Linus Idahosa: Recalibrating Nigeria’s Creative Ecosystem Through the Lagos Film City

Linus Idahosa is a signature; a debonair, ebullient, suave and serene individual with an unflinching fervour for the extraordinary. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos has been outstanding for many  things. The proposed Lagos Film City, which Del-York International and its American partner, Storyland Studios with  Linus Idahosa pulling the strings is surely one of them. Idahosa  has successfully  extracted the governor’s commitment for, what could arguably be his biggest landmark in the creative industry, Vanessa Obioha reports

Linus Idahosa is a signature; suave, serene and scintillating. The debonair Nigerian-born extraordinary entrepreneur and CEO of Fahrenheit Global Security Solutions and founder/Group Chief Executive of the prestigious Del-York International, Africa’s foremost PR and strategic communications company, represents the reality of big dreams and breaking the frontiers of seeming unreachable horizons. The organisations he sits atop represent a vast global network of government clientele, development agencies and Fortune 500 companies with strong ties in the United States, Africa, China, and Europe.

A founding board member of the George Washington University’s ESG Investment Forum and also a partner of the Huffine Global Group, a conglomerate of 40 US CEOs promoting United States business investments globally, Idahosa is a metaphor for the Midas touch imbued with the ingenuity of making things happen in the best imaginable ways possible. A charmer in creativity, communication and common sense, Idahosa has been known to see the end of a project from the beginning, with the perspicacity that endures through the future. He only needs to lean a bit to catch a glimpse of the futuristic potential of several projects.

A firm believer in good governance and visionary leadership, Idahosa delivers vast social capital and is particularly mindful of the media’s prominent role in socioeconomic and cultural development. The head honcho of Del-York is also nurturing African youths to harness their creative potential and take their rightful place in the world of business and geopolitics. He champions several initiatives along these lines and currently mentors African youths.
Honoured as one of the ‘100 Most Influential People of African Descent’ under the United Nations decade for people of African descent, Idahosa has been the delight of many global leaders, with several presidents across the globe, including the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Idahosa, Sanwo-Olu, and the Creative Redefinition of Lagos
Recently, his company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Lagos State government as part of the preliminary stage in executing the project. The signing came after a series of meetings with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and creative investors in the United States. The facility which will sit on 100 hectares of land in Epe, part of the touted new Lagos, will house a studio city with residential and commercial real estate; a film and media academy, studios, a theme park, a Nollywood Walk of Fame, and front and backlot infrastructure for different film project, multiple sound stages,  dining and entertainment hubs. Construction is set to begin in the first quarter of 2023.

The project is christened ‘Kebulania’, an expression coined from the word Alkebulan, the ancient original name for Africa. The name is pronounced ‘Al-Ki-Bu- Lan which means  ‘Mother of Mankind’ or ‘Garden of Eden’ — a reference to a place of vast potential, new beginnings, and new possibilities.
In 2010, Idahosa, the founder of Del-York International, invited about 40 international film and creative lecturers from Hollywood to the Del-York Creative Academy to train young creatives in the art and business of creativity. The academy is the training arm of the media, broadcast consultancy and capacity-building company.

At the time, it was almost impossible to find a handful of training schools that offered sound and practical knowledge in the creative field. Moreover, some of the creative talents were not financially capable of acquiring the appropriate knowledge to commercialise their talents. Passionate about creating excellence in the industry, Idahosa, through Del-York International, set out to create an ecosystem where the practitioners are not only fully equipped with the right skills and knowledge but also have an enabling environment to execute their creativity.

It has been more than a decade since Idahosa set out on this journey which is about to culminate with the building of a film city in Lagos in partnership with US-based design and production outfit Storyland Studios.
The company also hosted the governor in Washington DC, where he met with the creative investors and deliberated how they would raise the needed equity to finance the project.

The idea of building a film city in Lagos was not conceived last night. Talks began two years ago between Idahosa and the Lagos governor, given that one of the key projects of the Sanwo-Olu administration is Entertainment under his T.H.E.M.E.S agenda. Entertainment is a major sub-head which caught his fancy while conceptualizing his vision for a greater Lagos.

The government has been faithful to that commitment, particularly with the film industry under the Lagos State Creative Industry Initiative (LACI) which Del-York Creative Academy is a partner. Under that partnership, Del-York has trained over 1,000 creatives online in scriptwriting, directing, cinematography and filmmaking. “About 100 of them have gone on to intern and do coursework,” disclosed the governor during his speech at the MoU signing.
LACI’s objectives include giving practitioners in the creative sector an opportunity to compete favourably with their contemporaries across the globe in filmmaking. Therefore, Del-York was well positioned to bring this vision to reality as all the lecturers who taught the students in the programme were from Hollywood.

“Some of our students who had been trained in the academy have now become lecturers as well,” Idahosa added.
The alignment of the governor’s vision and that of Idahosa could only be a divine orchestration. Through this public-private partnership, Nigeria’s creative industry and Nollywood will finally get its desired place in the global film industry.

If there is any Nigerian city that deserves to host a film city, that honour should go to Lagos, the country’s former capital city and current most thriving commercial hub. Ranked in the world’s lowest rung of liveable cities, Lagos, with its over 20 million population, including Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has an irresistible pool of diverse energies that inspires creatives. Little wonder its many complexities easily gave birth to the largest film industry in the world, better known as Nollywood.

Although filming activities have become noticeable in Nigerian cities like Asaba, Enugu and Kano, Lagos still holds the ace. The highest number of cinemas can be found in Lagos, and it remains the preferred location for many film directors and producers. However, the advertised gross returns from the film industry by Q4 2021 was N1.5 billion, about 0.13 per cent of the Lagos budget for the same year.

How practitioners in Nigeria’s growing moviedom managed to build a thriving empire with their bare knuckles remains an engaging subject to scholars worldwide. Although the industry’s impact generally for Idahosa is still undermined, given the paucity of accurate data that can confirm its impact.
“We can actually be the number one film producer in the world, but we don’t have the data to back that up. So investment has to be made in creating the right structure and ensuring the right policies that support such a mandate for the country,” he stated, stressing that the country must understand that the creative industry is a multibillion dollar play.

“Governments that understand that they have a population of creative young talents, what they do is mobilise their energies in the right direction and outsource their services to countries all over. That’s what we are trying to do in Lagos State,” he added. “Let’s build a pilot programme for what is possible. Let’s create an ecosystem and then measure our successes. There’s so much to learn from cities like Atlanta and LA. All that is needed is to commission a study and you will be amazed at what we can do with the right creative ecosystem. Sound stages abroad are fully booked; sometime two years ahead.

We need to be deliberate about a pilot scheme that would help us generate the right data that would support the influx of capital to our creative industry.
While applauding the many successes of Nollywood and our entertainment industry, all stakeholders agree that the next major logical step in the inspiring Nigerian film industry narrative is establishing a film city. Because of the immense human, material and financial resources required to bring it to fruition, a collaboration of diverse interests is imminent.

Therefore, beyond the wishes of many practitioners, governments and investors, The Film Industry can stand on a solid ground of hope with the recent MoU involving the Lagos State Government, Del-York International Group and its American foreign partner, Storyland, to build Nigeria’s first film city in Epe.
Idahosa, who has a knack for excellence in production and capacity building, has always had the vision to build an infrastructure to help catalyse the industry’s growth.

“The goal first was to use international experts because of the skill gaps; the challenge we identified in the industry was people with talents were continuously broke, not being able to commercialise their craft,” said Idahosa.
In a way, the film city for the businessman serves as a facility that bridges academia and the industry.
He said, “So while we are training people, you have a facility on ground that people who are being trained can learn from firsthand.”
Idahosa’s vision includes a creative industry “where we produce our equipment.” His reason is simple: to show our prowess in the industry. To become a producing country, Idahosa believes we need to create the structure and find the right financiers to bring it to fruition.

The film city will serve as Africa’s premier film destination owing to its capacity to attract global franchises to Nigeria. As Idahosa pointed out, Africa has missed many opportunities in the global film industry. He cited the Black Panther production, whose story is rooted in Africa. Yet, the continent did not benefit from the production apart from seeing its beautiful areas recreated on sets. Another example is the recent Hollywood epic ‘The Woman King’ based on a West African story which was not shot in a West African country but in South Africa.

“This happens because we have not prepared ourselves. We need to channel our energies in the right direction so that we can attract investors,” he added.
The proposed film city is expected to generate revenue for the Lagos economy and spike its tourism receipts, as creatives from Hollywood and other film industries, particularly the West Africa sub-region, flock to Lagos to bring their imagination to life.