Kunle Afolayan Urges Government Support for Nollywood Growth

Nollywood producer, Kunle Afolayan, is calling on the government to provide grants to support the growth of the movie industry. Speaking at the 2024 Zuma Film Festival, Afolayan expressed concerns that since the administration of Goodluck Jonathan, no government has provided grants to the industry.  He shared his personal experience of reaching out to the Oyo State government, which provided transformers and poles, but the community still lacks electricity.

“The last time a grant was given by federal government was during good luck jonathan’s period project hollywood act and a lot of people benefited for that but again we need this kind of gesture i’ve reached out a few times the ohio state government donated transformer and some poles but in that community there hasn’t been light in years so the last time i had you know opportunity to speak i said what is the use of transformer and all of that when there are no electricity so for three years we’ve been running on generator and it is not sustainable and that is why we can’t even open fully so i would like to plead to federal government all we are asking is incentives or some kind of support towards alternative green energy or solar or whatever that can help us run and it’s going to be of benefit to everyone”

Kunle Afolayan noted that filmmakers are now taking extra responsibilities, such as building film villages and resorts, due to the lack of government support.

 “I know like three or four individuals, we’re filmmakers, we’re actually supposed to sit back and just create, but because there are gaps and holes and you know lapses in the industry, some of us have taken it upon ourselves to do more beyond just creating. You know, I know Balanley is building a film village in Ekpe, we we’ve built one in Oyo, I know Ibrahim Shater is also building one and started three years ago and as we speak we have a full film village and resort where we have like 70 rooms accommodation and we have sets originally built and all and people can come from different part of the world and there has never been one gesture or support from government.”

Afolayan stressed the importance of Nigerian filmmakers creating their own distribution platform. He warned that relying on international streaming platforms poses a risk, citing the potential for policies that could impact their work. Afolayan urged his colleagues to unite and develop a homegrown solution to secure their future.

“We need to create our own distribution platform. I’m very glad and happy with what people are doing on YouTube. Just like you said, I have, as a matter of fact, most of the actors and talents are being forced to become their own distributors.So everybody is now creating like YouTube, I mean, channels. But what if tomorrow YouTube comes and brings some policies that will, you know, affect our projection, you know, but now I’m about, I’m not even sure how to distribute. So if you make content, how do you distribute? So I think we can, and I’m not going to put that entire weight on government.And I think as practitioners, we also can come together and, you know, have a discussion.”