The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday, performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the $100 million Lagos Film City.
The Film City which is located on a 100-hectare land area at Ikosi=Ejinrin area of Epe Local Government Area, is a Public Private Partnership model which will create numerous job opportunities, stimulate economic growth and attract investment.
This disclosure is contained in a post by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media, Jubril Gawat, on his official x (Twitter) account on Wednesday, October 18, 2023.
This is coming less than 2 weeks after Governor Sanwo-Olu initially revealed that the groundbreaking ceremony of the Lagos Film City will be performed before the end of October.
The Film City will be a hub for film production, visual effects, scripting, cinematography, editing, photography and all the ancillary services that support the filmmaking process.
What the Governor’s media aide is saying
He also stated in the post that the project is in collaboration with various notable players in the entertainment sector like Ebonylife Academy, Delyork and Ogidi Studios.
The post reads,
- ‘’FLASH: Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, today performed the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the $100 million Lagos Film City, situated on a 100-Hectare land area at Ikosi-Ejinrin area of Epe Local Government.
- ‘’The Public Private Partnership-Model Lagos Film City will create numerous job opportunities, stimulate economic growth, and attract investment. It will be a hub for film production, visual effects, scripting, cinematography, editing, photography and all the ancillary services that support the filmmaking process.
- ‘’This project is in collaboration with various notable players in the entertainment sector like Ebonylife Academy, Delyork and Ogidi Studios.
- ‘’This is in fulfillment of Mr Governor’s THEMES Agenda, which the second ‘E’ stands for Entertainment and Tourism.’’
What you should know
- Governor Sanwo-Olu had in March 2021, first hinted that there were plans to establish a Film City in Lagos, adding that the state government had secured 100 hectares of land for this purpose with preliminary strategies ongoing.
- The governor had also less than 2 weeks ago, disclosed that the groundbreaking of the proposed $100m African Film City project in Epe would be done before the end of October.
- Recall that in October 2022, the Lagos State government announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Del-York Group for the construction of the African Film City project in Epe.
- Governor Sanwo-Olu said the purpose of the proposed African Film City project was to enhance originality in content creation in Nigeria’s film industry, i.e. Nollywood.
The rest of Nigerian states should learn something from Lagos and stop completely being dependent on the federal government, they should start looking within the state for development.