The fifth edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Conference was held on the 26th of April 2017, at the Landmark Event Centre Oniru, Lagos.
The conference was themed “It’s Time for Africa” and brought together players in the various sectors of the entertainment industry in Nigeria; Nollywood, Music, and Comedy to deliberate on the future of the entertainment industry in Nigeria.
The event was organized by Ayeni Adekunle, CEO Black Media and was supported by First Bank plc.
AYENI ADEKUNLE
Actually, NecLive5 had several discussions and panelist of each category. In fact, stressing on missing factor needed to move the Entertainment Industry forward.
The First Session titled ‘Is It Really Africa’s Time’, had a panel featuring comedian Frank Donga Kwese Sports GM Chichi Nwoko and Ade Bantu, founder of Afropolitan Vibes.
However, Ade Bantu Advised African Entertainers to focus on expanding within Africa and not continually look to the west for validation. “We must create solid infrastructure to foster the growth of the Nigerian Entertainment Industry. I think ‘Afrobeats’ is the most insulting terminology ever invented. Nigerian pop music is not ‘Afrobeats’
First Session Panelist.
On the Comedy Session Panel, the King of Nigerian Comedy Ali Baba, Shola Thompson, Idemudia Dinma-Okojie, Woli Arole & Basket Mouth. Veteran showbiz promoter and founder of ‘Night of a Thousand Laughs’ Opa Williams was among them too
The Comedy Session Panelists
By and large, the Nollywood session featured actress Toyin Abraham, John Ugbe– CEO Multichoice Nigeria. They spoke at the session titled ‘How Nollywood Is Reclaiming the Market from Hollywood.’
Also, Nigerian journalist, Seun Okinbolaye moderated the heated session. Nollywood stars, Patrick Doyle and Adesua Etomi were also panelists. The Nigerian Entertainment Conference was a star-studded event.
nollywood Challenges explained in nigerian entertainment conference
Of course, John Ugbe talked about distribution as one of the major challenges in Nollywood. According to him “Nigeria’s interest in cinema can be traced back to the colonial era. With over 20 million Nigerians in Diaspora, there’s a wide market ready to consume Nigerian stories. In 2016, the economic impact of investing in local content amounted to N1.1 billion. As a matter of fact, we have the talent and we need to harness it. But first, we must appreciate it. As a matter of fact, piracy is another major challenge being faced by Nollywood and needs to be tackled to aid the growth of the industry.”
As a matter of fact, piracy is another major challenge being faced by Nollywood and needs to be tackled to aid the growth of the industry.”
The Nollywood Session.
Comedian Tee A, the Host
