Nigerian artists are taking the NFT frenzy in their stride

As the NFT frenzy continues to rise, we find more people of different localities going into space. In Nigeria my locality, earning through digital media is still a dicey topic, the allure of earning large sums of money through the sale of your digital artwork can be a life-changing occurrence.

Earlier this year, the Central bank placed an embargo on financial bodies that prevents them from facilitating the two-way exchange between cryptocurrencies and Naira. However, this has done nothing to stop the young population from trading through Peer Peer means on exchanges like Binance.

This P2P trading method has brought a lot of value to the growing crypto community in Nigeria and digital assets in the most populous country in Africa have taken advantage of this move.

Selling your art

Coindesk was in contact with some digital art creators in the country who have sold almost $100k worth of collectibles between them. One interesting story was of a Mr. Osinachi who quit his dead-end job as a University Librarian immediately after making his first NFT sale.

A single NFT sale can translate to my one-year salary when I was working at the University of Nigeria,”

Alas, this is the same sentiment that many crypto entrepreneurs in the country. The wage structure in the country, and the horrible currency, combined with numerous factors means that even earning small amounts could literally change someone's life permanently.

This was the case with Osinachi who has switched to a full-time career of creating digital art and also helps other Nigerian authors mint digital works as well. When you consider his first sale last month, valued at 13.2 Eth(roughly $31, 416 at today's value), quitting his job was a no-brainer.

Getting a hang of it

NFT and the crypto industry as a whole is still relatively young. Understanding your way around it and figuring out how all the parts move is still somewhat tedious, particularly for artists who may not have any background in handling such tech.

For one of the digital creators Oyewumi, it was somewhat difficult and she experienced a number of setbacks due to technical issues with navigating the platform.

Another creative talked to Coindesk about his issues with minting his own NFT and here's what he had to say;

“It’s been very complicated for me as a Nigerian. I come from a place where you make money through years of hard work, but with the NFT space, it’s a situation where in a single minute you’re making millions of naira. I feel like the relationship most Nigerians or most people from places like Nigeria would have with the NFT space is, ‘Wow, how does any of this work? How is it possible?’”

As a fellow creative myself who has experienced difficulties with using platforms outside hive, I can totally understand their frustrations.

When you dedicate time to your trade, other things like say using a liquidity pool, understanding gas fees, and everything in-between becomes a tad bit daunting.

The easier option

For digital artists in Nigeria in particular, paying $100s of dollars as gas fees is simply unfathomable. However, people who have benefited will obviously not mind taking a plunge.

The point is, most people might end up being deterred from participating in the space due to those high fees on Ethereum Network, where the big bucks lie.

However, with platforms like NFTShowroom on Hive still not as popular and financially rewarding as the galleries on Ethereum, it might take a while for the less known creators to reach their potential and an even larger audience.

Nigerian artists are taking the NFT frenzy in their stride

Selling your art

Getting a hang of it

The easier option

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