The first ever Nigerian Entertainment Conference which held on April 26th 2013, at the Grand Ball Room of Eko Hotel and Suites Victoria island, Lagos has been hailed as a much needed change agent to guide and effectively position the Nigerian entertainment industry.
The National conference, the first of its kind in Nigeria, was formally declared opened by the former Minister of Information and Culture and the current Director General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Mr Frank Nweke Jnr, and was attended by thousands of entertainment enthusiasts from different spheres who came in from all over the country.
The conference comprising five highly interactive sessions namely: Music, Nollywood, Media, Businessand CSR and led by key speakers-world wide respected practitioners in their sectors, Kenny Ogungbe, Founder/C.E.O Kennis Music, Amaka Igwe, Producer/Director, Amaka Igwe Studios, Kola Oyeyemi, GM Consumer Marketing MTN and Chris Ubosi, CEO of Megaletrics- led panelists and the audience in a lively debate with recurrent issues identified as lack of systems, funding, education, infrastructure, investments, policy enforcement, flight of talents, compensation, exploitation and practitioners’ welfare, each speaker expressed desire for change, using statistics to highlight what was, what is, what should be, and what could be; while making relevant comparison with similar industries in Europe and America.
“I’m delighted at the turn out today, encouraged by the passion and zeal in our speakers, panelists and audience and also inspired by the collective desire I see here today: the desire to truly create the entertainment industry we all yearn for,” stated Adekunle Ayeni Samuel, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Nigerian Entertainment Today.
very constructive discussions around the issues which have impeded the development of the entertainment industry. It is my suggestion that we focus on implementable solutions to the problems and agree on the various stakeholder levels that will be needed to remove bottlenecks and other impediments to growth,” he concluded.
The conference concluded with key speakers, panelists and guests in unanimous agreement on the need for urgent change in the way the entertainment industry in Nigeria is being run and reiterating a call for action on the way forward.
Some of the invited guests at the national conference included
Conference partners were Forty Two Media, Naija FM, EDS,
TymeOut With TEE A, MOMO, F316, JPKingdom, Top Radio, Star Music, Sodium Brand Solutions, Caara Solutions, Classic fm 97.3 DIGIPRINTS, Avedge Media, The Green Room, Kiss Events, Hip On, PropertyMart, The Beat 99.9 fm and BlackHouse Media.