Industry Stakeholders See Entertainment as Driver of Social Change

Emma Okonji and Kayode Tokede 

Industry stakeholders who gathered at the ninth edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NECLive9), have stressed the importance of entertainment in driving social change in the Nigerian society.

Speaking at the hybrid conference, which held virtually and physically in Lagos at the weekend, the convener, Mr. Ayeni Adekunle said: “Nigeria has great talents in the entertainment industry who are doing the country proud, both at local and global levels. Nigerian music and films are celebrated globally. In order to further celebrate the Nigerian entertainment industry, we started the Nigeria Entertainment Conference (NECLive) in 2013 and today we are celebrating NECLive9, which is the ninth edition of the NECLive series. My dream is to see the Nigerian entertainment industry have measurable impact on the Nigerian economy, create more jobs and build more infrastructure in the country.”

The first keynote speaker, who is an advocate of the voiceless, Mr. Debo Adedayo, spoke on the theme: ‘Advocacy and Governance: How Best to use Entertainment to Drive Social Change.’

According to him, through drama, movies, music and film production, the Nigerian entertainment industry is educating Nigerians and the rest of the world, to bring about social change in the society. 

“The artist, content developer, actors and actresses, have a collective responsibility to drive social change in the society though their movies and music. We need social change that will redirect the vision of our youths and the entertainment industry has a great role to play in this area,” Adedayo said. 

The second keynote speaker, who is the Executive Head, Content and Channels, West Africa at Multichoice, Dr. Busola Tejumola, applauded the Nigerian entertainment industry for driving social change and correcting societal ills, through music and film production.

According to her, “Nigeria is doing well in the area of local content development in the entertainment industry. We are exporting out contents through music, films and movies. According to the United Nations recent report, Nollywood is the second largest film industry in the world in terms of volume.”

She said: “At Multichoice, we are promoting the Nigerian culture by creating, developing and celebrating the Nigerian culture. We create contents from Big Brother Naija to Nigerian Idol to Real House Wives of Lagos. We also develop drama series that span the life circle of a year, including Reality Shows. We will continue to create and promote local content in the Nigerian entertainment industry. Through our African Magic Channels, we are able to create local contents, and aside creating local contents, we also develop talents that are making Nigerians proud globally.”