The home of the British Deputy High Commissioner, Jonny Baxter, was the place set to host some of Lagos’ most influential personalities within the Nigerian entertainment industry as Mo Abudu opened the year 2025 with a festival for Music, Art, Fashion and Film tagged, Lagos Canvas.

Veteran media mogul and movie producer, Mo Abudu, is regarded by many as one of the brains behind the recent growth witnessed within the Nigerian entertainment industry.

After a fantastic “2024 Detty December”, it was time to reflect, reminisce and prepare for a bigger and better Detty December come 2025. The Lagos Canvas according to Mo Abudu is a celebration of the Nigerian creative industry in all its spheres.

The event was well attended with many faces from across the creative industry, some of the many familiar faces who were at Lagos Canvas, were Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Mojisola Hunponu-Wusu Funke Akindele, Mrs Toke Benson, Patrick Doyle, Segun Arinze, Mercy Aigbe, Zainab Balogun, Uti Nwachukwu, Erica Nlewedim, Denola Gray, Mimi Onalaja, Ini-Dima Okojie and many more.

Governor Sanwo-Olu was a special guest at the event. He gave a keynote speech, revealing that the Lagos state government was set to partner with Mo Abudu and the entertainment industry to build a film village and a creative hub.

He further spoke about Lagos state’s successfully hosting the 2024 Detty December and the plans ahead of 2025 which he promised would be bigger, better and a lot more fun.

The British Deputy High Commissioner, Jonny Baxter, also spoke and shared Great Britain’s continued commitment to support the Nigerian creative industry as it strives to become a global powerhouse.

“Nigeria is a success story waiting to happen” – Mo Abudu’s speech

The media mogul and host of the Lagos Canvas, Mo Abudu also spoke even though she didn’t say much, she noted that the growth of the Nigerian entertainment industry and the country at large is at the very edge.

She said: “Nigeria is a success story tethering at the edge and waiting to happen. We need to push it over so we can fly. The art, film, fashion and music industry has the potential to employ over 2m youth with a capital market of over a billion dollars. No one can tell our stories better than ourselves.”

The MC of the event was the delectable, Mimi Onalaja. A fireside conversation between the box office queen, Funke Akindele and one of the major sponsors of the Lagos Canvas, Mojisola Hunpunu-Wusu also took place.

This conversation was one of the highlights of the festival. During the conversation, Funke Akindele shared how she has stayed successful at creating record-breaking box-office movies and shattering records.

The founder and CEO of Woodhall Capital, Mrs Mojisola Hunpunu-Wusu spoke about financing the creative industry and creating a “Creative Bank” where young creatives could access funds to push their dreams and continue to portray the Nigerian culture in the spotlight.

Below are pictures and videos from the Lagos Canvas held at the British Residence, Ikoyi: