By IJENDU IHEAKA

Gov Alex Otti of Abia says the state government may move the proposed “Entertainment Village” from Umuahia to Aba because Aba is the cradle of entertainment in Nigeria.

Otti disclosed this at the Aba Town Hall on Saturday during the official inauguration of a film project titled, “The Chronicles of Enyimba City.”

The governor assured Abia citizens that his dream of building an Entertainment Village for the state was still alive and would be realised.

The governor said he incorporated the plan in his 2023 election manifesto but the project could not start because the places he surveyed were not fit for the project.

He said the Abia Stadium and Games Village planned for Umuahia included the Entertainment Village but it could take off because of the site was not fit and as such it could be taken to Aba because of the city’s importance.

Referencing the statement of the producer of the Film project, Mr Francis Ifeakandu, Otti said they had been working on the planned film since 2022.

“When I was given the script, I saw the need to support them.

“This (Aba) is the cradle of entertainment. If you are old enough you will remember the days of Pound Road, in Aba, extended to Upper Iweka in Onitsha and to Nnamdi Azikiwe in Idumota Lagos in that order.

“That was how it was. The Nollywood you hear of today started here in Aba,” he said.

Earlier, Ifeakandu in his speech thanked the governor for not allowing the dream of this film project which made him forfeit traveling to the USA to die unrealised.

He said he was forced to move the shooting of his 2014 film, which he planned to produce in Aba to Owerri because the featured Nollywood stars refused to come to Aba for the shooting.

He praised Otti for changing Aba’s status, which the stars had found attractive for his film project and prayed that posterity would remember the governor.

The Keynote Speaker, Chief Bobmanuel Udokwu, who spoke on: “Elevating Abia’s Image Through Cinematic Excellence”, said the project could increase Aba products’ marketability.

Udokwu said the Aba Film Project was not merely a cinematic undertaking, but a multidimensional strategic initiative that demanded seasoned cinematic professionals’ expertise to realise its great potential.

He noted that when executed with precision, artistry, and the highest production standards, it could significantly boost Abia and South East’s public image and economic vitality.

Udokwu said the participation of a Hollywood director, Dr Prospect Mlemchukwu, with over 40 years experience and resident in Hollywood, had helped his confidence in the film’s prospects.

The Abia Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Chief Mathew Ekwuribe, said the project had the promise of shaping the narrative of Aba and Abia people.

He said the inauguration was the awakening of a story that had waited for too long to be told.

According to him, the television production of Zebruddaya Okorigwe Nwogbo alias 4:30 and other iconic figures of their time, is a reminder that Aba’s creative heritage is rich, deep and deserves global recognition.

Chinedu Ikedieze, fondly called Aki, who spoke on behalf of the Nollywood stars at the event, said he met Otti in 2015 and that the promise he made had been fulfilled.

Ikedieze said the stars in the film could make a film to sell and enjoined the governor to given them whatever they needed for the production. (NAN)