by Editorial
Del-York Group, the parent company of Del-York International and Del-York Creative Academy in a strategic partnership with America’s biggest movie studios and theme park designer, Storyland Studios wants to build a site dedicated to film and TV industry in Lagos, Nigeria. The entertainment campus will be Africa’s largest Home for such a purpose and the first of its kind in the region.
Also involved in the project is the current administration of the Lagos State Government which has been at the forefront of elevating tourism in the country.
The 100-hectare project to be called “Lagos Film City” will be located in the Epe area of Lagos at Ejirin City and will support a multitude of areas for creatives and a wider community. It is proposed as an all-in-one facility with plans for leisure, entertainment and learning infrastructure through a Creative Academy for students, as well as accommodation and numerous state-of-the-art studios to support movies and shows ranging in scale through production, post-production and editing.
According to Mr Linus Idahosa, the President of Del-York International Group and founder of Del-York Creative Academy: “The industry has long desired a home, that special place on the continent that would galvanize our young people to a new hope whilst igniting the fire of their creativity,”
“The continent’s burgeoning community of creatives have long been inspired through the magic of film and television, spiriting themselves into worlds they never thought possible, but curtailed by their immediate circumstances.”
Also speaking on the plan, the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Storyland Studios, Mel McGowan, said: “We are excited to be part of the further development of Nigeria’s incredibly prolific and rapidly-growing film industry.”
The Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) is one of the country’s most lucrative sectors with an annual growth rate of 8.6%, accounting for 1.42% of Nigeria’s GDP which equates to ₦ 853.9 billion ($7.2 billion). It is one of the largest job markets in Nigeria and employs one million people.
The main goal of this historic undertaking is to bring Nigeria’s film and TV capacity and creativity to global audiences in a sustainable way through mass infrastructure development.
Major news outlets globally are already reporting this as a real game-changer for the African continent as it means more and more international producers can domesticate their filmmaking operations and have a pool of trained professionals they can draw on to produce quality content.
Construction is scheduled to start this year, 2022.