By Chris Osa Nehikhare
Edo State has entered ONE CHANCE, and it is painful to witness the speed of decline under this administration — all within just one year.
A sector that was once a shining pride of our state — the Creative Industry — has been completely grounded. What took years of vision, investment and collaboration to build has been allowed to collapse right before our eyes.
Today, the Edo creative space is dead. They killed the film projects. Not a single major production has come into Benin to film since November last year.
Yet, in the midst of this drought, they had the audacity to organise a premiere for the film OSAMEDE — a project Governor Obaseki personally encouraged, persuading the Executive Producer, Lilian Olubi, who openly stated she had worked for him in the past, to bring her production to Benin. That was the last meaningful engagement the industry saw. Since this government took over, nothing has followed.
The consequences are dire:
Actors no longer get roles.
Costumiers, makeup artistes, sound engineers, set designers, gaffers, scriptwriters and other creative technicians have all been abandoned.
The industry that once created jobs, tourism, and economic activity has been left to rot.
The Sir Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub, built as a legacy investment to empower Edo youths, has now been reduced to a glorified events centre. A world-class facility meant for production, innovation and training is now only hosting parties and weddings.
Even worse, the purpose-built accommodation for filmmakers — designed to attract film crews and keep production costs low — has been abandoned and in hush tones, we hear they want to turn it into a short-let business. A strategic public asset seemingly wasting away.
This is not just negligence; it is a tragic reversal of progress.
Edo youths who found purpose in the creative economy have been thrown back into uncertainty. An industry that once thrived with energy, jobs, innovation and hope has been suffocated.
It is sad. It is wasteful. And Edo people deserve better.
“A government that fails to create opportunity has chosen the path of oppression.” — Kwame Nkrumah
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