By Bolarinwa Akande
In his bid to further stamp Asaba, as a movie hub in the country, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has promised the establishment of a film village in the state.
The governor, who noted that Nollywood has continued to alunder the image of the country, said he was moved by the feat, to build a world-class film village that would change the face of the film industry in Nigeria.
Uduaghan, who made this remark during a courtesy visit by veteran filmmaker, Eddie Ugbomah who was marking his 74th birthday and 50th anniversary as a film producer, said he has earmarked a land for the take off of the project.
He explained that the construction of a film village in Delta State was in line with his administration’s human capital development and would also serve as encouragement to the Nigerian film industry which he noted, is mirroring the ills of the society and marketing the country to the world.
Speaking during a courtesy visit, Uduaghan observed that Delta State was playing key roles in the entertainment industry, as most of the Nigerian actors, actresses, comedians, musicians and journalists were either Deltans or have links to the state.
He commended Ugbomah for producing films on the gains and challenges of the oil industry, adding that such films were in line with his administration’s Delta Beyond Oil programme.
Uduaghan who said his administration would assistance Ugbomah to establish a gallery in the state, praised the filmmaker for some of his popular works. “Some of your films like the Oil Doom and the Black Gold are in tandem with our development model of Delta Beyond Oil. They expose the negative aspects of crude oil because an oil economy is not a sustainable economy, it has its challenges,” he said.
He emphasised, “though, we are oil-producing state, we are using the oil money to develop other areas of the economy, so, we associate with the ideals of your films.”