UNICAL don launches CM3, says arts are Nigeria’s untapped development engine
A professor of Theatre and Media Scenography at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Esekong Andrew-Essien, has called on government at all levels to treat the creative sector as “soft infrastructure” for development—funding skills, tools, and platforms that turn visual and performing arts into engines of behaviour change, economic growth, and social cohesion.
Delivering UNICAL’s 143rd Inaugural Lecture at the Godswill Akpabio International Conference Centre, Andrew-Essien unveiled a Compacted Multi-Media Model (CM3)—an integrated strategy that blends visual, performative, and electronic media to produce high-impact development communication.
“Art transcends language and culture,” he said. “It cuts through barriers, communicates ideas powerfully and spurs action.”
Arguing that art is still “stereotyped as decoration,” the scholar said its convening power—seen in festivals, carnivals, theatre and exhibitions—can be deliberately channelled into public health campaigns, civic education, climate action, and peacebuilding.
He urged ministries, agencies and development partners to embed CM3-style creative toolkits in their communication budgets.
Andrew-Essien insisted that outcomes hinge on talent and tools, not rhetoric.
He proposed curriculum overhaul for art, theatre, and media programmes; investment in modern studios and equipment; faculty upskilling and industry residencies; and ontinuous learning to keep creators fluent in new formats and platforms.
Human-centred design, he added, should anchor content creation—“co-creation, feedback, and iteration with the intended users to ensure messages resonate and stick.”
Beyond communication impact, he framed the arts as a jobs and GDP opportunity—from cultural tourism to design services and creative tech. “The sector can hire at scale—costumers, set builders, animators, editors, sound engineers—while catalysing local value chains,” he noted.
The professor criticised a recent National Universities Commission directive moving Fine and Applied Arts from Arts to Environmental Sciences, describing it as a “blow to the intellectual strength of the humanities” and urging a reversal. He warned that such reclassification risks fragmenting training pipelines just as Nigeria needs integrated creative capacities for development work.
UNICAL’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Tony Eyang—representing the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Florence Obi—commended Andrew-Essien’s “in-depth and thought-provoking” lecture, calling him an enlightened scholar whose proposals align with national development priorities.
A renowned artist and carnival designer, Andrew-Essien has won the Carnival Calabar float design competition 12 out of 17 times with the Passion 4 Carnival Band, and received a 2021 Cross River State Carnival Commission award for contributions to the event’s growth—credentials he says demonstrate how structured investment in creativity can yield measurable results.
