Congratulations to us!
@funkejenifaakindele
This is not just for you, not for Lagos, South West, this stride can not be tribalized, the least we can bring this down to is Us! All creatives of African descent!! You have globalized our hustles. Our competition has always been healthy. South West was home to stage play and drama till the 70s. The region raised the bar in cinematics with an invitation from Ogunde to Ola Balogun in 1978 to help direct the production of Aye. Ija ominira; another film directed by Ola Balogun followed in 1979 by Adeyemi Afolayan a protege of Moses Olaiya and the father of Kunle Afolayan, popularly known as Ade love. The king of Comedy, late Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala) signature to the industry was made since that with Orun mooru directed by the legendary Ola Balogun in 1982 among many other films. Every region has contributed their quota and made their marks.
80s, was the season which saw the interest of South East's Entrepreneurial spirit sweeping through the industry. The home video took the industry to new heights and listed our industry as a foreign exchange earner.
Funke, your record-breaking production, "A Tribe Called Judah" crossed the one billion naira mark recently. Resonate with the CDGN present Administration, that am privileged to lead as President, our drive is for corporate visibility of our industry. You haven't just joined the likes of Genevieve at making Nigeria proud. You have set a new record. May your hands be strengthened to do more.
The song of someone close to me in recent times is; Talent Economy; believing this is the season of Africa and that Talent is what God has given us to take over the world and provide needed global leadership. Your record of highest-grossing Nigerian films of all time in Nigerian cinemas with 3 titles is a great feat and a proof of our nation's leadership of an emerging new global economic development; The Talent Economy!
Beyond our industry, you have dared to redefine politics and political contest by your participation in the last election, you represented two critically neglected demographies of women and the youth. Your return to your career with this production has proven one thing; those who have no life outside politics are useless in the dynamics for national productivity for they have nothing to return to. Personal productivity you have added to the lookout for when in search of a public leader.
To your team of Cast and Crew, who gave expression and life to the script, and light and sound to the pictures, I say to you all, kudos; Jide Kene Achufusi, Timini Egbuson, Tobi Makinde, Uzee Usman, Olumide Oworu, Genoveva Umeh, Nse Ikpe Etim, Juliana Olayode, Uzor Arukwe, Fathia Balogun and Yvonne Jegede.
Lagos State has been rock solid behind our industry in capacity building through training and funding through grants. A big thank you, I say to His Excellency, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on behalf of CDGN and as the Vice Chairman of Federation; the Body of All Guilds Heads, I stand in for my Chairman, Dr Victor Okhai to on behalf of the industry say we are grateful for the gift of you as our Governor.
I acknowledge the recent stride of His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki at spurring our industry to greater heights, may your dream live and lead to further flourishing of our industry.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, thank you for giving us a ministry; the Ministry of Creative Economy. Sir, the exploits of our Creatives have shown that given attention and investment our prospect is far higher than that of oil that will run out with time. Creativity can not and will never run dry and it should be our investment priority as a nation.
Your Excellency, I need no words to convince you, that the complementing effort of music Creatives in the past and present speaks to the fact that the future can only be better if your Administration will sustain its support and investments in the creative industry. Our Grammy Award records of winners bear me witness; winners include:
Sade Adu (1986), Babatunde Olatunji (1991), Sikiru Adepoju (1991) and Seal (1996), Burna Boy (2021), Wizkid (2021), Temilade Openiyi AKA Tems (2023), and Burna Boy (2021).
The earnings of young Nigerians in sports and music are here listed for your study on what the future holds for our over 20 million out-of-school children if our Creativity Street Mentoring Programme will be considered to skill them and make them contributors to the economy; in stars like
Odion Ighalo £9.3m
Wilifred Ndidi £3.9m
Victor Osimhen £3.7m
Josh Okogie £3m
Alex Iwobi £2.6m our street boys can find inspiration to live meaningfully. Our girls will have the example of Asisat Oshoala with $3 million in her kitty, that's like 3 billion naira. Desire Oparanozie with a net worth of $1.5 million not forgetting Rashidat Ajibade whose growing net worth is for now $1.2 million. Afro, our genre of music has become a global brand with
Wizkid earning $200,000 per performance,
Burna Boy, $200,000 per performance,
Davido, $150,000 per performance,
Tiwa Savage $150,000 per performance,
Olamide $100,000 per performance.
Sir, Funke Akindele the star of Lagos from Ikorodu is the reason for my tale telling. She is on every lips, trending on all xyz for smashing the record of not just the highest-grossing Nigerian movie but also establishing a new record as the first movie of Nigerian origin to achieve the two billion Naira box office mark, your mention of her will breed more motivated Trailblazers.
Sir, the task ahead is how many more of our creatives will the system inspire in 2024?
The stage is set for the talent industry lead of our economy with a look at the Top Nollywood Movie Directors By Domestic Gross Value
Funke Akindele: ₦2.55bn
Niyi Akinmolayan: ₦1.11b
Kayode Kasum: ₦763.34m
Kemi Adetiba: ₦697.06m
Robert Peters: ₦609.20m
Moses Inwang: ₦499.99m
Biodun Stephen: ₦436.17m
Tope Adebayo: ₦397.97m
Loukman Ali: ₦328.88m
Adebayo Tijjani: ₦278.50m
Omoni Oboli: ₦253.02m
Kunle Afolayan: ₦245.64m
Ramsey Nouah: ₦239.59m
Toka Mcbaror: ₦235.63m
Akay Mason: ₦222.61m.
Here’s looking forward to an even bigger deal for the creative industries in the 2025 budget, Sir, trust us with the future and invest in it and we shall deliver.
To every Creatives out there, take it from me, Funke's win is our win. Congratulations I say to us!
Joy Osawaru-Akinyemi.
President, CDGN, and Vice Chairman Federation.
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