Already, the burden of debt is getting heavier on the Nigerian nation and its citizens. And to crown the burden with any inappropriate usage of loan(s) must not be allowed to happen. The judicious use of any loan is an inalienable rightof citizens to demand from the leadership.
Therefore, I hereby humbly submit that the Federal Government’s intention to utilize $245m of the $500m for an “ultra-modern media city” at Ogijo Ikorodu in Ogun State is grossly unfair, unjust and inappropriate. Why? In the first instance, Nigeria has long decided that Jos, the Plateau State capital, is its media city. It was argued that the friendly weather and the scenic beauty of the ‘Tin City’ were some of the major considerations for the choice. Hence, the Federal Government established three major projects there: Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) College (where training in television production is conducted); Nigerian Film Corporation (the premier film development agency for the country) and the National Film Institute (where young filmmakers are being trained). Secondly, there is a dormant project of the Abuja International Film Village located at the ‘Centre of Unity’ that is ironically at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
An expanse land has been allocated with idle staff being on pay roll for over a decade; and it has generated huge unfulfilled dreams and yearning. Thirdly, three Nigerian cities of Lagos, Kano and Onitsha have established themselves as media hubs of the nation. There are striving media businesses around the three cities with over 90% control of what constitutes Nigeria’s media product share. They form the tripod cities of producing Nollywood content or the Nigerian Movie Industry products. How can the Federal Government of Nigeria decide to locate the Media City out of these natural locations? In whose interest is citing the project at Ogun State? Are practitioners entitled to make their views known? And whose interest should be supreme; between that of leadership and the practitioners?
The Director-General of NTA, Yakubu Ibn Mohammed, gave details of what the media city project entails in an interview published by Daily Trust on March 8, 2020: “The media city will be established on a vast expanse of land at Ogijo Ikorodu, Ogun State. It would involve the construction and installation of indoor and outdoor shooting area, animation production faculty, digital media training centre, a world-class cinema, a 4-star hotel, an amusement park and an amphitheater as well as acquisition of digital movie production equipment for rental and power systems, amongst others. The Media City Training Academy, like that of Egypt (the only one in Africa) and Dubai, will train Nigerian broadcasters and filmmakers on how to produce high quality media content programmes and make the country a hub for digital movie production in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Please, with every sense of rationality, imagine how crucial the sighting of such an ultra-modern media city will be to either Jos or Abuja; Lagos, Kano or Onitsha? Yet, our leaders want to take away the media city project to an entirely fresh and undeserving site? Where is the sense in doing so? I am, indeed, asking for those responsible to reconsider their decision and do the right thing for the sake of fairness and judicious use of the $500m loan. Locate the media city project to where it can build on an existing facility or structure as earlier mentioned. The government would make the project key-in to the facility or structures that would add value to the nation and practitioners. My demand stems from being a media stakeholder with a 40-year record.
Abdulkareem Mohammed writes from Kano
