Lai Mohammed: FG To Invest In Entertainment Industry.

The minister of information and culture was the special guest at the Awards night and showed he knew a thing or two about the music world, but he was also on a Federal Government assignment.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed had caught the eye of the camera as he appeared to be enjoying the award on Sunday and when Wizkid won the award for Best Song, the minister was so excited many thought he would jump out of his chair to hug the singer (thank goodness he didn’t).

When he was given an opportunity to talk in the face of the camera he revealed that the Buhari administration were interested in the entertainment industry and were proud of such artistes like Wizkid, he said:

“The entertainment industry is overwhelming in the world right now and in Nigeria we need to do more in providing right atmosphere which is infrastructural facilities for the industry. We are not just talking about power sector or water, we are talking about entertainment. We need to be on purpose, build halls that will encourage our artists and musicians. We are talking about domestic tourism, domestic market where we can really expose our artists, so this will not only be about government but also private sector to provide the infrastructure. On the part of government, we will encourage more private sector and philanthropists all over the world because it is not something we leave to government alone. Nigeria is having this event now, AFRIMA 2017, and we are talking about bringing another way of improving our economy through other income. We must not forget that Nigeria hosted same award last year and we have to make another positive request for this year so that it can remain in Nigeria. We thank the African Union (AU) for this opportunity for accepting Nigeria to host it again this year. We are also grateful to Lagos State government for the support of this award. The positive thing about the award is that we have been able to move the music industry from the back corner to the front burner. This means when we are talking about economy, we are not just talking about agriculture, solid mineral or construction but actually more in the creative industry. Nigeria already has a very high advantage, and we can see that recently with the awards Nigerian are getting in the industry and most recent of the Wizkid award in U.K. This shows the kind of influence we can have in the creative industry which can be positive to our economy.’’