes with propaganda, stressing the need for truthful and nuanced reporting about the continent.
“Africa does not need propaganda. What we need is truthful, sophisticated and multidimensional storytelling,” she said.
Okey-Uche also warned against the politicisation of African journalism, saying media organisations must remain independent of government, commercial and ideological interests.
She said credible journalism, investigative reporting and fact-checking were essential to improving Africa’s international reputation and countering misinformation, disinformation and stereotypes.
The envoy further linked responsible media coverage to migration and relations between African populations, particularly amid tensions over migration and xenophobia.
She said the media could either deepen divisions or help reduce them by providing factual and balanced coverage of migration, crime, economic competition and the concerns of host communities.
“The answer is neither denial nor dehumanisation,” Okey-Uche said. “The answer is informed public discourse, responsible journalism, effective governance and greater knowledge of one another.”
