Shuaibu Usman
Not long ago, I wrote a piece on the non-sustainability of government policies in Nasarawa’s entertainment industry with a resounding appeal for public-private partnership to reorder the creative industry to compete if not globally then like our Nollywood and Kannywood realms of the entertainment industry.
No doubts, one can stand to re-emphsise how the country’s entertainment industry had contributed over 6.5% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product in the second quarter of the year 2022 as records have it from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, as against the serial sagging 2.3% usually generated from the sector.
Nasarawa State is paying a price for a new bride in the entertainment industry to restrategise, restructure and revolutionise film-making and make its quest for being a repository of creativity, innovation, industriousness, inspiration and passion for competitiveness a reality.
In literature, universality of a society is beamed on the contents and context of how it mirrors the society using its wealth of human resource, heritage and endowments to resonate the history and reflections of the society. This is what many have done to attract investment and development in the sector.
Working on this conviction to rebuild, strengthen and deepen industrialisation of creativity in Nasarawa State to make the goals of youth inclusion and policies of government realistic, focused and ambitious, a multiple award-winning film-making firm based in Kano, Abnur Entertainment (General Media Solutions) which has a spread of its offices across major states of the northern region has picked unwavering interest to storm Nasarawa State for a mega shooting spree to blossom the state to stardom in the Kannywood.
This came to limelight during a familiarisation visit paid to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Abdulamart Maikwashewa by some stakeholders in the industry in Nasarawa State led by Ibrahim Ibrahim, a media/entertainment entrepreneur.
According to Ibrahim, Nasarawa has a repository of hard-earned raw intellect, decrying non utilisation of these resources to complement the existing commitments of government to grow the sectoral developments side-by-side in the state and the nation.
He said growing the entertainment industry is not a one-way adventure but other areas of the economy like music and film-making can be exploited for Nasarawa to become the next Lagos, Kano or India, emphasising that Nasarawa’s proximity to the nation’s seat of government is a great opportunity to open a vista of success in the creative industry particularly in film-making, hence the resolve to seek for massive investment in the state’s entertainment industry.
Ibrahim said they are not resting on their oars to propagate the opportunities abound in the state, pleading for robust commitment to investing the sector as he noted that it has the antidote of blossoming the state to infinite prosperity.
He added that if such is done, it will naturally address the issue of taking youths off the streets, provide opportunities and turn to be a revenue earner for the state, insisting that their partners can tread the path as the state prides itself of innumerable skills and talents.
In his remarks, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abnur Entertainment, Abdulamart Maikwashewa commended the determination of the Nasarawa-based stakeholders for staying focused in pushing for the strengthening of the creative industry in Nasarawa State, saying their labour must not go unrecognised.
Maikwashewa said, for time immemorial, he had shown interest in the drive of investing in the state, tasking government to provide level-playing ground to young talents and organisations who can provide intellectual, creative and economic support in projecting the state by making Nasarawa become the North Central’s multi-faceted industrial hub essentially in entertainment if not the nation.
He announced his willingness to swiftly commence production of six movies and television series in Nasarawa State from the 20th of January, disclosing that his organisation believes that such will widen opportunities for youths and interested persons to learn and earn in areas such as directing, lighting, sound management, photography, cinematography, choreography.
Furthering the commitment of the stakeholders in driving a change in the Nasarawa entertainment industry, the team also visited Tambari TV, a Kano-based television station, and sought for partnership for contents production and airing.
These visits have attracted the attention of Netflix, a streaming service that offers a wide variety of award-winning TV shows, movies, anime, documentaries, and more on thousands of internet-connected devices, which currently has promised to provide room for streaming contents from the state to the world as a way of repositioning, restructuring and promoting local content production.
It is a significant milestone in the entertainment industry as the sector brags itself to be an influential contributor of the nation’s earnings for straightening and strengthening national development. Lately, the entertainment industry was announced to have raked an employment offer of over 1. 4 million across Nigeria making it a stronghold of youth and women empowerment in the country especially in Lagos and Kano States.
The astronomical drive of the sector to continue to hit the ground running has seriously been commended by policy strategists and business analysts with the optimism that if the sector grows on its current pedestal, the contribution from the sector may skyrocket to 15% in 2025 which is higher than the telecommunications and information sector contribution.
Nasarawa State picks a clue to run into the sector as a faithful money-making industry to boost its market and grow its place for industrialisation and global competitiveness to be on the chain for ambitious economic imaging.
It is important to recall how a Lafia-based multimedia consortium, Yarwa Multimedia which is known to be influential in photography and I. T. business, has waged a war of goodwill by taking the bull by the horn to produce what has been described by many movie makers and stakeholders as a blockbuster of essence. The movie entitled “Matakin Rayuwa” meaning “The Stage of Life” was premiered recently at Ta’al Conference in Lafia and had attracted a host of enthusiasts, senior government officials, filmmakers and film professionals from across the country particularly northern Nigeria.
The movie which drew the attention of the young and the old, was hinged on the cause for youth empowerment and government’s plan for palliation in a business friendly atmosphere for survival.
With this untrammeled effort being made by entrepreneurs, optimism remains high that Nasarawa’s film-making will be a masterstroke in conscience building and a therapeutic solution to the myriad of problems associated to youth in accessing the entertainment industry for survival and why government must not hesitate to do what it ought to do to rekindle hope and revive the sector for optimal performance.
This is a proverbial trigger for robust public-private sector participation in growing the state’s entertainment industry for the overall development of the Nigerian economic space.